Yingtai is a good place, surrounded by water. Even in the hottest summer, Yingtai is breezy and breezy. Since the emperor moved into Yingtai, Yingtai has undergone large-scale transformation, built a runway around the island, and transplanted a large number of fruit trees. At the same time, the water of the South China Sea was cleared, the silt was excavated, and the six sea channels were opened to connect the inner and outer moats.

Delivering food under the scorching sun is also a physical task for Miko, who has lived in the inner palace for a long time, but it is comfortable to wake up after hard work. The queen basically does not leave the house during confinement, and it is not certain when the concubine will come back when she goes to the Xishan military camp directly, and the children also run out to play after they get up from a nap, and the emperor eats dinner with the ministers after participating in the summer harvest, so there is no need to worry. Miko, who had nothing to do, asked the maid to move a chaise longue and put it under an apple tree, drinking herbal tea in the cool breeze and enjoying a peaceful afternoon.

The women in the deep palace actually live very boring lives, and Miko is different from the queen and the concubine. The queen is busy with education on weekdays, and the concubine needs to care about defense and sergeant training, and she needs to go out frequently. Naturally, the affairs of the inner palace naturally fell to Miko, and such an errand actually rarely had the opportunity to get out of the palace walls. Most of the affairs of the inner palace are handled by Kou Liancai, the head of the inner palace, Xiao Zhuozi, the head of the Summer Palace, and Li Lianying, the head of the palace, and they all do a good job. Many times she only needs to care about the accounts, agree or disagree on important things. But the palace directors are very dedicated, in fact, there are not many things that Miko needs to worry about, and even most of the children's learning is taken care of by the queen. In the early years, Yingtai had been renovated, and Miko needed to check everywhere. At the beginning of this year, even the Yingtai renovation project was completely completed, and Miko was even more idle. If you don't find something to do yourself. How to pass the monotonous life day after day. So Miko has a lot of time to do things she likes, like embroidery.

Embroidery is a skill that Miko learned from a young age. She also loves the craft. I like to watch myself stitch and thread, rusting out a beautiful picture on the white cloth. But just when Miko was immersed in her embroidery, Kou Liancai ran over step by step.

"Qi Niangniang, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent an urgent telegram to let the slave immediately present it to Niangniang."

"Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" Miko looked up in surprise and asked. The harem is not allowed to interfere in politics, not only in Japan, but even more so in China. Although the queen is now in charge of education, there are other things that are not asked. In addition to managing the defense of Yingtai, the concubine also went to Xishan to see the training of the sergeants at most. Not only does he not ask about other government affairs, but he also never talks much about the defense arrangements of the ******. Not to mention that she, a concubine who only manages the inner palace, usually pays attention to these things, even if the emperor tells her about Japan, she just listens. How could the message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs be presented to me today?

"The slave didn't know that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent someone to send it, and he specially told him to present it in front of his mother." Kou Liancai didn't understand either, but he still did his thing.

Miko thought about it, and finally refused: "You better take it to the queen mother." I'd better not ask. ”

Seeing the resolute attitude of the imperial concubine, Kou Liancai immediately entered the main building to ask the queen. Soon Kou Liancai came down and invited the beautiful woman in.

"It is indeed a telegram sent to you, you can see for yourself." Yang Zao'er handed over the telegram and handed it to Meizi.

Miko took the telegram and looked at it, and immediately tears remained. Just in a small hour. His father, King Meiji of Japan, died of illness.

"I've already asked someone to pick up Ran'er and come back, so hurry up and pack up and get ready to go to Japan." Yang Zao'er comforted: "When your father died, he will definitely go back to worship." We will build a country with filial piety. The emperor will agree. ”

"Thank you, sister, sister is going to prepare. That's right. Yi'er's full moon banquet five days later has been arranged, and there will be Sister Lao when her sister is not there. ”

"Things in this palace. My sister is not at ease. Okay, just leave that alone and get ready to go. ”

Hearing the news of Meiji's death, Li Ming also hurried to Yingtai, although the two didn't deal with each other anymore, and nominally he was Li Ming's father-in-law. Li Ming only entered the main building with a sad look on his face, and saw Miko carrying a big bag of sadness.

Li Ming stepped forward and gently hugged Meizi, and said in a low voice: "People can't be resurrected after death, so let's mourn." Japan is in chaos now, and Oyama Iwa is killing in Japan for the salary of the expeditionary soldiers. I have arranged for a Praetorian Company to accompany you, the 1st Marine Division is already on standby in Lushun, and the fast destroyer Wangshan is rushing from Lushun to Tianjin. Let's wait for Ran'er to come back and take the maid and leave, the special train at the railway station is already being prepared, and if you are fast, you can get on the warship tonight. I can't go, you can put incense on your father's behalf. ”

"Your Majesty......" Miko choked and couldn't answer.

"Alright, let's go to the door and wait." Li Ming signaled to Zao'er, then took Meizi's bag, and pulled her to the door to wait for Li Ran to come back. At the same time, an emergency meeting of the top level of the five-person conference was being held in the ******.

"The cause of Meiji's illness could not be confirmed, and the final death proved that the lethality of the contaminated material was correct. Now that the change is almost half of the success, the next step is to change the Japanese system, completely eliminate the existing aristocratic class, and distribute the land to the ordinary Japanese people as much as possible. In order to achieve the effect of completely changing the existing political pattern of Japan, and paving the way for the future King of Toei to take over Japan. Yan Fu's brief speech determined the main content of the meeting.

"The plan is too secretive, and the person going to Japan to carry out this plan must be familiar with the plan, which means that it must be one of the five of us." Tang Shaoyi looked at everyone and said firmly: "Now that Russia is defeated, Li Xiang is too old to work hard, Yan Xiang needs to assist the emperor in handling state affairs, Lord Wang, as the chief of staff, needs to make post-war military arrangements, and Lord Zhou, as the director of the CIA, cannot appear in public." So I am the best choice, and as a foreign minister, as long as I get the emperor's authorization, I can also represent the emperor in diplomatic etiquette. ”

Everyone looked at each other and nodded, in the current situation, only Tang Shaoyi is the most suitable for everyone here. Wang Shizhen stood up: "In terms of the combat effectiveness of the 1st Marine Division. The Japanese are no problem. But I don't think Ding Ruchang is a suitable commander in this operation. I was led by the Royal Army Commander Feng Guozhang. ”

"The spies stationed in Japan have been notified below. will fully cooperate with the actions of our army. Zhou Qin affirmed that preparations have been made in the direction of intelligence.

"If we want to control Japan in the future, the army is an important part of it. As Commander of the Royal Army. It's also time to know about the plan. The specific details will be explained to Lord Feng on the road. Li Hongzhang looked at the other four people and said, "If you don't have other opinions, the old man will play the emperor." ”

Meetings are like this, and the importance and efficiency of meetings are always inversely proportional to the number of participants. Every word of the five people determines the development of the whole thing. As soon as Li Ming and Meizi came out, they met five people who came out of the ******, and the five people asked the emperor to take a step to speak, and their opinions were made clear to the emperor. After listening to this, Li Ming only asked one sentence, all of you have this opinion? After receiving an affirmative reply, he nodded in approval of the action. This was originally a plan that had been prepared for a long time, but I didn't expect it to happen at this time, so I had to do it in a hurry. Let Tang Feng and the others go.

Japan was important to ******** strategy, but it was not urgent, and Meiji's son, Yoshihito, was still alive. So even if this operation is not effective, what does it matter, Northeast Asia is China's absolute sphere of influence, and there will be opportunities in the future. However, there is a less important but urgent matter that needs to be dealt with urgently, that is, the Ryukyu King Shangtai, who is in his seventies, personally faces the saint in Beijing and asks the emperor to succeed the fifth son of the emperor, Li Yi, to the Ryukyu royal family in order to inherit the Ryukyu throne.

Since Shang Tai had a miscarriage due to an accidental slip and fall of his concubine seven years ago, he has given up the idea of having another child on his own. Now that he is old, he has no successor to the Ryukyu royal family, and it has become Shangtai's heart disease. Ryukyu can be under the influence of traditional Chinese civilization, and the idea of unfilial piety is the greatest in Ryukyu. In addition to filial piety with incense is not extinguished. There is also political dependence.

Don't look at the Ryukyu National Elementary School, but there are also factions, which are still left over from the Sanshan period. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the originally unified Ryukyus split into three separate states: Zhongshan, Shannan, and Shanbei. Thereinto. The power of Zhongshan is the strongest. In 1429 A.D., the king of Zhongshan, Shangbazhi, destroyed the other two countries and made Shuri Castle the capital. The unified Ryukyu Kingdom was established again. After the royal families of Shanbei and Shannanyuan abdicated from the throne, they still became the two major powers of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Now the Zhongshan royal family has withered, and the king of Ryukyu has no queen. In the case that Ryukyu could not live without a king, the two major clans of Shanbei and Shannan had the intention of competing for the throne of Ryukyu. Now the two communities are working public relations in Beijing. Shang Tai is old, and he has been imprisoned by the Japanese for nearly ten years, and he has long lost his ambitions, and he is only dedicated to seeking welfare for the Ryukyuan people and making their lives better. He thought he could treat everyone fairly, but he didn't think that the two tribes of Shannan and Shanbei could do the same. Even if China had appointed one of the two clans to succeed to the throne, the other would inevitably have a grudge, and the Ryukyuan people would have suffered greatly from the two clans. Shang Tai, who was helpless on the right and left, brought up this issue in a casual conversation with Wang Chonghui, the young consul chief of the Chinese consulate in the Ryukyus, and also asked Wang Chonghui at that time.

As the suzerain, China has few precedents for interfering in the national affairs of vassal states for thousands of years, but the situation of the two factions in the Ryukyus forced China to intervene directly. Otherwise, once it is infiltrated and intervened by foreign forces, it will be equivalent to the loss of China's eastern maritime barrier. So Wang Chonghui scratched his ears and cheeks and came up with an idea: if the queen can give birth to a prince this time, it is better to succeed to the Ryukyu royal family, then the Zhongshan royal family will not be cut off. Sang-tae didn't react at the time, but he took it to heart. So when the Empress gave birth to the fifth son of the emperor Li Yi in July, Shang Tai went to Beijing to ask for grace.

The Manchu ministers were overjoyed by the request of the Ryukyu King to have his fifth son succeeded to the Ryukyu royal family. In the internal meeting, Wu Deren, commander-in-chief of the Navy, once said with a smile: "The Ryukyus were originally fought by China, and after ten years of free time, he still knew how to send them back, this old man is still very knowledgeable." In fact, Li Ming was also very moved, but this move was resolutely opposed by Empress Yang Zao'er: Why should the prince of the Chinese Empire be a vassal in the land of a vassal state! Yang Zao'er thought very clearly, even if Yi'er could only divide one county in the Central Plains in the future, it would be much stronger than the barbaric land of the Ryukyus.

"You may not know that I have made an agreement with my ministers, from the prince to the prince, that there will be no more feudal divisions within China from now on. Le Er is different from Ran'er. That is to say, in the future, princes and nobles will only have titles and no fiefs. Le Er inherited the title of king of his grandfather, Zasakdoro, Saktu, and was determined to enlist the support of the Mongols for his northward expansion plan. Ran'er's Dongying King was also set up to cooperate with the plan to steal the sky and change the sun. Grace, of course. It's okay to take some barren places or deserted islands and divide them among individuals, but that's all. Even so. The stipulation that the title will be reduced to the next generation is also dead, and the fief will also be taken back when the descendants of Yi'er are finally removed from the title a hundred years later, and naturally all of them will be turned into ordinary people. But inheriting the Ryukyu throne is different, the Ryukyu king is not the throne of the Central Plains, and he is not affected by the next generation of lords, as long as he does not rebel, the Yi'er lineage will be the eternal Ryukyu king, isn't this better than the prince's title? ”

"If there is no fief, there is no fiefdom, and I can't afford to raise it! No way. ”

"It's a question of whether to raise or not. Besides, Shang Tai can live for a few years at this age. What if he lived for a hundred years? When I said that the child is too young and needs to be raised in the capital, he dares to have an opinion? ”

"He is my son, why should he give it to someone else, and he should have someone else's surname. I'm going to find you two younger sisters and give you a son, but my son won't give it! "Yang Zao'er has been in the palace for so many years, and it is the first time that she has directly pretended to be Li Ming.

Li Ming was also said to be in a dilemma, after all, Zao'er is a mother, and her opinion cannot be completely ignored. In the end, Li Ming scratched his head and said, "To tell you the truth, Ryukyu is the gateway to the East China Sea. How can China's East China Sea gate be in the hands of others? We have always planned to annex the Ryukyus directly, but we have no chance to defend the face of a benevolent and righteous power. This succession to the Ryukyu throne is a good opportunity for the Wings. As a child of the royal family, he has enjoyed the fine clothes and food of the national treasury since he was a child, and of course he has to worry about the country. Besides, when the boy is older, he always has to leave his father. As parents, we must always give our children a place where they can display their ambitions. ”

These words are, of course, private words between the husband and wife, and outsiders do not know. In short, in the end, the emperor persuaded the queen. The queen's "unhappy face" and "reluctantly" agreed. So at the full moon banquet of Li Yi, the emperor officially announced that he had agreed to the request of King Shangtai of the Ryukyus. The fifth son of the emperor was succeeded to Shangtai and renamed Shangyi. At the same time, the Ryukyu King Shang Tai also officially declared Shang Yi as the prince of the Ryukyu King. On the second day, he returned to Japan with Wang Shizi, and ordered the heads of all the clans of the Ryukyu Kingdom to gather at Shuri Castle to see Wang Shizi on the spot.

This is a result that satisfies the vast majority of people, and as for the Shannan and Shanbei clans, no matter how unhappy they are, they have no choice but to stop and start preparing for the etiquette of meeting Wang Shizi. In any case, after this incident, the original turbulent political situation in the Ryukyus instantly stabilized, because no one dared to compete with the son of the Chinese emperor for the Ryukyu throne. The calm down of the situation in the Ryukyus caused a stir in the court, because the courtiers found an excellent way to control the northwestern feudal states through the Ryukyu incident.

"Get away, I'm not a stallion." Regarding the ministers' suggestion that the emperor take a concubine to have more sons, Li Ming angrily refused: "You have to have the ability to send your son over, and Lao Tzu will not be stingy with the reward of the prince." ”

Just when the courtiers were studying the feasibility of sending their son over to become a prince, Feng Guozhang, who was attending the funeral of the Japanese king Meiji in Japan, raised a butcher's knife against the Japanese family.

The Japanese officers and soldiers hired by China were paid, and their salaries were uniformly allocated by the Chinese government to the Japanese government, and then the Japanese government distributed them to the families of the soldiers one by one. However, in this process, some of the big families will embezzle, which has long been expected, after all, the mercenaries are well paid, and it is important that each soldier is embezzled one by one. Shigenobu Okuma thinks the same way.

Shigenobu Okuma was a Japanese patriarch and a fervent nationalist who enjoyed great prestige at home. Ever since Japan's defeat in World War II, he has been working to restore Japan's national prestige, but all of these things cost money, and it costs a lot of money. Under the economic plunder of Britain, the United States, and China, Japan's economy withered, and he was unable to support his vision of reviving Japan's national prestige. Therefore, for the sake of his own ideals and the future of the country, Okuma Shigenobu will inevitably withhold the salary of mercenaries. But this kind of thing is a matter of upward and downward effect, and Okuma Shigenobu only asks for a 30% deduction, and the remaining 70% is enough for the relatives of the soldiers to live a stable life.

After Feng Guozhang arrived in Japan, in addition to worshiping Meiji, he spent more time asking Oyama Rock about the corruption of the salaries of hired soldiers. But when he heard that the progress of Dashan Rock was slow, Feng Guozhang was not happy, but he didn't say much. After all, this is Japan, and it is not easy for him to interfere. It wasn't until the sixth day of his arrival in Japan that he was wronged by a woman in the street while shopping. Feng Guozhang's face changed.

The soldiers fought for the country with their lives on the front line, and their wives and daughters were not only deprived of food and clothing, but also humiliated. This made him how not to be angry. As the commander-in-chief of the Royal Army, he has to give an account to the soldiers. This woman directly sued Okuma Shigenobu for deducting her husband's military salary and pension, and also arrested her daughter in the house **** her prostitution, and asked the general of the country to call the shots.

It is a fact that military salaries are withheld, but the matter of prostitution is over the head of Okuma Shigenobu. Okuma Shigenobu is old and does not say, people in high positions are actually more important than face. But his subordinates don't see it that way, anyway, they have already deducted it, so it doesn't matter if they deduct it a little more, so they have done something to humiliate other people's wives and daughters.

If you don't pay a penny, you will return the rape of his wife and daughter! Immediately caused Feng Guozhang to be furious. Don't say a word. Feng Guozhang took his guards to Okuma's residence and demanded a thorough search. was first detained for a basin that promiscuated other people's wives and daughters, and then the mansion was searched, which was intolerable to Okuma Shigenobu. You know, even if the king of Japan comes to be polite to him, what is a general?

But what he forgot was that a Japanese king was just a chess piece in the eyes of China, and Feng Guozhang was a chess player. Feng Guozhang, who "lost his mind in anger", ordered his personal guards to go straight to the gate of the Okuma Shigenshin Mansion, and naturally he would be blocked by the Okuma Shigenshin Mansion is guard. Shots were fired during the altercation. Feng Guozhang's personal guard was shot and killed on the spot. Who exactly fired this shot, no one knows, but it doesn't matter anymore.

Feng Guozhang sent a telegram to summon the 1st Marine Division stationed at the Tokyo docks, and even surrounded the Okuma Shigenobu Mansion. Then the order was given: "Attack, dare to block the resistance, and kill the matter." ”

Of course, Okuma Shigenobu didn't dare to stop him, but he was confident that Feng Guozhang wouldn't dare to do anything to him. He borrowed. Feng Guozhang not only arrested him all over the house, but also because he finally found the woman who was taken away. Feng Guozhang directly arrested all the relatives of the nine clans of Okuma Shigenobu.

"To dare to shoot an imperial soldier is a rebellion. It's rebellion. ”

Feng Guozhang convicted Okuma Shigenobu of rebellion, and Ben did not give him a chance to quibble, and at the main gate of the Japanese Imperial Palace, all 1,837 people from the Okuma Shigenobu Nine Clans and samurai servants were escorted here. Only in the Book of Changes, "The tycoon is right, the way of heaven is also" The Japanese king Dazheng, who changed the Yuan Taizheng, originally wanted to save Okuma Shigenobu as the king of Japan, but he didn't want to even see Feng Guozhang's face, so he was stopped by Tang Shaoyi: "My general is dealing with the internal affairs of the army, and the prince should not ask." "The old man with a big face, but he didn't get angry on the spot.

So the nine clans of Okuma Shigenobu were killed. This time, instead of a gun but a knife, 1,837 heads were cut off, and the heads were really full of blood. In this way, Feng Guozhang was still angry, and angrily reprimanded the commander of the Japanese Defense Forces on the spot, and ordered him to immediately and thoroughly investigate the embezzlement of China's military salary. Shigenobu Okuma's property was confiscated, double compensation was paid to the families of the soldiers who had their salaries deducted, and the land under Shigenobu Okuma's name was also distributed to ordinary Japanese people, and the title deed was signed by Feng Guozhang himself. Feng Guozhang did not stop there, Okuma Shigenobu's cronies Matsukata Masayoshi and others were also investigated, and the property was confiscated and the land was divided.

As soon as this incident came out, it immediately spread throughout Japan, and countless families of Japanese mercenaries came to the Chinese consulates in various parts of Japan to file complaints, and the Chinese Government was shocked by the amount of money involved, which was equivalent to 70 percent of the Japanese mercenary fees allocated by the Chinese Government to be embezzled, so the Chinese Government sent a special investigation team to Japan to investigate the matter thoroughly. Those big families in Japan are unlucky, even if they are not corrupt, as long as some of them are corrupt, they will be charged with conniving at their subordinates, forcibly confiscating their land and property, and finally distributed to ordinary Japanese citizens.

"We kill people, after the thunder, it should rain in the spring breeze, then it depends on you, Lord Tang."

"Rest assured, you're prepared. This is the first batch of passes to work in China, the first batch of 500. Tang Shaoyi smiled and took out a stack of official documents to change the subject: "Have you ever thought about using this method in the northwest?" ”

"The national conditions are different, and I don't think so. However, I heard that the General Staff Headquarters is studying the history of the entry of Qing troops into the customs, and is evaluating what effect the three massacres of Jiading in Yangzhou will be used abroad. ”

"MD, when did you group of killers start studying this thing, is it that all the military schools teach now are a group of devils?"

"There's no way, we're the Ministry of War, and we're in charge of torture and killing, so what we do is kill people." After speaking, Feng Guozhang laughed.

"Hey, you just said that the General Staff Headquarters is evaluating the effect of the execution of the Ten Days Jiading Three Massacres in Yangzhou abroad?" Tang Shaoyi reacted suddenly, and looked at Feng Guozhang with a look of fear: "What do you want to do?" ”

"Do you know why during the Han and Tang dynasties, China's military strength could only stop at the Western Regions? We have analyzed that the main reason is that the slow speed of the supply makes it impossible to follow up effectively. Now there are warships, cars, and armored vehicles, and you see that the army has already arrived in the Urals......"

"Lao Tzu wants to go to this book to participate in you, a group of killers, get out-" (To be continued.) )