Beiyang Navy and the Summer Palace: Who Moved Whose Funds?
Cixi loves pleasure. She tried several times to rebuild the Yuanmingyuan, which had just been burnt down by the British and French allied forces, but the cost was too high, which was rejected by a group of princes and ministers who opposed it explicitly or implicitly, such as Prince Gong's formula, Prince Alcohol's formula and Li Hongzhang's. Since then, "building a garden" has always been her "complex".
1888 When the Beiyang Navy officially became an army, its strength greatly exceeded that of the Japanese Navy. However, in the six years before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, due to the shortage of funds, it was difficult to acquire another ship or update a gun, and even normal maintenance was difficult. On the contrary, in the past six years, Japan has acquired two new ships on average every year. The Japanese emperor even saved court expenses and set aside "internal funds" to pay for shipbuilding and buying ships. By contrast, what can you say? By the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the speed and firepower of the Japanese fleet had greatly surpassed that of beiyang fleet. In fact, the outcome of the Sino-Japanese naval battle has been decided at this time.
The construction of the park officially began under the grandiose name of preparing for the Kunming Lake Naval Academy, and the funds naturally came from the navy. Everyone knows that this is "selling dog meat by hanging sheep's head"
The huge Beiyang navy was once the pride of the Qing Dynasty, but it was not as good as the Japanese navy and was directly related to corruption.
Cixi built the Summer Palace for herself with huge naval military expenditure, and built the "Three Seas Project" (North Sea, China Sea and South China Sea), which is the most obvious symbol of the decadent political situation in the late Qing Dynasty. In the case of internal and external troubles, financial bankruptcy and precarious rule, she can still use huge military expenditure to build luxury gardens to satisfy her desire to "take care of herself" and have fun. No one dares to discourage her, so it cannot be said that the "luck" of the Qing Dynasty will run out.
Cixi loves pleasure. She tried several times to rebuild the Yuanmingyuan, which had just been burnt down by the British and French allied forces, but the cost was too high, which was rejected by a group of princes and ministers who opposed it explicitly or implicitly, such as Prince Gong's formula, Prince Alcohol's formula and Li Hongzhang's. Since then, "building a garden" has always been her "complex". /kloc-in the winter of 0/877, under the suppression of Cixi several times, the game formula has lost power, but it is becoming more and more popular. Perhaps it was to make up for the "fault" of opposing the rebuilding of Yuanmingyuan in those years, so that I was more favored in front of Cixi. The game formula wanted to rebuild Qingyi Garden, which was burned together with Yuanmingyuan and was originally built in Qianlong period, for Cixi in the name of setting up a machine bureau by Kunming Lake, but it was blocked by people and failed to be realized. However, Yi formula has been thinking about asking pets to "repair the garden" for the Queen Mother ever since. I've been worried about this for nearly ten years. 1886, Cixi wanted to build a garden to "support her life" on the pretext that she was about to finish listening to her political comments. At this time, she was ordered by Cixi to inspect Beiyang Haiphong. She had an idea and found the best reason to repair the garden for Cixi. She quickly went to "Please restore the old system of Kunming Lake". On that day, I received an imperial edict from Cixi. In this way, the name of the naval yamen, which has just been established for one year, is "water exercise", which is actually the responsibility of repairing the garden for the queen mother. In the "water exercise" of Kunming Lake, the emperor and the empress dowager naturally have to "make good luck", and all kinds of facilities cannot be simple. The construction of the park officially began under the grandiose name of preparing for the Kunming Lake Naval Academy, and the funds naturally came from the navy. Everyone knows that this is "selling dog meat by hanging sheep's head". Weng Tonghe sarcastically said in his diary: "It is easy to build Bohai Sea with Kunming Lake and exchange Luanyang with Wanshou Mountain." "Bohai Sea" refers to the main defense area of Beiyang Navy; "Luanyang" is another name of Chengde, which means actually building a palace similar to a summer resort at the expense of coastal defense. But Weng, who has been in power for a while, can only vent his dissatisfaction in his diary and dare not express it publicly, let alone others!
1in mid-March, 887, the Qing court issued an imperial edict in the name of Guangxu, renaming Qingyi Garden as the Summer Palace. Soon, the internal and external schools of the Navy Academy were built, and the "modern" equipment such as electric lights and boiler rooms were also installed. Gardening for "Lafayette" is of course a top priority, and relevant officials dare not neglect it at all. For example, Li Hongzhang was mostly responsible for purchasing and installing the latest electric lights from foreign countries, and the naval yamen was also in charge of railways at that time. 189 1 In the summer of, Li wrote to the naval yamen to urge the strategic appropriation for the Kanto Railway, but first he had to report in detail the situation of buying lamps for the Summer Palace: "The lamps and machinery of the Summer Palace were separated, and they went out of Beijing in batches and sent to Chengzhou to wait on the furnishings." In the West Garden near the Summer Palace, a foreign company is responsible for "replacing the electric light boiler" and will soon ship it to Tianjin. "The smell material is still exquisite, and it will be sent to Beijing for replacement as soon as it arrives." Finally, briefly mention the problem of road construction funds. It can be seen that asking for money is not easy. However, by 1893, in order to celebrate the birthday of Lafayette, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development still had to "borrow" the funds of the Navy's Kanto Railway, because the annual special fund for road construction was just 2 million Liang. Li Hongzhang had no choice but to do so. The Kanto Railway, which had been repaired to Shanhaiguan and purchased land in Jinzhou, had to be stopped at a critical moment before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War.
Cixi insisted on "repairing the garden" for herself and was elated, but this was an important reason for the failure of the Sino-Japanese War. The fiasco of the Sino-Japanese War was only an important step towards the demise of the Qing Dynasty.
From 1886 to 1894, the Summer Palace has been under constant repair. It is difficult to verify the exact figure of how much naval funds were spent, because the rulers actually "have a guilty conscience" and are afraid of being known by the world, so they have long been invited by the naval yamen to write off their miscellaneous fees without having to register with the household department. Accurate data will always be a secret. According to the research and calculation of relevant historical materials, most researchers believe that the cost is as high as 20 million to 32 million taels of silver.
In short, when the Beiyang Navy officially became an army in 1888, its strength greatly exceeded that of the Japanese Navy. However, in the six years before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, due to the shortage of funds, it was difficult to acquire another ship or update an artillery, and even normal maintenance was difficult. 189 1 April, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development simply explicitly requested to stop buying naval guns and reduce naval personnel. Normal maintenance cannot be guaranteed in the future. On the contrary, in the past six years, Japan has acquired two new ships on average every year. The Japanese emperor even saved court expenses and set aside "internal funds" to pay for shipbuilding and buying ships. By contrast, what can you say? It is also in these years that the world's naval shipbuilding level and naval gun technology have developed rapidly, and the ship speed and gun firing rate have been greatly improved. By the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the speed and firepower of the Japanese fleet had greatly surpassed that of beiyang fleet. In fact, the outcome of the Sino-Japanese naval battle has been decided at this time.
Cixi and others certainly know that such garden renovation will cause strong dissatisfaction among the world. Therefore, in the imperial edict issued in the name of Guangxu, they particularly emphasized: "This move was accepted by the emperor's filial piety, and the palace was not allowed. Because of the need of work and use, it is also harmless to the country. " The so-called "envy" refers to the nameless miscellaneous tax; "Sinong" was originally the official name in charge of money and grain in the Han Dynasty, but in the Qing Dynasty, because the household department was in charge of money, grain and land tax, this refers to the "regular payment" in charge of the household department. Of course, the naval yamen should emphasize that the special fund for the purchase of ships has not been used, and "Today, Wanshou Mountain is preparing for the Queen Mother to read water exercises everywhere, and in the year of Daqing, the emperor bowed himself to his subjects and wished them a happy land." It is different from ordinary people who only travel to Henan for good luck. "'Don't move the right amount' and' don't damage the national economy' are different from the general ones, just for good luck in visiting Henan." Shattered glass, to be exact, is a pure silver move here.
Obviously, only in the name of the navy can the garden be repaired "justifiably", and it can be repaired skillfully without the name of the garden. As a Cixi, there are still "legitimate" reasons, let alone others! Therefore, the "housekeeper" in China really understands this way of "clearing the name". Many projects are under various pretexts, actually for their own interests or the interests of a small group.
Building the Summer Palace for Empress Dowager Cixi in the name of "training the navy" once again proves the importance of restricting government power and public finance. When power is not restricted and "secret finance" is implemented, those in power can of course control finance at will. However, those in power are free to "spend money", but in the end, the interests of the whole society, including the rulers, are greatly damaged. Cixi insisted on "repairing the garden" for herself and was elated, but this was an important reason for the failure of the Sino-Japanese War. The fiasco of the Sino-Japanese War was only an important step towards the demise of the Qing Dynasty.
For a huge empire, a garden may not be worth mentioning. However, it was many such details that led to the failure of the Sino-Japanese War. The occurrence of many such details just shows that the whole system has been destroyed.