Edo Traveler - Vol 13 Chapter 77

With the victory over Spain and the exchange of contracts with France, the first parliament of the Kingdom of Japan was officially held in the Great Chamber of Edo Castle.

On the throne in the hall, Chuemon received the spoils of the prince Tokugawa Kako, who returned from the Luzon victory, and the bronze key of Manila Castle!

With all the ministers and parliamentarians left and right, long live the mountain, the atmosphere in the venue was extremely high. With the support of his ministers, Chuemon officially proclaimed the constitution of the Kingdom of Japan.

After referring to various laws and regulations in Europe, America and other countries, representatives of the old and new ministers of the shogunate headed by Yoshida Shoin and Matsudaira Shixuan drafted a “civilized” constitution. The first one is of course not the nonsense that the Tokugawa family is the eternal monarch of the Japanese country for all generations. Instead, it was revised as each territory, under the rule of the Tokugawa King, and everything was equal.

It is indirectly confirmed that the Tokugawa family is the ruler of Japan, and the territories are united under the brilliance of His Majesty Tokugawa Chusama. The Tokugawa family was also recognized and supported by the people of these regions as the supreme heads of other protectorates and colonies.

The power of the monarch is limited to a certain extent, but it still has considerable executive power in fact. The elected representative cabinet produced by the House of Commons is more like an advisory auxiliary agency.

How to handle this degree needs to be considered a little bit, and then make a decision after waiting for it to run.

The members of the House of Commons are mainly from the former middle and senior warriors, as well as local wealthy businessmen and landlords, and these people have the right to be elected.

After gaining the power to participate in and discuss government affairs, these people naturally sat on the bench of the Tokugawa family and began to make suggestions for the prosperity of the Tokugawa family.

Local county and county councillors were also elected. The threshold for elections in counties is greatly reduced, and the number of participants is relatively large. It has greatly won over the small businessmen and small landlords in the local area, making them feel that in the future, the affairs of their hometown will be their own masters, and they praise the kindness of Your Majesty.

According to the provisions of the constitution, Chuemon is in the lower house, selects the members to be elected, forms the cabinet, and participates in national affairs. Naturally, according to the agreement of the year and the actual situation, the first Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Japan was elected.

Yoshida Shoin!

Born as a low-level samurai, a rambunctious figure, with decades of running plans, and finally becoming the Prime Minister of Japan, Earl Yoshida Marukata, who is praised by the world as the “father of the Constitution”, opened up the style of Taisho democracy and formed the first popular election in Japanese history. cabinet.

The only thing that made him feel regretful was that Yamaguchi Prefecture only allocated 4 seats in the end, and after deducting himself, he could only arrange for Inoue Xinsaku, Takasugi Shinsaku and Kido Takayoshi to be elected. Naturally, these three brothers must join the cabinet and participate in politics together, and the rest need to be discussed with members born in other places.

It is not unusual to say that many local councillors are old samurai or old merchants. For example, the councilors of Southern Kyushu are basically elected by the Grand Duke as defined by Shimadzu. As for the Kanto members, many of them were former flags of the shogunate, as well as some shareholders of the shogunate.

The factions of the House of Commons are relatively vague, the old warriors hope to cooperate with the House of Lords to rule, and the big businessmen, landowners and factory owners hope to share a certain power.

Therefore, only Yoshida Shoin, who was born in the grass, but also close to the upper-level rulers, can serve as the prime minister.

The House of Lords is still the same, with more than 300 Chinese serving as senators. The Speaker of the House of Lords was held by Matsudaira Qixuan, and he also served as the minister of the Privy Council. It’s not that he doesn’t want to fight for power anymore, but he really can’t keep up with his health. If he speaks a sentence for a long time, he will be out of breath.

Moreover, the ministers of the Privy Council are, to a certain extent, the reserve forces of the cabinet. With Matsudaira Qixuan’s old prestige in Akashi, there is absolutely no problem in being elected as a lower councilor.

If the cabinet really collapses, the members of the Privy Council can immediately take over and form the cabinet without any hindrance.

The newly established cabinet specially set up the Ministry of Industry and the Minister of Industry, and promoted Japan from a quasi-industrial country to an industrial country.

It just started to take over the industrial capital and technology transferred from France, and at the same time, it was also actively learning from the United Kingdom, and the scale of overseas students was increasing. The development of the country is naturally changing with each passing day.

It’s just that Japan’s rapid development momentum has really surprised Britain. Originally thinking of controlling Japan, the old yellow calendar with Japan as a **** was quickly turned over. Instead, Britain tried to induce Japan to compete for hegemony in East Asia, confronting Tsarist Russia, which was constantly expanding its power in the Far East, thus ensuring that Japan was in some degree of control.

Chuemon is not stupid, and he will definitely fight with Tsarist Russia, because the goal of Tsarist Russia at this time is to establish a place in Yellow Russia. If the situation allows, he wants the entire Qing Kingdom, North Korea, and Japan.

Just for self-protection, it is also necessary to play a game with Tsarist Russia!

This is enough! Britain is well aware of how exhausting it is to fight the Russians for years. With Japan suppressing Tsarist Russia in the Far East, this matter is much easier to handle.

After all, Siberia now has a population of more than five million. By the 1890s, the population will exceed ten million (actually 9.86 million). In fact, Tsarist Russia has taken root in Siberia and has the strength to fight against Qing and Japan.

Coupled with the Franco-Prussian War, France was defeated, and the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Tsarist Russia was officially abandoned. The trend of Tsarist Russia is indeed worrying.

“One day, Japan and Russia will have a complete victory and defeat.” Chuemon told Tokugawa Jiaxing like this.

“Understood!” Tokugawa Jiaxing’s young and energetic face was full of confidence.

“If you really want to fight, you must negotiate with the UK and take Yokohama!” Chuemon continued.

If the British want to drive the Japanese and the Russians to fight to the death, they must pay a price. Japan itself has the money to fight with Tsarist Russia, but the Yokohama residential area, UU reading www.uukanshu. com and all the unequal treaties that Britain has in Japan must be abolished.

“Justified.”

“Songyin’s strategy is exactly what I want. The future of Japan is creating waves of thousands of miles. You have to remember it.”

“Take all the sea power in the Pacific Ocean, and take a little of the islands, and consider it a king’s business.”

“That’s good…”

The constitution has been set, and the parliament is open. In order to ensure the continuation of the rule, Chuemon gave way to Tokugawa Jiaxing in advance, and he sat in Edo. Then, as the “Grand King”, he traveled all over the country, and even went to Honolulu, Manila and Rabaul without avoiding hard work, listening to the opinions of people all over the country.

After many years of hard work, Zhongyouemon in the second year of Heli Guangwen, 1873 in the Western calendar, Qiuyue, without any illness, finally blowing up to the Imperial Palace in Edo. Twelve years of ruling the world, forty-nine years of spring and autumn.

(End of the text of the book)

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