Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 344: The feelings of the Fuso elites.

Manila

As the May 5st military parade approaches, the festive atmosphere becomes more intense.

The kings and nobles from Western countries and local states around Southeast Asia who were invited to attend the ceremony felt completely different from when they attended the founding ceremony four years ago. They were filled with complex emotions of worry, hesitation and caution.

The rapid rise of the State of Chu has indeed achieved many great things in recent years.

They advanced northward into the Ryukyu Kingdom, dispatched warships into Tokyo Bay, massacred people in Lake Ikeda, and used force to force the Fuso Kingdom to open its port in Edo. They then extended this policy to the countries of Southeast Asia, forcibly demanding the same preferential trade tariffs and preferential treatment as the great powers.

Not long
Because of the overseas Chinese issue, the United States had a falling out with the British and French powers, and then imposed restrictions on each other and even fought. This series of changes surprised everyone.

The problem is that
The powerful countries in the region, such as Britain, France and Chu, were fighting fiercely, and the storms they stirred up caused the Kingdom of Sarawak and the ancient Kingdom of Brunei to suffer a devastating disaster. They became yesterday's news and disappeared from the historical stage of the Nanyang region.

The remaining Kingdoms of Lan Fang, Tanjong Kap, Johor, Aceh and the Dutch colonists were all affected to varying degrees and could no longer remain unscathed.

The three big guys fought each other, but ended up killing several of their younger brothers.

"The Chu State is truly worthy of being the authentic Han Chinese successor to the Celestial Empire. Freed from the oppression of the Jianlu, its blossoming glory is truly enviable. It evokes the vibrant image of a great power during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty."

"Nani... Hirata-kun, this is truly shameful. Please stop imagining things."

"A mere firefly dares to compete with the sun and the moon for glory? No matter what, the truly powerful in this world are Westerners. They are the role models that Fuso should strive to emulate. Please stop fickle-minded."

"Souga... wake up! Is it really that difficult to acknowledge someone else's strength? These Chu people are also learning from Westerners, and their society is undergoing persistent industrialization and improvement, but they haven't abandoned Chinese cultural characteristics. Isn't this enough to warrant attention?"

"Please stop fickle-minded. We all bear the heavy responsibility of saving the Yamato people. Now that we have chosen our goal, please move forward with determination. Please, Hirata-kun."

"Please calm down, Saigo-kun. I understand your anger. Our impoverished land lacks abundant resources, and it is particularly difficult to embark on the road to industrialization."

"What a jerk, what do you want to say?"

"Because Fuso's foundation is too weak, in our pursuit of industrialization, we have no choice but to seek help from Western powers. To do so, we have to pay a lot, even our dignity."

Kido Takayoshi's words silenced everyone.

Immediately, the heart was filled with sorrow, and some people had tears silently flowing down their cheeks.

There is nothing else, Fuso is just too poor.

As for resources, there is nothing to be desired. An average middle-class family cannot even afford two meals of rice balls a day. A small dried fish with rice is considered delicious.

In addition, there have been frequent wars and disasters in recent years, and famines of varying sizes have occurred one after another in the Japanese archipelago.

During the lean months, countless people died of hunger and poverty, and the country was devastated.

This time, the Fuso Emperor faction, riding on the power of victory in the civil war, sent a delegation led by Duke Sanjo Sanetomi to show their intention of closeness and friendship to the countries in Southeast Asia. They also planned to establish diplomatic embassies in Malacca, Manila, Bangkok, Saigon and other places to strengthen diplomatic ties with the countries in Southeast Asia.

The visiting delegation included Hirata Keigoro, Saigo Takamori, Kido Takayoshi, and Ito Hirobumi, the core figures in the implementation of the "Meiji Restoration" and also the hot new forces in the current Japanese political arena.

It can be said that this delegation brought together representatives of the "Meiji Restoration" faction who swept away the old habits of the former shogunate.

When these ambitious people went to Southeast Asia and saw what was happening, they were all dumbfounded.

When Fuso was focused on the civil war

The Chu State in Southeast Asia had already accomplished something remarkable, engaging in a fierce battle with the Anglo-French coalition. Crucially, they hadn't lost, having snatched the three states of East Malaya from the ever-arrogant British.

This kind of thing that subverts all three views happened so vividly.

Do the Japanese envy the British for their vast colonies?
So greedy... so greedy, but no one dared to say it out loud, and they just swallowed all their saliva.

On the surface, the Japanese acted submissive and harmless, saying "Hi" all the time and bowing profusely in front of the foreigners like obedient loyal dogs.

The "Meiji Restoration" faction were all lickspittles who leaned towards the West, and the so-called West was the British Empire.

If you want to learn, learn from the strongest. From the Tang Dynasty more than a thousand years ago to the present, the Japanese people's obsession has remained unchanged.

The Meiji Restoration was a comprehensive Westernization movement that comprehensively learned from the British Empire, copying everything from industry to culture, from humanities to education to Japan.

In Japan, there is a movement called "De-Asianization and Europeanization", which shows the determination to completely abandon all old traditions.

When Fusang saw that the State of Chu had eased its relations with Britain and that trade between the two sides was becoming increasingly prosperous, she couldn't help but feel jealous. She looked... like a jealous woman.

The national policy of Fusang State is to cling to the British, so it is wary of the policy trends of Chu State, just like a dog, afraid that others will snatch its shit from it.

Now, hearing that the State of Chu had fought a fierce battle with the British and French powers, and seemed to have gained the upper hand, how could one not be shocked?
Looking out from the hotel window
Tall buildings lined the broad streets of Manila's Glory Avenue, their Chinese-style buildings with soaring eaves and brackets nestled among coconut trees. The streets were bustling with traffic, yet the traffic flowed in an orderly fashion. An inexplicable sense of grandeur overwhelmed the nobles, accustomed to walking in wooden clogs on the dirt paths, leaving them stunned and feeling like country bumpkins.

When had they ever seen such a wide road, such a grand port, such tall buildings?

Everything they saw before their eyes had a strong impact on the perceptions of these Meiji Restoration elites.

Hirata Keigoro sighed and said, "This is truly a wonderful place! Every year it produces hundreds of thousands of tons of steel and precious copper, rice is harvested three times a year, and there's an endless supply of mouth-watering fruit. The thought of all this incredibly fertile land falling into the hands of the Han people is heartbreaking."

"Please rest assured, Lord Hirata. As long as we unswervingly implement the Meiji Restoration, the Yamato nation will become strong one day." Ito Hirobumi bowed 90 degrees and replied respectfully.

"Please, please continue to support the Meiji Restoration." Saigo Takamori, Kido Takayoshi and others also bowed with their buttocks raised high.

Hirata Katsuragiro glanced at Duke Sanjo Sanemie and saw he was also hesitant. He sighed and said, "Hey, for the prosperity of the Yamato people, supporting the Meiji Restoration policy is our unshirkable responsibility."

His words were somewhat bitter. As a member of an old aristocratic family, he received strict Chinese education since childhood and could recite the Four Books and Five Classics by heart.

This is the conservative traditional education of the Fuso aristocracy, which has remained unchanged for more than a thousand years.

Aristocratic nobles such as Sanjo Sanetomi and Hirata Katsura were somewhat hesitant about the Meiji Restoration policy, which completely broke away from tradition and fully embraced the West. They belonged to the conservative faction that supported the reform.

Limited support for certain reformist policies, rather than completely denying old traditions like the radicals.

After completely eliminating the corrupt shogunate forces, unifying Fuso and ending the civil war, the contradictions within the reformists were inevitably exposed and became the focus of current controversy.

Seeing that the State of Chu maintained its traditional culture well while industrializing, people like Hirata Keigoro were deeply touched and thought-provoking.

This small group of people will be the backbone of Fuso's domestic politics in the next few decades.

These people were unaware that several mysterious people in the next room were recording all their conversations through thin copper earpieces.

This grand event is also the time when envoys from various countries gather in Manila.

The Ministry of the Interior will certainly not miss this good opportunity to collect reliable information. Countless practices have proved that
High-level information obtained through eavesdropping is far more valuable than intelligence obtained through other channels. It is more authentic and closer to the original intentions and bottom lines of various countries.

During the armistice negotiations

The Ministry of the Interior used the same method on senior representatives from Britain and France, grasped the other party's negotiating bottom line, and benefited greatly from it. It can be said that it was a complete victory.

Taking advantage of the British people's eagerness to end the war, they successfully obtained the three states of East Malaya that His Majesty the King had been longing for, and also intervened in the Australian situation.

Without the confidential information obtained through eavesdropping, the State of Chu would not have been so bold as to interfere in the situation in Australia.

Even if you do
Nor would they have openly controlled Queensland, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Western Australia as they do today, and fought fiercely with the white people in Victoria, ultimately losing unfortunately.

Now in Australia

The power ratio between the Chinese and the British is 4:4. The Chinese forces control the four northern states of Australia, while the British hold the bases of Victoria, New Zealand, South Australia and Tasmania. The two sides compete with each other.

The situation in Australia had completely calmed down. After Earl Zheng Shun was elected as the Governor of New South Wales, he was sworn in as governor with his hand on the Bible in the presence of many Chinese and white state legislators in Sydney.

It cracked down on any illegal activities in the entire state with great vigor and severely punished Chinese people who were not honest, making an example of them and quickly clearing up the local security situation and stabilizing the social situation.

The same is roughly true in several other states. Social development has returned to its original track, but it is very different from before.

On the vast pastures in central and northern Australia, Chinese farmers and cowboys can be seen everywhere driving cattle and sheep to move pastures. This is also common in Victoria in the south.

The demographic structure of society has quietly changed, and this is destined to be a turning point in Australian history.

The British upper class nobles who were thousands of miles away in London did not care about these things. In their eyes;

Australia is a penal colony at the end of the world, inhabited by descendants of thieves, robbers and gangsters, who are stupid and ridiculous from head to toe.

What do these Australians think, do, and experience?
The British aristocracy in London didn't care, and no one cared.

No British person has ever thought that Australians are British, nor do they think that the Irish are British. That is simply an insult to the word "British".

Australians are Australians, and the Irish are Irish, they're all just a bunch of country bumpkins.

The British upper class’s request to Australia is to stop causing trouble, send that damn wool to British factories, and everything will be fine.

They didn't care whether the wool was produced by the British or the Chinese.

(End of this chapter)