The Rise of the Empire

"Mutsu-kun seems to be dying. His life may only be the last few weeks." In Ito Hirobumi's official residence, Xiyuan Temple said to the head of the Japanese government, his tone full of melancholy.

"This is not just a disease, but more a heart disease. Although we finally obtained two armored cruisers, the Nisshin and the Izumo, the huge price has always been a burden on Mutsu-kun's heart. Now, this burden has taken over He was completely overwhelmed. We all know that Mutsu Munemitsu did the right thing, but no one comforted him, and he has been living in self-blame and ridicule from others." Looking at the silent Prime Minister opposite, Xiyuanji Gongwang Some couldn't bear to say. "Now, there are some things you can talk to him about."

Unit price of 1.35 million pounds! This is almost the most expensive warship so far. The second-class battleship Fuji and Yashima purchased by Japan from the United Kingdom cost more than 900,000 pounds. If only in terms of cost performance, this battleship is compared with the British Centurion It also has a slight advantage, 4 10-inch guns, 8 8-inch guns and nearly 20 105MM guns against the Fuji-class 4 10-inch guns and 10 6-inch guns. The former projected almost twice as much as the latter! Although 1.35 million pounds is expensive, it is not bad.

But for Mutsu Munemitsu, this price is almost twice the starting price! This result greatly exceeded Mutsu Munemitsu's expectations, and even exceeded the bottom line of his heart, and some unreasonable people also began to attack Mutsu Munemitsu's actions. There are even radicals threatening "Heavenly Execution". Mutsu Munemitsu was even attacked near the mansion! And this series of blows exhausted Mutsu Munemitsu physically and mentally. He, who had lived until 1898, was almost dying in 1897.

"Well, you go with me and tell him the truth, we can't let him leave this world with regret and self-blame." Ito Hirobumi thought for a while and said.

"Ito-kun, I just want to know whether what I did is right or wrong. Don't comfort me. I need the truth." Two hours later, when Ito Hirobumi and Saizonoji saw Mutsu Munemitsu. The Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs shot out his hard-working hands and only grabbed Ito Hirobumi's collar and said hoarsely.

"You are right. It is us who are wrong. We have concealed a lot of things, and we have concealed a plan that has been planned since the Sino-Japanese War has not yet come to an end. Today I need to tell you about this plan." Ito Hirobumi said.

"How do you evaluate the results of the Sino-Japanese War?" Ito Hirobumi asked a seemingly irrelevant question.

"Our war is tantamount to fighting for nothing. From a numerical point of view, the indemnity we received from the Qing Dynasty only slightly exceeds our military expenditure. After paying off the foreign debt, there is nothing left. Apart from the indemnity, we have not acquired colonies. None Colonies have no source of raw materials and no market. The development of ports and so-called privileges have very limited significance to the current empire.'

"And the most important thing is that our diplomatic environment has deteriorated unprecedentedly. The Qing Dynasty moved closer to Russia, and at the critical moment of the negotiation, Russia, Germany and France actually stole the fruits of our victory! The Americans have always been indifferent, while the British did not There is nothing we can do. We fought a war, but provoked many powerful countries, and fell into an extremely passive state in diplomacy.” Although the fuel was exhausted, Mutsu Munemitsu still had a more accurate analysis of the situation.

"That's right. We won the war, but we didn't get enough dividends, and under the operation of those financiers, the domestic financial market has also fallen into turmoil, and our financial industry has suffered heavy losses.

The Empire seems to be in worse shape than it was before the war, so we're going to change that and get what we've lost now elsewhere! can you understand "Ito Bowen paused and continued: "Colonies, markets, and raw material origins!" "

"This! Are you going to start another war? We just ended the war with the Qing Dynasty. If we fight again, the Qing Dynasty will definitely get help from Russia and even France and Germany. We have no chance of winning, you madman!" Lu Ao Zongguang quickly thought of what Ito Hirobumi wanted to say. In his opinion, Ito Hirobumi is now a crazy gambler. When he didn't make enough profit in the last round of gambling, he became crazy and threw all the weight of the empire into it to participate in another gamble that he couldn't win!

"You're right, if I didn't fight the Qing again, it would probably turn into a war between Japan and Qing, Russia, France and Germany. In this case, the British can't save us .So we chose another target, a weak country! A colony that is easy to occupy, and before the countries of the world react, let everything settle. You can guess, Mutsu-kun.” Ito Hirobumi said with a smile. There was a hint of pride in the words.

"A weak country? A colony that is easy to occupy? Is there such a place in East Asia?" Mutsu Munemitsu fell into deep thought. But soon it dawned on him. "You mean the Philippines, right? You really..." At this moment, Mutsu Munemitsu really didn't know whether Ito Hirobumi should be said to be brave or smart! Because sometimes it's hard to tell a genius from a lunatic!

"You are very smart. The Philippines is a good place. Its area is much larger than the Liaodong Peninsula and Taiwan Island. It is a colony run by the Spaniards for a long time. It has land, population, and cash crops. As long as we can get rid of Spain People, it will be profitable soon. And now that the Spanish army is fighting the Philippine rebel army, the internal chaos of the Philippines has greatly reduced the difficulty of our attack."

"Spain itself has sunk into the sun. Russia and Germany have very average relations with Spain. France will not go to war in a hurry, and the possibility of us being interfered by foreign enemies is very small. Maybe the Americans have certain ideas, but they are far from it." The Philippines is too far away. As long as we get the approval of the British, we can eat this place, and the British, in order to support us against the Russians, acquiesced to our actions and secretly gave some support." Hirobumi Ito said.

"But even if it is a dying empire, they still have two 7,000-ton ironclad ships and two Munich-class armored cruisers. If there is a real fight, our chances of winning are not very high, and after the fight, if the Russians take the opportunity to attack, Our navy has nothing to do!" Mutsu Munemitsu quickly discovered the problem in Ito Hirobumi's plan. Although Spain is relatively weak, Japan is also weak!

Thanks to the book friend Leng Huo Hue, the reward of books~~~, and the book friend Duckweed Zipiaoling, for the monthly ticket support~~~.