When Zuo Zongtang heard what the cute president said, he understood, but he was relieved. He was already very grateful to the cute president for not punishing him, and he had never expected that he could be valued like Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang was overjoyed. He did not expect that the cute CEO would still respect him so much and did not forget his protection for him.

However, Li Hongzhang respectfully lowered his hands aside, not daring to show any joy.

Seeing the trembling look of several people, the cute CEO was amused and waved. Princess Jie understood and came to the cute CEO.

The cute president held Jie Gege's hand and said, "You don't have to be so nervous. China is not the Qing court in the past. Everyone should do it casually. At work, everyone in the world is equal, and in life, people in the world are even more equal, equal and free. This is the core idea of ​​China."

Li Hongzhang whispered: "Someone, let's sit down. Now it's China. How about foreigners? We probably mean that now."

The cute president smiled and said, "It's almost the same, but we don't fully learn from foreigners. Chinese people themselves have many good traditions. There is nothing wrong with Confucianism. The imperial examinations have also had important historical significance. These must be affirmed! But the times have changed! Let's look forward!"

Several old consultants quickly recorded the cute president's words, which made Princess Jie smile.

The cute president is intensively carrying out his own reform plan, and Japan has also begun a vigorous unification movement. The Meiji Restoration Government wants to completely crush the shogunate power, push Japan to the military and national fast lane, and push it to the reform lane.

On May 3, 1868, Takamori Saigo, one of the commanders of the Shogun Movement, led a mighty emperor army to escort Emperor Meiji through the Sakurada Gate and enter the imperial city of Edo Castle (later Tokyo). The anti-shogun faction after overthrowing the Shogunate also took control of the state power and opened the curtain for the Meiji Restoration.

Everything started over again. The Shogun faction quickly established the Meiji Central Government with Emperor Meiji as its brain, actively seeking ways to strengthen the country and enrich the people. These old samurai from the Japanese Satsuma and the Nagashu clan began to think about Japan's way out under the wave of industrialization and commodity economy that swept the world in the 19th century. They took just three years to defeat an old system and build a platform for the dream of saving the country and striving for strength. However, overthrowing an old regime, but building a new country was never easy. At that time, the new government was facing a nearly divided country. In the early years of Meiji, although Japan established a government with the Emperor as its highest power center, Japan had not yet completed the centralized system. The 274 vassal states (vassal states) that continued from the shogunate era still maintained an independent army, finance and domestic rule. The Meiji government had extremely weak control over the country. At that time, the Meiji government was facing triple pressure:

First, the Meiji government itself did not have a direct armed force. The new government relied solely on the Satsumashimazu vassal and the Maori vassals of the Shogunate vassals. If the interests of the Satsuma-Chang Alliance and the Meiji government were not in line with the interests of the Meiji government, the government would have no troops to rely on and would inevitably collapse.

Secondly, the Meiji government can only collect and allocate 3o-4o% of the national resources financially, but it has to bear all the expenditures of the central government, so it is stretched and has very fragile payment capabilities. At this time, Japan was still under the interference of European and American powers and the oppression of the unequal treaties, and the Meiji government inherited the shogunate's foreign debt and various reparations, which undoubtedly further increased the financial burden.

Third, after the reform, Japan's overall political atmosphere remained in the shogunate period, but the loyalty targets changed from the shogunate to the emperor's government. Moreover, the various vassals regarded themselves as meritorious officials of the reform and fought for power and profit in the new government.

When you are poor, you think of change. The enlightened faction of Kido Takayoshi, one of the "Three Masters of Meiji" in the new government, realized that if you want to eliminate the hidden dangers of separatist division and division within and get rid of the crisis of oppression of the great powers, you must build a new Japan that is different from the shogunate era and can "confront all countries". Regarding the structure of this new Japan, Hirofumi Ito, who later served as prime minister, clearly pointed out that an abolitionist centralized system must be established, "all governments and laws come from the court", and the key is to abolish the various vassals and eliminate the basis for the "small power".

At this point, the reform party prescribed the right medicine and took three moves in a row:

The first move is to return the document. The hereditary rule of the old vassal lord over the original territory and peasants was taken back, thus divesting the control of local daimyos over the population and land, and eliminating the economic foundation of local separatism;

The second trick is to abolish the vassal states and establish the prefectures. The Meiji government concentrated the daimyos of the vassal states to live in Tokyo, and the local administration was managed by the prefecture governors appointed by the central government, which completely deprived the old forces of the political power;

The third move is to issue the "Decree of Abandoned Knife", "Recruitment Announcement" and the disciplinary action of the rank and salary. This move breaks the privileges of the old samurai in economic, military and social status, effectively breaks the old order of the shogunate era, and lays the foundation for the formation of a new social order.

These three moves are ruthless, which makes the old forces vomit blood. From food, clothing, housing and transportation, to status and face, you can get a fuck. Although the Meiji government gave the old vassal lords and old samurai a certain amount of redemption money, the aristocratic class who had lived like a parasite for a long time despised both the agricultural labor and commercial transactions that he had done himself, and had no skills; many samurai who invested in and did business lost money. Marx once said: "Social changes are always at the expense of the interests of some members of society." Under the new policy of the Meiji government, the old social privileged class who was sacrificed by the new era was like falling from heaven to hell. The transformation of life situation and social status made them feel that they had become abandoned people. In this way, with the deepening of the Meiji Restoration and Reform, the crisis of the Meiji era began to accumulate.

At the same time, the Meiji government also had disharmonious voices in foreign affairs. As an island country with scarce resources, the Meiji government of Japan established the basic national policy of foreign expansion since its inception. Although it solved the problem of "what to do", on the issue of "how to do", the forces of Saigo Takamoto advocated conquering North Korea first and then looking for China's foreign expansion policy, so they were called the "Sheng Korean faction"; however, after seeing the strength of the European and American powers, Iwakura envoys who returned from Europe and the United States,

It was well known that Japan had not yet had the strength to send troops to North Korea at that time, and solving internal affairs was the top priority. In this way, the Saigo faction and the reformists after returning home fought fiercely around the "Sakhalin Island issue", "Shanks issue" and "Shans issue". In the end, the Satsuma faction of Saigo Takamoto's Korean faction failed. In 1873, Saigo resigned and returned to his hometown and withdrew from the Meiji government. This withdrawal also laid the foundation for Saigo Takamoto's position as the leader of the opposition in Japan at that time, and also laid the foreshadowing for the subsequent Southwest War.

The Meiji government gradually abolished the privileges of the gentry, which had already aroused the dissatisfaction of the gentry. Foreign wars were temporarily rejected, and the way to transfer the crisis overseas was blocked. The only way for the gentry to vent their dissatisfaction was to oppose the Meiji government. The resignation of Saigo gave the dissatisfaction spiritual leaders and practical commanders, allowing the grassroots and high-level members of the unjust gentry to combine. At this point, the war in the southwest was inevitable.

On the night of January 29, 1877, in Kagoshima, a group of people in student uniforms suddenly attacked the Kusobenta ammunition depot and snatched the weapons and ammunition inside. A few days later, on February 3, 1877, the Kagoshima Police Department arrested spies from the central government and obtained information that they wanted to assassinate Takamori Saigo. In this regard, the resistance of the entire Satsuma Sect was completely ignited.

In February 1877, the old Satsuma vassals elected Takamoto Saigo as their leader and launched an armed rebellion against the Meiji government.

On February 21, in Kawajiri, south of Kumamoto Castle, the vanguard of the Satsuma Army clashed with the Taiwanese gang in Kumamoto Town, and fired the first shot of the Southwest War.

On February 6, before the official launch of troops on February 13, the Sai Army held a combat meeting. At the meeting, the proposal of Saigo Takamori's younger brother Saigo Kobe was rejected to occupy Nagasaki to ensure the supply of materials and prevent the official army from attacking from water. It also took advantage of the Kumamoto town to rescue Nagasaki in order to completely control Kyushu and directly attack Kumamoto Castle.

The court was also prepared for the rebellion. On February 6, Aritomoto, the 6th Army, secretly ordered Kumamoto Town to prevent the Kagoshima riot. On the 12th, he further discussed sending troops with Hirofumi Ito (Government Senate, Ministry of Works) and Junoyo Kawamura (Navalu Daisuke). After the approval of the Minister of the Taizheng Sanjo Mimi, he made preparations for the scrutiny. On the 19th, the Emperor issued an edict, formally forming the "Supreme composed of two brigades.

"The Counterattack Army" was appointed Prince Chiren of Aisugawa as the governor of the expedition, Lieutenant General of Aitomoto 6th Army, Lieutenant General of Kuroda Kiyoshi 6th Army, and Lieutenant General of Junyi Kawamura. Later, the Counterattack Army increased to 8 brigades, with a total of 55 infantry brigades, 6 artillery brigades, 1 engineering brigade, and other baggage brigades, cavalry and other troops, with a total of 58,858 people. The navy dispatched 19 warships and 228o soldiers.

The Sa army was frustrated in the Kumamoto strategy battle from February 21 to 23, so they decided to divide their troops to surround Kumamoto. During this period, the government army had gradually completed the preparations for the dispatch. On the periphery of Kumamoto, the Saskatchewan police force and the 14th Regiment (acting corps leader Nogi Nogi) who came to support the 14th Regiment (acting corps leader Nogi Nogi) encountered a battle in the Ueki and Koba area, and the government army was defeated and the corps flag was seized.

On February 22, all units of the Saskatchewan army gathered in Kawajiri. The government forces and the Saskatchewan army launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle under Kumamoto City. The Taiwanese soldiers in Kumamoto Town fought tenaciously, forcing the Saskatchewan to abandon the plan to attack Kumamoto Castle and instead switched to a long-term siege. However, the Kumamoto attack failed the Saskatchewan army's fighter opportunity and damaged the Saskatchewan's spirit. However, the government forces gradually completed the preparations for the dispatch of troops during this period. The First and Second Brigades had moved south from Fukuoka.

The government forces lifted the siege of Kumamoto on April 15. On the same day, the Sai army retreated across the board, and the government forces followed and chased. In June, Yoshiki, the capital was captured, Yanoka was captured in August, and in September, he chased to Kagoshima Castle, the rebels' nest of the Saigo rebels. After 23 days of siege battle, the Saige army was captured by the government forces on September 24. After being shot, Saigo "slowly knelt down, just like a straight head, and bowed eastward." He asked the Sai army general Shinsuke Beppu to be the leader and cut off his head...

The eight-month Southwest War, in addition to the damage and negative pressure brought to both sides of the war and the social economy, played a foundational role in promoting the Meiji Restoration in Japan and the rise of modern Japan.

The fall of the Satsuma conservatives represented by Takamori Saigo represented the fall of the Japanese aristocratic class. The landlord Daime, who dreamed of "retro of the king", dispelled the idea of ​​competing with the bourgeois reformists in politics. After this war, the Meiji government survived the storm of the early establishment of the regime and became increasingly consolidated, and the reformists established their centralized status in Japan in one fell swoop.

Under the leadership of Okupo Rito, Kido Takayun, Yama Prefecture and others, Japan, which was unified in thought, quickly implemented further deepening reforms in various fields such as politics, economy, society, and military. Japan's capitalism was able to fly, and Japan began to enter the fast lane of steady development and external expansion to a modern country.
Chapter completed!