Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 396

Port of Yokohama. The 5000-ton American merchant ship "America" ​​slowly sailed out of the port.On the deck, members of the diplomatic mission waved goodbye to those who saw them off and sailed to San Francisco, USA.

This mission included several important members of Meiji Shin.The prime minister is Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi. This is his first visit abroad since his fourth cabinet formation.The deputy envoys were Minister of Finance Watanabe Kunitake, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce Hayashi Youzao, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Takaaki Kato.This is a mission group with 48 entourages. In addition, [-] Chinese and gentry children who are going to study in Western European countries are also on board.Among them are [-] women who are studying abroad for the first time.

The mission of the mission was determined by the Emperor Meiji as early as November. First, because of our country as a whole, we will revise the ceremony of engagement and inquiry to show our friendship; and expectations.The third purpose is to allow the missions to comprehensively examine the most civilized and prosperous state systems in Europe and the United States and the handling of practical affairs from the aspects of systems, laws, financial accounting, and education, and learn whether these rules and regulations are applicable to them.Each person in the mission is assigned to be in charge of affairs for study.

Except for Ito Hirobumi, who has visited many times during his tenure as a cabinet member, many others are going abroad for the first time.

Ito Hirobumi is 59 years old. On the deck, facing the choppy Pacific Ocean, it is like facing the political situation since the Restoration for many years.

The mission crossed the Pacific Ocean and arrived in San Francisco after six days of bumpy seas. Later, due to wind and snow blocking the road, it stayed in Salt Lake City for half a month. The mission hoped to increase the rights of the people and make them re-enter the ranks of enlightened countries.It is hoped that the political systems, customs and education, and production and production management of European and American countries will all be imported, so that the people can make rapid progress and reach the same level of development.

Twenty days later, the mission arrived in Washington and attended a grand reception hosted by President Franklin of the United States.America's advanced navigation technology, railway technology and novel customs made the envoys deeply moved.

However, revising the treaty allowed the mission to see another side of the United States. When Hirobumi Ito proposed to the Secretary of State of the United States to negotiate a revision of the treaty, Fisher cited international practice and asked the mission to issue a letter of power of attorney granted by the emperor. The delegation was dumbfounded and had to Send the Minister of Finance Watanabe Kunitake back to China to obtain the power of attorney.However, some left-behind members emphasized that the purpose of the mission was to study the laws and regulations of foreign countries, and opposed the premature negotiation of treaty revision.

On the day when Watanabe received his credentials and new plenipotentiaries and arrived in Washington again, the negotiations on the renewal of the contract were terminated.

Before ascertaining China's opinion, the United States has no intention of taking the lead in revising the unequal treaty, and the envoy's plan to revise the treaty has run aground. The envoy strongly feels the grim reality of a weak country without diplomacy.

At this time, the mission had lived in the United States for nearly two months, and then transferred to the United Kingdom. The British Foreign Secretary Glanville rejected the request for the restoration of tariff autonomy in a more hawkish manner, and proposed a treaty revision plan that was more stringent than the current treaty. , asking for inland travel rights, coastal trade rights, and land ownership.Other countries are also stepping forward, greedy.This attitude allowed the missions to deepen their understanding of the nature of Western power, and they followed suit with Asian countries in the future.But they know more clearly that there is only one deeper reason behind the agreement of the countries to change the treaty, China.

Everyone still clearly remembers that more than ten years ago, when China and Japan fought, China disappeared from this world almost instantly.Immediately afterwards, except for China, all major countries in the world stretched out their greedy hands, and in desperation to be devastated by the flames of war, they had no choice but to sign a series of treaties that forfeited power and humiliated the country.

But people's ambitions have never stopped, and the hatred for China has never weakened with the passage of time, but has become stronger.Ten years is enough to make a beauty grow old, but it is difficult to shake the hatred in my heart!
The treaty amendment negotiations were frustrated, and the missions conducted a comprehensive inspection of various systems in Europe and the United States.In the following investigations, they successively visited 2 countries including the United States, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. .They inspected institutions, parliaments, courts, companies, exchanges, various factories, mines, ports, farms, barracks, and fortresses.The achievements of Western civilization dazzled them.

Ito Hirobumi said with emotion; "The world war has just passed three years, but the West seems to have recovered to the way it was before the war. Looking at the West, it is already far behind the world."

When visiting Rome, Watanabe Kunitake said: "Inspecting the situation of various countries, it goes without saying that such powerful countries as Britain, the United States, Germany, and France, even the second-tier European countries like Italy, their economic level is not comparable to that of our country. of."

In Birmingham and Manchester, the envoys saw smoky skies, factories everywhere, and the national spirit pouring out on world trade.This is the same as that nothing is produced by the land, but only coal and iron, mainly relying on the combination of industry and trade.Watanabe Kunitake fully realized that if he wanted to build an independent country in this world, it goes without saying that the country should be rich and the army should be strong, but to make the country rich and the army must start with the development of industries.

At dawn that day, Hirobumi Ito tossed and turned on the train from Paris to Berlin. The popularization of education in European and American countries left a profound impact on the diplomatic mission.There is no difference between human beings and Europeans and Americans, only in learning or not learning.The level of education popularization in the United States is far higher than that of the United States. For the cause of modernization, a large number of talents must be continuously cultivated.Ito Hirobumi also noticed that due to the difference in traditional thinking between the East and the West, there are fundamental differences in educational content. European and American countries generally attach importance to modern scientific knowledge and practical learning.

After arriving in Berlin, the German Prime Minister Bismarck, who is known as the "iron and blood prime minister", met with the envoys. Bismarck said bluntly to the envoys: "Looking at the world today, all countries communicate with each other in harmony and etiquette, but these are all superficial phenomena. In fact, the law of the jungle is preying on the strong. The so-called public law is said by them to be the criterion for protecting the rights of all nations. However, when major powers compete for interests, if it is beneficial to them, they will follow the public law without changing it; There is no such thing as upholding public law.”

He introduced to the envoys the experience of Prussia's prosperity back then, and told the envoys that if a small and weak country wants to be independent, it must depend on its own military strength. In terms of internal governance and diplomacy, internal governance should be prioritized, and only when internal governance is done well can we speak right.These enlightening words made Ito Hirobumi and others feel admiration, and also eased the depression of failing to amend the treaty.

In 1900, Hirobumi Ito became prime minister for the fourth time. In the 16 years he presided over the mid-Meiji finances, this time he faced a more difficult time than the "Black Ship Incident" that year.

Prior to this, China's reproduction and development of industries went to another stage, selling the former government-run enterprises to the private sector, and vigorously supporting and protecting the development of private capitalism.

The original establishment of government-run enterprises was temporary, and its purpose was to "show real benefits and lure the people." After introducing advanced technology and training skilled workers, they were converted back to private enterprises.In addition, there are many problems in the management of these enterprises because they are government-run. The salaries of the management are very high, and the expenses of the enterprises are huge.By the end of the 19th century, most enterprises except railways and mines suffered losses year after year.Due to the sharp drop in income, it was decided to sell the official property. On the one hand, it can recover the funds established by the state, and on the other hand, it can also avoid the huge burden of subsidies.

In the beginning, the loss-making businesses that were dealt with were ignored because the prices were set too high.Later, according to the method of extremely low price and interest-free long-term installment payment, it succeeded.

The handling of official property this time also laid the foundation for the formation of the later "chaebol".First, sell these official properties to some big capitalists and emerging capitalists who are closely related to them.The famous Mitsui purchased Miike Coal Mine, Tomioka Silk Mill.Mitsubishi purchased the Nagasaki Shipyard, the Sado Gold Mine and the Ikuno Silver Mine.When buying these businesses, the purchase price is well below the property appraisal.Some enterprises are transferred almost free of charge.In order to protect the development of these private enterprises, they are also given operating subsidies.Xiang Mitsubishi was single-handedly supported, and its purpose was to enable him to compete with foreign steamship companies.By 1897, Mitsubishi had 37 ships with a tonnage of 23000 tons, occupying all the large ships at that time, and opened the Shanghai route.In the competition, he defeated the Pacific Mail Line of the United States and the Peninsula and Eastern Navigation Company of the United Kingdom.Later, Mitsubishi merged with the common transportation company to form a cruise ship company with a total of 58 ships.By 18900, Mitsubishi had reached a ship tonnage of 11 tons.

Eiichi Shibusawa, the "father of capitalism", who founded more than 500 companies in his lifetime, Kihachiro Okura, Takashi Masuda and other celebrities in the financial world, as well as 21 former daimyos who jointly founded the "Osaka Textile Company" were infected by this trend. In the mid-80s, many businessmen in China invested in the construction of modern textile factories.The early wave of industrial revolution occurred in many industrial sectors.Among them, the most rapid progress is the light industry sector centered on prevention and control. In just ten years, the modern chemical industry has established a dominant position in the textile industry.By 1900, imported foreign yarns were expelled from the domestic market and began to be exported abroad.

At the end of the 19th century, China's coal output reached 300 million tons, a 1874-fold increase from 15.The Busan Iron Works became a large enterprise with an annual output of 7000 tons of pig iron. In 1883, China's railway was only 182 miles, but by 1898, it had reached more than 1900 miles, with 351 locomotives, 204 million tons of freight, and 3253 million passengers.By 1895, there were 5444 enterprises and 38 workers.At the end of the 19th century, exports reached 9111 million yen and imports reached 7132 million yuan.After nearly a decade of industrial revolution, in the late 90s, capitalist industrialization was preliminarily realized.

In terms of culture and education, during Inoue Takeshi's tenure as the Minister of Education, in view of the development of the industry and the demand for vocational education, he successively formulated the "Regulations for Industrial Tutorial Schools", "Regulations for Apprentice Schools", "The National Treasury Subsidy Law for Industrial Education", "Simplified School Regulations.These bills have laid a legal foundation for the creation of primary technical personnel and workers who cultivate the basic knowledge and skills of modern industrial technology.He once said: "Although there is no competition in artillery, there is competition in industrial technology. Countries on the earth are competing in technology, manufacturing, trade, etc. Therefore, if our country neglects for a day, it is related to the prosperity and destiny of the country." Driven by these laws, a vocational education system was formed in the middle and late Meiji period, laying a solid foundation for the development of the manufacturing industry. In 1900, the primary school tuition system was abolished and a four-year compulsory education system was implemented.

(End of this chapter)