In November, St. Petersburg has entered a cold winter, after a few heavy snowfalls, the Neva River has frozen in winter, in this freezing snow, the beautiful palaces, only make the whole city like a winter fairy tale. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

And this fairytale city is surrounded by dense forests, which adds a bit of fairyland, in the snow-white forest, there are towering palaces that belong to the aristocracy to the extreme, every summer, in those palaces, there will always be a ball, but not all palaces are so lively, even here, there is also a very deserted existence.

On the road leading to the forest, a horse-drawn carriage drove fast on the icy road. In the carriage, a passenger will always look out of the window, whenever the window is blocked by the fog, he will wipe the fog with his hand to see the scenery outside the car, in fact, the scenery outside the window is monotonous, the forests of the Russian land in winter, never look different, the forests of St. Petersburg, not necessarily more beautiful than Siberia.

But for the passengers from Central Asia, this forest is a very attractive existence for him, who is accustomed to seeing barren mountains and grasslands, in fact, for the past many years, he has been planting trees in his fiefdom, more precisely, planting woods around his palace, so that the barren land is full of greenery, and sometimes the efforts always pay off, at least now, on the barren hills around the palace, pine trees have grown, which are red pines from his homeland.

And here, you can't see the red pine of the old country.

"It's another year!"

Looking out the window at the world of ice and snow, the Marquis of Ampa of the Russian Empire. I couldn't help but sigh in my heart. The sideburns under the bearskin hat were gray. The corners of his eyes are full of wrinkles, and the lingering sorrow is hidden between his eyebrows.

The snow-covered pine trees outside the car window always reminded him of the red pines of his homeland, and although the hillsides around his palace were full of red pines, those low saplings could not ease the nostalgia in his heart.

"Hey!"

After a sigh, the Marquis of Ampa silently closed his eyes, as he closed them. There seemed to be a few teardrops in the corners of his eyes.

Finally the carriage came to the outside of a manor, which was different from ordinary manors, which was all heavily guarded, and at the gate, several guards in overcoats and loaded guns, stopped the carriage and carefully checked the identity of the comers.

The owner of the manor was a duke of the Russian Empire, and after some careful inspection, the guards finally let him go, and during the inspection, the guards were respectful as usual. But the Marquis was still aware of the contempt in their eyes, and all this only made his heart swell with mixed emotions.

Although now he is also Russian. Just like the Japanese, although they were also citizens of the Russian Empire, in Russia they were inferior citizens, and the Russians would always call them "monkeys" in a contemptuous tone.

"Hey! At least ......"

With a long sigh and looking at the palace that was getting closer and closer, Ito Hirobumi silently thought in his heart that at least he had saved the imperial family, at least he had avoided unnecessary sacrifices.

Eight years ago, as a special envoy of the Japanese Empire, Ito Hirobumi personally came to Petersburg to sign a surrender agreement with the Russian Empire, according to the agreement, the Japanese imperial family and nobles were protected, and even their titles were recognized by the demotion of knights, and the only regret was that they needed to leave Japan and come to Russia like emperors to accept the re-canonization of the tsar.

It was also from that time that the Emperor of Japan ceased to exist...... No, the Japanese emperor still exists, except that his throne belongs to the Romanovs, who became one of the many titles of the Tsar of the Russian Empire. As for the former Meiji Emperor, well, I should call him Muhito, he became the Duke of the Russian Empire.

However, compared to others, the former emperor was not so much a duke of the Russian Empire as a hostage of the Russian Empire, and even these so-called "nobles" were not "hostages" of the Russian Empire.

"Your Majesty!"

When bowing at a depth of 90 degrees, facing Emperor Muhito, whom he had not seen for a year, looking at the thin emperor, Ito Hirobumi only felt that his eyes were hot, and it seemed that some tears were about to flow.

Every year, only on the birthday of Emperor Muhito, the former ministers and members of the former imperial family can come to visit Meiji, and on this day, or even the time of the year, the members of the old Japanese imperial family and their former ministers gather.

And for Iten, on this day, when he saw the emperor, looking at the sad face in the emperor's eyebrows, he always had a sense of guilt, yes, he saved the emperor and avoided the senseless sacrifice, but what about the emperor? The Emperor gave everything he had, humiliating the Japanese people as a hostage of the Russian Empire.

"Ito ......"

In the past few years, Mujin, who has been suffering from diabetes, walked up to Ito and supported him regardless of his physical etiquette, and for the past eight years, Ito would always come to the manor at this time.

"How many times have I said it, don't say anything more Your Majesty, after all, ......"

Muren sighed in his heart, with a slight hint of pain in his expression, Your Majesty, but it is just an old title, and now he is only the Duke of the Russian Empire, a Duke under house arrest. As for the emperor, it was just a memory of yesterday, and sometimes, although he didn't want to, he had to face the reality that the current emperor of Japan was the Tsar of Russia, not the duke.

"In the heart of the minister, Your Majesty will always be the Majesty of the minister! In the same way, he will always be the emperor of Japan, and this will never change! ”

Hirobumi Ito once again bowed deeply, whether he regarded Muhito as His Majesty or not, he could not change the fact that His Majesty would be under house arrest for a long time, and for the Russians, at least until His Majesty died, it would never be possible to set him free, and perhaps one day, the members of the imperial family would be free. But not now. Now for the Russians. The abdication of His Majesty would still pose a threat to their rule in Japan.

At least, at least Russia is a civilized country, and they will not poison the emperor who abdicated the throne as in the ancient Chinese history books. Perhaps, for Ito Hirobumi, this is the only thing that makes him happy, and even this is why he chose to surrender in the first place.

"Ito ......"

With a long sigh, Muren walked silently. Soon the two of them were in the snow-covered garden, where it was possible to escape the surveillance of the Russians, a manor house where there were more Russian servants than dozens of servants brought from Japan, who had always felt that Muhito was watching over him.

"I heard that Bobang went back to Japan this summer?"

When mentioning Japan, Muhito's eyes can't help but look to the east, and every time he dreams of it, he always dreams of the mountains and rivers of his homeland. But all of that is so far away. And the Bobang in his mouth is the eldest son of Hirobumi Ito.

"Yes. Your Majesty! ”

Although he did not hold public office in the Russian Empire, Ito was an official of the Russian Empire, and he was sent to Japan in the summer, and the news he brought from Japan really made Ito Hirobumi feel disappointed.

Eight years may not seem like a long time, but everything has changed, and the imperial authority that has been established over the past few decades is slowly disappearing, and in fact, the Japanese are only accustomed to the existence of the emperor, and for the past few hundred years, people have become accustomed to the rule of the shogunate.

Of course, Ito did not say that people were forgetting the emperor, but only mentioned the changes that had taken place in Japan, what millions of poor people had moved to the Far East, Siberia, what factories were increasing, and so on, so that Muren just nodded silently, it seems that under the rule of Russia, the life of the Japanese people is better, maybe he should be glad for it, but for some reason the bottom of his heart is because of these "good news" A burst of loss, God knows, for him, he is more eager to hear the news that the current people are worse than dead under Russian rule, rather than some so-called good news, their lives are good, but what about him as the emperor? What were his days like?

Oh yes, he sacrificed his life for the Japanese...... But why can't those damned civilians be sacrificed?

And at the end of the conversation, Ito Hirofumi finally mentioned the topic.

"Two years ago, Russia took advantage of the Spanish-American War to invade the Philippines, which directly led to confrontation with Britain and the United States, and it can be said that now, Russia's expansion in Asia has aroused the dissatisfaction of the whole world, but even so, the greed of the Russians still seems to have no end......

Greedy!

This was one of the reasons why Ito chose to surrender that year, believing that one day, Russian greed would help Japan to free itself from his rule, and that the emperor would naturally be able to return to Japan. Of course, at that time, Japan was indeed unable to resist Russia, so surrender became the most advantageous option for Japan.

"Now, as expected, the situation is changing."

Ito was a little excited when he mentioned the change in the situation, which was exactly what he had been waiting for.

"In those days, the whole world supported Russia, and now that a worldwide anti-Russian alliance has been established, in East Asia, our friends in the northeast have secretly sent news that they believe that the governor of the northeast has now reached some kind of secret agreement with Britain against Russia, and it is very likely that they will declare war on Russia after the reunification of the country!"

Ito Hirobumi's voice is not loud, and even when he speaks, he will look around, this news is obtained from the Japanese exiles in the northeast, millions of Japanese exiles in China, in the past eight years have already infiltrated all aspects of China, perhaps, the vast majority of them have been naturalized in China, but there are always some people with "patriotic hearts" in their hearts.

It is precisely that patriotism that makes there a certain channel of communication between them.

"Really!"

Hearing the news suddenly, Muhito's heart suddenly burst into excitement, as early as eight years ago, Ito Hirobumi was sure that there would be a war between China and Russia in the future, and that war would inevitably lead to the restoration of Japan.

"Yes, Your Majesty, for the past eight years, the Governors of the Northeast have been preparing for war against Russia, and now, they have completed their preparations, all that remains is to complete the unification of China, and once the unification of China is completed, they will definitely declare war on Russia! Your Majesty, even the Russians ......"

After a slight pause, Ito said in as calm a tone as possible.

"They have no doubts about this, and they also believe that the greatest threat to their Asian interests at present is the Chinese, and once China completes reunification, then Russia will inevitably go to war with China!"

The road to war!

Although there seems to be little disagreement between China and Russia over the past eight years, in reality, the two countries are moving towards war, and the conflict of interests has made this war inevitable, although both sides have done their best to avoid war in the past.

"Your Majesty, in fact, after the Russian occupation of the Philippines, the threat to China is even far greater than the threat to Britain and India, and the Russian encirclement of China cannot be ignored by the Chinese, and it is precisely because of this that the northeast authorities will completely turn to Britain and try to complete the reunification of China with the support of Britain through the "strong strategy", and deal with the threat from Russia after reunification! ”

Ito Hirofumi's words made Muren nod his head thoughtfully, and he forced himself to press the ecstasy in his heart, looked at Ito and said.

"So, do we have any direct channels of contact with China now? Also, what is China's attitude toward post-war Japan? ”

Meiji, as the king of the fallen country, of course, understood that he did not have many choices, in fact, he had almost no choice, even if China won the war, if the Chinese did not agree, he could not return to Japan and reign again, and even if the Russians ceded Japan to China, Japan's fate was just to change from a Russian colony to a Chinese colony.

The most critical issue is China's attitude.

"Your Majesty, for them now, the fate of Japan is secondary, after all, everything has not begun, but I believe that based on future stability, they will inevitably need to take advantage of His Majesty's sacred position in the hearts of the Japanese!"

Ito Hirobumi's answer finally made Muren breathe a sigh of relief, and after pondering for a while, he showed a smile and said to Ito.

"Ito, you've worked hard!"

(Welcome to the God of Wealth on the fifth day of the first month!) Wishing you all a lot of money in the Year of the Monkey! (To be continued.) )