I asked for the full content of the imperial edict of Emperor Meiji of Japan. I once saw it in a college textbook, but I have forgotten it now. Please.

On July 14, 1868, Emperor Meiji reviewed the memorial of the Military Affairs Officer in the palace. It read:

The one who can show the imperial power overseas is the navy. The navy should be greatly developed today...

This sentence immediately touched the heartstrings of Emperor Meiji. With the help of the auxiliary ministers, he drafted an edict and ordered the whole country:

The navy is a top priority and the foundation should be laid as soon as possible.

Hurry! accelerate! The Japanese "water mill" immediately started running crazily when it encountered the impact of ocean currents.

Lin Ziping's "Talks on Maritime and Military Affairs", which had been buried for many years, was "liberated" and became an important theoretical basis for discussing coastal defense and military training. This 18th-century Sendai native also wrote a special "Illustrated Notes on the Three Kingdoms", which recorded the geography and folk customs of Korea, Ryukyu and Sakhalin, so that "when Japanese warriors led their troops into the Three Kingdoms," guide. Also sent to the imperial palace were everything that could be collected, including Tokai Akai's "Kaifōnron" and Matsudaira Sadanobu's "Kaibō Monologues", Yoshida Toshige's "Kaifōgakuran" and Sato Nobubuchi's "Kaibōnyū". His works on coastal defense, and even the "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" written by the Chinese Wei Yuan, which was ignored and forgotten in his hometown, have become must-read books for emperors and ministers.

With astonishing speed and determination, the Meiji regime transferred all the shogunate's navy to the new government system, and almost all the warships under the jurisdiction of each lord were "dedicated" to the new government system. -ment. Soon all the warships available to the navy in Japan were gathered under the emperor's flag. In the ambitious plan concocted by Japan's Ministry of War, Japan's future navy will surpass Britain's, with 200 large and small warships within 20 years. Issei Maehara, Daisuke of the Ministry of War, who concocted this plan, planned to equip 50 steam ironclads alone. He also raised the navy's funding to the same level as the army's funding, reaching 150,000 koku.

In Tokyo, the original Hiroshima feudal residence is stepping up construction and preparing to turn it into a naval training center for cultivating new naval talents. Several proud Britons are coming in and out, trying to use pure British methods to to shape Japan's navy.

The Japanese can be seen in several major shipyards in Europe. These short Easterners had long since taken off their traditional kimonos and wooden clogs. They wore tuxedos and top hats, bowed deeply everywhere, and were looking around for ships suitable for Japan. Their ship and gun business was extremely difficult, as all of Europe was busy with its own affairs and showed little interest in what they were doing. However, they still ran around during the day, moving around and never missed a possible opportunity; at night, they gathered together and sat down again according to their status and rank in the country, excitedly reviewing the emperor's decree and looking forward to it. They often burst into tears at the magnificent sight of the fleet flying the Sun Flag across the Pacific Ocean, forgetting all about the humiliation and cold treatment they received during the day. They use their savvy to do small business on the beach to buy the dignity of a nation from the world.

In the palace, Emperor Meiji's eyes were bloodshot, and he was extremely excited.

The use of troops against Taiwan in 1874 made him further see the importance of the navy. With the construction of the navy, everything was ready to be done, and there were clamors everywhere about lack of money. The navy's funding increased, special national bonds were issued for naval construction, and tobacco and drug taxes were poured into the bottomless pit of the navy. At the highest level, it reached one-eighth of the annual revenue, but there was still a lack of money. Emperor Meiji looked around, and over the heads of the ministers who were asking for money, he saw another scene - the extremely luxurious mansions of powerful ministers and nobles, all-night banquets, smelting tours surrounded by red and green trees, spending huge sums of money on gambling, full of... The famous horses in the stables, the clothes inlaid with corals and gems...

The angry Emperor Meiji raised an invisible whip to his ministers and issued a silent edict: From now on, the emperor will begin to restrain himself. The palace expenses, the four plates and eight bowls during the meal have been removed, the sheng, pipes, flutes and flutes have stopped at night, and the emperor does not want to enjoy the fine clothes and jade belts, or the bells and cauldrons to eat, and he does not want pomp and show, only the navy.

Leading by example, starting from me, the Emperor must wave his invisible whip to accelerate Japan’s old carriage, let it rush onto the highway of modernization, and transform from an old carriage into a Toyota in the process of running. , Mitsubishi sports car.

From the early Meiji period, the emperor began to amass wealth crazily, monopolizing the development rights of Japan's emerging industries, controlling large companies such as Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo, as well as Japan's foreign trade, heavy industry, and banks, and through various Donations, investments, and illegal expropriations of land have increased their royal accumulation. At the same time, he took the lead in saving expenses for the construction of the navy many times, opened his own money bag, and poured out money without hesitation. He even proposed that "although the country cannot win, it is a necessary plan, and it can only be carried out decisively."

In July 1887, the Emperor issued an edict:

I believe that in the matter of founding the country, strengthening coastal defense is something that cannot be relaxed for a day. However, it is still difficult to immediately allocate huge sums of money from the national treasury revenue for coastal defense, so I am deeply worried. I have decided to withdraw 300,000 yuan from the internal treasury to provide financial support. I hope that the ministers will understand my intention.

As soon as the decree was issued, all the rich Chinese people in the country were shocked. On the streets of Tokyo, in the living rooms of the rich with exquisite flower arrangements, in the dojos of Go and Kendo, there are tears and noises everywhere to thank God for sending Japan a wise emperor to rule the world. Rich people are imitating the emperor and donating money one after another. By three months, the total amount of donations for Haiphong Defense reached as much as 1.03 million. According to the Japanese scholar Inoue Kiyoshi: "In the first ten years of the Emperor's rule, military expenditures probably accounted for more than 80% of the total funds."

1893 - the year before the Sino-Japanese War of 1893-1893 , Emperor Meiji decided to allocate 300,000 yuan of money from the internal treasury every year for the next six years for naval construction. And this has exceeded one-tenth of the royal family's expenses. This move once again led Japanese government members to actively donate a quarter of their salaries for shipbuilding.

Before the Sino-Japanese War, it is said that Emperor Meiji even starved his stomach to play a "leading role" for his civil servants and generals. The hungry and cold Japanese soldiers on the front line learned that the emperor only ate one meal a day. During the meal, everyone was in tears, and the camp was filled with shouts and noises.

The emperor wished he could turn the "holy mountain" Mount Fuji into a mountain of gold, iron, steel, and gunpowder, and turn every rock in the Seto Inland Sea into a battleship.

He did not want a slow-paced trek. He asked his country to "sprint" from the beginning - even though he knew that his country, like his disabled legs, was always worried about this "sprint". Powerless.

It is said that many Chinese people went to Japan at that time, and some people brought back the story that the Japanese Emperor used meat from his teeth to support the navy. It was actually passed down as a joke in the capital. People say: "The little barbarians from the East are, after all, the little barbarians from the East. They are not afraid of being laughed at by doing this!"

It seems very scary to make people laugh and lose the face of the leader of a country; the only thing that is not afraid is There is no navy, no national defense, no sovereignty and dignity - this is the political logic of the Qing Dynasty in the last century.