Japan had a temperate maritime climate. In February, the snow melted, and the humid air began to be full of vitality. In Sendai, the current headquarters of the Hokkaido Army, the snow had almost melted, and the spring plowing was about to begin. In such a beautiful season, the headquarters of the Hokkaido Army was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
"Post in Kansai to inform the people of Kansai. After the war between China and the United States, the United States lost the West Coast, and the thieves in Kansai didn't have a chance to use arms to cheat us of our gold and silver! "The handsome Hijikata Suizan said in a relaxed tone. It seemed that he was very satisfied with the war between China and the United States.
Hijikata Suizan's attitude was the mainstream in the Hokkaido Army. Their opponent, the Meiji government, now had two major support, one was the United Kingdom, and the other was the United States. The way the Americans sold weapons really made the Hokkaido Army speechless. The American government didn't care what they sold. The latest army weapons, the new warships that the United States didn't even have. As long as the Meiji government could afford it, the United States would sell them all to the Meiji government.
On the other hand, the Hokkaido Army had been cooperating with China for 20 years, and the government basically copied the system of China. Gold and silver had long been withdrawn from the circulation of the Hokkaido government as currency reserves. The financial model of circulating currency with paper money required a strong budget system, which made the Hokkaido government suffer. Fortunately, a large number of China's fleets had been traveling between North America and Asia in recent years, and Hokkaido had barely maintained its financial balance by providing relay services. Therefore, they vigorously attacked the Meiji government's "gold and silver outflow" problem in this regard.
"Those people have been shouting for so long, but they still continue to let the gold and silver of Japan flow out. Let the people of Kansai see this fact clearly, and they will understand why life is getting more and more difficult. "Hijikata Suizan continued to emphasize this problem.
"Our stronghold in Kansai responsible for printing posts was badly damaged, and it is not easy to break through the blockade of the Ming Army by sea. We have to think of some ways. "Shio truthfully described the current reality.
"There are many officers and soldiers from Kansai in our army. Let's mobilize everyone to think of a way." Hijikata Suizan was not troubled by the problem. According to the traditional model of the Liberation Army, Hijikata Suizan proposed a very common solution.
The sky in Tokyo was sunny and pleasant, but the leaders of the Meiji government were not happy because of such good weather. After the outbreak of the war between China and America, the supply of weapons from the United States had been interrupted. China did not have any decent wars with the Meiji government, but in the eyes of the Meiji government, China was a complete enemy country. If China won the war with the United States, the war, it would be a great blow to the Meiji.
"Strengthen the propaganda of the 'communist wife sharing' of the traitors. Recently, many landlords in the northeast have fled to our place. We must let the entire army know that if the traitors take over Japan, everyone's land will be taken away by the traitors!" Army Minister Yamayama Aritomo said with great difficulty.
Japanese army, the the war, he, and Japan, he, and people, and the Meiji Army, Japan, Japan, Japan, and, and a., and Japan., Japan, Japan, the Meiji Japan, and Japan, the Japan Japan, in Japan, the Japan, region, Army, and, and.., Japan, Japan, If it were not for the new equipment from the United States, the Meiji government would have suffered a series of defeats in 1887.
After Yamagata Suizan finished, many leaders of the Meiji government army followed and cursed the evil of the land nationalization policy. However, this topic had been cursed for more than ten years. Everyone's words were vicious, but the mood was not so high.
Seeing that the meeting soon fell into silence again, the Vice Minister of the Navy, Togo Heihachiro, spoke. "Gentlemen, I don't know if it is possible to abolish the system of separation between officers and soldiers in the Meiji government army."
Almost all the military leaders seemed to have been whipped, and they immediately became energetic.
"Absolutely not!" Yamagata Suizan immediately retorted.
Hokkaido learned from China's system in all aspects. In addition to the financial system, there was also the military system. China's army was composed of officers and soldiers. If the soldiers performed well, they could become officers through the selection mechanism during the war. In peacetime, it was more advantageous for soldiers to enter military schools than for non-soldiers.
This was not the case in Japan. Japan's aristocratic system created the samurai class. This strict system was particularly prominent in the military system. After ordinary people entered the army, they could only slowly mix between third-class soldiers, second-class soldiers, and first-class soldiers. In the army school, they could only be non-commissioned officers, corporal, sergeant, and staff sergeant. Only military school graduates could become officers such as lieutenants.
"If they are unwilling to serve the country just because they can't be officers, even if they become officers, they will not sincerely serve the country!"
"We did not block the way to become officers. If they are not willing to study hard, how can we guarantee that they will become good officers!"
"Many of those soldiers were confused by the rumors of Hokkaido. These people should not be allowed to become officers no matter what! "
Opinions against the abolition of the separation between officers and soldiers were put forward one after another. The goal of the leaders was Togo Heihachiro, as if Togo Heihachiro and the Hokkaido army were the biggest enemies of the Meiji army.
"Vice Minister Togo, when the Navy recruits people, it seems that they do not care about origin at all. As long as they can pass the Naval School, they can join the Navy. Don't tell me that you have been in the Navy for so long that you think that the army recruitment also needs to pass the preliminary examination? "There was a big man said in a sour tone.
Togo Heihachiro slightly lowered his head. His age and experience could not be compared with these big men. He could participate in the high-level meeting of the military headquarters entirely because of Togo Heihachiro's achievements. If it was not for Togo Heihachiro who stood up when the Meiji Navy suffered huge losses and used the remaining warships to fight back, the Meiji government would probably have been destroyed. Therefore, Togo obtained the position of Vice Minister of the Navy and also served as the Meiji Navy Commander. When proposing the battle plan, Togo could also use his position to communicate with the big men on an equal footing. In this kind of major decision of the military system of the Meiji Army, Togo had no right to speak at all.
Listening to the fierce criticism of the big men, Togo could not find any other way but to bow his head. He could bow his head, but Togo was not convinced in his heart. The predecessor of the Hokkaido army was the decadent Tokugawa shogunate. When that group of people fled to the desolate Hokkaido twenty years ago, there were no more than ten thousand soldiers and no more than a thousand officers. Even with the support of the Chinese people, a small force that accounted for less than one-thousandth of the total population of Nihon would be destroyed overnight.
Far more than the Meiji government, the remnants of the shogunate, who were based on seniority and personal dependence, changed when they were poor. When they formed the Republic of Prawn, they broke all the Nihon traditions and established a new system. Twenty years later, the fundamental difference between the Meiji government and the Hokkaido government was whether "birth determines fate."
Perhaps this kind of almost venting nature of the group attack made Yamagata Yukimoto feel that it was inappropriate. With a cold snort from Yamagata Yukimoto, those big men with deep Nihon tradition temporarily stopped attacking Togo Heihachiro.
"Spring has arrived, should our army launch an attack first?" Yamagata Yukimoto asked a very serious question. The early stage of the civil war in 1888 was another fierce battle. After two months of war, the Hokkaido army and the Meiji army fought evenly. The Hokkaido army then took a defensive position and began to strengthen the work of land nationalization in the areas under their control. The Meiji army occupied the offensive position in the second half of the war. With the experience of the past year, the Meiji army knew the difficulty of taking the offensive in the mountains.
The plan of the year was in spring. The Meiji army considered the war, and the Hokkaido army naturally had to consider it. After discussing the propaganda work of Kansai, Hijikata Toshizo said, "We will try to take a defensive position this year and stabilize the land reform first."
A group of officers did not object. It was easy to nationalize land in Hokkaido, which was originally ownerless. However, the land reform in the northeast of Nihon encountered a huge counterattack. Many landlords who originally supported the Hokkaido army strongly opposed and even resisted. The landlords whose political position was not obvious even launched a riot. If it weren't for the internal problems, the Hokkaido army would not have only attacked for two months before turning into a defensive position.
The land was finally distributed, and the first year was not suitable for forced conscription. From the experience learned from the Liberation Army, it would take about two years for the people to have the mentality of "defending the fruits of the revolution." During this time, the government not only could not immediately get the source of soldiers from the people, but it had to increase the investment in the people. With the experience of Hokkaido, the upper echelons of the Hokkaido army knew that this was a necessary step.
Just as everyone was about to discuss the issue of defense, a messenger came with a telegram. Hijikata Suisan's eyes lit up when he saw it. Most of the higher-ups in the Hokkaido Army had followed Hijikata Suisan for many years. When they saw Hijikata Suisan's expression, they knew that something good must have happened.
Tu Fang's eyes lit up as he said to his subordinates: "? I, the Premier, have passed on a message. China needs 200,000 laborers, and they are offering a very favorable price. "
"The Chinese won't use this money to pay off the debt, will they?" The subordinate asked.
“?\ I've made it clear in my message that this is a direct payment. We can also request China to provide us with various materials at a discounted price. Since it is? I believe what I said was right. " The joy in Hijikata Suizo's heart was indescribable. Hokkaido owed China a huge debt, and the money earned from the port services for the next ten years would probably be used to repay the debt. Now that a large sum of money had suddenly appeared, the budget for providing government services to the northeast could finally be settled.
Leaving aside how happy the Hokkaido Army was, before Li Hongzhang's side received news, Foreign Minister Li Xin had already sent a draft document to Vézé. After reading the document, Vézé looked at Foreign Minister Li Xin and asked with some doubt: "Japan is at war now, can they send 200,000 people?"
"We have already contacted Hokkaido, and they are sure that they can send that many people." Li Xin replied confidently. Seeing that Vézé was still a little hesitant, Li Xin said confidently: "Commander-in-chief, these people are workers with road and construction experience. There are not many infrastructure projects in Japan right now, and these people are still idle at this time."
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