Many people don't understand historical facts. What are the amazing inside stories in history?

Historical records are sometimes incomplete, and sometimes we have some misunderstandings about some celebrities. I have to mention Li Hongzhang, and later generations don't know much about Li Hongzhang. So what's the inside story between Li Hongzhang and Empress Dowager Cixi?

When it comes to Li Hongzhang, everyone's first reaction is "traitor", because he signed the "Xin Chou Treaty", which is the most unequal treaty in China's modern history, and completely reduced China to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. In addition to the "Xin Chou Treaty", Li Hongzhang signed more than 30 unequal treaties in his life, so Li Hongzhang became a "traitor" and people hated him.

This is the traditional preconceived idea of China people. It was Li Hongzhang, not the Japanese, who was most reviled at that time. But let's put aside this series of treaties and look at Li Hongzhang's life contributions: Li Hongzhang presided over the Westernization Movement, and Wei Yuan advocated "learning from foreigners to control foreigners", all of which were vividly reflected by him. He founded the navy and a series of modern enterprises, advocating the introduction of foreign advanced technology.

Li Hongzhang served the country all his life, but after all, he was only an official. He has no right to sign treaties at will. Then who gave him this right? There is no doubt that it is Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi lived a very luxurious life, only thinking about whether she was well or not, and would not consider the life and death of ordinary people at that time. At that time, the Beiyang Navy was completely annihilated in part because Cixi only cared about her birthday, which led to the lack of funds for Beiyang Navy. Empress Dowager Cixi was badly beaten by Eight-Nation Alliance, so she had to hand over the mess to Li Hongzhang for his signature. He is an out-and-out cheater.

As a minister, he made contributions to the imperial court all his life, but in the end he ended up being scolded by everyone, which is also very sad. I wonder what you think of Li Hongzhang?