Chapter 164 Li Hongzhang

(Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. This is absolutely true.)
(The destruction of a country must start with the destruction of its people. Although this group of people came from an unjust background, they also represent the lowest class of people.)
(It started as a spark, but now it's growing bigger and bigger!)
……

Every dynasty, every time and space.

From emperors and generals to ordinary people, everyone looked up at the scene that appeared in the sky at that moment.

In the picture, there was only one Boxer group at the beginning, but soon, Boxers were everywhere.

Those dark and ordinary faces spread and grew rapidly like weeds, eventually reaching the point where even the Empress Dowager Cixi had to pay attention.

"God helped the Boxers, because the devils were causing trouble in the Central Plains.

When it doesn't rain, the ground is dry, and the church blocks the sky.

The gods were angry, the immortals were annoyed, and they all came down the mountain to teach us their fists.

Great France is terrified, England, Russia and Germany are crying.

Kill all the foreign devils, and unify the country and take over the mountains!"

First, such slogans were heard in many rural areas and mountains, and gradually, they spread to towns and cities.

Finally, enter Beijing!

They were all ordinary farmers, and fighting against Western powers was the job of the Qing soldiers, so it was never their turn.

But seeing that their country was now in ruins, they rose up in anger and were willing to fight for the hope of a great country in the future.

This is fighting against foreigners on behalf of the Qing government!

"How did the corrupt people awaken? I think I saw it..."

Tang Dynasty.

Li Bai was lying on a small boat, drinking and looking at the scene in the sky.

A smile appeared on his face: "That's good..."

When a great country is about to collapse, the first to awaken are not those in power, nor the ministers, nor the scholars, but the peasants, beggars, and sedan chair bearers living at the bottom of society.

Most of them have not received much education and can barely read, but in the face of national crisis, they are willing to sacrifice their lives and shed their blood.

They call it "romance", "duty", and a bright road to self-salvation.

"Kill them! To have enough food to eat and to give our children books to read, we must overthrow the foreigners and fight for power!"

In the uprisings and encirclements against foreigners, they raised their swords and shouted, using their flesh and blood to resist the foreigners' spears and weapons.

Some even took out the talismans and spells they had just drawn and used them to fight against the foreigners.

They believe that the gods will grant them bodies that are invulnerable to swords and guns. This is their belief, but they do not recognize the Western church.

In the eyes of the emperors, this behavior may be feudal or even ignorant, but at that time, it gave them endless courage, and they were not afraid of bloodshed and death.

This courage shocked emperors of all dynasties.

There is also an illusion that the opportunity to found the country most likely lies with this group of peasant beggars.

Over time, Empress Dowager Cixi also approved of the Boxers' actions.

"In the past, the Red Flower Society, the White Lotus Society, and the Taiping Army were all rioters, all of whom wanted to disrupt the Qing Dynasty! The Boxers supported the Qing Dynasty and fought against the foreigners, just like the loyal children of the Qing Dynasty! However, the most precious thing for this court is always stability. No matter how good a thing is, once it gets out of hand, it is no longer a good thing!"

In the court, Cixi said this and expressed her admiration for the Boxers' actions in fighting against foreigners.

There is no better moment.

[However, the Boxer Rebellion's actions were soon protested by Western powers, and Cixi adopted an attitude of superficial support but actual connivance, which aroused the anger of Western powers. ]

[That year was the Gengzi Year. The Boxer Rebellion reached its climax in the north, completely angering the great powers. In the name of helping the Qing government suppress the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight-Nation Alliance was established and captured the city of Tianjing in one fell swoop. Empress Dowager Cixi fled the Forbidden City overnight.]

With the emergence of writing, the joy in the eyes of emperors of various dynasties showed signs of diminishing.

"Everything that goes up must come down, everything that goes up must come down..."

Great Qin, Ying Zheng sighed helplessly.

From the starting point, the Boxer Rebellion was undoubtedly a success as it started from the lower-class peasants and developed to the point where 100,000 people entered Beijing, and even caused the great powers to form an alliance to suppress it.

But in the end, the Boxer Rebellion was doomed to fail.

Because the resistance of such a group of lower-class people was destined to be suppressed by the fully armed Eight-Nation Powers.

However, there is something darker yet to come.

After the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, they launched an all-out war with the Boxers.

It was a battle between cold weapons, faith and advanced guns and artillery.

There is no comparison.

What appeared before the emperors were inhumane massacres and executions.

Streets, farmhouses, stations, churches... killing and blood can be seen everywhere.

The air was filled with a strong smell of blood.

Pairs of terrified and frightened eyes looked at the foreign guns pointed at them.

They knelt down and begged for mercy, but it was useless and they were shot to death.

Those who joined the Boxer Rebellion were just peasants!!

Born in troubled times, there was nothing they could do. They had just started the uprising, but now they were being massacred like this.

Human life is so insignificant and desolate here.

However, more people rose up in resistance.

"It's time to make achievements. The foreign devils who oppress us are right in front of us. Killing one will pay for it, killing two will be a profit, and killing three will be a relief to our ancestors!"

"Hahahaha!"

The heroic laughter echoed throughout the street intersection.

Large groups of people rushed out fearlessly.

They have nothing, but they have no shortage of people.

They are also just people.

Otherwise, what did they rely on to launch a series of uprisings to encircle and suppress foreigners?
Relying on a sharp rusty knife, on talismans and spells, or on statues of gods?

neither.

It depends on the people who keep coming forward.

When one person falls down, the people behind him continue to charge. When one person falls down again, the people behind him continue to charge.

"what!!!"

Poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people.

Faced with death, they were fearless and rushed forward with their eyes wide open.

The emperors even saw a senior brother of the Boxer Rebellion, clearing a path with his flesh and blood, and he kept running even when bullets pierced his body.

Finally, he ran to a cannon and blocked the muzzle with his body.

"boom!"

The cannon fired, and the eldest brother's body was instantly blown into pieces.

"Brothers from all regiments, please pay attention! The imperial army is coming!!" Suddenly, someone shouted in the picture.

All the rebellious Boxer soldiers looked back.

The ground is shaking, and a large number of people are rushing here.

It’s the Qing army!
They ran excitedly towards the Qing army.

In their view, the arrival of the Qing army at this time meant that they had not abandoned them, but were fighting side by side with them to fight against the Allied Forces!
"boom!"

However, a sharp gunshot was heard and soldiers from the Qing army opened fire.

The eldest senior brother who was rushing in the front was shot and fell to the ground.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

More and more Qing troops began to open fire, helping the coalition forces of foreign powers to suppress the Boxer Rebellion.

From then on, the only Boxer soldiers left resisting fell down, all of them were shot and fell down.

The eldest brother who fell first did not die. He just fell to the ground, looking at the Qing army shooting at them, tears flowing from his unwilling eyes.

He cried and yelled: "Why? Why... We are clearly helping the Qing Dynasty to destroy the foreigners..."

The eldest senior brother fell down while spitting blood unwillingly.

This is just a small microcosm of it.

Too many Boxers had red eyes and looked at the Qing army who were pointing guns at them with hatred in their hearts.

"The world is dark! We are the only ones who dare to stand up and resist with our flesh and blood!"

"If you wipe us out, who will fight the foreigners for you?!"

They used all their strength to roar loudly towards the sky.

"Bang! Bang!"

The sky and the earth were dark. The roar seemed to have robbed all the Boxers of their energy and spirit. They were left with no strength left and dropped their swords and talismans, then collapsed limply to the ground.

The foreigners' guns and artillery failed to defeat them.

The suppression by the Eight-Nation Alliance did not scare them.

But a small Qing army defeated them.

"Cough cough cough..."

Datang.

Seeing this extremely dark scene, Li Shimin felt a tightness in his chest, his face turned pale, and he started coughing violently.

This is the most corrupt and darkest part of the imperial court, and it is now displayed vividly.

They couldn't bear to watch this and almost held their breath and gasped for air.

Sometimes, it only takes a moment to truly bring a person down.

He understands this feeling.

The Xuanwu Gate Incident is still vivid in our memory.

But now, he witnessed a scene even more tragic and chaotic than the Xuanwu Gate Incident, in which he personally killed his elder brother Li Jiancheng and fourth brother Li Yuanji.

"Are they... all dead?"

Big man.

Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun, looked at the sky and couldn't help whispering with a deep gaze.

He saw the soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance pulling the trigger at the unarmed and surrendering Boxers.

Due to their large numbers, they also gathered a large number of Boxers together, drove them to the riverside, and shot them all at once.

The youngest victim was even just a newborn baby!
He was stabbed to death while still in his mother's arms.

The incompetent imperial court remained inactive. Instead, in order to protect itself, it helped the Eight-Nation Alliance to massacre the survivors of the Boxer Rebellion.

Even after it was over, Qing officials sent two sedan chairs with a silk banner to commend the Eight-Nation Alliance, which read: Congratulations on your success!
"There is no hope. There is no hope for our country anymore..."

After the coalition forces entered the city, the entire capital was in ruins, with broken walls and corpses everywhere.

A Qing Dynasty man with a long braid sat on the ground with lifeless eyes, crying bitterly.

Next to them were the Allied forces carrying foreign guns and cannons.

They walked past the man in a show of strength and glanced at the long braid behind his head with contempt.

In their eyes, the long braids of Qing Dynasty men were a symbol of backwardness and barbarism.

But they did not bully the man. Instead, they came to his side, helped him up with false sincerity, and stood together to take a photo.

"Asshole!!!"

Seeing this, the emperors of various dynasties finally couldn't bear it anymore. They slapped the dragon throne hard and were furious.

"We are a great country with a nation as great as the sky. How could we have ever been bullied like this?"

"Is your backbone still there? I'm afraid it was broken by the foreign devils' guns and cannons?"

Has the country stood up?

It did stand up, but it was too short, and was kicked to the ground just as it stood up.

Fall deeper!

The scene changed, and the counting of words in the sky continued.

[From 1900 to 1901, the country went from a chaotic year to another year of absurdity and humiliation. In 1901, the Qing government signed the Boxer Protocol with countries.]

[1901 was also the last year of Li Hongzhang's life. That year, Li Hongzhang was years old.]

He went to negotiate with Prince Qing Wang Yixin.

From the moment it walked through the door, the country was doomed to lose its sovereignty and become a complete colony.

[On the day of arriving in Beijing, Li Hongzhang and Prince Qing began difficult negotiations with representatives of eleven countries, including Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Russia. Li Hongzhang and the other countries based their arguments on international law, stating that the Boxers were treasonous and that the royal family's previous declaration of war was issued under duress; they did not recognize that China was at war with the eleven countries, so the countries had no reason to cede territory, and China only had the obligation to compensate for military expenses. After many discussions, the powers determined a twelve-article treaty. Li Hongzhang and others "negotiated" with the various countries in accordance with the will of the Qing court, striving for "some remedies", but the powers were tough and refused to give in. It was delayed until January 1901, 1, the 15th year of the Guangxu period, when Li Hongzhang and Prince Qing signed the "Outline of Peace Negotiations"]

【Li Hongzhang began to cough up blood. He knew that he didn't have much time left, so he wanted to end the negotiations as soon as possible. But after the signing of the "Outline of Peace Negotiations", the Allied Forces showed no signs of withdrawing. The attitude of each country was that the amount of compensation must be set. At this time, Li Hongzhang no longer had the energy to argue with the foreigners. He had vomited blood to the point of "endangerment" and no longer had the energy to discuss the pros and cons with the foreigners face to face. Li Hongzhang lay on his sickbed, directing his subordinates to reduce the losses to the lowest point - from the 10 billion taels of silver proposed at the beginning to 4 million taels, to be paid off in 5000 years, with an annual interest rate of 39%; 4 million taels was a number set for 4 million Chinese, "one tael per person, as an insult." Li Hongzhang accepted the insult.

In 1901 (the th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign), the Boxer Protocol was signed. After returning from the signing, Li Hongzhang vomited blood in large mouthfuls - "purple-black, with large chunks", "coughed up phlegm and could not eat", and was diagnosed with a ruptured gastric blood vessel.

On September 1901, the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (November 7, ), Li Hongzhang died of illness in Beijing at the age of .

Li Hongzhang is dead.

But it wasn't until I was 78 that I realized this truth.

When Li Hongzhang was buried, his confidant Zhou Fu was extremely sad.

No matter what time, the only thing that remains unchanged for thousands of years is that a country's confidence comes from its strength.

【It seems that fate has come full circle. The failure of the Boxer Rebellion and the signing of the Boxer Protocol made the Chinese people realize that if they want to reform, it is not enough to use strong military force, but more importantly, a revolution in ideology.】

[First of all, freedom. Ask yourself, is this country free? From thoughts to actions and systems, everything is as cold as a cage. Do you feel numb and empty? If you feel numb for a long time, you will become stupid and ignorant.]

[It is difficult to fundamentally change one's mindset, but there are more than one people who have national justice in their hearts. There was once such a group of people who carried the lights of thousands of homes and the dawn of eternity on their shoulders. No matter how difficult it is, they will go ahead.]

(End of this chapter)