Chapter 37 Undefeated and defeated leave complaints

The Sino-French war was caused by the French bourgeoisie's policy of colonial expansion, aggression against Vietnam, and the invasion of China based on Vietnam.China and Vietnam have long-standing political, economic and cultural ties.There was a feudal suzerain and vassal relationship between the feudal rulers of the Qing Dynasty and the feudal rulers of Vietnam.The emperor of the Qing Dynasty asked the King of Vietnam to accept the canonization and regularly sent people to Beijing to pay tribute, while the Qing government had the responsibility to protect Vietnam.This relationship belongs to the Eastern tribute system, which is fundamentally different from the Western colonial system.The Qing government tried its best to maintain the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Vietnam, neither for political rule nor for economic plunder, but mainly for military defense and maintaining the stability of the southwestern frontier.When foreign capitalism invaded, the people of China and Vietnam were faced with the fate of being enslaved by the colonizers and the common task of opposing the colonists.The rulers of the Qing Dynasty had to act when the Vietnamese side asked for assistance.

As early as the 1860s, France used force to coerce the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam to sign the "Treaty of Saigon", turning Nanqi into a colony.In 1873, France sent An Ye to lead an army to invade the Hanoi area. The Chinese Peasant Armed Black Banner Army and its leader Liu Yongfu, who stayed on the Sino-Vietnamese border, responded to the call of the Vietnamese government and rushed to help Hanoi, smashing the French army and killing An Ye.However, in the second year, under the blackmail of France, the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty signed the "Vietnam-French Peace Alliance Treaty" with it, recognizing France's protection rights in central and northern Vietnam.After 1880, France began to plan to seize the northern part of Vietnam, which directly affected the situation on the southwestern frontier of China.After the Zongli Yamen discussed with Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang believed that he should first send warships to the Red River in Vietnam to strengthen his prestige, and then send diplomatic envoys to make preparations for peace talks.The Qing government decided to prepare for both war preparations and peace negotiations.

In 1882, the French army occupied Hanoi, and Sino-French relations deteriorated sharply.Ma Jianzhong just completed the Korean mutiny, and was sent by Li Hongzhang to Shanghai to negotiate with French Minister Bao Hai.On October 17, according to Li Hongzhang's instructions, Ma Jianzhong and France envoy Baohai concluded three Vietnam affairs measures: China will withdraw the Yunnan and Guangxi troops to the country; open border trade; the north and south of the Red River in Vietnam will be controlled by China and France respectively.The next day Li Hongzhang reported the situation to the General Administration, and suggested ordering the former enemy generals in Yunnan and Guangxi not to go deep into Yuedi.

The General Administration approved and notified the former enemy generals to retreat at their discretion.The French Minister Bao Hai stayed in Shanghai to wait for the approval of Paris.Just when the Sino-French negotiations were about to achieve final success, the French cabinet was reshuffled and extreme aggression and expansionism resumed, and Sino-French relations deteriorated again. On the 29th day of the first month of 1883, Li Hongzhang sent an urgent telegram to the General Administration, saying that according to Ma Jianzhong's report from Shanghai, France had changed its attitude towards the peace talks, and he asked the imperial court to prepare to strengthen the defense of the Yunnan-Guangxi front.

At that time, the imperial court almost unanimously opposed the French aggression against Vietnam.Some ministers said that Vietnam should be protected, and they felt that Vietnam should be protected. The disintegration of foreign domains was inevitable. Not only would Ryukyu not be able to recover, but Korea and Mongolia would also be in crisis. They proposed that the feudal suzerainty must be maintained; The relationship between lips and teeth is dependent on each other, and they think that only the more they can protect the edge. However, at this time, Japan used France to invade Vietnam and invade Korea.As a result, there was an opinion in the imperial court that North Korea and Vietnam were both vassals, and when comparing the two, North Korea should be the priority.Bao Ting, a famous official of the Manchu nationality, said: If you lose Yunnan and Guizhou, you must not lose North Korea.Deng Chengxiu, a famous minister of the Han nationality, also pointed out that the strategic position of the Bohai Sea in Zhili is not comparable to that of Yunnan and Guangdong.Li Hongzhang held exactly such a view.

Soon, because of his mother's death, Li Hongzhang went home to prepare for the funeral.At this time, Zeng Jize will handle the Sino-French negotiations.Zeng Jize took a tough attitude, emphasizing the vassal state relationship between China and Vietnam, and strongly protested to France.But France responded with indifference and ignored it.According to the traditional practice, Li Hongzhang should worry about his mother Ding for three years.However, in view of the urgency of the situation, the Qing government asked Li Hongzhang to return after staying for a hundred days. The Qing government ordered Li Hongzhang to go to Guangdong to supervise the handling of Vietnam affairs, and authorized him to control all frontier troops in Guangdong, Yunnan, and Guangxi.

But Li Hongzhang thought that Vietnam was not as important as North Korea, so he didn't want to go to Guangdong.He wanted Yuan Baoling to help, and let the court take back his order.Yuan Baoling is the uncle of Yuan Shikai's family, and Li Hongzao in the center is a teacher and student.In March, Yuan Baoling wrote a letter suggesting that Li Hongzao send Li Hongzhang's general Liu Mingchuan as the general of Baoyue to be in charge of commanding the front-line troops; All well done.At the beginning of April, Yuan Baoling wrote another letter to Li Hongzao, saying: important ministers should show calm externally and look at the fundamentals internally. If they want to contain the Vietnamese people, they should be stationed in Tianjin; Where it can be fought, it is convenient to be stationed in Shanghai.The two are used differently, but both regard being stationed in Guangdong as far superior.I want Li Hongzhang to sit in Tianjin or Shanghai instead of staying in Guangdong.This is a move to help Li Hongzhang by dredging up the central figures.

On the seventh day of April, the imperial court let Li Hongzhang sit in Shanghai to coordinate the overall situation.On the 16th, Li Hongzhang left Hefei for Nanjing.After arriving in Nanjing, he stayed for another three days and discussed with Zuo Zongtang on matters such as the transfer of troops and payment.On the 20th, he said to the General Administration: I am now discussing with Zuo Zongtang about the army and food and payment. Zuo Zongtang suggested that it is feasible to transfer the army, but it is not possible to pay the troops who have been transferred, but I think Even mobilizing an army is not easy.

On the fourth day of May, Li Hongzhang met with the new French envoy Tolicourt (also translated as De Liguo) in Shanghai.Toligu refused to recognize the vassal relationship between Vietnam and China, and insisted on taking military action against Vietnam.Li Hongzhang grasped the situation that Liu Yongfu had defeated the French army near Hanoi; and at that time, France had sent more troops to Vietnam, sending four ironclad ships, warships and 3,000 soldiers; the French parliament had made a decision to increase military expenditure without limit. Prepare for a bloody shame, and the purpose of Tuo Ligu's trip is to cancel Baohai's original agreement.Therefore, after finishing the negotiation with Tuoligu, he immediately reported to the General Administration, saying: China only has the Yangwei and Chaoyong in Beiyang and the Yangwu and Chaowu in Nanyang that can be used to defend the sea area, and the army is paid per soldier. However, the navy is still in preparation and training, and going to war with France is like hitting a stone with an egg. The current plan should be to deal with it and delay it, so as to buy time to think of other ways.The next day, he wrote another letter to Zhang Zhidong, explaining that France wanted to be aggressive and greedy because of Vietnam’s small size, and refused to recognize Vietnam’s status as a Chinese vassal state. not big.

On the 17th, Li Hongzhang put forward a proposal to the imperial court to prepare for war and seek peace, and analyzed: France's occupation of Vietnam would pose a threat to China in the future, and once China and France went to war, China would face a direct threat.If China sends troops to Vietnam, France will use this as an excuse to invade China and affect the entire country.Therefore, the defense of Yunnan and Guangdong should focus on strengthening combat readiness, and at the same time send envoys to France to negotiate with them.The imperial court first let Li Hongzhang go to Guangdong, and later transferred him to Shanghai. Li Hongzhang was quite critical of this. He wrote to Zhang Peilun, saying: The Shuting dispatched rashly, which is chilling.But he was satisfied when he learned that the court had asked him to return to the post of Beiyang governor to plan the overall situation on the 16th.On the way back to Tianjin, he inspected the defenses of Yantai, Lushun, and Weihai by the way, and returned to Tianjin on the sixth day of June.Li Hongzhang had realized that China's coastal defense was insufficient, so he made a three-fold discount in June and July, and put forward three demands: to expand and repair the telegraph line to Tongzhou; to purchase iron-clad ships, build railway trains; and to mine coal mines.He claimed that once China's modernization is realized, outsiders will never dare to take military threats lightly.On July 23, Vietnam was forced to sign the "Treaty of Hue" with France, and Vietnam became a protectorate of France, which indicated that the King of Vietnam had fallen to France.This is a blatant violation of China's suzerainty. The Qing government was very annoyed. On September 20, it issued an imperial edict:

The legal person has signed a contract with Vietnam, and will focus on Beiqi, the gateway of Yunnan and Guangdong, in the name of expelling Liu Tuan.Now, the Prime Minister’s Office of State Affairs has issued a note to envoys to declare that Vietnam has long been a vassal. After China’s military suppression of bandits, it has been protected by all means. It is known to all countries in the world. Now it has invaded the mausoleum without end.If it actually invades the place where our army is stationed, we can only start a fight, and we can't just sit back and wait for words.From then on, if the legal person wants to use his troops in Beiqi, then I will use them.The name is solid.If a legal person actually comes to China with military force to provoke a quarrel, he must first guard against Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Shusheng, Ni Wenwei, and Yu Kuan, and make arrangements quickly, which cannot be regarded as a slow plan.Tianjin is close to the capital, and the relationship is particularly important. Li Hongzhang has been preparing for coastal defense for many years. He is relied on by the imperial court and blamed by the world.Know this from the secrets of six hundred miles.This is it. Li Hongzhang and Zeng Jize had protracted negotiations with the French side respectively, but the negotiations broke down because many of France's demands could not be accepted by the Chinese side. General Wu Changqing once proposed to transfer some troops back to Yantai.Li Hongzhang wrote back on the third day of September to analyze the current situation, saying that the signing of the Vietnam New Treaty indicated that although the King of Vietnam was still there, Vietnam had already surrendered to France. In a panic, winter will come in two months, and all the ports in the north will be frozen, which will naturally stop the French navy in Vietnam from advancing northward.Moreover, Japan stepped up its invasion of Korea, and the princes and ministers of North Korea have shaken their attitude towards China. They are watching the situation in Vietnam and want to make a decision on the next step. In this way, the Chinese troops stationed in North Korea should not retreat easily, but should stay there. serve as a powerful deterrent. All these facts show that Li Hongzhang believed that the strategic position of North Korea was far more important than that of Vietnam, which is the real reason why he did not want to stay in Guangdong and Shanghai, but tried to return to Tianjin.People generally accused Li Hongzhang of doing this to protect his power in the Beiyang region, but in fact the situation in North Korea was extremely turbulent at this time, and its problems were indeed far more serious than those in Vietnam.Objectively speaking, it was precisely because Li Hongzhang returned to Tianjin in time and insisted on maintaining the number of Chinese troops stationed in North Korea that the stability of the North was ensured. The General Administration is also preparing to inform other countries of France's aggression against Vietnam, and at the same time order the border guards to meet the invading French troops.On September 26th, Li Hongzhang put forward his opinion to the General Administration, saying that China's policy towards the vassal state has always been to pay attention to empty words, only to carry out some vain tasks of canonization and tribute, without taking practical and effective measures, and Nor did they severely refute the "Treaty of Saigon" by France and Vietnam, so that France took advantage of the loopholes.At present, China does not have the power to overthrow the French-Vietnamese Treaty of Hue in July this year. It is suggested that the court should not send a note of the Sino-French dispute to other countries for the time being, but should resolve the issue through peaceful talks as soon as possible.But the General Administration ignored it, and still sent a note to other countries: China resolutely protects Vietnamese vassals. At this time, Li Hongzao, the core figure of the Qingyi faction, actually controlled the General Administration. He wanted to attack Japan in the east and France in the west. They couldn't see the actual situation at all, and blindly demanded the exclusion of foreign countries.In this way, in August, there was an incident in which the Chinese burned the houses of foreigners in the foreigner-inhabited area of ​​Shamian, Guangdong.And the local officials let it go.The imperial court sent Peng Yulin to Guangdong for defense, but he did not pursue the matter.In addition, Peng Yulin does not accept visiting foreigners at all.As a result, no foreigners dared to visit for more than twenty days. Li Hongzhang was very worried that the peace of the past twenty years was about to be lost, so he wrote to Peng Yulin on October 15th: the case of destroying the bungalows in Shamian had not yet been settled, and there were suspicions from various countries, and rumors spread day by day.At present, the hearts of the people must be suppressed, and people must not be allowed to act rashly, so as not to cause fire due to wind.On the 28th, he reported to the governor again, saying that China and France have not officially started a war yet, but Peng Yulin has issued a notice in Guangdong to incite people's xenophobia; moreover, banning the import of merchant ships from various countries will cause international public outrage, so he asked the court to let Peng cancel the notice , or transfer him away from Guangdong.On the 30th, the imperial court approved this proposal and ordered Peng Yulin not to post notices to prevent him from stirring up xenophobic incidents. On November 12, French Vice Admiral Guba commanded the French army and navy to attack Shanxi Province in Beiqi, Vietnam from Hanoi.Due to the internal support of Vietnamese officials and civilians, the French army took Shanxi on the 17th, and Liu Yongfu, the Black Banner Army stationed there, retreated to Xinghua. The Sino-French war officially broke out, and the Qing army was defeated.As a result, another big controversy broke out within the imperial court between the main battle and the main peace.The main combat faction said that the current situation is caused by blindly seeking peace, and France must be dealt a severe blow; experience and facts. Li Hongzhang has always advocated peace, but now he has suddenly become tough.On December 12th in the tenth year of Guangxu (1884), Li Hongzhang wrote to Weng Tonghe to explain the reasons for this change, saying: The more things are prosperous, the more things are going to be solved, and the people will calm down.Today, the situation has changed repeatedly, and it is difficult for each other to ride a tiger.I have to persevere and wait for the opportunity.However, Cen (Yuying) and Xu (Yanxu) are not capable of finishing things, and they are still manipulating ears when they are in the pivotal position.If we only fight in Vietnam, it doesn't matter if we are sharp or blunt. If it spreads to the interior, the strength of the provinces will be uneven, and the people will be poor and rich.In the letter to Li Hongzao, Minister of Military Aircraft, on the 15th, he also said: Hongzhang did not dare to advocate for progress at the beginning of the incident. In fact, it can be seen that the vigilance of the provinces has not been fully rectified, or it may be difficult to stop.Now Shanxi is retreating, the enemy is raging, and our army has entered Beining.If you obey the order, you can only increase the army and prepare it, and stick to it, waiting for the opportunity to turn.Before the war started, it is natural to try our best to strive for peace. Now that we have welcomed the use of force and suffered defeat, the road to peace has been completely blocked, so we can only strengthen our war preparations.Soon he asked the imperial court to send Song Qingtian to recruit the fourth battalion to garrison in Yingkou, and Cao Kezhong to select the sixth battalion to station in Yantai and Weihai to strengthen the defense of Beiyang. In February 1884, Bac Ninh and Taiyuan in Vietnam fell into the hands of the French army one after another, and the Qing troops stationed in Vietnam were defeated and returned to China.The imperial court was furious and ordered the dismissal of Guangxi governor Xu Yanxu and Yunnan governor Tang Jiong, who were in charge of the former enemy's command, and Pan Dingxin and Zhang Kaisong were transferred to act respectively.At the same time, the Qing Yi faction also used this to attack the military ministers who presided over the center.The Empress Dowager Cixi then switched to a newcomer headed by Prince Li Shiduo, all the former military ministers were abolished, and the prime minister's office was also controlled by people headed by Prince Qing.In this way, both the military aircraft department and the general administration are controlled by Yikuang, and Cixi manipulates Yikuang behind the scenes, holding all the power firmly in his hands. On the 26th, Zhang Peilun, the left deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was appointed as the prime minister's office. He was ordered to go to Tianjin to discuss the Vietnam War with Li Hongzhang, and returned to Beijing on the first day of December.Based on the discussions between the two, Li Hongzhang played "Properly Prepared Side Plans" and "Properly Prepared Front Enemy Military Films". He believed that although the Qing army suffered a defeat in Vietnam, there was no need to immediately transfer them back, but should send more troops to Vietnam. Soldiers, improve weapons and equipment, and find the best fighter in the stalemate.Cen Yuying should be under unified command of Huang Guilan's Department, Liu Yongfu's Department, and Zhao Wo Department, and Tianjin should allocate ten mountain artillery pieces and 4,500 breech-loading guns to the Gui Army.At the end, he expressed his determination to resolutely fight against the French army, saying that the country has raised troops for thousands of days, and now is the time to use them to solve the national crisis. In May 1884, Li Hongzhang and Fluoro signed the "Li-Fu Agreement", stipulating: China recognizes the treaty concluded between France and Vietnam, France will not claim compensation, China agrees to open ports for trade on the Sino-Vietnamese border, and the Chinese army withdraws from North Vietnam border.After the treaty was signed, the ministers of the Qing Dynasty opposed it one after another, thinking that the treaty was too humiliating to the country.Li Hongzhang was jointly impeached by the main combat faction, and Yushi and Hanlin also jointly signed a letter of impeachment.The Qing government had no choice but to order Zuo Zongtang to return to the military aircraft department.On June 23, the Beili Incident occurred.The French army marched towards Lang Son, but the Lang Son Qing army stopped them by stating that they had not received an order to withdraw their defenses.The French army killed the representatives of the Qing army in Beili, shelled the Qing army positions, and the Qing army repelled the French army.The French government deliberately used the North Lebanon incident to provoke the Chinese side, slandering China for violating the "Li-Fau Treaty", and demanded 250 million francs for military expenses, and sent warships to Fujian and Keelung. The Qing government was in a panic, and the ministers lost their minds for a while.Zuo Zongtang said that China can't always show weakness, it is better to use indemnities as war expenses.Li Hongzhang still advocated peace talks.On August 23, the French fleet raided the Fujian navy, and the Qing government had no choice but to issue a declaration of war.In October, the French army launched an attack on Taiwan and North Vietnam, and China began a new round of peace negotiations. In March 1885, the Qing army under the leadership of the veteran Feng Zicai recovered Zhennan Pass, giving China the initiative in the war.Therefore, China and France signed the "Sino-French Armistice Conditions" in Paris on April 4.In the case of victory, China actually made compromises and concessions in the treaty, which surprised the French authorities.After hearing the news, the soldiers of the Qing army on the front line couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh.On June 9, Li Hongzhang signed the "Sino-French New Treaty" with French representatives.The main contents of the treaty are: 1.The Qing government recognized France's right to protect Vietnam, and within six months after the signing of the treaty, China and France sent personnel to the Sino-Vietnamese border to jointly demarcate the boundary; 2.The French army withdrew from Taiwan and Penghu; 3.The land border between China and Vietnam is open to trade, and two treaty ports are opened within the Chinese border, one above Baosheng and the other north of Lang Son, allowing French businessmen to live and set up consulates here; 4.Reduce import and export tax rates on the border between China's Yunnan and Guangxi and Vietnam; 5.In the future, if China builds a railway, it will do business with the French. The "Sino-French New Testament" is the only treaty in the history of the late Qing government that did not cede territory and pay indemnities in foreign wars.Li Hongzhang adopted the strategy of accepting as soon as he saw it.In his view, Feng Zicai and others' partial victories in Vietnam did not change the overall situation of the enemy being strong and we being weak.The Chinese navy has just been established and its strength is very weak. If it continues to fight, it will inevitably end up paying compensation if it loses.In addition, Taiwan has been trapped and Penghu has been occupied by the French army. If they send troops to Taiwan, France will send additional troops to block Taiwan, and the Chinese navy will not be able to rescue it.At that time, Japan was in the process of invading Korea.Li Hongzhang believed that North Korea's geographical location was more important than Vietnam, and Vietnam should be abandoned to protect North Korea.Li Hongzhang transferred the warships originally scheduled to reinforce Taiwan to protect North Korea to deal with Japan.If we fight against France blindly, not only will the outcome be unpredictable, but the Japanese will also take the opportunity to invade North Korea, which would be even worse.