1839 When smoking was banned in Guangdong, Lin Zexu sent an unannounced visit to force foreign opium dealers to hand over opium, and the confiscated opium was destroyed in Humen on June 3.
Wei Yuan, a thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, compiled the documents translated by Lin Zexu and his aides into "Seaside Map", which inspired the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and even the Meiji Restoration in Japan.
Lin Zexu's childhood family was poor, but he had a warm family. Father is a local teacher and Lin Zexu is his second son. Lin's father attaches great importance to education. At the age of four, he took him to a private school to teach him to read. The father carefully cultivated the talented Lin Zexu, thinking that his son would make great achievements when he grew up. When Lin Zexu was eight years old, he wrote a poem at school, which shocked four people. From small to large, children are young, but there is a big pattern in their hearts. People with big patterns will achieve something.
Zheng Damo, the magistrate of Yongcheng County, Henan Province, once met with Lin Zexu. Seeing his wit, I thought this son would succeed, so I left my heart. Facts have proved that this magistrate has a good eye. 1804, Lin zexu took the provincial examination and won the prize. On the day when the results were announced, he officially married Zheng Da Mo's daughter Zheng Shuqing.
In the eleventh year of Jiaqing, Lin Zexu served as the Tongzhi Secretary of Xiamen Haiphong, responsible for handling the documents and records of merchants' foreign ships and rice, grain and soldiers' salaries. During his tenure, Zhang Shicheng, the governor of Fujian, appreciated him very much, recruited him as a staff member, and passed on his knowledge and political talents to Lin Zexu. When Jiaqing suppressed pirates for fourteen years, he also took Lin Zexu with him, so that Lin Zexu could gain experience in his participation. At the end of the year, Zhang Shicheng also recommended Lin Zexu's father as the host of Lezheng Academy, which improved the economic situation of the Lins.
In the 16th year of Jiaqing, 26-year-old Lin Zexu went to Beijing for an exam, and palace examination ranked second and fourth. He was elected as Jishi Shu, was awarded the editing of Hanlin, and embarked on the road of being an official.
Lin Zexu spent seven years in imperial academy. In the 19th year of Jiaqing, he joined Xuannan Poetry Society composed of lower-level officials in Beijing, made friends with Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan, and became their leaders.
In the 21st year of Jiaqing, Lin Zexu left imperial academy and went to Nanchang, Jiangxi as an examiner. His father wrote a letter to him, urging Lin Zexu to choose his talents carefully. During his tenure as an examiner, Lin Zexu gained a good reputation for fairness and seriousness.
In the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing, Lin Zexu was appointed as the Taoist priest in Jiangnan. At that time, there was a gap in the levee on the south bank of Henan Province, and the command of Qishan, the governor of Henan Province, was ineffective, causing a flood. Lin Zexu wrote to Emperor Jiaqing, accusing Qishan of incompetence.
Lin Zexu is not afraid of power, he is honest and courageous for the official, and he wants to do things and can do things. However, some bureaucrats are suspicious of him, cynical and even hate him, which will inevitably cause trouble. Lin Zexu is tired of officialdom. Later, when his father was critically ill, Lin Zexu resigned on the grounds of taking care of his father.
Lin Zexu's parents are very opposed to his resignation. Moreover, Lin Zexu resigned and returned to his hometown. Without any other skills, he had to reluctantly find a way to return to officialdom. Knowing that Lin Zexu was a talented person, Daoguang Emperor specially summoned him for praise and made an exception to reinstate Lin Zexu. With the love and trust of Daoguang Emperor, Lin Zexu's life was put on hold at the meeting.
In the third year of Daoguang, Lin Zexu was appointed as Jiangsu provincial judge. During his tenure, he did a lot of work to rectify the bureaucracy, reform the trial procedure, and adjudicate cases personally. Even sneaking around, making unannounced visits, and doing their own autopsies. After just four months in office, he dealt with the backlog of cases in Jiangsu and was praised as "Lin Qingtian" by the people of Jiangsu. He also thought that opium was the cause of the bad atmosphere in Jiangsu, so he ordered Jiangsu to ban smoking.
Daoguang served as ambassador to Hubei for ten years, and then he was promoted to governor of Donghe. In order to harness the Yellow River, Lin Zexu braved the cold wind and walked hundreds of miles to see the topography and water flow along the river.
In the seventeenth year of Daoguang, Lin Zexu was promoted to Governor of Huguang. In the face of the frequent flooding of rivers in Hubei in summer, Lin Zexu took effective measures and put forward the idea of "focusing on repairing and preventing", so that Jianghan has a long dike of thousands of miles and An Lan does not overflow.
In Daoguang 18 1 15 10, Lin Zexu was appointed as an imperial envoy and went to Guangzhou to investigate and punish smoking ban.
Lin Zexu searched all the cigarette houses and got a lot of first-hand information. Together with Deng Yanzhen, he summoned thirteen foreign businessmen, ordered foreign opium dealers to pay cigarettes within a time limit, and promised not to bring opium into China in the future.
Lin Zexu fought resolutely against foreign businessmen's refusal to hand over opium. Lin Zexu solemnly declared: "If opium lasts for one day, my Lord will not return for one day, and I will be with this matter. There is no reason to stop. " Finally, it defeated the British commercial supervision law in China and many opium dealers, and confiscated all opium, about 2.37 million kilograms and nearly 20,000 boxes. On June 3rd, opium was destroyed in public at Humen Beach.
This is the famous "Humen exterminates opium". The smoking ban in Humen is very popular, and Lin Zexu is known as a "national hero" and is famous at home and abroad.
The ban on smoking was fully affirmed by Daoguang. Daoguang Emperor was overjoyed to read Lin Zexu's report on destroying opium in Humen. Soon, on Lin Zexu's 55th birthday, Daoguang personally wrote a big horizontal plaque with the words "Fu" and "Shou" and sent it to Guangzhou as a reward.
However, because of the ban on smoking and the resistance to Britain, it also brought disaster to Lin Zexu, who was totally loyal. Lin Zexu later became a "guilty minister" of the imperial court and suffered five years of exile.
Shortly after the ban on smoking, the situation faced by Lin Zexu deteriorated rapidly.
1In June of 840, the British sent a fleet to block the Pearl River Estuary and began to attack Guangzhou. Lin Zexu was heavily guarded, but the British attack failed. After being blocked, the British army went north along the coast, captured Dinghai, and then reached Dagukou, Tianjin, threatening Beijing's security.
Daoguang emperor panicked and asked Qishan, the governor of Zhili, to make peace. I want to use Lin Zexu as a "scapegoat".
Since then, all kinds of framing, attacks and accusations have fallen on Lin Zexu. Qishan will certainly not miss this opportunity to frame and retaliate against Lin Zexu. He viciously declared that Lin Zexu was the only one who was dissatisfied with Britain. As long as the court punishes Lin Zexu, all problems can be solved.
At this time, regardless of personal safety, honor and disgrace, Lin Zexu played twice, boldly stating the rationality and justice of smoking ban, hoping that the court would resolutely continue the smoking ban movement, expel foreigners and collect opium. However, Daoguang, who is corrupt, incompetent and afraid of foreigners, seems to be a different person, not the one who appreciated and praised Lin Zexu before. Daoguang turned against others and accused Lin Zexu of "talking nonsense". Lin Zexu was angry, but there was nothing he could do. If you want to kill a thief, there is no way.
Daoguang Emperor ordered the dismissal of Lin Zexu, hell to pay and the new imperial envoy Qi Shan for interrogation and punishment. 184 1 may 1 day, Lin zexu was reduced to Sipinqing and went to Zhenhai, Zhejiang for instructions. After arriving in Zhenhai, Lin Zexu actively participated in the local coastal defense construction. Soon, General Yishan was defeated in the battle with the British. In order to excuse himself, he even spread rumors that Britain was willing to talk. Lin Zexu is the only person they hate. Lin Zexu must be punished again before the British side can stop fighting and negotiate peace. When Daoguang longed for peace, he blamed Lin Zexu for Guangzhou's defeat, dismissed Lin Zexu and sent him to Yili, Xinjiang.
Lin Zexu, framed by the capitulators, embarked on a defensive road to the west. When Lin Zexu bid farewell to his family, he wrote the famous poem "If the country is alive or dead, why not avoid it because of disaster?" . This is the dripping expression of Lin Zexu's fierce patriotic feelings, and it is also a portrayal of the broad feelings of a national hero who is loyal to the monarch, passionate and earth-moving.
1850, 165438+ 10, 66-year-old Lin zexu passed away.
Lin Zexu was "the first person to wake up from the sleepy state of feudal seclusion and open his eyes to see the world with a brand-new attitude". Lin Zexu, who presided over the fight against smoking and invaders in Guangzhou, deeply realized that China people lacked western knowledge and were ignorant of the world outside the dynasty. By translating foreign newspapers and books and analyzing foreign political, legal, military, economic and cultural situations, Lin Zexu realized that only by learning from western countries can he resist aggression.
Lin Zexu put forward the idea of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners".
He suggested that the imperial court make guns and build ships; Personally preside over and organize the translation team, translate foreign books and periodicals, and translate foreigners' remarks about China into Petrochemical Yi Yan; In order to understand foreign military, political and economic information, Guangzhou Weekly sponsored by British businessmen was translated into Macau News. In order to understand the geography, history and politics of the west and systematically introduce the situation of countries all over the world, we also organized the translation of the Encyclopedia of World Geography written by the Englishman Murray and incorporated it into the Chronicle of Four Continents.
In order to meet the needs of the struggle against the enemy and foreign negotiations at that time, Lin Zexu quickly compiled the International Law, which was an epoch-making event in the history of international law in China. It marks the beginning of the formal introduction of western international law works into China, the application of modern international law in China's foreign negotiations, and the beginning of the history of modern international law in China. Theoretically, Lin Zexu was the first person to introduce international law into China, the forerunner of China's modern diplomacy and the pioneer of China's international law.
Lin Zexu has been in politics for 40 years and worked in 13 province all his life. At the critical moment when the Chinese nation was facing semi-colonialism, he stepped forward and personally "put aside misfortune and honor and disgrace", resolutely banned smoking, resisted foreign armed aggression and defended national sovereignty and territory. It also advocates learning advanced western technology and developing national industry and commerce. He always shows meticulous spirit everywhere. Nothing is not serious.
Although Lin Zexu failed to save the fate of the demise of the Qing Dynasty, everything he worked hard to accomplish brought benefits to the country and people. Lin Zexu is never perfunctory in doing everything in every post.
In the History of Foreign Relations of the Chinese Empire written by American scholars, Lin Zexu is regarded as an administrative official with extraordinary ability. "Lin Qinchai's whole experience is as clear as crystal." Andrew Ge, a famous British expert on Hong Kong history, said in The History of Hong Kong that Lin Zexu's decisive and thunderous anti-smoking action made the British completely unexpected. He didn't expect Lin Zexu to act for the interests of China with determination, vitality and dedication. Zhang Xinbao, a Chinese-American scholar, said in "The Messenger of Lin Qin and the Opium War" that Lin Zexu was famous for his diligence, strong desire to improve government work and belief in making every effort to benefit the people.
In his spare time in politics, Lin Zexu likes to collect books and has good calligraphy. Concentrate on collecting books of past dynasties and contemporary times. There are "Seventy-two Peak Buildings" and "Yunzuo Mountain Room" in the library, which are specially used for collecting books, with a total volume of more than 30 trees. When he was demoted to Yili, he used seven carts and carried 20 books.
Lin Zexu said, "If the country survives, why should every cloud has a silver lining avoid it?" . If it is good for my country, I will risk my life. If you are lucky, can you avoid troubles and face difficulties? Let's reread this poem by Lin Zexu and feel his broad feelings.