After coming out of Katsura Taro's house, Saionji Gongwang has always had a straight face, and anyone who sees it will think that he is quite angry. However, when he got into the carriage, a slight smile appeared on his lips.

In any case, the purpose of today's visit has been achieved.

There is no doubt that Katsura Taro is an excellent politician, but there is a premise that he is a soldier, or a representative of the army, and in any case, he cannot get rid of the background of the army.

Katsura Taro has been the prime minister of Japan for a long time, and at present, he is second only to Ito Hirobumi in the prime minister, but if you count his third subsequent cabinet formation, then he will be the prime minister for more time than Ito Hirobumi.

The reason for this is not unrelated to the changes in current affairs and the expansion of the power of the army. When Katsura Taro first became prime minister, it was just in time for the Russo-Japanese War, because of this war, the expansion of Japan's army, although this gave Katsura Taro endless power, but also gave him endless enemies, not only chaebol factions like Saionji Konobo hated him, even the navy hated him very much, and even His Majesty the Meiji Emperor was very jealous of him.

Therefore, even if many people know that he actually did the right thing about the Great Reversal incident, everyone wants to use this incident to force him to step down, in order not to let him continue to stay in the position of prime minister and obtain greater authority.

In addition to the Great Rebellion incident, another excuse for attacking him was the recent Whale Pills incident, in which the Jiangnan government in China had sufficient and irrefutable evidence, not only confessions, photographs, but also real-time new film documentaries, which Japan could not justify anywhere. If this matter is not handled well, it will greatly damage Japan's international reputation.

After all, it is impossible to justify the fact that one country's government has personally smuggled arms and drugs to support the ruffians and hooligans in another country to carry out subversion, and has been discovered. And it is also disgusted and wary of other countries.

Therefore, these two events, one inside and one outside, have put the Katsura Taro government in a series of crises and given people an excuse to oust him from power.

As an old rival and old friend of Katsura Taro, Saionji Konobo knows his temper very well, knowing that Katsura Taro is a paranoid who is elegant on the surface but arrogant and stubborn on the inside, and he often makes up his mind to do what he recognizes. Although the methods cannot be said to be rude, he is definitely not a person who likes to care about the feelings of others.

It is true that Katsura Taro is a far-sighted patriot who thinks about Japan in everything, and is a great politician, but unfortunately because he also has a too stubborn temper, he often ignores the crises around him, and he will not. Or rather, disdain to play with intrigues.

For example, this time, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang can be very sure. Katsura Taro will definitely not bow to Li Zhigao's Jiangnan government in the whale ball incident, he will only be tough to the end, and even for the sake of face, he is likely to issue a threat of force.

Katsura Taro's purpose in doing this, although he also knew that he was purely for the long-term peace and stability of Japan, and wanted to nip Li Zhigao, a dangerous force, in the bud. Unfortunately, others do not see it that way, and others will only think that he wants to use this to provoke a war against China again, so as to continue to expand the strength of the army, so as to consolidate his crumbling position.

"It's just a pity that you're too stubborn. I still can't see the direction of the wind and the current situation, old friend. Xiyuan Temple Gongwang said softly to himself.

The end of the Meiji era was also the end of feudal politics, or in other words, the beginning of feudal politics to party politics, and this trend has become irrepressible. The reason for this is that the old generation of feudal lords is gradually aging, and the backbone of the new generation of elites is rising strongly, and they want to seize power, and second, the Meiji Emperor is already dissatisfied with being constrained by the feudal lords in everything and wants to carry out a new round of power balance.

To tell the truth, for Li Zhigao and his Jiangnan military government, in fact, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang is also very vigilant, and his views are similar to Xiyuan Temple Gongwang, and he also believes that if there is no accident, Li Zhigao will inevitably become the ruler of China in the future and become the biggest threat to Japan.

However, in terms of how to deal with Li Zhigao's problem, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang has a completely different view from Gui Taro, simply put, Gui Taro advocates sending troops now to nip the other party in the bud, while he advocates delaying it for a while, and then talking about it after he is more fully prepared, and then using other methods in the early stage, such as supporting Yuan Shikai or other means of governors, to create trouble for Li Zhigao and slow down his pace of unifying China.

The reason why Saionji Gongwang advocates a slowdown is also related to the current situation in Japan.

First of all, it is true that the Russo-Japanese War that has just passed has given Japan a fairly high international status and raised the morale of the Japanese nation to an unprecedented level, but in reality the war did not benefit Japan much, and the losses were even greater than those of Russia.

At present, Japan's state finances are very tight, the people as a whole are generally poor, and the national strength is very weak, and it is precisely a period when the outside is strong and the middle is the middle, and sending troops at this time is obviously a huge financial burden, and it can only be resolved quickly; once the time passes too long or it fails once or twice, Japan will fall into an even greater crisis and will very likely become financially bankrupt.

Secondly, in terms of the implementation of specific campaigns, it is also not feasible. To attack Li Zhigao's Jiangnan government, it is impossible for the Japanese army to go directly, and it must rely on the navy, and what is not good is that the current general leader of the navy, the veteran of the navy, Yamamoto Gonbei, hates Yamayama Aritomo and Katsura Taro very much, that is to say, the contradiction with the Japanese army is very deep, so once a war is to start against Li Zhigao this time, Yamamoto Gonbei will not agree to let the navy help, so there is no way to talk about the attack. If the navy does not help, Japan will not be able to transfer troops from the northeast and pass through Yuan Shikai's territory to attack Li Zhigao, not to mention that Yuan Shikai will definitely not agree, in this way, the pressure of logistics can cause the troops to lose more than half of their combat effectiveness.

The last point is related to Emperor Meiji. Although most of the common people do not know it, they all know that Emperor Meiji's diabetes has worsened, and this disease has been an incurable terminal disease in the past, and it is currently completely supported by high-priced special drugs bought from Li Zhigao. So far, this drug has not been cracked by the scientific researchers of the empire. Nor was any technology stolen by the spies. It is conceivable that once the Jiangnan government attacks Li Zhigao now, the other side will inevitably stop the supply of this medicine, and according to the emperor's imperial physician's private explanation, once His Majesty the emperor leaves this medicine, I am afraid that his condition will immediately worsen. It's even worse than before, and it's hard to say how long you can live.

No one wants to die, especially those who have created great achievements, and they don't want to die. His Majesty the Emperor used to know that there was no cure for this disease, so he comforted himself and beat his spirits, but once he knew that there was medicine in the world that could cure this disease, no one was willing to risk the drug being stopped to fight against local forces that had not shown much threat for the time being. For this alone, the emperor would not have supported Katsura Taro's policies.

In this way, the conclusion is obvious, the finances are not abundant, the internal discord is not in agreement, the emperor does not approve, and even the Japanese army itself is far more interested in Manchuria than in attacking Li Zhigao's Jiangnan region. Except for Katsura Taro himself and Aritomo Yama Prefecture behind him, no one approves of him playing this game. The situation was completely different from the Russo-Japanese War at that time, and how could this war be fought under such circumstances?

It can be said that if Katsura Taro insists on going his own way and continues to be tough on the whale ball incident, it will lead to the intensification of the incident. Then it is impossible for him to wait for the general election, I am afraid that he will be pushed down immediately, and this is exactly what he needs.

Therefore, those that the Saionji Temple Gongwang said today. is all provoking Katsura Taro, to make him continue to feel that he is very right, and others, including himself, are short-sighted, stupid, stupid and ignorant, so that he can go all the way to the dark, so that he can have a chance.

As far as it seems now, the result is very good, the other party has been aroused by himself, I am afraid that it is impossible for him to make concessions and compromises on the whale ball incident.

Gently touching the white paper full of investigation reports on Li Zhigao and the Jiangnan Military Government, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang sighed softly: "Katsura Taro, do you think that you are the only smart person in this world, you look at others too superficially." ”

Indeed, although Katsura Taro has always paid attention to intelligence gathering in China and secretly supported the Black Dragon Society, Saionji Gongwang also served as a cabinet prime minister, and although Ketsura Taro has the support of the army, Saionji Gongwang has also inherited the legacy of Ito Hirobumi, and has the support of the Political Friends Association and the major chaebols, so in terms of financial resources and intelligence, he is not much weaker than Katsura Taro.

Historically, Japan's intelligence collection against China has a long history, but it is not carried out by the unified state as people think, on the contrary, Japan's intelligence collection against China, many of which are private intelligence agencies, were only taken over by the state during World War II.

For example, during this period, there were two main types of intelligence collection in Japan against China, one was the Black Dragon Society, which was composed of lower-level samurai and ronin groups, which was an intelligence agency with the violent nature of the underworld, which was also widely known, and the other was relatively low-key, that is, the Japanese merchant group represented by Mitsui & Co.

Although it is said that not all Japanese businessmen who did business in China during this period were spies, some large chaebols, such as companies like Mitsui & Co., had the status of spy agents in addition to their employees, but the information they obtained was often not directly given to the Japanese government, but to the big treasurers of the foundations, as well as the supporters behind these foundations, such as Saionji Gongwang.

There are spies, not only the Mitsui chaebol, the Mitsui chaebol only supports Saionji Gongwang, but other chaebols and intelligence agencies like the Navy's Yamamoto Gonbei, as well as Hara Kei and others.

In short, for Li Zhigao's intelligence collection, the Mitsui chaebol may not have done worse than the Black Dragon Society's gang, which leads to the fact that the information obtained by Saionji Gongwang is not as bad as that of Katsura Taro.

In fact, there is such a thing as this white paper, and there is also one in Xiyuan Temple, and the content is similar, but because Mitsui's people can get closer to Li Zhigao, and successfully use the beauty trick, after sending a geisha who can get in close contact with Li Zhigao, they have obtained more "false information" than Katsura Taro.

This was the year 1911, a time when radio was not yet developed, the telephone had just been invented, and the cable telegraph was the mainstay. At this time, there were no satellites or high-altitude reconnaissance planes, and intelligence transmission was slow, and spies basically relied on correspondence.

Therefore, the intelligence of this era is very rough and inaccurate. It's more about relying on the analysis of analysts.

Li Zhigao has developed a lot of troops in a year, and the equipment of the army can be called the first in the world, and he has also fought wars, so it is said that it is difficult to hide, however. Because he started in China, a backward country that has not yet entered industrialization and is recognized as a backward agricultural society, everyone will naturally make judgments based on past examples, or make corrections, and will subconsciously belittle Li Zhigao and the army he trained.

Moreover, although Li Zhigao's army is strong, it has always maintained a mysterious style, and usually only trains in closed camps, and soldiers eat and live in the barracks. It is difficult for outsiders to get a close glimpse of what is going on, and even those Americans who first came into contact with them were later sent to military academies when they changed their equipment, and became instructors, so they could no longer get in touch with the troops, so they did not fully understand the changes in Li Zhigao's troops.

In addition, Li Zhigao's army does not have many achievements, which are currently well documented. There were only three battles: the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Blitz Zhejiang, and the Battle of Anqing. As for his opponents, they were basically the new army of the Qing court.

Although the New Army was the backbone of the Qing court, in the eyes of these Japanese powers, the combat effectiveness was disdainful, so Li Zhigao was able to defeat these armies, and it still relied on the internal and external cooperation of the New Army uprising. Therefore, it is inferred from this that it is natural to look down on Li Zhigao's army.

In short, China's military victories and past perceptions of China have filled Japan with contempt for China, except for those who have seen Li Zhigao's troops firsthand. No one believed that Li Zhigao's army would be so powerful, and it was obvious that people like Saionji Gongwang and Katsura Taro would not be able to go to Li Zhigao's military camp to see it up close.

Therefore, although Xiyuan Temple Gongwang is already a rare sober person, he also thinks that Li Zhigao's combat effectiveness is boasted, especially those equipment, which are all fake, and are used to scare outsiders, and the authenticity is not worth mentioning at all.

The reason why Xiyuan Temple Gongwang thinks that Li Zhigao is a threat is mainly because he sees that Li Zhigao is very good at making money, and pays attention to industrial production, and can produce a lot of in-demand materials. For example, all kinds of anti-inflammatory high-priced special drugs produced in Taiping Mansion, all kinds of stainless steel products, all kinds of pocket watches, daily chemical products, as well as Taiping cloth and other industrial products, and what this brings is bound to be financially abundant and strong industry, in the long run, it will inevitably unify the whole country, and a unified China is definitely not good news for Japan.

Similarly, Katsura Taro actually didn't believe that Li Zhigao's army was so strong, but he wanted to use this incident to start a war and consolidate his position, just as Saionji Gongwang thought. You must know that the reason why his prime ministership lasted so long in history was because he encountered the Russo-Japanese War when he was in power, and without this war, he would not have been able to stay in the prime minister's position for so long.

Obviously, it can be seen from this point that Li Zhigao's deception strategy and confidentiality policy have been well implemented, so that although he has shown his strength, he is still not recognized by the outside world.

Not only did the Japanese high-level not think how strong his army was, but even Britain, France, and the United States still did not think how powerful Li Zhigao's army was and how advanced his weapons were, even though he had summoned British, French, and American consuls to visit his super cannon.

The reason why Britain, France, the United States, and other countries later supported Li Zhigao was not because they valued how strong Li Zhigao's army was, but purely for their own interests.

Unlike Japan, which hopes that China will be divided and that China will be as chaotic as possible, Britain and the United States do not want China to be too chaotic, especially the Yangtze River valley ruled by Li Zhigao, which happens to be Britain's sphere of influence, and is also the region of China that the United States is most concerned about at this time.

Later, after Li Zhigao's strong rise, his trade volume with Britain and the United States continued to rise.

On Li Zhigao's turf, he constantly exports special anti-inflammatory drugs, exquisite daily chemical products, stainless steel products, fine pocket watches and other industrial products, as well as high-end fabrics such as high-end silk cloth and high-end Taiping cloth (synthetic fiber cloth), which all have a characteristic, that is, they are cheap and unique, and they cannot be counterfeited elsewhere. Europe and the United States have been crazy about these things, especially stockings and peace cloth, the import of these high-end textiles, is blowing a new fashion revolution in the fashion industry in Europe and the United States.

And Li Zhigao is not just a simple export, he also has a lot of imports. He also imported a large number of oil from the United States, caviar and fur from Russia, red wine from France, truffles from Italy, ham from Spain, and other luxury ornaments such as diamonds, jewelry, jade, amber, etc., as well as high-grade wood such as mahogany, high-end spices such as ambergris, and so on.

Many people want to come to China and do business in the Jiangnan area, and in addition to these, many people in the United Kingdom and the United States can also come here to find a job with a good salary.

In short, although Li Zhigao's rule treated foreigners and Chinese equally, his laws were more reasonable and more Western-oriented, and Taiping New City was a modern city that achieved electrification, running water and gas access to households, coupled with low and abundant supplies and high salaries, Westerners were basically more comfortable living in other places as long as they did not make things happen arbitrarily.

It is precisely because of this that Anglo-American law strongly supported Li Zhigao, because under Li Zhigao's rule, Westernization was more complete than that of the Qing court, so what reason was there to oppose such a pro-British and American force?

That is, because Britain and the United States are both pro-Li Zhigao's forces, so Xiyuan Temple Gongwang and others also have an extra layer of concern, although they are not afraid, but in Japan, which is not rich in its own finances and is still counting on Britain and the United States, now is not a good time to beat Li Zhigao.

According to Saionji Gongwang's idea, it is necessary to wait for him to become prime minister and form a cabinet, and after Japan's finances are brought back to normal, Japan's national strength is strong, and he has mastered or controlled the factories and technologies for the production of special drugs, and then he will launch a thunderous blow against Li Zhigao's government.

Therefore, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang does not think that he is raising tigers, on the contrary, he thinks that in the matter of Li Zhigao, he is raising pigs, and he will kill them when he is fattened, which is a good situation for everyone.

In short, although Katsura Taro is still the prime minister, Saionji Gongwang has already seen the countdown to Katsura Taro's resignation.

Using Saionji Gongwang's own comments, that is, Katsura Taro's set is out of place, even if there is no big reversal incident and whale ball incident, it will be only a matter of time before he steps down. Of course, for himself, he still hopes that Katsura Taro can step down as soon as possible, which is the best ending for himself and for Japan as a whole. (To be continued......)