"Report to the general, I just got the news that Mr. Takayoshi Kido has died in the hospital." The samurai reported to Saigo Takamori.

Hearing the samurai's report, Saigo Takamori's face darkened and he lowered his head.

"Songju...... You...... That's it......"

Saigo Takamori closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and struck three times, mourning in silence for Kido Takayo.

After the silence, Saigo Takamori raised his head and let out a long breath, with a look of relief on his face.

"Hanpeng shouldn't feel embarrassed when he learns the news, right? ……”

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

In a Japanese-style room in the teahouse, Chiyoko looked at Ito Hirobumi who was drinking sake cup after glass, and her eyes flashed with unbearability, but she knew that the current Ito Hirobumi couldn't be persuaded by anyone.

"Songju! Why did you leave like this......" Ito Hirobumi put down his glass, leaned down on a few cases, and cried bitterly.

"Sir, there is a way to use wine to drown your sorrows, or don't drink anymore......" Chiyoko finally couldn't help but persuade when she saw Ito Hirobumi's painful appearance.

Ito Hirofumi shook his head, "Chiyoko, do you know that I have been close friends in my life, only Toyogo and Songju are the two of them, Toshigo died young, and now Songju has left me, how can I not be grieved?" The road ahead is difficult, who am I going to walk with......"

Hirobumi Ito remembered the past and burst into tears for a while.

Since the American black ship knocked on the door of Japan, the silent island nation set off stormy waves, and the Choshu domain took the lead in breaking the existing conscription system. Began to recruit young people from society to serve the country as soldiers. But the Japanese army was small in number. Like Toyotomi Hideyoshi who led 500 men to attack his opponent. It can be regarded as a large army pressing the realm. The reason for the small number of soldiers in Japan is not because there are few Japanese, but because Japan's conscription system is very restrictive, and the samurai are basically hereditary, and the peasants can be migrant workers if they want to, and if they want to be soldiers and eat imperial food, it is basically a dream.

However, by the end of the shogunate, the more enlightened feudal clans such as Choshu gradually broke with the hereditary practice of samurai and began to recruit soldiers from society, and many peasants enlisted. Hirobumi Ito is one of them.

It was in the early autumn of Ansei's third year. The weather is crisp and full of golden eyes. At the age of 16, Hirobumi Ito said goodbye to his family and childhood playmates and embarked on a new journey. Ito's destination was a place called the Sangshu Domain, where the Choshu army was ordered to manage the garrison of Sangshu. There were thirty or forty troops stationed here, and the captain who was in charge of this army called Hara Ryozo. The person who came to the original Ryozo can also be regarded as the number one person in the Choshu Domain, and he has always advocated opening the country to raze and suppress the country. Later, Ito Hirobumi said: "If it weren't for the fact that Mr. Ryozo Kurahara couldn't think of committing suicide, his merit would not have been under Kido Takayo." ”

Raihara Ryozo and Ito Hirofumi can be regarded as acquaintance at first sight, and after the two met at the wine table, they began to talk about life, ideals, and the way to govern the country and the country, and Raihara Ryosashi had a big red face. patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I'm here." You're sure to become a qualified samurai! ”

That night, the two fell asleep drunk.

Ryozo Kurahara, who is not an irresponsible person when he is drunk, wakes up the next morning and begins to fulfill his vows. For Ito, he also began a process of purgatory.

Raihara Ryozo's training of Hirobumi Ito can be described as "exterminating humanity". Every morning, before the chickens got up, Ryozo Kuriohara would run to Hirobumi Ito's camp to wake him up and say excitedly, "Follow me to learn the art of war!" Then the two began to study "The Art of War" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"; At noon, Ito Hirobumi had to recite the Four Books and Five Classics in front of Mr. Kurihara; In the afternoon, you will have to exercise your body and swordsmanship. No matter the wind or rain, they will persevere.

When the winter snow was drifting, Ryozo Kurihara secretly hid Hirobumi Ito's straw sandals, and Hirobumi Ito couldn't find them anywhere, while Ryozo Kurihara said calmly, "I often fight the enemy barefoot on the battlefield!" Ito ran barefoot in the snow and danced his sword.

In this way, Ito Hirobumi worked hard for a year. A year later, the army was disbanded, and Ito Hirobumi set off for the Choshu Domain.

Just before Ito Hirobumi left, Ryozo Kuriohara handed him a letter telling him that if you go to this person, as long as this person is willing to accept you as a student, you will become a great thing.

This man's name is Yoshida Shoin. Yoshida Shoin is a famous Japanese educator and philosopher. Hirobumi Ito successfully entered Matsushita Murajuku, a school founded by Yoshida Shoin. Here he saw a wider world. He found that the brothers and sisters here not only learned foreign languages and memorized poems every day, but also secretly engaged in a high-risk, low-reward job - assassination.

The Matsushita Murajuku led by Yoshida Shoin were out-and-out "enlightened" and were very dissatisfied with the rule of the shogunate, and in addition to promoting the study of Western techniques, they would occasionally commit crimes against the shogunate (assassination was also a very characteristic phenomenon of the end of the Japanese shogunate).

In order to assassinate, Ito Hirobumi and his brother often had to travel from city to city, so he also learned about the customs and customs of various parts of Japan, saw the miserable life of the people under the dark rule of the shogunate, and strengthened his determination to overthrow the shogunate.

The praying mantis catches the cicada, and the yellow finch is behind, and just when Ito Hirobumi is trying his best to kill the game, his mentor Yoshida Shoin is killed by the shogunate. This plunged Ito into great pain. Ryozo Kurihara, who was far away in Choshu, was afraid that Hirobumi Ito would be even more depressed after he was "unemployed", so he decided to help him achieve "reemployment" again. So, Ryozo wrote a letter to Takayoshi Kido, recommending Hirobumi Ito as his entourage.

Hirofumi Ito and Takayo Kido met at this time.

It turned out that Ryozo Hara was Kido Takayo's brother-in-law, and Kido Takayo was naturally not easy to shirk, plus Ito Hirofumi was indeed personable, well-spoken, and had rich experience in assassination, and soon became Kido Takayo's right-hand man.

At this time, Kido Takayo was only the captain of an army in Changzhou, and of course he was not a fuel-efficient lamp, and he often mingled with members of the assassination team in Changzhou, occasionally doing murder and arson.

Mixing with these "Jianghu people" for a long time has also made Ito Hirobumi's circle of friends bigger and bigger, and one of these Jianghu friends has become his lifelong friend. This person is Shinsaku Takasugi.

Shinsaku Takasugi and Hirobumi Ito can be said to be friends of life and death, and their first friendship was based on an assassination attempt. On that occasion, Takasugi Shinsaku invited more than 10 colleagues (including Hirobumi Ito and Takayoshi Kido) to burn down the British Mansion.

It was a dark and windy night and overcast night, and these dozen or so people made a bloody alliance and rushed to the British Legation in Shinagawa with the fire, and with a code, the fire was ignited and thrown, and the fire spread rapidly. The British Legation was caught off guard, and the British did not understand the Japanese methods of shooting black guns, so they hurriedly ran out of the Legation. A few men waited for the fire to completely burn down the building and then rushed in to loot (what a creative idea) and harvested the following loot: a gun, a clog, a stack of love letters to a prostitute......

It can be said that Ito Hirobumi exercised his will, wisdom and courage in actual battles.

As a prominent figure in Japan's Edo period, Ito Hirobumi was very conceited, and it was not until he met Takasugi Shinsaku that he realized that this person was more handsome, more graceful than him, and wiser than him. And the two also have similar childhood experiences, Takasugi Shinsaku was also very weak when he was a child, and he was always bullied; And Ito Hirobumi is often insulted. The two remembered their tragic childhood, holding hands, tears raining down, and they felt that they hated each other.

After these young people burned down the British Mansion together, the relationship between Takasugi Shinsaku and Ito Hirobumi was in full swing and they became close friends. In later days, whether it was ideals or love, they shared them together; Whether they win or lose, they are hand in hand; Until Takasugi Shinsaku died young.

As soon as Ito Hirobumi became famous, the leaders of the Choshu domain took a fancy to his ideas and abilities (assassination) and decided to give him a once-in-a-century opportunity to study abroad. At that time, Ito was only 23 years old.

Unlike Takasugi Shinsaku, Kido Takayoshi treats Ito Hirobumi like a brother who loves his younger brother.

In a trance, Hirobumi Ito seemed to see Kido Takayoshi come to him......

"If it weren't for Songju, I wouldn't be where I am today." Hirobumi Ito looked at Kido Takayoshi and sighed, "I didn't expect time to pass so quickly, people are not old, but their hearts are old......"

"Shunsuke, these days, have you been thinking about how to solve the crisis that Japan is currently facing?" Kido Takayo suddenly asked as if he knew what Hirobumi Ito was really thinking.

"I've been thinking about it all these days, but I've never been able to get the point." Ito Hirofumi nodded and said, "Does Songju have a way?" ”

"There is a ...... way," Kido Takayoshi's face suddenly became gloomy, "It's just ...... The time has been missed......"

"Songju might as well speak it out and listen to it." Ito Hirofumi didn't understand what Kido Takayoshi meant, and a look of doubt flashed in his eyes and asked.

"It's an afterthought." Kido Takayo smiled bitterly, sat down in front of Ito Hirobumi, and replied, "If before the war, we could get rid of the rebels, but now Japan may face a different situation." ”

Hearing Kido Takayo's answer, Hirobumi Ito's face changed color.

"Songju, in this case, it doesn't look like what you said! It's like Jiadong ......"

"Not only will Jiadong say this, but he has already sent someone to do it, but unfortunately not only did it fail, but it alerted the opponent." Kido Takayo sighed, "Where would Jiadong have thought that Nanzhou Weng might not act like him, but the group of people under Nanzhou Weng have learned his actions and will definitely use the same method to deal with us!" (To be continued......)

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