The Life of Lu 'ao Zongguang

In the fifth year of Anzheng (1858), Lu Aozongguang, 14 years old, left his hometown and went to Edo to study, where he studied under Anci. Later, he was expelled from his alma mater because he often went to Jiyuan. After that, it changed from water to beauty, and after learning, it joined the movement of respecting the king and resisting foreign countries. It was also at this time that he got to know the aspiring young people in Changzhou, such as Keiko Goro (Keiko Longji), Ito Shunsuke (Ito Bowen) and legendary hero Sakamoto Ryoma. In 1993 (1863), with the help of Ryoma Sakamoto, Lu Aozong-guang entered the Kobe Naval Training Institute, a naval school run by Katsuyuki, an important figure of the shogunate (the warship pursued the victory at that time and served as the principal (student president)). Here, he studied naval knowledge with shogunate and vassal scholars such as Ryoma Sakamoto, and served as his deputy and secretary for a long time. In May of the first year of Keio (1865), Lu Aozong-guang, who left his vassal status, followed Sakamoto Ryoma to establish Kameyama Society and engaged in maritime trade. In the third year of Keio (1867), the Maritime Rescue Team was established on this basis. As the main founder and core backbone, Lu Ao Zongguang always accompanied Sakamoto Ryoma's actions. They took an active part in the anti-curtain movement to avoid civil war and promote major policies.

Under the guidance of Sheng Haizhou and Sakamoto Ryoma, Lu Ao Zongguang was able to give full play to his talents. He is good at keeping a low profile and fighting bravely, and won the favor of Sakamoto Ryoma. In Lu's heart, his brother Malone is also a great hero. He once commented on Malone: "He is flexible and quick-thinking. chinese odyssey is like a flying horse in the sky. He is an unrestrained hero."

After the assassination of Malone (Palace Incident), Luo Zongguang lost his idol for a while and began to embark on the road of assassination. Led by Luo Zongguang, the secretary of the aid mission, members of the aid mission in Kyoto and the land aid mission vowed revenge. At that time, San Pu Hugh Taro (a native of Mihura) of Jizhou Francisco was considered to be behind the scenes. Luo Zong-guang thinks that the powerful figure of Zuomu Theory, San Pu Hugh Taro of Jizhou Fan and Musashi of Obuchi Fan Minefield conspired to create anxiety in Kyoto, and he was the mastermind behind the "Miyako Incident" that assassinated Ryoma Sakamoto and Nobutaro Nakaoka, which mainly originated from all the steam in Jizhou Fan. Members of the maritime rescue team and the land rescue team plan to punish San Pu Hidetaro, a civilian of Jizhou Francisco. Knowing the danger, Jizhou Fan asked the newly elected group to provide security for San Pu through Huijin Fan.

On February 7th, the third year of Keio (1868 1), Lu Aozong-guang and other 16 members of the Maritime Aid Team and the Land Aid Team attacked the travel cage in Abramovich, Kyoto Prefecture where San Pu was located, which was called a "full house red incident". Lu Ao's assassination squad and the newly elected squad fought fiercely in the House of Representatives. One person on both sides died and many others were injured. San Pu, who suffered a facial injury, survived under the escort of the newly elected team.

After the Meiji Restoration, on the recommendation of Ito Bowen, he was appreciated by Iwakura Tomomi and became an official of the new Meiji government. In the fourth year of Keio (1868), he was appointed as the royal clothes hanger of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, and was ordered to deal with the assassination attempt of British Minister Parkes. 17 In March (1April 9, 868), Qingying was appointed as a judge of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, and in April of the same year 12 (1June 2, 868), she served as the accounting bureau. On May 4, 2004 (1June 23, 868), Qing Ying was appointed as an accounting judge, responsible for receiving foreigners and purchasing foreign warships. Keio was appointed as a judge of Osaka Prefecture on June 22, 4 (1August 868 10). During the May-Chen War, Lu Aozong-guang negotiated with the United States, which was neutral outside the bureau, and successfully concluded the purchase contract of the armored ship Stonewall (East Ship). At that time, the new government with a fragile financial foundation still had 654.38 million yuan+unpaid. Lu Aozong negotiated with businessmen in Osaka and successfully obtained a loan in just one night. In the second year of Meiji (1869), the East Ship was delivered to the new government on February 3rd.

On June 22nd, 2008 (1March 4th, 869), in the second year of Meiji, Lu Aozong-guang was appointed as the magistrate of Shejin County. 10 May (1June 869), Shejin County was renamed Fengming County. In the process of returning official titles in the early years of Meiji, in February of Meiji 2 (1March of 869), Luo Zongguang proposed to the central government the reform of the land rent system, advocating the reform of the existing land measurement methods, the establishment of a land grading system, the implementation of national unified land rent, and the change of physical land rent into monetary land rent. At that time, the feudal lords asked the tenants to pay the rent of rice. Farmers have to suffer not only from crops, but also from shipping. Government revenue is also affected by the fluctuation of rice price. In addition, Matsuzawa, governor of Ritian Prefecture, also proposed a new method of measuring land, but they were all modest and did not attract enough attention.

On June 20th, Meiji 2 (1July 28th, 869) —— On July 7th, Meiji 2 (1August 24th, 869), he was appointed as the governor of Hyogo Prefecture. Meiji March12 (1870 April12)-Meiji March 14 (1870 April14) was appointed as a judge of the Ministry of Justice. On July 4th, Meiji 3rd (18701kloc-0/October 28th), he was appointed as the counselor of Wakayama Francisco University, in charge of the reform of Francisco administration. He recruited German technicians and opened a tannery in Wakayama. Since then, leather-making technology has made rapid progress, and the demand for major military materials has increased, which has promoted the development of leather industry. On May 20th, Meiji 4th (18765438+July 7th, 0), Wakayama Francisco Hall became an official. In July/KOOC-0/4 (June/KOOC-0/8765438+August 29, 0) of Meiji 4, he participated in the local administrative reform of abandoned buffer counties. August 21(1871.1.05) Meiji became the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture. August11.04 (1871.065438) meiji 5 years 65438+1October 24 (1March 3, 872)-meiji 5 years 2 ——1March 5th, 2002 (1April 87219th) was also the person in charge of tax collection and devoted himself to the reform of local tax system.

Land tax was the most important income in Japan at that time, and the capital accumulation of industries was supported by land tax. With the abolition of feudal lords, the obstacles from feudal lords were swept away, and the land problem was put in the first place. In April of the fifth year of Meiji (1May 872), Lu Aozong-guang's proposal for land rent reform was submitted to Dazheng. 18 (1July 23rd, 872) In Meiji May, Luo Zongguang was promoted by Jing Daole Noue Kaoru, who was also a tax collector, and worked out a proposal together with tax collector Matsuzawa. 1May 873 (Meiji 6th year) to1May 5-1June 874 (Meiji 7th year), and June 65438+10/October15th year, Lu Aozong-guang was appointed as the Ministry of Finance. 1873 (the sixth year of Meiji) 17' s experience of being promoted to a small government in the great treasury (experience means agent in Japanese), and led the reform activities in the great treasury together with Dawu Chongxin, Noue Kaoru and Mangyi.

1873 (Meiji 6th year) promulgated the Land Rent Amendment Act on July 28th, which was specially composed of the Land Rent Amendment Ordinance. The Meiji government began to promote the revision of land rent in the following year (Meiji 7). From 1873 to 188 1, every cultivated land in China was measured with a unified scale unit, and the mountain forest Yuan Ye and Hotan homestead in China were measured. This work is an extremely huge project, which involves not only delineating economic boundaries and drawing detailed maps, but also complicated procedures such as delineating, measuring, determining land prices and issuing certificates for each piece of land. The government's reform cost has reached more than 37 million yen. Land tax reform established modern land ownership. With the disintegration of feudal production, Japanese agriculture embarked on the road of modernization. Due to the government's encouragement of reclamation, the cultivated land area in Japan has increased by 22% in sixteen years.

After the Meiji coup in six years, Samak took control of the Ministry of Finance, and Lu Aozongguang was pushed out. 1874 (Meiji 7th year) 65438+ 10. In October, Lu Aozong resigned and returned to his hometown because he was dissatisfied with the personnel of the Meiji vassal government with Sachang soil and fertilizer as the center and opposed the arbitrary practice of the Sachang vassal valve headed by Kubo Minyi to exclude dissidents. With the ideal of strengthening Jizhou governors, he went to Europe to purchase weapons and hire teachers. 1875 osaka conference, as a product of compromise between the government and civil rights groups, established the legislature-the Senate. 1875 (Meiji 8) April 25th-1875 (Meiji 8),165438+1October 28th, served as a member of the Senate,1875 (Meiji 8). 1877 (meiji10) 65438+February 25th, served as a member of the draft criminal law committee.

1877 (Meiji 10) During the Southwest War, Lin Youzao and Dajiang Zhuo of Tosa Sensei Society conspired to overthrow the government (the Tosa Sensei Society incident), and Lu Aozong sympathized with the rebels and kept in touch with the Tosa faction. During the period of 1878 (Meiji 1 1) in prison, on the one hand, he wrote a letter to his wife Liangzi, on the other hand, he wrote a book and translated the works of the British utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, An Overview of Moral and Legislative Principles and Defending Interests. Later, a fire broke out in the Yamagata prison where Lu Ao lived, almost burning him alive. This frightened his old friend Ito Bowen. He quickly transferred Lu Aozongguang to the newly-built Miyagi prison with the most complete facilities, and especially comforted him and said, Don't worry, it's safe here. You can rest assured here.

From 1883 (Meiji 16) to 1, Lu Ao was pardoned and released from prison. After he came out, he was confused and didn't know his position. At this time, Ito Bowen advised him that you'd better go to Europe to study, because knowledge changes fate. Lu Aozongguang thinks that the blog post is very reasonable. 1884 (Meiji 17) went to Britain, Austria, Germany and other countries to study constitutionalism. In the days in the west, Luo Zongguang conducted a crazy research, and he compared the parliamentary system and constitutional system of various countries.

1886 (Meiji19) returned to China in February, and was recruited by Noue Kaoru's Foreign Minister to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June. On February 28th, 65438, he served as the Minister of Disposal and served as the second-class officer. 1887 (20th year of Meiji) 12 served as the vice chairman of the Law Election Committee from April to February1year1October. 1887 (the 20th year of Meiji) On April 27th, he was appointed as the Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and was appointed as the first-class official. 1888 (Meiji 2 1) 10 was stationed in Washington, USA in February, and 1890 was appointed as the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Minister in the United Mexican States on February 4, and signed the first equality treaty with Mexico after the founding of the People's Republic of China. 1May 890 (Meiji 23rd year) to1May 7-189 1 year (Meiji 24th year) served as the first minister of agriculture and commerce in Yamagata Aritomo. 1890 (Meiji 23) 1 In July, he participated in the first general election of members of the House of Representatives of the Imperial Parliament, was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in Wakayama Prefecture 1 constituency, became the only cabinet member, and devoted himself to the initial parliamentary political party activities. Lu Ao joined the cabinet and looked forward to the smooth progress of the first imperial parliament (today called the parliamentary countermeasures). In fact, Nobuyuki Nakajima, the first speaker of the House of Representatives, is a close comrade-in-arms of Lu Aozongguang in the Shanghai Aid Corps, and Xing Heng, a former subordinate of the Liberal Party and leader of the Party, is also his lifelong close friend, which is helpful to the parliamentary countermeasures. At that time, jing yuan, the confidant of Luo Zongguang, served as the secretary of the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. After Lu Ao's death, his comrades-in-arms Saionji Kinmochi, Xing Heng and jing yuan supported Ito Bowen to set up the Constitutional Friendship Association.

In the 24th year of Meiji (189 1), Mr. Tanaka was questioned in the Imperial Parliament, but Lu Aozong-guang was unable to respond to the question (Lu Ao's second son Runji was accepted as the adopted son of Zuwei Tongshan boss, and there was interest transfer and collusion between officials and businessmen). As the pillar of industrial production and an important foreign exchange earning industry, copper mining industry is the key object of government protection and support. Although Lu Ao Zongguang, as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, also emphasized the importance of mine poisoning, in order to ease the opposition between the injured farmers and the Guhe chaebol, he lured farmers to sign a settlement contract with small economic compensation. 1896 After the flood in September, the pollution caused by mine poison spread from Tochigi and Gunma counties to Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo and Chiba counties, and the anti-mine poison campaign launched by Tanaka was strengthened again.

From May 6th, 189 1 year (Meiji 24) to March, 1892 (Meiji 25), he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Commerce for the first time in the judicial cabinet of Song Fang. Due to the proposal of the cabinet decree, there was a conflict with the Satsuma valve. 189 1,10/year, with the help of okazaki wensuke goto Jiro, the Japanese newspaper Inch Iron was published, criticizing Matsuzaka's cabinet. 1892 15 In February, the second general election of members of the House of Representatives was held. Under the sole command of Ichiro Shinagawa, the Minister of the Interior, and Baigen, the deputy minister, there was an incident of interference in the election, which led to bloody conflicts and opposition between the ruling and opposition parties. Lu Aozong-guang, the minister of agriculture and commerce who was elected as a member of parliament, was dissatisfied with the evil deeds of the local government and angrily resigned from the cabinet. 1892 (Meiji 25th year) March 14- 1892 (Meiji 25th year) August 8th, he was appointed as a counselor of the Tang Dynasty.

1August 8, 892 (the 25th year of Meiji)-1May 30, 896 (the 29th year of Meiji) served as the second foreign minister of Ito Bowen's cabinet. Actively promote treaty revision activities during his term of office. 1894 (in the 27th year of Meiji) was responsible for signing the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Britain, which successfully abolished the extraterritorial rights in the unequal treaties concluded between western powers and Japan since the end of the curtain, abolished the consular courts and restored some tariff autonomy. In the future, Japan-US trade and navigation treaties were adjusted and printed together with the United States, and the treaties were also revised together with Germany, Italy and France. When Luo Zongguang was foreign minister, Japan successively reached treaty amendments with 15 countries that had signed unequal treaties in the past. 1894 (Meiji 27th year) On August 29th, viscount was established with the meritorious service of treaty amendment.

1894 in may, the sino-Japanese peasant war in Korea (dongxue party uprising), with the Qing dynasty sending troops to Korea, Japan also sent troops to confront it. On July 23rd, he occupied the Imperial Palace of Korea and established the Huakai Party (Wu Jia Zhang Geng), a pro-Japanese regime. On the 25th, the Battle of Toshima marked the beginning of the Japanese-Qing War (Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895). He played an important role in Japan's foreign policy and successfully promoted the neutrality of Britain and Russia. Luo Zongguang's wartime diplomacy was in harmony with Britain. His tough line towards Qing Dynasty is in the same strain as the strategy of the second chief of staff, Kawakami Solo. Both of them advocated war against China, which is called "Lu Ao diplomacy" in history. Lu Ao's diplomacy has influenced and changed the pattern of international political relations in Asia.

After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895,1April, he and Ito Bowen, as plenipotentiaries of the Japanese-Qing Peace Treaty, signed the treaty of shimonoseki with the Qing government of China, ending the war in favor of Japan. But later, under the interference of Russia, Germany and France, Japan had to return Liaodong Peninsula to China, that is, "triple interference". Due to Lu Aozong-guang's active running and making suggestions in the war, he was promoted to count on August 20, 1895 (Meiji 28) for his meritorious service in the Japanese-Qing War.

As early as before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Lu Aozong suffered from tuberculosis, and his condition became more and more serious after the war. With the intervention of the three countries, Ge Yi is facing a major problem, and Lu Ao, who has been admitted to Wuzi Sanatorium in Hyogo Prefecture, is coping with this decision in his hospital bed. 1896 (the 29th year of Meiji) On May 30th, he resigned as foreign minister and took a rest in Dajibeppu (Tingyu Village). During this period, he co-edited and published Japan in the World with Wu Yue and Saburo, and contributed anonymously. In his later years, Lu Aozong-guang wrote a personal diplomatic memoir about him during his illness, named けんけんろく, and the word "をょ" came from the Book of Changes. Since then, Lu Ao has been loyal to the emperor regardless of his personal safety. At the end of the book, Lu Ao explained the purpose of writing this book by summarizing the Sino-Japanese War (including the triple intervention). "Diplomatic history full of complicated disputes" shows that in the face of successive diplomatic crises at that time, all decisions were made by "deeply considering the internal and external situation, weighing the interests of the distant future and thinking carefully", which finally made Japan "embark on the road of saving the crisis and safeguarding national security and people's interests at a critical juncture". It is an indisputable fact that "Lu Ao diplomacy" is one of the main heritages of Meiji era, which is why Lu Ao is honored as "the father of Japanese diplomacy". The book, published only in 1929, is an important work on Japanese diplomacy in Meiji era. 1897 (Meiji 30th year) On August 24th, Luo Zongguang died in Lu Ao Mansion in Nishihara (now North Tokyo) at the age of 54. Before his death, he regretted not realizing his long-cherished wish of overthrowing the vassal government and realizing parliamentary democracy.