During the Tongzhi Dynasty, Japan did not establish an embassy in Beijing like Britain, France and other countries, because before the Second Opium War, the Qing Dynasty fully implemented the suzerain-vassal system.
The Qing Dynasty is the center of the world, and other countries are vassals. As long as you rush to see us, you can do the work of the Lifan Yuan. What is the Li Fan Yuan? It is to manage the vassal country. Anyway, in the eyes of the Qing Emperor , all other countries are inferior vassal states, and the center of the world of the Celestial Kingdom will always be the Qing Dynasty.
As a result, the two Opium Wars gave the Qing two resounding slaps. A fire in the Old Summer Palace and the death of Xianfeng in the Summer Resort made the Manchus completely bow their heads. From that time on, Britain, France, Russia and the United States began to take the lead in establishing embassies in Dongjiaomin Lane and dispatched Permanent Ambassador.
Later, according to the agreement, other European countries also began to establish embassies, but the time was later than the four countries that participated in the Second Opium War.
An important prerequisite for establishing an embassy is the recognition of equality between countries, because according to diplomatic rules, although the embassy is established on your land, it is equivalent to the territory of other countries and has absolute diplomatic immunity.
Moreover, the ambassador also has the right to apply to see the emperor of the empire and discuss the relationship between the two countries. Obviously the Manchus and the Confucian ministers are not willing to accept this kind of equality, but the army is useless and cannot defeat the imperial powers, so they can only hold on to it. Nose recognition.
Of course, in the minds of the Manchus and Confucian officials, this kind of power to establish embassies can only be given to the strong. No European power can defeat them, so they can only admit it with pinched noses. But Asian countries like Japan, Manchu The Qing Dynasty would never grant the power to establish an embassy.
At this time, it was still the traditional Lifanyuan that handled the foreign affairs of the Qing Dynasty and Japan. Where was this place located? It was actually where the Beijing Hotel is today, next to Wangfujing.
The distance from Taixue all the way south to Lifanyuan was really not that close. More than a hundred Taixue students stared at the strong wind and rushed south while shouting random slogans.
Originally, these students thought that the people would be excited if they raised their arms, so when the time came, they surrounded the Lifan Courtyard, regardless of whether there would be any results, and first aroused the people who loved to watch the excitement.
As long as there are more people, these students can turn around and head west, heading straight to Tiananmen Square to incite the people to kowtow and force the court to declare war.
Little Japan dares to bully her to the point of being bullied. It's true that my uncle can tolerate it, but my aunt just can't tolerate it.
The Tai students were all full of confidence, because just over three months ago, someone had done the same thing. The group of Eight Banners losers actually gathered together and surrounded Prince Gong’s Prime Minister Affairs Office. That night, the lantern market The place is crowded with people.
In the end, didn't the Lifanyuan also compromise? From then on, no one dared to disobey the capital's health regulations. Isn't this the result of forcing the palace?
So today, the imperial students are following your example. Since you dare to force the emperor to marry you, of course we dare too. Moreover, we are doing this for the dignity of the Qing Dynasty, and the reason is overwhelming.
Today is a good day. A well-informed insider has told everyone about the arrangements for the meeting on Jingshan Mountain. The princes, ministers and the two queen mothers have gathered together. This is not the best time to force the palace.
"Declaration of war... declaration of war, the small country of Japan dares to violate the dignity of the Qing Dynasty... Bah, bah, bah, what a mouthful of sand..."
"Fathers and fellow citizens of Sijiu City, let's go to the Lifanyuan... Let's go ask the great masters how the emperor is doing... Oops." A phoenix leaf flew from nowhere and hit him. on the face.
At first, some people were encouraged to go to the streets to watch the excitement, but when they looked up at the dark sky and the growing whirlwind, everyone shrank back again.
"These students are going to school. Why don't you pick a good day? It would be terrible if you get a cold from the cold and heat in this stormy weather... Go home and watch the excitement. Let's talk about it tomorrow..."
The Taipei students simply don’t understand that things like demonstrations require an atmosphere and aura, especially when the first three kicks are kicked. Only by coercing the first group of people will the second and third groups appear, and finally when After the mass fanaticism, this group of people will not leave even if there is a knife from the sky.
But today's bad weather had already scared away the first batch of people who were eager to try. The smaller the number of people, the more people felt that this group of imperial students looked like clowns. In the end, except for some semi-disabled idlers who were watching the fun and not afraid of big troubles, they followed them. Apart from running all over the streets, there really weren't many people following him.
How can I say that I am not afraid of bad things, but I am afraid that there are no good people. No matter how fanatical the people are, at least they are still good-natured. They will not harm others with peace of mind, but those semi-remnant idlers who asked Xiao Letian to chop off their thumbs , after a year of idleness and doing nothing, it has long become a major cancer in the capital.
They eat the Eight Banners Royal Food all day long, go around the streets to deceive people, and are absolutely indispensable wherever there is excitement, and they will definitely make things get out of hand.
After arriving at the Lifan Academy, there were originally more than a hundred imperial students, but they were hijacked by more than two hundred and a half idle men, leaving less than a hundred people who really loved to have fun.
When the soldiers at the gate of the Lifan Court saw this situation, they quickly closed the door and shouted, "The adults are not here, there is no one here, no one..."
"Bah, no one, no one you are nothing..." Just when this group of semi-disabled idlers were about to rush in, three figures flashed out of the alley near the Lifan Courtyard. They just showed their heads and then Turn around and run.
"Who is he? He's sneaky." A group of idle men raised their feet and chased after them. "Look, they're Japanese. I recognize your clothes. They're the clothes worn by Japanese people..."
It was Shintaro and his entourage who were besieged. In fact, this guy was not a Japanese official at all. His real identity was a Japanese businessman. Since the diplomatic relations between Japan and the Qing Dynasty were not close, there were all kinds of people across the sea. In today's life, the limited contacts are all accomplished by businessmen.
Sometimes the Tokugawa shogunate had some diplomatic matters that needed to be communicated with the Qing Dynasty, so they would temporarily appoint a businessman to be a temporary minor official, send the letter back, and then bring the Qing acknowledgment back to the country, and the task would be completed. .
Anyway, both countries pursue a policy of insularity and have very little interaction with each other. Sometimes they cannot send even one diplomat in a year.
Today, this is because Xiao Letian suddenly came to Japan with Emperor Tongzhi. In order to avoid misunderstandings, he urgently accepted Shintaro as the liaison officer.
Due to the sudden assassination of Emperor Tongzhi, Shintaro, who originally planned to stay for about ten days and then leave, could not leave the capital. He did not know how long he would stay, so Shintaro did not dare to stay in the hotel permanently, just in the alley south of the Lifan Court. I rented a house and planned to stay in Beijing permanently.
But no one expected that Beijing, known as the land of etiquette, would become the place where Shintaro died.
