There is no airtight wall in the world, and Kyoto, the capital of Japan, has no walls at all, so it cannot prevent the news that the emperor is probably not a god from spreading wildly in this ancient city.
Rumors that the first emperor, Emperor Jimmu, was the alchemist Xu Fu who was ordered by the First Emperor to go to sea to seek immortality, have actually existed in Japan for a long time. But it was just a joke after dinner, no one took it seriously, and no one wanted to study it in detail. No one would think about how serious the consequences would be if this rumor was confirmed!
But in the spring of the third year of Manji, the news suddenly spread in the streets of Kyoto that Emperor Jimmu was really the alchemist Xu Fu of the Qin Dynasty. This legend that had been circulating in Japan for countless years was actually true! When the general Wu Sangui's men who fought against the rogue bandits in Shaanxi Province, China, were building a castle in Mount Li, they dug out a burial pit from the tomb of the First Emperor. There were some bamboo slips in it that recorded Xu Fu's petition to the First Emperor for the title of Shenwu Japanese King.
This is incredible! Emperor Jimmu was not a descendant of God, but an alchemist who deceived Qin Shihuang!
Moreover, this alchemist who deceived the First Emperor shamelessly asked the First Emperor to be granted the title of Shenwu Japanese King - if this matter is confirmed, then the Yamato court will be the courtiers of the Emperor of Heaven from the beginning! This nature is completely different from the later "Japanese Five Dynasty Tributes"...the former is equivalent to a "franchise" and the latter is equivalent to a "subsidiary".
If we look at "Xu Fu seeking the title of Shenwu Japanese King" together with the "Five Japanese Dynasty Tributes" in China's Southern and Northern Dynasties, then the nature of the "Five Japanese Dynasty Tributes" becomes a continuation of Xu Fu's title. And the incident of Queen Suigu proclaiming herself emperor in the early years of the Sui Dynasty was an out-and-out rebellion!
What makes the people of Kyoto even more frightened is that the Kyoto Governor has issued a notice that the general Ietsuna will lead 100,000 troops to Luo in the near future... to investigate whether Emperor Jimmu is really Xu Fu, the alchemist of Qin!
What does Stupid Gongfang mean? Leading 100,000 troops to Luo to find out if Emperor Jimmu is Xu Fu? Does this matter require 100,000 shogunate soldiers? The people of Kyoto are so smart, how could they be deceived by a stupid man? He brought 100,000 troops to Luo, and he must be a traitor!
So as soon as the news came out, the streets of Kyoto were in an uproar.
"What does the Crown Prince want to do? Why did he bring a hundred thousand troops to find out the true identity of Emperor Jimmu? Is it possible that after confirming that Emperor Jimmu is Xu Fu, he will overthrow His Majesty the Emperor?"
"That's a rebellious traitor! That's an evil deed that even General Rising Sun wouldn't dare to do. General Tokugawa isn't afraid of becoming a person despised by the whole world?"
"The Western Army has not been destroyed yet. If General Tokugawa dares to do something disloyal, he will be a traitor to the country, and the whole world will be his enemy. By then, the Tokugawa family will be finished!"
"That's right, if the public dares to overstep its bounds, then the Western Army's righteousness lies..."
"Yes, justice lies with the Western Army!"
It has to be said that the people of Kyoto still respect the Imperial family very much, even though the Imperial family is probably a liar rather than the descendant of a god. But they have been deceived for so many years. The people of Kyoto are used to being deceived, and they don't want to be deceived by someone else.
However, public opinion among the people changed quickly. In early February, the news reached Kyoto that the shogunate eldest brother Masayuki Hoshina led his troops to a great victory in the Battle of Bichu Katsuyama and defeated the 50,000-person Maori and Asano coalition forces. They began to feel that it was always bad for the Emperor to lie to others!
"It's so shameless. He has lied to us for more than a thousand years. Don't you think we are fools!"
"As expected of a descendant of a magic stick, he only knows how to pretend to be a ghost and deceive everyone..."
"Just lie to people. Just be the King of Japan. Why should you call yourself the Emperor? That is transgression!"
"Isn't that right? Queen Tuigu can betray the Celestial Empire, why can't His Highness the Emperor?"
In late February, news of the 100,000 shogunate troops (actually only 20,000) leaving Edo and marching toward Kyoto spread, and public opinion in Kyoto changed again.
"I've been deceiving you for hundreds of years, it's time for someone else to do the deception!"
"Actually, it's not a complete replacement. The general's family comes from the Qinghe Yuan clan, and he is also a descendant of Xu Fu!"
"Yes, yes, they are all descendants of Xu Fu. Why can't you be the king?"
"The world in Japan is originally a public one. The so-called emperor is just a man with thirty thousand koku... Not to mention compared to the shogun's family who has four million koku, even compared to most of the feudal lords!"
The imperial family's thirty thousand koku was actually empty. It did not own a piece of land that could receive thirty thousand koku of brown rice, but only the right to receive thirty thousand koku of brown rice from the shogunate. Moreover, these 30,000 koku of brown rice could not be spent randomly by the emperor. The accounts had to be managed by the samurai sent by the shogunate to the imperial family. When Tokugawa Ieyasu's granddaughter Kazuko entered the palace to marry Emperor Gomizuo, she brought some samurai as companions. So the 30,000 shi of brown rice owned by the imperial family came under their management.
In addition to the 30,000 shi from the imperial family, there are also a bunch of begging ministers in Kyoto, and their salaries plus salaries are almost 30,000 shi. A total of 60,000 koku of brown rice was the entire koku of the Japanese emperor and ministers. To the Tokugawa shogunate, it was not worth mentioning at all.
Therefore, what has always supported the imperial family is not its strength, but its divine personality - the emperor is a descendant of God!
But now, the descendants of God have become the descendants of the stick...
So when the "hundred-thousand-thousand-strong army" led by the foolish old man Fang Jiagang marched into Kyoto in a mighty manner, the people of Kyoto were already as eager as the people of Beijing during the Jiashen period to welcome the new Lord, and they all put on their best clothes. Clothes were welcomed in the wide streets of Kyoto.
The entire Kyoto is waiting for the arrival of the new king of Japan, Wang Jiazuna!
Of course, there are also those who are unwilling to let Tokugawa Ietsuna become king, such as Emperor Gonishi, but he does not have the strength to stop Ietsuna. Therefore, when Tokugawa Mitsukuni entered Nijo Castle in Kyoto with great force under the Tokugawa family, the desperate Emperor Gosai had no choice but to find his father, Emperor Gomizuo, his sister, Emperor Meimasa, and his aunt, Empress Dowager Minamoto Kazuko, to discuss countermeasures. .
Both Emperor Meisho and Empress Dowager Minawako of Tofukumonin are of Tokugawa family descent. Minawako is Tokugawa Kazuko, the daughter of the second-generation shogun Hidetada. She is 53 years old this year.
Emperor Meimasa was Wakko's daughter. She became the female emperor after Emperor Gomizuo abdicated. She was only seven years old at the time and is only 36 years old now.
If there is anyone else in the imperial family who can stop Tokugawa Ietsuna and Tokugawa Mitsukuni, I think they are the only two women.
"We must never admit that Emperor Jinmu is Xu Fu... If we admit it, everything will be over!" After all, Tokugawa Kazuko is the granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and she is politically smarter than Emperor Gosai. The crux of the problem was immediately pointed out.
"Yes, but Ietsuna led one hundred thousand troops to Luo..." Emperor Gonishi's voice trembled a little.
Emperor Mingzheng snorted: "So what? As long as you don't admit it, they won't dare to usurp the throne. The most they can do is kill you! It's no big deal!"
Kill...
"This, this can't be done!" Emperor Gonishi was crying even as he spoke. How could he be killed?
The stepmother and sister were unreliable, so they had no choice but to ask their father for help.
He turned to look at his father, a monk who had been a monk for many years, and said, "Father, please say something..."
Emperor Gomizuo just sighed softly. He used the method of passing on the throne to his daughter to exclude the Tokugawa family bloodline from the imperial family, which showed a certain degree of maneuvering - the female emperor could not get married, so there would be no descendants. If he had If he does not abdicate, he may have a son with Kazuko, and the emperor will become the grandson of the Tokugawa family. But now he is a little helpless!
The crisis facing the Imperial family now is greater than it was then... The Tokugawa family does not want to be the emperor's grandfather, but wants to be the real king of Japan!
Once you admit that Emperor Jimmu is Xu Fu, everything will be over!
"Father," the 36-year-old Emperor Mingzheng spoke again when he saw that his father was helpless, "Why don't you let your brother abdicate and let me become the emperor again and protect the imperial family?"
