Lin Zexu Humen's deeds of selling cigarettes, everyone has heard of it, but do you know? The opium in the smoke sold in Humen was not destroyed by fire, but soaked in lime. This is a small detail that is often overlooked in Humen's cigarette sales, why did Lin Zexu not burn the opium at that time, but had to use lime to soak? In fact, there is a certain scientific basis behind it.
The reason why opium appeared in Large Quantities in China is mainly because in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, China's porcelain and silk were particularly popular, and even sold abroad at high prices. Therefore, countless silver flows into China, which makes those Western countries miserable, and finally they have to come up with opium, which they continue to sell into our country in exchange for a large amount of real money and silver.
In this case, Lin Zexu was sent out by the Daoguang Emperor. In fact, before Lin Zexu carried out the anti-smoking campaign, Guangdong also had anti-smoking actions, but under the money transaction, those actions were thunderous and rainy, and some imperial court officials and foreign businessmen colluded to make opium and other things popular. But Lin Zexu was different, he was just right, he knew the dangers of opium, and vowed to drive all the opium out of the country.
The means by which foreign businessmen spend money to eliminate disasters cannot play a single role in front of him. At the beginning, these foreign businessmen were still lucky, thinking that they were all from abroad, and although Lin Zexu was ordered to ban smoking, he did not dare to do anything to them. However, the foreign businessmen never expected that Lin Zexu would have done so without a shot, and as soon as he made a move, he directly arrested the largest local opium dealer, and it was useless for the British commercial supervisor in China to send people to negotiate.
Lin Zexu not only surrounded the foreigners, but even cut off water and food, and made sure to let them hand over all the opium. The foreign merchants were reluctant to give in, but Lin Zexu sent people to surround the outside of the merchant house for several days, and did not let them take away the food in the middle. They had no choice but to hand over all the opium, which added up to more than 20,000 boxes.
Subsequently, Lin Zexu sent opium to Humen and prepared to destroy it on the spot. With so much opium, if the method of fire is adopted, it is difficult to completely destroy it, and the huge smoke generated will hurt the people in the city. Lin Zexu initially used the more traditional "smoky soil mixed with tung oil incineration method", only to find that some remnants of opium would penetrate into the soil. Those addicts would sneak over and dig up the soil to extract some opium.
In desperation, Lin Zexu adopted the "seawater immersion method", he ordered people to dig two large pools, seal the ground tightly, and then poured salt water, and put lime into half a day later. Lime reacts with water and dissolves opium after boiling. During this period, soldiers were responsible for stirring and dissolving the opium as much as possible. When the opium is completely dissolved, they will send all this water to the sea and then wash the bottom of the pool with clean water, not wanting to leave any residue.
Lin Zexu's actions have curbed the rampant opium trafficking a lot, and at the same time let western countries know the boldness of Chinese, which can be called a feat in the history of our country. Unfortunately, the Qing Dynasty was not capable of competing with western countries. After Humen sold cigarettes, the British found some excuses to wage war against our country. When the Qing Dynasty was attacked by the British, it was particularly embarrassed and could not resist the enemy's attack at all. During this period, lin Zexu, a hero who had been ordered to sell cigarettes in Humen, became the target of some people's frames. In the end, Lin Zexu was tragically exiled, which was really sad.