Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 683 Red and Loyal Little Japan (Third update, please subscribe)
It is true that Westerners are a country of tigers and wolves.

But Daming... may not be the so-called good country.

It is impossible to have no ambitions for Japan!
You must know that when Daming visited, they witnessed how Paraguay was incorporated into Daming.

A country just disappeared.Even the kind that the Paraguayans themselves took the initiative.Of course, there weren't many Paraguayans left at that time.

Facing Ito Hirobumi's objection, Okubo Toshimichi said directly.

"If Japan is doomed to perish, at least merged into Ming Dynasty, we can still become Ming people! But if Japan becomes a colony of the British, then we will be slaves of Western monsters, just like the Indians, they are in their own You are a third-class citizen without any rights in your country."

Why Okubo Toshimichi became a supporter of Mingri Hebang is essentially a trade-off between the two powers, whichever is less. When Daming visited, he witnessed that after Paraguay was merged into Daming, the Paraguayans became Daming people, and they were the same as the Daming people. , enjoy the same rights.

But what about in India?

India under British colonial rule was nothing more than a group of enslaved third-class citizens.As the colonized rulers, they have no rights, let alone prosperity!

India was nothing more than a source of raw materials and a dumping market in the British colonial system.The British don't care about the life and death of the Indians at all, they are just squeezing India as much as possible.

This is the attitude of Westerners towards the colonies.If Japan becomes a colony, it may not be much better than India, and may even have a more miserable life than Indians.

Because at least India still has resources to squeeze, but Japan has nothing.

Under such a comparison, of course he tends to the former, at least the former, the Japanese are still human.

But what about the latter?

Then there is really nothing.Not only will you have nothing, but you will also become a slave to the Westerners.

"And do Japan have other options now?"

"But we are not sure that the British will side with the Tokugawas."

Yamaguchi Nakata said hesitantly as the foreign affairs assistant.

"We can't just think that the British want to occupy Japan just because they sent their warships to Osaka?"

"By the time they really want to occupy Japan, it will be too late. If we can't ask Daming for help immediately, by this time next year, we may not even have the chance to ask for help."

Okubo Toshitsu said in a rather heavy tone.

"We must seize the opportunity in front of us. If we hesitate a little, we are all Japan's sinners."

"Sinners? Could it be that we are not sinners if we hand over Japan to the Ming people?"

"North Koreans have been vassals for so many years like the Ming Dynasty, and they have lost North Korea! Isn't North Korea just a ready-made example?"

Toshimichi Okubo directly launched North Korea. In his opinion, Japan does not intend to merge with Ming Dynasty. For Japan, the best choice is to surrender to Ming Dynasty like North Korea.So as to obtain all-round protection from Ming Dynasty.

After all, there are ready-made examples to follow.

"That's completely different."

Ito Hirobumi said loudly.

"We need to know that the current Daming Empire is not the old Ming Empire. If we surrender to them now, maybe they will directly merge Daming into their country. At that time..."

Before he finished speaking, Okubo Toshimichi interrupted him directly.

"You don't need to think about what happened at that time. Let's think about the present first. What should we do now? Tell me, what should Japan do now?"

How to do?
Facing the predicament in front of them, these most outstanding figures in Japan suddenly became a little dazed.After all, in the exchanges between countries, strength is relied on, but Britain has an overwhelming strength advantage.

In front of Britain, Japan is nothing more than a fish on the board.What options do they have now?
There is only a choice of merman meat!

Facing the disputes among the crowd, Iwakura Toshiki said.

"In my opinion, we should communicate with the British minister and ask them what they want to do. By the way, we should express our protest to them. How can they interfere in Japan's internal affairs?"

Iwakura Jushi's heart is a bit heavy. How could those British interfere in Japan's internal affairs so perfidiously? Don't they know that the Tokugawa family is over?
After Iwakura Toshishi made this decision, he even personally summoned the British Minister to Japan, Pacharley, the guy who was imprisoned in the Qing Dynasty because he refused to kneel down, and caused the Yuanmingyuan to be set on fire.

When he protested against Britain's non-interference in Japan's internal affairs because Britain sent a fleet to visit Osaka, Parker replied directly.

"Your Excellency, the attitude of the United Kingdom has always been very clear. We are willing to maintain a good cooperative relationship with any party in Japan. This first needs to be confirmed that they are willing to cooperate with the United Kingdom."

Bacharley has received direct instructions from London. According to London's secret telegram, Britain will stand on the side of the Tokugawa family and Saigo.They want a divided Japan, not a unified Japan.

As for the reform government, these people are more inclined to cooperate with Daming, so naturally they are not within the scope of British consideration.

In London's view, split Japan in half or more.It is not impossible, once Ming seeks allies in East Asia, it will only be able to win over one of them because of the hostility between the Tokugawa family and the Restoration government, and Britain can at least keep one; if it is on the bright side, Britain’s goal is to prevent Ming's expansion in Japan.

From the UK's point of view, this is the least expensive way to do it.But it can get the most lucrative return.

Iwakura Tomomi couldn't believe his ears at Pacharley's answer.

What does this mean in the UK?
Do they really want to annex Japan, as Okubo Toshimichi guessed?

The answer is obvious.

On the same day, after a heated debate, Iwakura Tomomi finally made a final decision-to invite the Ming Fleet to visit Japan.

Why is the Ming Fleet invited to visit Japan?

This is also Iwakura's little thought about them. In their view, as long as the Ming army does not enter Japan, otherwise it will be impossible to lure wolves into the house.

Inviting Ming's navy can also help Japan deter the British navy that is visiting Osaka. In other words, it wants to use Ming's power to deter Britain.Prevent the British from arbitrarily and unreasonably interfering in Japan's internal affairs.

Of course what he didn't know was where all this would end up leading to?
It was as if he had no idea that Britain's policy towards Japan had undergone a fundamental shift.

In international affairs, the fate of small countries is often influenced by big countries, and Japan is unfortunately the one being controlled.It's just that they are in it, they don't know all this, they just passively try to protect themselves in this chaotic world of tigers and wolves according to the way they think of self-protection.

But they didn't know that their invitation further confirmed Britain's guess that Ming's expansion target was Japan.

……

When receiving the invitation from the other side of the ocean, Emperor Zhu had been sitting there quietly.

In fact, he doesn't have much ambition for Japan.

Compared with annexing Japan, he is more inclined to use the Japanese as consumables for the empire to help Ming to develop the great cause of Africa.

This is definitely not an African warning, but a real need, just like the British used the Indians to achieve their expanding rule in Africa.

The expansion of the Ming Empire also required its own consumables. In fact, before that, Daming could also get these numbers, just like now.There are many unemployed warriors who are willing to come to Daming to serve Daming in Africa as consumables for the empire.

But such consumables are consumables from other countries after all.With the reformation of Japan, eventually those people will have a national consciousness, will they still be loyal to Ming Dynasty in the future?

This question is what Emperor Zhu had to think about.

What is the final option in comparison?It is to make Daming the ruler of that piece of land in Japan, even the ruler in name can gradually turn it into the land of Daming since ancient times.

He has been planning for a long time for this.But now?Things were progressing more smoothly than he had imagined, just like now, the reform elites in Japan have sent Japan to the door with their hands in their hands.

Inviting the fleet to visit is only the first step.They wanted to use the influence of Ming Dynasty to deter the British, but in the end they would find that just taking advantage of the situation was useless.

After all, now that the British have changed their attitude towards Japan, in this case, there are not many choices for Japan at all, either to accept their fate.Or...there is no Japanese business.

Emperor Zhu believed that those outstanding elites of the Japanese Restoration would eventually make their choices, after all, they had no choice at all.

Emperor Zhu had to sigh with emotion.

"Sometimes when luck comes, I really can't stop it."

Originally, according to Zhu Xianhai's plan, he was planning to wait until the Japanese civil war broke out, and when the so-called reform government was about to collapse, before sending troops into Japan.Help Japan achieve peace by force.

and then?
Of course, Daming can stand on the standpoint of helping Japan, and in the name of peace, get those Japanese laid-off samurai to Africa. There is an extremely vast world there, and there must be a place for those people to use their talents.

Those people will marry the local Aboriginal women there.Establishing a family, and finally taking root in the local area, became an indispensable help in the cause of the Ming Empire.Of course, at the same time, millions of Japanese women will come to Daming as laborers, and they will also take root in Daming, marry men in Daming and form families...

In this process, Ming is the final winner. As for Japan... Japan's destiny will be profoundly changed at that moment.

But now?
Before the plan was fully launched, the Japanese were so active and cooperative, offering their country with both hands.

"You can't let down the sincerity of the Japanese."

When Emperor Zhu was talking to himself, he said again.

"Well, Ito Hirobumi and those people can still be used. In the future, give them more opportunities to become naturalized people of Daming! Otherwise, I'm really sorry for their utter loyalty to Daming."

(End of this chapter)