For a moment, a bunch of expectant, curious, or nervous eyes fell on Qingdeng.
Qingdeng looked calm and didn't even move his brows.
Qingto was not surprised by Echigoya Bunzaburo's question.
Before he came to the banquet, he had already guessed the purpose of the banquet and what he wanted to ask.
How is the situation in Kyoto? This is probably the topic that people in Kanto... no, all over Japan are most concerned about right now.
"Mr. Echigoya, I'm sorry."
Qingden put down the tea bowl in his hand and shook his head with a wry smile.
"As for the recent situation in Kyoto, I am still waiting and watching."
This is true.
What's going on in Kyoto... Qingto really doesn't know much about this, or he hasn't gotten the latest information yet.
It has only been 1 year and 8 months since Qingdeng took up his position as the side minister and the servant of the Imperial Palace.
A mere two years is not a long time.
However, in less than two years, countless major events occurred in Japan! The situation in the country has undergone earth-shaking changes!
In recent years, the thoughts of "respecting the king" and the thoughts of "rejecting foreigners" have gradually merged. A new group - the patriots who respect the king and fight against the barbarians (referred to as "the patriots who respect the king and fight against the barbarians") became active.
The core purpose of the former is to enhance the authority of the emperor and the Kyoto court.
The core essence of the latter is to expel all foreigners in Japan.
Logically speaking, these two unrelated trends of thought should not overlap.
However, history is like this, full of all kinds of joke-like coincidences.
For the Japanese in the Edo period, their respect for the emperor was not necessarily that deep.
After more than 250 years of unremitting suppression by the Edo shogunate, the emperor and the Kyoto court were excluded from the political and economic space, and their own influence was greatly weakened.
The Japanese in the Edo period called the shogun "Kongkata-sama" and "Oshu Lord" and recognized him as the sole ruler of the country.
The emperor is an emperor, and the court is called "inner area" or "forbidden area", which is an insignificant and distant existence.
However, the emperor has always existed, and so has the public family and the Kyoto court.
[Note: Public family: specifically refers to the hereditary nobles who live in the capital and serve the emperor and the court. Corresponding to this is the "Wu family", that is, the families and characters of the warrior system]
Long before the "Black Ship Incident" broke out, the idea of respecting the king centered on the Mito Domain had taken root and spread widely.
In other words, there have always been people who uphold the idea of respecting the king, and there are still many of them.
However, these people are basically concentrated in the samurai class, and the civilian class may not even understand what the imperial court is.
The currently reigning Emperor Tsuhito hates foreigners and strongly opposes the founding of the country.
As a result, he became the "embodiment of resisting the foreigners", an excellent and very convenient banner to promote the ideology of resisting the foreigners.
Your Majesty has already said that he hates foreigners, so what are we, the people who uphold the idea of respecting the king, waiting for? Hurry up and stand up! Expel all the barbarians in the country and respond to His Majesty's call!
The anti-barbarian patriots also became excited.
Although since the founding of the Tokugawa family, the emperor has always been a mascot with no troops, no power, no food, and only an extraordinary influence in the cultural field, he has always been the nominal head of the country, and even the shogunate is one of them. Minister.
In other words, as long as the banner of "this is the holy will" is raised, it will occupy the natural political highest point.
The most taboo thing in war is to have unknown teachers.
And now, the "name" of the patriots who resisted the foreigners has arrived!
Our actions to resist the foreigners are just acts that comply with the holy will. In this way, the anti-barbarian patriots used the emperor to carry out anti-barbarian activities even more unscrupulously.
From this, the ideas of opposing the barbarians and respecting the emperor merged, and quickly evolved into the movement of respecting the king and resisting the barbarians.
The Gyeonggi region, where the emperor and his court were located, became the center of the movement to honor the king and repel the foreigners.
If Emperor Tohito was an enlightened person who welcomed the founding of the country, then it is unclear whether the two would have merged, and whether the movement to respect the king and resist the foreigners would have spread throughout Japan.
The increasingly fierce movement to respect the king and repel the barbarians in the Gyeonggi region made the shogunate deeply worried.
Unlike the Kyoto court, which had been away from politics for a long time and therefore lacked understanding of the real situation in the country, and the anti-Japanese patriots who were only enthusiastic, the Edo shogunate was quite aware of how terrible the industrial civilization of overseas powers was.
"Repelling the foreigners" is definitely not feasible, and "founding the country" has become the inevitable trend of the times.
In addition, the "reverence for the king" proposition of the Zunban movement was also unacceptable to the shogunate.
There are no two days in the sky, and there are no two masters in the country.
As the authority of the emperor and the Kyoto court increased, the authority of the shogun and the Edo shogunate was bound to decline—this was absolute and impossible to avoid.
"Respecting the king" and "repelling the barbarians"... are all taboos of the shogunate.
The advocacy of the Zhengxing movement was completely contrary to the interests of the Edo shogunate.
Therefore, in order to suppress the pro-protest movement, save the declining national power, and reshape Tokugawa's authority, the Edo shogunate decided to restart the "combination of public and military forces."
As early as Aoshito's first bole: Naomi Ii was still alive, he was vigorously promoting a combat strategy-letting the general (Tokugawa Iemo) marry a woman from the royal family. As a result, the shogunate and the court became linked. Inseparable relationship.
Naoki Ii believed that long-term hostility between Edo and Kyoto would be very detrimental to the future of the country, so a cooperation mechanism must be established.
So he proposed marriage to the royal family and asked "who would be more suitable to marry the general."
At that time, there were three princesses suitable for marriage.
The late Emperor Nitaka's daughter, Toshinomiya, who is 30 years old, and Wagoniya who is in his youth.
Today's emperor also has an imperial daughter, Fugui Palace, who was born just over 5 months old.
It is not appropriate for a dignified general to conquer barbarians, whether he is marrying a 30-year-old aunt or a five-month-old baby.
Therefore, the only princess suitable to marry was Wakomiya who was similar in age to Tokugawa Iemo.
While the shogunate and the court were slowly discussing, the "Sakurada Gate Incident" broke out, Ii Naomi was killed, and the "public-military combination" was temporarily suspended.
After the shogunate decided to restart the "combination of public and military affairs" in order to fight against the pro-rebellion movement, Nobumasa Ando, the successor of Lao-Chinese leader, continued to negotiate with the court.
[Note: In order to prevent the concentration of power, there were many senior middlemen in the Edo shogunate, with a maximum number of four to five. They adopted a monthly system to take turns managing different affairs. The person who took the leadership position among them was called the "chief elder"]
After repeated discussions, the two parties finally decided to try their best to promote the marriage contract.
However... He Gong strongly resisted the marriage.
She had been married to Prince Arisugawa Chihito since she was a child, and they were in love with each other. She did not want to leave her husband.
In addition, the Gyeonggi people generally discriminate against the Guandong people. They think that Guandong is an undeveloped, barbaric and smoggy land. They think that the Guandong people are a bunch of rude and ignorant "Eastern Yi". This kind of prejudice makes the palace have a negative attitude towards the marriage. Things are getting more and more contradictory.
Emperor Sohito once personally tried to persuade his sister to marry Tokugawa Iemo, but Wamiya flatly refused.
She directly put down her harsh words: "I don't want to go to Edo. Even if I become a nun, I will not marry in Kanto!"
Something went wrong in the imperial court, and riots began to occur in the outside world.
The shogunate's move to "combine the public and military" has done a lot of damage to the Zunzheng movement. The shogunate and the court are already one family. Isn't it inappropriate for you to dictate the shogunate's ideas and policies?
People who uphold the idea of respecting and fighting will naturally not be happy to be led by the shogunate.
As a result, they criticized the public-military integration movement.
Wagongiya was unwilling to marry into the samurai family. Just when the situation reached a stalemate, a capable man named Iwakura Tomoshi appeared on the stage.
This man was a Waka disciple of Guan Baiying Si Zhengtong. He was good at pleasing Takashi Si Zhengtong and became his personal attendant in the first year of Anzheng (1854).
[Note·Guan Bai: An official position in the Kyoto court. Responsible for assisting the emperor in handling government affairs. Guan Bai was to the Kyoto court what Lao Zhong was to the Edo shogunate]
This man was extremely smart. Compared with those shabby public aristocrats who only knew how to recite poems and compose poems, he was outstanding and broad-minded, good at strategy and rich in political vision.
Iwakura Tomoe said to Emperor Tohito: "This is a rare opportunity. Since the shogunate requires so much from us, we should adopt this opinion and grant them a gift. In this way, we can put forward conditions, and the conditions are The Ansei Provisional Treaty ("Japan-U.S. Amended Trade Treaty") signed by Naomi Ii was abrogated, thus reversing the situation again and proposing the policy of expelling the foreigners. In this way, although the administration was entrusted to the shogunate, the shogunate must seek instructions from the imperial court before doing anything. In this way, in the end, The real power will be in the hands of the imperial court."
Emperor Tohito also believed that if he wanted the shogunate to implement the policy of resisting foreigners again, it must adopt Iwakura Tomomi's opinions.
There were also people in the public family who opposed Wakura's marriage to Kanto. Iwakura Tomomi interviewed them directly, or bribed poor members of the public family, and sometimes threatened to demote him.
In short, he used all his tactics to consolidate his power.
In the end, even Prince Arisugawa Chihito, who had arranged a baby marriage with Wagoniya, succumbed.
The isolated and helpless Hegong had no choice but to agree to the marriage.
On the other hand, the shogunate was completely unable to meet the conditions imposed by the imperial court, which was to abandon treaties with foreign countries.
Therefore, the shogunate racked its brains and asked the court to give it 10 years to find a solution.
All in all, the shogunate wanted to be on good terms with the imperial court, so it accepted most of the conditions and married Wagoniya.
Iwakura Tomoshi used his outstanding method of arrogance and control to promote the marriage between the public family and the samurai family, and achieved his goal. Because of his cold blood, he was called "Gecko" by the world.
After many efforts and compromises, He Gong finally successfully married to Kanto.
At that time, there was such a Japanese song: For the sake of the king and the people, dissipate with the dew of Musashino.
The sight of Wakiya bursting into tears became widely known.
On the occasion of the wedding, the imperial family sent six capable generals to the palace, and Tomomi Iwakura, who was promoted to Major General Ukonoe Gon, also followed. Not only to protect the Imperial Palace, but also to directly convey the court's requests to the shogunate, it can be said that it has a major responsibility to supervise the actions of the shogunate.
The original intention of the "combination of public and military forces" was to eliminate the barriers between Edo and Kyoto, enhance national power, and suppress the pro-protest movement.
However... it was still difficult to ease the relationship between the two parties through the marriage between Tokugawa Iemo and Wamiya. Instead, it aroused the resentment of the King-respecting and Expelling Yi faction.
"The public family and the military family become one family" - this makes no sense to the faction outside the court who respect the king and resist the barbarians.
They believed that there was no need for the court to flatter the shogunate, thus triggering an even more intense campaign of respect.
They collectively referred to four members of the public family, including Iwakura Tomoshi, who worked hard for Wakura's marriage, as well as the female officials Imajo Shigeko and Horikawa Noriko (Iwakura Tomoshi's younger sister) as the "Four Traitors and Two Concubines" and listed them as "Tenchu" "Object.
In Kyoto, the ronin of the Zunban faction, those who broke away from the feudal vassalage, and dissatisfied public figures formed an alliance with each other, and began an increasingly radical Zunban movement. A strong bloody wind blew in the streets and alleys of Kyoto.
Following the "Nanji Faction" and the "Ichitsubashi Faction", new mutually hostile political groups - the "Public Military Combination Faction" and the "Respect the King and Reject the Barbarians Faction" - came onto the stage of history.
Compared with the "Nanji·Yitiao Bridge Controversy", this time the party struggle is more intense and cruel, and it has almost escalated into a war!
The first to take action was the Choshu clan, which had been silent, watching the development of the situation and dormant for a long time.
The Choshu clan produced a smart man named Nagai Gaara with a salary of 150 dan.
He looked at the world situation and believed that domestic unrest must be prevented. Based on this, he came up with the "Navigation Strategy", the main contents of which are as follows:
[Abandoning treaties and resisting foreigners are child's play. It would be better to actively accept the treaty, align the imperial court and the shogunate, and enrich our country's armaments. Therefore, it is necessary to send inspection teams overseas to learn from the strengths of foreign countries and change the hearts of our country, and then consider various methods. This is a navigation plan]
"Navigation strategy" means long-term planning.
Nagai Gaara proposed this strategy to the lord of the Choshu Domain, Mori Norikin, and was recognized by the other party.
Therefore, Maori Keiqin submitted this plan to the imperial court in an attempt to strengthen the connection between the imperial court and the shogunate and resolve the chaos.
Emperor Tohito, who hated foreign countries, appreciated this very much, and the public also felt that this method was feasible.
After gaining power, Nagai Araku came to Edo and submitted the plan directly to the shogunate cabinet.
The shogunate ministers also greatly appreciated this and adopted this plan. After finally easing the relationship with the imperial court through the marriage to the palace, and then taking this as an opportunity to make full use of this strategy, the situation will be smooth.
The case also received support from another powerful figure in the Choshu Domain, Shu Fumasanosuke, and the domain reached a consensus.
In this way, the Choshu clan entered the political center and became one of the players in this grand chess game with "the ownership of the country" as the bet.
It is unknown whether Choshu’s purpose was to use this plan to mediate between the shogunate and the imperial court and then gain political dominance. In short, Choshu entered the stage of history.
If the "Navigation Strategy" can be carried out smoothly, the marriage of Hegong will be successful, and the movement to respect the king and repel the foreigners will also be suppressed. Both the imperial court and the shogunate will take advantage of the situation to abandon confrontation and ease relations.
But for the "Respect the King and Reject the Barbarians" faction, they will naturally not accept this plan.
Genzui Hisaka of the Choshu Domain, Seiichiro Honma of the Echigo Domain, Saigo Takamori of the Satsuma Domain... the capable people of the "Respect the King and Reject the Barbarians" got in touch with each other and began to plan and promote a larger-scale respect movement.
The shogunate and the imperial court wanted to reconcile, but the pro-rebellion movement below was always difficult to contain, and the situation became increasingly chaotic.
On January 15, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Ando Nobuzai, the leader of the Lao-Chinese clan, was attacked by six patriots from the Mito and Utsunomiya clans at the Sakashitamon Gate.
Due to the lessons learned from the "Sakuda Gate Incident" and strengthened defenses, Ando Nobumasa defeated the assassins with only minor injuries.
All the assassins were killed and the incident was temporarily put to rest.
However, Ando Nobumasa left the center of the shogunate cabinet due to injury, Nagai Gaara's work was also temporarily suspended, and the work that had been finally advanced was suspended due to this assassination attempt.
In addition, Changshu, which originally maintained the same feudal status, also began to have disputes.
At first, it was agreed that the country should be run through a combination of public and military forces, and Choshu was involved. However, the King-respecting and Barbarian faction among them raised the flag of rebellion, gradually grew in strength, and began to destabilize the Choshu clan.
Zhou Buzhengnosuke also began to change his previous opinions and made friends with Hisaka Gensui of the Zunwang and Expelling Barbarians faction.
At the same time, the lord of the Choshu Domain, Mori Kinkin, suddenly stated that the "navigation strategy" was not feasible and that the future development of the Choshu Domain needed to be re-examined.
In this way, the almost successful "Navigation Strategy" was completely bankrupt. Nagai Gaara was also held accountable and was considered to have done unnecessary things. Many people from the King-Respecting and Expelling Barbarians faction strongly demanded that Nagai Gaara commit hara-kiri.
Due to the change of attitude of the Choshu clan, the ongoing integration of public and military affairs was in vain.
At this time, another powerful "chess player"—Satsuma Domain—stretched out his fangs.
In the fifth year of Ansei (1858), Shimazu Saibin... the 11th generation lord of the Satsuma Domain, the adoptive father of Tenzouin, and the culprit who caused Tenzouin to marry a disabled person, died of illness.
Shimazu Saibin, who had no heirs, left a last word when he died. He believed that if the position of lord of the domain was handed over to his younger brother Shimazu Hisamitsu, trouble would be difficult to end.
Therefore, he decided that Shimazu Tadayoshi, Shimazu Hisamitsu's son, would succeed him as Lord of the Satsuma Domain.
In fact, his operation is no different from directly passing the ball to Shimazu Hisamitsu.
Shimazu Hisamitsu became the father of the feudal lord, which was no different from him becoming the feudal lord.
Shimazu Hisamitsu, who inherited the mantle of Shimazu Saibin, began to govern and lead the Satsuma Domain as the founding father.
He is a very open-minded person who can understand current affairs.
He saw that the current reality in the country was that the "respecting the king and rejecting the foreigners" faction had the upper hand, and even if they offered enlightened opinions, they would not accept them.
Therefore, Shimazu Hisamitsu's posture may appear to be that of the "King-respecting and Expelling the Barbarians" faction at first glance, but he actually held the idea of "the combined public and military faction".
In addition, he is also a careerist who hopes to occupy a leadership position.
After Nagai Gaara's steady strategy collapsed, he led 1,000 feudal soldiers and came to Kyoto with cannons to suppress the unstable or attempted ronin in Kyoto. He arrested all the scheming king-repelling faction and imprisoned them in the Satsuma Domain. and hotels, to conduct a thorough purge of them.
His purpose in doing this was to consolidate his position and increase his voice in the court.
Saigo Takamori, who played a leading role in the Satsuma Domain's "Lord of Kings and Expulsion of Barbarians", was also exiled to Tokunoshima by him.
However, even though Shimazu Hisamitsu has done so well, some people still don't know what he is thinking, and some people regard him as the leader of the "King-Respecting and Expelling Barbarians Faction".
Shimazu Hisamitsu led the army to Kyoto, and the Satsuma people were very high-spirited. They thought: "This is a good opportunity. Now we can appoint Lord Hisamitsu as a general, stand out in the town of Kyoto, drive away the forces of the shogunate, and let our Satsuma domain take over the world."
They even made a plan to take the emperor to Mount Hiei and start an all-out war with the shogunate once something happened.
The weird ideas of these guys scared Shimazu Hisamitsu so much that he immediately took action to suppress their actions.
On April 23, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), more than thirty people from the "King-King-Repelling Barbarians Faction" gathered at the Funajuku Temple House in Fushimi to discuss future countermeasures.
Shimazu Hisamitsu believed that this would never be tolerated, so he sent nine highly skilled domain soldiers there. He instructed: "Don't attack everyone, only target people in your own domain."
As a result, the leader of the Satsuma Domain's "King-respecting and Expelling the Barbarians" faction was annihilated in one fell swoop.
Shimazu Hisamitsu sent people to massacre members of the "King-Resisting and Expelling Barbarians" faction of the feudal clan... His decisive actions and cruel methods shocked the world.
This incident is known as the "Teradaya Incident" by the world.
The owner of Teradaya is named Toshi, a charming mature woman in her early thirties.
After the "Teradaya Incident", she calmly ordered the servants to replace the damaged tatami mats and paper doors, and clean up the blood stains on the floor. Her calm and calm appearance left a deep impression on people, and she can be called a hero among women.
Shimazu Hisamitsu, who used a series of iron-fisted methods, completely took control of the security of Kyoto, and the entire Kyoto was under the influence of the Satsuma clan.
Subsequently, Shimazu Hisamitsu proposed to the court that the court envoy must be sent to Edo again to thoroughly explain the court's ideas. And put forward the conditions he said to negotiate with Edo again and clarify the leadership of Kyoto.
The imperial court agreed to the case and sent a figure named Ohara Shutoku to Edo. In order to protect him, Shimazu Hisamitsu personally led 1,000 feudal soldiers to Edo.
In this way, the conflict between the shogunate and the imperial court based on the power of Satsuma began in Edo.
On June 7, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Ohara Sotoku, Shimazu Hisamitsu, and 1,000 feudal soldiers from the Satsuma Domain arrived in Edo.
At the initiative of Shimazu Hisamitsu, Ohara Sotoku proposed the following conditions on behalf of the court:
First, in order to discuss the matter of resisting the foreigners, General Tokugawa Iemo must come to Kyoto to discuss the issue with the imperial court.
Second, set up five elders (the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma clan, the Mori clan of the Choshu clan, the Yamauchi clan of the Tosa clan, the Maeda clan of the Kanazawa clan, and the Date clan of the Uwajima clan). Political affairs need to be decided by convening a meeting of the five elders.
Third, reform the shogunate politics and promote resistance to foreigners. However, it could not be done by relying on the shogunate cabinet, so Yoshiki Hitotsubashi was appointed as the assistant to the general, and Matsudaira Harugaku of the Fukui Domain was appointed as the political president.
[Note: Assistant to the general: When the general is young, he takes the place of the general in performing government affairs. Similar to "Vice General"]
[Note·Political President: A position created to assist the general in handling political affairs inside and outside the shogunate, equivalent to the elder]
Regarding the first request, since the third generation general Tokugawa Iemitsu went to Kyoto, no general has gone to Kyoto to meet the emperor, so Tokugawa Iemo was allowed to go to Kyoto.
Regarding the second requirement, the five proposed bosses are all powerful foreign daimyo. Shimazu Hisamitsu's original intention was to improve the status of the Satsuma Domain and weaken the authority of the shogunate.
As for the last third request... Satsuma Domain has always belonged to the "Hitobashi faction" camp, and Shimazu Hisamitsu himself is also a die-hard "Hitobashi faction" person.
That's why he strongly requested that Hitotsubashi Keiki be promoted to general assistant, and Matsudaira Harugaku, who was also a die-hard "hitotsubashi faction", was promoted to political president.
The first two requests were easy to argue with, but only the third request was strongly opposed by the shogunate officials of the "Nanji Sect" and the women of the Oku.
Hitotsubashi Keiki's biological father was the late former lord of Mito Domain: Tokugawa Saiaki.
Tokugawa Noriaki believed that the women of Ou were too extravagant and wasteful, so when he was still alive, he always strictly required the women of Ou to be thrifty, so he was collectively disgusted by the women of Ou.
Under the "Hate House and Crow" situation, the women in Daao hate Hitotsubashi Keiki very much.
Shimazu Hisamitsu had long expected that the shogunate would not readily agree to these three demands, so he specially brought 1,000 vassal soldiers and cannons.
After long discussions and wrangling, the shogunate finally compromised, specifically deciding to accept Yoshiki Hitotsubashi as the assistant to the general.
As a result, Hitotsubashi Keiki, which had been silent and dormant until now, began to enter the political stage.
On July 6, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Hitotsubashi Keiki took office as assistant general. On July 9, Matsudaira Harugaku took office as political president.
With the coming to power of Hitotsubashi Keihe, the confrontation between the "Nanki Sect" and the "Ichitsubashi Sect" has entered a new and more intense stage.
On the other hand, the confrontation between the "Gongwu Combination Faction" and the "Respect the King and Repulse the Barbarians" faction has become increasingly fierce.
After the bankruptcy of the "Navigation Strategy", the Choshu clan, which had been quiet for a while, took action again.
The Choshu clan completely changed its previous policy, from the "combined public and military faction" to the "respect the king and repel the foreigners" faction that fully complied with the court's wishes and resolutely fought against the barbarians. He advocated the heavy use of radical anti-foreigners, abandoned all treaties signed with other countries, and once again locked down the country.
In order to regain political dominance, Changshu's attitude became increasingly radical.
In early August of the second year of Bunkyu (1862), it happened that Shimazu Hisamitsu raised troops and went to Edo in person. When he was not in Kyoto, the lord of Choshu Domain, Mori Noriyoshi, showed a tough attitude.
He catered to the imperial court, advocated extreme anti-foreigner theories, and advocated "Changzhou supports the imperial court."
In this way, the patriots who seemed to have been expelled or wiped out by Shimazu Hisamitsu, as well as the hidden lower-level samurai and ronin of the Expelling Faction, all thought that "we have welcomed a wise master."
So they gathered in Kyoto and established contact with the warriors of Changshu. The entire Kyoto was filled with calls to respect the king and repel the barbarians.
More than a month ago, Kyoto, with Satsuma as the center, had reached an agreement on the integration of the public and military forces. In the blink of an eye, a major reversal occurred, and the theory of respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians, centered on Choshu, began to spread gradually.
Shimazu Hisamitsu returned to Kyoto on leap August 7.
At that time, anti-barbarian groups centered in Changzhou continued to expand, and people supported this idea.
The situation in Kyoto Town, which had been suppressed before, suddenly changed 180 degrees, and Shimazu Hisamitsu was deeply shocked by this.
However, it is already very difficult to suppress the current situation again.
Moreover, Shimazu Hisamitsu believed that the shogunate had accepted all his conditions and the situation in Kyoto would improve soon, so he ignored the situation in Kyoto for the time being.
On leap August 23, he left Kyoto and returned to Satsuma - the subsequent changes in events proved how wrong his idea was at this time.
Hitotsubashi Keiki and Matsudaira Harugaku, both of whom are highly regarded by the "Ichitabashi School", are quite capable.
After they took office as general assistant and political president respectively, they led and carried out a series of reform measures at a vigorous and resolute speed.
First, in order to highlight the majesty of the imperial court, the previous rule of calling the Harmony Palace the "Shogun's Imperial Palace" was abandoned, and it was directly called the "Japanese Palace".
Second, the nine gate guards of the Kyoto Imperial Palace who were appointed by the shogunate in the past were now subject to orders from the imperial court. In other words, the imperial court could also use Satsuma, Choshu and other security forces stationed in Kyoto without the permission of the shogunate.
Third, because the daimyo proposed to go to Edo every two years to attend the pilgrimage and there was some financial constraints, so it was changed to once every three years.
In addition, at this time, there was no longer any need to force the feudal lords to keep their wives and children as hostages in the Edo feudal residence, so they were allowed to return to their respective clans.
In addition, many red tapes specially installed by the shogunate to show their majesty were also abolished.
Many reform measures are being steadily carried out in Edo, while in Kyoto... it is becoming increasingly chaotic.
After the Choshu clan clearly announced its support for the movement of respecting the king and repelling the barbarians, spies from the "public-military integration faction" who respected the king and repelled the barbarians, wanted to make a fortune by fishing in troubled waters, swarmed into Kyoto.
Brutal assassinations continued to occur in the streets and alleys of Kyoto day and night.
Outstanding swordsmen of the "King King and Expulsion Faction" such as Tanaka Shinbei and Nakamura Hanjiro of the Satsuma Domain; Okada Izo of the Tosa Domain; Kawakami Hikosai of the Higo Domain and other outstanding swordsmen assassinated supporters of the "Kongwu Combination Faction" everywhere.
On July 20, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Sakon Shimada of the Kujo family was killed, and his head was exposed in Shijo Kawara. The assassin is said to be a master of Kegenryu: Tanaka Shinbei.
This is a beginning.
As a result, atrocities of assassinating members of the "public-military integration faction" and the founding faction continued to occur.
On August 27, Naoki Ii’s confidant, Nagano Sozen, was killed.
On August 20, Seiichiro Honma, an anti-barbarian critic of Echigo, tried to please the public and collect money. Because of this betrayal, he was also brutally poisoned and killed by Tanaka Shinbei and Okada Izo.
On August 29th, the prison officer Wenji, who was responsible for escorting anti-barbarian dissidents in Ansei Prison, was strangled by Okada Izo.
[Note: Ansei Prison: After Naoki Ii became the boss, he persecuted the "Hitobashi faction" political incident, involving more than 100 people]
On September 23, four people, Yuri and Doshin, from the Kyoto Town Prison, who were known as "evil ghosts" in Ansei Prison, were killed.
On October 9, businessmen such as Hiranoya Jusaburo and Senbei Hanbei were exposed dead on the street for seeking unfair profits in trade.
On November 15, the body of Takashi Murayama, the concubine of Nagano’s chef, was found on three streets. On the same day, Takashi Murayama's son was also killed.
In this way, the atrocities committed by the "King-Respecting and Expelling the Barbarians" continued to expand and become widespread.
From the original practice of only killing ministers and warriors of the "Gongwu Combination Sect", to now, even ordinary people and weak women are not spared, even if they just say the wrong thing or simply dislike you. , may lead to fatal disaster.
The shogunate officials collectively believed that the bloody storm in Kyoto must be quelled as soon as possible.
Therefore, the shogunate decided on leap August 1st that the governorship in Kyoto alone was not enough. A new position of "Kyoto Guardian" was created, which has the power to command the Kyoto Sashiro, Osaka Castle Daimyo, and nearby daimyo. The Lord of the Aizu Domain, Matsudaira Yoshiro, assumed this important task and asked him to quell the unrest in the Kyoto area.
Speaking of Matsudaira Yongho, Qingden and him are quite close.
In the first year of Manen (1860), Matsudaira Yoho, who was staying in Edo for an imperial mission, funded and held a swordsmanship competition that only allowed novice swordsmen to participate in order to encourage young samurai to practice martial arts - Aoshito is here Won first place in this competition.
Matsudaira Yongho's calm and capable appearance left a deep impression on Qingto.
The Aizu clan, which is both loyal and powerful, can be called the most reliable and trustworthy ally of the shogunate at present.
Matsudaira Yoho, who was ordered to do so at the critical moment, personally led 1,000 Aizu domain soldiers southward to Kyoto and set up a main formation at Kurotani Kinkei Komyoji Temple to formally confront the rioters of the "King King and Expulsion Faction" in the name of "King Castle Guardian".
Although Shimazu Hisamitsu left Kyoto, the forces of the Satsuma Domain did not withdraw from Kyoto. Thousands of Satsuma Domain soldiers were still stationed in Kyoto.
In this way, a scene of vigorous vitality and all things competing for the "Three Kingdoms" appeared in a corner of Kyoto.
The "Respect the King and Repulse the Barbarians" formed an alliance with the ministers who held the theory of respecting the king and repelling the barbarians, and indirectly controlled the Changshu Domain of the imperial court.
The "combined public and military faction" and the Aizu clan who were loyal to the shogunate.
The Satsuma clan is both a "public-military fusion faction", but only cares about its own interests.
The three forces each have their own hidden agendas and are confronting each other.
The air in Kyoto was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder, and the situation was on the verge of breaking out.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the shogunate's power in Kyoto seems to be too weak, and Matsudaira Yongho is unable to support himself.
Therefore, just recently, some shogunate cabinet ministers proposed: Send another strongman to lead the army westward to subdue the capital!
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There are a full 9,000 words today! And it’s full of plot! Even if you use a stamping machine to press it, you can't get even a trace of moisture out! Since I started the book, this is the first time I have written a chapter with such a full plot (Leopard Smile.jpg)
Asking for a monthly ticket! Please vote for recommendation! (Leopard head crying.jpg)
This chapter is really important. It not only outlines the major events that have happened in the past year and eight months, but also sets the stage for the subsequent plot. If you don't understand and are familiar with this chapter, you will definitely not understand the plot behind it.
