In the sixth year of Kaihong, whether they wanted to or not, for the vassal states of the Chinese Empire, they had to abide by some principles, such as using the era of the Chinese Empire, not their own era. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Info And unlike the past use of the Chinese era for China and the internal use of the national era, the cost of this kind of "betrayal of great disobedience" is extremely heavy, and North Korea has paid the price for its arrogance - three years ago, the king and the prince were deposed, many North Korean officials were exiled, and then under the auspices of the prime minister in North Korea, a new monarch was appointed, and the central officials of North Korea were reappointed, even for the hundreds of years of Korean Shilin, this impact is unprecedented.

However, the vast majority of North Koreans ultimately chose to remain silent, not only because of the traditional ideological tameing of China, but more importantly, because they know the consequences of resisting. However, in the following three years, the prime minister in the DPRK successively completely emptied the Joseon royal family by appointing officials, and the DPRK that had been in the open for seven years was not so much a Korean state as a province of the Chinese Empire.

Those who "betray the great disobedience" have no power, so what price will the obedient pay?

Even the obedient did not stay out of the situation, just like the Ryukyus, and among the three feudatories in East Asia, the most special was Japan, which was never a subject of China in history, even if it was not until ten years ago that Japan was forced to accept China's protection under the pressure of the founding of the country. It was only then that Japan became somewhat of a vassal state of China, under the protection of China, from the invasion of the West.

However, in the past ten years, for the Tokugawa shogunate, they really deeply felt what it means to "lure the wolf into the house", and they also experienced what it means to be a small country.

In Edo in spring, there is still a month before the cherry blossoms are seen, but Ueno Park, Japan's first park, is visited by many visitors every day, after all, it is the first park in Japan, and of course it was originally the family temple of the Tokugawa shogunate and the private residences of some princes, but despite this, there are still some brothels near the park, and there are always people who need to be accompanied by geisha to go to see the cherry blossoms.

For Okubo and his friends, perhaps, the brothels near Ueno Park are also the best places for them to go, after all, they are often under surveillance in their homes, and they tend to go to Ueno Park first, then wander around the park for a while, and then hide in the pre-agreed brothels, and then discuss the current situation together, just as they did when they founded the "Seitdahu Group" together, and often meet to discuss world affairs, with a view to one day making a comeback in the domain.

It's just that now the hope of a comeback is being dashed little by little, because even the most stubborn people have to face the reality that Japan has been completely disintegrated.

"Did you read the newspaper?"

As soon as Saigo Moritaka entered the room, he took the newspaper and said to Okubo and the others in the room.

"The Kumamoto clan of Higo has accepted the title of the Emperor of China!"

When his words fell, I saw that the whole room was filled with gloomy clouds, and everyone nodded, and then only Okubo Ritsu said.

"This is the Hosokawa family of 540,000 stones, only the Maeda family is still hesitating now, but it is certain that they will definitely accept it, after all, everyone in the world is selfish people! Received the title of Emperor of China...... Selfishness becomes a country! ”

The "bestowal seal" in Okubo's mouth refers to the fact that since three years ago, the Chinese emperor began to directly intervene in the affairs of the major names by bypassing the shogunate, and even completely dismantled the shogunate's rule in Japan through direct "conferral sealing".

After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his descendants forced each of the daimyo of the clan to live in the capital city of Edo for half of their lives, and the other half of their domains (domains). This system of "attendance accounting" has other purposes. In this way, the general keeps everyone under surveillance. In addition, the daimyo had to bear the huge cost of maintaining their residence in Edo, as well as the high cost of traveling, which became an indirect tax and weakened their financial resources.

For those fiefdoms of hundreds of thousands of stones, this kind of "attendance and confession" is a heavy burden, not to mention hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of stones, many of them even bear heavy debts because of this "attendance and confession", because of this, at the suggestion of some of their staff, they chose to avoid "attendance and confession" through China's "conferral of the seal", in the past they were powerless to refuse the "attendance of the confession" aimed at exhausting the wealth of the world's feudal domains, but now there is China's "conferral" as a banner, Naturally, they can rightly refuse it.

In the face of those feudal lords who refused to "participate in the confession" by accepting the "conferral title" and pulled the banner of China, as the shogunate boss, Ii Naobi reacted slowly, and instead of changing the "attendance account", he demanded that the feudal lords must perform the "attendance account", but he could not change the behavior of the Chinese prime minister in Japan to support the small feudal clan - five years ago, China sent a prime minister to Japan, and at first people thought that it was just a ceremonial officer, and even the city where they lived was not Edo, but Kyoto. It seems that the Prime Minister's existence is merely a matter of propriety.

Later, however, the shogunate was horrified to discover that they had chosen Kyoto for a purpose—if they wanted to, they could overthrow the shogunate's rule in Japan at any time by supporting the emperor, and then they could change another general. In this case, Naobi Ii chose to give in,

"Look at what Japan's submission has come back for?"

Saigo Shenglong said with some resentment.

"You read in the newspaper, the emperor's era name is no longer there, it has long been replaced by a Chinese era name, all schools have to learn Chinese, what is the difference between Japan and North Korea now!"

There is no difference with North Korea, and even if they don't want to admit it, they have to face this reality.

"Oh, there is still a difference with North Korea, in Korea, the prime minister in North Korea can directly appoint officials in North Korea, and the king of North Korea can be deposed, but in Japan, they have turned Japan into more than 200 vassals, and now Japan no longer exists!"

In the past, they may not have felt that there was anything about the "feudal domains", but now, with China's "granting of feuds", the feudal domains have gained more autonomy, and even China's right to deprive the daimyo of their domains is limited to the specific circumstances of their "betrayal of China", and in any other case, they will not "suggest that the shogunate take their territories", and everyone knows that this suggestion is not just a suggestion.

The extremely wide autonomy made it so that those foreign daimyo no longer needed to serve the shogun with the same care as in the past, but acted like an independent kingdom, and even offered to send an army of 1,000 men to assist the imperial army in the battle as a sign of loyalty to the emperor.

In the face of the benefits of "bestowing the feudal lord", first the daimyo who had been guarding against the shogunate, then the daimyo of the pedigree, and even now together with the daimyo of the feudal clan, they have also begun to choose the "conferral of the feudal lord", and the future of Japan will be completely divided into Japan composed of more than 200 "independent kingdoms", and at that time, will there still be Japan?

"It's a pity that we are not only humble but also guarded by generals, so we are really powerless to change the status quo!"

Okubo Ritsu's words made Saigo nod silently, they may have the heart to change all this, but they don't have the ability, because they have been ostracized in all the domains without exception, just as his words fell, a young man on the side immediately spoke.

"The status quo, even if you can't change it, why change it? Even if the feudal domains are determined to rise up now, do they still have to respect the king? What if the Chinese army enters? ”

The young man's words made Saigo Takamori stunned, he looked at this strange young man in surprise, and Okubo Ritsu hurriedly introduced.

"He is Hirobumi Ito, a priest of the Choshu Domain, who was sent by the Choshu Domain to study in China two years ago......"

Almost before Okubo Ritsu mentioned that Ito Hirobumi had studied in China, Saigo Takamori immediately frowned and said,

"Could it be so Sinophobic, it turns out that Nanjing has eaten too much rice!"

Since the founding of the Chinese Empire, the feudal domains have been keen to send students to China, and without exception, those students returned to China, they are all in high positions, it can be said that all of them are young and ambitious figures, they are all proud to speak fluent Chinese and have eaten "Nanjing rice".

"Nanjing rice can't be eaten in school, but Nanyang rice is eaten in school!"

Hirobumi Ito retorted unceremoniously,

"Even in Japan today, if there were no Nanyang rice, I don't know how many people would starve! We were able to eat "Nanyang rice" and it was entirely a blessing from the Empire, if it weren't for ......"

Before Iteng could finish speaking, the reprimand rang out.

"Ito, I really didn't expect that in just two years, you would become like this! Ito, who advocated for China back then, has gone! ”

The reprimand of his friend made Ito Hirobumi's face change, and he immediately said in a deep voice.

"That Ito is gone, you don't know at all, the world has changed so much, it's not the world we know at all, if you go to China, you will know what the world is like now, instead of watching the sky like a frog at the bottom of a well......

As soon as his words fell, someone else's scolding sounded on the side.

"Yaga!"

At the same time as the scolding fell, a full martial arts was suddenly staged in the room......

"Alas, I said Ito, you guy, you're killing yourself!"

Covering his face, Kusaka grumbled to Hirobumi Ito, who was walking side by side, even though the two had been in a brothel before, but when it was all over, they were now walking side by side along the narrow streets of Edo.

"Don't you know what the consequences of those words of yours will have on that occasion?"

"I know!"

Ito Hirofumi nodded, and when he nodded, he could feel that his head was hurting, and he had suffered from the previous beating.

"If that's the case, then why say it? You guy! What if someone else kills you? ”

The persuasion of his friend made Ito Hirofumi answer sternly.

"Kill me, it doesn't matter, but the problem is, each of us must know that the world today is different from the world hundreds of years ago, from "respecting the king" to "respecting the king", we are always so self-righteous, but we don't know at all, the world has changed a long time ago, two years ago, like you, I was also full of enthusiasm to think that "respecting the king and the king" can solve the problem? ……”

Two years ago, after Ito Hirobumi was sent to study in China, he infiltrated the area around the newly built Chinese consulate with more than a dozen aspirants such as Genrui Kusaka and Shinsaku Takasugi. That night, Ito opened the way in front of him, armed with a wooden saw, sawed through the wooden fence around the consulate, and the others rushed in and threw homemade Molotov cocktails. Later, Ito Hirobumi and the others returned to their nearby residences and drank all night, indulging in the frenzy. At that time, he even fantasized that after arriving in China, he would bring the action of "respecting the king and promoting China" to Nanjing and China.

At that time, Ito, like everyone else, was also a young man who was strong in blood and believed that he could "respect the king". However, after arriving in China, he was stunned by what he saw in China, he saw with his own eyes China's developed material civilization, and his thinking gradually changed, and he realized that it was by no means the best policy to blindly "conquer China" just by relying on a passion for defending national independence, and the only way to open the country and learn from China was to realize Japan's strength.

“…… At that time, I thought that Japan would be strong if we could learn from China. Like some countries in Europe, when the time comes, maybe Japan will become the Great Britain of Asia, but now ......"

After a moment of silence, Ito Hirobumi pointed to the light of some mast lights in Edo Bay, and then said with some sighs.

"Look at Edo Bay, there are also Chinese warships here, and now, Chinese warships, not only in the Japanese, but also in the South Seas, in India, in Africa, and even in Britain itself, there are Chinese warships, and the Chinese army is attacking the British all over the world, and the seemingly powerful British are simply vulnerable in front of China, and tens of millions of British colonies have now become Chinese colonies......"

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