Text/Kingdom Building
Friends who know international diplomatic relations know that if a country kills a messenger from another country, it is equivalent to declaring war on the other side. Moreover, in the world, it is also a universally recognized international practice for the two countries to go to war and not kill each other. Thus, no matter how complicated the situation, there will be no retaliation between countries for diplomatic emissaries, and even in the two world wars, there has been no killing of the other's emissaries by belligerents. However, in 1900 China, a Manchu Qing officer shot and killed the German minister in China, causing a very serious diplomatic accident in modern history, and finally, the defeated China was forced to hand over the officer to the German army and was brutally killed. The Manchu Qing officer who killed the German minister to China was Enhai.
In the early 1900s, two major events disturbed Empress Dowager Cixi's sleep. The boxers of Yihe burned and looted foreign embassies in Beijing, Tianjin and other places under the slogan of supporting the Qing Dynasty and destroying the foreign countries, while western countries supported the Guangxu Emperor's pro-government from the perspective of safeguarding their own interests in China. Empress Dowager Cixi, who had been in charge of imperial affairs for decades, had become accustomed to the life of a ruler from above, so how could she sit idly by while foreigners interfered in China's internal affairs? Therefore, with the support of some ministers of the main war faction, Empress Dowager Cixi had the determination to fight with the foreigners. In January of the same year, Empress Dowager Cixi issued an edict supporting the Boxers' act of "supporting the Qing Dynasty and destroying the Yangs", which was tantamount to officially announcing the confrontation with Western countries. However, at this time, the Guangxu Emperor proceeded from the actual situation in China and did not want to go to war with the Western powers.
At the request of foreigners, he approved the request of the embassies of various countries to recruit armed guards, thus achieving the purpose of protecting the staff and families of the embassies. While the foreign relations policies of the two Chinese rulers diverged dramatically, foreigners armed with guards expanded the protection of the embassy district, resulting in the shooting of hundreds of innocent Chinese civilians and soldiers (this figure does not include the Boxers who were shot). Among them, the German minister to China, Klinder, behaved the worst, not only ordering German soldiers to shoot and kill many Chinese civilians, but also personally leading the team to shoot and kill more than 20 nominal and boxers, becoming a demon in the eyes of the Chinese people.
On June 19, 1900, Qing Prime Minister Yamen sent a note to envoys of various countries: they were limited to leaving Beijing within 24 hours. At that time, the Boxers had grown to several northern provinces, and millions of Boxers were fighting foreigners everywhere with the purpose of helping the Qing Dynasty and destroying the yangs. These foreign envoys and accompanying family members dared to leave the capital, is this not a dead end on their own! At that time, there were no planes and railways, and they had to be evacuated by horse-drawn carriages by land, and personal safety could not be guaranteed. Indignant, Clinder took his interpreter with him on the morning of the 20th, intending to negotiate with the prime minister Yamen and ask for an extension of the time limit for leaving Beijing. As a result, when the palanquin he was riding in had just reached the west entrance of Archway North Avenue, he encountered a patrolling musket team. When Klinder saw a Chinese soldier pointing a gun at him, he pulled out the pistol he was carrying and shot at the Chinese soldier. The Thunder Character Team Gun Eighth Team Zhang Jing was furious and immediately shot and killed Klinder, and the interpreter Kodash escaped injured. Enhai took the pocket watch and other items that Klinder had carried with him and sold them to a pawnshop. Later, based on this pocket watch, the Japanese secret agent confirmed that Eun Hai was the murderer of Klinder.
On June 21, 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi issued an edict in the name of the Guangxu Emperor, and at the same time declared war on eleven countries, including Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In the form of a holy will, a reward was offered for the hunting and killing of foreigners, stipulating: Fifty-two for killing a foreigner, forty-two foreign women, and thirty-two foreign children. Under the heavy reward, there will be brave men, and the Chinese military and civilians are scrambling to encircle and kill the foreigners, so that there is a fratricidal killing for the bounty.
The news of Klinder's murder came back to Germany, and it was already after the Qing Dynasty declared war on the outside world. Kaiser Wilhelm II was furious and sent a marshal to command a 20,000-strong army to China on a warship. As a result, before Vadersi's army reached China, the Eight-Power Coalition had already breached the city of Beijing. Empress Dowager Cixi requested an armistice to 11 countries and was forced to sign the Humiliating Treaty of Xinugu, the first of which was to send her to Germany to apologize to the German Emperor for the murder of Minister Klinder, and to build a building of comparable rank at the site where Klinder was killed (on September 4, 1901, the special envoy Zaifeng, the Prince of Alcohol, apologized to the German Emperor on behalf of the Guangxu Emperor in Berlin).
In August 1900, the Eight-Power Coalition captured the city of Beijing. Soldiers from several other countries were busy looting treasures from the Yuanmingyuan and the Forbidden City, and only German soldiers were searching the world for Enhai, a Chinese officer who killed Klinder. Enhai is a Manchu and holds the position of Zhang Jing of the Thunder Character Team Gun Eighth Team, and is a military attaché of Zheng Wupin. At this time, under the protection of his superior, Prince Zaiyi, he hid in a secret place. Originally, the Manchu Qing government did not think of sacrificing Enhai, but when negotiating peace with the representatives of the 11 countries, the representatives of the 11 countries proposed that the murderer of the German minister Clinder must be handed over before considering the next step of negotiations with China. In the face of national interests, Enhai's life is too small. In late August, Klinder's killer, Enhay, turned himself in to German soldiers and voluntarily assumed all responsibility. After the trial, Germany issued a statement claiming that the killing of minister Klinder was ordered by Prince Zaiyi of Duan and was an act of government. Such a clumsy frame-up was nothing more than an attempt to dilute Klinder's crime of killing Chinese civilians and to pressure the Manchu Qing government in later negotiations to blackmail more profits.
On December 31, 1900, Enhai was escorted to the archway where Clinder died. This was also a special requirement of the German side, in order to show the Chinese people their status as a victorious power. Enhai was imprisoned for months in a German barracks, subjected to inhuman torture and scarred. After he stepped out of the prison car, he took the spirits sent by his relatives and dried them all. Then, smiling, he saluted the Chinese people watching around him and said loudly, "I killed Klinder, I dare to be bold!" But did Klinder, as a human being, personally shoot and kill my compatriots and demonstrate against me, what a national envoy should do? I shot him because he deserved it. Today, my blood will be sprinkled in front of this white stone archway, which can only make people never forget, as long as someone wants to commit a crime on the land of China, no matter who it is, Chinese will not be afraid of death and dare to return his shot! "Then the foreign reporter wanted to take an execution photo of Enhai, which was specially arranged. Enhai shouted at reporters: "Born as a Chinese, died as a Chinese ghost." Enhai died for the country, dying without regrets! "Heroic and righteous, only 25 years old.