The rise of a country is not an easy task, the rise of a great power is even more difficult, which must face countless challenges and obstacles, only the whole country can work together to succeed; and what is to be said here is the story of Japan's rise. It is said that since Tokugawa Ieyasu ended the Sengoku Rebellion and established the Edo shogunate, Japan began to enter a smooth stage of internal governance, and even closed the country to this end.
This situation of not hearing anything out of the window continued until the 1860s and 1870s, either because class contradictions had accumulated to the critical point of eruption, or because of the impact of foreign ideas, or perhaps the awakening of some people of insight; in short, the fallen faction led by the four powerful clans of Satsuma, Tosa, Hizen, and Choshu shouted the slogan of "Zun Wang Zhiyi" and launched a vigorous movement of restoration.
Finally, in 1868, the southwestern princes surrounded the imperial palace with their troops and disarmed the Tokugawa shogunate's guards stationed in the harem. Surrounded by the young Emperor Meiji, they held a pre-imperial council and declared that "the imperial government was retro" and that all power would be in the hands of the emperor. From the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate to the Edo shogunate, the power lost for nearly seven hundred years finally returned to the hands of the emperor.
Although the European and American powers did not turn Japan into colonies, it was not much better, and the entire Japanese market was filled with a large number of industrialized products, which bankrupted countless traditional handicraft practitioners and a large amount of wealth was exuded, while the Japanese ruling class was helpless, because the strong ships and cannons of the European and American powers were not decorations.
The heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation was placed on the shoulders of the young Meiji Emperor, but fortunately, saigo Takamori, Kido Takayoshi, Ito Hirobumi and other people with lofty ideals cultivated and assisted, successfully shaping the tough and courageous character of Emperor Meiji. At this time, it seems that Japan should also rise, and various talents have sprung up like mushrooms, the state-governed countries have Okubo Ritsu and Ito Hirobumi, the military has Saigo Takamori, Yamagata Aritomo, Oyama Iwa, Higashigo Heihachirō, etc., education has Mori Rie, Ōgi Yoshihito, etc., and the economy has...
In short, at that time, countless talents from all walks of life in Japan emerged, as if they were thick and thin, and although these talents had more or less contradictions, it was only because of different ideas, but in their hearts they all hoped that Japan would become stronger; what was surprising was that at that time, there were no traitors in Japan who were fake public servants and private, corrupt and corrupt; it can be said that as long as the Meiji Emperor did not come chaotically, Japan could enter the fast lane of development.
However, it was clear that Emperor Meiji did better than many people thought, and after coming to power, he promulgated a series of reform measures, such as promoting financial unification economically and stabilizing the state finances that were heavily indebted in the late shogunate; and promoting the development of crops and industries, mastering new technologies, industrializing the country, and greatly increasing productivity. Education was also reformed on a large scale, diplomatically successful in abolishing unequal treaties with foreign countries, and so on.
These policies have greatly promoted the rapid development of Japan, and the most important thing is military development, because the Meiji Emperor and Japan's ministers know that if the poor and backward Japan wants to develop more rapidly and catch up with the footsteps of Europe and the United States, it must have a strong, advanced, and modern army, and a strong army can not only protect Japan's own interests, but also expand abroad and develop itself through foreign wars and plunder wealth.
Therefore, in the case of the army and navy funds as high as 27% of the national budget, the Japanese high-level and The Meiji Emperor at that time still approved the eight-year naval shipbuilding plan proposed by Junyoshi Kawamura, the secretary of the Navy; but at that time, japan's finances could not afford such a huge shipbuilding plan, in order to achieve the goal, the Meiji Emperor personally took the lead and announced that he would reduce his clothing and food, indicating that within the next 6 years, 300,000 yen would be allocated from the imperial family funds every year as a shipbuilding fee.
Emperor Meiji not only did this himself, but also ordered civil and military officials to spend one-tenth of their monthly salaries in the next six years to pay to the national treasury to supplement the shortage of shipbuilding funds; the power of example is infinite, the emperor and civil and military officials are like this, and the people naturally respond one after another, according to statistics, after the news came out, the Chinese and rich people in Japan at that time were "moved" by it, and within half a year, the donation reached 2.03 million yen.
In short, before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Japan largely completed its naval shipbuilding plan and built a modern Japanese navy with 31 warships, 24 torpedo boats, a total displacement of 61,373 tons, and a considerable scale; it was precisely by virtue of this navy that the whole country tightened its belts and belts, Japan defeated the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia successively, not only enhanced Japan's international status, ranked among the world's great powers, but also gained a large number of colonies and wealth.
In fact, the rise of modern Japan really put together three major elements of the time and place; first of all, when Japan caught the last train of the second industrial revolution, it was reasonable to develop by taking advantage of the industrial revolution. Secondly, the geographical advantage, Japan is located in East Asia, too far away from European and American countries, and the land is small, the resources are scarce, the value of becoming a colony is not large, plus there is a "big fat sheep" next to it. Finally, there are people and countless talents, which can really only be said to be luck.
But that's all, after that, Japan was too ambitious, too rampant, and finally buried everything; the heavenly path has reincarnation, the dynasty that was once bullied, after going through all the hardships, finally ushered in the help of the heavenly path, the time and place are favorable and the people gathered; and unlike Japan at that time, Japan at that time was only a small country after all, with limited foundation, at most it became a powerful country; for the dynasty with strong foundation, the future road must be farther, perhaps not limited to the earth, It's the vast sea of stars.