After Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou as an imperial envoy, he immediately issued a Notice to all walks of life in Guangzhou, which strictly ordered that "the provincial capital is limited from February to the end of March, and all prefectures and counties are limited to two months from the date of offering the document. Make sure that they have a number of bongs, pipes and residual cigarettes at home, check them together and submit them to their companies." Since then, a campaign to ban smoking has begun.
Lin zexu knows that to completely ban opium, we must not only clean up domestic drug dealers and users, but also cut off foreign suppliers. To this end, he reorganized the navy, personally checked the fortresses by boat, and strictly guarded against smuggling and selling opium. Over time, he found that such an approach would get twice the result with half the effort. So he changed his mind and began to collect the opium in the hands of foreigners.
In order to master the situation of foreigners, Lin Zexu took great pains. He specially hired two chefs who used to cook for foreigners in the thirteenth act to learn about the activities of foreign businessmen through them; He also sent people to Macao to collect all the newspapers, books and pamphlets published by foreigners, and then looked for professionals to translate them; In addition, he has to study customs files all night to catch up on relevant knowledge. After making these preparations, Lin Zexu finally decided to attack those illegal foreign businessmen.
On March 8th, 1839, Lin Zexu asked the China businessmen of the 13th line to tell the foreign businessmen in China that they had to hand over all opium within three days, and promised that they would never carry it in the future. Trade as usual if you can; Can't do it? For the time being, the warehouse will be closed, and for a long time, the port will be closed. ? Finally he said? This time, my minister presented an imperial edict from Beijing, and the law is imperative. If the opium is not exhausted for a day, this minister will not return for a day, and he will always be with this matter, and there is no reason to terminate it! ?
In order to prevent them from colluding with foreigners, Lin Zexu secretly sent officers and men to spy on them after returning the businessmen representing the thirteen lines. In a blink of an eye, the three-day deadline has arrived. After discussion, foreign businessmen only handed over 1137 boxes of opium. Through various channels, Lin Zexu has already found out that there are at least 21,111 boxes of opium in the hands of foreign businessmen. Seeing that they are so perfunctory about their own orders, Lin Zexu intends to summon the opium traffickers headed by them to the ground.
When the British Commercial Governor in China learned about the law, he immediately issued instructions to foreign businessmen in Guangzhou, asking them to resolutely resist punishing Diandi and others. On the other hand, he openly played the banner of protecting the expatriates and tried to escape with him. Fortunately, the officers and men were prepared before they succeeded.
The righteous law publicly shouted, "I am now asking the Governor (Lin Zexu) in the name of my own king, do you want to fight the British Imperial Navy?" Unfortunately, his threats have no effect on Lin Zexu.
the principle of righteousness and law sees no effect in hard resistance, so we have to give in mainly. At this time, Lin Zexu also realized that the reason why Diandi and others dared to resist law enforcement was because of the umbrella of righteousness and law. On 26th, Lin Zexu once again issued a notice from Xiang Yang Merchants, and this time, Yi Law was also given a copy. In the notice, Lin Zexu said that as long as they hand over all the tobacco soil, they can let bygones be bygones. If you still resist, "if you are willing to delay, it is your own fault." Yi Law saw that the tide had gone, so he had to agree to hand over 21,283 boxes of tobacco soil.
2.38 million kilograms of opium were destroyed in Destruction of Opium at Humen, and a complete victory was achieved
On April 11, Lin Zexu and his party came to Humen Town. The next day, I boarded Shajiao Fort non-stop. Standing here, you can overlook the ships carrying smoke and soil. Every day, thousands of boxes are shipped here, and Lin Zexu, who is hands-on, often supervises the tobacco collection work day and night. On the 23rd, Diandi and others wrote a letter of guarantee to the Qing court and were later deported by officers and men. On the 24th, Yi Law also left Guangzhou despondently. However, he didn't believe that Lin Zexu would destroy the smoky soil as he said. He bet with the opium dealers that the other side wouldn't even destroy one or two smoky soil.
their wishful thinking is obviously wrong. After receiving the emperor's decree, Lin Zexu ordered all the tobacco soil to be destroyed on the spot. In order to clean up the smoky soil and prevent criminals from digging to get the paste, they specially built two large pools with stone walls and burned them in turn. Build another culvert, which is connected with the sea water. If the culvert is opened, all the residue will enter the sea.