On April 9, 1859, Ye Mingchen died on a fort in Calcutta, India. At that time, people generally believed that this ** was afraid of death and greedy for life, and even believed that his diplomatic failure directly led to the Second Opium War, so Ye Mingchen became a typical representative of mediocrity, incompetence and stupidity in the late Qing Dynasty. In December of the eighth year of Xianfeng, the British ** ship "Intrepid" sailed from Hong Kong to India, and a Chinese prisoner was held on board, namely Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang at that time, who became a prisoner because the British army broke through Guangzhou.
Ye Mingchen has the same name as the **, he is not afraid, even if he is imprisoned, he is still wearing court clothes, wearing flower feathers, sitting upright, and persevering. At first, Ye Mingchen thought that he would go to England and have the opportunity to meet the British king, and negotiate the goal of reconciling the army. However, unexpectedly, after arriving in India, Ye Mingchen was imprisoned in Calcutta and eventually died of starvation. His death showed national integrity, but in the distant land of China, the people of the Xianfeng era strongly criticized him and wronged him for a hundred years. From the pillar stone of the Qing Dynasty to the "mediocrity", what kind of fate did Ye Mingchen experience in just a few years?
From 1854 to 1858, under the influence of the Taiping Rebellion, a large-scale Hongbing uprising broke out in Guangdong, and in July of the fourth year of Xianfeng, more than 200,000 rebels besieged the city of Guangzhou, while the Qing army was only 9,000 people. Outnumbered by the enemy, the Qing army of less than 10,000 repelled the rebel army of 200,000 and kept the city of Guangzhou. Ye Mingchen personally executed the prisoners, and within three months, 75,000 people were captured in the uprising, and Ye Mingchen stained the flower feathers on his head with the blood of the rebels. After this incident, he was hailed as the southeast pillar of the Qing Dynasty.
After the end of the First Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was forced to sign the "Five Ports of Commerce", and the British repeatedly asked to enter the city of Guangzhou and open a consulate, but because of the conflict in Sanyuanli, the British felt jealous. At that time, the governor of Liangguang, Qi Ying, chose to delay the army, and then Xu Guangjin ** governor, and Ye Mingchen served as the governor of Guangdong. They decided to use the same methods they had done against the British, to make the British image of the Canton people as strong and inviolable, and to force the British to revise the treaty of commerce. Ye Mingchen was also promoted to the governor of Liangguang.
In 1856, the British, humiliated and outraged by not being allowed to enter the city of Canton, demanded a revision of the Treaty of Nanking, but were refused. They then tried to negotiate a revision in Tianjin, but were again refused. These two setbacks infuriated the British. In October of the same year, a ship called"Yarrow"The Chinese arrested 12 crew members of the small merchant ship, which is licensed in Hong Kong, on suspicion of piracy. After the British captain reported the incident to the consulate, the British took the opportunity to demand that the 12 pirates be handed over to the consulate and accused China of tearing off the British flag.
However, after investigation, it was found that the 12 pirates were all Chinese"Yarrow"It was also a Chinese ship and did not fly the British flag at all. Although the Chinese eventually sent the 12 pirates to the British Consulate, the British politely refused to accept them, in a clear attempt to provoke war. Soon after, the British forces attacked Guangzhou, and since most of the Canton forces were used to suppress the Taiping army, Ye Mingchen was unable to resist and was finally captured on November 14, 1857. During the escort, Ye Mingchen refused British food, lost the opportunity to negotiate with the British side, and died after a week of hunger strike.
On the third day, a group of military and political officials jointly signed ** Ye Mingchen, and Emperor Xianfeng also took it"Rigid and self-serving, absurd and unreasonable"For this reason, Ye Mingchen was deprived of his official position and made him a national sinner. The secretary of the British minister, Orifan, witnessed Ye Mingchen's fate and pointed out: There is no doubt that the empire often makes unwarranted accusations against a certain person and uses him as a scapegoat to achieve his own goals. In Chinese officialdom, it is quite common for innocent subordinates to be sacrificed in order to defend the interests of higher rulers. Therefore, under the joint action of foreigners and Xianfeng, Ye Mingchen became a victim of the nation.