What Ito Hirobumi said to the general and the four daimyo basically determined the diplomatic relations between Japan and Ryukyu for the next fifty years, in fact, the relationship with Xiao Letian.
Ito Hirobumi elaborated on both the heart and the conduct, denying Xiao Letian's intention to directly annex Japanese territory. The detailed evidence and clear arguments convinced everyone present.
Part of what Ito said was based on his own understanding, and on the other hand, it was based on Xiao Letian's revelation. But in general, he understood the most, especially the theory about colonies, Ito Hirobumi It really coincides with Xiao Letian.
There are always coincidences in history. In real history, Ito Hirobumi won two consecutive wars for Japan, one was the Sino-Japanese War and the other was the Northeastern Japan-Russia War. At that time, Ito Hirobumi's reputation in Japan was unmatched, even the emperor. They did not dare to question his governance, and the hard-liners in the military were so suppressed by this civil servant that no one dared to act rashly.
Knowing that An Zhonggen's three shots in Harbin finally ended Ito's rule over Japan, Ito Hirobumi was 68 years old at the time, which was already very old for ordinary people, but for a politician, that was exactly The most golden period.
In other words, An Jung-geun, a Korean, at least reduced Ito's rule by ten years, but ironically, this great hero of the Korean nation indirectly promoted Japan's direct annexation of Korea.
Throughout Ito Hirobumi's life, the core of his East Asia policy was North Korea. After the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan took complete control of North Korea and established the Unified Supervisory Office. Ito Hirobumi became the first Unified Supervisor.
After every lecture he gave during a tour in North Korea, he never forgot to say to the North Korean and Japanese officials present, "I propose that you please follow me and say 'Long live the Emperor of Korea' three times!"
In 1907, he served as the teacher of the crown prince of North Korea in the hope that the crown prince would become a puppet taking orders from Japan in the future.
For the benefit of Japan, Ito Hirobumi resolutely opposed the merger of Japan and Korea, and advocated retaining the Korean royal family and government. This idea is actually similar to the ideas advocated by European powers and Xiao Letian. They are all attempts to replace direct occupation with colonization and protect most of the colonies. While resources belong to Japan, local resistance can be avoided to the greatest extent.
The British did this in India, and the French did it in Vietnam. At that time, more than 90% of the colonists did this.
Ito Hirobumi was very calm. He knew very well that occupation and digestion were completely different things. It was not difficult to defeat the enemy militarily and annex the land. What was difficult was digestion, and retaining the emperor of the original nation was like giving power to the occupiers and the occupied. A buffer zone is added in the middle.
The power of habit is too powerful. You can say that the Lee royal family of North Korea is incompetent and the officials are corrupt and the people are miserable. But no one should forget the power of habit. Eight generations of their ancestors have been under the rule of the Lee royal family. Let's put aside the good life and live the good life, at least the habit has been formed.
This is the plan of Ito Hirobumi's strategy for Japan. First, protect the Korean royal family and prevent the resistance of the entire Korean Peninsula from being too strong. At least the Lee royal family will help Japan suppress the rebellion. Then it will take time to sharpen it and build a large number of schools to promote Japanese language and culture.
It will definitely be difficult at the beginning, but the colonization process will become smoother as time goes by. People who maintain traditional ideas will eventually grow old, and children who grow up in Japanese schools will eventually become the backbone of society.
It may not be obvious in one generation, but if it takes three or four generations, a hundred years from now, I am afraid that by then all the people will have become accustomed to speaking Japanese, accepting Japanese culture, and getting used to Japanese rule.
In fact, looking at the current attitude of the Indian people towards the British, it is not difficult for us to appreciate the brilliance of this strategy. The British have colonized India for more than 200 years, but now ordinary people do not have the slightest hatred for the British, although this is different from Indian religion. Thoughts have a certain relationship, but in the final analysis, colonial rule is indeed very clever.
Ito Hirobumi, who hoped to keep the Korean state, fell at the gunpoint of the Korean independence activists. On October 26, 1909, three gunshots were fired at the Harbin train station, which ended Ito's life and also brought great harm to Korea. The Li family sounded the death knell.
In 1910, Japan forcibly annexed the Korean Peninsula and the Korean Dynasty perished. Soon, in order to consolidate its colonial rule and completely eliminate the ruling foundation of the former Korean Dynasty, Japan moved the descendants of the royal family to Japan. Therefore, the Prince of England's Palace was built near the Tokyo Royal Palace in Japan. The last emperor of Korea, Ri Goo, lived here until Japan's defeat in World War II.
However, due to the emergence of Xiao Letian in this parallel universe, the wheel of history has shifted. The Japanese senior officials who originally planned to colonize North Korea are now afraid of Japan being colonized.
In the end, Hirobumi Ito came up with a more realistic plan, which is to comply with the existing order and guard the territory that has not been lost. Simply put, it means legalizing the interests that have been lost and blocking the interests that have not been lost.
Xiao Letian's control over Japan's economy has been very deep. In particular, the grain trade has been divided up by dozens of large and small grain merchants affiliated to Lotte Matheson, especially Sihai Company.
Now that all the economic positions have been lost, and it has become Xiao Letian's de facto one-third of an acre, it would be better to give him the carriage and horse directly and announce it to the world in black and white.
A total of twelve ports including Nagasaki, Hirado, Shimonoseki, Nagoya...and even Sendai, Kanazawa, and Edo Castle were opened to allow Ryukyu merchants to trade freely, and the trade handwriting of the Ryukyu Prime Minister's Office was recognized.
This is a disguised switch to Xiao Letian. In addition to Britain, France, the United States, the Netherlands and other countries having trade agreements with Japan and free trade, merchants all over the world now have another Ryukyu.
Not only that, Japan also recognizes all trade manuals issued by Xiao Letian, which means that even businessmen from countries that have not signed an agreement with Japan can come to Japan to do business as long as they can get Xiao Letian's trade manuals. It doesn't matter whether it's a country in the Middle East or a small country in Africa and South America.
Opening the economy is only the first step. The next step is to open the ports. Under the premise that Xiao Letian promises to withdraw from Osaka Castle, all ports in Japan will be opened to the Ryukyu Navy. The Ryukyu Navy can freely enter the ports for supplies or shelter without application.
This also caused huge controversy in the military tent. Everyone was very angry. How could the pride of the samurai allow foreign troops to enter and exit freely.
But Hirobumi Ito's next words shattered all their pride, "We can be unconvinced or angry, but don't forget, can all of Japan's current navies combined be able to defeat the Ryukyu warships in Osaka Bay?"
Thinking of the brutal bombardment in the previous bloody battle, the powerful firepower output of the Ryukyu Navy made these medieval-minded warriors completely speechless.
"My lords, let's lose face that is not practical. We have to admit that Xiao Letian's navy can now enter and leave our Japanese ports at will. Even if we don't sign, can we still stop him? It's better to give him a favor to calm him down. A moment of their anger..."
After opening up free trade rights and military port access rights, the general and the four daimyo never gave in. This was Japan's bottom line.
According to the concept of colony as defined by the West, a country has completely lost its political, economic, military, and diplomatic control and handed it all over to the mother country. This is a complete colony.
This time, Japan has only opened about 70% of its economic privileges and about 40% of its military privileges to Xiao Letian. In fact, it is not even a semi-colony. Xiao Letian is not allowed to interfere with politics and diplomacy. Japan's top leaders still have some integrity. of.
Ito Hirobumi could not guarantee that Xiao Letian would agree to such conditions. He said deeply, "My lords, Xiao Letian is not a fool. What we are concessioning is actually what others already own. In the final analysis, we are not giving up actual benefits." Come out, this will make the other party feel that we are not sincere..."
"Besides, we can't just try to calm down Xiao Letian's anger. Who can calm down the Manchu Qing's anger?"
"I propose to give His Majesty Emperor Tongzhi another huge sum of compensation as compensation for His Majesty's assassination..."
There was a buzz of discussion in the military tent. The four daimyo also forgot about their hatred with the general. They leaned close to the general and whispered softly. After a while, Nabeshima turned around and asked Ito Hirobumi, "Can you guarantee Xiao?" Won’t Rakuten rent Osaka Castle?”
Ito nodded, "As long as we show sincerity, I am willing to negotiate with the Prime Minister in person." Nabeshima Naoshima glanced at him and then turned back and began to whisper.
After a while, Shimazu Tadayoshi also spoke, "It is not impossible to provide compensation, but we must add a new condition. Economic opening must be mutual. Ryukyu cannot prevent us Japanese businessmen from free trade..."
Ito nodded solemnly and said, "Hai, your proposal is what I think too. I will fight for the interests of Japan to the death." Shimazu Tadayoshi also turned back to continue the discussion.
Then Yamauchido said to Ito, "Based on your analysis, how much compensation should we pay? You must know that Japan is now very poor and has no financial resources."
Ito Hirobumi bowed deeply and replied, "Sir, this compensation is mainly for His Majesty Emperor Tongzhi, in order to appease the anger of the Manchus. I don't know how much is appropriate..."
"But I have a piece of information that I hope you will consider. Emperor Tongzhi has gathered a group of Eight Banners disciples from Beijing in Ryukyu and is conducting a new type of military training... which means that Emperor Tongzhi has begun to prepare to form his own army. Since he is pro-military, I think he must be in urgent need of military funds..."
"China under the control of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was really too big. There were many factions fighting each other fiercely. Even the emperor sometimes had to bow to powerful ministers. If we can help the emperor solve the first few military expenses, I think the effect will be better than directly It would be much better to give money to the Manchu government..."
Yamauchi Eido's eyes lit up and he looked at Ito for a minute before turning back to continue talking to the general.
Time passed minute by minute, and the usually long night became extremely short today. When the white fish belly appeared in the east, the general slapped the tatami with the fan in his hand, and the people present suddenly became nervous.
"Okay, it's time to make a decision. We need a short concession in exchange for more development time. We can't delay it any longer. God knows how many variables will happen if we delay it any longer."
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