The reason why Japan provoked a war against China at this time is nothing more than three reasons. First, the Japanese navy is strong enough to make Japan invincible; second, China is in a period of alternating new and old, with domestic politics and

Various military and political forces are intertwined, with local separatist forces and the forces left over from the previous dynasty emerging one after another, and the situation is chaotic; third, the new Chinese Empire is facing a precarious fiscal crisis.

In addition, China's military and political power in the next ten years will inevitably develop rapidly in the direction of unity and strength. Once this opportunity is missed at this stage, Japan will no longer be able to interfere in China.

Dai Jitao once wrote a book called "On Japan". During his tenure as Sun Yixian's secretary, he had four private meetings with Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura Katsura

If the problem of Britain's rule over India can be solved, Japan will not have to worry about the absence of immigration and trade areas, and Japan will no longer have to consider the policy of invading China.

Although Japan denied such a meeting during the trial in Tokyo, it was proved that Japan's attempt to invade China was a long-term policy that existed before 1913, and such conversations can also prove that Japan's attempt to invade China

The driving force for invasion of China comes from "pressures of immigration and trade."

In 1908, Japan's total population was 42.8 million, with 2.1 mu of arable land per capita, and exceeded 43.49 million in 1910. It is expected that by 1925, the per capita arable land per capita will fall below the standard of 1.7 mu. At this time, Japan will not be able to achieve self-sufficiency in food.

The agricultural products needed for industrial development need to be purchased from abroad in 1902. If they cannot become industrial countries smoothly, if they cannot occupy large quantities of foreign colonies and immigrate to a large number of foreign countries, this means that Japan will die of poverty.

Compared with China, Japan is under greater pressure on the crisis, which forces Japan to bet on the national destiny again and again, if it doesn’t gamble, it will be waiting to die.

...

The first temporary constitution of the empire has not been passed for a long time, but under the shadow of the Sino-Japanese War, various work has been accelerated urgently. The first Liberation Conference, the New Deal Power of the National Assembly, the Constitutional Council, the Democratic Party, and the Restoration and Progress Association are

The general list of the main Imperial Central Congress has been issued in advance. Members of Congress from all over the country have arrived in the capital one after another.

Due to the urgent situation and inconvenient transportation, members of parliament from various places temporarily passed the "Temporary Training and Discipline Constitution" by telegram voting. Before the "First Provisional Constitution of the Chinese Empire" was passed, Song Biao was recognized as the imperial emperor in advance and the emperor was granted the power of training and discipline.

, from a legal perspective, cleared obstacles for Song Biao's training and administration.

Although it is a bit slow in speed, Song Biao insists on following the legal procedures every step, and does not give any picky points to possible political enemies.

The day after the "Interim Trading Law" was urgently passed, Song Biao held a custody meeting in the Guangfu Pavilion in Xihai Tower Park, and all fourteen cabinet ministers attended.

Training.

The so-called "training" means "training and supervising government". Even if you have not officially ascended the throne and have not officially obtained recognition from the parliament through the provisional constitution, Song Biao can be superior to the cabinet and command the cabinet.

After all, he was the emperor and did not participate in the cabinet meeting. This situation was very similar to the annual meeting of the Far East Consortium... because it was the first tutoring meeting of the empire, and it was also facing the urgency of Japan's military, political and diplomatic aspects.

The pressure of the cabinet ministers all seemed extremely nervous.

Previously, Zhang Binglin designed an overly grand etiquette specification of the tutoring committee. Given the urgency of the situation and the urgency of the tutoring committee, Song Biao chose to reduce the etiquette specifications of the tutoring committee. He only wore the daily military uniform of the Imperial Army and Navy Commander to attend the training.

The Council, sitting at the chief seat of the long conference table, the cabinet Prime Minister Tang Shaoyi sat on his left, the first seat of the Foreign Minister sat on his left, the second seat of the Army Minister Shu Fangde sat on his right

The seat, the Minister of the Admiralty Cheng Biguang sat in the second seat on the right, and so on.

There is another row of conference tables on the left and right sides of the central conference table, and the cabinet ministers of the General Office of the Cabinet, the State Coast Guard, the State Administration of Taxation, and the General Administration of Customs sit in this seat.

After all the members arrived, Song Biaocai attended the meeting with the eunuch. Before the emperor entered the training hall, the cabinet members had already stood up and bowed to salute when they saw the emperor, waiting for Song Biao to sit in the seat.

Although sitting back is a tutor, in a strict sense, Song Biao, as the emperor of the constitutional monarchy, did not need to say too much, but he still spoke to you first: "This is the first tutoring meeting of the empire, and

Facing the severe threat from the Japanese army, the nation is alive and the national destiny is unpredictable. I hope you can work together to survive and die with the country and share the honor and disgrace with me and the people."

Hearing these words, as Prime Minister Tang Shaoyi felt the pressure on his shoulders was extremely heavy. He stood up and bowed and said, "Please rest assured, your Majesty, I will put life and death aside, and protect the territory of the country at all costs.

And dignity, never cede an inch of land, and never give up a penny of national benefits."

The other ministers could only stand up again and salute, and everyone was speechless, as if what Tang Shaoyi said was everyone's inner thoughts.

Under Japan's persecution, the fate of China and the Chinese nation has indeed reached its most critical moment. If the victory is the country's unity, great rejuvenation is just around the corner, and if the defeat is the country's division, the nation will continue to sink, and will continue to be oppressed and harmed by foreign powers.

Song Biao could not publicly say things like "The war must start" at such a meeting at this moment, and he did not want to say anything else, and signaled the ministers to sit down and continue the meeting.

The meeting schedule was carried out according to the original schedule, and Tang Shaoyi first began to talk about the issue of the financial crisis.

The first prime minister of the Chinese Empire was destined to be a transitional prime minister who wanted to lead China from the old bureaucracy to the new government system. Tang Shaoyi was a new intellectual and new bureaucrat who came out of the old bureaucracy. He was in taxation and business.

, Customs, diplomacy, reclamation, provincial government and other aspects, have rich political experience, and are also special bureaucrats who have been tempered step by step from the grassroots level to the provincial governor step by step, and are definitely better than Song Jiaoren, the revolutionary faction.

Huang Xing, Tao Chengzhang, Cai Yuanpei and others are more suitable to preside over the work of the Prime Minister of the Central Cabinet.

If there were no accidents, Song Biao would in principle support the Prime Minister to complete his ten-year term of two terms, but it would not be longer. As the emperor, Song Biao would not support others to share the authority of the leader of this era with him.

Tang Shaoyi's old bureaucratic career began in the Tianjin Taxation Office, which was an important advantage for him. He had a very in-depth understanding of the government's finance and tax work.

With the help of the Minister of Finance Zhang Kangren and Director of the State Administration of Taxation Ouyang Xi, Tang Shaoyi compiled a comprehensive report on the financial crisis of the new government in advance, taking the Tsarist Russian Empire as an important reference, and calculated according to the conventional rules. If China collects it normally on a mu, it is not allowed to collect it on a normal basis.

The annual agricultural tax of 10% can reach 12 silver dollars per mu of land. The national statistics of 1.4 billion mu of arable land can bring 1.68 billion silver dollars in taxes, which is approximately 167.93 million pounds..., with a vast territory and a huge arable land area. It is the new empire

The most important advantage.

Even if the national agricultural tax is lowered to 6.67% of 1/15 (this is absolutely impossible), and considering exemptions, omissions, human faults and other issues in the tax collection process, the country's agricultural tax should not be lower than

785 million silver dollars, taking into account the 3:7 share of agricultural taxes by the central and local provinces, the total agricultural tax of the central government should not be less than 235 million silver dollars. In previous years, the central income of the total agricultural tax of the Qing government was only 50 million taels of silver.

.

This is enough to illustrate many problems.

However, this is not the main factor of the central fiscal crisis. The main factor is the chaos in local finances. The lack of provincial governments and the lack of officials at the prefecture and county levels led to the abandonment of tax work, which prevented the taxes from flowing effectively into the central government in 1910.

According to the survey of tax authorities in various provinces, it turns out that in most areas, tax collections did not stop last year. The so-called revolutionary troops in various places still levy a large amount of taxation, taking the opportunity to expand their troops, local regiment training, and security groups also under various names.

Taxation, the central government’s policy of canceling lijin miscellaneous taxes has not only failed to be implemented, but the taxes borne by farmers in various places have increased compared with last year.

Even though there has been some reductions in the north and Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, the reduction has not yet reached the central standard. Such huge taxes have fallen sharply into the hands of various small private armed forces in the local area.

Tang Shaoyi said a lot of questions, and the final conclusion was that if you want to clear the central government's financial problems, you must significantly clean up the small armed forces in the country. No matter what banner the other party is under, whether it is the liberation revolution or the autonomous revolution, whether it is the security team, or

The group training will be cracked down on all aspects. All localities should investigate taxes and strive to submit the tax surprise collected by various places last year. Even if it is in accordance with the tax sharing system, it is necessary to ensure that the central government's revenue increase of 30 million silver is increased.

Tang Shaoyi was very anxious. He had to resolve the central financial crisis as soon as possible. Even though he had previously seized the Qing government's Ministry of Revenue, the Interior Treasury and the powerful property of the Qing Dynasty obtained about 16 million taels of silver. In addition, he also had the Far East Bank.

In addition to the 40 million yuan loan of silver loans, the central treasury actually had no spare money, and it was entirely relied on issuing currency to solve the financial crisis.

The military pay expenses of new troops in various provinces, the daily expenses of officials and governments in various places have made the cabinet government difficult, and at the same time, it has to face the upcoming large-scale national war. Tang Shaoyi was so anxious that his temples were gray during this period.

Song Biao was not in a hurry to speak. He had always listened to Tang Shaoyi presided over the Central Cabinet meeting in silence. Listening to the cabinet ministers' statements on various difficulties at this stage, the focus was on the excessive number of local small armed forces and the chaos in tax work.

field.

At this moment, Song Biao felt a lot of emotion. If it weren't for the sudden attack from Japan, he would have been able to deal with these problems easily. The thieves from all over the country would not have the courage to confront the Central Army. Now it's two different things. On the one hand, there are various domestic ones.

It is difficult to move forward, but on the one hand, the Japanese national troops are approaching.

After Tang Shaoyi made various preset deployment opinions on the financial crisis, he first asked Song Biao: "Your Majesty, I and others have a general opinion. Please ask Your Majesty to judge!"

The cabinet ministers lowered their heads slightly, unable to look up and listened to the emperor's final comments to the forthcoming.

Song Biao thought silently for a moment before saying: "The old saying says that foreign policy must first stabilize the internal situation, everything has its focus. Now external troubles are the most important. Do not let the country be in a situation of internal and external troubles, so do not rush to pay the tax on last year.

As the main focus of resolving the financial crisis, the matter should first focus on investigation. If it can be recovered in the near future, it will be recovered. If it cannot be recovered, it will be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law through legislation. It is not a problem to delay the resolution for several years. At this stage, the central government

The finance department can continue to deal with the problem through borrowing and stepping up customs tax allocation. I have asked the Far East Bank and several other foreign banks that I can borrow approximately 40 million taels of silver to issue Chinese silver dollars, which can basically allow the central government to

The government has overcome the financial crisis. The actual tax collected by the customs last year was 24 million taels of former Chaokupingyin. Half of the money has not been recorded at present. It is necessary to negotiate with the customs as soon as possible to withdraw the money. Others

If there are any shortcomings, you can issue government bonds. In short, the most urgent task is to stabilize the domestic people's livelihood and not to arouse new contradictions. All stability is maintained so that the whole country can work together to deal with Japan's military threats."... As soon as he said this,

It means that Tang Shaoyi’s previous words had no meaning and had to readjust the strategy. Tang Shaoyi had no doubts at all, and he did not dare to challenge this conclusion.

Tang Shaoyi immediately said, "Your Majesty is wise, I should do my best to handle it to stabilize the domestic civil affairs, so as to facilitate unified dialogue across the country."

Immediately, Tang Shaoyi reported to Song Biao: "Your Majesty, our country's tariffs have always been controlled by the British. In fact, they have been directly controlled by the British ambassador to China. My ministers and others have tried their best to get along with the British.

Although they have been giving positive answers in their negotiations, they are actually delaying again and again, which is obviously intentional to delay, and continue to use the fiscal crisis of our government to threaten us, trying to make us promise to continue to hand over customs to the UK in the future.

Song Biao said: "When Japan threatens our country with military force, the relationship between the British and Japanese alliance forces Britain to stand on the Japanese side. This is beyond doubt. Since this is the case, don't leave too much room and leave it within a time limit.

They handed over the taxes. You said it was what I said. Because it was time for many times, Britain always took the opportunity to extort us. Therefore, Britain is never a friend that the Chinese nation and the empire can trust. My cabinet and I

The government and all citizens should not have any fantasies about British newspapers. Do not stick to specific means when doing things. The media and citizens can also mobilize their forces. They can mobilize editorials to organize student demonstrations so that all citizens know that the UK is helping Japan continue.

To invade our country, it is a great point to organize a national anti-Japanese and anti-British march. Now it is the time for the nation to survive and perish. We cannot say that only we can know this, and let the people know this."

Tang Shaoyi couldn't help but feel that this method was a bit too extreme. If the UK was completely angered and stood on Japan, it would be no more than the loss. But he had no courage to refute Song Biao, so he could only continue to nod and say yes. The good news is that Far East Bank and foreign banks are willing.

Continuing to borrow some money will at least allow him, the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, to live a good life for a period of time, and not even unable to pay the salaries and military salaries of officials.

Song Biao paused for a moment and continued to add to Tang Shaoyi: "It is necessary to mobilize the national and national forces to actively prepare for war. There should be no hesitation for a moment, but when it comes to clearing taxes, the cabinet government must also have it.

Quick action and long-term planning. There are three strategies to solve domestic tax problems. First, we must establish a complete tax system. We must first establish tax departments of each province, tax bureaus of local governments as soon as possible in Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Tax bureaus in each county, tax offices are set up in each township, and qualified tax officials are appointed to carefully select and not overestimate them. Secondly, strengthen the establishment and regular construction of local patrol troops, digest and disband local chaotic armed forces; thirdly,

It is to pass the temporary tax regulations as soon as possible to determine the tax sharing mechanism between the central and provincial governments, reclaim local currency rights, unify national currency, and implement a modern monetary system; through these three efforts, three-pronged approaches to treat both the symptoms and the root causes, and fundamentally

Avoid local forces interfering in tax work and gradually establish a national tax system."

Tang Shaoyi paused again and said, "Please rest assured by Your Majesty."

Song Biao thought about it and added: "Treasury bonds should be handled quickly. We can cleverly use the murder theory of the British-Japanese alliance to actively promote it nationwide. Officials at all levels must pay 30% of their salary to purchase treasury bonds, and the central government's inner court fees.

All donate to buy treasury bonds. Report more about how the Japanese purchased treasury bonds and supported the country invading us, so as to defeat the former Beiyang Navy and seize Taiwan. Do it well.”

"yes!"

Tang Shaoyi and others could only bow their heads repeatedly.

It is said that the military and political system is strictly separated and does not interfere with each other. It is said that it is a constitutional monarchy. The real military power is controlled by the emperor Song Biao. Where does the so-called central cabinet have the courage to compete?... The first emperor tutoring meeting was

In such a unique atmosphere, gradually came to an end. After the meeting, Song Biao stood up and left. Everyone stood up and bowed again. It was not until the emperor left the training hall that everyone sat down again, looking at each other in a face, each with one another.
To be continued...