Chapter 36 Bear the burden of humiliation and sign the contract

Li Hongzhang's failure in the war against Japan made the Qing government extremely dissatisfied. Emperor Guangxu decided to dismiss him and keep his post, and deprived him of his yellow jacket.Following the defeat of Weihaiwei and Liaoyang, the Qing government was very worried about the fall of Beijing, so the Qing government sent many people to negotiate with Japan, but they were all sent back. The Japanese side hinted that only Li Hongzhang could come. On February 13, 1895, the imperial court ordered Li Hongzhang to be the first-class negotiating and plenipotentiary ambassador, cancel the punishment and reward and return the yellow jacket, and asked him to come to Beijing to discuss matters as soon as possible.Li Hongzhang knew that the matter was of great importance, and after receiving the order, he hurried to Beijing.Li Hongzhang couldn't keep himself out of the matter and hang himself high.At this time, Li Hongzhang had only one thought, as long as the Qing Empire needed it, he would go through fire and water for the Qing Empire, and he would do anything he could.At this moment, the Qing Dynasty, which claims to be a great country, seems to have no other person except Li Hongzhang who can take on such a mission.In fact, I am afraid that there is no second person who is willing to take on such a mission.Li Hongzhang had prepared for the worst in his heart. When talking to the court, he said that he could not bear the responsibility of ceding land.In the end, the court gave him full power to deal with it.

At 2:30 p.m. on March 20, 1895, Li Hongzhang, Li Jingfang and the American consultant Ke Shida arrived at Maguan and boarded the Chunfan Building.On the upper floor of Chunfan, there is a rectangular conference table with more than a dozen chairs beside it.The Japanese side also specially placed a spittoon next to Li Hongzhang's seat, probably intentionally or unintentionally reminding everyone that this Qing plenipotentiary minister is in his twilight years and is dying of old age.Ito Hirobumi promulgated four regulations for the negotiation: one is that no one is allowed to enter the venue except the negotiators; The entry and exit of passengers must be inspected by the official office.In addition, Ito Hirobumi also specially announced that the coded and secret telegrams of the peace envoys of the Qing government can be sent out, and public and private correspondence will not be checked.On the surface, it seems that the Japanese are very polite to Li Hongzhang and the Qing mission. In fact, the Japanese have successfully deciphered the Qing court’s code, and even learned the bottom line of the Qing mission’s indemnity during the negotiation process. It is twenty million taels of silver, so it has already been prepared.

On March 21st, during the first negotiation with Li Hongzhang, Ito Hirobumi proposed to Li Hongzhang the truce conditions: the Japanese army would occupy all the cities and fortresses along the lines of Dagu, Tianjin, and Shanhaiguan, and the Qing troops stationed in the above areas would send all their military supplies to Li Hongzhang. Supplies were handed over to the Japanese army; the railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan was managed by Japanese military officers; all Japanese army stationing expenses during the armistice were borne by the Qing government and so on.Ito Hirobumi understands that if the front lines of Shanhaiguan and Tianjin are occupied by the Japanese army, it will directly endanger the security of Beijing.The Qing government would never agree to this armistice condition.If this armistice condition is rejected by the Qing government, Japan will just go to war again.What is especially cunning is that Hirobumi Ito concealed the fact that the Japanese army was marching towards Taiwan at this time, trying to force Li Hongzhang to submit after the Japanese army occupied Taiwan as a fait accompli.

Upstairs in Chunfan, the representatives of China and Japan were at a standstill, and the negotiations were at a stalemate.Just at this time, an unexpected incident changed the course of the negotiations.On the Chunfan Tower in Shimonoseki, Li Hongzhang started negotiations with the Japanese plenipotentiary Hirobumi Ito and Mutsu Munemitsu.After three negotiations, Li Hongzhang felt physically and mentally haggard.Because after spending so many days of energy, there is no expected progress.However, an accident happened unexpectedly. As before, Li Hongzhang walked out of Chunfan Building helplessly. When he was about to arrive at the hotel where he was staying, suddenly, a young man rushed out from the crowd and shot at Li Hongzhang with a pistol. Shooting, the bullet hit Li Hongzhang's left cheek.Naturally, there was a panic all around.It turned out that this person was named Xiaoshan, and he was an extreme Japanese invader.He hoped that the Sino-Japanese war would continue and he was unwilling to negotiate a peace with China, so he decided to assassinate Li Hongzhang.Li Hongzhang was stabbed and passed out.The accompanying Western doctors immediately took emergency measures.After Li Hongzhang woke up, he behaved very calmly.Li Hongzhang looked at his clothes stained red with blood, sighed and said, this blood can serve the country.Since the bullet was stuck in the bone seam under his left eye, no doctor dared to use a scalpel in this position. Li Hongzhang's telegram to the court only had six words: the wound hurts, and the bullet is difficult to get out.

After Li Hongzhang was assassinated, the international public opinion was in an uproar and condemned Japan one after another.Fearing the interference of foreign powers, Japan had to declare an unconditional truce.Originally, Japan wanted to ask for a good price, but the assassination incident destroyed Japan's plan.Ito Hirobumi said with regret: The seriousness of this incident surpassed the defeat of one or two divisions on the battlefield.The Emperor and Empress of Japan sent imperial physicians and nurses respectively to let them treat Li Hongzhang safely.Ito Hirobumi also visited in his private capacity.By the way, Li Hongzhang and Ito Hirobumi have many similarities in their life experiences, and what is even more coincidental is that both of them were assassinated.Despite the assassination incident, Li Hongzhang had to insist on negotiations.Facing the sky-high asking price of 300 million taels of silver for the Japanese ceding Liaodong, Taiwan, and Penghu, Li Hongzhang really couldn't accept it.In the telegrams sent to Li Hongzhang by the Qing government, they were all ambiguous and handled at the discretion of Li Hongzhang.

On April 10, after Li Hongzhang's injury improved slightly, China and Japan started the fifth negotiation on the Sino-Japanese War.China's peace treaty amendment was delivered to the Japanese side.As Li Hongzhang's injury gradually recovered, he attended the meeting in person.Mutsu Munemitsu was unable to attend due to illness.Chinese attendees included Li Hongzhang, Li Jingfang, Wu Tingfang, Ma Jianzhong, and Luo Fenglu.Attendees from the Japanese side included Ito Hirobumi, Ito Minyoharu, Inoue Katsunosuke, Nakata Keiyoshi, Mutsu Hiroyoshi, and Narahara Tanmasa. On the afternoon before the final signing, the Japanese side's requirements were extremely demanding.The Chinese side is only allowed to answer yes or no, and Li Hongzhang has no room for bargaining.Li Hongzhang kept grinding until dark, hoping to reduce another 20 million taels. In the end, he even tearfully begged Ito Hirobumi to say, just give me, an old man, the travel expenses to go home.Ito Hirobumi ignored it at all.In the evening, Ito Hirobumi also threatened Li Jingfang, saying that if you don't sign the contract tomorrow, I'm afraid there is no guarantee that you representatives will be able to return home safely.On April 17, 1895, Li Hongzhang and Japanese representatives signed the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki, which humiliated the country.The treaty stipulated that the Qing government recognized the independence of Korea; ceded the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, Penghu Islands and its affiliated islands to Japan; compensated Japan for military expenses of 200 million taels of silver; opened Chongqing, Shashi, Suzhou, and Hangzhou as trading ports; opened up new inland water routes; allowed Japan opened factories in China's treaty ports, and its products were exported to the mainland of China exempt from inland taxes.

After 1895, Li Hongzhang collapsed like a flooded earth mountain. Before that, this mountain once towered over the sky and stood tall.In a sense, Li Hongzhang lost his life savings like a gambler.But Li Hongzhang still restrained his great sorrow, and tried his best to make up for his mistakes with diplomacy like a professional diplomat.Then, he closed himself in calm silence, like a wounded tiger, licking his wound while thinking about countermeasures, enduring, waiting, dreaming of waiting for an opportunity to strike.It's a pity that Li Hongzhang didn't wait for the day to attack.The days to come were even more gloomy, and in front of him were more troubles and depressions; it was the cold, which seemed to come from the side of the polar regions.

In April 1895, when Li Hongzhang returned to China with a draft of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, a bandage on his face, and a depressed mood, he found that he had already become the public enemy of the whole country.The imperial court reprimanded him for his ineffectiveness. Officials said that he lost power and humiliated the country. According to folklore, he took money from the Japanese.Some people even publicly stated that they would kill him at all costs, which would be a great shame to Xue Xue.Only that sentence made Li Hongzhang tearful after hearing it.At that time, all the ministers of military affairs collectively submitted a memorial to Emperor Guangxu, and there was this sentence in the memorial: China's defeat was all due to the lack of Westernization, not the fault of Hongzhang.

When the whole country was crusading against Li Hongzhang, Tsarist Russia suddenly jumped out and claimed to help the Qing government recover the Liaodong Peninsula, which made the Qing government shine.Originally, Russia had always had the idea of ​​North Korea and the three northeastern provinces of China. It wanted to seize the opportunity to seize the ice-free port and have its own eastern seaport.For this reason, Tsarist Russia began to build the Siberian Railway since the 1890s.They dreamed that the railway would pass through the three northeastern provinces of China and take advantage of the two ice-free ports of Lushun and Dalian.When the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Li Hongzhang asked Tsarist Russia to mediate, and Tsarist Russia also held a wait-and-see attitude until China was defeated.

Russia does not want such an outcome.If Japan controls the Liaodong Peninsula after controlling North Korea, Tsarist Russia's interests in China will be greatly damaged.Therefore, Tsarist Russia united Germany and France to speak for the Qing government and demanded that Japan return the Liaodong Peninsula.What is the purpose of Germany and France?France wants to contain Germany through Russia, and Germany wants to please Russia, so that Russia can focus on the Far East, so that it can start in Europe.This is the cause of the so-called Three Kingdoms Intervention to Return the Liao Dynasty.Later, the intervention of the Three Kingdoms succeeded in returning the Liao Dynasty. The "Treaty of Shimonoseki" finally ended like this: the Qing government paid 20 million taels of silver in compensation, and paid Japan 30 million taels of silver to redeem Liao Dynasty, and ceded Taiwan and Penghu.Although today we can look at Li Hongzhang objectively and cannot place the charge of treason on him alone, we must admit the fact that Li Hongzhang sold out part of China's sovereignty and territory together with the late Qing government for the benefit of the late Qing government .

Li Hongzhang, who was removed from his prominent position because of the signing of the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", did not resent the punishment of the Qing government.Li Hongzhang knew that the Qing Empire had to punish a traitor to quell public anger, and Li Hongzhang would inevitably become the scapegoat for the Qing Empire's traitors.