Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 242

As Europe questioned the formation of the Asian Union, the Denpasar dynasty of Bali and the Sultanate of Gova in southern Sulawesi announced their accession to the Union and declared that they would relinquish all their armed forces, making both regions permanently neutral. The Union accepted their applications and declared that their permanent neutrality would be protected by the Union, which greatly displeased the Dutch East Indies government.

End of this chapter

Chapter 764

The Dutch East Indies government has actually been trying to bring the entire Southeast Asian archipelago under its control, but it has been blocked by Britain, Germany, the United States and France. Therefore, the Dutch East Indies government can only control the indigenous kingdoms on the archipelago through trade and political infiltration.

The Dutch had been stationed in Southeast Asia for centuries, and they were extremely familiar with these indigenous peoples. They had also established very effective communication channels, which even the British could not sever. They could only use the occupation of Batavia to warn the Dutch not to ignore the power of the British Royal Fleet.

Besides the British, Germany, the United States, and France were even less able to shake the Dutch rule on islands like Java and Sumatra. The same was true for the Japanese. Although Japan was an East Asian country, it lost its influence in Southeast Asia after implementing the isolationist policy during the Edo period. The biggest opponent the Dutch faced in Southeast Asia was the Chinese.

Although the Chinese who migrated to Southeast Asia during the Ming and Qing dynasties suffered multiple massacres at the hands of the Spanish and Dutch, their influence in Southeast Asia still surpassed that of these European colonists. The Dutch and Spanish could only control the region, but they could not implement effective commercial management. Without commercial prosperity, they could not maintain their rule.

Therefore, in the old colonial system in Southeast Asia, European colonists and Chinese formed a symbiotic relationship. The Chinese developed local resources and built various ports and plantations, while the Europeans provided military and political support. Sometimes, these European colonists would also maintain their colonial rule by trimming the excessively large Chinese power, and incidentally vent the anger of the indigenous peoples on the Chinese.

However, this old colonial order underwent new changes after the completion of the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Large-scale industrial production enabled European merchants to replace China as the source of goods for Southeast Asia. As a result, the Chinese lost their control over the wholesale trade in Southeast Asia. Ultimately, Chinese handicrafts could not compete with European machine production. By the 20th century, Chinese merchants could only maintain their monopoly in the retail industry and small plantations, and their influence in Southeast Asia was far less than in the 19th century.

After the Americans defeated Spain and occupied the Philippine Islands, a new colonial model emerged. The Americans began establishing an American-style democratic system in the Philippines, along with American-style farming and commercial systems, severely impacting Chinese retail businesses and small farms. Under this American model, the Chinese effectively lost their previous position within the Western colonial system.

At this juncture, Japan's development of Mindanao attracted the attention of Chinese capital in Southeast Asia. Under an agreement between the Japanese Navy and the Wuhan government, Chinese capital began to establish a new base in Mindanao. However, the Japanese actions naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the Dutch and British. In 1903, the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the British Shell Oil Company agreed to establish the Asiatic Oil Company, which marked the Dutch submission to the British and the opening of the East Indies' oil resources to Britain.

From this point on, the British gradually loosened their grip on the Dutch, tacitly allowing the Dutch East Indies government to begin annexing the Southeast Asian islands whose ownership was not clearly defined. Before the formation of the Asian Union, the Dutch had already made military and political preparations for the complete annexation of Sulawesi and Bali. The complete incorporation of these two islands into the Dutch East Indies meant that the Anglo-Dutch Southeast Asian colonies had completely severed Japan's safe access to the Indian Ocean and also prevented Germany and the United States from coveting Southeast Asia.

Therefore, the Dutch protested the Asian Union's guarantees of permanent neutrality to the Denpasar Sultanate of Bali and the Sultanate of Gova in southern Sulawesi, a protest supported by the Australian government. As a British overseas white colony, Australia enjoyed greater autonomy than colonies of color like India. In fact, because of its distance from the British mainland, London was more tolerant of Australia than of the Dominion of Canada. Canada, nominally a dominion, was more like a directly governed territory of London.

After the six scattered colonies united to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, a sense of independence, similar to that during the formation of the United States, emerged in this British overseas dominion. Although Australians considered the Commonwealth of Australia inseparable from the British Empire and loyal subjects of the King, they opposed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, London's decision to exclude New Zealand from the Commonwealth of Australia, London's compromise of ceding the Pacific islands to Germany and France, and the Royal Navy's focus solely on European interests.

The core argument of the Commonwealth of Australia is that the center of the British Empire should not be limited to London and Great Britain; overseas white colonies have the same rights as Great Britain. Australians support the Dutch because the Australian government, which advocates the White Australia Policy, opposes the proximity of a colored power to Australia, believing it poses a threat to Australia's security.

However, London was clearly much more composed than the Australians. London's foreign ministry did not loudly oppose the formation of the Asian Union or the Union's guarantee of neutrality to the Denpasar dynasty and the Gova Sultanate. After all, at this time, the British government emphasized that the British Empire was the protector of the world order, and their fundamental reason for opposing Germany was that Germany had brought damage to the European and world order.

In this situation, the British government could neither oppose the formation of an alliance aimed at maintaining order in Asia, nor deny the right of a permanently neutral region to be free from the threat of war, which would put Britain in a diplomatic predicament in Europe.

Therefore, Britain could only privately express its skepticism towards the Japanese and Chinese governments regarding the purpose of the alliance, while secretly supporting the Dutch in accelerating their actions to annex the Denpasar dynasty and the Gova Sultanate, thus completing the division of the East Indies.

However, the Dutch were also extremely nervous at this time. Even with the support of the British, they were well aware that the cooperation between Japan, Germany and China could lead to conflict between the Dutch East Indies government and the newly formed Asian Union if handled properly. In that case, the Dutch would not be able to deal with the military threat from the Union. Therefore, while preparing to annex the two territories, the Dutch also demanded clearer military guarantees from Britain.

However, the Dutch actions also provoked discontent from the United States and Germany. American capital had entered an era of monopoly, and the need for overseas colonies had given way to the need for resource control. For American capital, the old colonial order was actually hindering the global expansion of monopoly capital. Although there were conflicts between Japan and the United States, the unified market formed by the Asian alliance met the globalization needs of American monopoly capital. In contrast, the colonial order represented by Britain had become the biggest obstacle to the globalization of American monopoly capital.

For example, American oil capital was the first and most powerful form of American monopoly capital. However, in the Dutch East Indies, British India, and the Middle East, it faced political obstruction from Britain and France, preventing it from entering these regions and competing fairly with British and French capital. Therefore, when the Dutch expressed their desire to annex Bali and Sulawesi, they naturally encountered opposition from American capital.

As for the Germans, they were more than happy for the Dutch and the Asian alliance to break out into armed conflict. If they could draw the British attention back to Asia, it would be even better for Germany. Therefore, the Germans began to attack the Dutch East Indies government's persecution of the local natives in the media. German media exposed the British and Dutch media's defense of the Dutch East Indies government's actions. The Dutch believed that they were preparing to bring the two territories under their direct administration in order to prevent the Japanese from occupying them. Historically, the Dutch had already established de facto control in the area.

The Dutch claim to legitimate rule over the East Indies immediately sparked opposition from Chinese and Japanese public opinion. The Chinese in Southeast Asia actually wielded significant influence in late Qing politics. After the failure of anti-Qing uprisings in southern China, many rebels fled to Southeast Asia to escape persecution by the Qing government. When revolutionaries rose to power, the Chinese in Southeast Asia began to fund their anti-Qing efforts. After the establishment of the Wuhan government, Chinese capital from Southeast Asia also began investing in the Wuhan area, leading to the development of a large number of light industries.

Although the two places the Dutch attempted to annex did not have much Chinese capital, the Dutch expansion in Southeast Asia was seen as an expansion of European power. The Chinese commercial forces in Southeast Asia had already realized the oppression they faced from European commercial expansion, so they naturally opposed this expansion of European colonial territories.

The attitudes of these Southeast Asian Chinese naturally influenced domestic politics and public opinion. Although the Beiyang government, representing northern landlords and military groups, and the comprador forces represented by Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces did not concern themselves with the issue of Southeast Asian Chinese, since they had no interests in Southeast Asia, the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and Wuhan recognized that the interests of Southeast Asian Chinese should not be marginalized by European businesses.

On the issue of Southeast Asia, Guangdong and Guangxi, and Wuhan, formed a unified stance, forcing public opinion in Beiyang and Jiangsu and Zhejiang to become increasingly vocal in their condemnation of the Dutch infringement on the rights of neutral regions in Southeast Asia. In May 1910, the Chinese National Assembly issued a statement condemning the Hongxi Massacre perpetrated by the Dutch in 1740 and declaring that no further acts of genocide against colonized peoples by colonists would be tolerated in the 20th century.

Although the Beiyang military and political group led by Yuan Shikai was dissatisfied with the statement issued by the National Assembly, Yuan Shikai could not publicly deny it. He could only privately tell the British and French ministers that the National Assembly's statement did not represent the government's intentions. However, Yuan Shikai's actions did not earn the approval of the British and French ministers. Instead, the ministers emphasized in their reports to their respective governments that "General Yuan's Beiyang group is exactly the same as the Qing government; they see themselves as the rulers of China, not as representatives of the Chinese people..."

The Beiyang clique could not possibly defeat the Wuhan Workers' Party regime, which considered itself the representative of the Chinese people, nor could they gain the support of the Chinese people. Once the Wuhan regime used force to unify the country, the Beiyang clique would instantly lose its power. Investment in the Beiyang clique led by General Yuan could only maintain the status quo in China; it could not be expected that they would eliminate the Wuhan regime.

As public opinion in China shifted from the north to the south, public opinion in Japan also finally turned from the Korean Peninsula to Southeast Asia. Although the establishment of the Asian Alliance interrupted Japan's plan to annex the Korean Peninsula, this plan was mainly ground-based. For other political forces and ordinary people in Japan, they simply regarded the Korean Peninsula as a Japanese colony, rather than as imperial territory.

Although the mainland ronin touted the benefits of annexing the Korean Peninsula domestically, the continuous reports in Japanese newspapers about the Toyo Takushoku Co., Ltd. caused the mainland ronin's imperial propaganda to fail. After realizing that annexing Korea would only benefit the powerful and wealthy, the Japanese people's interest in annexing Korea began to decline, while public criticism of the huge investment required to occupy Korea began to rise.

Japanese public opinion on the North Korean issue is now divided into two main viewpoints. One side supports the annexation of the Korean Peninsula, but demands the disclosure of expenditures for the annexation and the nationalization of North Korea's resources to prevent a small number of powerful figures and conglomerates from profiting. The other side opposes the annexation of North Korea, arguing that there is no benefit to be gained from the Korean Peninsula and that it would only be a burden on the Japanese people. They believe Japan should support North Korean independence and only require North Korea to open its markets.

These two opposing viewpoints directly marginalized the mainland ronin forces that had been attempting to seize the Korean Peninsula by force. Simply put, the army's imperial expansionist theory was losing popular support, while the navy's theory of a new Japan was gaining increasing traction. This shift also indicated a shortage of new blood among the mainland ronin, and a change in Japan's social contradictions.

The mainland ronin were initially samurai who lost the war against the Qing dynasty, and later joined the defeated forces in the Meiji Restoration government. These former samurai attempted to regain their lost political power through foreign wars, but after the Meiji Restoration government defeated the Qing government and stabilized the domestic political situation, it was practically impossible for the former samurai to make a comeback.

The promotion of compulsory education enabled a large number of ordinary people to acquire knowledge, but Japan's industrial development could not provide jobs for these educated people. These unemployed educated people turned to the mainland ronin, thus transforming the mainland ronin, who were mainly composed of old samurai, into the new mainland ronin, who were mainly composed of ordinary citizens. Although the new mainland ronin continued to maintain their goal of overseas expansion, they politically changed from opponents of the Meiji Restoration government to supporters. They needed the government's support to complete their overseas expansion plans, which led to close ties between the mainland ronin and the military.

While the Genyosha, as the main political force of the mainland ronin, still held a foothold in Japanese domestic politics, the Black Dragon Society completely lost its domestic political territory and became an appendage of the military. Under the navy's attacks, the mainland ronin's power had been further reduced, and they had become tools of the army.

Lin Xinyi's Tokyo Opening Plan and the Chiba Prefecture Industrial Center Construction Plan were essentially absorbing a large number of educated unemployed people, cutting off the flow of new blood from mainland ronin (masterless samurai). In particular, the Navy Cultural Division, through a youth survey group organized by the Arts Foundation, turned a group of highly educated young people into supporters of social reformism. They believed that Japan's current problem lay in the unfair distribution of wealth, not in the lack of overseas colonies. They argued that without addressing the issue of social distribution, even if Korea were occupied, the benefits would only be divided among the zaibatsu (financial conglomerates) and politicians, with ordinary citizens receiving no real benefit.

In particular, after the land reform was launched in Chiba Prefecture, it greatly benefited those higher education graduates from rural areas. In the past, they had always subjectively believed that landlords were the stable cornerstone of the countryside. Although landlords were not kind to their tenants, they maintained rural roads and water conservancy construction and lent money to the poor during famine years, so they were protectors of the countryside.

However, the start of land reform directly shattered the impression that landlords were protectors of the countryside. Those villages in the surrounding areas of cities that received land quickly escaped poverty by relying on the expansion of the cities. These were special cases, so we won't mention them. In those villages far from the city, after the landlords' land was distributed, the farmers were able to eat several meals of rice without beans after the harvest last year, which was quite astonishing.

This change essentially declared that the resources landlords used to maintain rural roads and water conservancy projects, and the money they lent to farmers, were actually the fruits of the farmers' labor. The landlords took this portion of the income from the farmers, used a small amount to maintain rural order, and spent the rest on themselves. After the land reform abolished the landlords' privileges, the farmers' lives immediately improved, and rural order did not collapse under the governance of the Land Reform Committee.

Although land reform in Chiba Prefecture has not yet achieved a truly significant improvement in the lives of farmers, these highly educated farmers' sons already believe that land reform is the way to save Japanese farmers, rather than sending them to fight overseas to acquire new territory.

Therefore, when conflicts arose between the status of Korea and the Asian Union, these young people who advocated domestic social reforms tended to support the Asian Union. When the Dutch attempted to obstruct the Union's power in Southeast Asia, these domestic reformers also became major supporters of actively opposing European colonialism and supporting the southward expansion of Japanese commerce.

These young Japanese people, due to their higher levels of education, naturally enjoy the recognition of mainstream Japanese society compared to the mainland ronin, who were mostly from the lower classes. In the eyes of ordinary Japanese people, the mainland ronin were simply losers rejected by society, no different from those yakuza groups, while intellectuals who advocated social reform were the backbone of Japan's future.

Consequently, domestic public opinion quickly shifted away from the Korean preservation theory, which was unfavorable to the army, and began to lean towards the theory of common Asian interests. A mainstream view in the latter was that Japan could not confront the European powers alone and could only resist their exclusion by uniting with other Asian nations. This exclusion was not unfounded; the United States' ban on Japanese children attending white schools and Australia's ban on Japanese immigration demonstrated that the "leaving Asia and joining Europe" movement was a joke, and white Europeans completely ignored Japan's declarations of leaving Asia and joining Europe.

Chapter 765

In July 1910, Yamagata Aritomo finally failed to withstand the combined pressure from Emperor Meiji and Ito Hirobumi, and had to accept the arrangement for the army and navy to send young staff officers to explain the basic situation of the army and navy and their respective military strategies to Crown Prince Yoshihito in order to cultivate the prince's basic knowledge of military affairs.

Yamagata Aritomo opposed the plan because the military aides around the Emperor were the advisors who explained military matters to him on a daily basis, while major military decisions were made by the Marshal's Office. As for the newly established Military Advisory Council, although it was nominally responsible for providing advice to the Emperor, it did not actually feel comfortable challenging the decisions of the Marshal's Office. The main responsibility of this institution was to strengthen communication between the Army and the Navy.

However, with the Navy's political dominance, the Military Advisory Council is actually unable to complete the task of communicating between the Army and the Navy. This is because the Navy, which has gained political advantage, can achieve its goals without the Army's approval. In addition, the Army and Navy are still subject to decisions made by elders, and the representatives sent by the Army and Navy cannot conduct effective communication based on the actual situation. Instead, they can only obey the elders' orders. This means that effective communication between the Army and the Navy actually takes place in the Marshal's Office, and the Military Advisory Council merely executes the Marshal's Office's decisions.

Thus, following the downsizing of the military, the Military Senate quickly became a retirement home for senior army and navy officers, losing all practical significance. As for the Army General Staff and the Navy Naval General Staff, nominally institutions assisting the Emperor in executing military orders, in reality they were merely institutions through which the army relayed its military strategies to the Emperor, with the Emperor ultimately responding on behalf of the aide-de-camp.

In this way, the military aide-de-camp actually had the greatest influence on the Emperor's military decisions, and the chief military aide-de-camp was always an army general. In other words, the army held a dominant position in providing military advice to the Emperor. Under such circumstances, Yamagata Aritomo naturally opposed any new channels for the army and navy to contact the Emperor.

However, this time the Emperor did not contact the Army and Navy in his own name, but instead had Crown Prince Yoshihito contact the young officers and generals in the military. This was unprecedented. If the Army were in a strong position, Yamagata could certainly have rejected it outright, but the Army was currently in a political predicament, and Yamagata did not dare to provoke the Emperor too much.

The navy's stance was actually neutral. While it was good to be close to Crown Prince Yoshihito and increase the next emperor's understanding of the navy, the navy's current independence prevented it from having too much influence within the military. After all, the naval leadership also didn't want a second power center to emerge. However, at Emperor Meiji's request and under the planning of Duke Ito Hirobumi, the navy accepted the imperial edict.

Therefore, in July, a military strategy training group was established for Crown Prince Yoshihito. The army sent Colonel Tanaka Giichi, head of the military affairs section, and Lieutenant Nagata Tetsuzan, while the navy sent Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi Nobuyoshi, head of the cultural affairs section, and Lieutenant Colonel Yamamoto Eisuke.

Yoshihito resided in the Togu Palace in Akasaka, a Western-style palace modeled after Buckingham Palace and Versailles Palace. Compared to traditional Japanese palaces, the rooms here were characterized by their large size and magnificence.

The first meeting between the army and navy officers in the training group was not pleasant, because Lin Xinyi was too young. Lin Xinyi and Nagata Tetsuzan were the same age, both 27, but Nagata was a lieutenant and Lin Xinyi was a lieutenant colonel. Tanaka Giichi had just been promoted to colonel, but he was already 48 years old. Yamamoto Eisuke was 35 years old.

To be honest, Tanaka Giichi's promotion wasn't slow, considering he came from the Army Training Corps and entered the Army Academy late. Yamamoto Eisuke, on the other hand, had a more conventional and unimpeded promotion, but even he still couldn't compare to Hayashi Nobuyoshi. As a third-generation core member of the Choshu faction, Tanaka Giichi had already heard from Yamagata that Hayashi Nobuyoshi's contributions in the Yellow Sea military exercises were enough to earn him another distinguished medal—the Gold Kite Medal, Third Class.

Tanaka Giichi received a Gold Kite Medal of Merit, Class 3, for his achievements in the Battle of Mukden. However, he knew that his medal was largely undeserved, as he had obtained it based on his status as a core member of the next generation of the Choshu faction. On the other hand, the Gold Kite Medal of Merit, Class 3, that Lin Xinyi had yet to receive was of great significance. Even Yamagata said that if Lin Xinyi had not been a junior officer, his achievement of changing the East Asian landscape with just one military exercise would not have been considered a meritorious achievement, even if it was only a first-class merit.

Army Minister Tamura also highly praised the navy's recent Yellow Sea military exercise, considering it a unification of military and political strategies. Tamura commented, "Most army staff officers could think of the idea of ​​uniting with China to counter German influence in Shandong, but few were willing to implement it because it wouldn't bring much benefit to Japan or the army."

After accomplishing this, the Navy was even able to bring Germany into the newly formed Asian alliance, ending the antagonism between Japan and China and Germany. This was something no one in the Army could have imagined, not even myself.

However, this step opened up a channel for the navy to move south, making the German Pacific islands a barrier for the South Pacific. Coupled with the pressure exerted by the Chinese on the mainland in Southeast Asia, the navy could focus on seeking control of the South Pacific.

If, in the next step, the navy can force Britain to recognize a special status for the navy in the South Seas, then the navy's southward strategy will be halfway to success. Regardless of the overall success of the plan, the completion of the first and second steps alone is equivalent to another victory at Cam Ranh Bay.

The army's upper echelons believed that what limited Lin Xinyi's rank of merit was not his achievements, but his seniority, a result that was extremely embarrassing for the army. Previously, the army had criticized the navy for overstepping its bounds by promoting Lin Xinyi from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel. However, judging from Lin Xinyi's performance after returning home, the navy had actually significantly suppressed his advancement.

Even though Nagata Tetsuzan deeply admired the strategies of his fellow townsman of the same age in the navy, he couldn't help but feel a sense of jealousy upon seeing Hayashi Nobuyoshi's rank. Tanaka Giichi was even more so; his presence there wasn't just to maintain the influence of the Choshu faction and the army over the Emperor, but also to suppress the navy during his explanation of military strategy, preventing Crown Prince Yoshihito from leaning towards the navy.

However, Tanaka Giichi was quickly disappointed upon seeing Crown Prince Yoshihito. He had only seen the prince before at ceremonies, where he appeared perfectly normal under the protection of his attendants. But in this face-to-face encounter, he immediately realized that the prince's solemn demeanor at ceremonies might simply be an act of obedience to his attendants.

Because in face-to-face communication, the prince clearly lacked some common sense and judgment. To put it bluntly, the prince was like a ten-year-old child. Explaining the army's military strategy to him was something Tanaka felt he could not do.

The Crown Prince's unusual demeanor instilled fear in the army and navy officers who came to instruct him, except for Hayashi Nobuyoshi. Unlike these Japanese soldiers who regarded the Emperor as a god, Hayashi Nobuyoshi had long known that the future Emperor Taisho would have intellectual deficiencies. He had not been instilled with the concept of reverence for the Emperor, so he naturally did not experience the same fear as his companions.

While Tanaka Giichi delivered his dry recounting of army strategy, Hayashi Shinichi curiously surveyed the magnificent reception room known as the Asahi Hall. The Asahi Hall's name originated from a painting on the ceiling by a French artist depicting the goddess of dawn riding a chariot across the sky. This European-style interior decoration certainly gave the hall vitality, and it's no wonder that the Meiji era didn't feel like typical Japanese history; this era was completely unlike the darkness and pettiness often associated with traditional Japanese culture, instead brimming with the spirit of a rising sun.

Unfortunately, this vibrant energy, like dewdrops, vanished from Japanese culture as the Meiji era ended, destroyed by warlords and politicians such as Yamagata Aritomo. Only in Yamagami Tetsuya could one still glimpse a trace of the spirit of the early Meiji era.

Lin Xinyi's relaxed demeanor in front of the Crown Prince naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the Crown Prince's attendants. In addition to regulating the Crown Prince's daily behavior, these attendants also had the responsibility of teaching those being received to observe etiquette. Lin Xinyi's overly relaxed attitude in front of the Crown Prince was seen by them as a sign of disrespect.

Although these attendants were well aware that Crown Prince Yoshihito was not highly intelligent, they did not think there was anything wrong with it. Their responsibility was to regulate the Crown Prince's behavior, not to regard him as their spiritual idol. After all, these attendants were of noble birth and had been married to the Emperor for generations, so they were naturally aware of the hereditary diseases in the Imperial family. Moreover, they themselves also had Imperial blood, so they naturally did not appear too nervous about the Imperial Family.

Crown Prince Yoshihito is merely a transitional figure in the imperial lineage. At least the next generation, Prince Toshihito, appears to be of sound mind. Therefore, once Prince Toshihito reaches adulthood, Yoshihito's responsibility will be fulfilled. The responsibility of the nobility is to maintain the continuation of the imperial bloodline, not to worship the emperor. Worshipping the emperor is the responsibility of ordinary people.

In fact, these attendants around Crown Prince Yoshihito did not want the prince to have too much contact with the outside world, so as to avoid the prince's intellectual problems becoming a hot topic of discussion among the people. If it were not for the orders of Emperor Meiji and Duke Ito, they would not have allowed these young officers to have close contact with Crown Prince Yoshihito, because the consequences would have been obvious.

For example, several young officers in the army and navy seemed incredulous, clearly frightened by Prince Yoshihito's mental state, while the only officer who wasn't frightened seemed too relaxed, making the attendants uncomfortable.

Although Lin Xinyi was unfazed by the gazes of these attendants and continued to freely admire the artworks in the hall, Yamamoto Eisuke, who was beside him, could not stand the pressure from the attendants' stares and couldn't help but tug at Lin Xinyi's clothes, signaling him to be more respectful.

Lin Xinyi merely glanced at the attendants, who were in their forties and fifties, and then said to Lieutenant Colonel Yamamoto, “His Majesty sent us here mainly to help the Crown Prince gain the support of the military, not to be at the mercy of others. If they feel that we are too disrespectful to the Crown Prince, they can simply have the navy replace us.”

Yamamoto knew that he had been arranged by his uncle, but Lin Xinyi was actually handpicked by Duke Ito. Lin Xinyi himself did not want to get close to Crown Prince Yoshihito. After all, Lin Xinyi had just advocated that the royal family officers in the navy should withdraw from the front-line troops. If he himself took the initiative to get close to the Crown Prince, it would obviously not make sense.

The attitudes of the navy toward the imperial family are actually divided into three factions. One faction believes that the navy should completely obey the emperor's orders, that is, uphold the emperor's supreme command as stipulated in the constitution. This group is mostly composed of young officers. Another faction believes that the navy should uphold the imperial system, but should correctly distinguish the emperor's true intentions. This group is mainly composed of veterans from the early days of the navy's establishment. The last faction is led by Hayashi Nobuyoshi, who are modern nationalists who believe that the emperor is a symbol of the state, and the army, navy and government are part of the state apparatus. The military and government should be primarily concerned with national interests rather than the emperor's orders.

Although the number of naval personnel supporting Hayashi Nobuyoshi's views was small, his influence was considerable. Therefore, Yamamoto Eisuke knew that Hayashi Nobuyoshi would not abandon his supporters in order to get closer to the Crown Prince, because he did not need the Emperor's trust to maintain his position in the navy. As long as he continued to adhere to his ideals, he could still rise in the navy.

Faced with Hayashi Nobuyoshi's attitude, Lieutenant Colonel Yamamoto could only give up trying to persuade him. After all, it was indeed difficult to inspire respect in someone like Prince Yoshihito. For example, Colonel Tanaka Giichi had clearly prepared a lot for today; he and Lieutenant Nagata had brought a considerable number of documents, unlike Hayashi Nobuyoshi who had only brought a simply decorated wooden box.

However, faced with the expressionless Crown Prince Yoshihito, Tanaka Giichi lost all interest in explaining the army's military strategy. He simply read through the general outline quickly, then presented the army's detailed plans, thus concluding the first lesson. Seeing Colonel Tanaka's behavior, Lieutenant Colonel Yamamoto wondered if there was any point in continuing the training. This prince probably couldn't understand what military strategy was.

After Tanaka gave up his seat, Hayashi Shinji took over and prepared to teach Crown Prince Yoshihito. By this time, Yoshihito was already getting impatient and kept yawning. Even though the attendants were giving him hints, they couldn't stop him. Therefore, one of the attendants had to remind Hayashi Shinji, "Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi, please try to keep it short. The Crown Prince needs to rest regularly."

Hearing this, Tanaka Giichi breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he had given the prince a lesson first. Even if the prince couldn't understand, at least he should have remembered him. As for the navy, well, they were out of luck. Given the prince's mental state, it was unlikely that he would be able to continue listening to the navy's long-winded lecture.

However, Lin Xinyi's actions were somewhat unexpected. He calmly addressed the Crown Prince, saying, "Naval strategy is a rather large-scale plan. Therefore, after receiving orders, the Naval Command and the Cultural Department reorganized it, turning the naval strategy into a series of games so that Your Highness can gradually familiarize yourself with it through entertainment. Today, I request to demonstrate the first game to Your Highness. If Your Highness feels tired, we can stop at any time. Next time, I will improve the game and teach Your Highness how to play it..."

"A game?" Crown Prince Jiaren's expression finally softened, and he looked expectantly at the wooden box Lin Xinyi had opened. Lin Xinyi, ignoring the warning glances from the servants, sat down on the carpet, opened the box, took out a map, and began explaining the game to the prince.

The prince initially remained seated, but quickly rose and sat down on the carpet with Lin Xinyi, beginning to study the card game called Tokyo Management. This was actually a card game Lin Xinyi had created based on the later Monopoly game. For Jiaren, the game's difficulty level was just right, so he quickly became engrossed in it.

So Jiaren's attendants and Tanaka Giichi and others watched Lin Xinyi play with Jiaren for the rest of the afternoon. Only when the attendants forcibly stopped Jiaren from starting another game did the prince reluctantly let Lin Xinyi leave, and asked him when he would come to play games with him again.

Tanaka Giichi was extremely disgusted by Hayashi Nobuyoshi's behavior. After leaving the Togu Palace, he rebuked Hayashi Nobuyoshi, saying, "Is it right for the Navy to lure the Crown Prince with such games? You are engaging in crooked practices."

Lin Xinyi replied slowly, "Back then, the samurai also looked down on European infantry drills and war game simulations, thinking they were just children's games. As a result, the samurai class was wiped out by the Western army that was playing games."

It is clear that military strategy is a game in itself, but some people cannot understand the difference between the two, which is why military strategy has become a game and cannot contribute to the progress of military organization.

In my view, turning military strategy into a game for the Crown Prince to engage with is a teaching method; at least the Crown Prince can make his own judgments. Can the way the army does, forcing conclusions onto the Crown Prince and then making him repeat them, truly be considered the Crown Prince's judgment? I doubt it.

Tanaka and Hayashi Nobuyoshi had a fight in front of the Imperial Palace, then parted ways and went their separate ways. However, news of this army and navy training session quickly reached everyone's ears. The Emperor listened to his attendant's report. Although the attendant was dissatisfied with Lieutenant Commander Hayashi Nobuyoshi's disrespect, the Emperor was very satisfied with the navy's teaching methods. After all, when Hayashi Nobuyoshi left, Yoshihito was already able to accurately call out Hayashi Nobuyoshi's name, which was quite remarkable.

Emperor Meiji was well aware that Yoshihito was unlikely to remember someone after a short period of contact, so he avoided exposing Yoshihito to too much public attention to prevent the public from questioning the Crown Prince's intelligence. Hayashi Nobuyoshi's somewhat disrespectful attitude was a minor matter; his ability to make Yoshihito remember him so quickly was truly remarkable.

End of this chapter

Chapter 766

In Ito Hirobumi's study, after putting down the cards in his hand, he said, "It is indeed a game suitable for playing with family. It's quite interesting that the Naval Culture Department could come up with something like this. However, how did you know that Prince Yoshihito would like this game?"

Lin Xinyi, who was sitting opposite Duke Ito and sorting through his cards, didn't take Ito's questions to heart. He knew that Ito suspected the navy was monitoring the royal family's movements, which was obviously a big taboo.

Lin Xinyi, who was prepared, replied naturally: "Actually, the reason I brought this game to see Crown Prince Jiaren was not to make the Crown Prince like the game, but to promote the game in the name of Crown Prince Jiaren."

Ito Hirobumi was somewhat surprised, but still pressed on, "I remember His Majesty requested that the army and navy send personnel to teach the Crown Prince their respective military strategies, not for you to ask the Crown Prince to promote games for cultural classes."

Lin Xinyi looked up at Ito Hirobumi and calmly said, "This is the Navy's military strategy, if Crown Prince Yoshihito supports it."

Hirobumi Ito fell into thought. He vaguely grasped something, but it wasn't very clear. He had to admit that he was getting old and his thinking couldn't keep up with a young man like Shinichi Lin. So, after sighing in his heart, he simply asked Shinichi Lin directly, "Explain it more clearly, what exactly is the Navy's military strategy?"

Lin Xinyi then replied: "The Navy's military strategy is actually very clear: peace abroad and the establishment of a new order in Asia; domestic development and strengthening Japan's industrial base. The improvement and release of the card game managed by Tokyo in the name of Prince Yoshihito is precisely to declare to the people that Prince Yoshihito's political stance is to focus on domestic development, not foreign expansion."

Ito Hirobumi immediately realized that this aligned with the Navy's current political line. After all, Prime Minister Yamamoto and Minister Kawahara were working towards this goal, with the Asian Alliance and the Chiba Prefecture Industrial Center being strongly promoted by the Navy. The only thing he hadn't expected was that Hayashi Nobuyoshi would influence Crown Prince Yoshihito in this way.

However, this also eliminated the suspicion that the navy was monitoring the imperial family, and he had an explanation when Meiji asked him about it. Yoshihito's health condition was actually a closely guarded secret of the imperial family, and even the elders of the family had difficulty knowing it. They only knew that Crown Prince Yoshihito had recovered his health after being cured of meningitis. Although he could not keep up with normal students and had to drop out of school to be homeschooled, the Imperial Household Agency had always maintained that the Crown Prince had no intellectual problems.

If it weren't for this, Ito wouldn't have suggested to Meiji that Crown Prince Yoshihito interact with those young officers. After all, he had been misled by the Imperial Household Ministry's report, believing that the Crown Prince only had some aftereffects but was not intellectually impaired. Therefore, he dared to allow young officers from the army and navy to interact with the Crown Prince. Given the huge difference in their status, the Crown Prince only needed to show a little friendliness to these young officers to leave a good impression.

However, this meeting was deeply disappointing, and the elders finally learned that Crown Prince Yoshihito's aftereffects had actually limited his intellectual development, causing him to behave like a ten-year-old child. Although the Imperial Household Agency stated that the Crown Prince's intelligence was no different from that of an eleven or twelve-year-old, so it was not a problem of intellectual deficiency, the fact that an adult would maintain the mindset of a ten-year-old was itself a major flaw, especially since this adult was destined to become the supreme ruler of the country, albeit nominally.

Ito Hirobumi was unaware of the feelings of the other elders. He was extremely annoyed that Emperor Meiji had kept it from him. This time, Emperor Meiji was willing to listen to his advice, probably because he knew that the Crown Prince's condition could not be hidden forever. After all, Meiji's own illness had not improved and could only be alleviated. Therefore, he took the opportunity to let the Crown Prince make a brief appearance to test the elders' reactions.

Yes, this meeting was intended to test the elders, not the army and navy. Clearly, Emperor Meiji wanted to take advantage of the fact that he still had control of the situation to ascertain the elders' attitudes toward Prince Yoshihito's illness, so as to make arrangements for his succession.

At this time, Hirobumi Ito's stance was uncertain. On the one hand, he felt that Prince Yoshihito's situation was actually beneficial to his advocacy of the Emperor's institutional system. On the other hand, he was worried that it would cause the people to question the sanctity of the Emperor. After all, for an imperial country, the Emperor is the spiritual symbol of the people. An Emperor whose intelligence is no more than that of a ten-year-old child would obviously not be able to gain the people's recognition.

Moreover, it is uncertain how the other elders will judge Crown Prince Yoshihito's situation. After all, Yoshihito already has descendants. From the current perspective, skipping Yoshihito and supporting the grandson to succeed to the throne is also a viable option. However, the grandson is only 10 years old, and it will take at least seven or eight years for him to be qualified to rule in his own right. This means that there will be a nearly seven or eight-year vacancy on the throne, which will also cause political chaos.

Pulling himself out of his reverie, Ito Hirobumi asked Hayashi Nobuyoshi, "So what are your thoughts on Crown Prince Yoshihito? Do you still believe that Crown Prince Yoshihito is capable of making political pronouncements?"

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xinyi said, "I have always believed that Japan today is a country built on the Five Articles Oath, not on the Emperor system. Crown Prince Yoshihito's health condition does not affect Japan's existence. As long as we make the people truly understand that the main body of the country is the people, not the Emperor, that will suffice."

In the past, Ito Hirobumi would have been furious to hear such remarks, as they undermined the political foundation of the nation he wanted to build. However, faced with Emperor Meiji's physical condition and Crown Prince Yoshihito's mental state, he also realized that the flaw of the imperial system was that if the emperor was not a normal person, the imperial system would be difficult to maintain, and the entire nation would be built on sand, easily capsized by a single wave.

Having already publicly acknowledged Hayashi Shin-yi as his disciple, Ito Hirobumi was still receptive to Hayashi's slightly offensive remarks. He then countered, "If the people become the main body of the country, then what about the constitution? Should it also be amended? When supreme power shifts from the Emperor to the Diet representing the people, do you think the members of parliament can truly be wholeheartedly devoted to the country and not to themselves?"

It is clear that Ito Hirobumi understood the flaws of private ownership. Lin Xinyi thought that the imperial system that Ito Hirobumi pursued was actually an attempt to use a transcendent state institution to suppress the exercise of national sovereignty by the representatives of the zaibatsu who spoke for private ownership. This was actually in line with Confucianism.

In other words, Confucian scholars acknowledged the emperor's sovereignty over the world and then demanded that the emperor, as the master of the world, exercise power to suppress powerful clans and families, thereby maintaining a just order in the world as much as possible. That is, the emperor had to eliminate his own ideas about private ownership of the world and only retain his just side as the master of the world.

While Ito Hirobumi advocated learning from the West and opening up the country to the world, he clearly equated capitalists with the wealthy merchants and daimyo of the Edo period. He believed that while these individuals had a necessity, they also needed constant suppression to prevent them from disrupting the order of the nation. However, the imperial system Ito Hirobumi envisioned lacked the shogunate—an institution that represented the emperor in exercising power but could not replace the emperor as the symbol of the state. This led to the chaotic situation of the elder statesmen vying for power among themselves.

According to Lin Xinyi, the imperial system established by Ito Hirobumi was fundamentally flawed. It required the emperor not to exercise supreme power, and also required politicians below not to try to usurp the emperor's power, so that the supreme power of the state was in a symbolic state and not exercised. However, this state depended on the self-restraint of all parties and the checks and balances of power.

Only Emperor Meiji and the elder statesmen could maintain this special state; without either of them, the current political norm in Japan would collapse. Hayashi Shin-yi couldn't point this out either; if he advocated for a complete overhaul, Ito Hirobumi would certainly object.

Therefore, he could only say: "As long as power does not lose its balance, the constitution does not need to be amended. However, the existence of the constitution is to maintain the balance of power. If the balance of power is lost, then the constitution must be amended. Otherwise, the constitution will become a dead letter and power will be out of control."

You're right. Current legislators don't represent the will of the people. Although they are nominally representatives, they are actually just mouthpieces for money and power. However, I still believe that parliamentary decisions are better than those made by factions or the military, because the latter two have now become mouthpieces for factional interests, and their vast political and social resources make them difficult for the people to control.