During the shogunate period, the status of samurai in Japanese society was actually very high, for example, the de facto ruler of Japan, the "Seiyi Shogun", strictly speaking, also belonged to the samurai class.

The Meiji Restoration nominally shattered the old social structure, but in fact Japan only changed its leader, the shogun disappeared, the emperor returned to real power, and the status of the samurai class remained very high, but they continued to exist under a different name, that is, a new military class.

Tokugawa Liyan and his followers hated the samurai class to the core, if it were not for the rebellion of the majority of middle and lower-level samurai, the emperor would not have been able to overthrow the shogunate, so once Tokugawa Liyan returned to power, then the first group of Tokugawa Riken to take revenge was the previous samurai class.

Considering that Tokugawa Riken would definitely focus on pacification after he returned to power, using the war to complete revenge became Tokugawa Riken's first choice, which would not have a negative impact on Tokugawa Riken, and at the same time could blame the Ryukyu government, which would help Tokugawa Riken win the hearts of the people, which really killed two birds with one stone.

"Then, the aftermath of the war will have Mr. Rautanaka..." Miller didn't care what Tanaka Yoshichi thought, anyway, the dead were all Japanese, and they had nothing to do with Miller.

"Please rest assured, general..."Tanaka Yoshi's face was full of joy, and he bowed respectfully and retired.

Walking out of the bunker of the headquarters, Tanaka Yoshichi raised his hand and called the adjutant over: "Prepare to clean up the battlefield, everything will go according to plan." ”

Just as Tanaka Yoshichi walked out of the bunker, the 1st Brigade had already captured the positions of the Meiji government army, and the overall situation was decided.

Compared with the 1st Brigade, which had been trained for a winter, the Meiji government army performed very amateurishly, and the 1st Brigade also had an advantage in weapons, and the Meiji government army's troops had already set up a line and fired first.

In front of the light and heavy machine guns with complete firepower, the dense infantry formation was equivalent to lining up to die, and the battle ended quickly almost as soon as it began, and the 1st Brigade felt that the Meiji government army had collapsed on all fronts before it had warmed up.

Then it was finally Tanaka Yoshi's turn to appear, Tanaka Yoshi's group of subordinates composed of all Japanese, originally responsible for the logistics of the 1st Brigade, which is also the tradition of the Japanese army, the soldiers and the husband service are independent of each other, but in the critical moment, the husband service can also go into battle to charge.

The main task of cleaning up the battlefield was to collect prisoners, and the 1st Brigade was fought against the 2nd Division of the Meiji Government Army, with more than 11,000 people in the whole army, and about 19,000 people with the addition of husband service.

Then, the next day, the relevant battle report was finally released, and the second division of the Meiji government army had more than 8,600 killed, only more than 3,500 prisoners, and the rest were all scattered.

This war report first aroused doubts from the "Military Observer Group".

One of the characteristics of this era is the "Military Observer Mission", which is mainly composed of military officers from various countries, whose main task is to protect their own nationals, communicate and coordinate relations, and also have the responsibility of espionage.

The war between the Ryukyus and Japan was, strictly speaking, a war between the United States and Japan, and although the U.S. government certainly does not support this statement, it is at least in the eyes of other countries.

After getting the battle report, British Lieutenant Colonel Phil Smith sneered: "This battle report... It's weird..."

It's really peculiar, a war involving tens of thousands of people, and it's normal that the death toll is nearly 9,000, but it's amazing that the number of wounded is less than 100, and it's probably only in Japan that this situation occurs.

"It does look very abnormal, if I hadn't personally experienced this war, I would have suspected that this war report is very watery..."German Colonel Wilhelm Bockmann shook his head with a wry smile, although it was not very reasonable in proportion, but Wilhelm Burkman knew very well that this war report was not fake.

"What a terrible nation, they can do it to their own people," said French Lieutenant Colonel Bill Marlowe, with a look of disdain.

Tanaka Yoshi's subordinates were indeed excessive, after the war, Tanaka Yoshi's subordinates were responsible for cleaning the battlefield, and then put all the prisoners in the prisoner of war camp, Tanaka Yoshi's men did not provide medical assistance to the wounded prisoners in time, and even prevented the medical staff of the First Brigade from entering the prisoner of war camp under the pretext that the identification of the prisoners had not been completed, which led to the wounded prisoners could not be treated in time, and many prisoners could have recovered completely after treatment, but after waiting for a day and a night, these prisoners died in wailing, This is the main reason for the very low number of wounded in the war report.

The officers in the "Military Observer Mission" did not understand why Tanakayoshi's subordinates did this, and in their view, as long as a soldier lays down his arms, he should be treated in a way that matches his status, and at least basic medical assistance, which is in line with the "humanitarian spirit" of the West.

Regarding "humanitarianism", many people will say that it is a hypocrisy, a virgin, but it is undeniable that only by being in it can we appreciate the preciousness of "humanitarianism", and in this regard, Westerners are still doing very well, especially Italians.

"In any case, our American friends should bear a lot of responsibility for this situation." Phil Smith does not leave the United States, whether the US government admits it or not, anyway, he is doing everything possible to link this matter with the US government.

The relationship between Britain and the United States is indeed very bad, and the rise of the United States is based on the weakness of Britain, so it is conceivable that the British people have a view of the United States.

In the eyes of Americans, Britain is like a conservative and decadent dark aristocracy, representing conservative reactionary forces, while the British see the United States as a country composed of thieves, liars, and homeless people.

William Bockman and Bill Marlowe did not respond to Phil Smith's words, and the two did not even make eye contact.

The relationship between Germany and France is also magical, the Franco-Prussian War has just ended, the Germans won the war, but did not completely conquer France, although France lost the battle, but the French did not think that France was weaker than Germany, so although William Bockman and Bill Marlow were in the same military observer mission, there was no communication between the two, let alone interaction.

"I think the newspapers in Washington will be very lively in the next few days, and the Stallion Group has once again grabbed the headlines, but this time, it will definitely not be flowers and honors that will await them." Phil Smith ignored it and continued to chatter.

Some time ago, because of the Panama Canal, Li Mu and the Junma Group had already grabbed a newspaper headline, and after signing the "Subsidiary Agreement" with the Colombian government, almost all the newspapers in the United States reported this matter on the front page, which he regarded as an "American-style victory", and now the United States is the most enthusiastic about this kind of news.

As Phil Smith said, in the days that followed, American newspapers did focus on the war in East Asia.

The emphasis is different: Republican-leaning newspapers focused on publicizing the success of the Horses' new weapons in the East Asian war, while Democratic-leaning newspapers focused on the deep-seated causes of the war.

“… In this war, some people played an extremely disgraceful role, using the war to make a fortune, single-handedly manipulating one country to subvert another, I really hope that someone can think when they see the financial statements that there are thousands of lives behind those beautiful financial statements as footnotes..."The person who read the newspaper to Li Mu was not Yan Shun, but Arthur.

On Governor's Island in April, the spring flowers bloom and the temperature is pleasant, Li Mu recently liked to have afternoon tea, and Arthur was Li Mu's most loyal guest.

"This "Echo Newspaper" is really ghostly..."Li Mu is not interested in the content of the newspaper, but in the newspaper itself.

After the election, there was a period of time when the "Echo" newspaper was suspended, which made Li Mu greatly relieved.

Unexpectedly, just over three months later, the Echo newspaper resumed publication, and this time in a healthier way, like Time Magazine, the newspaper no longer used the stupid way of giving away for free, and began to operate like a normal newspaper.

Although at present, the business status of "The Echo" is not very good, and the content is not rich enough, and it cannot be compared with "Time Magazine", but considering the number of Democrats, this is indeed a headache for Li Mu.

"It's nice to have a newspaper like this, at least it will keep us informed of what's going on in the Democratic Party and keep us on our toes..."

"Hopefully you'll think the same thing in four years." Li Mu pushed back without being salty, it seems that Arthur's understanding of the power of public opinion is not deep enough.

Arthur has already decided to partner with James Bryan to run for the next president of the United States, so it will not take four years at all, and when the next presidential election begins to be promoted, Arthur will grit his teeth at The Echo.

"As long as you're here, I'm not worried..."Arthur looked at Li Mu with a smile, this expression was indeed a bit cheap.

Li Mu's ability was vividly demonstrated in Hayes's campaign for president, so Arthur's main job now is not to discuss their campaign slogan with James Bryan, but to have a good relationship with Li Mu.

There is no need to go any further, as long as the status quo can be maintained.

"You can do it..."Li Mu gritted his teeth for a long time, and finally could only reluctantly admit that Arthur did have a reason not to worry.

"That's it..."Arthur raised the newspaper in his hand and gestured to Li Mu, his expression was mostly curious: "Tell me, what do you think?" Is it just to sell arms? It doesn't seem to fit your character. ”

Ostensibly, the Zanma Group supported Tokugawa's statement in order to sell arms.

As soon as the cannon sounds, the gold is 10,000 taels, this is not false at all, Bai Qi has now trained 150,000 troops in Japan, and the money owed to the horse weapons company has been more than 10 million US dollars, this figure includes not only the cost of equipment for the army, but also the cost of training, as well as the cost of hiring hundreds of mercenaries for Bai Qi.

The price of the weapons sold to Tokugawa was much higher than the normal price, an ordinary Springfield-style repeating rifle was sold for $55 at the New York World's Fair, and sold to Tokugawa for about $85 each, and there were no bullets.

The current Tokugawa Liyan really has no money to pay for this fee, but Tokugawa Liyan and Bai Qi have an agreement that after the war, Tokugawa Liyan will hand over the Japanese customs to the management of the Shoma Group, just like the British are doing now in the Qing Kingdom, and use the customs proceeds to compensate for this cost.

It must be explained that these debts are interest-bearing, which is why Li Mu is so concerned.

"Or what do you think?" Li Mu poured tea lazily and replied lazily, acting like an otter.

"Don't forget that Japan has a population of 30 million, and we are going to build the Panama Canal next, but we hire workers from Japan, how can we use it will definitely not be too high..."

Li Mu really doesn't know about the price of workers in Japan, but one thing is for sure, it is definitely not as expensive as the Americans, and it will not be much more expensive than the Colombians.

As a qualified politician, Arthur now values only the word "profit", and everything else is an illusion.

"This is a good idea, you can use it, in fact, I explained that we must protect the prisoners as much as possible, and this is our property." Of course, Li Mu also considered this issue.

The construction of the Panama Canal faced many difficulties, the complex geographical environment is one, the harsh climatic conditions are another, and there are various diseases that are difficult to prevent and control, Li Mu does not want the Chinese of the Junma Construction Company to work hard, so it is indeed a good choice for Japan to hire workers.

Compared with the Japanese workers who still needed to spend money, the prisoners of war were cheaper, and with the current relationship between the Shoma Group and Tokugawa Liyan, it only cost a small amount of money, and the Shoma Group could get a large number of prisoners of war from Japan, which was a good business.

"It's a pity that your people didn't understand your train of thought and didn't protect your property, this death ratio is a bit high..."Arthur used to be a soldier, and of course he was no stranger to war, but in Arthur's military career, he had never seen such an outrageous war report.

"This is just the beginning, whatever they want, there are many Japanese anyway." Li Mu doesn't think that there are too many people who have died, how many are there now? It's less than 10,000, not even a fraction of 300,000.

Thinking of the Nanjing Massacre in the past, Li Mu's heart will swell with monstrous hatred, so Li Mucai will not oppose Tanaka Yoshi's killing of prisoners, but he hates not killing enough.