The short videos I watched from all dynasties

【 "Lin Zexu is coming to Beijing to meet the emperor"

Britain was the main culprit in opium smuggling. The biggest obstacle to banning opium was bribery in the opium trade and the covert resistance of corrupt officials.

Therefore, the person who goes to Guangzhou to ban smoking must be an official who is fair and honest, gets things done, has status, and can break the old customs in the officialdom.

Lin Zexu stood out from the crowd, his integrity and ability were different from those of the officials at that time, so Emperor Daoguang appointed Lin Zexu as the imperial commissioner to investigate and deal with the ban on opium.

The purpose of the visit led by Matalun in 1838 was to show Britain's military power to China, to support the opium smuggling activities at that time, to support equal exchanges between China and Britain, and to threaten that "naval ships can come to Guangdong at any time". However, the officials at that time did not understand what this passage really meant.

They never imagined that the "island barbarians" would really do it.

When Deng Tingzhen and others reported to the emperor on August 8, they said that the purpose of Matalun's visit to China was: first, to "inspect business" and second, to "change the old rules" (that is, not to use the word "report" to show that the two countries traded on an equal footing). Because the memorials they uploaded contained embellished content, the mainlanders' understanding of Europe and the United States was also inaccurate.

Therefore, Emperor Daoguang did not attach much importance to it after receiving it, and only wrote the three words "got it" in red ink.

[The instructions that Emperor Daoguang gave to Lin Zexu were: "Opium must be eradicated and border conflicts must not be provoked." Emperor Daoguang's ideas were really smart.

It took seven years, more than 10 million taels of silver, and 40,000 troops to quell the rebellion of Zhang Geer in the early years of Emperor Daoguang's reign.

The Qing Dynasty could no longer afford the financial spending. Emperor Daoguang believed that the Qing Dynasty could win the next war, but it could not afford to have any more unrest and huge financial expenditures.

At that time, officials in the court all speculated that banning opium would inevitably require the use of military force, but the scale of the use of military force should be just a small-scale fight.

When Lin Zexu was in Guangdong, he repeatedly assured Emperor Daoguang that there would be no major war. Therefore, in Emperor Daoguang's view, the outbreak of the Opium War was caused by Lin Zexu. However, we now understand that the Opium War was just a fig leaf that was lifted a little earlier.

【Since 1816, merchants have issued a guarantee to every foreign ship that it imports, stating that there is absolutely no opium smuggled in. This is clearly a lie.

On June 1839, 6, Lin Zexu destroyed opium in Humen.

On April 1840, 4, after three days of debate, the House of Commons of the British Parliament passed the cabinet's proposal to declare war on the Qing Dynasty by a narrow majority of 7 votes to 3.

While we are still under the illusion of peace, war has already appeared and quietly sneaked in on the other side without our knowledge.

In February 1840, the Portuguese in Macau reported that Britain would dispatch 2 warships from the mainland and India to China. On March 12, 1840, the British warship Druid arrived off the coast of Guangdong. Due to various sources of information, Lin Zexu attributed the news that the British army was going to invade China to rumors or false information.

By mid-June 1840, the British army had arrived at the coast of Guangdong with four warships, but Lin Zexu still believed in his memorial that this was just a large-scale armed smuggling of opium.

On June 6, British Expeditionary Force Naval Commander John Boehme led the first batch of troops to the outside of Humen Gate; on July 21, the British army occupied Zhoushan. The war was coming, which no one in the Qing Dynasty had expected.

【 Lin Zexu made a lot of efforts during that period. He had at least four translators who translated English books and newspapers for him. He also classified the information for reference. Lin Zexu was also the first person to advocate learning from the West. We call him the first person to open his eyes to the world!

Lin Zexu already knew so much British intelligence that he could be said to be the official who knew Britain best in the Qing Dynasty. But why didn't he see that this war was inevitable?

Because Lin Zexu found in various materials that the British king required merchants to respect Chinese laws, he believed that the opium smuggling trade was a private activity carried out by British merchants far away from their homeland in violation of the king's orders. The king and others did not know the truth about what was done by foreign merchants, and concluded that these people's actions did not have the support of the British king, and they could not influence the king's decision.

Therefore, he agreed with Emperor Daoguang at the very beginning to write directly to the King of England, asking him to discipline his subjects and "make sure they never dare to commit crimes again."

From the translated materials, Lin Zexu learned about Britain's geographical location, area, population, army, ships, etc.

It was these real data that made Lin Zexu mistakenly believe that Britain was not as strong as China. If Britain, which was weaker, sent troops on an expedition, not only would the journey be long, but it would also cause difficulties in supply, etc. He concluded that Britain would not do so.

[During the Opium War, Lin Zexu was sent to Yili by Emperor Daoguang in June 1841 to serve and atone for his sins.

Even though he was demoted, Lin Zexu was still very concerned about the development of the war. Regarding the difference between the two sides in military, he put forward eight key points: "good equipment, mature skills, strong courage, and united hearts."

＜ Lin Zexu later gave all his works, "Records of the Four Continents" and "Stories about Chinese and Foreign Countries", to his good friend Wei Yuan. Then Wei Yuan's "Illustrated Records of Maritime Countries" was not taken seriously in the Qing Dynasty and was lost in Japan, becoming one of the main books for Japan's Meiji Restoration. ［Helpless］＞

＜The Qing court generally treated Lin Zexu well and later recalled him＞

＜up should also popularize the science that destroying opium is not done by burning [speechless] Recently, a fire scene appeared in a TV series. It’s really speechless……＞

＜ The quicklime is melted and then diluted and washed away by seawater ＞

＜There is also Zuo Zongtang. The late Qing Dynasty was supported entirely by Han officials＞

＜ This issue is short, I feel like I didn’t explain many things about Lin Zexu clearly…＞

＜Later, Zuo Zongtang also relied on the map left by Lin Zexu to recover Xinjiang＞

"If it is beneficial to the country, I will not avoid it regardless of the consequences."

＜ Lin Zexu’s insight was very far-sighted at the time, but due to the limitations of the times he lived in, ＞

＜If there had been no Opium War, there would have been other excuses. The Opium War was just a fuse that made people see the weakness of the Qing Dynasty.＞

＜Emperor Daoguang kept going back and forth, wanting to fight and wanting to fight…the officials below were really just guessing what the emperor was thinking.＞

＜ We can’t just talk about Lin Zexu’s later destruction of opium. He was also managing the Yangtze River floods when he was the Governor-General of Huguang＞

＜ Lin Zexu is truly a versatile person ＞

＜ One person cannot save him, it takes a group of people like this! ＞

＜The Opium War was essentially a trade war. China had been in a trade surplus before, but later it turned into a trade deficit due to foreign opium. The Qing government decided to ban opium after seeing a large outflow of silver. They didn't care about the harm opium caused to these people.＞

＜ At that time, many people were calling for the use of local cigarettes to defeat foreign cigarettes. If we want to ban smoking, we have to look at us now. Alas, it is all the suffering we have suffered in the past [crying] ＞

……

Trade war, using local tobacco to defeat foreign tobacco, there is actually such a thing! Li Ranran didn't like history when she was in school, and she didn't remember how the textbook talked about the Opium War. It was quite novel to listen to these now.

People from all walks of life on the light curtain: Foreigners still want to trade with us on an equal footing? Impossible! Isn't that right? We are vast and rich in resources, and they urgently need our things!

Trade surplus? Trade deficit? ? ?

Emperor Kangxi: Officials are corrupt and whitewashing the situation! We must investigate this issue!

Emperor Qianlong recited the eight-character key points proposed by Lin Zexu: What a talent!

Some officials complained: It is indeed difficult to have such an emperor. He wants to ban and forbid the use of military force. Since ancient times, people have to use both hands. If they only focus on one of them, the consequence is to be beaten passively!

----

Qing Dynasty, the 18th year of Daoguang

"Let Lin Zexu come to Beijing!"

Emperor Daoguang didn't care about the light curtain saying that he was not good at this or that. Since you praise Lin Zexu, let's try him.

Emperor Daoguang was confident in Lin Zexu's work, as he did a good job as the Governor-General of Huguang. Emperor Daoguang had wanted to transfer him back after a while, but since Guangmu mentioned that he was involved in the destruction of opium, he should be the one to do it.

"Wei Yuan, come along too." The books he wrote seem to be very useful?

Other officials in Beijing sensed that a storm was brewing, and Guangmu was very unhappy with us, mocking us everywhere.

Hubei Province

Lin Zexu seemed to have a high opinion of himself when he saw the light curtain? Open your eyes and see the world's first person!

His good friend Wei Yuan was also mentioned by the screen. Thinking of this good friend who criticized Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, opposed corruption and advocated reform, Lin Zexu felt a little relieved.

"It's really a family tradition to break old habits and not follow bad rules."

……

People have also understood that opium is not a good thing!

In fact, everyone knows this to some extent. After all, so many families have been broken up and couples separated because of this thing!

"No more opium!"

The person who was smoking opium and looking at the light screen: "..."

"It doesn't forbid us to smoke."

"You...you are really stubborn."

Seeing that he did not take any action, the people trying to persuade him could only put their hopes on the light curtain...

Is there any hope for drug addicts who are already terminally ill?

Note: I don’t write about Emperor Yongzheng because I think he did the best job in the entire Qing Dynasty. I can’t bear to write about him. After all, the story of the entire Qing Dynasty interface is not good for the rulers...