Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Hero of 1911

Text Chapter 520 The Age of Young People

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    After entering the Seto Inland Sea, the sailors of the Saigo Maru became nervous unconsciously.  Fortunately, I don¡¯t know if it was the old battleships at the Bungo Suido crossing that gave Japan the confidence to protect the inland sea, or if it was all attention on North Korea. The freighter arrived at Himeji without any danger.

    Himeji is the second largest city in Hyogo Prefecture after Kobe. A few dozen kilometers across the sea is Osaka.  The gray and white ancient Himeji Castle in the distance witnesses the history and development of Japan.  Although it is in wartime, the defense of Himeji Port, which is thought to be protected by a powerful fleet, is not tight, especially after the 10th Regiment was transferred to Okayama, leaving only police and a few soldiers here.  The Saigo Maru is an offshore cargo ship affiliated with the Mitsui Zaibatsu. It travels between Hokkaido and the Seto Inland Sea all year round, so the marine police did not pay special attention to it. They only checked it briefly and left.  .

    The intelligence officer in charge secretly breathed a sigh of relief, pretended to be extremely tired from the long voyage, stretched and let the sailors unload the cargo, and walked to the liaison office himself.  But as soon as he walked onto the street, someone hit him hard on the shoulder. He turned around and saw several fishermen holding empty rice bags with hurried expressions.  "Hey! What are you doing?" The intelligence officer's shout made the fisherman stop. Seeing the samurai belt on his waist, he quickly bowed. The fisherman who bumped into someone was even more timid and frightened and did not dare to raise his head: "Sir  .I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m very sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it.¡±

    "Why are you in such a hurry? Is there a fire in your house?"

    The intelligence officer was a captain, and his status was much higher than that of the fishermen. Moreover, he worked for the famous Mitsui Company, so the fishermen who hit him quickly explained: "That's it. The price of rice has increased again today, and we were walking too fast."  .So I¡¯m very sorry.¡±

    "Oh, has the price of rice increased again?"

    "Yes. I heard that North Korea was defeated. So the price of rice rose to 50.6 cents today, we"

    "Baga! How could the Empire of Japan fail? This must be a rumor, a rumor! Get out of here, you stupid pigs." The intelligence officer kicked the fisherman away and pretended not to believe it and walked towards Mi Xing  .  Sure enough, a long queue of people had already formed in front of Mi Xing's door.  Even so, many people came.  Komatsu Koji, who bumped into someone, saw that the victim did not pursue the case, and quickly lined up behind the queue with his friends.  The intelligence agent really found trouble with a few Japanese fishermen, but his role meant he had to do so because Japan has a strict sense of hierarchy.

    People waiting in line squeezed in when they saw him.  His face was full of anger but he didn't dare to scold him, thinking that he was forcibly cutting in line.  After squeezing to the front, the rice price tag indeed said 50 cents and 6 cents per liter of rice.  You must know that the price of rice was only about 4 cents when we went to sea 5 days ago.  Now it has reached 50 cents and 6 cents per liter!  This is already a sky-high price, even in Europe that has not yet emerged from the food shortage.  But before he could secretly cheer that the time had come, the boss of Mihang, who had an arrogant and rigid look on his face, suddenly walked out from inside. After winking at the clerk, the price tag was instantly changed to 6 cents and 5 cents!  There is also a limit of 5 liters per person!

    "Why did the price increase again?!"

    ¡°The price was raised just this morning, why is it raised again now?¡±

    ¡°There is so much rice in the warehouse, why not sell it?¡±

    ¡° Several citizens who were about to queue up saw the price of rice skyrocketing in front of them, and even limited the amount they could buy.  Suddenly he started shouting with anger.  After a while, everyone became agitated. Koji Komatsu, who was a step late when he bumped into someone, was even more anxious. He had another child at the beginning of the year. The price of rice was already expensive, but now it has increased and it makes it difficult for people to live!

    In the face of the excited rice buyers, the boss of the rice store did not hesitate. Taking advantage of his son being the police chief, he cursed: "What do you know! The empire is at war, and hundreds of thousands of imperial soldiers are opening up territories for your future.  , the country needs more food. I want to donate my food to the country. So from now on, everyone is only allowed to buy 10 liters. Anyone who dares to scream again will destroy the revival of our Japanese Empire!"

    "You are talking nonsense! Someone saw it with their own eyes yesterday. You want to transport the rice to Osaka to sell it because the price of rice is more expensive there."

    "The army is fighting in North Korea, why do they want to take away ours?"

    "Reduce the price! Reduce the price! Open the warehouse and sell the rice to us!"

    The explanation of the rice bank boss undoubtedly added fuel to the fire. The people who have been tortured to death by the high price of rice can no longer bear it.  War, war, still war!  Nothing but war is on the minds of these people!  Many people began to recall the era of low rice prices 10 years ago, and rushed to the rice store excitedly.

    "Baga!" Facing the swarming crowd trying to grab the rice, the owner of the rice store sent people to find the police, and at the same time asked the clerk to stand at the door and beat the people trying to grab the rice with canes. He himself kept yelling: "Untouchables"  ! You untouchables have a very bad conscience! This is rice for the army. Anyone of you who dares to snatch it will be killed." Some people were frightened by this momentum and did not dare to move forward, but more peopleThe whole country cannot accept this rice price.  We can no longer open the pot at home. If we can¡¯t buy the rice back, we will starve to death!  Anyway, it was a death, so many people rushed to the rice pile regardless of the danger. When a bag of rice was snatched and spilled on the ground, and the snow-white rice grains rolled down the road, all the eyes turned red instantly.

    Everyone frantically grabbed handfuls of rice and stuffed it into rice bags. More people rushed to the rice pile and ran away regardless of the rattan. Komatsu Koji also joined in the robbery, risking his life and grabbing half a bag of rice before preparing to go back.  Run, the shrill police whistle sounded at this moment.  Hundreds of policemen fiercely waved their batons and rushed into the crowd. How could these policemen, who were usually stuffed by rice merchants and landlords, care about the life and death of the "untouchables"? They brandished their batons and violently hit Komatsu Koji and others.  The crackling baton and screams came one after another. Komatsu Koji was hit in the head by the baton without much preparation. Blood immediately spilled down his forehead. He endured the pain and tried his best to protect the rice bag in his arms, but this action made even more  Multiple batons fell, and in the end the person was paralyzed after being beaten, and he could only watch helplessly as the rice bag returned to the hands of the boss of Mihang.

    Within a few minutes, nearly a hundred people were lying on the road grabbing rice. The white rice was dotted with blood. The owner of the rice store saw that a lot of the rice was stained.  Just let the guy sweep into the gutter not far away and get angry!  anger!  There is anger in everyone's eyes!  These landlords and exploiters are no longer just hateful, they would rather throw away the dirty rice.  They also refused to distribute it to the hungry people, claiming that it was for the sake of the country!

    After the intelligence officer completely watched the entire riot process.  I am also very angry about this kind of thing.  Five years of lurking made him understand that Japan was short of food, but it was not in such an outrageous situation.  You must know that rice is grown in Japan from south to north, and tens of millions of farmers produce a lot of hard work every year.  The real reason for this situation is that the Japanese government never invests in agriculture. It would rather build the world's most powerful battleships than spend money on building terraces and canals. It also intensifies the exploitation of landowners and capitalists.  After the war started, these people used military supplies to hoard.  Not only has the price of rice skyrocketed, but granaries have also been deliberately locked up to create the illusion of a shortage of rice in the market.

    Song Hao and others were carried away. He was lying on the stretcher with his nose black and eyes swollen and covered in blood, groaning in pain, but still holding a handful of red-stained "blood rice" in his hand.  The intelligence officer sighed secretly when he saw this.  After thinking about it, he followed quietly.

    The domestic livelihood issues that were on the verge of unrest did not attract the attention of the Tanaka cabinet and the feudal lords. They considered themselves national leaders and were still keen to discuss the so-called major events "related to the life and death of the Japanese Empire."  Konoe Fumimaro, who was publicly humiliated by Yang Qiu at the Paris Peace Conference, received favorable treatment when he returned home. The newspapers promoted him as a hero who dared to rebuke the enemy face to face.  This made him even more proud of being the youngest lord of the Japanese House of Lords as a hereditary duke. Even at the Five Prime Ministers' Meeting, he still dared to face Tanaka Giichi and other cabinet members, raised the telegram in his hand to the elders of the House of Lords, and said loudly  Howling: "Did you see it? What did everyone see? Our Empire of Japan has been betrayed!"

    Konoe Fumimaro's face turned red with excitement, like a wild monkey jumping up and down, and he kept handing the telegram to everyone in the House of Lords for review.  This look made Tanaka Yiichi gnash his teeth with hatred, but he was helpless. The only one to blame was himself, the Prime Minister, for not having the right time.  Even Kato Yusaburo and Yamanashi Hanzo, who always pinched each other when meeting next to them, remained silent.  This telegram just sent from Shanghai was a huge blow to Japan!  The British Empire agreed to China's conditions. Except for Sakhalin's unwillingness to interfere, the British Empire almost fully recognized China's recovery of its territory. It will also issue a joint declaration with the United States, France and other countries on January 1.

    There are only three days left until this time limit!

    "Is this the ally that our country has always held in the palm of our hands? Is this the ally that we need?" Konoe Fumimaro has gone crazy, jumping to his feet hysterically and shouting: "Everyone should have seen it by now! These ghosts have never been good people.  They have always just used our Empire of Japan! In order to get the Chinese to help them fight the war, they have forced us to sign a false peace treaty! Now that the war is over, our Empire of Japan will no longer be able to keep the spoils it deserves. In New Guinea  and Micronesia, the United States and Australia are forcing our country to evacuate! In Taiwan, the Chinese army has landed on the island. In North Korea, they have almost reached Pyongyang! Now those ghosts have betrayed our Japanese Empire, completely and  The Chinese people have come together! Three days, three more days! Those devils like Britain, France and the United States will recognize Taiwan, and they will recognize Siberia and Asia Minor! Is it necessary to maintain such an alliance? This is working with snakes and scorpions! Amaterasu, God above  The 50 million people of our Empire of Japan have no way to survive.¡±

    This performance was extremely touching and moved many people to the point of gnashing their teeth.

    Although Tanaka Yiichi despised his approach, he could not deny what he said.  Even the most superficial person knows that once three days later, Britain, the United States, France and other countries officially announce the cancellation ofAll unequal treaties with China are recognized as invalid, and then the Treaty of Shimonoseki will never be recognized by the international community from now on!  Taiwan, North Korea and Sakhalin Island, which contains oil, Japan really lost everything this time.  So when everyone turned their attention to him, he didn't know how to explain it, let alone any way to deal with it.

    The air in the silent conference room has solidified. Everyone is thinking about a question. When the "Shanghai Communique" is officially released three days later, where will Japan go?  Is it still necessary to continue the current war?  Just when everyone was at a loss, Togo Heihachi, who rarely attended the meeting of the House of Lords and was known as the God of the Japanese Navy, suddenly stood up slowly on crutches.  His short and stocky body was like a giant tree in the eyes of Tanaka and others at this moment.  His eyes scanned everyone and then stopped on the current Marine Minister Kato Yusaburo: "Primor Kato, please bring the fleet back."

    "What!"

    "What?"

    "What is this old man doing!"

    Stop talking about Tanaka.  Even Konoe Fumimaro, who had been crying just now, jumped up.  Everyone is asking in their hearts, what does this old man want to do?  There is no more Saionji Temple.  There is no more Yamagata Aritomo, and no more Katsura Taro.  Without Hara Kei, after almost all the Japanese elders and powerful factions fell on the night of May 10th, there are not many people who can be called the Dinghai Shenzhen, but Togo Heihachiro is one of the few remaining ones.  Because of his presence, on the night of May 10th, after several senior navy officials were beaten to death by army grooms, the conflict between the sea and the land was still suppressed. Now the old man said that he wanted the fleet to come back.  Who dares to say more?

    Even Konoe Fumimaro wouldn¡¯t dare!  He stared blankly at Togo Heihachi and walked out without saying a word.  Originally, he wanted to arouse anger, and then let the navy fight regardless of the situation to show Japan's strength.  But wouldn¡¯t all this fuss be in vain?  Fortunately, my throat was hoarse from shouting just now. Could it be that the performance was too much and caused this person to lose confidence in winning?  However, Kato Yusaburo knew what the old man was thinking. In three days, the "Shanghai Communique" would sweep the world. The navy's original plan to break through the mine array to intercept the Taiwan Strait, defend Taiwan and then find opportunities to bombard China's coast to gain bargaining chips was all in vain.  , if we continue to forcibly advance this strategy, it will leave the impression that the Japanese navy is bullying others in Europe, which is likely to lead to a situation in which China and the United States join hands to attack Japan. This behavior is meaningless before the Nagato class is not in service and has gained the advantage in the Pacific.

    So Yusaburo Kato left.  Before leaving, he glanced at Hanzo Yamanashi, who looked even worse. Without the navy, the army was doomed this time.

    Yamanashi Hanzo also left, not wanting to respond to the navy's despicableness.

    Gone, all gone.  One by one, the elders of the House of Lords left, as did the Tibetan Prime Minister and the Internal Affairs Minister.  Only Tanaka Yiichi was sitting alone in the conference room, his face waxy. This prime minister had finally come to an end.

    Konoe Fumimaro, who had struck a blow to Tanaka Giichi and finally brought him down, also left.  But he rushed to Chiyoda Palace without stopping.

    After the Meiji Restoration, the shogunate returned its power. Emperor Meiji not only moved the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo, but also directly occupied Tokugawa Ieyasu's hometown and converted it into an imperial palace.  This Japanese building with green tiles and white walls, facing water on three sides, served as the decision-making center of Japan for decades to come.  It was here that Emperor Meiji, who was hailed as a hero, issued his edicts one after another, transforming Japan from a weak and impoverished island nation into a powerful nation in the world.  However, human lifespan is limited after all. The death of the talented and brilliant Emperor Meiji made Japan heartbroken. When Emperor Taisho, who had mental problems and often went crazy even in his sanity, came to the throne, many knowledgeable people in Japan cried bitterly and were frightened.  trembling.  Fortunately, the legacy left by Meiji is quite rich, and the Taisho era has finally begun.  But no one expected that in the second year after entering Taisho, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, and Japan was forced to withdraw from the mainland due to external pressure.  The night of 510 even caused Japan to lose a generation of elites, and people began to doubt whether Emperor Taisho could continue to lead Japan.

    After the Yellow Sea conflict once again opened up the conflict and war between China and Japan, countless people began to miss the emergence of talented people such as Emperor Meiji and Hirobumi Ito, hoping that they could lead Japan to reverse its decline.  In particular, the fact that Yang Qiu, who is only 28 years old across the sea and has been listed as a public enemy of the country by Japan and will surely be in charge of Chinese politics for decades, makes Japan hope to find a Meiji-style figure who can rival him and compete for a long time.  character, so his attention began to turn to Crown Prince Hirohito, who was only 19 years old and was said to have quite a legacy of the Meiji period.

    The river outside has frozen, but the young Crown Prince Hirohito is still sitting in a room without any heating equipment, flipping through the pages of "Warring States Policy" translated by the Royal Library. He loves this book "Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty" very much.  I am very interested in the thoughts and strategies in the books I compiled.  However, when his fingers turned to the next page, a mess of footsteps interrupted his reading thoughts.

    "Prince."

    The person who came in was Tojiu Noshihiko, heHe is the 9th son of Prince Asahiko Kuremiya.  He graduated from the Army University in 1914. Because of his handsome appearance, he had relationships with several women from the prince's family while in college. His flirting with women once caused a headache for the royal family. In the end, he had to be kicked out to the Army Ministry as a casual post and served as the royal guard chief.  The young Crown Prince Hirohito raised his head. He had a good impression of this young uncle, because Tokyuari Minuhiko often provided him with analysis of external affairs, especially between countries, which satisfied him.  So I saw him closing the book with a smile on his face: "Uncle, is there anything urgent?"

    "Prince, Konoe Fumimaro wants to see you."

    The rules of the Japanese royal family are strict, and the crown prince is generally not allowed to approach his ministers before he ascends the throne, but Konoe Fumimaro is a hereditary duke, so he agreed to see him.  After Konoe Fumimaro came in, he immediately bowed and saluted, and then sat next to him and told everything about today's meeting of the five ministers: "Your Excellency, the empire has reached a critical moment, but Prime Minister Tanaka and Minister Makino are still expecting ghosts to speak for our country.  General Dongxiang hopes to end the war again. Please make the decision, Prince Edward."

    Hirohito has been fond of politics and military affairs since he was a child. He regards Meiji as his idol and hopes to be a rejuvenating monarch like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, so he is very aware of external affairs.  When he heard that the "Shanghai Communiqu¨¦" would be released in three days, Togo Heihachiro frowned slightly when he disapproved of the navy's continued war.  But he was very deep in the Chen family and did not answer Konoe Fumimaro immediately. It was not until Azumi Nohihiko sent him back that he asked: "Uncle, is the situation really bad?"

    Although Higashikaru Nosuhiko has a bad reputation, he also wants to do something big. However, Tanaka and the people in the Kensei Council are very afraid of the cabinet with a royal background, so after seeing that Emperor Taisho is mentally ill, they pin all their hopes on  As for Hirohito, in recent years he has actively traveled to all parties to persuade everyone to let Hirohito stand up.  Under his persuasion, there were indeed calls for Hirohito to supervise the country, so he rolled his eyes after hearing the inquiry: "Prince, the current situation is indeed very bad. The United States and France have all stood by China Yang Qiu, and now  The British also betrayed our country, which is really hateful! The most hateful thing is that this situation is entirely caused by our country's internal strife. What a country fears most is disunity. The Chinese people took advantage of the internal problems in our country, so what is needed most now is not  Instead of finding a way, a prestigious person should immediately step forward to lead the country!"

    What he said was extremely explicit, and Hirohito, who had been eager to try it for a long time, was elated when he heard it.  Emperor Taisho's condition has become more and more serious in recent years. As the crown prince, he has actually begun to help take care of some things. Shouldn't he be more decisive at this time?  He looked at the "Warring States Policy" on the table and raised his head: "Uncle, I remember that a few days ago, an officer named Nagata Tieshan wrote to his father, saying that he should contact Russia to contain China? Can you bring him to see me?  ? In addition, it is best to find more energetic young people, I want to meet them."

    An energetic young man?  !  Higashikata Nobuhiko nodded excitedly, and he even planned to take the opportunity to bring in Okamura Neji and others who were friends with him. When he walked outside the palace gate, he shouted loudly to let the unaware guards know.  I thought this girl had fallen in love with another girl.

    In the study, Crown Prince Hirohito put his hands on the Warring States Policy. After a long time, he slowly stood up and walked to the door and exhaled a breath of white mist. He suddenly remembered what Yang Qiu said when he overthrew the Beiyang unified country.

    ¡°In this era, we young people need to stand up and take on the future and destiny of the country!¡±

    So, is it time for Japan to get rid of old politics and let young people stand up?

    {Piaotia Literature www.piaotia.com thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report