After saying this, Kido Takayo collapsed on the bed as if he had collapsed, gasping for air.

"I understand what Mr. means, please rest assured, I will do what Mr. says." Emperor Meiji looked at Kido Takayo on the hospital bed and said in a hoarse voice.

"Please ...... Your Majesty...... Xinzhong...... The minister next to him......" Kido Takayoshi's gaze swept over Okubo Ritsu, Ito Hirobumi and Okuma Shigenobu one by one, and said to Emperor Meiji with a faint breath.

Seeing that Kido Takayoshi was still pushing himself and the other three when he was dying, Okubo Ritsu, Ito Hirobumi and Okuma were all moved.

Emperor Meiji nodded, tears finally welling up in his eyes.

"Your Majesty...... Minister's view of the anti-rebellion in the southwest...... Saigo Yoshinosuke...... It seems that he was coerced by his subordinate samurai, and he had to suffer...... If you really want to be an enemy of Your Majesty......" Kido Takayo stretched out his hand, pointed to the southwest direction, and said word by word, "If you have the opportunity, Your Majesty can know that you will be righteous...... Be reasonable...... Saigo Yoshinosuke...... may be able to ...... Stop the war...... I don't know ......."

Hearing Kido Takayoshi say such words, Emperor Meiji couldn't help but be stunned, and at this moment, Kido Takayo's hand stopped there, and then fell heavily.

Ito Hirobumi's heart sank, and at this time, he was so sad in his heart that he threw himself on the side of Kido Takayoshi's bed and held his hand, despite the presence of the emperor and his colleagues.

"Songju! Songju! Ito Hirobumi called out in grief, but at this time, Kido Takayoshi was no longer breathing. Lie there. A pair of eyes are still unblind. Look straight out the window.

Seeing her husband die, Mrs. Matsuko couldn't cry, and Okubo Ritsu and Okuma Shigenobu were also grief-stricken, and they each cried bitterly.

Outside the window, a red sun is rising.

When the war in the southwest of Japan was raging, Kido Takayo, one of the "Three Heroes of the Restoration", died of encephalopathy at the age of 47.

The death of Kido Takayoshi caused a huge shock in the minds of many Japanese people. Kido Takayoshi is a "politician of ideas", which is different from the other two heroes of the "Three Masters of the Restoration": "The most admirable thing about Kido Gong is not his administrative skills, but his political insight. A clear insight into how the nation can progress, and this is not a lofty ideal, something that sits on the clouds, but something that can be put into practice. As far as the three heroes of the Restoration are concerned, Mr. Nanzhou can be said to be a great man, Mr. Koto is a powerful politician, and Mr. Shoju is actually the first exemplary figure in Japan among constitutional politicians. ”

"Kido is not a mere theorist. Nor is it a narrow-minded polemicist who is dry and tasteless, and only cares about what he thinks and forcibly puts into practice. If you really want to say it, it's better to be a well-versed and humane character. His mind leans towards the sane type. The thinking is clear, organized, and consistent, but it also has the ideal and romantic side of a poet. Therefore, although he is an indispensable and important figure for the country, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is not suitable as a person responsible for implementing policies. This is due to his constant insistence on his arguments and his inability to compromise with others, his lack of health, which makes it extremely difficult for him to carry out his demanding duties, and his unusually emotional side even manifests itself in a woman-like hysteria. ”

Regarding the character and characteristics of Kido Takayoshi, Matsudaira Harugaku, a daimyo in the late Edo period, the lord of the Echizen Fukui domain, one of the four virtuous marquis, and a politician in the Meiji period, commented: "Kido is the mother of the Restoration, virtuous and promising, and takes the safety of the world as his own responsibility, assisting the emperor and commanding the cabinet Senate, although his merits seem to be not as prominent as Okubo, but in fact he surpasses Okubo by a lot. The so-called pillars of the world. And compared the three heroes of the Restoration: "The merit of the Restoration is made by the cooperation of everyone's wisdom, benevolence and courage, wisdom and courage to push Okubo, Zhiren to push Kido, and courage to push Xixiang." ”

Shigenobu Okuma, who was once promoted by Kido Takayoshi, said of Kido Takayoshi: "The new policy must be done with practical deeds as the greatest goal, and Kido is the only politician who has excellent insight and can carry out his ideas." Kido is an essential idealist, and when he wants to achieve his ideals to the extreme, he will come into conflict with his surroundings. This is not only insisting on his own ideals, but also the countless predecessors who lost their lives for King Qin, those companions who knew and did not know who could not see the dawn and went to Huangquan, he took the ideals of the deceased as his own responsibility as a matter of course. Serious, enthusiastic, and fair in judging things, the trust of such a character is naturally different. Even if he is decisive and resolute like Okubo, such a character who is constantly in fierce conflict with Kido, he can always recommend Kido, as if he is truly respected from the bottom of his heart. If you talk about shortcomings, it's nothing more than emotional. Joy and anger are in the form of color, especially about right and wrong, good and evil, will be extremely chattering. ”

For the death of Kido Takayo, the friend of life and death, Ito Hirobumi was grieved, and wrote a poem to mourn Kido Takayoun: "The sense of nostalgia for the past is endless, in the thirty-five years of dreams, the color is majestic and the present is still remembered, and the reputation and public opinion are the same in ancient times?" Xiao Caofang, Du Zhong, He Bi, Du Xiang Nan, Righteous Shitong, Twilight Shadow Poems New Record Tree, the mountain is full of bloodstains. ”

The death of Kido Takayoshi means that the division of the Japanese samurai group consciousness has intensified, so that these heroes of the era who once fought side by side in blood will continue the battle of life and death in this season of jade scales and under the southwest sky of Japan, where they once grew up together.

When Okubo returned to his apartment with a sad heart, he was shocked to find that his important helper, former retired Brigadier General of the United States Army, was already waiting there.

"My friend! Keeping you waiting! You must have brought me good news, huh? ”

The 48-year-old Li Xiande is slender and long, probably because he is always on the go, his face looks very thin, he has two mustaches, and his hair is thinning a lot.

Seeing that Li Xian got it, Okubo Ritsu was very happy, diluting the grief caused by Kido Takayo's death.

Hearing Okubo Ritsu's words, Li Xiande's face unconsciously showed a hint of pride.

As Okubo Ritsu thought, what he came back this time and reported to Okubo Ritsu was indeed good news.

Originally from France, he graduated from the University of Paris and moved to the United States with his wife, where he became a U.S. citizen. After the outbreak of the American Civil War, he saw the 51st Infantry Regiment in New York, was seriously wounded in battle, was promoted to lieutenant colonel after recovering from injury, commanded a regiment in the 9th Army, participated in the Battle of Vicksburg under Grant, and was later wounded again in the Battle of Mangyuan, experienced the last raid of the Confederate Army while recuperating in the hospital, and was a brigadier general when he retired after the war.

After retiring from the army, Li Xian was appointed as the US consul in Xiamen. Later, the US merchant ship "Wanderer" ran aground and sank on Hongtou Island off the eastern coast of Moss Bay, and its survivors were killed by the aborigines of the Langqiao area, triggering negotiations between the United States and the Qianguo government, as well as the incident of the "Wanderer" in which the US military went to attack the aboriginal tribes on its own. Due to the reluctance of the officials in Moswan, Li Xiande's negotiations with the officials of Qianguo were fruitless, so he entered Langqiao on his own to negotiate with the aborigines, and agreed that the aborigines would no longer harm the Western shipwrecks who were drifting here. Because of this experience and being able to speak the local language of Mosswan, Li Xiande was regarded as the master of Moswan.

Later, Li Xiande resigned from his post as consul in Xiamen, and on his way back to the United States, he transited Yokohama, Japan, and met with Japanese Foreign Secretary Vice-Chancellor Taneji Shima on his way back to the United States. Li Xian's experience in handling the "Wanderer" incident pointed out that the politics and religion of the Qianguo were inferior to the "Fandi," and Japan could use the "theory that the land has no owner" as the basis for sending troops to Tsimwan. Li Xiande provided the Japanese side with maps and photographs of Moss Bay, and said that it would take only 2,000 troops to easily occupy Moss Bay. Soejima Tanetomi was very excited when he heard this, because Japan was trying to expand overseas, and because of the huge social problems caused by the unemployment of a large number of former samurai after the Meiji Restoration, he actively sought to divert internal affairs through foreign wars. The Japanese military's foreign expansion faction led by Yamaguchi Aritomo originally planned to send troops to Moss Bay under the pretext of protecting the people and questioning the people, so it was natural that this helper sent to the door was like a treasure. The Japanese then promised to make him the governor of Moss Bay if they could occupy it.

Li Xiande was naturally overjoyed by the courtesy of the Japanese government, and after he was hired by the Japanese government to serve as a "quasi-second-class officer," he submitted dozens of memoranda and opinions to the Japanese government, instigating the Japanese government to accept the proposition that Moswan was a terra nullius, and actively planned a detailed war and colonization plan for Japan to send troops to Moswan.

In addition to helping the Japanese formulate plans, Lee also helped hire ships and foreign fighters, and returned to the United States many times to purchase large quantities of arms and supplies for the Japanese side. It can be said that from the planning to the implementation of Japan's "moss" adventure, Li Xiande actively participated in it and played a great role.

The main purpose of Li Xiande's enthusiasm for Japan's attack on Moss Bay was that after the Japanese occupied Moss Bay, the Americans could monopolize huge trade interests and even have actual colonial rights. While returning to the United States to help Japan procure arms, Li Xiande actively lobbied the US government to support and participate in the Japanese expedition to Moss Bay. Li Xiande was full of confidence in this, believing that the US government would definitely support his actions. However, what he never expected was that the US government clearly stated that it would not encourage Japan to conquer Moss Bay, and although Li Xiande and several other retired American diplomats strongly instigated the importance of sending troops to the U.S. government, the U.S. government was unmoved. In the end, in desperation, Li Xiande could only return to Japan in disgrace. (To be continued......)

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