In the year 1868, the Sun Nation passed the Meiji Restoration and left Asia to enter Europe. They embarked on the path of capitalist countries and their national strength grew stronger and stronger. At that time, the Sun Nation underwent two industrial revolutions.
In the year 1888, the Sun Nation had gone through 20 years of industrial revolution. All kinds of factories had been built in large numbers, and a large amount of industrial products had been stored. The industrial revolution had reached its climax, so it urgently needed to export goods and capital. However, the Sun Nation was an island country. It lacked resources and had a small market. In addition, the remaining feudal forces in the country were dense and the social contradictions were sharp. Therefore, the ruling group of the Sun Nation led by the emperor of the Sun Nation... They were eager to seek a way out through external expansion.
At that time, the Zulong Kingdom was in the late period of the imperial system. From the 1870s, the Westernization Faction of the ruling group of the imperial court started a Westernization Movement with the slogan of self-improvement and wealth. The Westernization Movement learned from Europe in science and technology, especially in military, technology, equipment, etc., and imitated the western countries. Therefore, there was a scene of revival.
In the year 1888, he ordered a large number of warships from Depu and established the Northern Navy. It became the largest naval force in Asia. However, the court of the Ancestral Dragon Kingdom did not change the national system like the Sun Nation. Therefore, the revival did not lead the country to the path of prosperity and military strength. At this time, the people at the bottom of the society were living a difficult life. The officialdom and politics were corrupt. The factions were fighting openly and secretly. They were scheming against each other. The national defense and military were strong on the surface but weak on the inside. Discipline was lax.
One was the old empire that was like a piece of fat meat before its death, while the other was a modern country that had burst out. Under such circumstances, there would definitely be a war between the Ancestral Dragon Kingdom and the Sun Kingdom.
At that time, the world's main capitalist countries were in transition to imperialism. The Sun Nation's invasion of the Ancestral Dragon Nation was supported by the western powers to a certain extent.。。
The United States of the West hoped that the Sun Nation could become their assistant when they invaded the Ancestral Dragon Nation and the Bangzi Nation. The Eagle Nation attempted to use the Sun Nation to contain the Far East forces of the Bear Nation. The Pu Nation and the Luji Nation also supported the Sun Nation's invasion of the Ancestral Dragon Nation in order to seize new benefits while the Sun Nation was invading. Although the Bear Nation had great ambitions for the northeast of the Ancestral Dragon Nation and the Bangzi Nation, they were not ready yet. Therefore, they adopted a non-interference policy towards the Sun Nation. The superpowers tacitly approved and connived. It would become a favorable condition for the Sun Nation to carry out their invasion plan. Under such circumstances, it would be equivalent to the Ancestral Dragon Nation being isolated by all the western countries.
The Sun Nation's invasion of the Ancestral Dragon Nation had been planned for a long time and was well prepared. In the year 1867, when Emperor Meiji ascended the throne, he said in his imperial edict that the country was small and difficult. He wanted to expand overseas.
In the year 1871 of the People's Calendar, the modern Zulong Kingdom signed the first friendly trade treaty with the Sun Kingdom. It marked that the Zulong Kingdom and the Sun Kingdom were brothers. That was to say, the statesmen of the two countries would treat each other with courtesy. They would not invade each other and would be forever friendly.
However, the Sun Nation did not abide by this treaty.
In the year 1872, the Sun Nation started to invade the Ryukyu Islands, a subsidiary of the Ancestral Dragon Nation. They were preparing to use the Ryukyu Islands as a base to invade Wanwan Island. The son of the Ryukyu King, Shang Yi, crossed the Zulong Kingdom to the east. Because he was in a hurry to ask for help from the Celestial Dynasty, he did not bring any gold and silver. However, he could not give any benefits to the officials of the imperial court. He actually met the head of the Ministry of Rites in the imperial court's ceremonial hall a year later. Ryukyu had already fallen, and King Shang Tai was captured and escorted to Jingdong. When Shangyi saw Empress Dowager Cixi, he cried for help and begged the Qing court to send troops to rescue Ryukyu. However, the officials of the Qing court all said that your Shuer Kingdom was a vassal state of my Ancestral Dragon Kingdom. Some conflicts were also trivial. Sending troops was a waste of money and manpower. They sent messengers to the Sun Kingdom to request that Ryukyu be returned to Shang Tai. After the messenger arrived, the Emperor went out to welcome him. The officials were very honored. The Sun Kingdom held a banquet for the officials. There was a small banquet every three days and a big banquet every seven days. There was also the Sun Songstress accompanying them. They did not talk about Ryukyu. After three months, they asked the messenger to return to the court and said that the matter had been settled. The Sun Kingdom agreed to return Ryukyu.
There were no letters of credence or seals of any treaty.
Shang Yi was overjoyed. He couldn't return to the country and was arrested! They were escorted to Jingdong. The father and son sat opposite each other and did not speak for a long time! Sigh! The Imperial Court of the Ancestral Dragon Kingdom had fainted.
In the year 1874 of the Min Calendar, the Ryukyu people killed the natives of Wanwan Island. The Sun Nation used the confusion of the court officials and used Ryukyu as an excuse to attack Wanwan Island. This was the first time in modern history that the Sun Nation invaded the Ancestral Dragon Nation. However, due to the disparity in strength and the unacclimatized environment, the Sun Nation's 5000-strong invading army was killed and injured by more than 2000 people. It was a joke. However, the Sun Nation did not admit defeat. Under the mediation of the Western powers, they extorted 500,000 taels of silver from the Ancestral Dragon Kingdom.
Now, it was impossible for him to compensate me if he couldn't even win a fight. If you couldn't even win the war, how could you ask for money at the negotiation table? However, the Sun Nation succeeded.
The officials who negotiated with the Sun Nation were pedantic and timid. They were afraid of offending the western powers, so they hastily lost money. Then, they planned to reduce the big issue to a small one and resolve the small matter. They did not know that this treaty had cut off Ryukyu. From then on, Ryukyu belonged to the Sun Nation and had nothing to do with the Ancestral Dragon Kingdom.
According to the treaty, the Ancestral Dragon Kingdom's imperial court would compensate the Sun Kingdom 500,000 taels of silver. The imperial court acknowledged that the Sun Kingdom's invasion of Wan Wan Island was to protect the people, indirectly acknowledging that Ryukyu Island was a Sun vassal state. Sigh! Due to the weakness of the Ancestral Dragon Kingdom, the Sun Kingdom completely annexed Ryukyu in the year 1879.
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