Preface
Xia Jie and Shang Zhou ended violently; King Wu swallowed up the merchants, Duke Zhou supported them, feudal lords were enfeoffed, and there were disputes in the Spring and Autumn Period. The seven heroes of the Warring States period merged with Qin and won; in the realm of Chu, He and Han, Wang Mang was divided into sections; Wei, Shu, and Wu allied, and Zhuge was a junior; Sima Dai Cao, the eight kings attacked; the Northern and Southern Dynasties merged, and the Wuhu chaos; Yang Sui established the emperor, Li Tang Zhenguan; the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms were chaotic and chaotic; Chai Rong promoted the Zhou Dynasty, Kuang Yin established the Song Dynasty, Xia Li, Liao Jin, and merged into the Yuan Dynasty; Yuan Zhang In the enlightened period, Li and Gui provided shade; thousands of Jurchens entered the country boldly; after Xinhai, the dynasty fell into despair.
For more than five thousand years, with the changes of dynasties and the battlefields, thousands of households were sparse and thousands of villages were growing.
People in the Tang Dynasty said: People say that in the ancient battle court, the dark flames are greener.
The Ming Dynasty said: The old battlefield is covered with decaying grass and clouds, and the fishy wind blows blood and splatters clothes. Looking at the dust and sand for three thousand miles, I can only see a horse's head slanting and the sun is yellow.
Yuan Ren said: The peaks and mountains are like clusters, and the waves are like angry waves. Mountains and rivers outside and inside Tongguan Road. Looking at the Western Capital, I hesitated. It is sad that wherever the Qin and Han Dynasties traveled, thousands of palaces and palaces were turned into dirt. When it prospers, the people suffer; when it dies, the people suffer.
How often have the world experienced ups and downs over the past hundred years? The fox sleeps in ruins, and the rabbit walks on the deserted platform; in the past and present, where is the strong and the weak? The dew is like cold yellow flowers; the smoke is like fading grass.
It is discouraging to think about this.
This article does not talk about the reincarnation of the world and the passage of life, but only talks about the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty and what happened in the next forty years.
The rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty originated from the poppy; the change of the Qing Dynasty began with Hong Xiuquan.
Poppy is native to the mountains of the eastern Mediterranean. The ancient Egyptians and Sumerians called it the "happy plant" and the "sacred flower that forgets worries."
In the fifth century BC, the Greeks extracted opium from the poppy fruit.
In 3400 BC, cultivation was widespread in the Mesopotamia.
In 139 BC, Zhang Qian was sent as an envoy to the Western Regions, and poppies were introduced to China. During the Tang Dynasty, trade with Arabia and Persia was frequent, and the amount of it was gradually increased, but it was only used for medicinal purposes.
In 1619 AD, the Dutch captured the Indonesian archipelago, and opium poured into the islands in the South China Sea. The city gates burned down, affecting fish in ponds. The poison also spread rapidly to China. In 1729 AD, Emperor Yongzheng issued the first smoking ban.
Tea is native to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. During the Tang Dynasty, it was first made as a drink, but as time went by, it gradually became a necessity in life. There is a saying that "one day without tea will cause stagnation, and three days without tea will cause illness."
In 1664 AD, King Charles II of England got a handful by chance, soaked it in water and drank it. He lamented that this was the most beautiful gift the East had given to the West. In just fifty years, tea became a favorite drink among the British, and imports increased significantly, reaching 6 million kilograms per year.
From 1701 to 1759 AD, imports from China amounted to 280 million taels of silver, while exports were only 90 million taels; the deficit was so staggering that the King of England's liver trembled.
At the beginning of the 17th century, a group of entrepreneurial British people formed the East India Company in London and set up trading posts in India. At the same time, they obtained a charter from the British government to seize land and coin coins, build cities and raise troops, conclude alliances, declare war and make peace, and hear civil and criminal cases. privileges.
Starting from 1756 AD, in nine years, the East India Company successfully conquered the Shetunxiang Kingdom after seven campaigns.
In 1773, Warren Hastings was appointed as the first Governor-General of India, responsible for administering Indian affairs. The East India Company also obtained the opium monopoly. Some people suggested that Hastings dump opium to China to eliminate the deficit.
Hastings refused. He believed that opium was harmful to people and caused great harm. China was the world's largest trade market. Dumping opium would endanger legitimate business and was uneconomical.
In 1775, the American War of Independence against Britain began.
In 1780, the Netherlands joined the war as an ally of the United States and stopped converting Dutch silver coins into British pounds. The Dutch silver coin was the only external settlement currency recognized by Zhengfu of the Qing Dynasty. Britain lost its source of silver coins and could not pay for Chinese tea.
Hastings was no longer stubborn. In 1781, two East India Company merchant ships loaded with 3,450 boxes of opium, totaling 218,799 kilograms, sailed to China.
From then on, the opium sales to China increased year by year, and by 1804, the balance of payments in trade with China was achieved.
Before 1820, the East India Company very carefully controlled the sales of opium to less than 5,000 boxes per year, and kept the price at a high level. In this way, not only could it make huge profits, but it could only be consumed in a small area. It would not attract Qing Zhengfu's attention.
After 1820, with the widespread use of steam engines, the production capacity of the British textile industry increased dramatically, and it began to dump cheap textiles into India. As a result, India suffered a large trade deficit, and the Governor-General of India had to significantly increase opium exports to China.
After 1821, it increased rapidly to 7,800 boxes per year, and by 1830 it had reached 18,956 boxes.
In 1833, the British government abolished the East India Company's opium monopoly. For a time, the opium trade was like a wild horse running wild, rapidly expanding to 30,000 boxes.
By 1836, nearly 40,000 boxes had arrived...
