Master Yuan, start!

Yarn prices plummeted, sales stagnated, and many factories were forced to cut production for three months to cope with the crisis.

When factories stopped production, workers had nowhere to go. Japan also faced a small-scale economic crisis later known as the "Great Depression of the East" due to the large-scale production cuts in the textile industry.

The Japanese bureaucrats, who had just entered the capitalist era from the feudal era, did not have the conditions to deal with the economic crisis.

Seeing that the number of unemployed people was increasing and society was becoming increasingly unstable, the Japanese government did indeed begin planning for war again.

However, Yuan Shikai took 50 days to reach the capital from Korea, a speed that was completely beyond their imagination.

By the time Japan came to its senses, the National Defense Army had already returned to Korea to deploy defenses, and Japan had lost a great opportunity to invade.

For this reason, Aritomo Yamagata had to find a way to solve the economic problems again.

It coincided with the annihilation of the Spanish Philippine Fleet by the South Sea Fleet. The war resulted in the killing of a large number of indigenous civilians in Manila, causing a population hollowing out.

After the war, the establishment of the "Sino-US Joint Concession" created a large number of job opportunities.

Therefore, while the local people of Fujian and Guangdong were migrating to Luzon Island, Aritomo Yamagata also made a move: he packed up the unemployed and landless people in the country and sent them to Luzon, letting them fend for themselves.

In addition, because of the good cooperation with the French on Taiwan Island, when he heard that the French urgently needed a large number of laborers to build the Panama Canal, Aritomo Yamagata volunteered and took the initiative to propose that Japan could provide manpower.

All the French have to pay is half of their original salary.

At this time, France had changed three canal companies in order to build the Panama Canal. The previous company had to go bankrupt because of bribing officials, covering up the truth about slow construction progress, and exhausting its capital pool.

After hearing Aritomo Yamagata's proposal, the French naturally agreed readily and said that the more Japanese the better.

In the original time and space, tens of thousands of Chinese workers in southern China were deceived and recruited to build the Panama Canal. Only one in ten returned home alive, and most of them, like the Chinese railway workers in North America, were buried in a foreign country.

In this time and space, the Japanese have replaced this ecological niche.

Moreover, due to the division between the North and the South and the lack of the central government's constraints, capitalism in both the North and the South has developed to a considerable extent.

Although the various factories in their early stages had low wages, high work intensity, feudal relations, patriarchal system and capitalist exploitation, they brought unimaginable suffering to these workers.

But fortunately, thanks to the existence of these factories, Chinese workers were spared from being deceived and died in a foreign country.

Yuan Xiangcheng didn't know about this, but even if he knew, he would be powerless to do anything for the time being.

In his opinion, neither dying of exhaustion in a foreign country nor dying of exhaustion in a factory in his own country is a good choice.

If I really have to choose, I can only say that domestic factories are better.

At least, the fallen leaves return to their roots.

Yuan Shikai is not yet able to save the working class. It is already difficult for him to maintain relatively "decent" jobs for workers in northern China.

If it were not for the first-mover advantage and the high commercial added value maintained by the core industrial products such as soybeans, timber, steel, firewood, and bicycles, the factories outside the Great Wall would actually have to exploit the workers to death just like the south.

Workers in southern factories only have one day off every ten days, and most are only provided with two meals a day.

At Yuan Shikai's insistence, factories outside the Great Wall allowed workers at least one day off per week, and they were also provided with some meals when they started work in the early morning, which mainly consisted of cornmeal.

As for working hours, they work from sunrise to sunset every day, turning on the dim lights and working until midnight.

Honestly, both are rotten, neither can be considered good. Compared to later generations, they are basically meat factories.

But compared to the unemployed workers in Japan, Chinese workers can at least still have something to eat.

All in all, this is an era of comparison.

China relies on a huge population to digest the market, but Japan does not. In order to survive the recession, Yamagata Aritomo sent nearly 10 people abroad to "work"

By exporting surplus population everywhere, the government borrowed heavily, sold goods at low prices, and promoted machine reeling to improve quality, the country finally managed to survive the economic depression crisis of 1891.

However, by this time, the Japanese people had gradually become more aware, and the students who learned about this felt extremely humiliated.

They took to the streets, accusing Yamagata Aritomo of betraying the interests of the Japanese people. The democrats took advantage of this to stir up trouble, forcing him to send people to disperse and suppress them.

In the end, Aritomo Yamagata was also given the title of "Piggy Prime Minister".

The term "piglet" naturally comes from the Qing people who were sold overseas in the late Qing Dynasty. The Japanese public opinion used "piglet Prime Minister" to describe Yamagata Aritomo, mocking him for treating Japanese citizens as inferior Qing people.

However, even though Aritomo Yamagata bore such a bad reputation, the economic crisis was only slightly alleviated. Without a larger market, Japan would sooner or later face another depression.

Therefore, Ito Hirobumi was entrusted by Yamagata Aritomo to go north to Korea to discuss with Yuan Shikai about reopening Japan-Qing trade.

At the same time, Aritomo Yamagata had made preparations for both situations. He was just waiting for Yuan Shikai's national defense army to be dispatched so that he could take action based on the situation.

Whether it was to go north to attack Yuan Xiangcheng's retreat; or to fulfill the treaty and help Yuan Xiangcheng attack the governor in the south.

In Yamagata Aritomo's view, by then, the Empire of Japan would undoubtedly hold the ultimate initiative.

However, when making the plan, he did not expect that the Japanese would encounter another trouble.

A few days ago, after receiving the news of the Sino-Japanese Trade Treaty, the whole of Tokyo fell into a carnival. They cheered for gaining another market and cheered for the new diplomatic achievements of the Great Japanese Empire.

But amid the clamor, Aritomo Yamagata sent Heihachiro Togo on the cruiser Naniwa to survey the situation in the waters around Hokkaido.

Today, I finally received the news.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister."

A beeping sound came from another telegraph machine. After the staff officer finished recording, he quickly picked up the telegram and handed it to Yamagata Aritomo: "Colonel Togo sent a telegram saying that he saw the Russian soldiers land on Defu Island with his own eyes from the Naniwa!"

"Where are our defenders? Have they been completely wiped out?"

Aritomo Yamagata spoke in a calm tone, as if he had anticipated this outcome.

"Colonel Togo didn't mention it, but he also requested to go to the island to investigate the situation."

"Land on the island?" Yamagata Aritomo's eyes were cold as he made a new decision in his mind: "Immediately give the order to Togo-kun to return to the island at full speed. No delay!"

"Yes! Full steam ahead. No need to linger."

The staff officer thought they were going to go full steam ahead and land on the island immediately, but he didn't expect they would have to return. His face was full of confusion.

In his opinion, it was the Russians who disregarded the treaty and landed on the island without authorization. The Japanese people should have stepped forward to protest. Why should they retreat?

　"Return quickly!"

Yamagata Aritomo emphasized, "One Naniwa ship is not enough to make the Russians admit their mistakes."

When the staff officer heard what Yamagata Aritomo said, he was a little bit incredulous: "Sir, are you thinking?"

"After the Naniwa returns, immediately form a naval joint fleet." Yamagata Aritomo revealed his uneven, burnt-yellow teeth and said grimly:

"The rise and fall of the Great Japanese Nation depends on this one move. It's time for all armies to take action!"

226th Imperial Conference and Zhongshan Conference

Aritomo Yamagata, a veteran of the Meiji era, had made up his mind, but at the Imperial Conference that followed, he had to convince the country's supreme ruler.

The President of the House of Peers was Ito Hirobumi, the Prime Minister was Yamagata Aritomo, the Foreign Minister was Mutsu Munemitsu, the Home Minister was Inoue Kaoru, the Army Minister was Oyama Iwao, the Navy Minister was Kuroda Kiyotaka, and the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry was Saigo Tsunemichi.

Several people lined up one after another, quietly waiting for Emperor Meiji's final decision.

"My dear ministers, are the Lucia people bluffing, or do they really want to seize the island?"

Meiji expressed doubts about the Russians' landing on the island.

It is no wonder that he had doubts. Although the entire Kuril Islands, including Defu Island, belonged to Japan after 1875, when the treaty was signed in St. Petersburg, the Russians still demanded that Japan allow "Russian fishermen the right to land on the island for rest."

"Your Majesty!" Seeing Emperor Meiji hesitate, Yamagata Aritomo stepped forward and shouted:

"There's nothing wrong with fishermen landing on an island, but have you ever heard of fishermen landing on an island on a warship?"

Seeing that Aritomo Yamagata was the first to express a tough stance, Navy Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka had to stand up to cheer for Emperor Meiji.

"Your Majesty, the Hokkaido Development Commissioner has discovered that the Russians only have three main battleships in Vladivostok Harbor. If we can launch a surprise attack on them and then join forces with the Qing to blockade the Sea of ​​Japan, then Karafuto and Sakhalin will be easily within our grasp!"

The Hokkaido Development Envoy mentioned by Kuroda Kiyotaka refers to Mototake.

Because of his bizarre experience of first being loyal to the Shogun and then switching to the Meiji government, although Wu was not a powerful figure, he was well-known in later generations and often appeared in some Japanese anime with Bushido, Shinsengumi, and Hokkaido as the background.

Qi Qiren not only served as the plenipotentiary minister to Russia, but was also the number one supporter of the Southward Expansion Theory.

After Yuan Shikai led the National Defense Army to shatter the "Conquer Korea Theory", the number of people within the Meiji government who supported the "Southward Advance Theory" increased rapidly.

Kuroda Kiyotaka, the naval minister from the Ryusatsuma clan, was a close friend of Motoaki. After witnessing the tragic failure of the northward march to Korea, he also decided to fully join the "Southward Movement" faction.

The continentalists behind the theory of conquering Korea viewed Japan as a marginal area of ​​the Asian continent and believed that only by conquering Manchuria and Mongolia could Japan stand proudly in the world.

Fourth, the ocean-going advocates behind the Southern Expansion Theory viewed Japan as the central power in the Pacific. They believed that "Japan is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, facing the Qing Dynasty in the east of Asia to the west, overlooking the Siberian territory to the north, facing the Australian archipelago to the south, and facing the Americas to the east and north."

In other words, the supporters of the Southward Advance Theory did not necessarily have to "go south", but simply shifted their focus of aggression from China to the Pacific coast.

From north to south, Russia's Sakhalin Island, the Philippines in the South Pacific, and Britain's Australia were all targets of the Japanese.

Although Yue's words were firm, Emperor Meiji was still very hesitant and didn't know what to do.

On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in Fei Yuan's time and space, even though the Japan-British Treaty of Commerce and Navigation had been signed and he had the British as a guarantee, Emperor Meiji was still cautious in every step. He first detained King Lee Hee, then threatened the Korean Daewongun to serve as regent, abolished the Qing Dynasty treaty, and made the Qing Dynasty think that Japan was only targeting Korea.

Only at the last moment did he give the order to launch a surprise attack on the Chinese warships off the coast of Fengdao.

: Although Japan abolished extraterritoriality and most of the unequal treaties under the mediation of Ito Hirobumi in this time and space, it was precisely because of this that British industrial products would be subject to normal tariffs when imported into Japan.

However, because the development potential of the Jiangnan region under Liu Kunyi's administration was significantly greater and tariffs were still extremely low, British businessmen invested more in southern China rather than Japan.

In this time and space, the Sino-Japanese Treaty replaced the Sino-British Treaty.

However, it is obvious that even after signing the Sino-Japanese Trade Treaty and some of the secret agreements attached to it, the emperor still found it difficult to make up his mind in the face of the weak Russian army in the Far East.

Just as in the war to overthrow the shogunate, it was the "reform heroes" of each feudal domain, rather than Emperor Meiji, who played a decisive role, when it came to deciding Japan's national destiny, Emperor Meiji Mutsuhito's name became a frightening name.

"Has the British government responded?"

Mutsuhito looked up and asked Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu.

"Your Majesty, the British Minister to Japan stated that they would let the Far East Fleet, which is stationed at the Sasebo Naval Base, ensure the security of Tokyo Bay.

And we will mobilize all the forces we can in the Far East to provide support to the Japanese government."

"Are you serious about mobilizing all forces?"

Mu Ren's eyes lit up. If there was help from the British and Yuan Shikai of the Qing Dynasty, it would not be impossible to declare war on Russia.

"Except war," Mutsu Munemitsu shook his head helplessly.

Why did the British, who usually confront the Russians, suddenly retreat at this time?

This diplomat, who had facilitated the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in the original time and space, was now somewhat difficult to understand.

What he didn't know was that due to the "Great Reconciliation between Germany and Russia", Germany focused its focus on Western Europe and Africa, which have always been Britain's traditional power base, so the contradictions between Britain and Germany became increasingly acute.

The British, who were well versed in the policy of continental balance, naturally did not want to anger the Russians at this time and push them further towards Germany.

The reconciliation between Russia and Germany means that the Russians can focus more on Central Asia and the Far East.