Daoguang learned that the Queen of England was only 22 years old, and asked three questions one after another
The ancients once said:"Know yourself and know your opponent, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles"。On the battlefield, if you fail to know your opponent, you are likely to suffer irreparable losses or even major defeats.
We all know that the Qing Dynasty of China was a closed country, and the rulers were conservative and arrogant, and it was this undeniable arrogance that made the entire Qing Dynasty appear weak and invincible in front of the people of the world.
The overall strength of the Qing Dynasty has lagged far behind that of the developed countries of the West, and it is this asymmetrical relationship between strength and weakness that has made our country suffer from the bullying of the Western powers.
But even in this case, the Qing emperor was still arrogant and rude. For example, when Emperor Daoguang learned that Queen Victoria of England was only 22 years old, he asked three questions and became the laughing stock of posterity!
What is it about? Today, let's take a look back at this brutal history, which may make us pause.
The Qing Dynasty lagged far behind the West.
As we all know, the policy of closing the country can be roughly traced back to the period of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty. Later, Zhu Di abolished the sea ban policy during the Zhu Yuanzhang period and ordered Zheng He to go to the West to trade and spread Chinese culture.
Subsequently, Zheng He visited 37 countries and regions, strengthening exchanges and learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations, and deepening his understanding of the world of the Ming Dynasty. As the so-called broadening horizons also promoted its own growth, the Ming Dynasty has since stepped onto the stage of worship in various countries.
However, the Ming Dynasty eventually went into decline and was not reintroduced until the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty"Retreat policy"。When Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary in the Qing Dynasty, came to preach, Kangxi was more open-minded and did not prevent him from preaching too much.
In addition to spreading Catholicism, Matteo Ricci also contributed to the spread of Chinese and Western cultures. Together with Xu Guangqi and others, he translated works such as "Euclidean Principles of Geometry", "Compendium of Tongwenguan", "Methods of Measurement", and "Yuanyong Rope Instrument", which had a profound impact on China.
It is also in this context that the first world map in Chinese history, "Kunyu Wanguo Quantu", came out, which accelerated our understanding of the world. At the same time, Matteo Ricci translated the Four Books into Western languages and spread them in the West, causing a huge sensation.
Although there are pros and cons to opening up to the outside world, but"The pros outweigh the cons", which can contribute to the development of society. Sadly, Matteo Ricci died in Beijing in May 1610, and the Qing Dynasty's opening up to the outside world gradually declined.
During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, due to the influence of foreign missionaries on Chinese rituals and beliefs, as well as the ideological constraints of the rulers of the dynasty, the Qing Dynasty gradually abandoned its ties with foreign countries, which was later established"The Road to Perdition"The foundation was laid.
British merchant ships constantly attacked the shores of our country.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty pursued a policy of closing the country to the outside world, while Western countries continued to make progress. For example, during the Qianlong period, Britain had the world's first new spinning machine, the Jenny wheel.
By the time of the Daoguang period, Western countries had carried out the industrial revolution, entered the era of industrial society, began to implement the capitalist system, and their comprehensive national strength continued to increase. What about the Qing Dynasty? The Qing Dynasty remained closed to the rest of the country and traveled around to realize its dream of becoming a great power.
The ideological narrow-mindedness of the feudal rulers led to the backwardness of the country and also to the ignorance of the locals"。Defeated"It is an eternal truth in international exchanges, but"Defeated"But it came quickly.
We know that the Opium War took place in the 40s of the 19th century, but the British** had already granted the East India Company a patent for opium with the Qing Dynasty as early as 1773. However, it was achieved through smuggling at the time.
In the twelfth year of Daoguang (1832), British merchant ships once again entered China's territorial waters in defiance of our country's restrictions, and Emperor Daoguang dismissed the minister's report.
In 1837, Queen Victoria of England ascended the throne. The young and promising queen, who had always followed the principles of the primacy of the interests of the British Empire, began to set her sights on distant China and often clashed with the interests of the Qing dynasty.
Two years later, British sailors killed our people while drinking on the territory of the Qing Dynasty, but the British refused to hand over **. Although we strongly raised this **, in the end they did not hand it over**, and the British Parliament even decided to go to war against China.
The Sino-British Opium War broke out.
According to this point of view, the so-called"The smoke of gunpowder dissipated in Humen"It was the fuse of the Opium War, but in fact, the British army had been waiting for an opportunity to create trouble for a long time, and the war had been planned by them a long time ago.
In 1840, the British fleet landed in the waters of Guangdong. Under Lin Zexu's strict defense, the British army had no choice but to go to Dinghai, and after capturing Dinghai, they went straight to Tianjin. In order to keep the throne and win the favor of the British, the ignorant and incompetent Daoguang Emperor actually investigated and punished Lin Zexu.
At the same time, he signed the "Treaty of Nanjing", which humiliated the country, and once again paid reparations, ceded land, and promised five treaty ports. From then on, Britain's coastal ports were no longer an obstacle to China, and China became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, which was also the beginning of China's modern history of humiliation.
We know that during the Opium Wars, the Qing army captured a British prisoner. Emperor Daoguang did not ask about the war, but asked about the situation in England and learned that the Queen of England was only 22 years old.
Emperor Daoguang learned of this"An earth-shattering event"After that, ask yourself:"Why can such a little girl become the king of a country? Can she be a woman who can serve the public? Is the queen married? These questions almost amused the captured soldiers.
Immediately afterwards, Emperor Daoguang said meaningfully"The Queen of England doesn't marry me, and my harem is not bad, which is good for both countries. "At such a critical moment, the king of a country does not care about the war, but cares about the private affairs of his children, which is really angry and funny.
It is not difficult to see that the Qing Dynasty at that time was already a frog at the bottom of the well. To put it simply, the three questions raised by Emperor Daoguang to Queen Victoria of Britain, who was only 22 years old, fully exposed the corruption and backwardness of the Qing Dynasty, and also showed that Emperor Daoguang was not a person with a sense of the overall situation.
This result was fatal for the Qing Dynasty, and all the humiliation and humiliation followed. Fortunately, today we finally got back on our feet, and the days of bullying will never come back. But we still can't forget history, don't you think?