When the foreign consultants Taylor and Raynell hired by the Beiyang Navy saw Liu Gong Island being besieged, they advocated surrender in order to survive. They discussed the surrender method with Niu Changchang, the commander of the Weihaiwei Water and Land Camp Affairs Office, and planned that the foreigners would persuade the admiral Ding Ruchang to surrender.
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At 2 o'clock in the morning on the 9th, Taylor and Ruinier came to persuade Ding Ruchang to surrender, but were sternly rejected. After failing to persuade Ding to surrender, they planned with Maglu, Haowei and others to force Ding Ruchang to surrender.
However, they were still verbally rejected by Ding Ruchang and dismissed these people.
On the 11th, seeing that there was no hope for reinforcements, Ding Ruchang convened a meeting of generals and foreign military advisors. The meeting lasted from morning to afternoon. He proposed a fleet breakout, but was jointly opposed by Niu Changchun and foreign members. In desperation, Ding Ruchang ordered the admiral to seal the
The corner is stamped and invalidated to prevent someone from stealing the seal and surrendering.
The meeting was fruitless, and the extremely disappointed Ding Ruchang didn't even eat dinner. He kept sitting at the table, facing the map hanging on the wall, and saw why the once glorious Beiyang Navy was devoured so quickly. Was it because of himself?
? Or some other reason? Why did he send the secret message asking for help for so long without getting a reply, and why he was still not allowed to go to war? With all kinds of regrets, he committed suicide by taking poison.
American Haowei, a foreign consultant, drafted the letter of surrender in the name of Ding Ruchang. In fact, the admiral's seal was deliberately hidden at the time and was not destroyed by prodding.
On the 14th, Niu Changchang boarded the Japanese Navy's Matsushima ship as a representative of the navy and army, and signed 11 articles of the "Weihai Surrender Treaty" with the Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Ito Yuhiro, and transferred the remaining 11 warships of the Beiyang Fleet, the Liugong Island fort and military equipment
All equipment was handed over to the Japanese army.
When the war reached this point, the Qing government could no longer fight for self-determination, so the imperial court appointed Li Hongzhang as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan for peace talks.
On February 14, Li Hongzhang, his son Li Jingfang, and American consultant Costa left Tianjin for Japan. On the 20th, they started negotiations with Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi and Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu at Shunho Tower in Shimonoseki, Japan.
During the negotiation process, Japan arbitrarily blackmailed Li Hongzhang and only allowed Li Hongzhang to say "yes or no" to all the terms proposed, and constantly threatened to resume war and attack Beijing.
Although 73-year-old Li Hongzhang tried his best, the negotiations failed several times and took a turn for the worse. At that time, a Japanese sneak attacked Li Hongzhang and hit him on the left side of the face with a gun. He bled instantly and fell to the ground.
Ito Hirobumi, who was in charge of the negotiations at the time, was so angry that he vomited blood after hearing the news. He was also afraid that the negotiations would break down. You must know that Japan's war potential had been almost exhausted at that time. If the war continued, I am afraid that the finances would not be able to support it.
, they are so tough now, but they are just strong on the outside but weak on the inside.
So Ito Hirobumi hurriedly took a car to express condolences to Li Hongzhang in person, and assured Li Hongzhang that the murderer would be severely punished.
And Li Hongzhang also knows what the people in the Qing Dynasty are thinking now. They just want to sue for peace quickly. In addition, his army in Beiyang has been almost wiped out and cannot fight anymore, and Liu Hai in Nanyang is sitting on the mountain watching the fight between tigers?
It seems that there is no hope. In order to end the war as soon as possible, Li Hongzhang can only endure temporarily.
So Li Hongzhang did not leave Japan, but recuperated on the spot. After his injury improved slightly, he immediately entered into negotiations.
Hirobumi Ito and others were also afraid that if he continued to be tough, would Li Hongzhang give up on himself? They stopped negotiating, so they took the initiative to reduce the compensation of 300 million taels of silver to 200 million taels.
It can be said that one shot reduced 100 million taels, and later generations commented that he "saved 100 million taels for the Qing court with a handful of bones and tears? He made a great contribution to the survival of the Qing court."
At this point? Almost all the agreements governing the treaty were agreed upon, and the two sides formally signed the treaty a few days later.
On March 23, Li Hongzhang was forced to sign the treaty. The treaty contained eleven articles, and was accompanied by "Another Treaty" and a "Special Article for Negotiation."
The main contents are: 1. China recognized North Korea as "completely independent"; 2. China ceded the entire island of Taiwan and all affiliated islands, the Penghu Islands and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan; 3. compensated Japan's military expenditure of 20,000 taels of silver;
4. Open Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou as treaty ports? Can Japanese ships sail along the inland rivers to the above ports to pick up passengers and load goods? The Japanese government can set up consular officers in treaty ports; 5. Japanese subjects can serve in Chinese treaty port cities.
Just set up a factory, import machinery, and only pay the prescribed import taxes? All items made by Japan in China are exempt from various miscellaneous taxes? All Japanese goods can be stored in warehouses; 6. In exchange for prisoners, China will immediately release Japanese military spies or
Japanese subjects who were arrested on suspicion. On April 8, the Qing government approved this humiliating treaty. On April 14, China and Japan exchanged letters of ratification in Yantai, and the Treaty of Shimonoseki came into effect.
At this time, Liu Hai, who had been dormant in Nanjing, received the news that the Qing government had signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan. He was immediately overjoyed and said to the staff on his left and right: "This is a God-given opportunity, just when I, the Nanyang Flying Dragon, are in the sky."
That night Liu Hai wrote a memorial and ordered it to be sent to the capital.
In this memorial, Liu Hai denounced the traitors Li Hongzhang and others in the imperial court, and then said in a hypocritical manner that Taiwan was obtained by our ancestors through hundreds of battles and should not be abandoned lightly. He then told Taiwan's strategy in the Qing Dynasty.
The important location also showed that Taiwan was the location of the Nanyang Navy base, and he angrily requested the court to abrogate the treaty and start another war.
After Liu Hai's memorial was sent to the court, it immediately caused an uproar.
Cixi and other capitulationists were naturally unwilling. They had already had a chance for peace, so how could they start another war like this?
As for the main war factions such as Emperor Guangxu, are they extremely angry about the harsh conditions of this Shimonoseki Treaty?
You must know that the Qing Dynasty has never made such a big concession in its many years of dealing with foreign powers.
Even the world's most powerful country, Britain, could not force the Qing Dynasty to sign such a treaty, but now it was reached by a small Japan.
Because the court had a long-standing habit of looking down on Japan, these officials could accept the fact that the Qing Dynasty was defeated by foreigners, but they could not accept the status quo of the Qing Dynasty being defeated by the Japanese. Therefore, there were many people who were dissatisfied with the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
Liu Hai's memorial naturally aroused the resonance of the Manchu Dynasty's Minister of Civil Affairs.
Even Emperor Guangxu was extremely excited after receiving Liu Hai's memorial. He summoned Minister Damenwu to discuss for several days and prepared not to recognize the Treaty of Shimonoseki and to continue to order the entire Nanyang Navy to dispatch for a decisive battle with the Japanese Navy.
However, Liu Hai's memorial was strongly suppressed by Empress Dowager Cixi. Once when Emperor Guangxu was convening a dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi made an exception and came out of the Summer Palace to Qianqing Gate.
The Empress Dowager Cixi roared at the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, scolding Liu Hai for not knowing what he was doing, for being brave for a moment, but not caring about the country's justice.
At the same time, the words explicitly and covertly said that when Liu Hai was fighting the Japanese in Beiyang, he sat on the mountain and watched the tigers fight, and watched the Beiyang Navy be wiped out.
Due to the strong suppression of the Empress Dowager Cixi, Liu Hai's memorial was abandoned by the court. At the same time, Emperor Guangxu had to issue an imperial edict, scolding Liu Hai for unreasonably causing suspicion among allies, and ordered Liu Hai to restrain his subordinates from fighting again.
After Liu Hai received the imperial edict, he immediately became anxious, and his staff discussed what to do next.
Zhao Chuanren, a native of Jiangning, had been grudged after his last idea was abandoned by Liu Hai. Naturally, he had to show his face in front of Liu Hai this time, so he was the first to come out and said, "Sir, the court's actions have won the hearts of the people in the world.
Your Excellency, you don’t need to pay attention to it. As long as you send out troops immediately to fight the Japanese, the people of the world will be on your side, and the imperial court will be helpless when the time comes."
Zhao Jiahua, Liu Hai's number one aide, made an exception this time and agreed with Zhao Chuanren's opinion, "Sir, after the decisive battle between Japan and the Beiyang Navy, Japan is at the end of its war effort. Now is the time for us to attack."
Several other staff members also agreed with the opinions of these two people. They had already seen that after this time, the court's prestige could be said to be lost, and the local power became more and more powerful. As the governor of Liangjiang, Liu Hai has now become
He has become the most powerful faction in the imperial court, and his future prospects are limitless.
Now is the time for Liu Hai to win over the people and spread his power over the world.
Liu Hai sat on top, listening to the discussions of several staff below, and nodded with satisfaction. This time he had the reputation of being a traitor, and he finally waited for this opportunity.
So Liu Hai stood up and said to the people below: "Japan is a small barbarian country. It has been spying on our country for a long time. Today, it brings a small victory just to force the court to sign such a humiliating treaty. It not only compensates us with 200 million taels of silver, but also cedes to us Nanyang."
How can Nanyang tolerate such a shame and humiliation in Taiwan, the center of the navy? The governor decided that the Liangjiang area will immediately enter a state of war readiness, and the Nanyang Navy will immediately set sail to find a decisive battle with the Japanese navy."
After Liu Hai made his decision, his order quickly spread out in the Liangjiang area. After receiving Liu Hai's order, the 300,000 army troops under Liu Hai immediately organized their troops and guarded the important places of the two generals!
Liu Hai ordered the army to prepare, not because he was afraid of a Japanese sneak attack. The target of his defense was precisely his own people.
Liu Hai was afraid that while he was leading the army, the Qing court would suddenly attack, and his hometown would be gone.
After Liu Hai issued another order to the troops, he then sent a telegram to the whole country: Japan is arrogant and treats our Qing Dynasty as if it is nothing. The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty only know how to negotiate peace but not bloody battles. Today, our Nanyang soldiers will never suffer this humiliation. We hereby broadcast it throughout the country.
Want to fight to the death with Japan.
The imperial court in Beijing was trembling with fear after receiving Liu Hai's call. What is this? This is a rebellion.
But now that Beiyang has been crippled by the Japanese, the court really has no choice but to pose any threat to Liu Hai, so it can only send continuous telegrams to ask Liu Hai to calm down.
Japan was also shocked after receiving Liu Hai's power. Although they have now obtained a large number of warships in Beiyang, these warships have not been completely renovated. Now they are not sure of victory in the decisive battle with the Nanyang Navy.
So they immediately contacted the consuls of Britain, France, the United States and other countries and asked them to jointly intervene in Liu Hai's actions.