While Shigenobu Okuma and others were assessing the technical and economic strength of the countries to see which one was more reasonable, the British minister Parks got the news that Parks, who was bent on making the British businessmen earn the money, had been blowing the news to the new government after the railroad company's plans were frustrated. At that time, Shigenobu Okuma was suffering from the opposition of Okubo Ritsu and Sokushima Tanetomi, Saigo Takamori and others. Parks' move was a great gift to your door. Shigenobu Okuma haggled with Parks and came to an agreement. In the end, within the radical faction, it was proposed that Britain should be involved in the construction. Shigenobu Okuma was of the opinion that Britain was the birthplace of railways and had a strong economy, so it should be selected as a technical and financial donor. Let Britain and Japan build a joint venture to build a railway. In the end, the Radical Changers adopted Okuma's opinion. Shigenobu Okuma and Hirobumi Ito began negotiations with Nelson, a British businessman introduced by Parkes, and finally agreed to borrow money from Nelson to build the railroad. At the same time, ask Nelson to help find vehicles and railroad tracks. After returning to Japan, Nelson published advertisements in newspapers to raise funds for the construction of railways in Japan. After the news was transmitted back to Japan, the whole country was in an uproar, and everyone scolded Shigenobu Okuma and Hirobumi Ito as "traitors". The letters of impeachment and the letter of impeachment written by the Ministry of War and the House of Assemblies were piled up like a mountain. However, Shigenobu Okuma and others did not care about "public opinion" at all, and went their own way. Soon after, Maejima, Shigenobu Okuma's subordinate, secretly completed a railway construction plan and budget. Shigenobu Okuma copied the second book into the cabinet, and with his eloquence in the cabinet meeting, the cabinet passed the "Maejima Plan". Later, Shigenobu Okuma conspired with Parks to force Okubo to agree not to interfere in the construction of the railway, and successfully swept away the stumbling blocks in the construction of the railway. On the other hand, Shigenobu Okuma is wary of Parkes. In order to avoid such a thing as a technology swap market. At the same time, it is also to promote the progress of Japan's railway technology as soon as possible. Shigenobu Okuma and Hirobumi Ito chose Katsu Inoue, a feudal priest of Choshu (Inoue specialized in railroad and mining technology when he studied in England), to be the general representative of the Japanese side. In the third year of the Meiji era, the British railway mechanic Moren was hired. At the same time, Inoue Katsu was appointed as the head of the mine and the head of the railway. The construction of railways in Japan began in earnest.

It's the same with Qianguo. The process of railway construction in Japan was by no means smooth sailing, on the contrary, it was controlled everywhere, and the Japanese, like the Qianguo people, did not have a deep understanding of railways at that time, and there were many resistances. Although there are a few big businessmen who are willing to pay for it, on the whole, private capital is still not willing to pay for the construction of railways, and the budget is always insufficient. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry finally had no choice but to incorporate the railway into its own territory in advance and open a government-run railway. However, the government's financial difficulties have led to further cuts in the construction budget. It was originally planned to import sleepers from the UK. As a result, domestic wood was used for sleepers. At that time, the railway was scheduled to pass through the Tama River, so a bridge was built over it. It was originally planned to import British stone to build a stone bridge. As a result, due to lack of budget, it was abandoned and replaced with a wooden bridge. The original plan was to cross several rivers and build bridges. As a result, all were abandoned, and the route was modified to avoid the river as much as possible. What followed was even more trouble. Because of rumors that the railway was a bad thing, when the railway was built in these densely populated areas of the Tokyo area, local residents organized demonstrations and prevented the railway from passing. The Ministry of Works, which had no choice but to persuade the Ministry of Industry to no avail, had no choice but to build a dam on the sea and a railway on the embankment. Japan's first railway was 29 kilometers long. There are nearly 10 kilometers of the line that are such sea levee routes. And due to the lack of budget, Okuma Shigenobu had to decide to use narrow gauge. As a result, Japanese railways quickly reached their natural limits and their capacity was insufficient.

Troubles from the people are constant. And opposition within the Japanese government has not disappeared. However, the Ministry of Industry continued to build the line, and on June 12, Meiji 5, the Shinagawa-Yokohama line was successfully put into trial operation, and on September 12, the Shimbashi-Yokohama line was announced. It was Japan's first practical railway, and its completion was a major symbol of Japan's industrialization and modernization. On the day of the opening, Emperor Meiji departed from Shimbashi Station on the first train appointed by Emperor Meiji and arrived at Yokohama Station safely at a speed of 32.8 kilometers per hour. After the news broke, the whole country was sensational. The perception of railways was greatly reversed, and all kinds of resistance quickly disappeared. On October 15, the railway officially opened. The business was open for several days in a row, and many Chinese and businessmen came to experience what it was like to ride the train. At that time, Japan's modern industry was just beginning to emerge, and railway transportation was mainly passenger transportation. According to the data, at that time, the passenger car was divided into upper, middle and lower classes, with the upper class ticket being 1 yuan 12 yuan and 5 cents, the middle ticket being 75 yuan, and the inferior ticket being 37 yuan and 5 cents. Considering that the price of an inferior ticket at that time was enough to buy 5 and a half liters (about 10 kilograms) of rice. So at that time, taking the train was still out of the reach of ordinary people.

As a backward feudal country that was previously closed off from the rest of the country, it only took a few years to build a practical railway and open it for guests. This fact caused a sensation all over the world, and Emperor Meiji was very pleased with the construction of the railway. From this time on, there was a wave of railroad construction in Japan.

"To build the railway, Okuma Jun is the first hero." Kiyotaka Kuroda nodded.

Although Kuroda Kiyotaka does not agree with everything that Okuma Shigenobu did, when it comes to the railway, Kuroda Kiyotaka believes that Okuma Shigenobu is indeed the first achievement, and no one can compare with it.

"Kuroda-kun, have you heard of it, the war is critical now, and someone has proposed to the government to borrow troops from foreign countries to quell the rebellion." "And pointed out that it would be best to borrow troops from Lucia. ”

Hearing this, Kuroda Kiyotaka's complexion changed suddenly.

As a "radical changer" like Shigenobu Okuma, Kiyotaka Kuroda was keen on the development and construction of Hokkaido, and his main purpose was to prevent the southward expansion of the Russian Empire!

Kuroda Kiyotaka had always been deeply concerned about the growing influence of Russia on Sakhalin (Sakhalin was a mixed state at the time), and he vigorously reorganized northern Xinjiang after he was appointed vice minister of Hokkaido in May of Meiji 3. In July, Kuroda Kiyotaka traveled to Sakhalin to negotiate with Russian officials, and returned to Edo after inspecting Hokkaido. From January to May of Meiji 4, he traveled extensively to the United States and Europe. During his travels, the American Capran served as an advisor to Kiyotaka Kuroda, paving the way for more foreign advisers to travel to Japan to assist in the Restoration. After returning to Japan, after the resignation of the head of the development mission, Tohishimi Tsuki, on October 15, Kiyotaka Kuroda began to lead the work of the development mission. On June 23, Meiji 7, Kuroda was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed prime minister of the Hokkaido Tunda Military Police. On August 2 of the same year, he became the Senate and the Pioneer Minister. Kiyotaka Kuroda used his former shogun, who had served in Hakodate under the leadership of Takehiro Natsumoto, to participate in the development of Hokkaido, relying on Capland for policy guidance and technology transfer, and began to increase investment in Hokkaido in accordance with Caprun's suggestion, so as to strengthen the construction of Hokkaido and stop the increasing southward expansion of Russian power. However, due to the severe excesses in the short period of time, Kuroda Kiyotaka was forced to think hard about reducing the scale of development, and infrastructure projects such as roads and surveying were quickly completed, and only some of the industrial activities with effective profits were selected for investment.

Although Kuroda Kiyotaka admired Saigo Takamori, he did not agree with Saigo Takamori's idea of "conquering Korea" for foreign expansion, and he believed that he could not casually provoke neighboring countries and Russia. In the sixth year of the Meiji era, there was a controversy within the Meiji government over whether or not to support the Korean conquest theory. At that time, Kuroda Kiyotaka opposed the idea of Saigo Takamori and others to conquer Korea from the standpoint of attaching importance to internal affairs. In the seventh year of the Meiji era, after Japan sent troops to Taiwan, it advocated not starting an all-out war with the Qianguo and entering into diplomatic negotiations as soon as possible to prevent the Qianguo and the Russian Empire from sending troops to Japan in a resolute manner.

Kuroda Kiyotaka has always believed that Russia is Japan's great enemy, and in view of the fact that the two countries have already determined that Sakhalin Island is jointly administered by the two countries in the "Treaty of Friendship and Friendship between Japan and Russia" signed in the second year of Ansei, and that sovereignty conflicts often arise, Kuroda Kiyotaka advocated abandoning the distant Sakhalin Island to avoid further conflicts with Russia, and urged the early development of Hokkaido as a base for defending against Russia. In the 8th year of the Meiji era, the Japanese government and Russia discussed the issue of the border between the two countries on Sakhalin, and since Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were both under the jurisdiction of the Hokkaido Reclamation Envoy, it was Kuroda Kiyotaka to accept and cede the territory therein, and the Japanese government sent Kuroda Kiyotaka as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg to negotiate and conclude a treaty with the Russians on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

As a result of his many years of dealing with the Russians, Kuroda Kiyotaka has an extremely profound understanding of the Russians, and it can be said that Matsumoto Juro was shocked and angry when he said that someone had proposed to borrow troops from Russia in order to quell the rebellion.

"Who's the idea? The thief of this troubled country too! Kill it and thank the world! Kuroda shouted.

"Kuroda-kun better not say such impulsive things." Matsumoto Juro looked around, and at this time, there were only two of them in this carriage, but Matsumoto Juro's movements still showed concern about "the wall has ears".

"Could it be that it was the idea of Lord Okubo or Lord Ito?" Kiyotaka Kuroda was stunned.

"It's not." Matsumoto Juro shook his head, "It is said that Li Xiande, a native of the United States who was the first senior adviser to the Ministry of War, proposed to His Excellency Okubo to borrow troops from foreign countries, but His Excellency Okubo did not agree, so he made a stop, and now that the war is becoming more and more unfavorable, Li Xiande renegotiated again, and proposed to borrow Lucia to help in the Far East Sea Army, so that the rebellion can be quickly quelled." His Excellency Okubo did not explicitly agree or oppose this time, but His Excellency Okubo asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact the ministers of other countries to recruit military advisers, which seems to be loose. (To be continued......)

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