boyutpedia Chapter 256: No Pay in Late Qing Dynasty
Chapter 256: No Pay in Late Qing Dynasty
[Speaking of which, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang were both subordinates and students of Zeng Guofan.
We mentioned earlier that Lin Zexu and Zuo Zongtang had a night conversation. At that time, Lin Zexu talked about the issue of Xinjiang, which more or less influenced Zuo Zongtang.
Zuo Zongtang was one of the few people who understood both frontier defense and coastal defense. He served as the governor-general of Fujian and Zhejiang, and also as the governor-general of Shaanxi and Gansu. It can be said that he had a complete understanding of the situation in the northwest and southeast regions.
When the court was focusing on the coastal areas, Zuo Zongtang was very concerned about the issue of Xinjiang. He believed that Tsarist Russia would pose a serious threat to the northwestern border. He wanted to strengthen the rule over Xinjiang and consolidate Xinjiang's border defense to resist the invasion of Tsarist Russia.
Since Zuo Zongtang disagreed with the coastal defense faction in the court, he also began to get involved in the debate between "coastal defense" and "border defense."
"If you remove the barriers, I will retreat an inch and my crown will advance a foot."
Zuo Zongtang opposed Li Hongzhang's proposal to sacrifice frontier defense to preserve coastal defense. He believed that coastal defense and frontier defense should not be neglected, and Xinjiang was a very important strategic location.
Use the historical experience of the early Qing Dynasty in pacifying the Dzungar tribe to illustrate this.
There is also a famous saying: "To restore Xinjiang is to protect Mongolia, to protect Mongolia is to defend the capital."
Zuo Zongtang's views are as follows: 1. Coastal defense is equally important; 2. Coastal defense should not and does not need to divert funds from frontier defense; 3. Xinjiang can be completely recovered by "combining suppression and appeasement."
Zuo Zongtang analyzed in detail why Western countries were unable to compete for Xinjiang and why the southeastern coast was in a period of stability.
Zuo Zongtang was a man of action. After his analysis, he gave a specific strategy for recovering Xinjiang. He listed how to deploy troops, which route to take into Xinjiang, and how to deal with logistics.
The facts on paper refuted all of Li Hongzhang's so-called views. As soon as Zuo Zongtang made his move, Hunan Governor Wang Wenshao, Shandong Governor Ding Baozhen and others stood on his side and supported the frontier defense.
Because Zuo Zongtang's factual arguments moved the military minister Wenxiang, Wenxiang also changed from supporting Li Hongzhang's coastal defense to supporting Zuo Zongtang's frontier defense.
＜The main difference between the two groups is their lack of understanding of the current international situation＞
＜In fact, the biggest enemy facing the northwest is Tsarist Russia, which is extremely greedy and very close to the Qing Dynasty. Britain and France, which threaten the southeastern coastal areas, also covet our territory, but for the time being, they are not as threatening as Tsarist Russia.＞
＜If Xinjiang is lost, the enemy will directly attack the Hexi Corridor. We have lost the depth of our territory, and the enemy can directly attack the capital. So Zuo Zongtang's idea is right.＞
＜One of the few achievements of the late Qing Dynasty was that they supported the recovery of Xinjiang this time. At least Xinjiang and Tibet were not lost before the fall of the country [covering face]＞
＜Man Qing tried his best＞
＜Actually, although I always curse the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty gives people a feeling that they can still hold on if they try hard [covering face] If it were the Song Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, they would have given their heads to the British in the Lin Zexu incident [dog head]＞
＜Zuo Zongtang's response shows that he is a man who can get things done. Only someone who fully understands the reality can sort out the items so clearly.＞
[Emperor Zhengde of Ming Dynasty Zhu Houzhao: Huh?! Why are you talking about the Ming Dynasty for no reason! ! !]
[Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin: They are all descendants of the spineless Zhao Guangyi]
[Tang Taizong Li Shimin: So, China's current territory seems to be similar to that of the late Qing Dynasty]
[Du Ruhui, Tang Zhenguan Year 3: I probably understand the complex feelings of later Chinese people towards the Qing Dynasty. They are angry at their lack of struggle.]
……
Emperor Shenzong of Song, Zhao Xu, was furious. "Look at what this comment says! This is too much!"
"What do you mean if it was the Song Dynasty, we would just give our heads to the British?! I will never do such a thing!"
Wang Anshi didn't know what to say, because in history, there was indeed an emperor in the Song Dynasty who killed his own general in order to negotiate peace...
……
The morale of the Song army soldiers was high as they won victory after victory against the Jin soldiers.
After reading this sentence in the comments section of the light curtain, they quickly thought of the previous emperor who seemed to want to do the same thing...
Kill your own general and give him to the enemy.
Thank the light curtain, thank God, such an emperor finally died.
General Yue will never suffer such a fate again!
And they will eventually become warriors who regain their homeland!
……
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, "What the hell?! Do you think our Ming Dynasty is a weak Song Dynasty?"
"How could he kill his own general?"
"Yes, yes, absolutely not! Fourth Brother, do you think it was your unworthy descendants who did this..."
After hearing what Qin Wang Zhu Chong said, Zhu Di flatly denied it.
"Absolutely not. They all believe that the emperor will die for the country and will not do such things!"
"Haha, you make it sound like your children and grandchildren are all very strong-willed..." Jin Wang Zhu Gang also followed suit and mocked, "What about the Fort Sect...?"
When it comes to Emperor Baozong Zhu Qizhen, Zhu Di has nothing to say.
……
"Who is this idiot who dares not want Xinjiang? Who wants to give it up? I fought so hard to get this place!!!" Emperor Qianlong Xuanye cursed.
No matter how I look at Li Hongzhang, I just don't like him.
This person has bad intentions and cannot be used.
"Xinjiang has been lost, and Shaanxi and Gansu cannot be defended. Do you want to fight a capital defense war like the Ming Dynasty?"
……
[4 Zuo Zongtang's Pre-War Preparations
In 1875, the first year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the Qing government appointed Zuo Zongtang, the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, as the Imperial Commissioner to supervise military affairs in Xinjiang.
He sent troops to conquer Yakub Beg and recover Xinjiang.
Zuo Zongtang was 64 years old that year. He wrote in a letter to a friend: "I am exhausted from serving my country at an old age, and I have no time to care about anything else."
When Zuo Zongtang went to the battlefield, in order to show his determination to recover Xinjiang, he used a cart to pull a coffin with him. This was called "carrying a coffin on the Western Expedition", which greatly boosted morale.
A total of 8 troops were mobilized for this expedition. In order to transport food, Zuo Zongtang used camels in addition to vehicles and mules.
Although the Qing Dynasty agreed to Zuo Zongtang's plan to recover Xinjiang, it was unable to provide enough military funds for Zuo Zongtang to go on the expedition due to internal and external difficulties. Zuo Zongtang reported to the court that the military expenditure was 1000 million taels, but the court could only "promise" to allocate 500 million taels.
Here I will give you some basic knowledge about what the court’s so-called promise is.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the government was in a tight financial situation. It was unrealistic to say that the Ministry of Revenue would pay all the 1 million taels, because there was simply not that much money. So what should we do? So there was the "co-financing", which meant that the court would provide assistance to the economically backward provinces by allowing the provinces with rich tax revenue to allocate funds according to regulations.
But can the Qing Dynasty now have "cooperative funding"? The answer is: no.
After the two Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion, life was difficult in all parts of the country. Even those who seemed wealthy did not have extra money.
Therefore, the promise made by the court was completely an empty promise. 】
＜Carrying the coffin to the west [like]＞
＜Zuo Gong's Eternal Life＞
＜Qing Dynasty, I was right about you, you are still the same as always＞
＜I am really angry. I have no money now. I gave all my money to foreigners. Let me count how much money I have to give away later... You don’t feel bad about giving away hundreds of millions of silver, right? [Angry]＞
＜Isn’t this just a blank check? Nothing, nothing but help…＞
＜Zuo Gong had a hard time. I always thought that to recover Xinjiang, I just had to go there, but I didn’t expect there were so many things behind it [sigh]＞
[Tang Taizong Li Shimin: The dynasty was already short of money at the end of its reign, and it still had to pay huge indemnities]
[Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty Aixinjueluo Xuanye: I can’t even pay the military salaries, and you still want compensation!!!]
[Emperor Wu of Han Liu Che: Zuo Zongtang has a hard time. This battle is not easy to fight.]
[Huo Qubing in the fifth year of Han Yuanshou: What should I do if the court doesn’t give me money? Find a rich businessman…?]
……
Emperor Qianlong Hongli looked at the word "cooperative funding" on the screen and fell silent.
The Qing Dynasty he took over was a thriving dynasty, and he only needed to follow the path laid out in advance. He was shocked and angry about the fact that the court had no money.
……
When Emperor Daoguang Minning saw the light curtain saying that the court had no money, he accepted it well.
"Anyway, my life is not easy now. It will definitely be even harder in a few decades."
Thinking of the precarious situation of the Qing Dynasty, he felt a headache and even wanted to say: Why can't we just end it directly? It's too torturous!
……