In fact, the method mentioned by Miyamoto Naoto is not unthought of by Ito Hirobumi, but Ito Hirofumi knows very well that this method does not only have some impact on his reputation, but is almost devastating.

Originally, after the Far East War, Ito Hirobumi personally participated in the negotiations between Japan and East China in Shanghai, and signed a huge indemnity treaty, which of course caused huge repercussions in Japan, and public opinion once referred to Ito Hirobumi as Japan's Li Hongzhang. However, the signing of the "Shanghai Treaty" was against the background that Japan had exhausted its war resources, and even the mainland was invaded by East China, and it was almost impossible to achieve victory on the battlefield. And it can be said that it is to stop the war, restore peace, and let East China withdraw its troops from the Japanese mainland, and at that time, Japan basically reached a consensus to stop the war at all costs, so after the treaty was signed, Japan's top officials expressed their support for Ito Hirobumi, and some newspapers also tried their best to defend Ito Hirobumi, so it was considered to be free from force.

But after the defeat of the Far East War, the Japanese people were full of hatred towards East China, because Japan lost too badly, even part of the territory was occupied by the People's Army for several months, with countless casualties, and finally compensated nearly 1 billion yen, which is not hateful, and Japan in order to reduce its own responsibilities and divert domestic contradictions, it also deliberately added fuel to the fire, and further strengthened the hostility and hatred propaganda in East China in Japan, so now the entire Japanese society is full of hostility to East China. The atmosphere of revenge, the complete defeat of East China, the revenge of Japan, the recapture of the fruits of the Far East War, etc., even the school, children's games are also the content of defeating East China** and revitalizing the imperial state. This is also one of the main reasons why Japan can only be desperately lazy and refuse to apologize to East China after the intelligence personnel participated in the terrorist attack on the resettlement camp for the disaster victims.

And in this public opinion environment, Ito Hirobumi visited East China ** and gave in to East China **, no matter what, he can't get through it, so you can imagine what a fierce storm awaits him in China. I'm afraid the end is worse than Li Hongzhang.

Ito Hirobumi is one of the veterans of the Meiji Restoration, although it is not included in the Meiji Restoration, but is respected as one of the five masters of Choshu, and the three before and after actually died in the first 10 years of the Meiji era, Ito Hirobumi is from the beginning of the Emperor's reign, until now, almost accustomed to the establishment and development of modern Japan, since it was in the Meiji 10 years, he basically led all the major things in Japan, and made contributions to Japan. The merits are not below the three heroes before and after, and as far as the current Japan is concerned, only Yamaguchi Yutomo can be compared with him. Therefore, Ito Hirobumi naturally cherishes his feathers very much, and if Japan is not in danger this time, Ito Hirobumi will not come forward to be prime minister again, but prefers to live in seclusion behind the scenes.

Originally, participating in the Shanghai negotiations was already risking his reputation for Ito Hirobumi, but the situation at that time forced Ito Hirobumi to come forward to negotiate in person, but fortunately, there was no danger later, so that Ito Hirobumi passed safely, but Ito Hirobumi didn't want to come back a second time.

Seeing Ito Hirofumi hesitating, Miyamoto Naoto knew what he was worried about, and said, "If you are worried about the damage to your reputation, I think you can discuss it with the cabinet ministers and the military first, and after reaching a consensus, you don't have to worry." Isn't that the case the last time we held talks in Shanghai? Not to mention that after the compromise with East China, it would have been possible to put pressure on Britain to take back Japan's customs control, which would have been a great achievement, and it would be enough to offset it. ”

Ito Hirobumi nodded, Miyamoto Naoto also said some truth, although the current situation is not as critical as before the Shanghai negotiations, but Japan is also helpless, except to compromise with East China, there is really no other way, as long as the cabinet can reach this consensus, there is no need to worry about damage to their reputation, and if you take back Japan's customs control, you can also offset the compromise with East China.

Seeing that Ito Hirobumi was a little moved by what he said, Miyamoto Naoto said again: "Sir, please forgive me for being blunt, Mr. became the prime minister this time, it was not what he wanted, but the situation forced him, and Mr. may not sit in this position for a long time." ”

Ito Hirobumi nodded and said, "Yes, I became prime minister this time, originally it was just an emergency, and before I became prime minister, I had reached an agreement with the military, and once the situation stabilized, I would resign as prime minister and support someone from the military to take over." ”

Miyamoto Naoto said: "This crisis is caused by the unauthorized actions of the military people, which shows how fierce the contradictions and disputes within the military are, and how reckless and reckless, it is not a blessing for Japan to hand over such an important position of prime minister to the military." ”

Ito Hirobumi smiled bitterly and said: "I don't know what you said, but this agreement was reached before I became prime minister, and it is not easy to go back, not to mention that my relationship with the military is very delicate. Speaking of this, Ito Hirobumi's heart suddenly moved, judging from his experience with Miyamoto Naoto, Miyamoto Naoto is not a casual person, since he mentioned this problem, I am afraid that he has his own solution, so he said: "Do you have a good solution!"

Miyamoto Naoto smiled slightly and said, "Mr. only said that he said that the people who support the military will take over as prime minister, but the military includes two parts: the navy and the army!"

Ito Hirofumi's eyes lit up, and he suddenly understood, and immediately said, "Clever plan, wonderful plan." ”

To put it bluntly, Miyamoto's suggestion is to take advantage of the contradictions between the Japanese army and navy and learn from it. The discord between the Japanese army and navy is a matter of obvious proportions, and the Japanese army is deeply involved in politics and has considerable influence on Japanese politics; in contrast, the Japanese navy and politics do not have much intersection, except when competing for military spending or formulating naval strategies, so those who support the military take over as prime minister, usually referring to people from the first line of the army, this is because many Japanese politicians are from the army, such as Saigo Takamori among the three heroes of the Restoration, and Aritomo Yamaguchi, Katsura Taro and others, and there are not many people in politics in the navy, but this does not mean that the navy disdains the position of prime minister, but the navy's political power is too thin to compete with political forces such as the army and the political friendship association.

At this time, the Army's reputation was greatly reduced due to the unauthorized actions of intelligence officers, and the Navy also had the opportunity to compete for the prime minister's throne. In this way, the political friendship association will use the power of the navy to suppress the army, and the navy will also need to rely on the power of the political friendship association in order to maintain the position of prime minister and compete with the army in the political arena. At the same time, he can also take the opportunity to compromise with East China, resign as prime minister, and retreat into the background again.

Although it was a little clear, Ito Hirobumi also had to admire Miyamoto's mind, after all, he came up with this solution, so he said: "Miyamoto-kun, you still have a way! I can finally rest assured." ”

Miyamoto Naoto didn't have a look of joy, and said: "Sir, there is another point that needs to be paid great attention to, although the compromise with East China ** is an expedient measure, but I think this time we can have a fake show and sing a real song, really ease the relationship between our Japan and East China, and develop economic and trade exchanges between our two sides." ”

Ito Hirobumi was stunned for a moment and said, "How can I say this?" ”

Miyamoto Naoto said: "Now Japan is a few major forces between the cracks to survive, we must be left and right, take advantage of the situation, use strength, and the major forces to maintain a good relationship, at least not hostile, use the contradictions between the major forces, maximize their interests, do not completely fall to one side, or with one side of the complete enemy, so that Japan loses the space to move between several major forces, although now Britain is indeed of great help to Japan, but their purpose to help Japan is only to use Japan to contain East China** , just to take the chestnut in the fire for them, but it has been an enemy of East China for a long time, which is not conducive to Japan's interests. ”

Ito Hirobumi pondered for a while before he said: "Before the Far East War, it was actually Britain that supported Japan against Russia, and you didn't seem to oppose it, but you supported it very much, just reminded me to guard against East China, and now Britain is supporting Japan to fight East China, but you are so opposed, I don't know what the truth is." ”

Miyamoto Naoto said: "At this time, at that time, although Russia is strong, its main energy is still in the West rather than the East, and there are many internal contradictions, so Japan took the spirit of the First Sino-Japanese Victory, with the strength of a country, and with the full support of Britain, just to confront the Russian Far East, although it seems to be very risky, but in fact the odds are very great, in fact, if it is not for East China's intervention in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan is actually already winning. After the Far East War, East China has made huge profits, and its strength has increased greatly, while Japan has suffered a great loss of vitality, and now the strength of East China has been far stronger than Japan, and the two sides are only separated by a sea, and East China does not need a vulture, and can deal with Japan with all its might, even if Japan has the support of Britain, I am afraid it will be difficult to compete with East China!"

Ito Hirobumi thought for a while, shook his head, and said: "Miyamoto-kun, you said that East China ** can be without a vulture, and can go all out to deal with Japan, I think this is a little inappropriate, even if Britain, France and the United States cannot contain East China**, but don't forget, now most of China's regions and population are still controlled by the Qing State, and East China ** occupies only a small part of the wounds, although the Qing State has been extremely corrupt, but after all, it is a hundred-legged insect, dead but not stiff, even if it is not the opponent of East China**, but it can also be against East China** If Japan can join forces with the Qing court and get the support of Britain and France, I don't think it can be confronted with East China. ”