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In the 21st year of Guangxu (1895), March 23rd (Gregorian calendar 17 April) was the day when treaty of shimonoseki was signed between China and Japan. This day is also regarded as a national shame day by many people in China.

Previously, the Japanese army defeated beiyang fleet in Qing Dynasty, and the ships of Beiyang Navy were sunk or captured. The Sino-Japanese War ended in the failure of the Qing Dynasty. The Japanese government claimed that the Qing government must appoint a minister of peace, and the minister of peace must grant full power to compensate for military expenses, North Korea's autonomy, negotiate land concessions, and negotiate with Japan. Empress Dowager Cixi longed for peace because the Qing army was defeated by land and sea. Knowing the Japanese request, she acted on her own initiative and appointed Li Hongzhang as the plenipotentiary minister to go to Japan for peace.

1April, 895 17, Chunfanlou and Maguan, and the plenipotentiary ambassadors of Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang, Ito Bowen and Lu Aozongguang, signed the treaty on behalf of the two governments respectively. It is said that this treaty is more humiliating and unequal than the Jiangning Treaty signed after the Opium War.

But signing such a humiliating treaty is extremely hard-won. Even Li Hongzhang, the plenipotentiary of China, paid for it with his own blood. How ridiculous it is to say, but it is a fact and the real reason that really happened in history.

As early as the first year after the defeat of the Great Qing Dynasty in the Sino-Japanese War (Japan called the Nissin War), when Cixi decreed that Li Hongzhang was appointed as the plenipotentiary representative of the proceedings, Li Hongzhang had long understood the fact that the defeated country had no diplomacy and knew that being defeated by others and making peace would not have a good result. However, under the repeated urging of Cixi, he had to leave for Japan.

Japan's plenipotentiary ambassadors are Prime Minister Ito Bowen and Foreign Minister Luo Zongguang who have been waiting for many days in Maguan (now Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Honshu).

On the ships coming to Japan, Li Hongzhang received many reports that the Qing army had repeatedly lost. The Japanese army not only annihilated the Beiyang Navy that he had worked so hard to form, but also was invincible in the land war. From the Korean Peninsula to the northeast of China, Yingkou was occupied, and the southern Japanese army captured the Penghu Islands, forming a siege and attack on China. Qing is at an absolute disadvantage. Therefore, as soon as Li Hongzhang arrived at Shimonoseki and saw Ito and Lu Ao, he immediately demanded a truce from Japan.

Ito Bowen and Lu Aozong Guang have long since got rid of the last trace of awe of the Manchu Dynasty, and they have nothing to hide, and they are resolutely not allowed to stop fighting. Instead, they must sign a peace treaty first, and then talk about a truce.

Li hongzhang put a low profile and made repeated requests. Ito only proposed the terms of a truce. As soon as he came up, the Qing dynasty gave Shanhaiguan, Dagukou and Tianjin as collateral to Japan, and the Japanese side allowed a truce. Original version of the conditions proposed by the Japanese side (translation):

Li hongzhang a listen to, this which line? These three places are important places in both capitals. If it is mortgaged to Japan, wouldn't it be inviting wolves into the room? On second thought, I had to put aside the armistice negotiations for the time being and discuss the terms of the peace treaty first.

Ito and Lu Ao are both cunning and shrewd politicians. Seeing that the Qing government was strong outside but weak inside, the plenipotentiary minister was also weak, he brazenly put forward unacceptable harsh terms of the peace treaty, and even despised and humiliated Li Hongzhang in the face. Li, who has a high position in China and is used to bossing around, is in a weak position. He can neither refute nor brush off his clothes, let alone obey, so he plays the delaying technique that China people are best at.

Li Hongzhang is familiar with procrastination, and he is used to it. Today, he said he was not feeling well, tomorrow, he said the weather was bad, and the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, he said he had a bad stomach. Anyway, he has been ignoring it for two days. There has been no substantial progress in the negotiations between the two sides. It can be said that it seems that three days of fishing and two days of drying nets do not exist.

Can Ito Bowen not be Li See Hongzhang's delaying tactic? Under his repeated urging, Li Hongzhang had no choice but to return to the negotiating table again. Ito deliberately told Li Hongzhang that the Japanese army was marching into Taiwan Province Province after it captured Penghu. Li Hongzhang knew for a long time that Japan had attempted to annex Taiwan Province Province, but when he heard this, he broke out in a cold sweat. He tried to stay calm and said, "A few days ago, your minister refused to agree to a truce. Is it because he sent troops to Taiwan Province Province? " ?

Ito smiled and replied, "Not at all." In desperation, Li Hongzhang moved out of the British Empire as a shield and said, "If your country occupies Taiwan Province Province, is Britain willing to disagree? What can we do? " ?

Ito: "Britain adheres to the neutrality outside the bureau and there is no reason to send troops to interfere."

Li Hongzhang argued that "Britain does not want other countries except China to occupy Taiwan Province Province".

Ito smiled and said, "It's not just Taiwan Province Province! No matter where in your territory, I want to cut it. Which country can (dare) come forward to resist? "

What is lost on the battlefield will never be won back at the negotiating table. The Japanese side finally forced the Qing side to withdraw the armistice agreement with harsh conditions, achieving the goal of talking while playing.

After Li Hongzhang's request for a truce on behalf of the Qing court was rejected by Prime Minister Ito, Japan was jubilant all over the country, and the main battle public opinion was even higher, occupying an absolute public opinion advantage. According to records, at that time, major Japanese newspapers published a poem by the famous poet Matsushita Yamada on the front page:

Japan's ruling and opposition parties lost their right to speak. Affected by this, in Gunma County, northwest of Kanto Plain, there is a ronin named Kojima Yasuhiro (unemployed). He thought that the first-class plenipotentiary of the imperial envoys of the Qing Dynasty was the behind-the-scenes host who secretly provoked Japan, so he decided to take risks and look for opportunities to assassinate Li Hongzhang.

On the day of the third negotiation in Nissin, a pistol was hidden on the street corner in front of the post office in Maguanbin Town. After the negotiation, Li Hongzhang returned to his residence in a sedan chair and took him to the temple. When he passed through here in a group of people scrambling to watch, he went straight to the front of the sedan chair, put his hand on the shoulder of the sedan chair bearer in front, and while he was in a daze and stupidly, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at Li Hongzhang in the sedan chair and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the cheekbone below Li's left eye, and the left brain was further up. Li Hongzhang is, after all, a veteran who has been a military soldier all his life. After he was shot, he immediately put his hand on the wound to stop bleeding, and forced the bearer to leave the sedan chair quickly, insisting on getting off the sedan chair at the gate of the temple hotel. With the help of the left and right, he came in gracefully.

After the assassination of Li Hongzhang, an imperial envoy and plenipotentiary of the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese government was also very nervous and embarrassed. Prime Minister Ito and Foreign Minister Lu Ao were particularly afraid that Li Hongzhang would take this opportunity to return to China and the negotiations would be interrupted. They are more worried that western powers will take the opportunity to intervene and interfere. While urging Yamaguchi District Court to try Akio Toyoda of Assassin Island as soon as possible, they personally went to Yin Jie Temple Hotel to visit Li Hongzhang's injury, expressing their apologies and condolences. Mu Ren also ordered that the murderer be severely punished to protect the country's reputation. He also specially sent his entourage to take two doctors and 12 nurses to Maguan to help Li treat the disease.

The news of Li Hongzhang's assassination quickly spread throughout Europe and America, and newspapers and periodicals all over the world were full of articles, accusing the Japanese side of unreasonable troubles and the failure of peace talks. Why use despicable assassination methods? Western newspapers and periodicals have always come straight to the point, without mercy, and have a great tendency to crusade against Japan.

Wily Li Hongzhang saw two bosses, Ito and Lu Ao, personally apologize and immediately demanded a truce with Japan. Ito and Lu Ao immediately agreed. Later, Li Hongzhang continued to negotiate with Japan and reached an agreement on the terms of the peace talks. The Japanese side is unwilling to make more concessions and only promises to reduce some war reparations. Li Hongzhang had no choice but to do so. This leads to the 1 1 paragraphs in treaty of shimonoseki, which have the following six aspects:

The Japanese government was originally prepared to claim 30,000 taels (1 100 million) from the Qing government for military expenses. Li Hongzhang, the special envoy of the Qing Dynasty, was stabbed by the island Toyotaro and shot. In order to restore the unfavorable international reputation, at the same time appease the powers and comfort Li Hongzhang, he finally agreed to pay less than 654.38 billion yuan in war reparations and only asked for 200 million taels of silver. Li Hongzhang was shot and almost lost his life. He finally saved 654.38+200 million taels of silver for the Qing Dynasty. Afterwards, he laughed at himself: "This shot was not in vain. A bullet and a handful of blood lost 654.38+100 million taels of silver, which is worth it! "

The signing of "treaty of shimonoseki" not only made Li Hongzhang personally pay a painful price, but also aggravated the semi-colonization of China and the unprecedented national crisis, which made the poor and weak Great Qing Dynasty worse, thus arousing widespread condemnation and fierce opposition from people of insight at home and fair public opinion in the world.

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