Zhao Xin and the others led the army to fight vigorously with Tsarist Russia in the north, while the isolated island country in the south was in chaos due to a fire that occurred in Kyoto at the beginning of the year.
The cause of the matter was of course the plan devised by Zhao Xin and He Tai.
After successfully taking over the Takaji family last year, Heita became bolder. This guy thought that instead of doing it one by one, it would be better to do something big. It would be best to solve it all at once, or to take advantage of the chaos.
It is not uncommon for fires to break out in island cities these days, and buildings with all-wood structures quickly lead to fires that are often uncontrollable. Not to mention the distance, there was a fire in Kyoto eighty years ago in the fifth year of Hoei's reign. At that time, the Forbidden City, the Sento Imperial Palace, the Nyonin Imperial Palace, and the Eastern Palace Imperial Palace were all burned down. From public residences such as the Kujo family and Takashi family to temples and machiya houses, the entire core area of Kyoto was affected by the fire; 417 towns and more than 10,000 houses, including the famous Buddha Temple, Shimogamo Shrine and other temples All burned.
Unlike the ancients who set fires with more firewood and poured some oil, the arson weapons provided by Beihai Town to Pingtai were thermite developed by Fanghua Research Laboratory and napalm added with naphthenic compounds.
The mixture of napalm is similar to the syrup used for dipping candied haws. It is a semi-solidified paste that is easy to transport and carry. In addition, Fang Hua also added some active metals, such as calcium powder, barium powder and so on.
But Ping Tai never expected that his plan would be launched in advance due to another sudden fire, which almost burned him to death, thus bringing disaster to the entire capital!
On March 7, 1788, that is, in the early morning of January 30, the eighth year of Tenmei, in the Danguri row house area of Miyagawa Town, located on the east side of the Kamogawa River in the southeast of Kyoto, a house that had been unoccupied for a long time suddenly burned down for unknown reasons. . There was a strong southeast wind that night, and the fire quickly spread throughout the Tuanli townhouses.
(The Tianming Fire in real history also started here, but the cause of the fire is unknown.)
Because the houses of the islanders were all made of wood, the ignited window frames and thatched roofs were blown by the wind to the other side of the Kamogawa River, and the Teramachi Street on the other side was also on fire.
At the same time, Heita and two companions sent by Beihai Town were sleeping in a house on Kawaramachi Street on the east side of Kyoto. They chose to live here because both Kawaramachi and Kiyamachi are very lively areas in Kyoto. Walking around in the busy city, pretending to be a business traveler, you won't attract too much attention.
What a coincidence. The two large boxes of napalm they finally shipped from Kyushu via Osaka just arrived yesterday and were placed in the warehouse in the yard. Inside the box were bags of napalm sealed in plastic bags, covered with silk and satin to cover them up.
When the fire reached Honnoji Temple, Heita and his companions were woken up by screams in the street. The three of them walked into the yard and took a look. The Honnōji Temple to the south was already in flames.
Pingtai and his companions looked at each other in shock, wondering who did this? We haven't started yet!
The original plan of the three was to set fire to Nijo Castle, Forbidden City and Sento Imperial Palace, so the petrol bombs were not ready yet... bad luck! Nalotin!
The faces of the three people who knew the power of gasoline bombs turned green immediately. The fire at Takaji's house before was proof that it could not be extinguished at all. If it hadn't been for the west wind blowing at that time, the whole Kyoto would have been affected.
Stop talking nonsense and run! The three of them didn't have time to grab anything, so they put on a white undershirt, ran out of the yard with their bare feet and peeing, and followed the flow of people to the north. When they reached the intersection, they turned east and saw the Kamogawa River a hundred meters away. The three of them rolled around. He jumped into the river and swam desperately to the other side.
When Heita, who was running at the back, just jumped into the water, he heard a "boom" behind him, and a mushroom-shaped fireball rose from the ground, and the entire city of Kyoto suddenly turned like daylight.
With the courtyard where Heita and the others lived as the center of the circle, the ignited and unignited napalm bags erupted from the two boxes splashed in all directions, and the high temperature of nearly a thousand degrees suddenly covered the entire Kawaramachi and Teramachi. The mayor who was responsible for putting out the fire was dumbfounded, threw away his tools and ran away.
With the wind, the fire quickly burned across the two streets and rushed towards the Nijo Castle Imperial Palace to the west and the public housing area to the north.
The three Heitas crawled out of the Kamogawa River in a wet state, and ran eastward for several miles before stopping. They looked back at the red-hot sky in the distance, feeling so worried that they almost didn't run out.
In another time and space, the historically famous "Tenmei Fire" burned for two full days and was known as the largest fire in Kyoto during the Edo period. But in this time and space, with the help of two boxes of about 200 kilograms of napalm, the fire burned for four days before gradually extinguishing.
The fire burned down all 1,967 towns in Kyoto, turning more than 40,000 houses, more than 200 temples, and more than 30 shrines into ashes. The Kyoto Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle, Kyoke Yashiki, Nishimachi Administrative Office, Shokokuji Temple, Kamisenen Garden, Rokkakudo Hall, Seimei Shrine, Kamigorei Shrine, Kamo Mizu Shrine, and Tozai Honganji Temple were all reduced to ruins.
Afterwards, statistics showed that more than 3,000 people were killed in the flames.
The most unlucky ones were Fushimi Miya Kuniyai's family, all of whom died; Kanin Miya Norihito's family, five of their nine sons died; The Tsukasa family suffered heavy casualties, but the last female emperor in the history of the island nation and the 117th generation Emperor Gosakura-machi failed to escape the sea of fire and was buried in Sento Imperial Palace.
However, Kyoto's big boss Kanehito, Emperor Kokoku, managed to escape under the protection of Kyoto's Shidai, and later used the Shogoin Temple in the east of Kyoto as a temporary residence.
After hearing about this disappearance, the three of them sighed sadly. Everyone said that if they had known there would be such a fire, they should have buried a box of napalm in the Holy Guardian Temple the night before the fire.
It is said that Emperor Kokaku was not called Kanehito before, but "Shihito". Because its Japanese pronunciation is the same as "dead man", he changed his name after he ascended the throne. In another time and space, Kanehito was the direct ancestor of the modern emperors in history.
Emperor Kokaku expressed great sadness at the misfortune of Emperor Gosakura. Since he ascended the throne eight years ago, due to bloodline issues, the only person who can rely on and help him is the empress.
Why is it like this? Because the previous Emperor Gomozono died too hastily, the only descendant, Prince Kinzinai, was only one year old. Therefore, after being recommended by the ministers, Emperor Kokaku, who was the candidate at the time, was hurriedly appointed as the crown prince because he showed the closest relationship to Prince Kinzinai.
And his future queen is none other than Prince Kinzinai, who was only one year old when he ascended the throne. In terms of seniority, it would be the grand uncle who married his granddaughter. But this is nothing to the island country, after all, the bloodline has been separated by three generations.
The problem lies in this bloodline separated by three generations. To put it bluntly, the bloodline is impure! Therefore, neither the public nor the military had much respect for the adopted emperor, and there was even criticism among the people.
Since blood cannot gain respect, there is only one way to gain respect, sacrifice. To put it bluntly, it is to restore the etiquette system through celebration activities, which is what Confucian culture says: "Etiquette is the foundation of governing affairs."
The first is the festival celebration of "Shuodan Winter Solstice".
In ancient times, the emperor of the island country would come out of the main palace "Shichenden" at this time every year to entertain his ministers. However, since the Yingren Rebellion, it has not been held for more than 300 years due to war.
So starting in May of the sixth year of Tenmei (1786), Emperor Kokaku expressed his desire to personally participate in the "Shuodan Winter Solstice" festival celebrations to the shogunate through the "Samurai Announcement". The shogunate didn't think much and quickly approved it, and also approved two hundred shilumi as the cost.
However, Emperor Koge and a group of ministers seemed to have forgotten one thing. The previous Emperor Momozono died in November, so November is also the "forbidden month". As the adopted son of Emperor Gomozono, Emperor Kokaku also married Prince Kinzinai, so holding a celebration that had not been held in more than 300 years during the "Jiyue Month" when the previous emperor passed away would be like "grave fun".
The sacrifice must be held, so after communicating with the shogunate, the month of death was changed to the day of death, as long as the celebration was not held before November 9th.
Afterwards, Emperor Kokaku worked hard to restore the Shinjo Matsuri in the sixth year of Tenmei. The revival of various types of sacrifices not only improved Emperor Kokaku's status in the eyes of the ministers, but also became popular among the people of Kyoto. After all, if there are more sacrificial activities in the palace, the atmosphere in the city will become more lively, which will require more materials and personnel, and the people of Kyoto will also get more business and employment opportunities.
In this way, Emperor Kokoku implemented his "retro plan" step by step.
Last year, weren't there riots over rice grabbing in Edo, Osaka, Kyoto and other places? Therefore, the common people needed a clear spiritual sustenance, and Emperor Kokaku's ceremonial activities naturally made nearby townspeople and farmers feel that there was a person in Kyoto they could rely on, and they naturally rushed to visit him.
The fire in Kyoto shocked the world. The emperor even lost his palace, so the issue of reconstruction came to the fore.
Who will pay for this? Naturally, it came from the Tokugawa Shogunate. Emperor Koge's annual salary was only 100,000 koku. He had to support a large group of people, so he naturally had no money.
However, the Tokugawa shogunate's current savings are only 800,000 taels. Due to the deployment of troops last year, the compensation for the Kyushu vassals that were severely beaten by Beihai Town, and the various expenditures that will be incurred this year, the fiscal deficit is expected to exceed 2 million taels.
It was precisely because of the huge financial hole that Matsudaira Nobunobu, the senior shogunate, decided against all opinions and decided to ease the confrontation with the Sendai Domain. At the end of February this year, after reporting to Tokugawa Ieki and agreeing, representatives were sent to start negotiations with the Sendai Domain.
But it was another story in Sendai Domain.
It is said that after joining forces with Beihai Town to destroy the Satsuma clan last year, the Sendai clan's territory increased by 600,000 koku. The actual total stone height is close to two million koku, making it the most famous in the world after the shogunate.
Nowadays, Sendai Domain's three counties in the north of Minami Kyushu belong to Hokkai Town, and there are 2,700 garrison troops to help resist the shogunate's offensive. At the same time, Mutsu received financial and material assistance from Beihai Town to train new troops. It can be said that they have sharp guns and strong soldiers and horses. They are simply awesome.
Seeing this situation, the foreign daimyo of Kyushu and Mutsu Deyu also made secret arrangements with the Sendai clan, either seeking refuge or doing business secretly behind the shogunate's back.
Facing the envoys sent by the shogunate, the Sendai clan families headed by Ishikawa Murafumi made clear demands. There were only two demands: declare the Shimazu family to be rebellious, and transfer the land of the Three Kingdoms of Southern Kyushu to the Date family; in addition, Mrs. Tohime should be transferred to the Date family. And Shisaburo sent it back.
Returning people is nothing, as long as the Sendai clan promises not to use force again. But telling the world that the Shimazu family is rebellious is unacceptable.
Everyone in the world knows that Shogun's wife is Shimazu Shigego's daughter, and last year the shogunate announced that Date Shigemura died of a vicious disease; now it is said that the Shimazu family is rebellious, isn't this a slap in the face!
As a result, the negotiations have been delayed. The two parties have been negotiating back and forth for more than half a year without reaching an agreement.
The Tokugawa shogunate in Edo was in a state of panic, and the ministers of Kyoto who lived in the temple actually started to jump up and down, and some even shouted "return the great government".
Things have to start with rebuilding the palace.
After the fire broke out, Matsudaira Sadanobu, the leader of Laos and China, personally led a team to Kyoto to inspect the disaster in May and stayed for ten days. After inspecting the Emperor's temporary residence, Shogoin, Matsudaira Sadanobu asked the Kyoto Governor to write a report to the samurai family. He hoped that one or two temporary palaces could be built first for Kanehito and his ministers to live in, and then the burned-down imperial palace could be built. The palace complex was rebuilt as it was.
Nothing else, the shogunate is too poor now! Matsudaira Sadanobu even proposed that "the beauty of the palace is also the blood of the common people" and hoped that the Kyoto court could "correct the evil habits of luxury".
But in mid-June, after receiving Zhao Xin's instructions, Liu Zheng, who had moved from Juqiubahama to Aoba Castle, found Ishikawa Murafumi. This guy has been living a shameless life in the island country for more than a year, and his daily conversation skills have improved by leaps and bounds.
"I heard that there was a fire in Kyoto and the emperor's palace was burned down?"
Ishikawa Murafumi didn't understand Liu Zheng's purpose, so he followed the other person's words with a worried look on his face: "Hey, come to think of it, we ministers are really worried."
Liu Zheng asked Ishikawamura Wenping to step back, and then whispered: "Your Excellency Ishikawa, don't you think this is a good opportunity now?"
Ishikawamura Wen said: "What does Liu Sang mean by this?"
"Since the Sendai clan wants to compete with Edo, why not win over the imperial court now?"
"Sigh~" When Ishikawa Murafumi heard this, he thought it was right. We don't want to be a general who conquers the barbarians, just be a Guan Bai. When the time comes, we can compete with the Tokugawa family. It's very beautiful to think about it!
"However, this vassal does not have much funds left now. You also know how Liu Sang spent the three million taels of gold borrowed by Zhao Dian before."
Of course Liu Zheng knew that most of the three million had been turned into shiploads of grain, artillery, and various goods produced in Beihai Town. At the same time, Ishikawa Murafumi also took a lot of daimyo to bribe Mutsu Deha.
In the famine years, everyone was very realistic. If you don’t have money, who will mess with you?
Liu Zheng chuckled and said: "I have already told Zhao Dian, how about providing an interest-free loan of two million taels to Sendai Clan?"
Ishikawa Murafumi was overjoyed. He slapped the banquet with his fan and nodded, saying, "In this way, great things can be accomplished!"
So in late June, the Sendai clan, which had received a loan from Beihai Town, sent someone to quietly send 500,000 taels of gold to Kyoto. And with the money, the Kyoto court was determined from top to bottom to rebuild the palace in the style of the Heian period.
Emperor Kokaku first summoned the monk Kozen who had been studying the history of palace architecture privately. This person has been trying to verify and restore the imperial palace drawings of the Heian period for the past 30 years, and he later compiled it into the thirty-volume "Research on Ouchi Ritu". Many years ago, Guzen was cautiously punished for his involvement in political disputes; now in order to rebuild the palace, Emperor Kokaku not only pardoned Guzen's punishment, but also appointed him as a consultant to rebuild the palace.
However, the ministers were not fools. No matter how thin the Tokugawa family was, a camel was still bigger than a horse, so the Kyoto court began to play with the details of the drawings. Although the new cloister buildings were added to Shichenden Hall and Seiryoden Hall on the drawings, the drawings that were finally submitted to the Edo Shogunate for review were 10 tsubos less than the total area of the palace before it was burned down, totaling 1,514 tsubos (nearly 5,000 square meters).
The fact that Emperor Kokaku dared to do this meant that with the support of the Sendai Domain, he began to try to get out of the framework set by the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Do you think this is the end? That is impossible! Emperor Kokaku's restoration actions and measures to rebuild the imperial palace gradually brought his prestige to its peak.
So he took the next step, to give his biological father a royal title.
As early as the beginning of his accession to the throne, Emperor Kokaku asked if he could give his biological father, Kanin norihito, the title of "emperor". If this happened, Prince Kanin norihito would be treated as the emperor. However, the shogunate was noncommittal at the time.
Just kidding! Your legal biological father is Emperor Gomozono, and Kanin Gong Norihito is a minister.
At the end of August, at the instigation of the Kyochu minister who had accepted bribes from the Sendai clan, Emperor Kokaku made a comeback again and sent a letter to the shogunate. Emperor) requested the shogunate to discuss the issue of granting a title to the 57-year-old Prince Norihito.
In early September, this letter was handed into the hands of Matsudaira Sadanobu, the chief senior officer of the shogunate, and the foreheads of Matsudaira Sadanobu and other senior officers were buzzing.
Nothing else. The current shogun, Tokugawa Iesai, is also making a fuss about this matter, and wants to give his biological father, Tokugawa Haruji, the title of "Grand Imperial Palace" as a sign of filial piety.
As the initiator and implementer of the "lenient reform" in the Edo period, Matsudaira Sadanobu attached great importance to building a set of ideologies that maintained the stability of the Edo shogunate. He valued loyalty more than filial piety; the idea of "a king and his ministers are like father and son" that Qianlong next door often talked about came to the island country, and in turn became "father and son are like king and ministers". As long as you have no experience of succeeding as a shogun or emperor, you cannot obtain the titles of "Grand Imperial Palace" and "Emperor".
Go ahead and have fun, reject them all!
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