When people are needed, it's hard to miss them. Not to mention that after the Tokugawa family disappeared and there were no heirs, even the number of people in the imperial family was very thin!
Emperor Kokaku, who was Meiji's great-grandfather, had only one son who lived to adulthood, and counting up, the same situation was almost the same.
This is almost a single biography for several generations.
Faced with this situation, this group of reform heroes, who can be called outstanding East Asian figures in the mid-to-late 19th century, were dumbfounded.
This one is dead, that one is gone. No one knows whether the thin imperial family was thinned out by the general when he was still alive or because it was destined to be thin. But what is certain is that in 1874, there was no royal family in the Meiji period.
After the death of his son, Japan suddenly faced an unprecedented situation.
No one can inherit the throne of the Emperor!
In other words, if there is no one they think is suitable to inherit the throne, why should they choose a heir from another royal family to inherit the throne?
Although the other princes of the public family are said to be royal, they are actually far away from the royal bloodline. For example, Wamiya was engaged to Prince Arisugawa Palace Chihito when she was 6 years old, and she is far away from the imperial family.
It's been more than ten generations, so even those who are far away can get married.
Logically speaking, Prince Arisugawa Shrine Hirohito certainly has the right to inherit the throne of the Emperor. But he must be ranked far behind Wagoniya. This is true for him, and the same is true for several other princes.
In this case, only He Gong is the most suitable candidate. Even if she is already married, of course, what is more suitable is that she is a widow.
This is simply the perfect choice.
Except for one thing - Wakimiya is the wife of the former shogun!
Her identity made the reform heroes hesitate and made them embarrassed.
After all, they got their start by "collapse" and gained power through the reform and reform laws.
Now to let a Tokugawa shogun's wife succeed as emperor... This is simply asking for trouble!
Not only is it asking for trouble, if Wagongiya sides with the nobles, then the situation of the reform government will be troublesome. After all, the reform reforms they carry out are all in the name of the emperor, without the support of the emperor.
How can it be possible to continue to promote the reform and reform? It is even possible that the reform government will collapse. By then, the conservatives will inevitably regain power.
And what about these reformists? It's not just as simple as resigning. Those nobles will definitely take the opportunity to counterattack, and whether they can save their lives is another matter.
That was when Iwakura Tomomi, Oboku Toshimichi, Yoto Hirobumi and other reform heroes were secretly discussing the succession to the throne.
Katsu Kaishu, the founder of the Japanese navy and a former shogunate, walked into the Odaisha of Oku. Although as early as last year, someone in the government proposed that the shogun's wife and the palace should be moved out of the Odaisha, but it was temporarily shelved because Emperor Meiji was seriously ill.
Now, why did Sheng Haizhou come here?
Of course it's for the sake of the emperor.
As in the past, Katsu Kaishu, as the old shogunate, still knelt on the ground when he met Wagoniya. He still maintained 100% respect for his old master and of course loyalty. This did not disappear because of the disappearance of the shogunate. After all,
The shogunate was his old master.
"Your Highness, now is the time!"
Katsu Kaishu, who was kneeling on the ground, said.
"His Highness is the only heir to the throne. Only His Highness can inherit the throne of the Emperor, and this is also the voice of the world."
Wagoniya, who was sitting on her knees behind the curtain, looked at Katsu Kaishu, the man who contributed to the bloodless opening of the city of Edo and preserved the Tokugawa family, and she said.
"Katsu Kaishu, do you think they will tolerate a Tokugawa family member succeeding to the throne?"
Even though Wagongiya was a woman, and a thin woman at that, it didn't mean that she didn't know what those reform heroes wouldn't tolerate.
They would not tolerate a Tokugawa becoming emperor. Even all they needed was an emperor who was at their mercy.
"Your Highness, as long as the reform can continue, no matter who is the emperor, they will support it!"
Katsu Kaishu is also a hero of the Restoration, but he did not go as far as Iwakura and the others. Moreover, he does not agree with Iwakura and the others' extreme suppression of the gentry. On this point, he is fundamentally different from Saigo.
. Saigo opposed the suppression of the gentry and demanded that the interests of the gentry be safeguarded. However, he supported a certain degree of suppression of the gentry. After all, this was what Japan had to do if it wanted to become prosperous and strong.
The gentry consumes too much of Japan's financial resources, so the reform must attack the gentry, but at the same time, he also does not agree with the current attack. What the reform government is doing to the gentry now is to directly cut off their livelihood.
"From the "registration return", the household registration of the feudal lords 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 "military conscription order" to reform the military service system.
After the reform, a three-year compulsory military service system was implemented, all the people became soldiers, and everyone became a samurai. The reform made the samurai suddenly lose their jobs. Naturally, the government no longer needed to pay salaries to those who did not work. So there was no need for the government to pay salaries.
Treat the feudal lords with "Chiroku punishment"!"
Zhilu means salary, and punishment means removal.
In other words, it means directly stopping the salaries of the feudal lords, and the country will no longer support them!
Not only did they not raise them, but they also took away their knives!
For samurai, the sword is a symbol, an honor, and a part of life. For honor, you can die in battle or commit suicide, but if you are not even allowed to carry a sword, how can you die in battle or commit suicide?
The cunning rabbit dies and the running dog is cooked.
This is how the Restoration government treated the samurai, let alone the samurai who sided with the shogunate. It was the lower-class ordinary samurai who overthrew the shogunate. What did they get in return?
It is nothing more than letting them be laid off and re-employed. There are even some low-level warriors who committed suicide after being laid off and faced with the situation of no life. Even suicide could not solve the problem of feeding their families. Many of them had their wives and daughters reduced to
For prostitutes.
Faced with this situation, they just tried to assassinate Iwakura Tomoshi, which was already very restrained.
"With no jobs and no means to commit suicide, the samurai's anger has reached its extreme. Almost everyone is full of anger towards the reform government. Katsu Kaishu, what do the nobles expect now? If I inherit the throne, then
The nobles must be full of expectations, and they must be eager for me to change everything. If I don't do it, they will definitely be very disappointed..."
Looking at Katsu Kaishu, Wagoniya said in an extremely calm tone.
"My nephew got their support because he supported the Restoration. If I want to get their support, I must make an edict to support the Restoration like my nephew did. But the emperor has abandoned the samurai family. If I was born in the samurai family, I would
If you abandon the Wu family, then..."
Looking at Sheng Haizhou kneeling on the ground, He Gongchang sighed.
"At that time, a new civil war will inevitably occur. The samurai who are extremely angry will be disappointed. Their disappointment will turn into anger. The anger of hundreds of thousands of nobles is enough to ignite the entire Japan! Is this what you want to see?"
When telling all this, Wagongiya's tone was calm. What was behind Dan Tan's words?
Of course it is a civil war that will involve millions of people!
The last time the Wu family lost power was because of internal strife among the Wu family, but now? The Meiji government's suppression of the Wu family in the past few years has long made the 450,000 unemployed Wu family full of anger towards the government.
As long as there is a little flame, it will be enough to set the whole of Japan on fire. As a woman, Wagongiya certainly knows this very well.
"But, Your Highness, if you do not inherit the throne of the Emperor, then who in the world can inherit the throne?"
Sheng Haizhou raised his head and asked.
"That……"
After pondering for a moment, He Gong said.
"It's their business. In short, I come from the Wu family, and I will never let the Wu family down!"
Not to disappoint the Wu family, this was her last insistence as the wife of a former general.
Of course, she also knew very well that apart from her, there was no more suitable candidate to inherit the throne of the emperor.
Now her persistence is her last and only bargaining chip. She needs those reform heroes to make concessions.
"Your Highness, a country cannot live without a king for a day."
Sheng Haizhou persuaded again.
"Let's wait until they make a decision."
Wagongiya still adheres to her principles.
Facing his wife's decision, Sheng Haizhou sighed in his heart, and then bowed out respectfully. After he left Da'ao, he looked at the dark clouds in the sky, couldn't help but let out a long sigh and said.
"Is it true that God is not blessing Japan?"
At this time, Katsu Kaishu simply didn’t know what else to say. Deep down in his heart, of course, he longed for Japan to be prosperous and strong. This is why he supported the changes in the reform, but he was also conservative. He hoped that Japan would be prosperous and powerful after the reform.
, it is still Japan, not the European and American countries wearing Japanese skin.
But what now?
No matter which direction he looked at, he actually could not see the future. He did not strongly oppose the reform of the reformists, because in his view, the reform of the reformists was the only choice for Japan to become rich and strong.
But what now?
However, the emperor died suddenly without leaving any heirs. Then Japan is likely to have a civil war over the succession to the throne.
Does God really not bless Japan?
When this idea came to Sheng Haizhou's mind, someone suddenly ran and shouted excitedly in the distance.
"Eto Shinpei led the nobles in Saga to launch an uprising, demanding that Prince Wakomiya succeed to the throne of the Emperor, overthrow the current government, and restore the old court assembly system..."
I saw some excited samurai and listened to them talking about the rebellion that happened in Saga.
Facing this sudden rebellion, and listening to the nobles on the street discussing the rebellion in a cheerful tone, Katsu Kaishu suddenly felt a little desperate.