Chapter 61 The Emperor's Dream: The Comeback of Imperial Power

One day in December 1921, the regent King Hirohito, who had just returned from a trip to Europe, received the nobleman and politician Duke Xiyuansi Gongwang in the palace.Xiyuan Temple Gongwang is a veteran of the three dynasties of Xiaoming, Meiji, and Taisho. Before he came to the palace to see him, he had heard that Hirohito held an informal carnival banquet in the palace the day before to celebrate his return from his honeymoon in Europe and take charge of the government. , all the members of the royal family and nobles and close officials participated.This kind of public gathering of the regent and a small group of cronies was very rare at the time.This made Xiyuan Temple Gongwang very worried and shocked.Now Japan's high society is speculating whether Hirohito will rely on secret groups or the cabinet after he came to power.Gong Wang of Xiyuan Temple and several veteran officials who retired believed that Hirohito should proceed with caution.Hirohito listened to Saiyuanji Gongwang's advice very patiently, and pretended to be serious to apologize for the absurd behavior of the night before, and then very sincerely asked Saiyuanji Gongwang to be the emperor's senior adviser.

Gong Wang of Xiyuan Temple had concerns about Hirohito gathering a secret small group, so he reasoned that he was over 70 years old and had reached the retirement age. important post. Hirohito understood his worries, and promised that if Xiyuanji Gongwang agreed, he would publicly announce that he would give up his support for the secret small group to show respect for the constitutional monarchy. Gongwang of Xiyuan Temple pondered for a while.As a member of the noble Fujiwara family, he should maintain the family tradition to maintain the emperor system.On the other hand, he is worried that Hirohito will not be able to stop the autocratic behavior like his father, Emperor Taisho, so that he will be involved in the struggle between the emperor and the chaebol, which will make him lose his life and ruin his life for civil rights and freedom. And fight for the reputation.Finally, he believes that the Japanese people have gradually changed in the past 10 years, and may be able to accept the legal system and constitutional ideals advocated by his mentor Ito Hirobumi.If public opinion conflicts with the emperor's will, I believe Hirohito will respect and accept the opinions of most of his subjects.Now that the country needs him, he should accept this position.So, he agreed to Hirohito's proposal.

Hirohito was getting impatient while waiting for Saionji's answer, but he had to be patient.Saiyuanji Gongwang is Hirohito's dream shield and front-end figure. He has served the cabinet and the highest advisory body, the Privy Council, for more than 40 years in the Meiji period. He has a high reputation and extensive contacts in the bureaucracy and parliament.He acted swiftly and thoughtfully, and his character was upright. He could not only leave a harmonious and prudent impression for the emperor in people's hearts, but also was good at insincere and comprehensive rhetoric, defending the emperor's radical policies and mistakes.

After Xiyuanji Gongwang is settled, Emperor Hirohito can hide behind the scenes, give full play to his long-sleeved and skillful political means and his strategy of leveraging strength to control the political situation in a subtle way, calmly accumulate imperial power, and wait for the opportunity to move. With years of ruling experience, Emperor Hirohito has become more and more mature.He also had times of depression and pain, and whenever this happened, he would come to the royal study in the palace.In the corner of the room he kept a beloved bronze bust of Napoleon, which lifted his spirits whenever he saw it.This is the only souvenir he bought for himself during his travels in Europe.I remember that when he visited Napoleon's Mausoleum in France, he once stared at Napoleon's Austerlitz sword in a trance, imagining that he was galloping on the battlefield like Napoleon. "A hero should be like Napoleon." Whenever he encounters difficulties, he often motivates himself with the spirit of Napoleon sweeping Europe.He believes that his great-grandfather's dream of "respecting the king and fighting the barbarians" since Emperor Xiaoming will surely be carried forward in him!

Thinking back to more than 400 years ago, wars were frequent, imperial power fell, and the shogun was so arrogant that he did not provide any financial subsidies to the emperor. The emperor was often too poor to afford a sumptuous banquet to entertain his ministers.Due to lack of money, Emperor Goto Mimon was not buried until 44 days after his death, and his successor had to postpone the enthronement ceremony for 22 years.Later, Nara, the Empress of Heaven, went to the streets to sell letters in desperation. Later, she relied on the diligent king to raise money, and finally built a new palace, allowing the Emperor to live a decent life.Even so, when Westerners traveled thousands of miles to Kyoto to meet the Empress Nara, they were told that the request could not be delivered because the shogun was not there.The emperor has thus been portrayed as a powerless religious leader living in seclusion in Kyoto.In the next 300 years, no foreigner saw the Emperor.In the West, the existence of the Emperor was completely forgotten.

In the era of Emperor Komei, the United States coerced the shogunate to sign a treaty of commerce and navigation, and the emperor opened his country to the West in humiliation.Since then, "respecting the king and fighting the barbarians" has become the dream of the emperors of all dynasties.Hirohito's grandfather, Emperor Meiji, started the Meiji Restoration with the support of Mitsui and other chaebols, abolished the shogunate, restored imperial power, and took over the power in one body, forging an indissoluble bond with the chaebol. The lessons of relying on the shogun's charity in the past made Meiji realize that in order to maintain the highest theocratic regime, money is often more important than force.Meiji granted the monopoly of new industrial development in Japan and the trading rights of colonial materials to the chaebols such as Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo, and shared a dividend from them.Mitsui holds the right to operate the largest coal mine in Japan, as well as the exclusive rights to camphor and sugar in Taiwan.The emperor and the chaebol formed an interdependent alliance. Relying on the support of the emperor, the chaebol controlled pillar industries such as the Bank of Japan, heavy industry, transportation, and trade. In return, the chaebol was loyal to the emperor and adjusted industry and The business plan has become a veritable "politics and businessman".By the end of the Meiji era, the property accumulated by the royal family had increased from tens of thousands of dollars when the Meiji came to power to 40 million dollars.

But with the beginning of the era of Emperor Taisho, the chaebols who controlled the lifeline of the country's economy, like the big bankers in Western countries, increasingly put their own interests first, trying to override the emperor.They frequently intervene in the policy of the Empire.At that time, Taisho implemented the imperial program centered on "improving national defense" and carried out a large-scale enrichment of the army. The elders, led by Saiyuanji Gongwang, representing the interests of the chaebol, used the whole country to balance the financial resources left by the Russo-Japanese War. On the grounds of deficits and frugality, he repeatedly vetoed the emperor's carefully conceived military expansion plan, forcing the emperor to almost abdicate, and finally died in depression.

The chaebols and politicians who can’t see the “long-term planning and interests” of the empire now push back and forth against Emperor Hirohito’s plan to occupy Manchuria, making Emperor Hirohito feel very constrained in realizing the great cause of ZTE in his dream. It is time to give them some color. Time to watch! Since the era of Emperor Komei, Japan has formulated a strategic plan to drive out the barbarians and unify the country under the leadership of the emperor.The first is to improve national strength and realize modernization; then to fight against the enemy by means of overseas expansion, and to establish a buffer zone between Japan and the West to ensure Japan's security.As a result, the "North Advance" and "Southern Advance" disputes arose.The Northern Movement advocated the annexation of Korea, the occupation of Manchuria, Mongolia, and later Siberia, while the Southern Movement believed that the south of Japan should be occupied or controlled, including the islands in the sea and the Nanyang region in Southeast Asia.

Hirohito believes that the northward advance is only a need for national defense, and it cannot solve Japan's key problems such as overpopulation, industrial product exports, and strategic material sources.The Japanese do not like places with a cold climate. Hokkaido belonged to Japan several centuries ago, but it is still sparsely populated.It didn't help that Emperor Meiji later conquered the equally frigid North Korea.Today, the naive and simple-minded Northern Movement faction in the army still wants to use Manchuria as a base to further expand to the ice and snow of Siberia and Mongolia, which is full of flying sand and rocks.

The climate in Nanyang is warm, and the aborigines are rare and lazy, which is convenient for Japanese immigration. The rich oil, rubber and minerals in the East Indies will provide a steady stream of strategic resources for Japan's industrial development. Therefore, the future and hope of the Japanese Empire lie in the south, not in the north. . 【4】Now Chiang Kai-shek is busy "encircling and suppressing" the base areas of the Chinese Communist Party; Opportunity, he officially began to implement his grand blueprint.Manchuria is only the first step in the plan, and then the imperial forces can move south from Manchuria along the Chinese coastline, and finally control the strategic points of Nanyang.

Hirohito, who shoulders the dream of several generations of "respecting the king and expelling the barbarians", has received Western education, is familiar with Western history and is a biologist, thinks that his understanding of "expelling the barbarians" surpasses his predecessors.His ambition has gone far beyond "repelling barbarians". He believes that Japan can no longer exist in isolation, but should enter Asia and the world with the thinking of a leader.Inspired by the achievements of his idols Napoleon, Lincoln and Darwin, he was determined to fight against the British and American Western powers like Napoleon, and to "save" Asia and the world from colonial rule like Lincoln freed black slaves. Shintoism to "evolve" other races.Attacking, liberating, and evolving, this is the mission entrusted to him by God. To unify the whole country, it is necessary to persuade the main political forces in Japanese society.Among them, the army and ronin understood and supported the emperor's intentions very much, and closely followed the emperor's steps.The chaebols and the political parties they support often put their own interests above the national interests.In Hirohito's view, with the expansion of the empire's territory, the power of the chaebols will naturally be further developed. What is annoying is that they are now limited to their immediate interests and are afraid that the economic sanctions proposed by the League of Nations will affect their interests. Standing with the Empire in long-term planning to provide a steady stream of funds for the occupation of Manchuria and future operations. Thinking back to his ancestors who were impoverished because of the fall of power, thinking of his father being forced to make concessions, and today's power struggle with chaebol politicians, Hirohito vowed to firmly establish an empire centered on imperial power. Force is the core to solve all problems. , he will not hesitate to use force, and must not be as soft-hearted as his father. Hirohito has been in power for many years, imagining how many times he would have handled the "Taisho coup" if he was in his father's seat.My father didn't know much about Japan. His set of rules for uniting the people to fight together and serve the country was only in theory, but he didn't really feel it.My father thinks that no matter what, just give orders.He could not imagine when the Emperor would be defied.He did not know how to display the laid-back charm and elaborate maneuvers of Emperor Meiji. If my father had been more determined and resourceful like his grandfather, Emperor Meiji, things would never have developed to this point. The "Taisho coup" was a complete regression of the imperial power, and now it was his turn to set things right and rejuvenate the imperial system. Since politicians and plutocrats do not listen, they simply bypass them and directly mobilize grassroots subjects, such as low-level military officers, ronin, and farmers, and mobilize them to fight against congressmen and plutocrats through grassroots organizations, gangs, and public opinion that support imperial power.On the other hand, the matter of manipulating chaebols and politicians is handed over to Xiyuan Temple Gongwang, and he is used to make suggestions.If the decision-making is wrong, it is Saiyuanji who is expected to bear the criticism from the government and the opposition. If things are not done badly, it is Emperor Hirohito who is wise. Emperor Hirohito was simmering in his heart, and he wanted to let Saiyuanji Gongwang see with his own eyes how he took power back from the hands of chaebols and politicians who dreamed of "constitutional government". The primary issue now is how to deal with the coalition of chaebols and politicians centered on the elder Xiyuan Temple Gongwang. On the morning of the second day of the "Eleventh Club" meeting, the cronies who attended the meeting reported three proposals to Emperor Hirohito. After consideration, Hirohito thought it was good, so he ordered it to be carried out immediately, and first sent Mitsui and other chaebols into the "dollar arbitrage trap." .