Chapter 646: God Does Not Bless Japan (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
The population is sparse!
People only regret their small number of people when they need them. Not to mention that the Tokugawa family has no descendants, even the imperial family has few people!
Emperor Gokaku, Meiji's great-grandfather, also had only one son who survived to adulthood, and the same was almost true for those before him.
This has been a single-line inheritance for several generations.
Faced with such a situation, this group of reformists who could be regarded as the outstanding figures of East Asia in the mid-to-late 19th century were dumbfounded.
This one died, and that one had no descendants. The royal family was sparsely populated. Was it because the sparse population was caused by the shogun when he was alive, or was it destined by heaven? No one knew, but what was certain was that after Meiji died without an heir in 1874, Japan suddenly faced an unprecedented situation.
No one can inherit the throne of the Emperor!
In other words, if they don't think there is anyone suitable to inherit the throne, will they choose an heir from other public officials to succeed the throne?
Although the other princes from the dukedoms are royal family members, their bloodline is actually far away from the royal family. For example, Princess Kazunomiya was engaged to Prince Arisugawa Horihito when she was 6 years old. They are more than ten generations away from the imperial family, and they can get married.
Logically speaking, Prince Arisugawa Aburashi also has the right to inherit the throne of the Emperor, but he has to rank far behind Princess Kazunomiya, and so do several other princes.
In this case, only He Gong is the most suitable candidate, even though she is already married, and of course, what is more suitable is that she is a widow.
This is simply the perfect candidate.
Except for one thing - Princess Kazunomiya is the wife of the former shogun!
Her identity made the heroes of the Reform Movement hesitant and embarrassed.
After all, they got their start by "overthrowing the shogunate" and gained power through the Reform Movement of 1898.
Now letting the wife of a Tokugawa Shogun succeed to the throne as emperor... this is simply asking for trouble!
Not only would it be asking for trouble, if Princess Kazunomiya stood on the side of the samurai, the situation of the Meiji government would be troublesome. After all, the reforms they carried out were in the name of the emperor, and they did not have the emperor's support.
How can we continue to promote the reform? Even the reform government may collapse. By that time, the conservatives will inevitably come to power again.
What about these reformists? It's not just a matter of resigning. Those nobles will definitely take the opportunity to counterattack, and it's hard to say whether they can save their lives at that time.
That was when Iwakura Tomomi, Ōho Kurimichi, Ito Hirobumi and other Meiji Restoration heroes were secretly discussing the issue of succession to the throne.
Katsu Kaishu, the founder of the Japanese Navy and a former shogunate retainer, walked into the Imperial Court in the O-oku. Although as early as last year, some people in the government had proposed that the Shogun's wife and the princess should move out of the Imperial Court in the O-oku, this was temporarily shelved because Emperor Meiji was seriously ill.
Now, why did Katsu Kaishu come here?
Of course, it was for the Emperor’s sake.
As in the past, Katsu Kaishu, as a former shogunate retainer, still knelt on the ground when he met Prince Kazunomiya. He still maintained 100% respect and of course loyalty to his old master. This did not disappear with the disappearance of the shogunate. After all, the shogunate was his old master.
"Your Highness, now is the time!"
Katsu Kaishu said while kneeling on the ground.
"Your Highness is the sole heir to the throne. Only Your Highness can inherit the throne of the Emperor, and this is also the voice of the world."
Princess Kazunomiya, who was kneeling behind the curtain, looked at Katsu Kaishu, the hero who facilitated the bloodless opening of Edo and preserved the Tokugawa family, and she said.
"Katsu Kaishu, do you think they will tolerate a Tokugawa inheriting the throne?"
Even though Kazunomiya was a woman, and a thin one at that, it didn't mean she didn't know what the heroes of the Meiji Restoration would not tolerate.
They would not tolerate a Tokugawa family member becoming the emperor. In fact, all they needed was an emperor who allowed them to control the country.
"Your Highness, as long as the reform can continue, they will support whoever becomes the emperor!"
Katsu Kaishu was also a hero of the Meiji Restoration, but he did not go as far as Iwakura and his colleagues, and he did not agree with Iwakura and his colleagues' extreme suppression of the samurai. In this respect, he was fundamentally different from Saigo. Saigo opposed the suppression of the samurai and demanded the protection of their interests, but he supported a certain degree of suppression of the samurai, after all, this was what Japan had to do if it wanted to become rich and strong.
The samurai consumed too much of Japan's financial resources, so the reform must strike against the samurai, but at the same time he also did not agree with the current crackdown. What the Meiji government is doing to the samurai now is basically cutting off their livelihood.
"Since the "return of the land and population", the household registration of the samurai was transferred from each domain to the state. Three years ago, after banning ordinary people from carrying swords, the government also announced that samurai were prohibited from carrying swords. Last year, the government issued a "conscription order" and reformed the military service system, implementing a three-year compulsory military service system. All citizens are soldiers, and everyone becomes a samurai. The reform made the samurai lose their jobs all of a sudden. For those who don't work, the government naturally has no need to pay salaries. So the samurai were treated with "rank and salary penalties"!"
Rank and salary are salaries, and punishment is removal.
In other words, the salaries of the samurai were simply stopped and the country would no longer support them!
Not only did they not support them, but they also took away their knives!
For a samurai, a sword is a symbol, a kind of honor, and a part of life. For the sake of honor, one can die in battle or commit suicide. But if one is not even allowed to carry a sword, how can one die in battle or commit suicide?
When the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked.
This is how the Meiji government treated the samurai, not to mention the samurai who had stood on the side of the shogunate. Even the lower-class samurai who opposed the shogunate, what did they get in return?
It was nothing more than letting them get laid off and find new jobs. Some low-level warriors even committed suicide after being laid off, facing the situation of having no way to make a living. Even suicide could not solve the problem of food for their families. Many of their wives and daughters became prostitutes.
Faced with such a situation, they merely attempted to assassinate Iwakura Tomomi, which was already very restrained.
"With no jobs and no tools to commit suicide, the samurai are extremely angry. Almost everyone is furious with the reform government. Katsu Kaishu, what are the samurai expecting now? If I inherit the throne, the samurai will surely be full of expectations. They will surely want me to change all this. If I don't do it, they will definitely be very disappointed..."
Looking at Katsu Kaishu, Kazumiya spoke in an extremely calm tone.
"My nephew got their support because he supported the Restoration. If I want to get their support, I must issue an order to support the Restoration like my nephew did. However, the Emperor has abandoned the military family. If I, who was born in a military family, abandon the military family again, then..."
Looking at Katsu Kaishu who was kneeling on the ground, Kazumiya sighed.
"By then, a new civil war is bound to break out. The extremely angry samurai will be disappointed, and their disappointment will turn into anger. The anger of hundreds of thousands of samurai will be enough to ignite the entire Japan! Is this what you want to see?"
While narrating all this, He Gong's tone was calm. What was behind her calm words?
Of course it will be a civil war that will involve millions of people!
The last time the samurai lost power, it was because of internal strife among the samurai. But what about now? The Meiji government's suppression of the samurai over the past few years has already made 450,000 samurai families unemployed and full of anger towards the government.
Just a tiny spark would be enough to set the whole of Japan on fire, and as a woman, Princess Kazunomiya was certainly well aware of this.
"But, Your Highness, if you don't inherit the throne, then who in the world can inherit the throne?"
Katsu Kaishu looked up and asked.
"That……"
After a moment's silence, He Gong said.
"That's their business. Anyway, I was born into a Wu family, and I will never let the Wu family down!"
Not to let the Wu family down was the last thing she wanted as the former general’s wife.
Of course, she was also very clear that there was no one more suitable to inherit the throne than her.
Now her persistence is her last bargaining chip, and it is also her only one. She needs those heroes of the reform to make concessions.
"Your Highness, the country cannot be without a ruler for a day."
Katsu Kaishu tried to persuade him again.
"Let's wait until they make a decision."
Kazunomiya still sticks to her principles.
Faced with his wife's decision, Katsu Kaishu sighed in his heart, then retreated respectfully. After he left the O-oku, he looked at the dark clouds in the sky, couldn't help but sigh and said.
"Is it true that God does not bless Japan?"
At this time, Katsu Kaishu simply didn't know what else to say. Deep down in his heart, he certainly longed for Japan to be rich and strong, which was why he supported the Meiji Restoration changes. But he was also conservative. He hoped that Japan after the Restoration would still be Japan, rather than a European or American country in Japanese skin.
But what about now?
No matter which direction he looked, he could not see the future. He did not strongly oppose the reforms of the reformists because in his opinion, the reforms of the reformists were the only choice for Japan to become rich and strong.
But what about now?
The emperor died suddenly without leaving any offspring, and Japan was likely to have a civil war over the succession to the throne.
Does God really not bless Japan?
When this thought came to Katsu Kaishu's mind, someone suddenly ran and shouted excitedly in the distance.
"Eto Shinpei led the samurai in Saga to launch an uprising, demanding that Prince Kazunomiya inherit the throne, overthrow the current government, and restore the old court system..."
Saw some excited samurai and heard them talking about the rebellion in Saga.
Faced with this sudden rebellion, Katsu Kaishu suddenly felt a little desperate when he heard people from samurai families on the street discussing the rebellion in an excited tone.
"God, don't bless Japan... don't bless Japan."
(End of this chapter)
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