Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 200

Yoshida Shigeru had only recently graduated. While he agreed with the British diplomatic philosophy that national interests should supersede all other relationships, he only held this view without any real logical thinking. In other words, he currently only knew that diplomatic relations should be viewed from the perspective of national interests, but he didn't yet understand what national interests meant.

Hayashi Shin-yi's proposition that Asian security is Japan's security, from a certain perspective, is also based on Japan's national interests; it's just that the distinction isn't immediately apparent due to the layer of separation. However, since Hayashi Shin-yi has pointed this out, Yoshida Shigeru naturally understands the connection between Asian security and Japanese security.

In other words, although Hayashi Nobuyoshi's views do not conform to the current Japanese diplomatic circles' Japan-centric or Britain-centric views, Hayashi Nobuyoshi's position does not violate national interests. This makes Yoshida Shigeru hesitate and find it difficult to accuse the other party of not viewing the cooperation issues between Japan and China and Japan and India from Japan's perspective.

Yoshida Shigeru's hesitation actually revealed that he somewhat agreed with this view. However, after a moment's hesitation, he still posed a question to Hayashi Shinichi, "The current international order was established by Britain. From what you're saying, Japan, China, and India are cooperating, with Japan defending the maritime trade of the three countries. Is this an attempt to defy the international order established by the British?"

Yoshida Shigeru's question did not surprise Hayashi Shin-yi; anyone in the diplomatic system would have noticed this issue sooner or later. He frankly stated, "After the Russo-Japanese War, Russia's naval power in Asia collapsed, and the Japanese navy gained relative dominance in East Asia."

While the navies of Germany, the United States, and France are generally stronger than the Japanese navy, their fundamental interests lie in the Atlantic, not the Pacific. Therefore, these three countries are unlikely to challenge the Chinese navy in East Asia or the Pacific. Russia and Italy currently possess regional navies and lack the capability for long-range operations. Thus, only the British navy is capable of confronting the Japanese navy in East Asia.

It's not that we want to challenge the international order established by the British, but rather that the Japanese navy doesn't actually have a place in the Asian order established by the British. Although we have British support, the British merely hope to use us to weaken the maritime power of Russia and Germany in East Asia, thus ensuring the order that Britain has established in Asia.

Simply put, in the eyes of the British, the Japanese Navy was nothing more than a servant to the Royal Navy, unworthy of even a seat at the table. Even the Italians were not as powerful as the Japanese. While the British controlled the Mediterranean, they still recognized the Italian Navy's right to control the Adriatic Sea. However, in Asia, the Japanese Navy had no right to interfere in maritime navigation order in East Asia and the Pacific.

Therefore, it's not that we want to confront the international order established by the British, but rather that the current international order is like an eggshell for Japan. A chick that wants to grow must naturally break through this shell. Those that try to grow inside the shell will ultimately become stillborn.

As a diplomat, you shouldn't be considering why Japan is resisting the international order established by the British, but rather asking whether the international order established by the British is truly reasonable. Under the international order established by the British, have all countries and nations in the world felt happy, or have they felt oppressed by the international order?

Consider this: Europeans, as outsiders to the Americas, have become the masters of the Americas. Americans didn't exist a hundred years ago, yet they now consider Hawaii and the Philippines as American overseas territories, while the British in Australia and New Zealand are even trying to exterminate all non-white people. Is this white-centric global colonial system truly justifiable?

Seeing Yoshida Shigeru rendered speechless by Hayashi Shinichi's rebuttal, Matsukata Kojiro was secretly pleased. He originally had no dissatisfaction with Makino Nobuaki. Although the other party had always been on good terms with his older brother, he knew that Makino did this on purpose to gain his brother's support, rather than treating the brothers differently.

As a member of a large family, Matsukata Kojiro understood the logic of family interactions: the head of the family would only associate with other heads of the family and wouldn't flatter a powerless second son. However, the fact that even a young man like Yoshida Shigeru looked down on him was somewhat hurtful to his pride.

Although Yoshida Shigeru was not of noble birth, his family was at least a beneficiary of the Meiji Restoration. As the head of the family, Yoshida Shigeru wielded far more power than Matsukata, the second son of the Matsukata family. After all, Yoshida Shigeru was the head of the family who could freely dispose of the family's assets, while Matsukata could only control his own private savings.

Although he owned some real estate, he couldn't touch it before his father's death, and even after his father's death, he needed his older brother's consent to dispose of it if he didn't want to sever ties with the family. So, while his social status appeared higher than Yoshida Shigeru's, in reality, Yoshida Shigeru was the absolute core of his circle, while he was merely a peripheral figure.

Although Yoshida Shigeru married Makino Nobuaki's daughter, Yoshida did not marry into Makino Nobuaki's family to inherit his business. On the contrary, Makino needed Yoshida's financial resources to develop his political career. Therefore, Yoshida Shigeru's social status rose as Makino's son-in-law, but he did not lose his identity.

Frankly speaking, Yoshida Shigeru now has every right to look down on Matsukata Kojiro, because Matsukata's life is predictable, a leisurely life as the second son of a large family, while Yoshida's future is limitless. He has a good chance of becoming a minister, and even the prime ministership is not out of the question. This is why many people were willing to support him when he clashed with Matsukata.

However, Matsukata no longer has the mindset of the second son of the family. He came to Wuhan to participate in this negotiation because he was determined to break away from the life his family had planned for him and to take a different path. At this time, Yoshida Shigeru's opposition to him made him particularly angry.

Therefore, seeing Yoshida rendered speechless by Lin Xinyi's rebuttal and forced to take his leave, he couldn't help but say to Lin Xinyi, "Although Yoshida graduated from Imperial University, I don't think he's a very good person. He says one thing to your face, but says another thing behind your back. Wasn't he the one who strongly opposed cooperation for a while?"

Lin Xinyi withdrew his gaze from watching Yoshida Shigeru leave, turned to look at Matsukata Kojiro, whose face was full of resentment, and smiled as he replied, "We still need to consider Mr. Makino's feelings. After all, if we want to split up the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Makino's involvement can save us a lot of trouble and prevent the fruits of our labor from falling into the hands of others."

However, if President Matsukata has any complaints about Shigeru Yoshida, you can send him to conduct an on-site investigation at the next meeting. We only need Mr. Makino to share the credit for the negotiations; we don't necessarily need Yoshida to do anything beneficial to the negotiations. As long as the negotiations are successful, and as long as Yoshida is in the negotiating team as Mr. Makino's representative, then we have already fulfilled our agreement with Mr. Makino.”

Matsukata Kojiro immediately realized what was going on. He was certainly no stranger to such petty tricks; after all, his older brother often used them on him. Although they weren't as sophisticated as Hayashi Shin'ichi's, they were still disgusting. Expelling Yoshida Shigeru from the negotiation work while giving him credit for it wouldn't bother Makino Nobuaki, but the others would be resentful of Yoshida Shigeru because he hadn't done anything but taken a piece of the pie.

Matsukata Kojiro immediately relaxed and changed the subject, asking Hayashi Shinichi, "Have you booked your ticket? Is it really not going to form a cabinet this time? Actually, I think it would be better for us if Elder Ito formed a cabinet compared to Minister Yamamoto."

Lin Xinyi smiled and said, "Ito Genro has already established a solid foundation. Unless there is a national crisis, he should not easily step forward to form a cabinet. His current expression of opinions as a senior elder is actually more noteworthy than when he was prime minister."

Although Minister Yamamoto's relationship with us is not that close, as long as he needs the Navy's support, he is unlikely to go against the Navy's interests. Therefore, Minister Yamamoto will still listen to our advice.

Therefore, Yamamoto Kaisei's cabinet formation is a much stronger card for us than it being formed by Ito Genzo. My ship ticket is for the morning after tomorrow, so I'll leave things here to you. Please come up with a draft cooperation plan as soon as possible, so we can begin dividing up the work of the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry after returning home…”

Hearing Lin Xinyi's promise, Matsukata Kojiro felt reassured. He assured Lin Xinyi that the negotiations would be resolved as soon as possible, and that if anyone continued to refuse to cooperate, he would remove them from the negotiations.

Matsukata's willingness to take on so much responsibility naturally stemmed from his belief that the future was looking brighter. Although he harbored resentment towards Yoshida Shigeru, he had no intention of expelling him from the negotiations. After all, the domestic opinion on the outcome of this meeting was still uncertain, so Matsukata couldn't afford to gamble everything.

But now that the Navy has obtained the right to form a cabinet, and Lin Xinyi has also made public the Navy's basic stance on cooperation with Japan, China and India, it is almost risk-free to follow suit at this time, so he has the idea of ​​kicking out those who do not cooperate.

Lin Xinyi understood Song Fang's mindset, but he didn't expose it. Instead, he agreed with Song Fang's position, which made their relationship even closer.

Mu Zi was still a little reluctant to leave China. She remarked to Lin Xinyi, "Compared to Wuhan, Tokyo is really a big village. Although Ginza and Shinbashi have shops and Kabuki-za, I feel that Hankou has a truly ordinary people's urban life. The public transportation here is much more welcoming than in Tokyo. I like it here."

Lin Xinyi knew what kind of urban life Mu Zi liked. Wuhan's urban development was designed around the needs of the proletariat, so public transportation was considered the foundation of life in the city. A person could reach any point in Wuhan through its public transportation system—that was the defining characteristic of Wuhan's system.

Tokyo's public transportation system is not designed this way. It is built around the commutes of government officials and their access to the city's commercial and entertainment areas. Simply put, Tokyo's public transportation system does not serve all Tokyo residents; the upper class does not need it, and the lower class cannot afford it. It is specifically designed to serve lower-level government officials and wealthy citizens.

The two cities also have different views on the commerce and entertainment that their people need. Wuhan advocates commerce and entertainment that serve the working class, so its commerce and entertainment are more popular and healthier.

For example, department stores and supermarkets in Hankou focus on offering good quality products at low prices, with only a few stores targeting the high-end market. In contrast, Tokyo's commercial centers focus on high-end goods. Ordinary people tend to shop in shopping streets near their homes. The city's commercial centers are not very relevant to ordinary people, so those who frequent Ginza are mainly university students and property owners, all of whom appear well-dressed.

In terms of entertainment, Tokyo inherited the culture of the Edo period, pursuing the expression of personal desires, so Tokyo's entertainment is almost entirely related to sex. Wuhan, on the other hand, advocated cultivating proletarian culture, not only abolishing gambling and opium dens from the Qing Dynasty, but also continuously reducing brothels. Wuhan's entertainment is more suitable for family outings; whether it's public parks or theaters, they all embody a sense of collectivism and familial warmth.

Mu Zi thinks this city is great because it's very welcoming to single women and ordinary families, who receive preferential treatment in terms of urban resources. Tokyo, on the other hand, doesn't protect single women and ordinary families. Even upper-class women can't find their own place in Tokyo and can only depend on their families or relatives for survival.

So Mu Zi thinks Wuhan is great because she can live independently there, something impossible in Tokyo. Lin Xinyi comforted her, saying, "If we have time in the future, we can come to China and stay for a while. I believe that every city in China will become as good as Wuhan in the future, as long as peace in East Asia can be maintained."

Mu Zi immediately nodded in agreement, saying, "Yes, it would be great if there were no war. I really don't understand how those military families could support war. They worry about their husbands and sons while believing that it's an honor for soldiers to go to the battlefield and die for the Emperor. I don't like that view at all. If only you never had to go to the battlefield."

Lin Xinyi, however, showed no sense of responsibility as a soldier. He nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, I also think that war is really not a fun game. It would be great if we never had to fight a war in our lives. Soldiers should go to the battlefield to protect the people, the Emperor and the country. It really doesn't make any sense."

Mu Zi didn't react much to Lin Xinyi's words. She had never really understood the country or the emperor. After all, she had never felt any care from the country or the emperor since she was old enough to understand things. On the contrary, she often saw the ugly behavior of the high-ranking officials who worked for the emperor and the country in the ryotei.

Therefore, Mu Zi has always been dismissive of those who advocate loyalty to the Emperor and the country, believing that these people are either naive students or officials and capitalists who would never go to war. The former don't know what war is, while the latter just want their people to die for their own interests.

Whether it was the Sino-Japanese War or the recent war against Russia, the patrons of Tokyo's ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurants) have become increasingly generous with their tips, while the girls from the countryside who come to work at these restaurants are becoming increasingly cheap. In the past, girls from the countryside came to Tokyo to work as maids not only to broaden their horizons but also to save for their dowries. According to Edo-era custom, when a maid was to return to her hometown to marry, her employer would give her a dowry as a token of gratitude for her hard work in their household.

Before the Meiji Restoration, working as a maid in Tokyo was simply a job, and even considered respectable for girls from the countryside. However, in the late Meiji period, few families were willing to treat maids well according to Edo traditions. Instead, many landlords treated maids as prostitutes to solicit tenants, condoning their relationships with them. This greatly tarnished the reputation of maids, and now girls from slightly better-off rural families were no longer willing to work as maids.

Although she became an adopted daughter of the Ichiki family, Muko did not escape the perspective of lower-class women. This was because Hayashi Shinji never saw himself as a fallen samurai, but rather as living the life of an ordinary person. This prevented Muko from abandoning her past and from seeing herself as a member of the aristocratic class. After witnessing the plight of the Yanagihara family women, her last vestige of hope for high society was shattered. Even aristocratic women were still seen as valuable commodities by Japanese parents, sellable as long as the price was right.

Just as Lin Xinyi often told her, love requires reciprocation; unrequited love can only lead to tragedy. True love is loving the Emperor and the nation as they love you. Did the Emperor and the nation love her? Mu Zi thought not, otherwise she wouldn't have almost become a plaything for men. And the Emperor and the nation couldn't turn a blind eye to the depravity of those country girls in Tokyo, since those who toyed with these girls were precisely the ones who claimed to be loyal to the Emperor and the nation.

Chapter 663

Chapter 663

In the past, the first-class passenger ships on the Yangtze River belonged to the British. This refers to the period from the late 19th century to the 1980s. Before that, China's inland waterway shipping industry was not open to the top powers. As a result, the American Russell & Co. once occupied 80% of the Yangtze River shipping business. Later, Russell & Co. abandoned its business in China and returned to the United States to develop the railway business, which laid the foundation for the China Merchants Group.

The reasons that forced Russell & Co. to abandon the Yangtze River shipping business were twofold: firstly, the Chinese themselves established the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company; and secondly, the British obtained the right to navigate the Yangtze River. As a result, British companies Jardine Matheson and Swire began to expand from coastal transportation to inland Yangtze River shipping, creating great competition for Yangtze River shipping. In the era of wooden sailing ships, the price of transporting one ton of goods from Shanghai to Wuhan was 18 taels. However, after fierce competition, the freight rate per ton of steamships dropped to 3 taels. Russell & Co. felt that there was no profit to be made and simply abandoned its business in China.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, the influence of Germany and Japan in China increased significantly, leading to a period of rapid development for China's coastal and inland waterway shipping industries. Amid such fierce competition, Sheng Xuanhuai turned the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company into his own business, not only failing to increase capital but also diverting a large amount of profits to serve the imperial court and transfer benefits to his own family.

After Li Hongzhang's death in 1902, Yuan Shikai sent Yang Shiqi south to expel Sheng Xuanhuai from the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. This was the root cause of Sheng Xuanhuai's active opposition to Yuan, uniting a group of gentry from the southeast. Although Sheng Xuanhuai had no affinity for the revolution, he was willing to support Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) in order to oppose Yuan Shikai. He also hated the Workers' Party, since the Workers' Party had also confiscated Sheng Xuanhuai's capital in the Hanyang Ironworks and was actively promoting the liquidation of Li Hongzhang's family assets in Anhui.

However, the Labour Party was too stubborn, daring to implement policies like land reform that offended all the gentry. Naturally, they wouldn't care about Sheng Xuanhuai's criticism. On the other hand, Sheng Xuanhuai had to consider whether the Labour Party would thoroughly purge him if it really came to power, so he dared not publicly criticize the Labour Party's actions.

However, he felt no qualms about criticizing Yuan Shikai, because Yuan Shikai also needed the support of the gentry. His confiscation of Sheng Xuanhuai's property had already caused unease among some gentry, so he could unite those gentry who were dissatisfied with Yuan Shikai by opposing him, without worrying about what Yuan Shikai could do to him.

If the China Merchants Bureau under Sheng Xuanhuai was merely a tool for the Beiyang government and himself to amass wealth, Sheng Xuanhuai was, after all, capable. While he embezzled the bureau's assets, his management was largely sound; his incompetence only became apparent when faced with competition from foreign capitalism. Yang Shiqi, however, was a true scholar-official. He might be good at advising Yuan Shikai, but putting him in charge of the entire enterprise's operation was a death sentence.

In particular, Yuan Shikai, in order to expand the Beiyang Fleet and hollow out the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, directly ordered Yang Shiqi to issue government bonds to the political and business circles of the Beiyang clique, thus directly plundering the company's principal. This led to continuous and huge losses for the company, and by 1906, Yang Shiqi could no longer continue and resigned. The struggle between Yuan Shikai and Sheng Xuanhuai directly dealt a heavy blow to the only Chinese shipping company on the Yangtze River.

If it weren't for the mutiny in Wuhan, which forcibly cut off foreign shipping traffic on the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the China Merchants Group would likely have struggled to recover. After all, Germany and Japan were continuously increasing their investments in Yangtze River shipping, and even the British felt the pressure. Wuhan's military intervention managed to salvage a significant portion of the shipping business on the Yangtze.

Because Britain and Japan consistently refused to relinquish their privileges over shipping on the Yangtze River, they were unable to access the area above Jiujiang for several years. Germany, on the other hand, was the first to reach an agreement with Wuhan, not only relinquishing the right of German warships to navigate freely in Chinese inland waters, but also agreeing to allow Wuhan to invest in the German-established shipping company in China.

Hammer, Norddeutsche Louis, and Jebsen & Co., three German shipping companies operating in China, established joint-stock companies after negotiations with Wuhan to handle shipping operations in the Pacific and Asia. Wuhan, in turn, formed two companies, Yangtze River Shipping and COSCO, to cooperate with the three German shipping companies, respectively responsible for domestic and international shipping.

At the end of the war against Russia, although China Ocean Shipping Company was still not a significant player, Yangtze River Shipping Company had already regained 60% of the Yangtze River shipping business. The fastest passenger ship traveling between Wuhan and Shanghai was the Renmin, commissioned by Yangtze River Shipping Company from Germany, and was the first ship on the Yangtze River to use a diesel engine.

While described as custom-made, the core components were actually manufactured in Germany and then assembled at the Wuhan Shipyard. Approximately 20% of the components were produced by the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant. The completion and launch of this advanced passenger ship signifies that Wuhan and Germany have formed a complementary industrial technology partnership, and the German-designed, Wuhan-manufactured model has finally become a reality.

Behind this passenger ship lies the consensus that standardization has become a shared goal between Chinese and German industries, and the German industrial sector is beginning to shift its focus from domestic production to global production. Following the launch of the Renmin (People's Ship), the German Association of Engineers held a meeting in Berlin to discuss establishing a German General Mechanical Engineering Standards Committee, modeled after Wuhan, and decided to include the Chinese Association of Engineers as a cooperative organization.

Before the People's Ship was launched, the German Association of Engineers and other German industrial organizations regarded the series of industrial organizations established in Wuhan as poor imitators. They objected to the validity of the standards and technical certificates set by these Chinese industrial organizations in Germany. Only those certified by the German Association of Engineers were considered to meet German standards.

However, the successful launch of the Renmin (People's Ship) made German industry suddenly realize that although China's industrial capabilities were extremely backward, under standardized organization and construction, China's nascent industry could achieve levels beyond its capabilities. The quality of the Renmin was already quite close to that of similar German-made ships, but the Renmin's manufacturing time was reduced by one-third, and the cost was also reduced by one-third. This meant that if the two sides were to compete, German manufacturing would have no advantage whatsoever.

In the past, European capitalists said that labor in China and India was extremely cheap and that if it could be developed, it could bring huge wealth. However, this assertion has never been proven because the infrastructure and education level of the people in the East were too low. Although labor was cheap, it could not be organized and used in industry. Therefore, such a statement can only be regarded as a beautiful vision.

Although the Renmin ship was merely a passenger vessel operating on the Yangtze River, it utilized technology that was nearly at the forefront of European industry. Most European shipyards were not yet capable of building oil-powered ships. This meant that the Wuhan Shipyard could already produce the latest European-style vessels, even though the technology remained European; Wuhan had already acquired the production capacity.

If the ships were replaced with other industrial goods, it would mean that German industry could export technology to Wuhan and then reap the greatest benefits from China's cheap labor. Compared to other resources in China, human resources were the most attractive and easily monetized resource for German capital. As for minerals, apart from a few unique ones, most of China's resources were either poor or too expensive to mine, making them difficult for industrialized nations to utilize.

Faced with enormous profits, German capital's discrimination against people of color naturally disappeared. If previously, when Wuhan was chasing after German industry to establish a common and consistent industrial standard, German industry was reluctant, thinking that how could industrial standards set by the Chinese be used to demand German industry standards, now German capital has begun to force domestic industry to unify standards, instead of using Chinese and German standards as a shield.

Lin Xinyi boarded the People's Ship to Shanghai. This was the People's Ship's third voyage. Everything on board was very fashionable. Even Mu Zi enjoyed the voyage because she found the ship to be quiet, allowing her to sleep well at night. Moreover, there was not much soot on board. Compared to other coal-fired ships, the People's Ship was extremely clean. It was truly a comfortable trip.

Standing at the bow of the boat, looking at the scenery on the river, Mu Zi asked Lin Xinyi with great interest, "When will the ships traveling between Japan and China become so quiet and clean?"

Lin Xinyi casually remarked, "Diesel engine technology is still immature. It's fine for inland waterway vessels, since they can dock and wait or change ships if they break down. But it would be troublesome if it broke down at sea. So, ocean-going ships that use petroleum as fuel will be at least ten years away."

Lin Xinyi's focus differed from Mu Zi's; he was more concerned with the Siemens broadcasting system used on the ship, marking Wuhan's first attempt to test the application of new technologies to people's lives. While radio and broadcasting technologies had already emerged in 1908, compared to the maturity of radio, broadcasting remained largely a figment of a few people's imaginations.

After all, the transistor was invented by American Robert Forrest in 1906. Although Siemens had conducted related experiments, they had not yet figured out how to use this new technology. However, Lin Xinyi knew that the transistor's ability to amplify electrical signals was crucial for long-distance telephone and broadcasting systems. Therefore, he suggested that Wuhan University of Technology collaborate with Siemens on research into the applications of transistors in communications and broadcasting.

The public address system installed on the Renmin ferry was clearly an experiment. The passengers were completely unaware that many of the announcements weren't from the ship's crew, but rather radio signals coming from Wuhan. In other words, someone was sitting in Wuhan, reporting the latest news from Wuhan to passengers who were moving further away.

Although the broadcasting system was unstable due to technical issues, sometimes only a rough outline could be heard, and sometimes it was completely drowned out by static, Lin Xinyi understood that a new era had arrived. People could receive live broadcasts of events happening immediately, which meant that the secret diplomacy of the imperialist era was no longer feasible.

So-called secret diplomacy is not a private conversation behind closed doors, but rather the concealment of events that could potentially alter relations between nations by blocking information from the public. These concealed events are what are called secrets. The advent of radio made it easier to shake the feudal rulers' control over information than newspapers. After all, newspapers needed to be published to reach the public, while radio only needed to broadcast a message, and the people would know immediately. The time left for feudal rulers to respond was compressed to the extreme.

This explains why rebellions in Africa and South America later on were so easily accomplished. Once the rebels controlled the radio, they could declare the collapse of the established order, allowing neutrals and the opposition to quickly sever ties with the ruling class, thus achieving a change of regime. The more underdeveloped and lacking in education a region was, the higher the authority of broadcasting became, because the power recognized by the people derives from the ruler's authority; a ruler who loses authority naturally loses his rule.

Japan's surrender in World War II, announced by a broadcast from the Emperor, essentially demonstrates that most of Japan was a relatively ignorant and backward rural area. Their obedience to the Emperor stemmed from their fear of the imperial system. Once the imperial system acknowledged its defeat, the people quickly abandoned the country.

The number of Japanese who committed suicide because of defeat is negligible compared to the blood-written pledges of support for Japan's war of aggression during the war. This demonstrates that Japan's claim of defeat due to the Emperor's surrender is a lie; in reality, the Japanese people had long abandoned this imperial system, but they dared not rise up in resistance out of fear of state power.

Listening to the ship's broadcast, Lin Xinyi thought that he should have the reorganized Radio Research Institute contact Wuhan University of Technology and adopt a joint research approach to accelerate the development of the radio broadcasting system. Previously, the corruption in the navy had greatly hindered the research work on radio technology, but the technical talents accumulated by Japan were still superior to those in Wuhan. It was obviously impossible to expect Siemens to contribute all its technology.

Once the broadcasting system is successfully developed, it will greatly promote land reform in Chiba Prefecture. The landlord class's control over the local area actually stemmed from their interpretation of the law on behalf of the government. No peasant wanted to deal with the government; after all, the government was not a friend to the peasants, not even their master—they were robbers who used the name of the state to plunder.

The landowners treated the peasants like cattle, at least expecting them to work hard to provide for them. Therefore, obeying the landowners' interpretation of the law was far less troublesome than going to the government to inquire. Although the Edo Shogunate became the Meiji Restoration government, many peasants' perceptions of the government did not change much. They still felt that the landowners living in the villages were more trustworthy than the officials living in the cities.

The peasants' trust in the village landlords was the foundation upon which local gentry manipulated elections. Without breaking this dependency, land reform in Chiba Prefecture would amount to a confrontation between the government and the entire agricultural population—a clearly thorny issue. However, it was thorny, not insurmountable. After all, Chiba Prefecture was merely an agricultural region; facing the power of an entire nation, especially the power organized by capital, the peasants of Chiba Prefecture were utterly powerless.

However, Hayashi Nobuyoshi hoped to distinguish between peasants and landlords, because under such forceful suppression, peasants would only gravitate more towards the army. In this case, the confrontation between the navy and the army would become a confrontation between the navy and Japanese peasants, a war that could not be won. To break the peasants' psychological dependence on landlords, it was necessary to first seize the landlords' right to interpret national laws, that is, their authority. And there was no better new technology than broadcasting.

The journey from Shanghai to Yokohama was not as comfortable as the journey on the Yangtze River. Due to an unexpected storm, the passengers on the ship were tossed about. Mu Zi looked at Lin Xinyi, whose face was a little pale, and couldn't help but tease him: "As a naval officer, you are too fragile to withstand the storm."

Looking at his wife, whose face was also pale but who was forcing herself to stay alert, Lin Xinyi could only complain, "Naval ships are much bigger than this one. The bigger the ship, the stronger its ability to withstand wind and waves. Apart from those abnormal lunatics, no one in the navy would go out to sea for training during a typhoon."

Mu Zi asked in surprise, "Why go out to sea for training during a typhoon? That's too unsafe."

Lin Xinyi said, "So, these people are crazy. Conducting emergency damage control training during a typhoon at sea is necessary. But deliberately going out to sea during a typhoon, claiming it's to train the willpower of the naval personnel, is just disregarding their lives. They probably think the navy has no tactics other than surprise attacks, so they need to conduct training in such harsh sea conditions..."

While Lin Xinyi's complaints about his wife were somewhat exaggerated, they were not an isolated phenomenon in the navy. Even Sato and Akiyama, who were relatively close to him, advocated for stricter training methods in the fleet.

In fact, before the Russo-Japanese War, the navy's schedule was relatively normal, with half a day off on Saturday afternoons and a full day off on Sundays. However, after the victory in the naval battle against Russia, Togo Heihachiro believed that the officers and soldiers had become too lax. After all, the navy had been defeated by the Chinese and Russian navies, and Britain was an ally, so the navy naturally had a sense of peace and tranquility.

Goro Ijuin supported Heihachiro Togo's suggestion and first implemented the "Monthly Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Metal" training system in his own fleet, directly eliminating Saturday and Sunday rest days. Many newly appointed staff officers in the Naval General Staff also supported Ijuin's approach, with only Nobuyoshi Hayashi opposing it. However, he didn't receive much support from the Naval General Staff on this matter; instead, he was supported by the fleet's officers and men.

Chapter 664

Chapter 664

　For Mu Zi, this honeymoon trip greatly broadened her horizons. In the past, she thought that the prosperity of Europe was like Ginza, but after arriving in Shanghai and Wuhan, she realized what European cities were really like.

Although Yokohama was a foreign concession in Japan, Japan is, after all, a small country. Yokohama only had the Kanto Plain, an agricultural region, as its economic hinterland. Therefore, foreign businessmen were not willing to make large investments in Yokohama because they could not recoup their costs.

However, foreign merchants truly spared no effort in investing heavily in Shanghai, as evidenced by the continuous expansion of the concessions in Shanghai. Their investment in the Shanghai concessions even led them to feel that there wasn't enough land.

Therefore, Yokohama is considered the most Westernized city in Japan, but Western culture is merely an embellishment to this city. The core of Yokohama remains Japanese, so the mansions in Yokohama still follow the tranquility and seclusion of the Japanese upper class, and the Western-style architecture also carries the unique Japanese style of seclusion.

In Shanghai, the concessions had become the city's center, and their culture represented the city's style. The former Shanghai county towns were marginalized, and the Jiangnan gardens, once admired by Chinese literati, were replaced by Western-style houses and gardens. The original intention of Jiangnan gardens was to allow people to appreciate the beauty of the world without leaving home, while Western-style gardens were the opposite, providing a small garden for their owners to relax after a long day.

In other words, the owners of European cities were actually the propertied class. These propertied classes were not idle nobles; they needed to manage their own businesses to maintain their social standing. Therefore, for them, the city was not only a place to live but also a place to work. Without the city, they would be nothing. Thus, urban construction became the public project that the propertied class cared about most.

However, for Chinese scholar-officials, the city was merely a place for them to live. The remoteness of the countryside could not provide timely information or better enjoyment. In essence, Chinese scholar-officials were just a group of landlords living in the city. They had no sense of belonging to the city; the city served them, rather than them providing for the city.

Therefore, the construction of city walls was of utmost concern to the Chinese literati, as thieves and starving people would affect the safety of the city's residents. However, they did not care about public facilities such as city roads and waterways, believing that these were matters for the government, not their own.

Therefore, the most striking contrast between the concessions and the old Shanghai county town is that the concessions had high taxes, but the city construction was handled by a dedicated department, and new public works such as road construction could be seen almost every day. In contrast, taxes in the old Shanghai county town were not high, but there were many corrupt practices. The corrupt practices paid by ordinary people were not much lower than the taxes in the concessions, but the streets in the old Shanghai county town were dilapidated, and the so-called tap water and sewer facilities were almost non-existent.

The strongest opposition to the expansion of the Shanghai concessions came from local officials and scholar-officials who enjoyed tax-free privileges from the imperial court. Ordinary people and small landowners, on the other hand, did not harbor much resentment towards the expansion. This was because, although they paid higher taxes after being incorporated into the concessions, they were free from other corrupt practices levied by the government, and they no longer had to worry about scholar-officials encroaching on their land. In the eyes of foreigners, the gentry and commoners of the Qing Dynasty were all second-class citizens, with nothing particularly noble about them.

Because everyone is equal before foreigners, although they are second-class citizens in the eyes of foreigners, the status of ordinary Chinese people has actually improved. This is because foreigners will not think about how to oppress you all the time, unless your land happens to be within the foreigners' urban planning area. However, the gentry are always thinking about turning your land into their own property.

Thus, the peasants and artisans confined to the concessions, after learning about the foreigners' rules, accepted foreign rule. After all, they had never enjoyed human treatment in the Qing Dynasty, so naturally they wouldn't demand the same treatment from the foreigners. The gentry, however, were outraged. The concessions abolished their privileges, turning them from a privileged class into ordinary people. This naturally ignited their patriotism, and they accused the people of Shanghai of being unpatriotic and offering no resistance to foreign rules.

The Shanghai people's abandonment of old morals and embrace of Western culture naturally made Shanghai more like a European city than Yokohama. Therefore, Mu Zi was astonished when she saw the diverse characters on Nanjing Road in Shanghai. Nanjing Road, as Shanghai's most famous commercial street, holds a position similar to Ginza in Tokyo, but it is clearly more prosperous. This ten-mile-long commercial street completely dwarfs the three-mile-long Ginza. The constant flow of diverse people on Nanjing Road makes it hard to believe this is a Chinese city.

Tokyoites generally consider Ginza to belong to Tokyo, but Chinese people don't consider Shanghai to belong to China. After seeing Shanghai, one naturally understands why foreigners say Tokyo is just a big village. As for Wuhan, I think it's even more prosperous than Shanghai. Although Wuhan doesn't have a long commercial street like Nanjing Road, it immediately gives the impression of being a city, and life there is completely different from other rural towns.

After visiting these two cities, Yokohama, which had seemed quite nice before, made Mu Zi feel somewhat outdated, as if she had returned to the countryside. She couldn't help but complain to Lin Xinyi as she disembarked: "Yokohama really hasn't changed at all. I remember when we went back to Shanghai and Wuhan after a while, we felt that something had changed. It seems that Japan is indeed falling behind China."

In fact, Japan's transformation has not been as slow as Mu Zi described. It's just that most of the changes in Japanese cities are concentrated in areas with a high concentration of handicraft workshops. These changes mainly depend on the development of family workshops. Since the Meiji Restoration, educational investment has given some artisans the possibility of improving their skills. The introduction of modern industry has provided new materials, processes, and jobs. Therefore, traditional Japanese artisans are gradually turning their small workshops into family factories.

These family-run factories developed more slowly due to insufficient capital, but they were still raising the overall level and scale of Japanese industry. Shanghai and Wuhan, on the other hand, were miracles built on the concentration of capital in one place. However, Lin Xinyi wouldn't discuss this issue in depth with Mu Zi. He simply explained, "Shanghai faces the entire Yangtze River basin and the most prosperous Jiangnan region of China. Wuhan, although less developed, also concentrates the economic resources of the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Compared to them, Yokohama's economic hinterland is only Kanagawa Prefecture, so naturally it couldn't develop as quickly. Of course, if Japan's development model isn't adjusted, and the free development of private economy is indulged, then Japan will indeed be overtaken by China..."

Mu Zi was very happy that Lin Xinyi was willing to talk to her about these things. After all, in Japanese society, women are not allowed to express their opinions on national affairs. Even if they advocate for women's education, they are seen as morally declining by conservative people. They think that women should stay at home to serve adults and children, but instead show their faces in public to talk about women's education. Isn't that heresy?

The modern women Mu Zi knew, while emphasizing freedom in literary creation, almost all lost themselves once they began dating men. This was because traditional Japanese education forbade women from contradicting their husbands, making it impossible to discuss anything outside of family matters. In more traditional families, even household affairs were not allowed to be discussed; wives were simply expected to obey their husbands. Consequently, when husbands couldn't provide for the family, wives couldn't ask them for money and instead had to borrow from various sources to maintain household expenses.

So Mu Zi felt very lucky. She didn't have to worry about losing herself after marriage, and even if she discussed social issues with Lin Xinyi, he wouldn't put on airs or scold her for speaking carelessly. Thinking of this, Mu Zi, in a good mood, couldn't help but take Lin Xinyi's arm. During her travels in China, she had already become accustomed to this seemingly intimate gesture.

However, in Japan, this is still quite shocking. Even in Yokohama, a relatively open-minded city, such intimate actions between a man and a woman drew stares from passersby. In the past, Mu Zi might have quickly relaxed under such scrutiny, since normal couples, except for lovers, wouldn't be so intimate in public.

However, Mu Zi didn't care about these stares today; she just felt at ease holding Lin Xinyi's arm. But just as the two continued walking towards the dock exit, a shout made Lin Xinyi stop. He looked at the officer who had squeezed through the crowd and said in surprise, "Senior Qiushan, what brings you here?"

Walking ahead of Akiyama, Domoto Keiichi quietly took the luggage from Hayashi Shinichi's hands and asked Muko to go with him to where the carriages were parked, thus giving Akiyama and Hayashi Shinichi space to talk.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Hayashi Shinichi, Akiyama waited until the passersby's gazes shifted away from them before saying, "Minister of the Sea Yamamoto has relinquished his post, and Chief of Staff Kawahara has officially taken over as Minister of the Sea."

However, before leaving office, Navy Minister Yamamoto transferred Senior Hidaka to the reserves, and now everyone else in the Navy believes that Commander-in-Chief Kawahara betrayed Senior Hidaka, and there's a huge commotion going on..."

During the short walk to the carriage, Lin Xinyi gained a general understanding of the new changes in the internal structure of the navy. Although Yamamoto Gonnohyōe had relinquished his position as Minister of the Navy and Kawahara Yoichi had taken it over, the anti-Yamamoto alliance within the navy had also broken down.

Lin Xinyi didn't expect this alliance to last long. After all, the alliance's goal was to get Yamamoto Gonnohyōe to hand over the position of Minister of the Navy. In other words, everyone felt that the Yamamoto faction had too much power in the Navy and was not fair enough, so they wanted to remove this faction so that the various factions within the Navy could have a fair chance to develop.