Legalism would probably grow rather popular in China--the earlier Qing Emperors, Yongzheng in particular did practice absolutism, which legalism favours. For the to Qing go full-on legalist (
Death penalty for everything! Executions for days!) would be a logical next step.
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GUNS AND SHIPS
China in the 19th Century-Part III
"Our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its borders. There is, therefore, no need to import the manufactures of foreign barbarians in exchange for our own produce." - Emperor Qianlong, 1792
James Brooke arrives at the court of the Tao'kwang Emperor
The China James Brooke found himself imprisoned within in the spring of 1831 was as it always had been. Dynasties would wax and wane periodically, with occasional periods of anarchy and collapse. In 1831, it appeared as if the Qing Empire was on it's way to recovery. Though Emperor Tao'kwang had been a harsh ruler, he had at least been an able ruler who could get what he wanted. Beyond the expected purging of corruption, Tao'kwang had been able to massively expand the bureaucracy's reach into the countryside, curbing--though not eliminating--the autonomy of the rural gentry. Taxes placed upon the Chinese citizenry, rural or urban could be effectively collected, strengthening the Qing's financial situation.
However, there is a fundamental difference between the state's financial situation and it's economic situation. The Qing's fundamental economic ailments: an unreliable, fluctuating currency, the lack of urbanization and an economy stuck in the Renaissance. These had not been solved. It could be said that Tao'kwang had unwittingly gifted his successors the tools with which to drag China into the modern age--all that was needed was the willpower and vision to do so. So far, there had been little reason to fundamentally change the way China worked. There had been no wake-up call that China had been left behind in the dust.
"China is a land of contradictions." Brooke wrote whilst on his way to see the Emperor, "In the lands of Canton, European boulevards line the streets; the winds of trade and commerce blow free in this mystical gem of the orient. The latest goings-on in Europe can be read in French gazettes; and the Chinaman seems learned and sophisticated. Yet should you proceed inland, poverty lines the streets. Families dressed in rags that have never left their villages gawk at European travellers, and the most barbarous, uncouth side of the yellow menace is revealed."
In 1832, James Brooke along with 20 other British exiles from the former Indian Empire arrived in Beijing. They were made to kneel and perform the kow-tow, which they performed dutifully. In broken Chinese, Brooke listed out all the misdeeds and crimes the exiles had committed whilst in China, begging for their forgiveness. Tao'kwang was a harsh man in most circumstances, but an inquisitive spark pushed Tao'kwang to find out more about these strange men from across the sea. Ultimately, the English exiles were allowed to walk free provided they stay in Beijing for the next 5 years, never proselytize and teach the princes all they knew.
James Brooke would stay in China until his death in 1871.
NEMESIS: THE FIRST SINO-DUTCH WAR
In 1852, China celebrated the 70th Birthday of the Tao'kwang Emperor, a celebration with all the pomp and circumstance the occasion deserved. Elsewhere in the world, other monarchs had more practical concerns. Louis Napoleon I, King of Holland, ruled over a growing power that had just begun to spread her wings across the world. Following the anarchist assassinations that shook the House of Bonaparte, any thought of a "liberal empire" was abandoned, and nations like Holland backtracked on what little humanity they had treated their colonial subjects with. The name of the game in the Dutch East Indies was civilization--to bring the local sultanates, Emirates and all other authorities under the direct colonial rule of the Dutch crown. Louis Napoleon was determined to earn Holland her place in the sun.
Though the Kingdom of Holland claimed suzerainty over all of the East Indies, there was a key problem: the Chinese. Chinese settlers had occupied much of maritime Southeast Asia for hundreds of years and had never seen any reason to acknowledge Dutch sovereignty. A merchant republic known as the
Lanfang Republic had made its presence known near the Dutch settlement of Pontianak, uniting the Chinese settlements through a series of diplomatic successes. As far as Amsterdam knew, the Chinese had no intent of bending the knee.
It was September 1857. An emissary from the Qing Emperor arrived in the Lanfang city of Dongwanli, announcing that China had accepted tribute from the Lanfang Republic. From here on in, the Republic was to be placed under the Qing Empire's protection. Without waiting for instructions from Amsterdam, the Dutch garrison at Pontianak marched out of their barracks and towards the Chinese settlements in an effort at "native pacification" before the Qing Empire could begin projecting power into Holland's sphere of influence. The Chinese could very well have put up a fight--unfortunately, clan conflicts between the Teochews, Hakkas and Cantonese settlers meant that the Republic had never had any coordinated plan of defense. Each settlement was in effect, on its own. The Dutch marched from village to village, shot up their meager garrisons, ransacked the settlements, raped the women and burnt all the huts (as was standard procedure). The Dutch stopped only at the Bruneian border, as the Sultan's emissary arrived to loudly proclaim Brunei's loyalty to the Dutch crown.
A Dutch colonial soldier
As news reached Tao'kwang of the incident, the Emperor cared very little at first. Lanfang was not by any measure a prominent tributary of the Qing Empire, meaning that a full-scale war to protect them amounted to a simple waste of time and resources. The Emperor had more urgent matters to attend to--such as being bedridden from a nasty bout of the flu. Tao'kwang issued a ban on all Dutch traders from entering China and believed that this was the end of the matter.
In 1858, orders arrived at the Dutch colonial headquarters in Batavia. Louis Napoleon I had ordered that Dutch forces invade the former Dutch colony of Formosa. This was in direct violation of the World Congress of Berlin's 1832 edict for a pan-European invasion of China, and Louis Napoleon knew it. Citing that Formosa had once been governed by the Dutch East India company before their untimely expulsion in 1662, Louis Napoleon simply stated that Formosa was naturally, part of the Dutch East Indies, and therefore not beholden to the World Congress' ruling.
And so, with the (begrudging) blessing of Napoleon II, 15,000 Dutchmen from the mainland and colonies alike gathered at the port of Singapore, where they were joined by 5,000 Rajput Sepoys in a show of "Napoleanic solidarity". The fleet arrived in the port of Keelung and landed virtually unopposed, as the Qing Empire had never quite seen the necessity of a navy. The Dutch fleet pounded Keelung into rubble and dismantled what little fortifications there were.
A second detachment arrived in the city of Kaohsiung, which unlike Keelung did have some advance warning. Kaohsiung was also a significantly larger settlement and was therefore far better fortified. The approaching Dutch fleet suffered heavy artillery fire and lost the frigates HHMS
Abel Tasman and HHMS
Borneo. Still, Kaohsiung fell once the Dutch marines landed, and by late 1858, most of Formosa was under Dutch control.
The Dutch fleet imposed a blockade upon China and Vietnam, but this move had limited effect on the two economically isolated nations. The blow that forced the Qing Empire to the negotiating table was not dealt by Holland--it was dealt by mother nature. In December 1860, Emperor Tao'kwang passed away at the age of 78.
The Battle of Kaohsiung
The new Emperor was one 27-year-old Aisin Gioro Yixin, better known to China-watchers (the few China-watchers there were at the time) as Prince Kung. The Prince had notably taken under his wing James Brooke of India and was said to speak intelligible French. Many in the imperial court called him "Devilish six", for being the sixth son to Emperor Tao'kwang and a rare enthusiast for the culture of the Western devils. Prince Kung took the regnal name Ming'zhi--the Emperor of
Enlightened Governance.
After some haggling, threatening and backing down, "Devilish Six" signed a peace treaty with the Dutch, formally "purchasing" the island of Formosa in return for a 5-year truce and the resumption of Dutch trading rights in China. This had coincided with the rebellion of the Sultan of Brunei, which enabled Ming'zhi to reduce the number of concessions China had to give out.
Prince Kung, later the Ming'zhi Emperor
Ming'zhi was not a popular Emperor. His association with many of the Indian exiles garnered him a bad reputation amongst Conservative forces at court. Luckily for Ming'zhi, his father's infamous
Neiwufu had prevented most dissenters from being too outspoken or organized in expressing their opinions. Ming'zhi did the necessary purging of officials too powerful for his tastes, then set to work governing an empire.
Ming'zhi was a different man from his father: that was made abundantly clear when Ming'zhi appeared before all his officials at his very first meeting at court. Ming'zhi wanted to not just be feared, but to be respected by all of China. The court historian was ordered to commission a portrait of the Emperor--not just any portrait, a
photographic portrait. The photograph was colorized and sent across the four corners of the Emperor, to every township, every tribe, every village, and every city. An elder was required to hold high the Emperor's portrait, kneel to it thrice and bow nine times; followed by the members of his community. The elder would then stand and read out the Emperor's sacred commandments,
"By order of heaven, the Emperor's edict reads: My saintly father, the Emperor Tao'kwang has taken the form of a dragon and returned to heaven. Despite his passing, the Emperor Tao'kwang's orders still stand. I hereby command all subjects in all under heaven devote themselves to these laws.
- Behave generously toward your family to promote harmony and peace.
- Cultivate peace within the neighborhood to prevent quarrels and lawsuits.
- Honor the scholar with all your spirit.
- Wipe out strange beliefs to elevate the correct doctrine.
- Elucidate the laws in order to warn the ignorant and obstinate.
- Work diligently in your chosen callings to quiet your ambitions.
- Instruct sons and younger brothers with dilligence.
- Hold back false accusations to safeguard the good and honest.
- Join together in hundreds and tithings to end theft and robbery.
- Free yourself from enmity and anger."
Sessions would be held where aspiring scholars came forth to explain the meaning behind each of the 10 edicts, exalting the Emperor's love of his people. In the first years of his rule, the Emperor spent lavishly on new temples for traditional Chinese heroes--
Han Chinese heroes. To many of his people, the Emperor was adored for his humility, loved for his fatherly instructions, honored for his great vision. The Emperor was a saint. The Emperor grew closer to his Han Chinese subjects than his Manchu, Mongol nobility. Non-Hans were alienated and forgotten as if the Manchus no longer ruled China.
To the nobility, the Emperor had abandoned his Manchu-Mongolic roots. The Emperor had infringed on their ancestral, historic rights. If the
Neiwufu would have each of the nobles executed, then so be it. The nobility would fight to the death to protect their ancestral privileges.