It's mid-May, and although the cherry blossom season is past the time of year for Tokyo, Japan, it's the best time of year for people to go out and explore from a purely climatic point of view.

At this time, the city of Tokyo was not a fast-paced modern metropolis full of modern meaning, but a city full of classical meaning with wooden houses as the main thing.

The original name of Tokyo Castle was Edo Castle, which was originally built by the wealthy Edo clan, originated with the Hojo family, flourished in the Tokugawa family, and finally in 1868, that is, in the first year of the Meiji era, it was renamed Tokyo by the Meiji Emperor, and since then it has become the new capital of Japan and a symbol of the new Japan.

In other words, the name of Tokyo Castle in Japan is actually inseparable from Emperor Meiji, and Emperor Meiji's original name was Yunomiya Muhito, and his name is a symbol of Japan's prosperity and rise, so the prestige of Emperor Meiji is quite high, and it can be said that it is a real man of his word in Japan, and completely changed the history of the emperor as a puppet in Japan for a long time.

In addition to Tokyo Castle, there is another thing that has to be mentioned that is closely related to the Meiji Emperor, and that is the Meiji Restoration.

The Meiji Restoration is recognized as a great miracle in the history of the world, a small, poor, and resource-poor feudal state, which was reborn in only half a century in social, economic, and military aspects, and established the first capitalist state in Asia. All of this is closely related to the era name "Meiji".

It was only after the Meiji Restoration that Japanese capitalism developed rapidly, completed the transformation of imperialism, and embarked on the road of militaristic expansion.

Although Emperor Meiji is indeed the great savior of the Japanese nation. He was the central figure in the rise of modern Japan, but in reality, the Meiji Restoration mainly relied not on the Meiji Emperor himself, but on the votes of the Restoration people around the Meiji Emperor, such as Sakamoto Ryoma and others.

It is precisely because of those people who have broad vision, lofty ambitions and the courage to reform and forge ahead. As for the Meiji Emperor, it was just a link connecting these people, or a spiritual symbol enshrined on the altar, and it was those who really implemented the Meiji Restoration and made Japan rise.

The so-called Restorationists are actually a general term, although it sounds revolutionary. However, in essence, it was still dominated by Japan's ancient local feudal lords and lower-ranking samurai, and these forces with strong feudal military armaments, that is, the so-called feudal lord forces, therefore, the Meiji Restoration was actually an incomplete bourgeois revolution, and in fact a major reshuffle of the Japanese upper ruling class.

In other words, in Japan at this time, the emperor was only the supreme on the surface. It is the product of compromise between all parties, although the status is noble. It also created Japan's first centralized constitutional monarchy, but at this time the Meiji Emperor did not have much real power in his hands, although it cannot be said to be a puppet, but it is definitely not the kind of authority like the ancient Chinese emperors, who have the authority to speak their minds, and can only play power and balance. In the midst of all forces, the power is not as great as the common people think, so it is better to say that the emperor is a sophisticated power strategist than a reformer.

Why Emperor Meiji advocated talking less and listening more. Make more ambiguous decisions? It's not that he doesn't want to say anything, but that ambiguity has more room to retreat, so that he can better protect the interests of the emperor and avoid too many conflicts with the ruling government, so that he can be comfortable above, and all this was only completely broken in the Hirohito period.

In fact, almost all of Japan's national affairs at this time were in the hands of the aristocratic fathers, that is, the so-called patriarchs, and these people were the core subjects of the Restoration, that is, the so-called local feudal lords of the Shogunate faction.

In other words, in Japan at this time, although the aristocratic fathers of the Shogunate faction gradually withered and began to go to dusk, they still controlled the country's major policies, so it was still the era of feudal lords in power, so the era of the Meiji Restoration was actually the era of feudal lords' rule, and historically, only after the aging of time, especially after the democratic era of Emperor Taisho, to the Hirohito period, when militarism developed to its peak and new forces rose strongly, feudal politics gradually declined.

At this time, the Japanese cabinet was still with Katsura Taro as the prime minister's cabinet, Katsura Taro was born in the Choshu Domain, and was the head disciple of Japan's army elder Yama Prefecture Aritomo, and his ideas were consistent with those of Yama Prefecture Aritomo, who had long since retired, that is, he opposed democratic politics and advocated the rule of feudal lords, so it was also called the Yama Prefecture faction.

At this time, Katsura Taro was sitting at home, dressed in casual kimono and plain clothes, entertaining a distinguished guest, and this distinguished guest was not an ordinary person, he was known as the last guardian of Japanese democracy and the founder of the Taisho era.

Saionji Gongwang was not born in the samurai class of feudal lords, but from the "Jiuqinghua" family, which was second only to the "Five Regents" family, so he was also born in a wealthy family and belonged to the official class, but in fact, he was a disciple and follower of Ito Hirobumi, and he took the bourgeois road ideologically and advocated democratic politics, so he belonged to the opposite class of the Yama faction that advocated feudal politics. For political and power reasons, Emperor Meiji made these two factions take turns in power, so this period of Japan was the period when Katsura Taro and Saionji Konozomi took turns as prime ministers, also known as the Katsura period. Therefore, Saionji Gongwang and Katsura Taro, who are sitting here at this time, are the representatives of power in Japan at this time, and the decisions of the two of them basically determine the major policies of Japan.

Although Saionji Gongwang and Katsura Taro disagree politically, in private, the two of them have a good relationship, often visiting each other's doors, and doing some private debates on some major policies in private.

However, at this time, the visit of the public hope of Saionji Temple was definitely not as simple as the usual visit, he actually had another purpose, and this purpose was definitely not good news for Katsura Taro.

"So, you've all decided?" Katsura Taro looked at Saionji Gongwang with an indifferent expression, "You can't wait for me to step down?" ”

"It's not that I can't wait." Xiyuan Temple Gongwang also shook his head indifferently. Then he pointed his finger upward, "It's really what you did after you came to power, which disappointed the upper authorities and the elders, so they have lost patience, in order to give everyone an explanation." Your Majesty had to do that. ”

"Disappointment? Hehe, it looks like I'm all to blame for that. Katsura Taro sneered, "Is it also wrong for me to suppress those disrespectful rebels?" If they are allowed to continue to develop like this, not to mention our great Japanese national system, I am afraid that you and I, as well as our family, will die sooner or later without a place to be buried! Isn't the matter between France and Russia enough to wake us up? ”

The incident in Katsura Taro's mouth is actually talking about the Great Reverse Incident. Also known as the Kotoku Incident, it was a well-known event in Japan during this period, and it was this event that led to the fall of Katsura Taro's cabinet.

Specifically, in late May 1910, a worker at the Akina sawmill in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, was found to have brought a bomb to the factory.

Workers brought bombs into the factory, and although the conditions were bad, this can only be said to be an isolated case. Before the matter is clarified, it is not advisable to make a conclusion too early. However, the government insisted that he was a socialist and that his actions were aimed at sabotage, and used this as a pretext to suppress the socialist movement throughout Japan.

That is, in June 1910, this event was taken as an opportunity. The authorities began a mass arrest of socialists across the country, closed all trade unions, and banned all progressive literature.

After that, the matter gradually began to get out of control, and there were signs of expansion. From the end of 1910 to January 1911. The government held a secret trial of hundreds of socialists arrested and framed 26 people, including Kotoku Akisui, a pioneer of Japanese socialism, for "committing the crime of attempting to assassinate the emperor and causing a riot."

Soon after, on January 18, 1911, 24 people, including Xingde Qiushui, were sentenced to death and two others were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment.

When the news broke, it immediately aroused the indignation of the Japanese people and the rest of the world. In Paris, London, San Francisco, New York, and other places, many Japanese and non-Japanese people held protest rallies and wrote letters of protest to Japanese embassies abroad, and governments took the opportunity to condemn Japan. Under the condemnation and pressure of the Japanese people and world opinion, the Supreme Court was forced to commute the death sentences of 12 of them to life imprisonment in the name of the emperor, but Kotoku Akisui and 12 others were hanged on January 24.

Justice aside, in this matter, Katsura Taro's government has indeed been a little less cautious and acted too roughly. Because even if you have to find an excuse to arrest the socialist elements and suppress the socialist forces, you must at least do a decent job, and you have to make the evidence more beautiful and convincing.

At the same time, the Katsura Taro government also underestimated the influence of this matter, and they only wanted to suppress the socialists as soon as possible, but they did not expect that public opinion at home and abroad would be so turbulent, which would greatly damage the Japanese government and Japan's image, and the government's prestige would be reduced because of this incident.

You must know that Japan at this time was not like the era of Emperor Hirohito, which had developed to the peak of militarism, and the whole country was united and the whole people were drunk. In fact, the political atmosphere in Japan during this period was quite active, relatively democratic, and some newspapers and publications could also voice different voices, and it was not a real dictatorship. It is precisely because of this that the people began to report this incident in a big way, causing a large number of people to begin to sympathize with the people of Kotoku Qiushui, but began to dislike the Japanese government.

Of course, the Japanese people are disgusted with the Japanese government, not really sympathizing with Kotoku Qiushui, but using this incident to vent their long-term dissatisfaction.

During this period, Japan had not yet tasted the sweetness of World War I, but had just experienced the Russo-Japanese War, so the entire country was financially poor, the economic recovery was weak, coupled with natural disasters**, the people's living standards were quite low, not much better than the Chinese.

However, the general literacy rate of Chinese is very low, and they are accustomed to poverty, but after the Meiji Restoration, the literacy rate of the Japanese has been greatly improved, and the people's tolerance for poverty is much worse than that of the Chinese, and when there is no other stimulus, such as military victories and other events, this kind of complaint about life will gradually turn into resentment against the government. The reason why Japan's socialist cause was able to develop so well during this period. That's why.

In another time and space, Japan has alleviated this domestic contradiction by expanding abroad and plundering China, but at this time and space, Japan does not have many better ways and time to solve these troubles.

Therefore, those that Katsura Taro did. In fact, it is correct that it is precisely because of his vigorous and resolute actions that he has seriously suppressed the socialist forces in Japan and suppressed this flame of revolution again, but unfortunately, what he has done is beneficial to the Japanese government, but not to himself.

"We see what you do." Xiyuan Temple Gongwang sighed, "But it's a pity. The patriarchs ......"

"Needless to say." Katsura Taro's face was grim, and he raised his hand and waved, "I have already realized this matter, it is nothing more than stepping down, it just so happens that I have been tired recently, so I can take this opportunity to rest." ”

Obviously, Katsura Taro is angry. After all, Katsura Taro is a man who is very attached to power, otherwise he would not have become the longest-serving prime minister in Japan's history.

As a matter of fact. At another time, although Katsura Taro stepped down because of this incident, after the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912, he first joined the palace as a minister of the Interior, casually fiddling with Emperor Taisho, who had no opinion and suffered from cerebral palsy, and later reorganized the cabinet at the end of 1912. Unfortunately, he was strongly opposed from both inside and outside, and he twice took out the emperor's edict to no avail, and everyone did not recognize it at all, so he was finally ousted from power in February 1913, and the history is known as the Constitutional Protection Movement.

Thus. Katsura Taro is a very powerful person, and it is impossible to retire at home with peace of mind, in this regard, his friend and opponent Saionji Gongwang, who knows him very well, only smiled: "Why do you say such angry words, Prime Minister, the country still needs your help." ”

"Hmph." Katsura Taro snorted, and then looked at Saionji Gongwang, "Actually, I didn't want to talk about this when I came to you today, I wanted to say something else to you." ”

"Oh? What do you want to say? ”

"Shina!" Katsura Taro narrowed his eyes, "What I want to tell you is the situation in Shina. ”

"Well, what's going on in China?"

Zhina, naturally is China, at this time Zhina is not a derogatory term, on the contrary, for the Chinese and Japanese at this time, this is a positive word, this word represents the traditional, Han-dominated China, is a transliteration of the West, is different from the Qing Dynasty, but later with the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, it gradually evolved into a derogatory term, such as Sun Wen and other revolutionaries, at this time often called themselves Zhina people.

"The situation in China is not optimistic." Katsura Taro sighed, "To be honest, I'm not too worried about the Kotoku incident, and the rights and wrongs of this matter are self-determined. I'm most worried about our neighbours, and what is happening there is what worries me a lot. ”

"What's wrong with China?" Xiyuan Temple Gongwang frowned, "As far as I know, although the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, it fell into a situation of fragmentation, which should be a good thing for us." ”

Although Xiyuan Temple Gongwang is also a big man, because he has not been the ruling party in the past three years, he has no government resources in his hands, so he doesn't know much about Chinese affairs, but only knows some fur from the newspaper and knows who and who's name. He's all like that, not to mention other Japanese.

"You only know one thing, but you don't know the other." Katsura Taro shook his head.

Seeing him like this, the public of Xiyuan Temple, who knew him well, knew that he had started to sell Guanzi again, so he didn't break it, but immediately asked respectfully: "I want to hear about it." ”

"Have you heard of Li Zhigao?" Katsura Taro said.

"Li Zhigao? I've heard of it. Xiyuan Temple Gongwang nodded, "It is said that he was originally a businessman who returned from the United States, because he could get a lot of strange things, and he was very good at opportunism, so he colluded with the government and became the acting commander of the patrol battalion of Taiping Mansion. Since then, he has been engaged in business on a large scale, especially reselling those special drugs that are not available in other countries, and has become a big man. Later, because the government coveted his property, he led his troops to rebel, disguised himself as a revolutionary party, and cooperated with the officers and soldiers of the Ninth Town Uprising in Nanjing, destroyed the patrol battalion in Nanjing in one fell swoop, and captured Nanjing, which was the Nanjing uprising. ”

"Well, yes, what else?" Katsura Taro nodded.

"Also, this person seems to be very good at timing and fighting." Gongwang of Xiyuan Temple thought for a while and said, "It is said that after taking Nanjing, he immediately negotiated privately with Yuan Shikai, and in the end, the Qing Dynasty's crusading army really asked Yuan Shikai to come back. After Yuan Shikai became the commander of the crusading army, he raised thieves and deliberately allowed Li Zhigao's army not to fight, but sat on the wall and watched, watching Li Zhigao lead his troops out of Nanjing, beat the whole of Zhejiang, and wiped out the new army in Zhejiang, so that Li Zhigao swallowed the whole of Zhejiang. After that, the new army of the Qing Dynasty in Anqing also mutinied, and cooperated with Li Zhigao's army to destroy the Qing government's western crusading army, allowing Li Zhigao to get Anhui and Hubei. Then, Yuan Shikai forced the Qing court to abdicate, and he crossed the river with Yuan Shikai and became a major warlord who controlled a large area south of the Yangtze River. ”

"You know a lot, but unfortunately, it's all superficial." Katsura Taro shook his head, "Of course, I don't blame you, after all, it's a country apart, and it's inconvenient for the news to circulate, plus I deliberately blocked the news...... Forget it, let's not talk about that. Xiyuan Sijun, from what you know so far, what do you think of Li Zhigao? ”

"A troubled man who is very good at seizing the opportunity." Xiyuan Temple Gongwang said, "An ambitious trader." ”

"Yes, a troubled man, an ambitious trader, your comments are pertinent." Katsura Taro nodded, "It's a pity that he's not just a trader who can seize the moment, but also the most dangerous enemy of the empire!" ”

"Oh? Why? Xiyuan Temple asked.

"You take a look at this first." Katsura Taro took a pamphlet and gently pushed it over, "After reading this, we'll talk about the rest." (To be continued......)