On the same day, Li Hongzhang had just finished a round of negotiations with Japanese Prime Minister Ito Bowen and planned to return to his hotel to rest. When passing by Lingsi, the Japanese people were curious and crowded, and wanted to see the appearance of the Qing minister, which caused a traffic jam and made Li Hongzhang's sedan chair impassable for a while.
At this moment, Akio Toyoda, the third wife who hung out in the crowd, took the opportunity to approach Li Hongzhang's sedan chair, then suddenly took out his gun and fired several shots at Li Hongzhang. However, due to the timely response of the guards around Li Hongzhang, only one shot hit Li Hongzhang's left eye. After treatment, Li Hongzhang survived, and the third wife Akio Toyoda, who assassinated Li Hongzhang, was caught red-handed by the Japanese police because the crowd was too crowded.
In court, the hostess Akio Toyoda said that this was only his personal behavior, and he hoped that the Japanese government would send troops to expand overseas in order to stop the Sino-Japanese peace talks. Finally, the Japanese court sentenced Akio Toyoda to life imprisonment after trial, but in fact he was released from prison on 1907.
Although this is the personal behavior of the Japanese ronin, it not only shocked the Qing court, but also embarrassed the Japanese government. After all, Li Hongzhang was sent by the Qing Dynasty to make peace, but he was assassinated in Japan, which made the Japanese government argue endlessly and finally had to make some concessions at the negotiating table in the hope of making peace.
So, why did the Japanese government make concessions?
First of all, it was an assassination in Japan, and it was Gu Ming, the minister sent by the Qing Dynasty for peace talks. The Japanese government must give an explanation to the Qing court and its own people, otherwise whether Japan will invade China or not will be untenable in name because of this incident.
Secondly, at that time, other big countries took a neutral attitude towards the Sino-Japanese War. However, when Japan demanded compensation of 300 million taels of silver from the Qing Dynasty for Liaodong Peninsula and Korea, a vassal country of the Qing Dynasty, other powers and countries began to be jealous, and then it broke out that the peace talks minister of the Qing Dynasty was stabbed in Japan, which inevitably made western countries hold their breath.
You know, Japan was not the only world power at that time. Compared with the super-class European and American powers such as Germany, the United States and Russia at that time, Japan's military strength and comprehensive national strength are still relatively thin. If these countries intervene in the name of upholding justice, it is hard to say how much benefit Japan can get, and the Japanese government does not want to offend other big countries and make enemies for itself because of this incident.
Therefore, the Japanese cabinet made some concessions after analyzing the pros and cons. After repeated discussions with Li Hongzhang, the original military expenditure of 300 million taels was reduced to 200 million taels of silver, and the later treaty of shimonoseki was signed with the Qing government.
Although the Japanese government lost 6,543.8 billion taels of silver because of the assassination of Li Hongzhang, the land ceded to Japan by the Qing Dynasty still remains an indelible shame in the history of our country. At the same time, the remaining 200 million taels of silver, plus the interest paid off in eight installments, is equivalent to 360 million yen, almost all of which is used by Japan to develop its military strength.
According to records, it was only used for Japan to expand its navy at that time, amounting to 654.38+0.3 billion yen. It can be said that the signing of treaty of shimonoseki and the reparations paid by the Qing government indirectly accelerated the pace of Japanese militarism.