In the long river of world history, countless figures twinkle like stars, and their stories interweave into a magnificent picture. In modern Chinese history, the name Li Hongzhang is undoubtedly one of the most dazzling and controversial. For a long time, in some interpretations, he has been simply labeled as a "traitor". However, when we delve into the details of history, we will find that such an evaluation may be a great injustice to him.Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan: Differences and Growth between Master and Apprentice
In 1823, Li Hongzhang was born in Hefei, Anhui. He was intelligent from a young age and became a scholar at the age of 17 and a juren at the age of 21, demonstrating extraordinary talent. At the age of 23, he entered Zeng Guofan's camp as a "Nian Jiazi". The "Nian Jiazi" here is because his father Li Wen'an and Zeng Guofan were both jinshi in the same year. This same-year relationship was a special bond in the officialdom at that time. Officials often joined forces and took care of each other, forming an interest group.
Zeng Guofan was known for his ability to judge people. When Li Hongzhang, who was over 1.8 meters tall and had a dignified appearance at the age of 23, appeared in front of him, he was immediately noticed. Afterwards, Zeng Guofan deliberately cultivated Li Hongzhang as a potential successor. It can be said that without Zeng Guofan's promotion and guidance, the lineup of the three famous officials of the late Qing Dynasty might have changed, and there might still be Zuo Zongtang, but Li Hongzhang might not have been in this category.
In 1860, at the age of 37, Li Hongzhang had already made a name for himself in organizing team training, but at that time, compared to his later achievements, he could only be considered a "small V". And that year, he had a serious disagreement with Zeng Guofan.
At that time, Zeng Guofan, who was responsible for chasing down the Taiping Army, set up his headquarters in Qimen, Anhui. Li Hongzhang, as a staff member, strongly opposed it. He believed that Qimen was easy to attack but difficult to defend and was a dead end. Once surrounded, there would be no way to escape. However, Zeng Guofan did not adopt his opinion. At the same time, there was a conflict between the two regarding the appointment of his trusted aide Li Yuandu to guard Huizhou. Li Yuandu, a literati, led his troops and rashly attacked Huizhou without listening to Zeng Guofan's command to "hold fast and not leave", which led to the rapid loss of Huizhou. Huizhou was also the gateway to Qimen, which opened up the door to Qimen. In a fit of anger, Zeng Guofan wanted to report Li Yuandu's mistakes to the court. Li Hongzhang believed that Li Yuandu was the oldest confidant among Zeng Guofan's staff and had always supported Zeng Guofan in difficult times. He even saved Zeng Guofan's life, so he should not report him. After being rejected twice, Li Hongzhang decided to leave in anger.
Later developments seemed to confirm Li Hongzhang's concerns. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army rushed straight to Qimen, and Zeng Guofan was in a desperate situation. He even wrote a suicide note and hung his knife on his tent, preparing to die for the country. Fortunately, his fierce general Bao Chao led the reinforcements to clear the siege in time. Li Yuandu was later reappointed and performed well in pacifying the Miao rebellion, repairing artillery, and organizing the Westernization Movement. Of course, there were also factors recommended by Zeng Guofan later.
This incident showed Li Hongzhang's "stubbornness", but behind this stubbornness, we can also see that his ability and knowledge at that time were not to be underestimated, and even in some aspects were not inferior to his teacher Zeng Guofan.Li Hongzhang and "Suzhou Surrender": Complex Considerations Behind the Means
In 1863, at the age of 40, Li Hongzhang was promoted to governor of Jiangsu and held the Huai army. At this time, he had grown into a "Zhong V". All of this was inseparable from the support of Zeng Guofan. In the second year after leaving in anger, under the mediation of the people, Li Hongzhang returned to Zeng Guofan's account. The master and disciple never had a falling out again. Zeng Guofan even helped Li Hongzhang build the Huai army, personally formulated the camp regulations, and gave several powerful battalions in the Xiang army to Li Hongzhang.
That year, Li Hongzhang led his army to besiege Suzhou. Suzhou was the place where Li Xiucheng, a famous general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, worked hard to manage. Although Li Xiucheng went to rescue Tianjing at that time, Suzhou was still easy to defend and difficult to attack. Li Hongzhang learned that the four "kings" and four "heavenly generals" under the "Mu Wang" Tan Shaoguang, who was guarding Suzhou, were dissatisfied with Tan Shaoguang and plotted to surrender. Therefore, he contacted the other party and invited Gordon, the captain of the "Foreign Gun Team" (now known as the "Changsheng Army"), as a witness, promising that as long as eight people sacrificed Suzhou, they could all be promoted.
However, when eight Taiping rebel generals sent Tan Shaoguang's head to Li Hongzhang's tent and opened the city gate, the situation changed. According to Li Hongzhang later, after the Qing army entered the city, they found that the Taiping army still occupied half of the city, so he held a banquet for these eight people in the evening. While the wine was hot, Li Hongzhang arranged for the samurai to behead all eight people, and then the Qing army massacred the city and killed more than 20,000 surrendered Taiping soldiers. This is the famous "Suzhou Surrender" incident.
This incident caused a huge public opinion storm. Gordon, a United Kingdom man, even took a pistol to duel with Li Hongzhang because of his treachery. Li Hongzhang avoided it and instead went to the court, praising the "victorious army" for their hard work, rewarding them with silver 70,000, and giving Gordon a personal silver 10,000. Only then did Gordon give up.
This incident seems cruel and bloody, showing Li Hongzhang's "ruthlessness", but we also need to understand it from a more complex historical background. In that turbulent era, various forces were intertwined, and Li Hongzhang may have made such a decision out of his judgment of the situation and consideration of his own interests and the overall strategy of the Qing army.Li Hongzhang and the "Siege of Tianjing": The Brilliant Display of the Wisdom of the Official Circle
In 1864, just one year after the "Suzhou Surrender", 41-year-old Li Hongzhang, with the increasingly powerful Huai Army, basically eliminated the Taiping Army in the southern Jiangsu region. At this time, he could be regarded as a big V (while Zeng Guofan was a super big V). At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was at a critical juncture of life and death, and Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army had surrounded Tianjing (Nanjing) but could not capture it for a long time.
The court was extremely anxious and repeatedly issued edicts urging Li Hongzhang's Huai army to reinforce Tianjing. At that time, whoever could capture Tianjing would receive the greatest credit for eliminating the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Emperor Xianfeng had promised that whoever captured Tianjing would be crowned king. However, Li Hongzhang did not move.
Li Hongzhang did not want to be crowned king, but he knew well the significance of this achievement to Zeng Guofan. Since Zeng Guofan organized a regiment in Hunan, his biggest goal was to eliminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Xiang Army fought hard for many years before besieging Tianjing. If the Huai Army rashly sent troops at this time, it would be like the Huai Army getting a share of the pie after the Xiang Army had completed most of the difficult work.
Therefore, despite his subordinates' constant requests for war, Li Hongzhang suppressed them. He sometimes replied to the court that his troops were tired and needed rest, and sometimes said he was sick. Even when he couldn't bear the pressure from the court, he led his troops into the territory of Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, to pursue the Taiping Army, which made Zuo Zongtang angry and accused him of "crossing the border to plunder". However, the court's constant urging made Li Hongzhang afraid to openly disobey the order. Therefore, he sent someone to closely monitor the preparation of the Xiang Army. After learning that the Xiang Army had basically dug through the tunnel into the city, he pretended to gather his troops and first wrote a letter to Zeng Guoquan (Zeng Guofan's younger brother), the commander of the Xiang Army who besieged Tianjing, hinting that Zeng Guoquan should speed up his actions.
After Zeng Guoquan received the letter, he informed the senior generals of the content, and the morale of the soldiers was greatly boosted. The next day, the Xiang Army captured Tianjing City. After the city was breached, Zeng Guofan held Li Hongzhang's hand and said, "Foolish brother has a thin face, and Lai Zi is saved."
This incident fully demonstrated Li Hongzhang's "precision". He cleverly maintained his relationship with Zeng Guofan in the complex officialdom and military situation, while also demonstrating his profound insight into the situation and human relationships. This also confirms the evaluation of his "ability to serve as an official" by people at that time, which is in sharp contrast to Zeng Guofan's "ability to judge people" and Zuo Zongtang's "ability to fight".Li Hongzhang and the Self-Strengthening Movement: Difficult Progress under Vision
In 1881, 58-year-old Li Hongzhang ushered in an important milestone in his Westernization career - the opening of the Tang-Xu Railway. Although this railway, which runs from Tangshan to Xugezhuang and is 9.7 kilometers long, seems short, it is the first railway laid by the Chinese people themselves (designed by the United Kingdom), which is of great significance.
As early as the 1840s, railways had been introduced to China, but the Qing government regarded them as a flood beast. On the one hand, it believed that railways would shake the foundation of the ancestors, and on the other hand, it resisted on the grounds that building railways required a lot of financial and human resources. In 1876, the first operating railway in China, the Wusong Railway, funded by the United Kingdom, was demolished after being seized by the Qing government for killing a pedestrian.
However, Li Hongzhang keenly realized the huge significance of railways for China's future, both military and civilian. Therefore, he took a huge risk and presided over the construction of the Tangxu Railway. In order to avoid opposition from the court, he reported that it was just a "fast road for carriages to pass". After the railway was completed, the trains practiced running, which excited the onlookers. However, it soon caused panic in the court, stating that "the locomotives were running straight, shaking Dongling, and emitting black smoke, which damaged crops". Dongling is the tomb of the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty. Although it is nearly 100 kilometers away from the railway, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered it to stop. As a result, the Tangxu Railway presented a rare absurd scene in the history of world railways: mules and horses dragging the locomotive slowly on the tracks. It was not until the Sino-French War broke out that this ridiculous scene ended due to the need for railway transportation of coal.
Li Hongzhang's contribution to the Westernization Movement was far more than that. If the Westernization Movement began with the "Anqing Internal Ordnance Institute" founded by Zeng Guofan, then Li Hongzhang carried it forward. Among the four major military industrial enterprises in early modern China, Li Hongzhang alone founded three: Jinling Machinery Bureau, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and Tianjin Machinery Bureau (the other was Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau founded by Zuo Zongtang and Shen Baozhen). In addition, famous enterprises such as Shanghai Ship China Merchants Group, Kaiping Mining Bureau, Shanghai Machine Weaving Layout, and Mohe Gold Mine were also created by him. He also worked hard to promote China's first telegraph line. During the establishment of these Westernization enterprises, although it cannot be denied that Li Hongzhang may have engaged in embezzlement, from a macro perspective, his vision far exceeded that of the corrupt Qing Dynasty government at that time. The influence of the Westernization pattern he constructed on China continues to this day.
This series of deeds reflects Li Hongzhang's "far-sightedness". Despite numerous obstacles, he worked hard to introduce advanced Western technology and ideas to China, attempting to change China's backward situation.Li Hongzhang and the Treaty of Shimonoseki: Struggle in Humiliation and Helplessness
In 1895, at the age of 72, Li Hongzhang embarked on the most difficult and humiliating mission of his life. The Sino-Japanese War broke out the previous year, which ended in a disastrous defeat for China. As the defeated side, they needed to accept the conditions proposed by the victorious Japan. Empress Dowager Cixi chose Li Hongzhang as the plenipotentiary representative of the Qing Dynasty to negotiate in Shimonoseki, Japan.
On March 19, 1895, Li Hongzhang led a delegation to arrive at Matsushiro, Japan. Faced with the arrogance of the victors, Japan demanded land cession and also claimed silver 300 million (at that time, Japan's annual fiscal revenue was only 80 million silver). Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito did not give Li Hongzhang any bargaining room, only allowing him to choose whether to agree or not. Li Hongzhang expressed disagreement after consulting the court, but in fact, China was at an extreme disadvantage at that time and had almost no bargaining chips.
However, on March 24th, an accident happened. Li Hongzhang was shot by a young Japanese man named Koyama Toyotaro on his way back to his accommodation. The bullet hit his face and his face was covered in blood. According to Koyama's confession after his arrest, he did not want Sino-Japanese peace talks and hoped that Japan would pursue him to Beijing. Although Li Hongzhang was injured and treated well, he was too old to undergo surgery and the bullet remained in his eye socket until he died. He instructed his subordinates not to wash off the bloody clothes when he was shot and to bring them back to China because "this blood can serve the country".
This incident shocked the Japanese government, and Japan was afraid that China would use it as an excuse to interrupt the negotiations. Many government officials came to visit, and the emperor's wife sent handmade bandages. It was also because of this bullet that Japan's compensation was reduced from 300 million taels of silver to 200 million taels of silver (of course, there were also factors that Japan was afraid of foreign intervention). However, Li Hongzhang did not give up the fight. Japanese Foreign Minister Lu Ao Zongguang recalled that Li Hongzhang even requested a reduction in compensation, from requesting a reduction of 50 million taels of silver to later requesting a reduction of 20 million taels of silver, and finally begged for this reduction as a farewell on his way home. This seemed to Lu Ao Zongguang to lose his status.
After Li Hongzhang returned to China, there was a lot of criticism in public opinion, but there was also a fair evaluation: "Li Hongzhang was shot and saved 100 million taels." After signing the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Li Hongzhang vowed not to set foot on Japanese soil again. In 1896, when he was on a mission to Russia and passed through Japan, he firmly refused to stay in Japan and refused to take a Japanese small boat when changing ships. Instead, he trembled and walked between the two ships on a wooden board. This behavior seemed to be a display of integrity, but in fact, it was deep sadness and anger.
This incident reflects Li Hongzhang's "sorrow". Against the backdrop of national decline and inability to resist foreign powers, he bears tremendous pressure and humiliation, striving to fight for even the slightest benefit for the country at the negotiating table.Re-examining Li Hongzhang: Historical Figures Beyond Simple Labels
For a long time, in some viewpoints, Li Hongzhang has been simply portrayed as a "traitor", especially in Chinese textbooks. This one-sided interpretation may have influenced people's understanding of him to some extent. However, when we view Li Hongzhang from a more objective and comprehensive perspective, looking at the overall pattern of world history and the complex historical context at that time, we will find that he is a seriously misunderstood figure.
Li Hongzhang lived in a chaotic era when China was facing internal and external troubles and the feudal dynasty was on the verge of collapse. He was like a horse dragging a heavy train on the Tang-Xu Railway, trying to drag the already terminally ill Qing Dynasty forward with his own strength. He himself knew this difficulty well and in his later years, he self-deprecatingly called himself a "framer", "like a dilapidated house, patched up by a framer from east to west, and turned into a clean room... The truth of nature is exposed and uncontrollable, but can a framer take responsibility?"
Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito praised Li Hongzhang as "the only capable person in the Qing Empire who could compete with the world powers", and Liang Qichao also expressed "respect for Li Hongzhang's talent", "pity for Li Hongzhang's knowledge", and "pity for Li Hongzhang's encounter". In 1901, Li Hongzhang, who had been idle, was reappointed by Empress Dowager Cixi as the Governor-General of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang to sign the "Treaty of Xin Chou" with the Eight-Power Allied Forces, and the indemnity 400 million 50 million silver. Although Li Hongzhang was known as the "diplomatic expert" of the Qing Dynasty, almost all of the more than 30 diplomatic treaties he signed in his later years were humiliating. However, was this really Li Hongzhang's fault? In fact, he was more of an executor of the will of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, such as Empress Dowager Cixi. Under the oppression of the great powers, he helplessly became the role of the Qing government being beaten.
On November 7th, 1901, Li Hongzhang, who was already seriously ill and vomiting blood, was forced by a Russian envoy to sign a treaty between China and Russia an hour before his death. Before his death, he kept his eyes open and passed away at the age of 78 after being told by those around him, "We can handle the unfinished business. Please rest assured." From his words when he was 20 years old, "My husband holds a Wu hook with one hand, and his spirit is higher than a hundred-foot building. Who has written history for ten thousand years? Three thousand miles away, he wants to be enfeoffed." to his last words, "Autumn wind, sword, solitary minister's tears, sunset, flag, general altar." The overseas dust has not yet subsided, please don't take it lightly. We have seen his life from ambitious to sad and helpless ending. Li Hongzhang made mistakes during his decades in power in the late Qing Dynasty, but in that turbulent era, could anyone else have done better than him?