After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the powers asked for some detailed information about the division of China, and the more the better.

After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, China faced a serious crisis of being carved up by the world powers. Under the attack of Japanese militarism, the Qing government gave in shamefully, and China looked like a dying giant. Like a group of hungry wolves, the imperialist powers rushed forward, tearing at the giant's limbs and devouring the giant's flesh and blood, thus causing fierce contradictions and struggles between them. After the Sino-Japanese War, the fastest attack on China was Russia. One of treaty of shimonoseki ceded Liaodong Peninsula to Japan. This article shocked czarist Russia greatly. Russia joined forces with Germany and France. Six days after the treaty of shimonoseki was signed, it formally proposed to the Japanese government that Japan give up its possession of Liaodong Peninsula, and forced Japan to give up its fat meat with the help of force. Japan is estimated to be unable to confront the three countries headed by Russia militarily, and Britain and the United States can't help it in strength, so they have to accept the demands of the three countries. China must pay a huge ransom for this, and Russia, Germany and France have also negotiated with Japan. Only then did the Japanese government negotiate with the Qing government on this issue. The negotiating minister sent by the Qing government is still Li Hongzhang. As a result of the negotiations, China will pay 32 million taels of silver in exchange for Japan to spit out stolen goods according to the method agreed by the three countries and Japan. Russia stepped in, of course, not for China, but to keep the fat meat of Liaodong Peninsula for yourself to enjoy. Through two unequal treaties, the Aihui Treaty of May 1858 and the Beijing Extension Treaty of June +065438+ 10, Russia occupied the territory of one million square kilometers north of Heilongjiang and east of Ussuri River, which was defined as the territory of China in the Nebuchadnezzar Treaty. But the ambitions of the tsarist government do not stop there. Since all the ports along the Pacific coast occupied by Russia are frozen in winter and cannot be navigable all the year round, the goal of obtaining an ice-free port in the Far East has been put forward in Russia's aggressive policy since the 1970s. Ports in the southeast of Korea, Lushun in China, Dalian and Ahava at the mouth of Bohai Strait were all its favorite targets, and it finally chose Lushun and Dalian. So when Japan wanted to take Liaodong Peninsula as its own, the czar government thought it was necessary to step forward and intervene. When the treaty of shimonoseki has not been signed, but the contents demanded by Japan have spread, Russian Foreign Minister Luo Banov pointed out in The Memorial of the Last Tsar: "The most striking condition of Japan's peace treaty is undoubtedly that they completely occupy the peninsula where Lushunkou is located ... From the perspective of China's interests, this occupation is the most unpleasant fact." (1) the tsar Nicholas immediately held a special meeting of ministers to discuss countermeasures. The meeting decided: "We must insist that Japan give up its occupation of Nanman". "If Japan insists on rejecting our proposal, we will announce to the Japanese government that we will retain the freedom of action and we will act in accordance with our interests." At this meeting, military attache Vannovski said, "After the occupation of Manchuria, the Japanese army will approach our border, which will make it difficult for us to redraw the Amur border." . Finance Minister Victor said: "We'd better take positive action now (to prevent Japan from occupying Manchuria, the ally), and we won't modify our Amur border or occupy any land for the time being"; "If, unexpectedly, Japan turns a blind eye to China's diplomatic insistence, our fleet will not have to occupy any stronghold, that is, it will start hostile actions against the Japanese navy and bomb Japanese ports, so that we will become the savior of China and China will respect our service, so it will agree to modify our border by peaceful means." (2) They repeatedly proposed "modifying Amur (Heilongjiang) border" because the policy of annexing Manchuria (northeast China) was determined as early as the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. In 189 1, Russia began to build the Siberian railway, and one of its main strategic purposes was to realize its aggression plan against China. 1894- 1895 When the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was going on, Russian Foreign Minister Banov said in The Tsar's Memorial, "We want to get an ice-free port in the Pacific Ocean. In order to facilitate the construction of the Siberian Railway, we must annex a part of Manchuria. " (3) 1895, Siberian railway subgrade was repaired to Chita. While forcing Japan to return the Liaodong Peninsula, the czar government began to ask the Qing government to make the railway reach Vladivostok through Manchuria, China. In his report to the Tsar in April 1896, Chancellor Viktor said, "From a political and strategic point of view, this railway will have this significance, which will enable Russia to transport its military forces to Vladivostok at any time, focusing on Manchuria, the Yellow Sea coast and a short distance from the capital of China. One possibility of a considerable number of Russian troops in the above-mentioned strongholds is to greatly increase Russia's prestige and influence not only in China but also in the Far East, and will promote the tribes belonging to China to approach Russia. " (1) In the eyes of the Qing government, Russia became a "savior" because the three countries headed by Russia interfered with Japan's return to Liao. In order to repay this "savior", in March of the 22nd year of Guangxu (1896), Li Hongzhang was sent to Russia as a special envoy to congratulate Tsar Nicholas on his second coronation ceremony. Russia took advantage of this opportunity to induce Li Hongzhang to sign a secret agreement. The central content of this secret agreement is to allow Russians to build a railway from China, Heilongjiang and Jilin to Vladivostok. The secret agreement stipulates: "Russia can also transport military grain across the border on this railway when it has nothing to do"; It also stipulates that "when the war breaks out, Russian warships are allowed to enter all ports in China in an emergency." According to this secret agreement, the "Dong Qing Railway" controlled by the Russians was later built. A year after China and Russia concluded a secret agreement, the czar government sent troops to occupy Lvda. Russia's occupation of Lvda is related to Germany's occupation of Jiaozhou Bay. In other words, Russia encourages Germany to seize Jiaozhou Bay and create opportunities for itself through a series of intrigues. After Germany participated in the three countries' intervention in Japan's return to Liao, it asked the Qing government for two concessions, Tianjin and Hankou, as "rewards". It also wants to occupy a port in China. When the three countries intervened together, Tsar Nicholas II told German Emperor William II that Russia treated Germany "approvingly" and obtained "a port" in a place that won't make you feel inconvenient. 1896 12, the german ambassador to China, hai Jing, named JIAOZHOU bay in Shandong from the foreign affairs office of the prime minister, but the prime minister's office refused on the grounds of "being afraid of foreign aid, it is difficult to do the facts". But Germany does not regard the refusal of the Qing government as an insurmountable obstacle. It is worried about the attitude of the Russians. Germany knows that Russia is also "interested" in Jiaozhou, and has made the Qing government agree that the Russian fleet will spend the winter in Jiaozhou Bay. Therefore, Germany felt it necessary to ask the czar government's attitude towards its occupation of Jiaozhou Bay. 1897, when Kaiser Wilhelm visited Petersburg for the second time, he had a face-to-face conversation with Tsar Nicholas for the second time. Germany saw that although Russia did not actively support Germany's occupation of Jiaozhou Bay, it would not interfere with Germany's actions. So Germany killed two German priests in Juye County, Cao Zhou, Shandong Province, and occupied Jiaozhou Bay on the pretext of October (1897165438+10). William officially informed Russia that the German fleet would "occupy Jiaozhou". Nikolai immediately replied, "I can neither agree nor disagree with you to send the German fleet to Jiaozhou.". But at the same time, Russia announced that Russian warships will still be stationed in Jiaozhou Bay for the winter this year, and Russian Foreign Minister Moravi handed this statement to Germany. Therefore, the Germans were very dissatisfied with Russia and cursed Russia for "duplicity" and "deliberately preventing us from occupying Jiaozhou Bay for a long time". Why did Russia do this? Pavlov, the Russian charge d 'affaires in China, made a partial explanation in the telegram sent to Russian Foreign Minister Moravi: "According to your telegram165438+1October 61October 4, I informed the Prime Minister's Office that the Chinese fleet had been ordered to sail to this bay before they got the news that the German fleet had entered Jiaozhou, St. Petersburg. This news left the deepest impression on all China ministers. I fully believe that if we strengthen their faith at this time and believe that we are prepared to give active assistance to the China government to help it solve the dispute it has caused with Germany, then we will certainly be able to make decisions on other issues raised by the China government, such as passenger cars, navigation and trade on the Songhua River and the railway north of Shanhaiguan, as we wish. " (1) Obviously, this is an opportunity to grab new rights and interests for yourself in China. Prior to this, Li Hongzhang, who was the Prime Minister and Minister of State, personally asked Pavlov for help twice, hoping that Russia would interfere with Germany's occupation of Jiaozhou Bay. After he heard that Russian warships would sail into Jiaozhou Bay, he sent staff to the Russian Embassy almost every day to inquire about the news. But the so-called Russian warships stationed in Jiaozhou Bay is just empty talk. In fact, Russian warships did not go to Jiaozhou Bay, but forcibly occupied Dalian Bay and Lushunkou. After seeing through Russia's purpose, the German government informed the Russian government through diplomatic channels: "It (the German government) is still prepared to balance Germany's interests by rewarding Russia." (2) Although in fact two robbers, Russia and Germany, cooperated with each other and occupied a port in China, the czar government still shamelessly used this as a reason for its occupation of Luda to help China deal with Germany. Pavlov, the Russian charge d 'affaires in China, informed the Prime Minister's yamen that Russia had no intention of seizing the territory of China. The purpose of the occupation brigade is to protect China from German aggression. As soon as the Germans retreated, so did the Russian army. The Qing government actually expressed its belief in this nonsense and promised to supply coal to Russian ships. Russia officially announced in the name of the tsar: "As the German fleet occupied Jiaozhou and obviously wanted to stay in the Gulf indefinitely, the emperor thought it necessary to order China's Pacific fleet to leave and stay in Lushunkou for the time being, which was approved by the China government. Your Majesty fully believes that Russia and Germany should and may help each other on the issue of the Far East ... "(3) Since the German fleet stays in Jiaozhou Bay irregularly, it seems that the Russians have reason to stay in Luda irregularly. On the sixth day of March in the 24th year of Guangxu (1March 27th, 898), Russia forced the Qing government to sign a land lease treaty. In order to facilitate the establishment of this treaty, the Russians issued an ultimatum and threatened that if they did not sign it at the specified time, "Russia has other ways." At the same time, Russia paid bribes to Li Hongzhang and Zhang, who were in charge of the negotiations. As can be seen from the Russian documents, Li Hongzhang immediately accepted the 502,000 pieces of silver given to him, and Zhang accepted the 502,000 pieces of silver given to him because "there are countless allegations about his bribery, and he would rather wait until the rumors subsided". On behalf of the Qing government, Li Hongzhang and Zhang signed the Land Lease Treaty with Russian agent Pavlov in China, which not only made Russia the owner of Dalian Bay in Lushunkou and its adjacent waters, but also gave the Russians the right to build a railway from Dalian Bay to connect the railway trunk line across Manchuria stipulated in the 22nd year of Guangxu (1896), that is, the railway from Harbin to Dalian, which was later built. In this way, not only the Liaodong Peninsula redeemed by the Qing government with 32 million taels of silver, but also the whole Manchuria, namely northeast China, actually fell under the control of Russia.