Who is Yi in history?
Originally, the best candidate for the government and prime minister of naval affairs in the Great Qing Dynasty should be Prince Gong Yi Kuang, but Empress Dowager Cixi ousted Yi Kuang and reused Yi Kuang.
1864, 19 In July, Li Hongzhang defeated the Taiping Army, marched into the south of the Yangtze River and saved Shanghai. At the insistence of Prince Gong, he was named first-class earl, first-class Su and first-class binocular Hualing by the Qing court and took over as the governor of Jiangsu. At this time, he was only 42 years old. From then on, he became a real vassal. It took Li Hongzhang 1 1 year from his debut to his official career.
1870, it was also Prince Gong who urged Li Hongzhang to be the governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang, which was the most important position in the Qing Dynasty. This year, he was only 48 years old and reached the peak of his career.
Prince Gong was in the DPRK, and he was one of the few people who insisted on reusing Manchu officials. He shared the same views with another Manchu official, Su Shun, but he was bolder and more radical than Su Shun.
Under the egg wing of Prince Gong Yi Kuang, the growth and development of Huai Group far surpassed that of Xiang Group. In addition to Li Hongzhang, governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang, who was the first official in the Qing Dynasty, his eldest brother Li Zhanghan went to Governor Huguang to actively assist him in preparing for coastal defense. Subordinate Zhang Shusheng, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Hongzhang was appointed governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang during Ding You's period. Liu Mingchuan was the first governor of Taiwan Province Province; Liu Guan to the governor of Sichuan; Pan is the governor of Yunnan and Guangxi. All belong to the Huai nationality.
Li Hongzhang summed up his life and said, "Junior imperial examinations, joining the army in the prime of life, border defense in the middle age and westernization in his later years have all gone up."
However, all this is because: at the bottom, there are teachers Zeng Guofan's training and recommendation; At the top, it is the appreciation and promotion of Prince Gong.
The candidate for the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang must meet two conditions: first, he has the power and talent to unify the army and ensure the security of the capital; Second, there is experience and ability in handling diplomacy. Li Hongzhang was finally selected by the Qing court because of his high position and experience in handling westernization in Shanghai.
After Li Hongzhang took up this post, the influence and power of Huai clan expanded so much that people commented that Li Hongzhang was "sitting in Beiyang, holding state affairs far away". All internal affairs and diplomacy, the official residence always depends on it, and it is the most powerful among the Han ministers. "
It should be noted that Li Hongzhang and his Huai clique rose and flourished in the late Qing Dynasty, and class contradictions, ethnic contradictions, conflicts between Manchu and Han officials and people, and even conflicts between monarch and minister were all very sharp historical periods. The Huai clan represented by Li Hongzhang maintained the destiny of the Qing government in politics, military affairs, diplomacy, culture and economy. So as to fundamentally shake the concept of Manchu-Han border region and truly establish the political status of Han members. It also laid a political foundation for Kang Liang's "Reform Movement of 1898".
With the increasing prominence of Li Hongzhang's power, the Huai clique developed from a military group into a unique political group, military group, military enterprise group and talent group in the Qing Dynasty.
Thanks to this, and the trust and reliance of Prince Gong Yi Kuang, Li Hongzhang also directly managed and participated in the diplomacy of the Qing Dynasty as a minister of Beiyang, and competed with the Prime Minister's yamen to form two major diplomatic departments, which led to a very strange situation in the political arena of the Qing Dynasty: the official documents of China's diplomatic envoys abroad were not only sent to the Prime Minister's yamen, but also sent to Li Hongzhang. Even Li Hongzhang can give instructions directly to the foreign minister without going through the Prime Minister's yamen. All these show Li Hongzhang's political influence in the Great Qing Dynasty, the court's dependence on him, the degree of love and so on. , at that time, no one can match the Manchu ministers.
If Li Hongzhang is the initiator of the self-improvement movement in the late Qing Dynasty; Then, Prince Gong is a positive and powerful promoter. Since he became the governor of Jiangsu Province, Li Hongzhang has established a profound friendship with Prince Gong for more than 20 years. They appreciate and respect each other, and strive for the self-improvement of China. Often, Li Hongzhang is in the bottom and Prince Gong is in the top, and they cooperate closely, which effectively promotes the sustained and extensive development of the self-improvement movement.
Li Hongzhang was one of the first ministers who realized that China had suffered a "once-in-a-thousand-year change" and needed to be opened up. He put forward the proposition that "poverty means change, and change means communication".
Facing the aggressive situation of the great powers, Li Hongzhang took a completely different attitude. He insists on dealing with foreign countries with an open attitude. His self-improvement thought matured in the 1970s, and its fundamental guiding ideology was "external demand and internal reform". The purpose of harmony is to create an international environment conducive to reform and construction, and the starting point is for reform and survival. Prince Gong Yi Kuang is a staunch supporter of Li Hongzhang.
Li Hongzhang was the main pioneer of various modern undertakings in Qing Dynasty.
1862, Zeng Guofan set up an ordnance factory in Anqing and Li Hongzhang set up a gun factory in Shanghai, which started the construction of modern military industry in China.
1864, Li Hongzhang established the Western Artillery Bureau in Suzhou.
1864, Li Hongzhang asked the Qing court to reform the imperial examination system. With the approval and support of Prince Gong Yi Kuang, the Qing court successively opened foreign language, military, western medicine, telegraph and other schools to train technical personnel.
From 65438 to 0865, Li Hongzhang founded the first large-scale arsenal in China-Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration.
1865, Li Hongzhang moved Suzhou Artillery Bureau to Nanjing and expanded to establish Jinling Manufacturing Bureau.
1868, China's first ship "Kuoji" made by Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration was launched. By 1885, * * * had built 15 warships. In addition, a large number of arms, machines and steelmaking were manufactured, which became the beginning of the iron and steel industry in old China.
1870, Li Hongzhang took over Tianjin Machinery Bureau. And expanded, in addition to manufacturing all kinds of arms, but also undertook the repair of warships, ships and river diggers. And try to build a mine in 1877.
1872, Li Hongzhang established China Merchants Bureau, the first shipping bureau in China.
Starting from 1872, Li Hongzhang began to send overseas students. From 1872 to 1886, Li Hongzhang and other self-improvement factions sent more than 200 international students to Europe and America. After returning to China, most of these overseas students have become the backbone of science, technology and engineering such as diplomacy and military affairs, and become a new generation of intellectuals in China.
1878, Li Hongzhang established Kaiping Mining Bureau in Tianjin, which was the first mining bureau in China to use machines to mine coal. Coal production started at 188 1 year.
1879, Li Hongzhang successfully tried to set up a telegraph line between Haikou Fort in Beitang, Dajie and Tianjin.
1880, Tianjin established the General Administration of Telegraph, becoming the first telegraph office in China.
188 1 year, Jiangnan manufacturing general bureau established gunpowder bureau, and built seven cannons for Tianjin Dagu fort.
188 1 year, the first railway built in China-Tangshan-Xugezhuang Railway was completed.
1890, Jiangnan manufacturing general bureau added the first steel-making plant in modern China, becoming a large-scale comprehensive factory in China with more than 2,000 workers. China was unique at that time.
It can be said that the birth and development of all machinery manufacturing, coal mining, railways, telegrams, ship transportation and textile industries in modern China were all promoted by Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang has made indelible contributions to running new schools and sending overseas students.
These achievements of the self-improvement movement and its development process have also promoted the reform and development in related fields, such as politics, culture, society, education and folk customs. In this way, the self-improvement movement not only embodies its technical efficacy, but more importantly, it drives the whole society with a demonstration function, and the power radiated by the self-improvement movement slowly promotes the changes of the people and the upper class.
To this end, Li Hongzhang also creatively put forward three suggestions to the Qing court: first, cultivate brand-new talents; The second is to develop industry and commerce in an all-round way; The third is to ask the court to save extra expenses.
History has well proved that the sluggish development of modern China and the failure of the self-improvement movement are closely related to the failure to implement these ideas.
If Prince Gong Yi Kuang has been in power, the self-improvement movement will inevitably form an irresistible climate, and the modern history of China will be rewritten. However, history cannot be assumed.
Although Li Hongzhang is a master among ordinary people, he can't get rid of mediocre thoughts.
He knows very well in his heart that although he holds heavy power, the court is very afraid of him. Otherwise, why not let it enter the military department? In addition, although I was relied on by the imperial court in diplomacy, I was never granted the power of a council secretary in internal affairs, and I have always been in the position of "foreign minister". What's more, I also made many enemies in North Korea. Almost every step will be obstructed and attacked by other factions in North Korea. Therefore, Li Hongzhang's corresponding strategy is: to preserve our sanity, to do our duty, and not to "aim too high".
Therefore, comparing the two leaders of the self-improvement movement, we can clearly find that Li Hongzhang did more than he said, or just did nothing; Zhang Zhidong said he did more than he did, or he just didn't say anything.
This is not because he is overly sensitive, but because various forces in North Korea are intertwined and influence each other; Moreover, Empress Dowager Cixi's scheming is like the sea, and the trend of strong women monopolizing power is becoming increasingly obvious. Prince Gong of the DPRK still shivers, not to mention Li Hongzhang. He can only rely on his many years of official career, accumulated sophistication and cunning, and dare not slack off.
Is the talent of the whole country, when tyranny, is a slave.
Empress Dowager Cixi dismissed Yi Xin and began to use Yi Yin, which was unexpected by Li Hongzhang, just like giving him a blow. In his letter to Xu Gengshen, a newcomer to the military department and the prime minister's yamen, he said from the bottom of his heart: "The internal and external situation changes frequently, which is unexpected." At the same time, I hope to get Xu Gengshen's care in a trembling tone: "It is difficult to help the poor by relying on the public and the private. Although my brother has slandered the whole world, he will be the lucky one in Shan Ye one day. "
Li Hongzhang was nominally a master of Wenhua Hall in Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, this position was actually equivalent to the prime minister or records in the history of China. He is the second person in the centralized government, second only to the emperor, second only to one person and higher than ten thousand people. However, in the Qing Dynasty, the imperial power was highly concentrated, surpassing all previous dynasties, and the position of a university student in Wenhua Hall had become a virtual position and honorary title without real power.
Li Hongzhang has never been to the Central Committee. As a minister of the Han nationality, under the special political system controlled by Manchu, especially under the supervision of Empress Dowager Cixi, he must have someone in the DPRK, someone to rely on and someone to support him. This is why the Chief Military Minister and Prince Gong Yixin are so important to him!
On April 1865 and 1 day, the Western Empress Dowager reprimanded Yi Xin for using Han people to discuss politics, but Yi Xin did not agree. The Western Empress Dowager said: "Forget it, we don't want this world, let's give it to the Han people!" He also said, "If you make everything difficult for me, I will fire you."
Yi Xin said, "I am the sixth son of the first emperor. You can change my status, not my prince! " Yi Xin knelt for a long time and suddenly stood up. After the Western Empress Dowager shouted that Yixin was going to hit her, the eunuch rushed out.
The next day, the Western Empress Dowager issued a personal imperial edict, accusing Yixin of being arrogant and ready to go straight to the military plane to discuss politics. On June 1 1, Han Zhanke, the minister of princes, was invited to give a performance: "Prince Gong deserves his punishment and can still be appointed." After the Western Empress Dowager was ordered to walk in the Imperial Palace and take charge of general affairs. On may 8, life was still on a military plane, and politics was no longer discussed.