Recalling a history lesson in a high school semester, most impressive chapter on foreign countries is Napoleon, founder of First French Empire.

This legendary and great figure, born on a small island, suppressed uprising of internal reactionary forces many times, unleashed Napoleonic Wars, quickly expanded beyond borders of country, made alliances with many countries and formed a huge imperial alliance. miracles and brilliance.

And his assessment of our country is also extremely famous, that is, familiar assessment of "sleeping lion".

It's just that we only know that this is a statement and an assessment of strength of our country.In fact, there is another phrase in it, but it is rarely mentioned, so this phrase can still be considered his speech. our country a compliment?

The ups and downs of a legendary life

It can be said that his life has had ups and downs, glory and failure.

Although he was born into a good family, he lost his father at age of 16, as a result of which his family was rather poor and he had to graduate from military academy early.

After graduating, he entered Legion of Raphael due to his outstanding ability and unique military mindset and was promoted to sub-lieutenant of artillery.

Despite fact that at a young age he was awarded rank of second lieutenant, he was not satisfied with this. He continued to study military theory, dabbled in books on various disciplines, got acquainted with customs and customs of different countries through reading.

That is, knowledge accumulated during this period allowed him to achieve good results in practice. Since 1971, he gradually showed his fame on battlefield. Gradually, his authority in hearts of people was strengthened.

Until end of expedition and returning home, he was deeply loved by people and launched Brumer shift and succeeded in stabilizing chaotic situation in France, and became consul of country.

He then issued a code to standardize law. In 1804, after character of his country was changed to a monarchy, he also proclaimed himself emperor with support and encouragement of people. Since then, he has become first person"French Emperor of Man".

He once said he would never kill a chicken for an egg, which actually proves his long-term vision. Having proclaimed himself emperor, he did not, as before, go on expeditions to unleash wars, but accelerated improvement of various domestic systems in order to achieve stable domestic development.

And only after that did he begin to move his army forward to conquer Europe. However, on this European continent, he faced a formidable enemy, that is, Russian army, which made him fall into trough.

During war of resistance against Russian army, French army suffered repeated defeats and suffered heavy losses. In end, he was completely defeated at Battle of Waterloo in 1815, which also marked end of his era, after which he also announced his abdication and died a year later.

His life went through ups and downs, step by step to altar, and he is admired by thousands of people, but it's a pity that he finally passed away when his fame was gone, and he was at a low point.

Perhaps this is what Hugo commented: "His failure made loser more honorable". After all, such a legendary figure is still admired for his great talent.

In particular, his memoirs have been a great source of inspiration for military students so far. In beginning we said "China is a sleeping lion", and we are only familiar with first half of sentence. What is a half offer?

That is"When this lion wakes up, world will tremble. Pray to God that he continues to sleep."

Why is it said to be a deep sleep? A lion?

We all know that in early Ming Dynasty, messengers were sent along Western Ocean, which opened sea route, opened a channel for our country to communicate with other countries, and demonstrated to world strong strength of our country.

After that, our country and countries of West began to exchange envoys and communicate with each other, and our country gradually went out into world.

But it is also true that more and more foreigners are beginning to desire rich resources of our country, because at that time our country was considered a huge land and rich in resources, so how could it not be envied.

Therefore, in order to prevent pirates from invading coastal areas, Ming Dynasty began to implement a policy of prohibiting sea to prevent pirates from invading and keep coastal areas calm.

Under Qing Dynasty, this policy was taken to extreme, and safeguards originally meant to prevent invasion were extended to forbid outside contact, for this reason treaty ports other than Guangzhou were closed.

Therefore, country's isolation made China more inactive on world stage, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep, and its material wealth was also called "lion" by Napoleon. "Lion" on ground of China gradually fell asleep.

It may seem that comprehensive ban on educational activities at that time was too cautious, and decline of dynasty began. After all, Industrial Revolution in West was in full swing at that time, but in terms of social origin at that time, this policy is also very necessary.

First of all, at that time coastal areas were dominated by pirates, and pirates shouted "Don't be afraid of Chinese Empire" to appear very arrogant, posing a threat to people in coastal areas.

The implementation of this policy can, to a certain extent, help counter pirates and protect people. Secondly, Qing Dynasty always considered itself a "Heavenly Dynasty", and rulers also believed that our country is rich in materials and personnel, and domestic market is sufficient, so there is no need to open up foreign markets.

In addition, feudal society has long pursued a policy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing business, and development of related industries is relatively slow, and it is difficult to master the international market. So I had to get some sleep.

Of course, at that time, we did not completely cut off communication with Western countries, at that time, four main inventions of our country were gradually exported to Western countries, and porcelain and tea were also continuously transported to various Western countries. countries. It also made Napoleon deeply feel strength of our country, which is why he has such an assessment.

The abundance of supplies drew congratulations from all quarters. When exporting porcelain and tea, Western countries are also trying to import their products to our country in order to balance trade deficit.

Therefore, British envoy took opportunity on occasion of emperor's 80th birthday, brought achievements of Industrial Revolution such as steam engines and textile machines, and asked the Qing Dynasty to open more trading ports and establish economic exchange between China and Britain. .

But at that time, emperor thought that we were rich in materials and had everything, so we didn't need foreign items, and refused. This time, British envoy failed to achieve his goal, so he again came to China after accession of new emperor to throne, trying to open a trade channel between two countries, but he did not succeed either. So much so that trade between Qing Dynasty and British Empire ceased.

"The world trembles"

Influenced by Qing Dynasty's policy of blindly shutting down country, Western powers began resorting to military intervention in an attempt to open up Chinese market, which gradually led to end of Qing Dynasty.

But, as Napoleon said, our country only temporarily "sleeps".

In our days, once "sleeping lion" has awakened, taking an unshakable place on the world map.