Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

What Itou Hirobumi said to the four great names and the general basically determined the diplomatic relations between Japan and the Ryukyu in the next fifty years. In other words, it was a relationship with Xiao Letian.

Itou Hirobumi explained it both mentally and physically, denying that Xiao Letian had any intention to directly annex the Japanese territory. The evidence was detailed, and the arguments were clear, making everyone present convinced.

On the other hand, he relied on Xiao Letian's disclosure to comprehend part of the things he had said. In the end, however, he had comprehended the most, especially that set of theories about colonies. Itou Hirobumi and Xiao Letian had really hit it off.

History has its own coincidences. In real history, Itou Hirobumi had won two consecutive wars for Japan: one of them was the afternoon war, while the other was the war between Japan and Russia in the northeast. At that time, Itou Hirobumi's prestige was unrivalled in Japan, and even the Sky Emperor did not dare to question his governance. Furthermore, the powerful military faction was suppressed by this scholar, no one dared to act rashly.

was 68 years old then. For ordinary people, he was already old and old, but for a politician, that was the golden age.

That is to say, the North Korean has reduced Ito's rule for at least a decade, but ironically, the Korean national hero has indirectly contributed to Japan's direct annexation of North Korea.

Throughout Itou Hirobumi's life, the core of her East Asian policy lay with North Korea. After the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan took complete control of Korea and set up a prison. Itou Hirobumi became the first supervisor.

After each trip to North Korea, he never forgot to say to the officials in the room, "I propose that you all come with me and say, 'Long live the Emperor!'"

In 1907, he became a teacher of the Korean Crown Prince in the hope that he would become a puppet at the command of Japan.

For the sake of Japanese interests, Itou Hirobumi firmly opposed the unification of Japan and advocated the retention of the royal family and government of Korea. This idea was similar to that advocated by the European powers and Xiao Letian, both of which were trying to replace the direct occupation with colonization, so as to ensure that most of the resources in the colony would go to Japan, and at the same time, to avoid resistance from the local people.

This was how the British played in India, and the French played in Vietnam, and more than ninety percent of the colonists of that era did.

Itou Hirobumi was very calm. He clearly knew that taking over and digesting were two different things, and defeating the enemy militarily and annexing the enemy was not difficult. What was difficult was digesting. The emperors who retained their peoples were like a buffer zone between the occupier and the occupied.

The power of habit was too great. You could say that the royal family of the DPRK was impotent, and that the corrupt people in the official hierarchy suffered greatly. But no one should forget the power of habit. The eight generations of the Li Clan's ancestors all lived under the rule of the Li Clan, and if things went well, they would put aside. At the very least, they had gotten used to it already.

Itou Hirobumi had planned to protect the royal family of Korea first, so that the resistance on the Korean peninsula would not be too intense. At least, the royal family would help Japan to suppress the rebellion. Then it was up to the time to sharpen, to build schools, to promote Japanese and Japanese culture.

It was going to be difficult at first, but the longer the colonization went on, the more successful it became. People who kept traditional ideas would eventually grow old, and children who grew up in Japanese schools would eventually become the backbone of society.

A generation may not be obvious, but what if three or four generations have passed? A hundred years from now? By then, most people would have gotten used to speaking Japanese, accepting Japanese culture and becoming accustomed to Japanese rule.

In fact, looking at the attitude of the people of India toward Britain, we can easily see how brilliant this strategy is. The British have colonized India for more than 200 years, but the ordinary people don't have the slightest hatred towards Britain. Although this has something to do with the religious ideology of India, it is still true that colonization is very brilliant.

In the end, Itou Hirobumi, who had hoped to protect the country of North Korea, had fallen at the hands of the North's independent movements. On October 26, 1909, three gunshots were fired from the Harbin railway station, ending Ito's life and ringing the death knell for the royal family of Lee.

In 1910, Japan forcibly annexed the Korean peninsula, and the Korean dynasty was destroyed. Soon after, in order to consolidate its colonial rule, Japan completely eliminated the foundation of the former Korean dynasty and moved its royal descendants to Japan. As a result, a prince's palace was built near the Tokyo palace, where the last emperor of North Korea lived until the end of the second world war.

However, due to the sudden appearance of Xiao Letian in this parallel universe, the wheels of history had deviated. The Japanese upper echelons who were initially trying to colonize Korea were now afraid that Japan would be colonized.

In the end, Itou Hirobumi came up with a more realistic plan, which was to follow the existing order and safeguard the territory that had not been lost. Simply put, it is to legalize the lost benefits and to cordon off the ones that are not lost.

Xiao Letian's control over the economy of Japan was already very deep. Especially the grain trade, which was divided among the dozens of grain merchants of different sizes under the Letian Firm, with the Four Seas Trading Company as the leader.

Since his economic position had already fallen, and became a plot on Xiao Letian's shoulders, he might as well show him everything and make it known to the world in black and white.

Open Nagasaki, Pinghu, Xiaguan, Famous Old House... There were a total of 12 ports in Immortal-ranked, Jinze s and River City s that allowed Ryukyu merchants to trade freely and recognized the trade letters written by the Ryukyu s.

This also meant that, compared to Xiao Letian, the only other merchants in the world who had a trade agreement with Japan, such as English and French, Meihe, and so on, there was an additional Ryukyu.

Not only that, Japan had also recognized all the trade letters that Xiao Letian had given them. In other words, even the country's merchants who had not signed any agreements with Japan, as long as they could get their hands on Xiao Letian's trade letters, could come to Japan to do business. It doesn't matter if you are a country from the Middle East or a small country from South America of Africa.

The opening of the economy was only the first step, and the next step was to open up the port. Under Xiao Letian's promise to withdraw from the Osaka City, all the ports in Japan would be open to the Ryukyu Navy, who could freely enter the port to replenish or avoid wind.

This point caused a lot of controversy in the military tent. Everyone was furious; how could a warrior's pride allow an alien army to freely move about?

However, Itou Hirobumi's next sentence shattered all their arrogance. "We can be unconvinced, we can be angry, but don't forget, together with our entire Japanese navy, can we defeat the Ryukyu's warships in Osaka Bay?"

Thinking about the previous brutal bombardment from the blood battle, the powerful firepower of the Ryukyu Navy made these warriors who thought of the ancient times speechless.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's throw away our unrealistic face. We have to admit that Xiao Letian's Navy is already free to enter and exit our Japanese ports, even if we don't sign it, how can we stop him? "I might as well give him a favor and calm down their anger …"

After liberalizing the right of free trade and the right of passage to the military port, the general and the four great names refused to give in. This was Japan's bottom line.

According to the western definition of colonization, a country would lose all political, economic, military, and diplomatic control and be handed over to its patriarch. This was a complete colony.

But this time, Japan had only granted Xiao Letian around seventy percent of its economic and forty percent of its military privileges. In reality, it was not even considered a semi-colonial power, and neither could politics and diplomacy. The upper echelons of Japan were quite emboldened.

Itou Hirobumi did not dare guarantee that Xiao Letian would agree to such conditions, and spoke in a serious tone: "Masters, Xiao Letian is not an idiot, what we concede is what he already possesses, in the end we have not brought out any benefits, this will make the other party feel that we are not sincere …"

"Other than that, we cannot pacify Xiao Letian's anger just by thinking about it. Who will pacify Qing Dynasty's anger?"

"I propose to give His Majesty the Tongzhi a large amount of compensation, as compensation for the assassination attempt of His Majesty the emperor …"

The four famous generals had forgotten about their enmity with the general as they went over to the general's side and whispered. After a while, Guo Daozhida turned to Itou Hirobumi and asked, "Can you promise that Xiao Letian will not rent the Osaka City?"

Ito nodded. "As long as we show our sincerity, I am willing to negotiate with the prime minister!" Guo Daozhida glanced at him, then turned around and began to mutter.

After a while, Dao Jinzhongyi also spoke out, "It's not impossible for us to provide compensation, but we have to add a new condition, economic opening must be mutual, Ryukyu cannot stop us Japanese merchants from trading with each other …"

Ito nodded emphatically. "Ha!" Your suggestion is also what I was thinking. I vow to fight for the interests of Japan! " Dao Jinzhongyi turned back and continued his discussion.

Then he said to Ito, "In your analysis, how much money should we compensate? Japan is now very poor and doesn't have much of a family. "

Itou Hirobumi bowed deeply and replied, "Master, this compensation is mainly for His Majesty the Tongzhi, in order to pacify the anger of the Qing Dynasty, I am not too sure how much is appropriate for it either …"

"But I have a piece of information that I hope everyone would consider. Right now, Emperor Tongzhi has gathered a group of Baji from the Beijing and he is currently conducting a new type of military training … This means that the Tongzhi Emperor is already preparing to set up his own personal army. I think he must be really desperate for military expenditures … "

Even the emperor has to lower his head to powerful officials sometimes. If we can help the emperor settle the initial few military expenditures, I think the effect would be much better than directly giving the Qing Dynasty government the money. "

Rongtang's eyes lit up. He stared at Ito for a minute before turning back to continue the conversation with the general.

Time passed minute after minute, the normally long night had become abnormally short, when the white of the fish belly appeared from the east, the general suddenly smacked the tatami with his fan, causing the hearts of everyone present to become nervous.

"Alright, it's time for us to make a decision. We need a short retreat in exchange for more time for our development. We can't drag it on any longer. Who knows how many more variables we'll need to drag on!"