Of course, Li Hongzhang's mistakes can't be changed, but even without him, Zhang San and Li Si would have signed these traitorous treaties at that time, and the losses might have been even more painful. Therefore, from this perspective, it makes sense to call Li Hongzhang "the man with the back pot".
In fact, the controversy over Li Hongzhang is nothing more than that people are unwilling to admit that humiliating history, and at the critical moment of life and death, someone must stand up, even if it is poking the backbone of several generations, even if it is' immortal', and this person is Li Hongzhang. None of us dare to judge whether Li Hongzhang is good or bad, but we must admit that he has a patriotic heart.
1895 When the treaty of shimonoseki was signed, Li Hongzhang, as the plenipotentiary of the Qing government, bargained with the Japanese side at the top of his lungs, but the negotiation result was not optimistic. Just when the negotiations between the two sides were deadlocked, Li Hongzhang was assassinated in the streets of Japan. In order to facilitate the negotiations as soon as possible, Japan had to reduce the compensation from 322,000 silver to 222,000 silver, and this reduction of 1 222,000 silver was actually bought by Li Hongzhang with his life.
After the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, Li Hongzhang, who was reviled by Chinese people, had to resign, but it was impossible for the Qing Dynasty to keep him. 1900 After Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing, Li Hongzhang, who was seriously ill, went to Beijing to negotiate with foreigners on the imperial edict of Cixi. Due to great psychological pressure, Li Hongzhang was ill in bed as soon as he arrived in Beijing. At this time, the "wild speculations" Coalition forces have become impatient. They were afraid that no one in the Qing government would clean up this mess, so they drew up an outline of compensation as soon as possible and forced the Qing representatives to sign it. When signing, Li Hongzhang said to Prince Qing: "The hardest thing to write in the world is your own name. Signing this traitorous treaty is an eternal shame! " . After the signing of the treaty, Li Hongzhang began to vomit blood and died in Beijing within a few months.
Cixi and Guangxu were very painful when they heard the news of Li Hongzhang's death, because no one would take the blame for Li Hongzhang's death. Then, everyone is thinking: Is Li Hongzhang a hero of the late Qing Dynasty wronged by history?