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At the end of June 1879, at the Kabukiza Restaurant in Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, in the afternoon.

Sitting in the private room of the dining pavilion, Hirobumi Ito, who was wearing a kimono, looked at Iwakura Gushi with a serious face on the other side with a smile and said, "Horikawa Gong, in the hot summer, beauty is in front of you, why bother talking about these topics that are bad for the scenery." Hey, Iwasaki Mineko is still a little girl, you just glanced at her, come and have a drink! ”

With that, he picked up the sake bottle in front of him with both hands, pointed the label of Shochikumei upward, and while pouring wine for Iwakura Gushi, he exclaimed, "It is worthy of being one of the three strokes of Showa, Hibino Goho, this Shochikumei kanji is really beautiful!" “

After pouring the Iwakura Gushi full, Ito Hirofumi picked up the cup with a grin, touched the lower edge of the Iwakura Gushi cup with the upper edge of his own cup, took a sip, and then exclaimed at Iwakura Gushi, "Horikawa Gong, this sake is sake from Fushimi, Kyoto, the entrance is refreshing and then drunk, gentle and soft, compared with Kobe's Nada sake, Nada wine is spicy and cold, Fushijiu is gentle and soft, and the so-called male and female Fushishi is also!" ”

"Ito-kun, there was a lot of noise outside, I didn't expect you to be so interested." Iwakura glanced at Ito Hirofumi, who was lying on the lap of the young geisha, and said lightly, "This is what Ito-kun often says, to be a slender beauty on the knees and wake up to the power of the world?" It's really enviable! ”

"Haha, Horikawa Gong has a good reputation, but I often hear people in Tokyo say that the ministers of the palace are ridiculous, Okuma loves money, and Ito is lustful." After saying that, Ito's gaze turned to Iwakura Gushi's side and said with a smile, "Miss Eliang, has my student Saionji continued to pester you recently?!" ”

Hearing Ito's unobtrusive culture, Iwakura Gushi, who is the right minister of the Taisei Dynasty, has a headache, and the Saionji Temple in Ito's mouth, the big name is called Saionji Gongwang, as the heir of the Saionji family in the famous "Jiuqinghua" Chinese family in Japan, after worshipping Ito Hirobumi as a teacher three years ago, he is ready to take the teacher as an example, and he is also marrying a geisha as his wife, and he is currently frantically pursuing a generation of famous actors in the Meiji period, Era Kayo.

Iwakura Gushi saw that Miss Era, the geisha next to him, was the Era Kayo that Saionji Gongwang was pursuing, and in the face of the merry Ito Hirobumi's ridicule, Era Kayo could only cover half of his face with the cypress fan in his hand, and smiled with his chin bowed.

During the Meiji Restoration, most of the politicians from the Sacho clan were born in the low-level samurai, so there was a precedent for marrying geisha, but the Chinese, especially the top Chinese Ming media, were marrying geisha, and it was the first time that the influence was so great that the Meiji Emperor personally intervened.

Iwakura Gushi knew that if he wanted to solve the marriage of Saionji Gongwang, which made the emperor troubled, he only needed the teacher of Saionji, that is, the words of Ito in front of him, who made Saionji worship his teacher madly. Looking at the confident Hirofumi Ito, Iwakura Gumei sighed, knowing in his heart that his shortcomings were in Ito's hands.

"Ito-kun, please stop making fun of me as an old man." Iwakura shook his head helplessly, "No matter what you think, but I still have to stick to my point of view, in the two matters of colonization and constitutionalism, Ito-kun must come forward." ”

Iwakura waved his hand, stopping Ito, who was about to speak, and continued, "I've always been in favor of farming, but I'm skeptical of Okuma's approach. ”

"According to Okuma's intentions, 130.3 million yen will be printed and issued this year, and with the banknotes issued by the Mitsubishi Bank in the Okuma-Mitsubishi faction, 170 million yen of banknotes that cannot be exchanged for gold will be added to the country this year."

"Last year, the government's annual revenue was only 42 million yen, but the amount of banknotes issued in the market was four times the government's revenue, and such a huge amount of banknotes in circulation has exceeded the amount of money actually needed in commodity circulation."

In addition to printing banknotes that could not be exchanged, a large number of government bonds were issued from the sixth year of the Meiji era, and in the ninth year of the Meiji era, 173.845 million yen of public bonds were issued in just three years. According to a new report submitted by Okuma, in the 11th year of the Meiji era, that is, this year, the government debt will be expanded to 420 million yen in order to ensure the implementation of the agricultural industry project. ”

"The problem is that if the scale of public debt is really expanded to 420 million yen, the interest on public debt alone will already exceed the government's annual revenue of 42 million yen.

"I actually call this set of fiscal measures for the troubled country an active fiscal policy, and I think the only positive ones are the speculators such as the Mitsubishi Foundation, Yukichi Fukuzawa, Goto Zojiro and Itagaki Retreat!"

"These Yaga rely on the large amount of yen given by Okuma, and which one is really going to do business? They can still brazenly say that they are doing bank credit business, what is the difference between them and those usury guys in the shogunate era?! In order to obtain the windfall profits of credit and currency speculation, how many people in Japan still have the confidence to do real farming? ”

"I always talk about the development of the industry, but what about the actual action? The big industries, which were supposed to be the foundation of Japan's nation, were always waiting to be fed because of lack of funds, but he blindly used his limited funds to increase administrative costs, expand government departments, engage in public utilities, and play the British liberal civil rights movement. ”

"Do you really think that if you become an agent of the civil rights faction like Fukuzawa Yukichi, you really want to engage in a cabinet system for British political parties?" Iwakura looked directly at Hirobumi Ito, who had already sat up.

"Horikawa Gong, these words were said by Matsukata-kun....." Ito Hirofumi carefully looked at the fan in his hand, sighed, and asked a little casually.

"That's right, this is a golden jade word from Matsukata-kun." Iwakura Gu generously admitted, "Please Ito-kun don't blame your friend, Matsukata-kun came to me out of desperation, as the Great Tibetan Authority, he has the right to question the Great Tibetan Minister's approach." ”

"Matsukata-kun is Mr. Jiadong's protégé, and you are Mr. Jiadong's most optimistic heir, and I have received Mr. Jiadong's great favor in my life, since you are unwilling to come forward to help Matsukata-kun, then he should come to me."

"Horikawa Gong, I'm just an internal minister, how can I manage the ...... of the Tibetan minister" Ito shook his head with a wry smile, just about to defend himself.

"Ito, Mr. Koto has never said such a thing when he was the prime minister!" Iwakura Gushi suddenly raised his voice, "Since Mr. Koto became the Minister of Internal Affairs in the sixth year of the Meiji era, when did you, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Okuma, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, no longer belong to Mr. Koto, are you blind to me, an old man who is the right minister of the Taisei?" ”

"Cultivating industry, civilizing and civilizing, enriching the country and strengthening the army are the dreams of all Meiji Restoration aspirants! Ito, you bastard, do you want to shatter Obokuritsu's dreams! Suddenly, Iwakura Gushi suddenly straightened up from the tatami mat, pushed away Era Kayo beside him, and angrily scolded Ito Hirobumi.

In Iwakura's angry gaze, Ito Hirobumi first smiled bitterly and said, "Horikawa Gong, this is really a bad scenery. With that, he waved his hand and motioned for the geisha in the room to go out first.

After the shoji door closed and only Iwakura Gushi and Ito Hirobumi were left in the room, Ito straightened up and bowed to Iwakura Gushi in a standard earth posture, and bowed respectfully to Iwakura, "Mr. Koto-san's ambition, I'm not forgetting it for a moment. ”

"Okuma did something about the development of the industry with the approval of Mr. Okubo during his lifetime. I have just assumed the post of Secretary of the Interior, and I am the designated successor of Mr. Okubo, so if I oppose Mr. Okubo, who is also Mr. Okubo's reliance, from the beginning of my presidency, how will my colleagues in the Tosa clan think of me? On the occasion of this eventful autumn, Hirofumi hopes that the four feudal domains of Satsuma, Nagasu, Tosa, and Hizen can work together to complete the Restoration. Ito said.

"Ito, are you afraid of the world?"

"Bowen, don't be afraid!"

"How are you not afraid?!" Iwakura asked, staring at Ito.

"Bowen but please be worthy of your heart!" Hirobumi Ito raised his head and looked at Iwakura with a smile.

"Ito-kun, if I tell you, there is a draft constitutional opinion on my desk right now, which clearly states that parliamentary politics should be party politics, that there should be a majority party organization in parliament to promote politics, and that a British-style party cabinet system should be established in Japan!"

"In the fourth year of the Meiji era, when Ito-kun and I traveled to Europe and the United States as chief and deputy envoys, we examined the political systems of many countries, and finally came to the conclusion that constitutional politics under the co-rule of the monarchy was the only state system in Japan."

"In choosing between a British constitutional monarchy and a Prussian constitutional monarchy, we all believe that the British constitution, although the British king has the throne but has no right to rule, is inconsistent with our Japanese national system; The Kaiser personally holds the legislative and executive powers, and all the laws of the German government cannot be implemented without the permission of the Kaiser. This is the monarchy that Ito-kun and I want. ”

"In today's situation, the constitution-maker, who is also appointed by His Majesty the Emperor, has put on my desk a constitutional opinion on the British-style party cabinet system. After listening to Iwakura's words, the smile on Ito's face disappeared.

As Emperor Meiji in 1868, he announced that he would establish a constitutional monarchy in Japan at the beginning of the Meiji Restoration. By the time of the Osaka Congress in 1876, the main direction of Japan's constitutional system had been clarified, which was to choose between a British-style constitutional monarchy and a Prussian constitutional monarchy.

During the first ten years of Japan's Meiji Restoration, Ohokutoshitsu, known as the iron-blooded prime minister of the East, advocated the determination of the monarch's power at the top, the civil power at the bottom, and the public and righteousness...... The so-called form of government is a British-style constitutional monarchy with the supreme privilege of the whole country.

If it were not for the assassination of Okukudo in 1878, the wheel of history would probably have gone down towards the British constitutional monarchy under the arrangement of Okukutotsu, but the most interesting thing is that the assassins who assassinated Okukuri were born from the civil rights liberals, and the standard-bearers of the civil rights liberals, Shigenobu Okuma and Yukichi Fukuzawa, were staunch supporters of the British constitutional monarchy.

History is so good at jokes sometimes.

In 1878, after the death of Obokushi Toshitsu, as the most relied on right-hand man of Ohbokuri Toshitsu, Ito Hirobumi of the Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Finance reached a tacit understanding, although the emperor issued a holy decree appointing the two as the framers of the Japanese constitution, both as the chief spokesperson, to promote the constitutional work of Japan, but the two still focused on the second Meiji Restoration decade, temporarily stopped the constitutional road of Okukushi Toshitsu, and instead concentrated on the internal affairs of Japan and the enhancement of national strength.

The wishes are good, but the reality is cruel, Shigenobu Okuma's active fiscal policy of quantitative easing..... Well, to put it bluntly, the game of plundering domestic wealth by not establishing neither the gold standard nor the silver standard monetary system, blindly relying on the printing of paper banknotes and the issuance of fixed-interest treasury bonds for more than 30 years, has finally escaped.... This has led directly to hyperinflation in Japan.

When Shigenobu Okuma's desperate and proactive fiscal policy fell into chaos, Yukichi Fukuzawa, who was also a liberal civil rights activist, and Fumio Yano, the secretary of the Taisei official power, helped Shigenobu Okuma come up with an idea, that is, to revisit Japan's constitutional path, with the intention of promulgating a constitution, establishing a parliament, and implementing a British-style party cabinet system within three years.

It is hoped that this will divert the attention of domestic opponents and quietly borrow 50 million pounds of foreign debt from the British, and use this foreign debt of about 500 million yen to fill the big hole caused by Japan's indiscriminate issuance of non-convertible paper currency, and re-establish the gold or silver standard mechanism of convertible currency.

If Shigenobu Okuma had consulted with Hirobumi Ito in advance, instead of using the tactics of Yukichi Fukuzawa and Fumio Yano to submit a constitutional opinion, perhaps the coup d'état of the 14th year of the Meiji period would not have occurred in history, but Shigenobu Okuma would still be the proud and confident Shigenobu Okuma in Japanese history.

"After Mr. Koto's death, Ito, on behalf of the Sacho feudal lord, had an agreement with the civil rights liberals in Okuma that the opening of the Diet and the publication of newspapers in Japan should be implemented gradually, but the Mita of Fukuzawa Yukichi's disciples collaborated to draft a draft constitution for the people, colluded with the Mitsubishi chaebol, who was defeated in the disposal of Hokkaido's official property, and asked Mitsubishi to pay for it, and those three guys and their teacher Fukuzawa Yukichi made a lot of nonsense in Beijing and other places, saying that without the Diet, there would be a matter of Hokkaido's pioneer envoys selling official property at a low price!"

"These are all Okuma breaking his promise and taking a radical path first." Iwakura Gushi said to Ito word by word, "And you, Ito-kun, are still trying to play some tricks of the circumferential envoys, don't you think you are ignorant?!" ”

"Horikawa Gong, Bofumi has been taught. I will inform the Metropolitan Police Department to severely crack down on the writing of the constitution by the people, and the constitution of Japan is approved by the emperor, and I will never allow the constitution of the people to go against the king of the king's constitution! Ito Hirobumi's face turned a little pale, "I will go to the palace to ask for His Majesty's imperial decree, but anyone who is in a hurry in the matter of constitutionalism, inciting incidents, and endangering the country should be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the country!" ”

Looking at Hirofumi Ito, who finally revealed his ruthless nature, the corners of Iwakura Gushi's mouth finally put on a smile.

"Now the civil rights faction is making the most trouble, and it is also Okuma's biggest help in the people, just two people." Ito Hirofumi pinched the fan in his hand and said slowly, "Most of the people who ask for their lives for the people are vain and do not understand the economy, and the prestige of Itagaki comes from his moral image, and this image can be shattered. As for Goto Zojiro, this person is capricious, like a peddler, who can be bought at the right price. ”

"I'm going to let Inoue come forward, let these two freedom fighters go abroad to investigate, to see what civil rights democracy is, and not to make trouble for the government behind closed doors in the country, but the cost of this inspection is ....." Ito looked at Iwakura, who had a calm face.

"Ito-kun, please rest assured, I will contact the Mitsui chaebol to pay this money." Iwakura nodded slightly. First cut off Okuma Shigenobu's wings, and this amount of money was given out by the chaebols of his faction, and Iwakura was willing.

"Horikawa, I think Matsukata-kun told you that Okuma is going to borrow 50 million pounds of foreign debt from the British, and this method of demolishing the east wall and making up the west wall is not feasible. To succeed in the Second Decade, administrative spending must be cut, the government must lay off workers, and new public utilities must no longer be approved. ”

"Secondly, 20% of the fiscal revenue is used to buy gold and turn it into gold reserves. Finally, under the exchange control exchange system, all exports must be paid to the exporter in paper money through the Yokohama Shojin Bank, and the exporter must be repaid in gold and silver for foreign exchange settlement after export. ”

"Finally, the central bank was created and designated as the only bank to issue convertible banknotes, and the exchange system was established." Hirobumi Ito said three fiscal policies in a row.

"Ito-kun, I can agree to all three of the things you said, but I must leave the position of the Tibetan minister in Okuma Shigenobu. It can only be implemented after kicking out the new government. Iwakura said indifferently.

"Okuma is the representative of the Hizen Domain, and Fukuzawa is also a big celebrity, so I want the timing, and I'm afraid in a few years..."Ito Hirobumi said with some hesitation.

"Then wait, then be patient, to disagree with our will in this matter of constitutionalism is to betray the Satsuma clan as a group, we can have dissent, but we can't have two hearts! I can afford to wait! Iwakura replied in a deep voice.

Ito Hirobumi tapped the fan in his hand lightly, frowned and thought for a long time and said, "I can afford to wait for politics and economics, but diplomacy and military ...."

"Diplomatically, Ito-kun is worried about the Ryukyus?" Iwakura asked.

"Yes, Inoue-kun has received news in the past two days, and it tastes a little wrong." Ito said softly, "In the matter of letting the Western powers preside over the justice of the Qing Kingdom, I originally wanted to hold the British to give us a platform, and use the French to form a gang together to intimidate the Qing people with the Russians. ”

"After going around in a circle, the British who were originally interested in Japan are no longer enthusiastic, and the French have become more greedy, and they ask for money and land when they open their mouths, but as for the Russians, they have never changed, in their eyes, we are the same as the Qing people, we are all lowly yellow-skinned monkeys."

"Although the German Minister Sir Barand has not said anything now, I can sense that the wind is about to change." Ito Hirobumi said a little helplessly.

"What's going to happen at worst?" Iwakura asked quietly.

"Worst of all, we're going to get out of the Ryukyus." Ito Hirobumi shrugged his shoulders in a very western way, "I guess that Yamaguchi-kun and Saigo-kun are going to go berserk." ”

"You need money to fight a war, if you don't have money, you won't have weapons, you won't have military salaries, and the money will have to be raised by him, but he can't raise money, and the thieves in Shan County and Xixiang want to be killed by the thieves of the country is also his Okuma Shigexin!" Iwakura Gushi said indifferently, "So, Yama Prefecture and Saigo will go and explain, Ito-kun, we must endure diplomatically and militarily!" ”

"Oh..... Horikawa Gong, but this is too embarrassing, just withdrawn from the Ryukyus in such a gloomy way, losing the face of the government, losing the face of the imperial army, you and I will apologize to His Majesty the Emperor, this is not good. ”

"Ito-kun, what are you going to do?" Iwakura raised his eyebrows and looked at Hirofumi Ito, who looked confident in front of him.

"Hehe, since the Germans came forward to help Qingguo to make money, then I think, Qingguo's money is earned, isn't Japan's money earned? Besides, since Japan is going to follow the Prussian dual monarchy, how can we not have a common language with Germany?! ”

"So, we're going to negotiate terms with the Germans?"

"Well, my hole card is to leave the Ryukyus for Japan, and as long as the Germans' asking price is not too much, I am ready to talk ...."

"What if it's too much?" Iwakura asked curiously.

"Haha, that's the only way to let Shanpeng and Saigo go away!" Hirobumi Ito laughed with a cynical attitude.