At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang signed many treaties on behalf of the Qing court to lose power and humiliate the country, and gave away the great rivers and mountains to others, which angered many patriots. Generally speaking, when posterity scolded the Qing court, they would also take Li Hongzhang with them, after all, he was a typical representative of the "peace-seeking faction", if he had not been afraid of foreigners and agreed to the demands of the other side, he would not have been so passive later. However, Li Hongzhang is far from being as simple as it seems, although he is slightly inferior at the negotiating table, but he is not soft on killing foreigners.
Bai Qiwen, born in 1836 in North Carolina, the United States, his father is a French officer, when the Crimean War broke out, Bai Qiwen also followed his father to the battlefield, it can be said that the dangerous battlefield is bai Qiwen's interest. After returning from victory, Bai Qiwen was not willing to be lonely, and once again embarked on an adventurous journey, first traveling to the western United States, then leaving for Australia, India and other places, and finally, he came to Shanghai, China with great interest.
At that time, Half of Shanghai had become a concession of Western countries such as Britain and France, and for Bai Qiwen, Shanghai could not only bring him a sense of familiarity with his hometown, but also let him feel the impact of mysterious oriental culture, and his experience in Shanghai was destined to be not ordinary. In 1860, in order to fight against the Taiping Army, the Qing court appointed Huaer to form a foreign gun team in Shanghai, and Bai Qiwen saw that the opportunity to participate in the battle came again, so he volunteered to join it, and became the deputy leader second only to Huaer with rich combat experience.
However, the foreign gun brigade is an embroidered pillow, although the equipment still looks quite advanced, but there are not many combatants, and the soldiers are uneven, disobey discipline, and often cause trouble. Therefore, in the battle with the Taiping Army, the foreign gun team often lost more and won less. Later, after reorganizing and expanding the army, the Yankee Team absorbed many Chinese soldiers, and in 1862 it was renamed the Changsheng Army, and Wahl remained the supreme commander of this team.
In February 1862, Bai Qiwen and the British and French troops captured the town of Takahashi, but he himself was wounded in the battle and was left in the rear to recuperate, but Bai Qiwen escaped with his life because of this injury. In September 1862, Wahl was killed by the Taiping Army at the Battle of Cixi, and the Changsheng Army was also destroyed. As soon as Hua Er died, the title of supreme commander of the Changsheng Army naturally fell to Bai Qiwen, who, after taking office, successively attacked Jiading, Qingpu BaiheGang, Sanjiangkou and other places, giving the Taiping Army a powerful blow.
Unexpectedly, Bai Qiwen was proud of his achievements, not only beating up Qing officials, but also threatening that no one in China would dare to touch him, and he would do whatever he wanted. This move aroused the dissatisfaction of Li Hongzhang, who dismissed him in a fit of rage, and rejected the british and American envoys' proposal to "reinstate officials" and never hired the arrogant and arrogant Bai Qiwen. In August 1863, Bai Qiwen and a dozen of his subordinates snatched the ships of the Changsheng Army, defected to Tan Shaoguang of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and stood on the opposite side of the Qing court.
However, Bai Qiwen failed to show his strengths in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and was soon defeated by the Changsheng Army. After surrendering to Gordon in October of the same year, he was taken away by the American consul. However, in early 1865, Bai Qiwen, who intended to continue his "adventure", returned to China, and as a result, Li Hongzhang, who had already discovered the news, was captured in Xiamen, and in order to solve this scourge, Li Hongzhang openly escorted him to Suzhou, but drowned him in Lanxi, Zhejiang Province, halfway through. Later, Li Hongzhang announced to the outside world that there was an accident on Bai Qiwen's road, coupled with the fact that his body was difficult to identify, the United States could only eat this dumb loss, and Li Hongzhang made a small plan to get rid of his potential rival Bai Qiwen.