On May 15, 1884, after the signing of the > < Sino-Japanese Treaty of Beijing, China and Japan presented a peculiar contrast.

On the same day, Ding Yuntong stamped and ratified the treaty, and Huang Zunxian went to Yantai with the text to wait for the exchange of letters agreed by the two sides. At the same time, the 43,000 Japanese prisoners who had been captured were also assembled in Weihai and the port of Nampo in North Korea, where they were ready to complete the exchange of letters and load them on ships to Japan.

On the other hand, the Japanese government is very secretive and tight-lipped that even many government officials do not know about it. On the night of May 17, Masayoshi Matsukata secretly returned to Tokyo with the text of the treaty, and Emperor Meiji covered his imperial seal with hatred, tears, and blood. After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government ordered the seal carver Kosone Kando to carve the national seal, named it "Great Japan National Seal", but because the word "big" could no longer be used, it had to be temporarily changed to "Japanese National Seal".

On May 20, Masayoshi Matsukata and Huang Zunxian completed the exchange of letters on the second floor of the "Continental Hotel" in Yantai, which meant that the treaty officially entered into force. As soon as the exchange of letters was completed, the merchant ships, which were already fully loaded with Japanese troops, began to set sail for their homeland.

That night, the Japanese negotiator Kiyotaka Kuroda committed suicide, he was ordered to sue for peace for the sake of his country, but he was unwilling to return home with such a humiliating peace. Before he died, he asked for the body to be returned to Japan.

Hearing about this, Ding Yuntong smiled, he couldn't help but think of Chen Xinjia, the minister of the Chongzhen period at the end of the Ming Dynasty, who was ordered by Chongzhen to negotiate peace with Houjin, but the matter was leaked, public opinion boiled, and in order to shirk responsibility, Emperor Chongzhen actually killed Chen Xinjia.

Now this Kuroda Kiyotaka, although he was not killed by the emperor's order, is of a similar nature, and these Japanese representatives will not have a good result when they go back. Paper can't contain the fire, and it won't take long for such a major event to spread throughout Japan, and these people will become "traitors".

However, this treaty can indeed be regarded as a kind of betrayal to Japan in the long run, but in order to maintain its rule, the emperor group cannot control much, which is called drinking water to quench thirst.

Sure enough, word spread.

In fact, while the Chinese newspapers were celebrating with great enthusiasm, Western diplomats and the media paid a great deal of attention to the treaty, and gradually passed it on to Japan through these people, and it spread among intellectuals, and finally on May 20, in Tokyo, the full text of the Sino-Japanese treaty was published in the magazine "Friends of the Nation", founded by Tokufu Sufeng.

It stirred up a thousand waves for a while, and within a day, the magazine "Friends of the Nation" distributed hundreds of thousands of copies, causing a sensation throughout Tokyo, and everyone was stunned, with a feeling of being deceived and betrayed.

The streets of Tokyo are shouting:

"Abolish the peace treaty, local jade shattering!"

"Kill the traitor!"

"Fight for national power abroad, punish national thieves internally!"

There are even some more radical people shouting: "Down with the incompetent and traitorous emperor!" ”

Angry people rushed to complain, and fierce clashes broke out with the police who maintained martial law, and strikes began in various places. In the following days, the wave of movement spread across the country at the same time, and the already chaotic situation finally reached a tipping point, and all that was needed now was a fuse.

On May 23, the Japanese delegation returned to Japan, among which Masayoshi Matsukata was worried that there would be an accident and temporarily stayed in Yantai to watch the situation, while Iwakura Gushi and Inoue Shin insisted on returning to China, "Even if the people are dissatisfied, they must resolutely face it. ”

But instead of the Seiryomon, they were greeted by the sound of scolding and raindrops of stones, and even one of the policemen who maintained order turned into an assassin and severely injured Iwakura with a katana at the docks, and died that night. Inoue Xinzhi committed suicide calmly after returning home and saying goodbye to his wife and children.

In the early morning of May 24, the time for Zuihou came, and the "Seven Gentlemen's Group", composed of seven famous scholars, including Tokutomi Sumine, Ito Norio, Komatsu Yuka, Lu Kannan, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Imaizumi Kazuki, and Komuro Shigehiro, came to the Imperial Palace and publicly submitted a petition to Emperor Meiji.

The petition first demanded the rejection of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Beijing, which humiliated the country and destroyed Japan, and second, demanded the immediate convening of a "national conference" to carry out political system reform in order to save the country.

These include: freedom of speech and the press, freedom of association of workers, changes in the state system through constitutional amendments, equality of all persons in the law, separation of church and state, the introduction of an eight-hour workday, and the return of land to peasants.

Since there was a lot of content in the petition and it was against the emperor system, the Imperial Palace refused to accept it. Then the "Seven Gentlemen" began to demonstrate in front of the palace. Soon, tens of thousands of people joined the demonstration in solidarity with the "Seven Gentlemen", and sat in front of the palace in a dark place.

Subsequently, Yamada Xianyi, Enomoto Takeyang, Hijikata Hisamoto, Mori Yuri and other government elders came forward to negotiate one after another, hoping that these people could disperse first, but the "Seven Gentlemen" insisted that "the national crisis is at the head, and the reform of the political system is imperative!" ”

The negotiations were deadlocked, and in the process more and more people gathered, and by the evening it had reached more than 100,000, and countless torches made the front of the palace as bright as day.

Defu Sufeng shouted at the palace: "All the Japanese people, together with their wives and children, and their elderly and weak parents, have come to ask the emperor for justice and protection. The people live in hardship, are oppressed, are treated as cattle and horses, and are subjected to bullying, humiliation and inhuman treatment. The people have endured it again and again, but now they have to accept such a treaty of destruction, and tyranny oppresses the whole country. Emperor Bixia, please listen to the voice of the people! Bixia listen to it! ”

Behind him, there are many people holding portraits of the emperor in their hands, singing "Kinoyo" with tears streaming down their faces.

At this time, in the palace that was heavily guarded and was like a great enemy, Emperor Meiji was in a state of panic, and he could not face such a situation. He could accept anything, but he would never accept political reform, which would mean the end of power, the end of the imperial system.

Seeing the tsunami of people outside the palace, the situation was about to get out of control, and the power groups gathered in the palace for the "Five Phases Meeting", including Hirobumi Ito, Secretary of the Interior and Right Minister, Junyoshi Kawamura, Secretary of the Navy, Yoshishin Inoue, Secretary of the Navy, Shigenobu Okuma, Secretary of Treasure, and Shuzo Aoki, who had just returned to Japan as Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

Ito Hirobumi was instructed by the emperor to call for a military suppression, and he hated the "Seven Gentlemen" very much, and it was these seven people who submitted a petition to declare war on China, and now they are the same people who put all the blame on the government.

These intellectuals just rely on one mouth, sing irresponsibly and loudly, completely ignoring the reality of the country, just like a group of angry young people, who have no other ability than to bring disaster to the country and the people. What kind of treaty to die of, if you don't sign a treaty and let you fight, can you? Are you patriotic? No matter how beautiful the words are, they are still stupid pigs.

He said hatefully: "Zhilan is the road, I have to get rid of it, if I don't do it, the imperial kingdom is about to overturn, and when the time comes, the Japanese archipelago will return to the Warring States period!" ”

Junyoshi Kawamura and Yoshishin Inoue, whose homes were burned down by the rioters, have long advocated strong suppression. Kawamura Junyoshi emphasized that in addition to the 11th Division, it has been assembled around the palace. In addition, tens of thousands of Japanese troops had already returned to Hiroshima and Shinagawa, respectively, and could form the strength of three divisions.

But Shigenobu Okuma was adamantly opposed, believing that doing so would completely hurt the people's feelings for the emperor and would be a real national disaster. Aoki Shuzo is ambiguous, Zuihou Okuma Shigeshin is difficult to support alone, he angrily proposed to resign on the spot, brushed his sleeves away.

At this point, Ito Hirobumi gritted his teeth and officially issued an order to the commander of the 11th Division, Natoshi Osako:

Suppress the traitors and traitors!

A bloody night began.