May is the season of cherry blossoms and spring in the main islands. From Hokkaido to Kyushu, from the bottom of Mt. Fuji to the Imperial Palace, there are butterflies and bees everywhere, but this year there are many fewer people enjoying the cherry blossoms everywhere, and even if there are, most of them are lonely women.

After mobilizing nearly a million troops, a large number of men entered the army, and naturally there was no sign of the pair of cherry blossom lovers in the cherry blossom parks and hillsides around the book. And the corresponding deterioration of the economic situation and sharp inflation have made me feel a little less interested in appreciating cherry blossoms.

Deserted May! Perhaps this sentence is the most appropriate way to describe it.

Tokyo Castle Inner Castle Nishi Maru.

On the banks of the moat with clear water circulation, verdant green trees shade the majestic Imperial Palace. Inside the palace, on the stone path of the garden, which was surrounded by the breath of spring, Emperor Meiji was pacing slowly in a state of distraught. The wide white kimono, like a dazzling sun, scorched the surroundings restlessly. Although the spring is strong, it has not melted the dark clouds in the hearts of the descendants of Amaterasu.

It has been a whole year and three months since the war broke out, and when the war first broke out, the imperial army attacked the city and plundered the land, invincible, and the whole of the book seemed to see the scene of victory in front of them, but now?

The situation on the battlefield has unexpectedly deteriorated, especially after the intervention of the Chinese, and the ultimate goal of "gaining battlefield superiority and ending the war peacefully" is still far away, and the most terrible thing now is that the battlefield advantage has fundamentally changed, from the bias to the Chinese and even the Russian side.

"The goddess of victory threw a wink at Yuben, but finally lay down on the bed of the Chinese, and at the same time this wind-scratching goddess began to throw winking eyes at Russia."

Perhaps, it couldn't be simpler to describe it in this sentence.

The war has never brought any economic benefits to the country, and the war is simply a bottomless pool, absorbing all the military funds and soldiers of the country. In order to be able to continue this war, he has borrowed nearly 2 billion yuan, but the war seems to have no end in sight, this war has exhausted the last penny of the war, and the economic recession, hundreds of thousands of casualties and all kinds of negative effects brought about by the war are like demons rising in the wind, filling all corners of the war.

At this time, a figure appeared in front of him again, and whenever Meiji was troubled by all this, he would think of two people, Ito Hirobumi and Yamamoto Gonbei, both of whom had seriously opposed war with Russia at the Imperial Council before the outbreak of war, and even now still oppose war against Russia.

Meiji himself had opposed war against Russia, but in the end, his opposition was meaningless, the ministers insisted, and the situation forced him to go to war with Russia.

"Ben is too small and too small, Russia is too big and too big! It is said that Ben is too weak and too weak, and Russia is too strong and too strong! ”

In the past one and two months, Meiji was thrilled by the victories he had won again and again, and the people longed for the glory of being a powerful citizen, and as an emperor, he did not want to be the ruler of a powerful country, and he even imagined that Ben might become the British of Asia, and he would become the emperor who would usher in a great era like Victoria!

But now? The heavy blow given by the Chinese to Yumoto woke up Meiji, and when he faced tensions between China and China over the tariff incident, he had asked the ministers to make concessions, but what about the ministers?

Thinking of this, he became more and more disgusted and hated those ministers. Their arrogant chests beat loudly, promising that the Imperial Army did not need to fear China, and then they went on to list a lot of reasons.

But what about the end result? The Chinese gave up verbal conversation, and directly chose war in the name of violating China's neutrality, and the war not only did not take down the central [***] as the ministers said, but the imperial army, which was regarded as the pillar of the empire, was beaten down, and it was said that it was out of lasting peace in Asia, and did not want to expand the war with China.

What made him even more angry was that those land ministers who used to talk about rhetoric turned around, and the whole thing was full of reasons, the Chinese army had more artillery, more machine guns, and more troops, and it was not easy to solve it in a short time, and then he euphemistically said that it was better to negotiate with the Chinese to let them withdraw from the war!

However, the conditions put forward by the Chinese are unacceptable, Taiwan!

They want Taiwan! That's what Ben bought with blood!

"If those guys hadn't been so tough and agreed to China's tariff autonomy, they would have paid such a heavy price there!"

Meiji said to himself that it was the ministers' contempt for China that caused the terrible situation that he now had to face.

Now the Chinese and Russians, they have invaded South Korea, whether it is controlled by China or Russia, it is unacceptable for Ben to come from behind a gentle footstep. He turned to look, and a military attache bowed to him.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Gui is here."

Meiji waved his hand and muttered in a low voice.

"I'll come."

When he reappeared, Meiji had already changed into a military uniform, and he was standing by the window with his back to Katsura Taro. Katsura Taro, who was the prime minister of the Imperial Empire, stood there with his hands slightly down, reporting on the discussions of the ministers.

“…… Convening the Imperial Council! Discuss peace with China! ”

Today, Meiji stood as usual with a grim face and no expression.

"The Imperial Council is going to be convened to decide whether to cede Taiwan to China, right?"

Meiji turned around and starled at Katsura Taro's face with a pair of small but majestic eyes, as an emperor, he had long been accustomed to the awe of his ministers, and as an emperor, he also needed everything to be subservient at his feet.

But now, there was a hint of crampedness in his majesty.

Why was the Imperial Council held?

It is nothing more than trying to end this conflict with the Chinese in his own name. Meiji could even imagine that the ministers would first quarrel at the Imperial Council, and then they would use all kinds of excuses to express the difficulties and dangers that Samoto was facing, and of course they would keep emphasizing them.

"China's conditions are beyond the country's acceptance!"

Repeating the same words over and over again, in short, they will show great patriotism, will never accept the blackmail of the Chinese, and even say that they will not hesitate to fight and other courage and determination.

Then they would argue again, and at the end someone would say, "Let your majesty be judged!" ”。

In the end, these people will kick all the problems to themselves, and then decide for themselves whether to give Taiwan back to China, and then, whatever they say, "Ministers decide!" Or, "That's it, so be it!" "They're going to do it according to the consensus that has been formed in their hearts.

The so-called holy ruling is just an excuse for themselves, and it seems that it is he, not the ministers, who finally agree to return Taiwan to China, and in fact they have reached a consensus.

This group of ...... If they had accepted their own advice, there would have been a crisis of what it is today.

"Your Majesty, Lu [***] has already occupied the North Hamjing Dao! We will occupy South Hamgyeong-do, or even the whole of Korea, at any time, and in Korea, we are not afraid of a single tour group to stop their attack! ”

Katsura Taro truthfully told him, in fact, how could these emperors not know.

"What is the attitude of the ministers! Have they all agreed to cede Taiwan? ”

"Your Majesty, the ministers believe that Taiwan is a barrier to the southern part of the country, and that its military value is of great value, and it cannot be returned to China. In order to get Taiwan, we spent so much effort and killed so many people. And if Taiwan is returned to China,...... But, in its current form, it seems that the situation does not allow us to consider,"

When Katsura Taro spoke, he deliberately changed the emperor's cession to return, and when Meiji said the cession, he did not mock these ministers, but both of them chose to ignore this.

"After all, for Yuben, South Korea is close at hand, once South Korea is controlled by Lucia, then in the next ten years, we must face the threat of Lucia, this war has seriously deteriorated the relationship between the two countries, and the retaliation of Lucia is what we will have to face in the future, therefore, we have to consider the future situation of the country."

Although Katsura Taro did not directly say that the ministers felt that Taiwan should be ceded, the meaning of his words was very clear, accepting the South Korea-Taiwan exchange proposed by the Chinese, so as to ensure that South Korea had no worries, at least to prevent Lucia from north of Korea, and this is the most fundamental bottom line of Yuben.

"Everything, it seems, is back to where it was last year, isn't it?"

Meiji smiled bitterly in his heart, but when he said this, he didn't show any expression on his face.

A year ago, Ito Hirobumi proposed the "Manchurian-Korean exchange theory", in which Russia would at least withdraw from Korea, and Lucia's occupation of Manchuria would be appeased, so as to achieve a single war against Korea, ensuring that the first would be safe and secure, and the second would be to obtain a colony. But the ministers did not agree with this bottom line, and in the end, war inevitably broke out.

Two billion yuan of military spending was spent, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed and wounded, but what did Ben get in the end? What was gained was only what could have been obtained through negotiations, and even Taiwan was lost!

And this is the reward that Yuben got in this war, the country borrowed so much money and died so many people, but in the end, it ended up empty.

"What does General Kodama, the Governor General of Taiwan, think?"

"Your Majesty, Kodama respects the Holy Judgment!"

Katsura Taro replied like kicking a ball, making Meiji smile helplessly in his heart, and then silently turned to look at the twilight sky outside the window. Meiji, who looked extremely serious, was silent for a long time, and finally nodded in the twilight, is there any other choice now?

"Okay, it's getting late today, let's hold a pre-imperial meeting tomorrow!"

Woke up from a nap in the "Phoenix Room", Meiji sat up in a daze, thinking about his thoughts. In the evening, the scene of talking to Katsura Taro shook in front of his eyes. During this period of time, he felt too tired, and he had obviously lost a lot of weight. But more than that, he was a kind of panic, he didn't want to become like the emperor of the Qing State, signing those treaties that lost his power and humiliated the country, he could imagine that if the Lu fleet continued to repair in China's military ports, and China and Lu continued to cooperate, maybe, maybe, even if he was unwilling, it was possible to sign those treaties in the end.

Now, he regretted it a little, why couldn't he refuse to declare war on Lu Guo in the first place?

Why couldn't he insist on agreeing to the tariff autonomy demanded by the Chinese?

After all these years, why have they always been laissez-faire, so that it is difficult to return today, those ministers, on the surface, worship themselves as gods.

Oh, yes! The emperor is a descendant of Amaterasu, and if he is a god, he shouldn't worry about mundane things, right? If this is the case, then these mundane matters should be handled by the ministers who are mortals!

In the end, Meiji sighed weakly in his heart, what can he do? At this time, Meiji's whole person was completely shrouded in an intricate contradiction, like a dark cloud that could not be dispersed, tightly enveloped in his heart.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, Taiwan will be ceded!

My Taiwan! That's Ben's first colony! And tomorrow, tomorrow will lose that colony.

Feeling that the person next to her was gone, Empress Miko opened her eyes and saw Her Majesty Kazui sitting there, she quickly sat up and put on her pajamas, walked to His Majesty's side and bowed down.

"What's the matter, Your Majesty!

Empress Miko is the last female empress of the Moto, and she is the empress of Emperor Meiji, Empress Miko. After her, because of the Meiji Restoration, the title of female emperor was abolished, and her biological father was the minister of Sekihakuzuo, Ichijo Tadaka, the daughter of a famous family with a high reputation in the court. Her biological mother, whose original name was Rong Shouji, was not noble, but she was just a side room of Zhongxiang named Minko Shinhata, and Minko Shinhata's biological father was just a doctor in Minister Zuo's family.

Therefore, although you are the queen, her background has been criticized by many parties in her country. However, she was the virtuous assistant of the Meiji Emperor, and she was an extremely intelligent woman, and the Meiji Emperor was greatly influenced by her, but even so, Empress Miko did not have a child, and the crown prince was born by one of the attendants of the Meiji era.

"Nothing!"

Meiji did not answer Miko's question, in fact, the reason why he came to "Phoenix Room" today is because Meiji, as the emperor, wanted to get some answers from Empress Miko.

In the past year, the relationship between Meiji and the empress has not been harmonious, and the real "empress" in the harem is actually Aiko Yanagihara, the favorite attendant of Emperor Meiji, and the biological mother of the crown prince.

But now, when Miko asked, Meiji, who had been imprisoning Empress Miko for the past year, was reluctant to ask for help from the empress who had given him countless helps, and it was a shame for a man to ask a woman for help.

“……”

After politely bowing, Miko did not continue to ask, but returned directly to the tatami mat and slept with the clothes, and the cold relationship between the two can also be seen from this. But despite this, whether it is Meiji or Miko, they are now pretending to be the so-called "Phoenix Harmony", in fact, the relationship between the two has already fallen to the freezing point.

The reason for this is because of an unknown secret affair of the court, as for what it is, it is not something that the outside world can know, after all, the private affairs of the emperor are only understood by the emperor and the empress.

After Miko fell asleep, Meiji sighed heavily at the empress, who was revered by the people as "benevolent, fraternal, humble, and chaste, the embodiment of women's virtues", if she had not had an affair with the assassination of herself, maybe he would have asked her for help and asked her what she meant, but ...... With a long sigh in his heart, Meiji put on his clothes and left the "Phoenix Room", the palace attendant was stunned when he saw the emperor walk out of the "Phoenix Room" at midnight, and then followed the emperor obediently, although as the emperor, Meiji has more than 100 female attendants, but today he is not in the mood to go to the rooms of those female attendants, even the residence of those beautiful young female attendants.

When he walked towards the "Phoenix Pavilion", passing through a cherry blossom forest, under the illumination of the street lamp, the cherry blossom forest was extremely dazzling, strolling into the cherry blossom forest, feeling the cherry blossoms in full bloom, saying that I like cherry blossoms, only the cherry blossoms will wither at the most dazzling moment after blooming, isn't life exactly like this, withering at the most glorious moment, isn't it the pursuit of countless people?

Can...... But what about the country?

What if a nation, after blooming at the pinnacle of glory, suddenly withered?

When this thought popped up, Meiji's heart trembled, he could hardly believe that such a thought could appear in his heart, but this thought made his whole body fall into a kind of extreme fear, which was what he had been most worried about.

When the current cherry blossoms are not in full bloom, when they win this war, they will not be like the cherry blossoms blooming, reaching the apex of dazzling and shocking dazzling, but if it is...... At this moment, a gust of wind blew, and the originally dazzling cherry blossoms fell, and the sky was full of cherry blossom petals, and the petals fell on Meiji's body, swirling with the wind around him.

The cherry blossoms swirling around him seem to have become the book, and the withered cherry blossoms seem to be a sign of the future fate of the book, and perhaps, the book will wither in the most dazzling one.

Fear! Boundless fear spread in the heart of Emperor Meiji, and his originally serious, solemn expression would be completely enveloped by an unprecedented fear, and he almost fled from the cherry blossom forest in a panic, and kept muttering in his mouth.

"It's not true, it's not true,...... Certain...... ...... that will never happen"

(To be continued)