I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 161 France refuses to accept, and Great Britain takes action
"Selling newspapers! Japan defeated the combined fleet of France, Spain and the Netherlands, and the Netherlands paid 3000 million yen in compensation!"

"The Netherlands has agreed to abrogate the Japan-Dutch Treaty!"

"The Prime Minister is leading Japan to become stronger!"

In the streets and alleys of Kyoto, newsboys waved daily newspapers and shouted loudly.

Pedestrians on the street heard the newsboy's cries and stretched out their hands to buy a newspaper for a dime.

"Okay, okay, this is really a great show of national prestige!"

"That's not true. A powerful country like France has lost to Japan."

"The Prime Minister is really brave. He personally led his troops to ambush the enemy. He is worthy of being an honorary warrior personally proclaimed by the Emperor."

In the past few days, discussions on this major event have never stopped on the streets. This can be said to be the most proud period for Japanese people.

Some people even threatened that under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Japan will soon become the number one in Asia.

For most people, such wild talk may come true. After all, in their view, Prime Minister Yagyu is a man who can create miracles.

Whether in the court or among the people, everyone thinks this way, but Yagyu knows that this kind of thinking is somewhat dangerous, and it is inevitable that someone will make a fuss about it.

Domestic instability was something Yagyu had long anticipated. After all, he seized power from the top down and did not have a solid foundation.

After the transfer of political power, Yagyu retained the old forces. These old forces would not quit willingly and would definitely find opportunities to fight back before they quit.

Before this battle, the forces headed by Shimazu Hisamitsu and Ohara Shigenori wanted to use the Japan-Dutch Treaty to cause trouble. Fortunately, Yagyu made a prompt decision, started a war with France and the Netherlands and won, and suppressed this group of people.

However, the other party is only dormant temporarily. Maybe this time they will take advantage of the national mood to cause trouble.

Some people are already advocating the theory of conquest of Korea.

Now that the treaty with the Netherlands has been resolved, is it necessary to resolve the issue with Britain, France, the United States, and Russia?

Shimazu Hisamitsu and others will not jump out for the time being, but they will definitely look for opportunities.

In addition, France had lost face this time and naturally wanted to regain its place. Originally, France wanted to dispatch the Far East Fleet to completely annihilate the Japanese navy, but Great Britain intervened to stop it.

Just kidding, your French has no market in Japan. If you are embarrassed this time, you can get angry and throw the table over, but what about me, Da Ying?If France goes to war in Japan, we, Britain, can no longer do business.

If war doesn't work, you can think of other ways.

France says it wants to go to war. In fact, the domestic voice is very chaotic. The domestic economy is not good. France already owes a debt of almost one billion francs.

Militarily, the invasion of Mexico failed and a warship was lost in the attack on Japan, which dealt another blow to Napoleon III's reputation.

Other parties in the country do not want to see France getting into fights elsewhere. France should now devote all its energy to Europe and itself.

Therefore, Roches's clamor was only to intimidate the Yagyu cabinet.

At the same time, Yagyu also felt that Japan should apply the brakes and stop to avoid stalling and causing the car to crash and kill people.

The reason why he was eager to start a war was that he had thought about the founding war earlier.

If he wants to develop the domestic economy, he must take risks to untie himself. Otherwise, the economy he has worked so hard to manage will be nothing more than nourishment for Western countries.

Therefore, Yagyu attacked the Netherlands and Spain from beginning to end and never provoked France.

Now that the Netherlands and Japan have signed a fair treaty, the Dutch no longer have diplomatic immunity, tariff privileges, etc. in Japan.

In addition, as for Spain, Yagyu asked the Keio anchored in Hainan and several other steam warships to go to Luzon Island to let the Spanish governor raise compensation as soon as possible.

The Spanish fleet in Manila only had wooden ships left, and all the five steam warships it had accumulated were lost. The Spanish governor was really afraid of the Japanese navy's attack.

Of course, the Spanish governor wanted France to help, but France was in trouble now and ignored him. In the end, Spain accepted the 3000 million yen compensation.

This time the treaty matter seems to be over, but in fact, the real impact has just begun.

Roches found Parkes and said with a gloomy expression: "We in France will not let this matter go." Parkes nodded slightly and said: "That's right. After all, France is also a powerful country in Europe. Let Japan Being embarrassed by such a backward country will only make others look down upon us."

Roches became even more angry and said, "Then why don't you join us in sending troops to Japan?"

Naturally, Parkes could not tell the truth. He shook his head and said: "Mr. Roches, now that Prussia has risen and established the North German Federation, it poses a greater threat than Japan. I think France's focus now should be on the European continent.

As for Japan, a small country that has just reformed, why should it expend effort to do it on its own? "

Roches saw what Parkes was thinking and knew that these British people were keen on making money and that starting a war would damage their interests.

So he came today not to start a war, but to ask Great Britain to express its stance and deal with Japan together.

"So, does Dae-young mean to support the opposition to deal with Yagyu Heiyan?"

Parkes nodded and said: "Yes, since this is politics, let's solve it politically. Even if a war breaks out, it will be controllable and will not delay other things."

Roches frowned and said: "I thought it was a good idea. Yagyu Heiyan is so powerful that no one who supports him can be his opponent."

Parkes disagreed and said: "There were not many people who opposed Yagyu Kiseken in the past, but now Yagyu Kiseken's reforms have taken away too many interests from those nobles.

The reason why they dare not resist Yagyu Kigeon is because of the army in his hands. If we support them with money and weapons, these old nobles with Yagyu Kigeon will definitely rebel. Then we will find an opportunity to intervene and kill him. "

Roches thought that he must teach Yagyu Hiyan a lesson. Even if the rebellion failed, it would be fine. He just wanted to disgust Yagyu Hiyan.

He nodded and said: "Okay, I will report this plan immediately."

After Roches left, Parkes began to contact others.

……

Now that Japan has stabilized again, Yagyu asked Sakamoto Ryoma and others to build a new naval fleet. At the same time, he promoted new reforms, which was to establish a lower house and elect members from the private sector to participate in national affairs.

Once such a policy was proposed, even the young officials who supported Yagyu in the cabinet and were originally from the shogunate raised objections.

Of course, there are also people who strongly support Yagyu. These people are officials from ordinary citizens who were accepted by Yagyu when the cabinet was first established.

In addition to the cabinet, both the shogunate and the nobles directly spoke out against this matter.

If Yagyu's prestige wasn't too high now, these people wouldn't be as simple as verbally opposing it.

In the upper house of parliament, Yagyu held up the constitution and said: "They are elected by people from all over the country and represent the will of the people. This is the power given to citizens by the constitution. They should participate in national construction and put forward their own suggestions for national development." .”

Shimazu Hisamitsu still opposed Yagyu's vanguard, but he couldn't give any reason to refute it.

However, Eto Shinpei stood up and said: "Your Majesty Prime Minister, I don't think there is any need to select members of the House of Commons from the common people. We still have hundreds of thousands of warriors with nothing to do. They are much better than the common people who cannot read a single word."

Goto Shojiro immediately suggested: "I think Lord Eto is right. The House of Commons should be filled by those samurai."

Yagyu put down the constitution and said calmly: "How can a group of wastes who have not even passed the basic examination govern the country? There is no room for failure in building the lower house. I support the election of talented people from among the people. Let's vote."

Seeing Yagyu's momentum, everyone dared to object. Most people voted in agreement. Only Shimazu Hisamitsu and a few others, who were not afraid of being scalded by boiling water, voted against.

The bill in the House of Commons passed.

After dissolving the meeting, Yagyu went to discuss the details of the election of members.

The conflicts in the parliament soon reached Parkes' side, and he showed a satisfied smile. Now the conflicts between Shimadzu and others and the Yagyu cabinet are becoming more and more intense.

Moreover, he felt that Yagyu's actions were too naive. Even the British House of Commons was not accessible to ordinary civilians.

Yagyu is so tough, this will only make the old and new forces become incompetent.

But this also gave him an opportunity. Yagyu Heiyan was too powerful, and someone else had to be replaced to lead Japan. Otherwise, the plan to use Japan to contain Tsarist Russia would fail.

Parkes decided to support the old aristocratic forces. After all, only they would fight to the death with Yagyu Sheeyan.

(End of this chapter)