There is even an argument that has repeatedly demanded a preemptive strike, believing that "today's national situation is undecided and its military strength is not strong", and there is still a chance of winning against it; If he "forbears and tolerates it, raises a tiger and sits big", he will regret it in the future. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Different from the "toughness" of the patriotic Qingliu who is idle in China, Li Hongzhang's opinion is: "China has no great benefit from receiving tribute from the Ryukyus, and if it receives tribute and cannot protect its country, it will be despised by other countries; If you focus on the pen and the theory, and today's actions, as in the book, the so-called scoundrel's cross, the madness of the dog, may not be within my scope. If you use power to compete for the tribute of small countries, and be diligent and far-sighted, it is not only timeless, but also meaningless. ”

At that time, the news of Japan's annexation of the Ryukyus had an impact on the Qing court mainly in two aspects: first, the tributary system in East Asia with China as the core was challenged by modern diplomatic concepts; Second, under the hostile situation in which Russia looks down on Xinjiang, China's foreign policy is entangled with the Ryukyu issue. Looking at the overall situation, Li Hongzhang meant that there was no need to make the country suffer unnecessary losses for the sake of coveting the false name of the Ryukyu tribute. In Li Hongzhang's view, Ryukyu had maintained tributary relations with both China and Japan's Satsuma Domain since the end of the Ming Dynasty, but for the Qing court, this loose tributary relationship had no practical benefits. Therefore, Li Hongzhang's handling of the matter is much more "mild" than that of the hardliners in China. At that time, He Ruzhang, the Chinese minister to Japan, once provided the imperial court with three strategies for dealing with the Ryukyu issue: the upper policy was to "send the advance warship to question the Ryukyus, levy tribute, and show Japan that it will fight"; The middle strategy is "logically speaking, the Ming covenant with the Ryukyus will make it attack and show that Japan will be saved"; The next policy is to "debate repeatedly, Xu is enlightened, if you do not obey the order, or help the public law of all countries to correct the blame, or ask the envoys of various countries to judge with you, you must stop there." In the end, Li Hongzhang chose the next policy, pinning his hopes on the "Public Law of All Nations" rather than taking "radical" measures: "If you don't listen to what you say, then Zi'e (He Ruzhang) will come to the aid of the ministers of the Public Law Chamber of Commerce and the ministers of various countries to affirm the righteousness." Although the envoys may not help us to suppress Japan, the Japanese people will be concerned about the hearts of the nations, so as not to destroy the Ryukyu Kingdom and occupy its land. ”

At the time of the fall of the Ryukyus, Guo Songtao, who had been regarded as a traitor and traitor by the courtiers for his praise of Western democracy, had just resigned from his post as minister in London and returned to China under pressure. Guo Songtao expressed his views on this matter and his handling opinions: "Since Japan has changed the Ryukyus to a prefecture, the previous discussion should be small and flexible, and on the basis of the exemption of tribute, it must send envoys to protect the Ryukyus together with the ministers of various countries and listen to its autonomy"; "Ryukyu has been subjugated to China for a long time, and it is advisable for China to take charge of the matter and protect Ryukyu as righteousness, and it is not enough to fight for tribute." In a nutshell, Guo Songtao's opinion was to exempt the Ryukyus from paying tribute to China, dissolve their vassal relations, and make them independent. Li Hongzhang deeply agreed with this and sent a letter to Prime Minister Yamen to support Guo Songtao, believing that even if the imperial court did not take the initiative to forgive Ryukyu's tribute, if Ryukyu could eventually gain independence, it would be inevitable to exempt Ryukyu. Rather than passively forgive, it is better to take the initiative to forgive, so that the dignity of the country will not be harmed, and many disputes will be avoided and the independence of the Ryukyus will be maintained.

In 1875, Japan prevented the Ryukyus from paying tribute to China, and on March 31, the "Declaration" published an editorial article "On Japan's Claim for Ryukyu Tribute to China", arguing that this news was false. At that time, when a Western newspaper reported that Japan had returned the Ryukyus as a gift to China from Prime Minister Yamensuo, traditional Chinese editorials scoffed at this, believing that this move was enough to ridicule the ages, and that "although Japan is stupid, it will not be able to make such a decision." Instead, the "Declaration" said: If this news is true, then Japan is really out of place, and it is completely contrary to the way of big countries to tolerate and treat small countries.

The folk editorial said: China and Japan are both suzerains of the Ryukyus, and since they are suzerains, they should look like suzerains. In fact, this editorial represented the view of the majority of scholars and scholars in China at the time, that is, to look at the Ryukyu Incident within the traditional Chinese suzerainty system, and to demand that Japan invade and attack the traditional Chinese suzerainty system. Obviously, criticism based on this perception is of no use to Japan, which has abandoned the feudal system and is in the process of transitioning to modern state relations. After Japan's annexation of the Ryukyus by force, the "Declaration" published a large number of argumentative articles, calling for the preservation of the Ryukyus: "The Ryukyus are annexed to Japan and China will never be cared about, and the Japanese will become more arrogant and bolder." Now that the east has been sealed and the west is about to be swept away, how can the islands of Liao and Shen sit back and be carefree? ”

The people's demand for "protecting the Ryukyus" is very high, but the reason is more focused on the "decency" of the suzerain, "The submission of the Ryukyus to China and the DPRK is not undeferential, and once it is a strong neighbor to annex without any action, it will inevitably show weakness to others, and the reason why the people who usually show favor to the Ryukyus are originally to use this as an overseas vassal to serve the eternal harmony in order to show the spread of the emperor's spirit." ”

Compared with the high mood of Paula-ryukyu, the voice of abandoning Ryukyu is small, but it seems to have more "rationality". An editorial article published on April 22, 1879, entitled "Examination of the History of the Ryukyus," advocated ignoring the Ryukyu issue. The reason is that the Ryukyus have always been weak and have been under Japanese control for a long time, and even if they continue to pay tribute to China, they will still be in essence Japan's dependencies and spheres of influence. China has always been based on forbearance, so why not regard the problems between the Ryukyus and Japan as a conflict between barbarians. In response to some people's claim that "the Ryukyus are so obedient to China that they have to send troops to help", the article retorted: In recent years, Russia has forcibly occupied Ili, and we have endured it to this day, not to mention the overseas vassals of the Ryukyus, which are beyond the reach of the whip? Japan's annexation of the Ryukyus was an unjust act, and other countries would protest by themselves, and the Ryukyus would not sit idly by.

In 1880, a serious diplomatic crisis arose between China and Russia over the Ili issue, and the call for the United Japan to reject Russia and abandon the Ryukyus increased. For example, on March 18, 1880, the "Declaration" published an editorial article entitled "The Theory of Harmony in the Middle East", which strongly advocated the abandonment of Ryukyu in exchange for the Sino-Japanese alliance. If the two countries are united, it will be enough to resist foreign aggression, and the overall situation in Asia can be preserved, and if the two countries are not able to do so, the situation will be divided, and others will be able to take advantage of the situation...... Although the land (of the Ryukyus) is small, it is very important for the dignity of the two countries, so it has to be fought for. And those who don't know what to say are not judged, and the current situation of the husband and the overall situation of Asia are also, Tang Tang's poem says: Brothers are outside the wall to resist their insults...... Today, China and Russia are in the shape of a rupture, and there is no momentum in the Middle East to resist the situation...... Leaving the Ryukyus without fighting, it is only a little undignified in the Middle East, and there is no big problem in the overall situation...... Those who are in a difficult time do not want the joint efforts of the Middle East to reject Russia, and do not ignore the overall situation of Asia because of the suspicion of the Ryukyu incident. ”

However, the imperial court had no intention of responding to the advice of public opinion. The final policy drawn up by the imperial court was "delay" -- Japan was bent on annexing the Ryukyus, and the Qing court could not give up the face of the suzerainty and let the Ryukyus perish, but also was unable to prevent the conquest, and the diplomatic situation was also chaotic, and neither side could compromise on a compromise plan. In particular, Tsarist Russia repeatedly caused trouble on China's borders, and the Qing court still pinned its hopes on forming an alliance with Japan to jointly confront the West and Tsarist Russia, and did not want to completely fight Japan in the Ryukyu Incident. As a result of all these foresights, the Imperial Court decided to adopt a "delay" policy, and the Ryukyu Incident dragged on. Japan maintained its de facto occupation of the Ryukyus, but was never able to obtain the Qing court's approval of the legitimacy of its occupation of the Ryukyus. After the defeat of the Qing court in the First Sino-Japanese War, all efforts eventually lost their meaning.

Thinking of this history in another time and space, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but sigh.

Now, now that we have the opportunity to change this history, we must do better!

Lin Yizhe carefully recalled what he had learned today, and he had a hunch in his heart that since this matter was like this, Li Henian and Wen Yu scratched their heads, and they couldn't figure out if the two of them had already guessed that those who were called "Japanese nationals" by the Japanese consul had been beheaded by the Gaoshan people!

Judging from the content of the report on "the murder of the people" that Lin Yizhe just read, more than a month has passed since the incident, and this possibility is undoubtedly very great.

In Li Henian's opinion, this is the worst and most difficult situation to deal with, and it is only because they think of their own "Oriental New Philosophy" to deal with this matter! In their eyes, they have just returned from a foreign mission and are familiar with foreign situations, so they are undoubtedly the best candidates!

Lin Yizhe thought about it, but he still didn't understand the essentials, so he put down his thoughts for the time being. Since he still has a month's holiday (the Queen Mother's reward must be taken, and if he does not rest, it will be a protest against the decree), he might as well take this opportunity to familiarize himself with the affairs of the Taiwan side and make first-hand preparations.

And this matter, for him, is exactly a rare opportunity!

With regard to Taiwan, a treasure island with abundant natural resources and superior geographical conditions, it is no longer a matter of a day or two for him to want to go over and engage in development.

Thinking of the plan to develop Taiwan that he had been brewing in his mind for a long time, Lin Yizhe's thinking became active again.

If you want to develop Taiwan, the first thing you need to do is to naturalize your life!

And it is not easy to naturalize the students!

At this time, Lin Yizhe did not know that just when he was ******** considering patrolling Taiwan affairs, another storm against himself had quietly come.