During the First Sino Japanese War, why did Cixi embezzle military funds to celebrate her 60th birth

In order to let Cixi give up his rights and retire with peace of mind, and in order to show filial piety, Emperor Guangxu wanted to build a new garden for Cixi, that is, the Summer Palace, and the director of this garden construction was Guangxu's biological father. Therefore, this Summer Palace was built desperately - everyone knows that the Old Summer Palace was built back and forth for a hundred years, and it was built in the prosperous Kangqian era of the Qing Empire; When the Summer Palace was built, the Qing Empire was already in decline, and the reparations had been ceded by the foreign powers, and it was in the critical period of the industrial revolution with great changes of the times (the Westernization movement needed a lot of money) - so there was a big gap in the money to change the garden! Guangxu was in a dilemma and embezzled naval military funds from Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Naval Division.

First of all, because Cixi herself lives a luxurious and extravagant life, and secondly, she slaps her swollen face and becomes fat, so that foreigners know that Qing ** still has a certain economic strength.

Because she was the actual ruler of the Qing Dynasty at that time, her consistent style was extravagant and wasteful.

It is purely Cixi's personal vanity, and it has always been such a pompous show.

In ancient times, the birthday of the emperor or the queen mother was indeed a very grand event, because it was a matter of royal decency and majesty, and the birthday would definitely not be so hasty.

He is such a character, he loves to publicize his own power, loves face, exaggerates extravagance and waste, and talks about pomp.

I should tell the other countries that China's economy is still very strong, so that other countries feel that China is still capable.

She loves both power and extravagance, but he lacks foresight for many national affairs.

It was the end of 1895, and the First Sino-Japanese War took place in September 1894 and April 1895 when Japan invaded China and Korea. So from the beginning to the end of the war, Cixi has not yet had a birthday, but she only cares about her sixtieth birthday.

The reason why she wanted to embezzle military funds to celebrate her 60th birthday was because there was no money in the treasury at that time, and she wanted to embezzle it in order to solve expenses.

Because Cixi only cared about her own well-being, she would not think about the affairs of the army at all, and felt that her birthday banquet was more important than the country.

At the time of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty was already corrupt to the home, and did not know how to repair the armaments, but used the silver two gangs of Ci Mo to celebrate Tong Youbu's birthday, which really shows that Cixi is the most important person in the Great Qing Dynasty, and everything else is just like that.

Although Cixi was obsessed with power, he was not a particularly politically capable woman, he preferred to eat, drink and be merry, and the cost of his birthday was indeed embezzled from military spending.

Even if the Empress Dowager Cixi did not celebrate her 60th birthday, the First Sino-Japanese War would still be won, and the Empress Dowager Cixi felt that she was old and should not take care of the country, but should enjoy her own happiness.

Because Cixi's life was not good, she was afraid that she would not be able to survive her birthday, and the silver for Cixi's birthday and the navy's funds were two different expenses. But we don't know how.

In fact, the Empress Dowager Cixi originally thought that after she finished this big birthday, she would return to Guangxu, and then she would enjoy her old age in peace, so she didn't want to work so hard anymore. Although she herself was reluctant, she was also forced by the political background.

That's right, the cost of the birthday is military expenses. Cixi is really the culprit of the whole country, and she insists on celebrating her 60th birthday when the country is in turmoil.

The Empress Dowager Cixi enjoyed life too much and paid some attention to face, and the First Sino-Japanese War happened sooner or later.

Even if Cixi didn't spend a lot of military money on her birthday. The defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War was still a foregone conclusion. Because at that time, the Qing ** was corrupt and incompetent. Most of the people and soldiers at that time were destroyed by opium. And at that time, it was not enough to resist advanced weapons.

Because the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty was already in chaos at that time, and the Empress Dowager Cixi herself was also very irritable, if she didn't have a happy birthday, it was estimated that she would not be able to hold it anymore.

This really can't be blamed on Cixi, after all, Cixi didn't know that when she was 60th birthday, the Sino-Japanese War would break out.

It can only be said that Japan seized the opportunity well, and Japan's choice of the opportunity of the First Sino-Japanese War was deliberately chosen at the time of Cixi's 60th birthday.

There are several reasons for this.

Cixi's 60th birthday, the Qing Dynasty paid attention to this event, and did not pay so much attention to other things;

Birthday celebration is naturally festive, at this time, even if someone sees some problems in the early stage, they dare not report, and dare not move, in case of causing a big incident, disrupting the birthday, who bears this responsibility.

The Summer Palace was prepared by Cixi for her birthday, and she used the military money of the Beiyang Naval Division. As a result, the Beiyang Naval Division did not purchase ships and guns for several years. However, once Cixi celebrates her birthday and the Summer Palace is repaired, then the military funds of the Beiyang Navy Division will not at least be misappropriated so much, and it will not be said that there are no shells in the war.

In this way, the Beiyang Naval Division will slowly regain some vitality and strength. Maybe it will be relieved, so take advantage of the time of the big birthday, when Beiyang is the weakest, and the best time is to use soldiers.

Galeries Lafayette has a bad life.

Every birthday is basically a natural and man-made disaster.

None of the first time it was good.

So I'm looking forward to it.

There are also many people who say that Cixi embezzled the navy's silver.

This is not quite true.

The silver for Cixi's birthday and the funds for the navy are two different expenses, of course, in the actual operation process.

It's another thing for the household to hold on to the silver of Beiyang and give the green light to the silver that has passed the long life, at least Cixi feels that she has a clear distinction between public and private.

In addition, the equipment of the Beiyang Naval Division and the Japanese Combined Fleet have their own advantages.

The national strength of the Manchu Qing was several times that of Japan.

In terms of book data alone.

The Manchus also had the upper hand.

But there's such a thing as war...

As a result, Japan won the bet.

Generally speaking, I underestimated Japan at the time.

After all, for thousands of years, Japan has always been China's little brother, and it is rare to fight twice in the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, and China won all of them.

As a result, the emperor took the lead in dieting and buying **, and he was still thinking about his birthday, and the Qingliu people in the household department said that the world was peaceful, and the Beiyang Navy was already the first in Asia, and buying arms cost the people and money.

It was not the funds of the war that were misappropriated, but the funds of the Beiyang Naval Division.

In 1888, Weng Tongfeng, then the head of the household department, took the opportunity to drastically reduce the funds of the Beiyang Naval Division in the name of preparing for the Cida Birthday Celebration, and strictly forbade the Beiyang Naval Division to add new "ships, guns, and munitions".

Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, applied for the replacement and maintenance of the boiler many times (the boiler has reached the end of its life), but due to the government decree of the Ministry of Household Reduction of funds, it was not possible to purchase Shenji from the outside. Li Hongzhang can only produce and ** shells for the Beiyang Navy Division through the Tianjin Machinery Bureau, most of these shells are solid shells, which are worn but not exploded, and most of them are unqualified in size and cannot be used.

Ding Ruchang repeatedly reported that rapid-fire guns should be installed on the ship, a total of 18 guns, and the budget cost was 613,040 taels. The household department replied, "It is difficult to make a mistake." However, in order to make Cixi lenient and happy, the "scenes" such as stages, archways, and dragon sheds built along the way from the Summer Palace to the Forbidden City alone cost 2.4 million taels of silver, and 72 cannons were replaced.

Most of the defeats in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle are inseparable from this!