While Ito Hirobumi is obsessed with the world of women in order to anesthetize himself and temporarily forget the pain of reality, Yanagihara Maemitsu is also experiencing a similar ordeal.

"Lin Jun, if you can make such a concession in this peace talks, everyone in Japan will be favored by you! Thank you so much! Yanagihara Qianguang said, bowing deeply to Lin Yiqing.

"Yanagihara-kun doesn't need to thank me, this reduction of military expenses is due to the kindness of the Empress Dowager, the emperor thinks of the hardship of the Japanese people, so he only asks for two million pounds. I'm just honoring the will of the Queen Mother. Lin Yiqing smiled, took the teapot, and filled the tea bowl in front of Yanagihara Qianguang.

When Yanagihara Qianguang heard this, he looked in the direction of the Forbidden City and bowed deeply to show his respect.

"Actually, Yanagihara-kun, you should also thank some people." Lin Yiqing smiled and looked at Yanagihara Qianguang's movements, "Without them, the reduction would not have been possible." ”

"Oh? Who is Lin Jun talking about? Yanagihara asked curiously.

"It's the gossip officer, Yanagihara-kun." Lin Yiqing said with a smile, "I sometimes even wonder if they all let you buy them privately, otherwise, how can you talk to Japan like this?" ”

Hearing Lin Yiqing's answer, Yanagihara Qianguang's heart chuckled.

Qianguo's speech official, he is indeed a lot of bribes......

Could it be that Lin Yiqing discovered something?

Thinking of the pervasive ninjas under Lin Yiqing, Yanagihara Maemitsu actually fought a cold war.

"Lin Jun is really joking."

"Actually, it doesn't matter if you buy it, it's a reasonable thing." Lin Yiqing said with a smile, "However, those who didn't take your money, but also desperately helped you wave the flag and shout, I really don't understand." ”

Yanagihara Qianguang understood what Lin Yiqing meant, and his hanging heart relaxed. He settled down and said, "This kind of thing has existed since ancient times, and it is endless. Lin Jun doesn't have to worry about it. ”

Yanagihara Maemitsu said that "there is something that has existed in ancient times, and it is endlessly in history" is a special phenomenon in the thousand-year-old diplomatic history of the Central Plains Dynasty, whether it is ancient or modern, at least the following common characteristics: On the issue of mentality, it has always been in a superior position psychologically, and has the mentality of "a great power in the state" to rule the world; On the issue of fame and reality, he attaches importance to false fame, likes to be high-profile, detached from reality, and is not grounded; On the issue of peace and war, blindly fighting the main war, whoever advocates peace is a traitor; On the issue of foreign exchanges, he blindly advocates toughness, and when there is negotiation, he ignores his own strength and the demands of the other party, asks for a sky-high price, and the lion opens his mouth widely, and regards any compromise as weakness; In terms of interpersonal relationships, he thinks he is superior to others, flaunts patriotism, and draws a line based on his personal likes and dislikes, and whoever does not stand with him is a traitor; In terms of ideological methods, it transcends reality, is extremely extreme, self-correct, and has a strong "leftist" color.

Since the beginning of the dynasty, a new national mentality has emerged, the Qingliu mentality, which has profoundly influenced the direction of the diplomacy of the Central Plains Dynasty. The representative of the Qingliu mentality in the imperial court and society is regarded as the Qingliu school. Before the outbreak of the Anti-Smoking War, Zeng Bohan said in response to a question from his mentor, Mu Zhang, Minister of Military Aircraft: "Since the Nanzi Dynasty, the gentleman has been fond of slandering the peace situation, and the wind of patriotism and fame has risen in the main battle, and the way to control Yidi has been in the world for 500 years. Later, Zeng Bohan said in a letter to Li Shaoquan: "Since the beginning of the year, the gentleman has been bitterly denigrating the peace situation and talking lightly about the war, and the Qing Dynasty has not changed this state of affairs so far. ”

Why did the Zanda Dynasty have a clear stream mentality, and why did the phenomenon of "clear stream" persist in the diplomatic history of the Middle-earth Empire for thousands of years?

First of all, it is the result of reflection and backlash against the policy of emphasizing literature over military force, dominating and war-weariness. As a world economic power, the Dynasty is not equal to a security power, after the "Jingkang Difficulty", the national mentality changed, as a reflection and rebound on the imperial court's policy of emphasizing literature over military force, lord and war-weariness, men were asked to rather fight than discord, rather than jade broken, not for the tile, and the Qingliu mentality was born. After the unjust case of Fengbo Ting, some people equated the peace of the Lord with the surrender of the traitor, which further aggravated the mentality of Qingliu.

The second is the product of the historical trend of the Central Plains Dynasty from prosperity to decline. After the Western powers bombarded the closed gate of the Central Plains Dynasty with artillery fire, the unequal treaties made many Xia scholars and doctors feel distressed. The "Qingliu" people lack patriotism, the will to serve the country and the courage to protect the country, but they lack the wisdom to seek the country. The psychological basis of the "clear stream" mentality is the resentment of the country against foreign aggression, the desire for shame, and the enthusiasm for realizing the prosperity of the country and the strengthening of the army at an early date, but this resentment, desire, and enthusiasm are based on passion and morality, rather than relying on reason and strength.

The third is the deep-rooted influence of the traditional concept of "defense" in Yixia. The theory of "defense" of Yixia is a theory of the ancient Central Plains Dynasty that advocated strict ethnic boundaries, respected the Xia people in the Central Plains, and despised other ethnic groups. Specifically, it is manifested in maintaining vigilance and vigilance against people of different races, as well as prohibiting intermarriage with foreigners; It is forbidden for our advanced culture to be imported into foreign nationalities, and we should also be vigilant against the influence and interference of foreign bad customs on our country. In Middle-earth, the concept of strict Yixia defense appeared very early, and it emphasized the cultural antagonism between Yixia and Xia, and emphasized the absolute dominant position of Central Plains culture. Yixia's theory has a tendency towards ethnic chauvinism and ethnic discrimination. At the same time, those with a clear stream mentality have a strong sense of cultural self-esteem, tend to be politically conservative, reject Western culture in their bones, and are accustomed to condescending views of Sino-foreign relations.

Fourth, there is a lack of compromise culture in the traditional culture of the Central Plains. There can be no diplomacy without compromise. For a long time, people treated "compromise" as a pejorative term, and even compared "compromise" with "surrender". The lack of a culture of compromise has led to a lack of a culture of negotiation in Middle-earth, which has led to the inevitable phenomenon of extremism in diplomacy. Diplomacy is supposed to coordinate the relationship of various interests and balance the contradictions of various interests, and this will inevitably lead to compromise. Compromise is too much embodied in diplomacy, and it is a diplomatic art that guarantees long-term interests by exchanging temporary or partial concessions for a win-win situation. Lin Yizhe once said: "To conduct diplomacy, you must be able to fight, but also be able to concede." When there is a fight, there will be a fight, and when there is a concession, there will be a concession. To fight and not to give in is to give orders and force the other party to accept my orders. Under the slogan of patriotism (now known as "for the sake of the country"), they often equate the main war with patriotism, equate the main war with betrayal of the country, confuse the necessary compromise with unprincipled concessions, and when they cannot continue to fight and have to negotiate, they hope that diplomats can get what the generals cannot get on the battlefield at the negotiating table, otherwise the negotiators will easily be criticized as "traitors." Taking Wanshu as an example, it was not until the last moment of the death of the country that Emperor Chongzheng realized that "those who plan Liao affairs should not fight but make peace". It's a pity that this can only be realized in hindsight, and it is useless. At that time, there was a lack of environment and atmosphere for the discussion of peace, and the court never created the necessary conditions for the discussion of peace, and the presiding over the peace meeting, including the emperor, never started a discussion on the major policies of the peace discussion, corrected or even refuted some vague understandings and erroneous arguments, so as to unify the thinking of the courtiers, so it was never possible to form the proper atmosphere for the discussion of peace. On the contrary, the traditional notion that the so-called "great power of the DPRK" cannot be offended has always prevailed. The people who presided over the peace conference were all notorious: Yuan Chonghuan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, was finally convicted of "conspiring with the enemy," and Qian Longxi, the minister who supported Yuan Chonghuan, was also convicted of "plotting to conspire with the enemy." Yang Sichang presided over the peace meeting, which caused an uproar and attacked it in groups. And Chen Xinjia was killed immediately after the peace talks with the Bohai Ministry were exposed. This kind of attack and opposition to peace has endured for a long time, and has formed a strong pressure of public opinion. Under such pressure, it is difficult for any correct peace proposition to be carried out. Lin Yizhe also thought that it was difficult to handle the affairs of the country, especially diplomacy, because people refused to compromise and liked too many people to talk clearly. He once said: "In the diplomacy of the dynasty, since the Tianjin teaching case, I have dealt with a lot of people, and the mistake I have made is that everyone asks for money indiscriminately, and is unwilling to suffer a loss, and as a result, I suffer a loss; If you don't want to suffer a small loss, you will suffer a big loss as a result. He also said: "The gathering of the people is confused by the crowd, and there is no distinction between right and wrong, but only blindly exerting pressure on the negotiating ministers, and not allowing the slightest concession, often with disastrous consequences." ”

Fifth, the influence of the historical legacy of the Qing Dynasty and the misunderstanding of the country. The rise of Qing Talks, probably due to the destruction and oppression of political violence by the party leaders and celebrities in the last years of the Donghan Dynasty, changed its specific evaluation of the appointment of court figures, that is, the so-called Qing Discussion, to the discussion of abstract metaphysics. Started from Mrs. Guo and became in Ruan Ji. Someone once said: "Qing talk and misleading the country is one of the reasons for the demise of Xijin." "Xijin perished, and the wind of talking about misleading the country did not die with it. The fall of the Shu Dynasty is inseparable from the trend of misunderstanding the country in the Qing Dynasty. Shortly after the death of Emperor Chongzheng, Amora, the regent of Bohai, sent a letter to Shi Ke of Nanshu, denouncing the late Shu's Qing talk and misleading the country: "In the late near the scholars, the name of the tall tree is good, and regardless of the urgency of the country, every major event is built together." The people of Xizhen have not yet decided, and the soldiers have crossed the river, which can be used as a lesson for Yin. "In today's words: your ministers don't think about the interests of the country at all, they like to sing high-pitched and big words, even if they burn their eyebrows, and they are slow to speak in the vernacular, and making a decision is slower than building a building. At that time, before the meeting of Beizhan to study countermeasures was dismissed, the Jin army crossed the Yellow River, why don't you have a long memory?

At present, the emergence of the phenomenon of "clear streams" is also related to the influence of narrow nationalism and ultra-nationalism. The influence of nationalist sentiment in Middle-earth should not be underestimated for a hundred years, and nationalism has become an extremely influential factor in the world. Narrow-minded nationalists and ultra-nationalists all appear in the guise of patriotism, which is extremely confusing and absolutely unquestionable. In their bones, they believe that the interests of their own nation are naturally above everything else, and this has turned "patriotism" into blind and fanatical emotions at some times and in some places, and sometimes even into a farce and tragedy of "harming the country"!

This time, Lin Yiqing presided over the negotiations with Japan, and originally planned to take advantage of the opportunity of the upper hand of the legal theory of the Qianguo and the superiority of military strength to knock Japan hard and squeeze a large sum of money out, so that Japan could not turn over for ten years, but he did not expect that the domestic Qingliu elite would impeach Lin Yiqing one after another for "extorting too much money from Japan" and "demanding too much money", losing the dignity of a great country, and "making the countries regard China and the DPRK as profit-loving businessmen in the market", and resolutely demanded that the imperial court investigate Lin Yiqing's responsibility.

What's even more ridiculous is that some gossip officials began to pretend to be generous at this time, and even asked the imperial court to give up their claims against Japan!

Inspector Yu Shi Cha Xiaoyin wrote to the imperial court and said: "With the size of Middle-earth, the military expenditure of millions of silver, it is as straightforward as a penny, and I don't mind, or I even waive this money, not asking for Japan, but also enough to show the grace and prestige of China and the DPRK, and to be in virtue but not in the army, which is enough to make Japan ashamed of what it has done and destroy its arrogance." ”

Due to the strong opposition of the Qing rumors, the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces had to make a gesture and instructed Lin Yiqing to reduce the original claim amount of 5 million pounds to 3 million pounds, and later to 2 million pounds.

"Yanagihara-kun, back then, my brother Lin Wenxiang once said to me that if the generation of Qingliu was the worst thing, I didn't feel it at the time, but this time I realized it deeply." Lin Yiqing said to Yanagihara Qianguang, "Of course, not all of them are such guys, there are also people who understand the overall situation and understand current affairs and help me speak, but their voices are too small and have little effect." ”

Hearing Lin Yiqing mention Lin Yizhe, Yanagihara Qianguang's heart suddenly beat rapidly for some reason.

"Brother Ling and I are close friends, Brother Ling died young, I have always been very sad......" Yanagihara Qianguang's voice became choked, "Seeing Lin Jun today, it's like seeing Brother Ling......"

"I understand your intentions, Yanagihara-kun, you are my brother's friend and my friend." Lin Yiqing stretched out his hand and patted Yanagihara Qianguang's shoulder, "Although each is its own master, no matter what happens in the future, we are all friends, aren't we?" ”

"Yes, Lin Jun, you and I will always be friends in the future." Yanagihara Qianguang was moved in his heart, raised his head, looked at Lin Yiqing, and said firmly.

Now he can be sure that Lin Yiqing does not know the truth about Lin Yizhe's death and will not embarrass him.

Looking at Yanagihara Qianguang with a sincere face in front of him, Lin Yiqing let out a burst of laughter in his heart.

Yanagihara-kun, if you know something about your sister Yanagihara-kun, you might be so scared that you can't sleep, right?

Tokyo, Japan.

When the weather turns cold, the wind can be heard in the palace rooms at night.

After the peace treaty was signed, Emperor Meiji never received any more news from Kankoku.

Nothing is certain, but one thing is certain, one way or another, this catastrophe in North Korea is over. Perhaps because of this, Emperor Meiji tonight cast a friendlier glance at everything around him.

At around six o'clock, Emperor Meiji returned to the palace after his walk. The sun was already setting in the west, and it was about to lose its brilliance, and the afterglow of the setting sun passed through his room with its golden-red light, illuminating the stone statues of the Bodhisattvas and the strange bouquets of flowers in ancient vases.

Five or six little rag dolls—girls of the royal family—were dancing and playing to the sound of the musicians...... Tonight, Emperor Meiji thought of this palace, this woman directing the dance, all of which belonged to him, and he felt that there was something really fascinating.

At this moment, his eyes seemed to be opened, and he could see more clearly. All his senses seemed to be suddenly transformed by strange comparisons, and he suddenly became aware of and better understood these endless lovely little things, in which he saw the delicate charm and the deliberate carving of form, the grotesque composition and the careful choice of color.

Emperor Meiji was lying on the white mat, the female emperor Fujiwara Shoko graciously brought him a pillow, and the smiling maids, still retaining the rhythm that had just been interrupted in their minds, ran around Emperor Meiji with rhythmic steps.

Their short socks with split toes were impeccable and made no noise, and as they walked by, they could only hear the rustling of the fabric. He thought they all looked lovely, and their doll looks were pleasing to him at the moment, and he believed he had found something that gave them that look: not only from their dull round faces and eyebrows that were too far removed from their eyes, but especially from their oversized robes. The sleeves were so large that it seemed as if they had neither a back nor shoulders, and their delicate bodies disappeared into the wide garments, their eyes fluttering, as if they had not been stopped by the wide silk belt in half of their bodies, they would have slipped to the ground on their own.

Emperor Meiji's gaze fell on the flower arrangement.

He has always admired these flowers, which were inserted in vases by Fujiwara Shoko according to Japanese art: lotus, holy flowers, pale red petals with veins, porcelain pink, when in full bloom like large water lilies, long pale tulips when budding, they have a soft and somewhat languid aroma, which is rare and expensive in this season, and stands tall on the stem. Shoko left them with large, dark green aquatic leaves like seaweed, mixed with some delicate reeds. Emperor Meiji looked at them and his heart was filled with peace and tranquility.

"Play the piano, play the piano for me, Shoko, I'm going to stay here all night and listen to you play the piano."

Fujiwara Shoko was not surprised to see Emperor Meiji so kind tonight, and she hesitated for a moment before she sat down in the position shown in the picture, lifted her long, dull-colored sleeves, and began to play music.

At first the notes whispered, hesitantly, slightly, and then, gradually, gradually, the music grew stronger, and the little girls listened. The music becomes rapid, with agitated trills, but without losing its softness. And her gaze became no longer blurred.

Emperor Meiji lay and listened, his eyes half-closed, his eyelashes involuntarily drooping heavily, and he developed a sense of forgotten melancholy, a melancholy that had disappeared from his past life, from all the rest of the earth. When night falls, in this corner of Japan, in this royal garden, this feeling is like never before...... (To be continued.) )