This pair of couplets is an ironic couplet with a pun meaning. The Shanglian mocked Li Hongzhang, a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, who occupied an important position as prime minister, but pocketed his own money in corruption and bribery, leaving the world desolate; The second part satirizes Weng Tonghe, a native of Changshu, Jiangsu. As a finance minister, I don't know how to govern the country, which leads to the decline of people's livelihood.
Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonghe are both couplets, because they are both important figures in the late Qing Dynasty and political enemies of each other. Li Hongzhang is loyal to the queen mother, and Weng Tonghe is loyal to the emperor; Li Hongzhang is a Westernization School and Weng Tonghe is a Liu Qing School.
Different political positions led to long-term attacks on each other. This political hostility reached its peak during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, because of the different political views on Japan's main and main battles.
Li Hongzhang served as the minister of Beiyang, and the organization of Beiyang Navy needed funds from the Ministry of Housing headed by Weng Tonghe. Weng Tonghe often refused to allocate funds for Li Hongzhang to buy warships on the grounds of insufficient funds, which became the most intense conflict between them and one of the reasons for the fiasco of Beiyang Navy. Hu Sijing's "Guo Wen Bei Cheng" recorded a short story. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing soldiers were defeated repeatedly. Guangxu asked Weng Tonghe to ask Li Hongzhang why the navy avoided the war.
When I saw Hong Zhang, I asked the Beiyang warship. Hong Zhang glared at each other. After a long silence, Xu turned around and said, "Master, Prime Minister, you need to spend money to refute it. Whenever something happens, you ask the warship. Can you rely on it? "
Tong Yan said, "The counselor is conscientious, and the matter is sincere and urgent. Why not invite him again? "
Hong Zhang said: "The imperial court thinks I am overbearing, and the Taiwan remonstrance accuses me of greed. I'm still embarrassed. Is there still Li Hongzhang today? "
I am speechless, but I dare not say war.
The fiasco of the Qing Dynasty in the Sino-Japanese War made Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonghe suffer heavy losses. Li Hongzhang took responsibility for the defeat of the amphibious forces and was dismissed and retained. Weng Tonghe was hated by Emperor Guangxu because he encouraged anti-Japanese. Wang Zhao recorded in the Chronicle of Twenty Miscellaneous Poems of Fangjiayuan that after Weng Tonghe's death, Guangxu once resolutely opposed giving him posthumous title.
Apart from the different political positions mentioned above, Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzhang are actually involved in personal grievances. This incident can be traced back to the Sino-Japanese War more than 30 years ago.
Weng Tonghe's family can be called Confucianism in salt, harmony and light dynasties. Weng Tonghe's father, Weng Xincun, and his two brothers, Weng Shu Tong and Weng Tonghe, were important ministers of the Qing Dynasty. There are four scholars, two ministers, two governors and two censors in Weng Jiasi's father and son, which can be described as hot and radiant.
Originally, with the influence of the Weng family, it is likely to become the political leader of the late Qing Dynasty, affecting the political situation of the whole Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, Weng Tonghe's eldest brother, Weng Shu Tong, lived up to expectations and made a big mistake in the battle with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which made the Weng family go downhill.
In the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858), Weng became the governor of Anhui, and at the same time assisted the military affairs of Guarga Shengbao, an imperial envoy. Shortly after Weng Gang took office, Liang Yuan, who was stationed in Zhai, was captured and transferred to Dingyuan County. In less than a year, Dingyuan was captured by the Taiping Army. After Dingyuan City was destroyed, many officials of the Qing court were martyred for it, but Weng abandoned the city and fled, which became a major crime for Zeng Guofan to participate in its dissolution.
Due to the fall of Dingyuan, Weng had already been dismissed and remained in office, but he fled to Shouzhou in an attempt to make a comeback by relying on local strength. It's a pity that Weng didn't know anyone, so he ran to the warlord Miao.
Miao was originally a rural teacher. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a private army of 100,000 people was developed in the name of Ying Yong, wavering between the Qing court and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and surrendering many times.
Miao had enmity with Xu Lizhuang, Sun Kaitai and Meng Shizhong in Shouzhou, so he led troops to besiege Shouzhou. In order to surrender Miao, Weng killed the three men and offered their heads, but Miao didn't stop there.
Miao's army killed innocent people after entering Shouzhou. In order to save his life, Weng recommended Miao to Xianfeng, saying that he would not kill the people, but soon said that there were many victims in Shouzhou and asked the court to kill Miao. Weng Shu Tong's inconsistent rhetoric also made Zeng Guofan seize the handle.