Li Hongzhang's worries were not superfluous. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 At the same time that the Qing court had submitted the regulations of Premier Yamen and Ding Richang on coastal defense to the governors for detailed discussion, it consulted Zuo Zongtang to participate in the discussion on the grounds that he "paid attention to foreign affairs." As a result, around the question of "coastal defense" or "fortress defense", two camps emerged in the Qing court, and various political forces were regrouped.

In addition to Shen Baozhen, Lin Yizhe, Ding Richang, Li Hanzhang, and other supporters, the "coastal defense faction" also included Bao Yuanshen, governor of Shanxi, Qian Dingming, governor of Henan, Prince Yibao of the Inner Court, Shangshu Chongshi of the Criminal Department, Huang Jue, the left attendant of the Criminal Department, and Yu Shanghua, the imperial historian, who also joined this camp.

The "Sai Defense faction" with Zuo Zongtang as the backbone had the strong support of Wang Wenshao, the governor of Hunan, Wen Bin, the governor of Caoyun, Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong, and Wu Yuanbing, the governor of Jiangsu. The representative theory of this school is that "coastal defense in the east and defense in the west should be equal emphasis on both." In fact, fundamentally speaking, it is still advisable to concentrate limited manpower and financial resources and give priority to solving the problem of blockade defense in the northwest, so as to reap the credit of "the northwest is safe and the southeast is self-consolidating."

Zuo Zongtang launched a fierce attack on Li Hongzhang's proposal to stop the defense of the northwest:

“…… If we plan to stop the army at this time and withdraw the fence ourselves, then we will retreat an inch and advance the foot, not only will Longyou be worried, that is, the northern road Kobdo, Uriya Sutai and other places may not be able to be clear, because the cease-of-war and the salary may not be beneficial to coastal defense, but it will be greatly harmful to the defense of the fortress. ”

Li Hongzhang pointed out-for-tat, pointing out: "Xinjiang is no more, and the vitality of the limbs is not injured (Agubai has occupied Xinjiang for seven or eight years, and now except for Hami and Balikun, the corners are still in the hands of the Qing army, most of Xinjiang has been occupied by Agubai's forces, but the Guanlong area has not been harassed, and with Agubai's little military strength, it is already great to be able to occupy the whole of Xinjiang, and there is no power to invade Guanlong. Then the trouble of the heart will become more thorny. There must be someone who can discern which is more important than the other. "Advocate stopping the payment of blockade defense," all of which should be paid for coastal defense. Otherwise, only this financial resources are prepared for the southeast and thousands of miles of sea frontiers, and the northwest is for thousands of miles. ”

Having said that, Li Hongzhang actually has no intention of giving up Xinjiang, and the solutions he gave are: First, stop the army. It was suggested that the imperial court should stop withdrawing the troops that had already been out of the fortress and were preparing to leave the fortress in the northwest region, so that they would "strictly guard the existing borders, and cultivate the land without rushing to make progress", and stop the withdrawal of the excess salary, and transfer it to coastal defense. Second, management. Li Hongzhang's strategy for running Xinjiang is: "Recruit the Hui chieftains of Ili, Urumqi, and Kashgar, and allow them to become tribes of their own, such as Miao Yao Tusi of Yunnan and Guizhou, and Feng Zhengshuo of Vietnam and Korea." Li Hongzhang believes that this will not only thwart the desire of Britain and Russia to annex, but also that China will not have to go on an expedition, which is really "the way to endure."

Li Hongzhang's suggestion that Xinjiang should be managed as "such as the Miao Yao Tusi of Yunnan and Guizhou, and the strategy of Vietnam and Korea is Feng Zhengshuo" was not problematic in China in 1875. Because in this era, the traditional "view of the world" is far from being replaced by the modern "world view", and the "Vietnam" and "North Korea" in the context of Li Hongzhang are not sovereign states in the modern sense, but the vassals in the traditional Chinese "view of the world". In other words, Li Hongzhang never said that he would abandon Xinjiang, and his proposal was based on the Qing court's "view of the world" in 1875. This "view of the world" may seem absurd to later generations, but at the time, it was the orthodox ******** that the Qing court tried to abide by.

The process of the difficult transition from traditional China in the late Qing Dynasty to modern China is actually the process of transformation from the traditional political ideas of the late Qing people to the modern political concepts. Li Hongzhang's views on the dispute between coastal defense and fortress defense are precisely the product of this process of transformation. The people of later generations could not realize the chaos and confusion of the conceptual transformation period of that day, and simply denounced Li Hongzhang as a "traitor".

In contrast, there is no difference in understanding of Zuo Zongtang's opinion. Zuo Zongtang was praised by later generations for advocating that "coastal defense in the east and defense in the west should be equally important", but in fact, Li Hongzhang and other so-called "coastal defense theorists" did not think that the defense was not important, and the difference was only that under the existing financial resources, who should give priority to the defense and coastal defense. Unlike Li Hongzhang, who believed that the coastal defense crisis was even worse and should be dealt with it as a priority, in Zuo Zongtang's view, the cost of coastal defense could save the cost of purchasing and hiring ships, because the Fuzhou Shipping Administration Bureau could already build its own ships and no longer had to use the money from the westward expedition; Moreover, even if we do not march westward and draw land to defend it, it is impossible to save money for coastal defense. In order to emphasize the importance of Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang did not hesitate to use the title of Jingshi to intimidate the imperial court:

"Those who value Xinjiang protect Mongolia, and those who protect Mongolia protect Beijing. The northwest arms are connected, the situation is complete, and there is no gap to take advantage of. If Xinjiang is not solid, and it is not for the invasion of the western sides of Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi, it is impossible to prevent it, that is, Guanshan in the north will not have a day of sleep. ”

Zuo Zongtang's theology of "those who value Xinjiang protect Mongolia, and those who protect Mongolia protect Jingshi" really had the effect he wanted. An important minister like Wenxiang, a scholar, was inevitably influenced by Zuo Zongtang's theism.

If Xinjiang is valued for the sake of protecting Beijing, then shouldn't the sea, which is closer to Beijing, also be more valued?

Zuo Zongtang -- A former active advocate and practitioner of coastal defense construction, but in fact he has become the biggest opponent and obstructor of coastal defense construction!

"In this coastal defense plan, it would be strange if he didn't oppose it." Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said.

"Actually, recovering Xinjiang is not extremely difficult for him to say." Xue Fucheng said, "But he just said it like the sky was falling, which is incomprehensible." ”

"Xinjiang's rebellion is just bandits, far from being as difficult to control as the Zhang Geer rebellion in the past, although the land route is far away, the army can be pacified in a few months. He had to pay for food and wages, and borrowed foreign debts, and he had to carry out the strategy of 'slow advance and rapid war', so how much money did he need to fill this bottomless hole? Li Hongzhang sighed, "In this way, there will be no way to land the silver needed for coastal defense, which is really sad!" ”

"My lord, in addition to Zuo Jigao, I also have to guard against it." Xue Fucheng reminded Li Hongzhang.

"Yesterday, didn't you see Di copying?" Li Hongzhang snorted and said.

As Xue Fucheng said, after many days of brewing and waiting, another countercurrent can no longer bear the surge.

If it is said that the "theory of coastal defense" and the "theory of defense of the sea" are only disputes between the historical grievances of the "Hunan" and "Huai" factions and between the left and Li factions and different national defense viewpoints, then the new countercurrent is completely a challenge to the "self-improvement" movement by the diehard faction of the feudal ruling class, which claims to be a "clean discussion."

The first to jump out was Prince Li's priest.

This Prince Li is a greedy, mediocre, stubborn and conservative politician. He was awarded the cabinet minister, the right Zongzheng of the Zongren Mansion and the Zongzhi during the Tongzhi years, and the order of the Zongren, about his faintness, Chen Ganyi of the time had such a record:

Prince Shiduo of Qingli, old and mediocre, ignorant of current affairs. His sons and nephews have returned from a trip to Europe. When Shi Duo met, he asked, "Is it snowing in the country of foreign devils?" All the sons and nephews covered their mouths and said: "China and foreign countries are on the same day, wind, frost, rain and snow." Sedors were silent.

A prince who doesn't even know whether it snows in foreign countries, but in Chinese politics, he can do it with ease and is full of political wisdom. The excerpt handed by Shiduo to the Empress Dowager Cixi is enough to show the level of her "slippery head". In the excerpt, Shi Duo first tested the tone of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and said a few falsely words, "Foreign guns, water forts, and mines still have to be bought", and then, as soon as the voice changed, he asked a question: "The ironclad ship is very big and heavy, right?" Where do you park after buying it? Besides, each ironclad ship costs millions of silver, which is too expensive. Or don't worry, let Lin Yizhe, Li Hongzhang, and Shen Baozhen go to investigate first, and come back to study and study. ”

Prince Li's excerpt is a signal, it is tantamount to telling those mouths who have been silent for many days: I can take the lead in saying what should be said, and it is up to you.

The impatient Huang Tifang jumped out with a red face and shouted: "The way to build a country, etiquette and righteousness are not power schemes; What China needs is by no means to spend money to build a Rausch navy, but should be like the ancestors who set it, "but to repair our land war preparations, there is no need to fight for profits in the sea; But to strengthen the heart of my soldiers, to form loyalty, there is no need to learn from foreigners! ”

Then, the twists and turns of the imperial history Gu Yongxian were full of abuse: "The war-building ship (referring to the old-style naval division ship) is called fortification, but it is actually disarmed. Ding Richang is so seeking the country, I don't know what his intentions are? He even cursed Ding Richang as a "Ding ghost slave" who sold himself to foreigners.

If the opposition's twists and turns stop there, Li Hongzhang can completely deal with them calmly. Since his debut, he has never been afraid of scolding his mother behind his back. However, he soon discovered that his opponents were not simple, and their remarks bypassed the specific questions of whether to build a navy and how to build a navy, and directly pointed to the key point -- you Lin Yizhe and Li Hongzhang and others built a navy, which is "changing the summer with raze" and betraying the ancestors! It's a "famous sinner, a scumbag"! Don't look at you putting on a loyal minister who worries about the country and the people, maybe you still have to "coerce foreign affairs to be self-respecting, and rely on foreign weapons to be self-proud", if you want to support the army and self-respect, you should be the white-faced Cao Cao of the princes by coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes, right?

"To make machines and build foreign ships, we cannot but learn Westerners, and we cannot help but use the essence of Westernism as the use of talents...... It is difficult to learn from the West, and the human heart is disintegrated because of it, and those who learn it will be shameless people. ”