Da Ming started to ascend the throne

Chapter 777

(This chapter has some water, you can skip it)
In the Neolithic housing estate excavated in Switzerland in 4000 BC, archaeologists discovered "remains of the seeds and fruits of opium, and they belonged to artificial hybrid varieties.

By 3400 BC, people had planted this crop on a large scale in the Mesopotamia of today's Iraq, and gave it the reputation of "happy plant".

Tobacco has been used as a veterinary and gynecological medicine since at least 2160 BC.

Among the excavated ancient Egyptian tombs from 1500 BC, "Thebes opium" already belongs to the high-end brand.

Continuing to 300 BC, ancient Greece had used opium as a common drink.

In the "Bible" and Homer's "Odyssey", opium is described as "anxiety medicine", and God also uses it.

Gallon, a famous ancient Greek doctor in at least the second century BC, recorded the diseases that opium could treat.

When Zhang Qian was sent to the Western Regions in 139 BC, the opium spread to China.

Hua Tuo, a famous doctor in the Three Kingdoms period, used marijuana and opium as anesthetics.

In the second year of Qianfeng in Tang Dynasty (667 A.D.), there was a record of importing opium. Arabian opium in Tang Dynasty was called "Afurong".

Around the 1600s, the Dutch brought the pipes and tobacco leaves of the North American Indians to China through Taiwan, and there were smokers in China.

Its prevalence alarmed China's rulers, and Emperor Chongzhen ordered a ban on smoking.

Because some people used to mix opium into tobacco for smoking. Unexpectedly, the ban on tobacco led to the proliferation of pure tablet smoking.

It was not until Huang Yupu, an official of the Qing Dynasty in the middle of the 18th century, that he first recorded the specific process of smoking opium in Taiwan.

He asserted that there is no way to get rid of opium addicts except by killing them.

"Da Ming Hui Dian" records the fact that the Asian vassal states paid tribute to the Ming imperial family with opium.

It is said that the kings of Siam, Java, and Bengal regularly sent tribute missions to China, and the tribute included opium.

However, "Da Ming Hui Dian" called it "Wu Xiang".

Siam paid 200 catties to the emperor and 100 catties to the queen each time. The amount of tribute paid by the other two countries has no clear history.

However, this amount cannot meet the needs of the royal family, and the emperor has to send eunuchs to search and purchase opium everywhere.

At that time, the price of opium was the same as the price of gold of the same weight.

The Qing government 200 to [-] years ago was unable to ban opium, nor could it restrict the use of opium.

However, Western countries vigorously dumped opium opium and reversed the Western world's trade deficit with the Qing Dynasty. These opium opium made many Chinese people "sick men."

But this thing is very harmful. In the later stage, men are mostly skinny, while women are full of coquettishness and are at the mercy of others.

Smoking opium is extremely addictive, and once you stop smoking, you will be overwhelmed with pain.

According to the description, after being addicted, he devastated his body tremendously. "When addicted to the point of tears, his hands and feet are so tired that he can't lift his arms and legs. That is to say, the white sword is in front of him, and the leopard and tiger are in the back. He can only bow his head and suffer death. A little exercise too.

Therefore, those who eat opium for a long time will shrug their shoulders and shrink their necks, their skin will be withered, and they will be dying like a sick man. "

The opium that was smuggled into China from the West first became popular among the upper classes of society, and smoking opium became one of the most important ways of communication.

For example, it is still serious for smokers to meet each other nowadays.In the end, the common people act according to the yamen policeman, and if they don't buy some opium to entertain him in advance, they won't do errands for you at all.

Later, there was a ban on smoking, and many media have exposed the dangers of opium smoking and unraveled the deception of the West.

The article pointed out that countless families were ruined due to opium smoking, parents sold their children, and girls became women in brothels.

Those who smoked opium for a long time were thin and pale, and opium caused damage to the liver, lungs, kidneys and other organs, and the consequences were unimaginable.

Obtaining economic benefits is only one of the reasons why Britain launched the Opium War, or it is only one of the benefits that Britain wants to grab.

For the Qing Dynasty, Britain actually had a bigger plan.

That is to copy and paste the "Indian model" to the Qing Dynasty.

Britain and France fought for a long time and fought many times to invade and occupy India.

Britain did not defeat France until the mid-18th century.

After Britain defeated France, it took decades to digest it.

By the beginning of the 19th century, most of the Indian states had been incorporated into the territory of British India.

The vast majority of princes were also forced to recognize British suzerainty.

Britain's successful colonization of India is the so-called "Indian model".

It is precisely because Britain basically completed the colonization of India in the early 19th century.

That's why it was able to free up more energy to turn to the Qing Dynasty.

It can be said that Britain has always wanted to apply the successful "India model" to the Qing Dynasty and turn the Qing Dynasty into a second India.

However, the Qing Dynasty is an old and powerful country after all, which makes the UK always fearful of the Qing Dynasty, and dare not treat the Qing Dynasty like it did to India.

Therefore, the United Kingdom chose a relatively more cautious approach, that is, testing.

The Opium War was actually a British test of the Qing Dynasty.

They want to test how much strength the Qing Dynasty, an old power, still has.

Although the Qing Dynasty did not experience the industrial revolution, its heritage and size are there, and it is only natural that Britain chose a more cautious approach.

The result of the test is that although the Qing Dynasty still has a certain strength, it has become weaker and weaker.

However, Britain also understands that it is impossible for them to copy the "Indian model" to the Qing Dynasty in a short period of time.

Because of this, the UK chose a slower cannibalization plan, and the breakthrough point they chose was the economy.

The reason why they formulated various terms that were beneficial to British commercial behavior after they won the Opium War.

The fundamental reason is to destroy or control the economy of the Qing Dynasty.

It's just that before the British completed their plan, the various powers had already seen the benefits from the Opium War, so they flocked to
Many people regard the sphere of influence and the sphere of interests as one, but the UK distinguishes them very clearly.

They think that the Qing Dynasty is his sphere of influence, and sooner or later he will actually control the Qing Dynasty's territory.

The scope of interests includes not only the territory controlled by the United Kingdom itself, but also the territory controlled by other countries.

The reason why Britain does not recognize the existence of spheres of influence is because they always regard the entire Qing Dynasty as their sphere of influence.

All in all, since Britain launched the Opium War to test the Qing Dynasty, its conspiracy to copy the "Indian model" to the Qing Dynasty has not been successful.

The Opium War launched by Britain was obviously a criminal war, but the backward Qing Dynasty was powerless to resist.

It is still 1647 in the West, not only other countries in the world are not aware of the dangers of opium.

Of course, the British didn't feel anything, they were still happy to be able to re-do business with Daming!

But they would never realize that the Ming emperor was imposing the British's crimes against China 200 years later on the British two centuries in advance.

(End of this chapter)