C650 Japan-French Alliance (1/2)
The secret plan of cooperation between Tokugawa Yoshinobu and Minister of France was not false. In the real history, Luo Shen had once tried to change the Mu Clan in a western-style way, and provided $9 million in loans and a large amount of arms support. Furthermore, the French officers had also helped the Mu Clan to train new recruits.
Arms and ammunition, a new type of warship, and a Japanese law joint venture to develop their business. The real Tokugawa Yoshinobu had even proposed the tempting concept of a military fusion.
The combination of the martial arts and the martial arts was a kind of political theory in the late period of the Edo period in Japan. The main theme was to combine the imperial court (the Gong family) and the Mu Mansion (the martial arts family) to reform the power of the court.
The main purpose of this political theory was to combine the imperial authority with that of the imperial government and to suppress the imperial movement, so as to avoid the fall of the emperor and to further strengthen the position of the emperor.
In Japan in 1867, change was already a common pursuit in the hearts of all people, unlike Qing Dynasty, which was still firmly ruled by Confucianism.
Everyone agreed that Japan needed to reform, but how it should be reformed and how power should be distributed was the trigger for all sides to fight over it.
The core of the idea was to let the Sky Emperor regain the power that he had lost for a thousand years, let the Sky Emperor return to the political stage, and lead Japan to reform and reform. As for the Mu Clan, you'd better get the hell out of here.
After all, the Mu Clan had ruled over Japan for almost seven hundred years, from the first Sakura Temple, which was also known as the Chunxi City, to the south of China, where it had evolved all the way to the Machi City. In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, it had then gone through the war between the states of war and the middle Ming Dynasty to develop into the Tsurukawa's Palace. It had been nearly seven hundred years since the rule of the generals.
Such a long history of domination had already given rise to a kind of inertia in Japanese society towards the rule of the generals. The Tokugawa had not lost all of their hearts, there were plenty of people who supported the generals in the various vassals and commoners of Japan.
Especially in the northern part of Japan, which was where the Mu Clan resided, there was no need to doubt the loyalty of the famous people towards the Tokugawa, in their eyes, the Sky Emperor was secondary.
Under such a situation, how could the Tokugawa give up on him so easily? Although the Mu Clan had suffered a crushing defeat in the second Changzhou War and even lost to fourteen generations of generals, Tokugawa Mao, the Mu Clan's prestige was still very high.
In order to cooperate with the French, to put out the bait of a military alliance, and then to accept the reform proposed by the West, the Tokugawa had played a very smart role.
However, no one knew that, in this successful alliance between the Tokugawa and the French, the person who should return the credit was actually their enemy, Xiao Letian.
In the real history, although Luo Shen and Tokugawa Yoshinobu had reached a secret cooperation plan, in July 1866, the new French external phase, Mostey, took over the government. He no longer supported the diplomatic route of the Minister of France, and instead took the same line with the British, preferring to form a public system that would remove the Mu Clan.
Tokugawa Yoshinobu had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight the Wuten War while being attacked from both inside and outside. Even if he failed, he had no choice but to comply with the suggestion made by Dugu Ji and in the end, opened the door of the River City to surrender.
Xiao Letian's appearance had changed the course of history. Because with the same enemy, not only did the Government of France, who was filled with hatred, not oppose Luo Shen, but he had even increased his support for him.
interest-free loans, latest weapons and equipment, the best military instructors... France was even planning to sell a few new warships to the Tsurukawa's Palace.
The enemy of the enemy was his friend. Since Xiao Letian had already secretly helped the Four Soldiers, then France could help the Tsurukawa's Palace.
At this moment, the weak Japan could only stand between the two great powers, becoming a tool for the struggle between the great powers. The fresh blood of warriors could only become the sacrifice of new weapons, and the island country's land could only become the testing ground for new weapons.
”Your Excellency, I have already explained the pros and cons of this transformation many times. I believe that you will not hesitate to tell me about it. Let us now talk about the reality …”
”This time, I brought a new weapon that is sufficient enough for three thousand soldiers. May I ask where you, Sir General, would like to train this army?” ”Where can I keep this secret?”
”Forgive me for my bluntness, but this army needs to be strictly confidential. Only if the enemy is completely unaware will we be able to catch them off guard and finish them off on the battlefield!”
”Where is Japan now?”
Tokugawa Yoshinobu nodded towards Hidden Fog Kid, the biggest informant in the Tokugawa said to Minister Luo Shen with a smile, ”There are two treasured lands that can be used for military training in secret. One is the Huizinfan, and the other is the Hokkaido Correspondence Hall …”
”The location of the Huizinfan is extremely important, guarding all the important transportation routes in the central plain and the northeast region. If you want to head south, you must pass through the Huizinfan. This is the northern barrier of the RiverClan …”
”Not only that, Huizinfan Lord Matsudaira Katamori's loyalty to the Mu Clan is also trustworthy. I think nothing will happen if he secretly trains a portion of the new army!”