Chapter 14 Kaoru Inoue: Japan's Founding Father of Finance

Kaoru Inoue has always had great ambitions. When the Western powers are in danger, the shogunate is in chaos, and the country is facing a major crisis, Kaoru Inoue secretly makes up her mind to go abroad to see why the Western navy is so powerful. , How prosperous is the economy of Western countries?However, at that time, Japan adopted a strict policy of locking the country, and it was a capital crime to leave Japan to study abroad without permission.But Kaoru Inoue's determination is very firm, and the danger of death is not enough to deter her.He secretly contacted Ito Hirobumi, a fellow of the Changzhou Clan, and the two were like-minded, determined to smuggle to the UK to study and study together.

The two had a heated discussion, and when they were about to leave, they suddenly realized that they had no money on them, and they didn't know how much it would cost to stay in the UK for a few years.So they went to the British consulate to inquire, and the consul had never encountered such a rare thing. After inquiring, they told them that each person needed 1,000 taels of silver per year, which was not a small amount for any samurai family.The two were suddenly dumbfounded.However, there are always more solutions than difficulties, and they began to look for money and sponsorship everywhere.In the end, it was Mori, the daimyo of the Changzhou domain, who was moved by the passion of the two and remitted the balance of the purchase of weapons in the United States to the British consul. One night in May 1863, the two and three other friends secretly went to Shanghai under the arrangement of the British consul.

Arriving at the port of Shanghai, Kaoru Inoue saw hundreds of foreign steam ships coming in and out, and it was a busy scene.Inoue Kaoru deeply felt that Japan would be abandoned by the world trend if it did not open up.However, he did not think deeply about what would happen to China's economy if foreign ships unloaded entire ships of opium and loaded them with silk tea, gold and silver. It was Keswick of Jardine Matheson who received them in Shanghai.He asked Inoue Kaoru and others what they planned to study in England, but Inoue Kaoru suddenly discovered another big problem, that is, none of them could speak English.Kaoru Inoue only knows one word in English, which is Navigation, and unfortunately, he also pronounced it wrong.Keswick heard that Monk Zhang Er was puzzled, and finally guessed that they were going to learn sailing as sailors, so he sent someone to arrange Kaoru Inoue and others to burn the boiler and do chores with the sailors.Inoue Xin and others didn't understand why the guests who bought the ferry tickets still needed to do chores, and felt extremely depressed.Since the British have such a tradition, Kaoru Inoue and others had no choice but to follow the Romans.The violent wind and waves at sea made Inoue Kaoru and Ito Hirobumi severely seasick. While vomiting, the two were still arguing fiercely about the future of Japan. 【4】The ship finally arrived in England, and they started a new life.Inoue Kaoru witnessed the wealth and power of foreigners, and she desperately learned English and professional navigation knowledge.He can't wait to stuff all the advanced civilizations of the West into his brain immediately.One day, he suddenly read in a British newspaper that Japan's Changshu Domain blocked the strait wantonly and bombarded foreign ships. Western powers were preparing to form a joint fleet to punish the local "barbarians".Inoue Kaoru was shocked, because he knew that the powerful force of the West could never be resisted by Japanese samurai, so he immediately decided to set off with Ito Hirobumi to return to China, trying to persuade the local daimyo to strike a truce before the warships of the great powers hit Changzhou Fan.

Risking the risk of being caught and sentenced to death by the shogunate, the two rushed back to Japan to meet the British Consul General.At this point, war is about to break out.Kaoru Inoue could already express his proposal in English—he was willing to persuade Changzhou Fan to stop the war, and the British consul agreed to give them a few days to go to peace talks.After seeing the name of the Changzhou Fan, Inoue Kaoru insisted that the ships of the Western powers were strong and the guns were strong, and the Changzhou Fan would be defeated in the war.Reluctantly, at this time, the local warrior class's hatred for the Western powers has reached an irrepressible level, and they will fight even if they lose.Kaoru Inoue had to go back and report the results to the British side.When the British Consul General asked Kaoru Inoue if she was still willing to return to the UK to continue her studies, Kaoru Inoue replied very simply: "No, sir! If there is a war, we will be the first samurai holding samurai swords to fall under your gunfire! "His staunch determination moved the British Consul General. 【5】This kind of Bushido spirit was extremely common in Japan at that time, so there was no soil for the breeding of foreign compradors.Later, it was Kaoru Inoue and a large number of Japanese financial warriors who took charge of the financial and financial power of the Japanese Empire!How can foreign financial capital buy it!

The tragedy of the war made the Western powers realize that the cost of directly conquering Japan was too high, and the troops in the Far East were far from enough.However, Kaoru Inoue and Hirobumi Ito were mistaken for spies by the local warriors because of their negotiations with the great powers. Both of them were assassinated and almost died.Japan's strong samurai spirit and national sentiment were indeed a major problem faced by Western colonists for the first time.These "barbarians" could not be directly conquered by force, and it was difficult to find a group of capable foreign compradors to indirectly implement colonial rule.

Later, Kaoru Inoue became Japan's most financially savvy politician and one of the nine elders of the empire, known as "Mitsui's big shopkeeper".Ito Hirobumi is the famous iron-blooded prime minister of Japan in history and the founder of the constitution. The Sino-Japanese War of 1899-1995 was launched during his tenure. After the restoration of the royal government, the Changzhou Fan had the most credit for the downfall, so it naturally received the largest sphere of influence in the new government.Among the Changzhou clan, Kaoru Inoue and Hirobumi Ito were the most farsighted, so Kaoru Inoue was exceptionally promoted to Dazang Daisuke (equivalent to the Deputy Minister of Finance), in charge of Japan's financial and financial power, while Hirobumi Ito went to a foreign country The Bureau of Affairs later emerged from the field of diplomacy and became a famous statesman of the empire.