"There is no way for the navy to be strong and strong, and it will take at least ten or twenty years for industrial development to catch up with Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the current level, and even the Kingdom of Italy.There is also a Tsarist Russia, although the industrial base of Tsarist Russia is also weak, but relying on the geographical advantage, and their total amount is large enough, once they start industrialization, the speed is also very advantageous. ”Hua Huang frowned, "It is indeed difficult for Hua Guo to rise in the cracks of these giants. ”"I have confidence in Your Majesty, I have confidence in our country, I don't believe that the British will really fight for a superpower like us for Japan, we are close to Japan, they are far away from Japan, and moreover, Japan at this time in the eyes of the great powers, is not even a unified country, they are just a region."
Princess Katrina Kaaf is optimistic and enlightens the emperor.President Moe smiled and nodded, "Yes, this is our biggest advantage against Japan." ”According to the telegram sent from Japan, the Chinese emperor marked the current deployment map of the Chinese army on the map, and on the map you can clearly see how much space the Chinese army is occupying now."
It's not a big place, but it's one of the richest areas in Japan."
Princess Katrina Kafu said softly.President Meng nodded and smiled with satisfaction, "Actually, I am already satisfied with the results that can be kept now, it is naturally best for the Chinese army to take all of Kyushu Island, but it is too laborious, and it is impossible to do it in the short term." ”"What Your Majesty said is that the most important thing is to be able to stand firm, so that the international community and the local Japan are accustomed to us occupying Kitakyushu Castle, Nagasaki, Sasebo, and Fukuoka, in fact, it is already possible."
Princess Katrina Kafu agrees with Emperor Hua.Japan's Meiji Restoration was a process of redistribution of resources and power, in which some of the old power holders inevitably lost their original resources and power.
The Restoration was also a process of flattening management, and a part of the middle class would inevitably be eliminated.It is a process of squeezing from the top and bottom strata to the middle strata, and the power and resources that are eventually stripped away in the middle are redistributed to the highest and lowest groups, so that both management and production reach a new equilibrium.However, compared to Japan at this time, the Western colonists were very powerful, and even a powerful feudal clan like Satsuma Choshu was deeply aware that they could not compete with them behind enemy lines, and if they insisted on depriving them of their resources in Japan, it was very likely that they would be completely defeated by these strong guys, and even the power of the sovereign government to allocate its own resources would be lost.Therefore, it would be better to recognize their presence in Japan, or even to form an alliance with them, in exchange for their support and necessary military-technical assistance, in order to obtain higher resources for development, the ability to develop the productive forces, and the ability to squeeze other strata.It is precisely for this purpose that the British confront China, otherwise they would not have much practical benefit.Emperor Hua and Princess Katrina Kafu also saw that the British would not expand the war for the sake of the Japanese, so they dared to test the bottom line of the British step by step.The essence of the "overthrow of the shogun" was to point the spearhead at the shogun class below the emperor and above the princes, depriving him of his privileges and territories, depriving him of the resources he possessed and the power to distribute resources.However, further military reforms made ordinary civilians have the rights and obligations to serve as soldiers, so that more people have a sense of honor and promotion opportunities for loyalty to the country, so the knife was slashed at the junior samurai.If we talk about betrayal, the princes and lower-ranking samurai who contributed to the downfall were all betrayed by the new government, and in the end, there were people at the highest level and more Japanese civilians who benefited.In order for Japan to truly modernize its military, it is necessary to betray the lower samurai class.Saigo was in favor of a new military system, knowing that the new system would make Japan stronger in public terms.The princes have contributed to the process of the downfall, and after their resources and power are deprived, they can become new chaebols, landlords, even if they live a luxurious and erosive life, at least they have no worries about their livelihood, and the lower-level samurai, the number is huge, as an individual, they have not much resources, and if they are deprived of the privileges of joining the army, they often have no food and clothing."
So we can't withdraw from Japan's Kyushu Island, and we can't let this low-level samurai force of Saigo Takamori fall, this is also our bottom line."
Princess Katrina Kafu smiled, "Even if they occupy all of Kyushu Island, they will leave the puppet regime of Saigo Takamori, Your Majesty, isn't that the case?"
"Yes, what you said is right, the meaning of us keeping a piece of land in Japan is far more important than obtaining a huge indemnity, even if they can give 500 million Chinese won, they can't catch up with our control of Nagasaki and Sasebo" President Moe smiled.Princess Katrina Kafu smiled, "The Japanese are unlucky to meet Your Majesty, the great powers are just asking for money, except for Huaguo, no one will want them to break the ground." ”"It's groundbreaking."
President Meng nodded in agreement with Princess Katrina Kaf, "If it weren't for the development of Japan, if they didn't have a tradition of aggression, if they weren't by the side of Huaguo, this kind of barbaric small country, poor and small, Huaguo wouldn't have done it to them first." ”"Well, I didn't understand why His Majesty was targeting Japan so much, but now I have figured out that the existence of a country like Japan has always been a potential threat to China, and now that we keep Saigo Takamori, we can prevent them from completing reunification to the greatest extent.Otherwise, with the support of the European powers in the future, they will definitely take action against our country. ”Princess Katrina Kafu said."
That's right."
Emperor Hua smiled slightly, Princess Katrina Kafu is not like him, he knows the development of history, but Princess Katrina Kafu does not know, she can change her understanding, change her view of Japan, and see the threat of Japan, which makes Emperor Hua very happy.Saigo Takamori was a contradictory man, and he never hesitated to cut his samurai sword at the shogunate and the feudal lord, but he hesitated when it came to the lower-ranking samurai who had always supported and defended him.Saigo could not forget these comrades-in-arms who stood side by side with him, so in the initial stage, he carried out the establishment of the Guards with the lower-ranking samurai as the main body, just to give these comrades-in-arms a place to stay, but the establishment of the Guards was also limited.Although Saigo himself was very generous, whenever a Satsuma samurai came to him, if he could not solve their personal problems, he was allowed to use them from the cash drawer at the door.However, this does not solve the fundamental problem, and it is also easy to be jealous, and it is easy to create an opportunity for political opponents to create rumors like "Saigo wants to buy people's hearts and rebel again".So Saigo came up with a plan to expand externally, "making up for the lack of embankment outside the embankment", so that the lower-ranking samurai would invade other countries and obtain new privileges and new resources from the people of the new territory and other countries.But it's easy to say, at that time, the world powers were around, and the good places had long been preempted.Okubo and others, who were opposed to Saigo, believed that it was necessary to establish a modern state system and logistics system before they could launch foreign conquests, and that it was very likely that they would fail due to insufficient logistics and supplies, as well as the interference of Western powers.Therefore, he vigorously opposed the "rapid conquest", and his friends in the previous period of the fall of the curtain have now become political mortal enemies.Okubo and others lobbied everywhere using a variety of political means.Aritomo Yamagu, who is on the side of Okubo, also uses strategy to run in front of and behind the scenes.This is because there are friends in Shanxian County who want to safeguard the interests of the new government army, and at the same time safeguard their own interests in the political and military circles.In addition, there were many people who were born as a samurai in Choshu and had already become high-ranking government officials, and they were also prepared to take full advantage of this contradiction between Saigo and Okubo to bring down Saigo and profit from it, so as to elevate the status of the Choshu faction in the government.Saigo, on the other hand, seems to be a hero and an idol at this time, and he only does all his political work on the surface, hoping to impress the ministers and senators with his loyalty and fame, and hope that they will not betray the low-ranking samurai who have fought together.Saigo Takamori seems to really want to become the Sima Wengong who thinks "nothing can be done to outsiders".However, political struggle is a special war, which requires special technical means and special strategy and ingenuity, and it is impossible to win this war concerning both public and private interests and ideas by relying only on the words "above board."
In the middle of the court discussion, the Xixiang faction was finally defeated.His request to send an envoy to Korea and his desire for the samurai to conquer the Quartet was completely shattered.Entrated, Saigo immediately submitted his resignation to the emperor.The next day, the Emperor approved Saigo's resignation as Senator and Governor of the Guards, retaining the rank of Army General.And the samurai in the traditional sense that Saigo represents have forever lost the honor they can enjoy.If the lives of the samurai were like the cherry blossoms, then Saigo must have clearly seen that the honor that they cherished more than the cherry blossoms had fallen gently.The problem of the Shi clan became more and more intense, and the injustice of the Shi clan rebelled one after another in various parts of Japan.The larger one is the Saga Rebellion launched in Saga Prefecture in Kyushu in 1874 in the seventh year of the Meiji era.After the incident was pacified, in order to appease the Shi people, especially the Samos who had the strongest sense of resistance, the Japanese government launched the Peony Society incident in Taiwan under the pretext that Ryukyu refugees were killed by aborigines in Taiwan in the thirteenth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty.The Japanese government deliberately promoted Saigo, the younger brother of Saigo Takamori, from the province to lieutenant general, and appointed him as the governor of Taiwan's Tibetan Affairs Bureau, leading more than 3,000 troops to attack the aboriginal tribes in southern Taiwan.However, the issue of the gentry was not resolved.In 1877, the Satsuma Bundaishi attacked the gunpowder depot of government forces in Kagoshima, kicking off the Southwest War.Saigo Takamori was not in Kagoshima at the time, and he sighed when he heard the news, but he still returned to Kagoshima to lead the nobles, and under the pretext of "questioning the government", he marched north and fought a fierce battle with the government army at Kumamoto Castle.Saigo Takamori pursued a policy of distributing land to the lower ranks of the nobles in Satsuma, and his attitude towards the war of aggression can be seen from the death of his students against the war, and he also left the government that advocated foreign aggression, and his younger brother Saigo supported foreign aggression and remained in the government.Although the Southwest War, which led the petty-bourgeois revolution, was condemned as a rebel, but later in order to win over the people, and many of the "rebels" were relatives of the Satsuma faction, the main Japanese faction.He was in the Curtain Downfall movement, using his power and stratagem.After the establishment of the new government, he took the words of Chen Longchuan in the Song Dynasty as his motto: "Overthrow the wisdom and courage of the first generation and open up the mind of eternity".He once wrote in his diary: As a person, he should learn from Sima Wengong, and he should not be humane to others in everything, and strive to require himself to develop in the direction of complete selflessness.Saigo Takamori once said to Sakamoto Ryoma: "What you said the day before yesterday is different from what you said today, so how can you trust me."
As a famous person in the world, you must have strong beliefs," Sakamoto said, "Not so.Confucius said that a gentleman follows the time.Time is ticking, and the social situation is changing every day.Therefore, following the trend of the times is the way of a gentleman, once you decide on something, you want to implement it throughout.But by doing so, you will be behind the times in the future. ”Saigo Takamori represented the interests of the lower class samurai from beginning to end.Saigo has clear likes and dislikes, is enthusiastic, and sometimes takes unreasonable actions.At that time, in addition to the noble Chinese in Japan, Shinong industry and commerce belonged to the four people.There are 420,000 households, accounting for one-tenth of the total population, and the upper scholars have 300 stones, and the lowest is only 5 stones, and they are small producers.Saigo Takamori represented these petty bourgeois strata, although they were slightly stronger than the poor peasants and common people, but they could not be compared with the thousands of Chinese people, the Tokugawa clan still retained 700,000 stone after the defeat and surrender, and the imperial family also became a big feudal lord with millions of stones, and they established a feudal militarist form of government with the big bourgeoisie, which was essentially imperialist aggression and was the source of the disaster of the war in Asia.At that time, the status of the four peoples of the Shi Nong and industrial and commercial strata was lower than that of the Chinese hereditary daimyos, feudal lords, and high-ranking samurai, and the status of the Shi clan was also lower than that of those big landlords and big merchants.Saigo Takamori was a progressive politician with bourgeois democratic ideas and a resolute anti-feudal stance.However, in the eyes of Emperor Hua, Li Hongzhang and Xuan Jianzhang, they did not think about how complicated Saigo Takamori was.At this point in time in 1879, Saigo Takamori was a pawn in the hands of Emperor Hana, as long as Saigo Takamori did not die, Huaguo's control of Kyushu Island could not be regarded as an invasion, and the existence of Saigo Takamori could not allow Japan to gain more support in the international community.Because, in the eyes of the international community, Japan is not a unified country at this time.There is a big difference between a unified country and a country that is not.Before the reunification of China, the Far East was basically dominated by Russia and Britain, and although the situation of China and Japan was different, they were both constrained by unequal treaties.However, after the reunification of China led by President Meng, especially the victory in the war against Tsarist Russia, Hua Guo became an Asian power and completely got rid of its semi-colonial status.With the rapid increase of China's power and the dispatch of troops to Japan, Japan's international status plummeted, a large amount of wealth flowed out, and the country's strength declined.Although the war between China and Japan cannot be said to have completely defeated Japan, the shock to Japanese society is unprecedented.Japan's Meiji government and the opposition lost their self-confidence.As a result, the Japanese government's independent finances went bankrupt and it was living by borrowing from the Western powers.Whether or not Japan can be dealt a fatal blow now depends on whether the Chinese Emperor and the Chinese State can make the British bow their heads and truly see that the unified Chinese State is strong and invincible.t1706231537: