Chapter 66 Time and space are staggered, and merits and demerits are right and wrong
In fact, if you don't consider your own honor and disgrace, settle for your position, and rely on Cixi's trust and support, you may not necessarily be able to realize your ideals and ambitions, but Guan Zhuofan feels that he can't afford to take this risk. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
In particular, he had a strong feeling that the speed at which this woman was growing and changing was getting faster and faster, and that sooner or later, he would no longer have enough ability to influence her and control her.
This is very ironic, although the "speed" of Cixi's "growth and change" is getting faster and faster, but the "direction" of her "growth and change" is not conservative, but open, which is actually the same as Guan Zhuofan's own "direction".
However, because of this, Guan Zhuofan is worried that his set of things, in Cixi's place, will one day not be enough, and this woman with a strong sense of independence will eventually develop a set of her own independent ideas, and then act on her own. If Guan Zhuofan doesn't follow, he will conflict with her, and even stand on the opposite side of her. And what kind of means Cixi will take against political opponents, as a traverser, he is clear.
After all, this woman is too talented and too smart.
If Cixi's "independent proposition" is in line with the development trend of history, fortunately, what Guan Zhuofan has lost is only the position and power of the presiding center; But what if her "independent proposition" diverges from the trend of historical development? After all, no matter how smart and talented she is, her understanding and prediction of history cannot be compared with that of a time-traveler -- she does not have the experience and facts of success or failure for more than 100 years!
When you think about Cixi's "growth and change", which is entirely due to Guan Zhuofan's deliberate influence and guidance, it is even more ironic.
In addition, Guan Zhuofan also admitted, "one's own honor and disgrace", well, I actually have to consider it.
So, I can't help but go to the "most poisonous, worst" position.
As for the original idea, through the means of "redemption", to guide Cixi to gradually decentralize power and eventually withdraw from the political center, it turns out that it is also an illusion.
It's not that "ransom" is useless - in fact, "ransom" is very useful, and over the years, Guan Zhuofan has "redeemed" more and more trust and power, but no matter how much trust there is, it is still a monarch's trust in his courtiers; No matter how much power there is, it is still the power of a courtier, and there is no indication that Cixi will give up the supreme and final decision of the monarch because of this.
In other words, Cixi did not mean to "withdraw from the political center".
What Cixi gave him was only the "right to do things", not the "right to speak".
And what I want to "redeem" is not only the "right to do things", but also the "right to speak", and even the final "right to speak".
The situation is very clear, if you want the "redemption" to be effective enough, it is not enough to rely on "guidance", you must add enough external force, and when the situation is stronger than people, you will not accept the deal, and you will not be able to get it.
In other words, it is necessary to "buy and sell".
Still, in any case, it's still a roughly fair deal – and if it's unfair, it's not a "deal."
If the "deal" cannot be reached, the words "justifiable" will be gone, and even if the so-called "right to speak" is obtained, and the position of being in a high place is unbearable, it is also windy and shaky from all directions, and most of the thoughts and energy have to be put on how not to fall? How do you sit firmly under the butt?
If so, up and down, how much thought and energy can be put out to unite with the outside world, reform and opening up, and development?
Kwan Cheuk-fan must face up to and respect the following facts:
First, the Qing Dynasty royal family at this time still had considerable prestige in the minds of ordinary Chinese.
Second, the country was at the beginning of peace, and the queen mother of the two palaces did indeed make great contributions.
The merit is very great, alas, Guan Zhuofan smiled bitterly.
About Cixi's merits and demerits -
In this time and space, so far, Cixi's performance has been impeccable in both the country and the people, public and private:
Jian Xian is capable, humble and admonishable, trustworthy and supportive, and carefully controls his desire for luxury enjoyment.
Due to Guan Zhuofan's intervention, China's national situation in this time and space is thriving, far more than in the same period in the original time and space. However, no matter how much role Guan Zhuofan played in it, during this period, the final decision on politics was still in the hands of the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces, considering the difference in knowledge and ability between Ci'an and Cixi, Cixi was actually the de facto final "talker" of the entire empire during this period, and her trust, understanding and support for Guan Zhuofan were very important.
Guan Zhuofan thought that her role and achievements were worthy of a Summer Palace.
In this time and space, if China finally rises again in all countries and the world in accordance with Guan Zhuofan's vision, then Cixi's merits are not covered with a coffin, but also conclusive, and in the history books, she must be a wise heroine who compares or even surpasses Lu Pheasant of the Han Dynasty and Xuanren of the Song Dynasty.
What's more, no matter what grievances and turmoil the two have had, she is his woman after all.
One more important point:
Under the guise of "passing on poison from the womb," under the current environment of the current level of scientific understanding of the Chinese, it is possible to temporarily use it as a means of political struggle. However, with the gradual opening of the people's wisdom and the prosperity of science, this crime must not withstand the scrutiny of history, and it is better to accept it when it is good than to call later historians to overturn the case.
Guan Zhuofan is not the kind of person who "after I die, who cares about the flood", he still cherishes his feathers very much and values the reputation behind him.
Therefore, he has to take a step back from the "most poisonous and worst" position, and explain the past to himself, the past to the Iraqi people, and the past to history.
The above is the current plane, but what about the original plane?
I mean, in the original time and space, what about the merits and demerits of Cixi?
Alas, what a ...... Very sensitive subject and certainly controversial.
Before discussing this issue, one thing should be confirmed: when Cixi "returned to power" and formally handed over power to Dezong -- of course, it was not 100 percent handed over -- her prestige and authority reached the peak since the Xin Younian "curtain listened to the government", and the government and the opposition regarded the Empress Dowager Cixi as a "virtuous queen" and a "British lord".
At that time, Cixi, in the eyes of the people, was shining all over her body.
This signboard of "Virtuous Queen" and "British Lord", without any water in it, is really made by a series of brilliant achievements of Cixi in governing the country over the years.
pacified Hong Yang and pulled the Qing Dynasty back from the line of life and death, so let's not talk about it, let's talk about what happened after that.
After that, it was "Tongzhi Zhongxing".
"Tongzhi Zhongxing" is not a false beauty, it is not a "return to the light," but a real "Zhongxing"; population, finance, military, diplomacy, the authority of the central government, political stability, the vitality and development of social production and life, and the new things that are blooming everywhere -- no matter how you look at it, they all meet the criteria of "Zhongxing" 100 percent.
In Chinese history, peasant uprisings of a similar scale either directly destroyed the dynasty, or, although the dynasty temporarily escaped the catastrophe of cutting its throat, it could no longer be revived, and fell off a cliff all the way, existing in name only.
Qin, Han, Tang, Yuan, Ming...... Count them all and you can't be outside.
The Qing Dynasty was the only exception.
What does this mean?
Today, when we mention the Westernization Movement, we will give it a "failure"; yes, the Westernization Movement did fail in the end, but it was not without success, and this success was not "individual" or "partial", but "comprehensive," and this success was reflected in the victory of the two wars of recovering Xinjiang and the war against France.
The situation faced by the original time and space to recover Xinjiang is far worse than that of this time and space: Aguba has received comprehensive military aid from the United Kingdom; At the same time, Tsarist Russia has not only occupied Ili, but also approached Urumqi. That is to say, compared with the original time and space, Agubai's rule in Xinjiang is more stable and more powerful -- that's all, the key is that in order to recover Xinjiang, it is necessary to take a huge risk of opening a film directly with Tsarist Russia.
At that time, the abandonment of Xinjiang was already the mainstream opinion of the imperial court, and it could even be said to be one-sided -- it was by no means just the words of Li Hongzhang's "coastal defense faction." Under these circumstances, Cixi and Wenxiang firmly supported Zuo Zongtang's idea of recovering Xinjiang, and made preparations for tightening their belts and fighting for a long time.
In the process of counterinsurgency, although the Western Expeditionary Army fought in a guest place, militarily, it had a crushing advantage over the Agubo rebels who had received "British aid", and the gap was so large that it was like the British and French armies against the Chinese army during the time of the two crows.
The performance of this army was highly praised by the great powers, the highest of which was that the combat strength of Zuo Zongtang's army was not inferior to that of European armies; It was even more fearful to Tsarist Russia -- Tsarist Russia was watching from the sidelines, and Lao Maozi was probably more aware of the combat strength of the Western Expeditionary Army than the Chinese central government.
This is the real reason why Tsarist Russia abandoned Ili. The recovery of Ili, the contemporaries and future generations all returned to Zeng Jize, but Guan Zhuofan believes that the real hero is actually the army of the Western Expedition on the sidelines.
Zuo Zongtang's army of the Western Expedition cannot be said to be a truly modern army, but it is infinitely close to this standard, and in terms of morale and discipline, it is still about above many modern armies. This is the peak of China's infantry combat power after Qianlong. If such an army was placed on the Korean battlefield in the First Sino-Japanese War, Guan Zhuofan thought that no matter what, it would be impossible to stop the Japanese army that had just completed modernization.
The army of the Western Expedition did not collapse out of the cracks in the stones, nor did it rely only on Zuo Zongtang's personal genius, will, and efforts; it was the product of China's overall national strength at that time, and it was the concentrated embodiment of the spirit and spirit of the Chinese at that time—yes, China did have a period of initial recovery of self-confidence and a period of spiritual outlook turning upward.
This period included the coming Sino-French War.
*(To be continued.) )