"You have suffered, both. Over the years, China's national strength weakened, which allowed the Japanese to take advantage of the opportunity to annex Korea and the Ryukyus. Fortunately, the empire has now defeated Japan. Korea and the Ryukyus will also become independent countries again. You and the people of both countries will no longer have to suffer. Wu Haoxuan said.

"This is all the great grace of the Celestial Empire, otherwise, North Korea would have perished a long time ago, how could there be a chance to regain independence!" Li Tuo said with red eyes. In the past few years, he has suffered a lot of sins and suffered a lot.

Korea has always been a vassal state of China, but after the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarked on the road of foreign expansion. The Japanese dreamed of landing on the mainland, and North Korea became their best springboard. In the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan defeated China. Since then, Korea has been a Japanese colony. Subsequently, Japan forced Korea to sign the "Japan-South Korea Merger Treaty" with them, and directly annexed Korea. It was not until the Chinese Empire defeated Japan in this battle that Korea was able to free itself from Japanese rule.

"Your Highness, Ryukyu has been annexed by Japan for decades. Fortunately, with the help of the Celestial Empire, otherwise, we people will never have the day to come out! "The prince of the Ryukyus, Shangdian, is even more tearful.

Compared to North Korea, the Ryukyus are even more miserable. They were also annexed by Japan for a longer period of time. The king of the Ryukyus, Shotai, died in Tokyo.

Ryukyu has always been a vassal state of China. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, successive Ryukyu kings have accepted the canonization of China and have never been broken. However, Japan has also been eyeing the Ryukyus for a long time.

In 1609, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan sent the Satsuma clan to invade Korea, and the Shimazu clan extorted money from the Ryukyus, which was rejected by the Ryukyu king. The Shimazu clan then led an army to attack the Ryukyus. He captured the Ryukyu king Shunin and forced him to write an oath to send 8,000 koku of grain to the Satsuma clan every year. Japan regarded its historical aggression as a "tribute" and proved that the Ryukyus had always been a "vassal" of Japan. [2] Since then, the Ryukyus have entered a period of "one country, two genera". In the early days, Japan had been asking the Ryukyus to conceal from China that they had paid tribute to Japan. Later, the Qing Dynasty weakened due to national strength. He was too busy to take care of himself, and although he knew about it but "did not ask about it", he never officially recognized Ryukyu as a subject state of Japan.

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarked on the path of aggression and expansion, and was no longer satisfied with the status of "two Ryukyus", so it planned to annex the Ryukyus. In 1868, the "Imperial Decree" of the Japanese Restoration Government reached the Ryukyus, placing the Ryukyu Kingdom under the jurisdiction of Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan, and later changing it to a direct government area.

In October 1872, he took the opportunity of Emperor Meiji to take office. Kagoshima Prefecture adhered to the will of the Meiji government and ordered the Ryukyu prince Ie and others to come to the palace to worship. Ie and the others set off by boat from Kagoshima, arriving first in Shinagawa and then entering the palace to worship. At that time, the Ryukyu greeting sheet was written as "Ryukyu King Shotai", but the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the liberty of removing the name of the country and changed it to "Ryukyu Shotai". Emperor Meiji issued an edict that the Ryukyu royal family was "elevated to the rank of Ryukyu feudal lord and the Chinese clan." The second year. He also issued an edict ordering the Ryukyus to be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and to pay taxes to the Ministry of Finance. It was brought into the orbit of Japan's internal affairs, and all this was done without the consent of the Ryukyu State.

Just as Japan was tightening its grip on the Ryukyus, the "Peony Society Incident" provided an excuse for the Japanese to completely occupy the Ryukyus and get involved in Taiwan. In 1875, Japan sent troops to the Ryukyus and ordered the Ryukyus to honor the Meiji era of Japan and no longer pay tribute to the Qing government. Seeing that the situation is not good. The Ryukyu Kingdom appealed to the Qing government, the suzerain, and sent Shang Tokuhiro to China for help. After Shang Dehong arrived in Fuzhou, he explained the matter to He Jing, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Ding Richang, the governor of Fujian, and reported it to the Qing court through them. But the Qing government didn't take this matter to heart at all, and just gave an order to He Ruzhang, the minister stationed in Japan. He was ordered to investigate the matter. In fact, at that time, Japan had only more than 30,000 standing army members, 4,000 navy personnel, and 15 warships, and many of them were damaged and could not go to sea. Although He Ruzhang did his best in this matter, because the Qing court paid too much attention to reasonableness and did not show off force in a timely manner when negotiating with Japan, Japan found out the cowardly nature of the Qing government and intensified its efforts.

In April 1878, the Japanese government brazenly decided to abolish Ryukyu as a county. Although the Ryukyus were not willing to die in the country, they were limited by the weakness of the country and were unable to resist the Japanese army. The Japanese government ordered the Ryukyu King Shōtai to come to Tokyo to wait for the disposition. At this time, Shang Dehong, who was in China, hurriedly submitted a letter of help to Li Hongzhang, saying that Japan wanted to "destroy the worship of the vassal ministers for hundreds of years", and that the Ryukyus were "worried about the humiliation of the ministers", "did not want to be a Japanese subordinate in life, and did not want to die to be a powerful ghost in Japan", and implored the Qing government to "benefit the world", hoping to "quickly give a rescue strategy, and establish a teacher to ask the guilty" to save the Ryukyu country from fire and water. However, the Ryukyu issue happened to coincide with the incident of Aguba's invasion of Xinjiang at this time, and the Qing court was certainly unable to devote all its efforts to saving the Ryukyus. In the face of Shang Dehong's crying, the Qing government hesitated to let Japan take the lead.

In 1879, Japan announced the abolition of the Ryukyu feudal domain (Okinawa) Prefecture, dispatched an additional 450 soldiers and 160 policemen, suppressed the "feudal king" of the Ryukyus, and forcibly relocated the royal family to Tokyo. The Ryukyu Kingdom became Okinawa Prefecture under the direct administration of the Japanese government.

"Shiko, I am deeply saddened by the tragic experience of the Ryukyus over the past few decades. I promise that it will never happen again. China has become stronger, and we will provide security guarantees to the Ryukyus and North Korea. No country will be able to invade you again. Wu Haoxuan said solemnly.

He has already regarded Korea and the Ryukyus as meat in his mouth, how can he let them touch it?

"Your Highness!" Li Tuo and Shang Dian couldn't help but be grateful. They only felt that there was finally hope, and that good days were coming.

"Korea and the Ryukyus have been ruined by the Japanese over the years. In order to help you, the Empire will provide Korea and the Ryukyus with five million and one million Chinese dollars respectively for the reconstruction costs. You will be responsible for the use of this fund. Wu Haoxuan said.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Li Tuo and Shang Dian were even more excited. The assistance provided by the Chinese Empire was undoubtedly a huge amount of money for them.

"Also, I would like to remind both. Although the empire defeated Japan this time, however, it was only temporary. The wolf ambitions of the Japanese did not suffer much from this. They are still deliberately developing force. Once they are rearmed, they will inevitably start the war again. At that time, Korea and the Ryukyus will most likely become the primary targets of Japan's attack. Wu Haoxuan reminded.

Suddenly, Li Tuo and Shang Dian were worried. If the Japanese come again, with the strength of Korea and the Ryukyus, they will not be able to resist the Japanese attack at all. At that time, once Korea and the Ryukyus are destroyed, I am afraid that they will be imprisoned by the Japanese again, or even killed directly.

"Your Highness, you must save North Korea!" Li Tuo immediately knelt on the ground and pleaded with Wu Haoxuan.

"Your Highness, Ryukyu has been the most loyal vassal state of China since ancient times, and I implore Your Highness to protect Ryukyu from the invasion of the Japanese." Shang Dian also pleaded. Now, China has become the sole reliance of the Ryukyus and North Korea.

"Two of you, please. China, naturally, will not sit idly by. However, to defend against the Japanese invasion, our troops would have to be stationed in Korea and the Ryukyus. Otherwise, when the Japanese launch an invasion, we will send troops, and I am afraid it will be too late. Wu Haoxuan said.

Li Tuo immediately hesitated, after Korea got rid of Japanese rule this time, he hoped to be truly independent. If China sends troops to North Korea, its power will be constrained.

However, Shang Dian was very acquainted, and immediately said: "Your Highness, please rest assured of this." Any inch of the Ryukyus can be used to station Chinese* troops. The Ryukyus were too weak to bear the heavy responsibility of defending the country, so they had to beg China for help. ”

Li Tuo had no choice but to express his position and agree to China sending troops to North Korea. In addition, Li Tuo also believes that the Chinese are much more benevolent than the Japanese and will not treat him like the Japanese. Besides, if China sends troops to station, then there is no need to be afraid of the Japanese. He didn't have to worry about the Japanese coming back all day long.

"In that case, that's for the best. After the Imperial troops were stationed in Korea and the Ryukyus, it was impossible for the Japanese to invade both countries. Other than that. The Imperial Navy needed to lease the North Korean ports of Busan and Jeju Island, the ports of Naha in the Ryukyus, as military bases for the Imperial Navy. In the event of another war between the Empire and Japan, the navy would be the absolute main force. Therefore, the empire had to have enough military bases around Japan. Wu Haoxuan continued.

In the face of Wu Haoxuan's request, Li Tuo and Shangdian certainly did not dare to refuse. Korea and the Ryukyus were able to restore their countries and count solely on China's help. If they provoke Wu Haoxuan and directly change to a candidate for the king, then they won't be able to cry. After all, the royal families of the two countries, besides them, have other people's. Others, too, want to gain China's support and thus ascend to the throne.

Both Li Tuo and Shang Dian said that the Imperial Navy wanted to use their ports, even if they did.

Next, Wu Haoxuan talked with Li Tuo and Shang Dian about the management of the country, the construction of the army, and so on. As a result, Li Tuo and Shangdian said that the state management of Korea and the Ryukyus would be fully guided by China. The police of the two countries will also be trained by China. The armies of the two countries are all trained by military instructors sent by China, and all the equipment is also purchased with Chinese-made weapons. It can be said that these two countries are completely under China's control. (To be continued.) )

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