Author: Jin Manlou
"The lone army struggled to break through the siege, a hundred miles between the walls. My sword has broken my horse, and the autumn wind has buried my bones in the mountains of my hometown. ”
This poem was written by Saigo Takamori, one of the "Three Masters of the Restoration" who led the samurai rebellion, and it describes the so-called "Southwest War" that led the samurai to rebel after the Fallen War.
However, the war against the Meiji New Deal ended in defeat.
In 1877, surrounded by Meiji officers, Saigo Takamori and his loyal samurai who refused to leave braved thorns and thorns, detoured through the mountains and streams, and finally returned to their hometown of Kagoshima.
However, the trailing trail also followed. On September 23 of that year, after the officers and soldiers issued an ultimatum, Saigo dismissed the servants, who asked before leaving: What should I bring to my wife and children? Saigo handed him two samurai swords.
The servant reminded whether there were more than twenty thousand dollars to be brought back to the lady and the children, who had a hard time. Saigo Fury: This is all private school money, how can it be used!
In the early morning of September 24, the officers and troops launched a general offensive. Under the nest, Ann had finished the egg, and the last samurai either died of gunfire or committed suicide by caesarean section after being wounded, while the remnants were clustered around Saigo and retreated tenaciously.
Under the pursuit of the officers and soldiers, Saigo Takamori was shot twice, and he could no longer walk on the side of the road. At the last moment, saigo Takamori, who was huge, looked up at Beppu Shinsuke (Kirino's cousin) and said, "Go ahead, Ajin, it's right here." ”
With tears in his eyes, Beppu slashed saigo's head with a sword. Later, other generals such as Shinpachi Murata and Toshiaki Kirino also died or killed themselves, completing the final performance of their lives.
Upon learning of Saigo Takamori's death, it is said that Emperor Meiji was silent for a long time, saying, "Don't you remember that you gave an order to kill him?" "The following people reported that Saigo was suicidal. When the Emperor heard this, he sighed, "He has merit." ”
Twelve years later, due to the high level of sympathy among the people, Saigo Takamori was posthumously awarded the rank of Masamune, and later erected a bronze statue for him in Tokyo's Ueno Park for the world to see.
Earlier, after hearing that Saigo Takamori was determined to rebel, Okubo Ritsuru had said unequivocally: "It is true that it is a clear and upright manner, to declare a crime, and to beat the drum to rebuke it. ”
After the war, Okubo Ritsu asked someone to make a biography of Saigo Takamori, saying:
"He is both my feared friend and my faithful friend. From a private point of view, I don't want to be estranged from him.
I tried my best to persuade Saigo not to let him return to The West (Kagoshima), but he always said he didn't want to do it and left. So I performed last year's tragedy, which is a pity! ”
With that, Okubo couldn't help but cry.
History is history, it has nothing to do with morality, it has nothing to do with aesthetics. Four months earlier, Kido Takayoshi had died of illness; eight months later, the head of government, Ōkubo Ritsuru, who was in charge of the counterinsurgency war, was stabbed to death by Saigo samurai.
The deaths of the "Three Jies" were directly or indirectly related to the Southwest War.
Dai Jitao once said that Although Saigo's raising of troops did not come from his own intentions, most of the samurai always thought that the world's major affairs, only the strength of the army is the most important, it is able to seize power, to achieve the purpose of happiness, and forget the premise of the success of the armed forces, is the needs of the people, the requirements of the times.
In a sense, in order for modern Japan to be reborn, the three classes of shogunates, princes, and samurai must be swept away, and the Southwest War or the rebellion of the samurai clan is actually the final aftermath of this trilogy.
The victory of the officers and the army is not so much a military victory as it is the finalization of the totalitarian movement in modern Japan.
After Saigo Takamori's death, there was no large-scale clan rebellion, and the grievances of the old samurai who were full of resentment could only be vented through sporadic assassinations. The tide of history, the vast soup, the old forces will eventually be swept away by the new era.
Among the "Three Masters of Restoration", Saigo Takamori has the most distinctive personality, he is full of enthusiasm, jealousy and hatred, and often has extraordinary actions.
However, in his personal life, Saigo Takamori was very frugal. Every time the government meets, Saigo brings his own lunch box, while Okubo and Takayoshi Kido "have to be delicious."
Once, Saigo Takamori and his colleagues had lunch at the Taizheng Mansion, and Saigo's bento attracted everyone's attention:
Inside were two rice balls sandwiched between bamboo skins and a little pickle. While eating, a rice ball accidentally fell to the ground, and Saigo leaned down, picked up the rice ball and blew away the dust, still eating it as usual.
In front of his subordinates, Saigo Takamori has always been amiable and never pretended to be colored. When he was in Tokyo, Saigo earned 500 yen a month, but he usually only used 15 yuan, and the rest of his salary was placed on the living room shelf.
Someone once recalled, "One day I went to visit Lord Saigo, and in the middle of the conversation, a group of soldiers came and asked Saigo to give them some pocket money. Lord Saigo smiled and said without looking up, "Just on the shelf over there, take it as you like." The soldiers, who also seemed to be upright gentlemen, took one or two yen from their pay bags, thanked them, and left. ”
Ps: "The boy is determined to go out of the country, and he will not pay back if he does not become famous." Buried bones why mulberry land, life is everywhere green mountains. The author of this poem is not Saigo Takamori, but the monk Ofetsu at the end of the shogunate and the monk of the "Zunzhi Sect".
Its original title was "Will Travel East to the Wall", and the original poem was: "The boy is determined to go out of the country, and if he does not succeed in learning, he will not return." When the bones are buried in the cemetery, there are Jingshan mountains everywhere in the world. ”
There is an inscription of this poem outside the moon relics exhibition hall in Honyamaguchi Prefecture today.