The Ministry of War is in charge of the world's military forces, and the Chief of the Ministry of War is responsible for supervising all the documents and files of this government office... At first glance, it seems deceptive, but in fact it just sounds nice.
In Japan under the shogunate, it is unnecessary to talk about the specific responsibilities and actual powers of imperial officials.
The emperor and ministers of the Kyoto court relied on the support of the shogunate and the feudal lords for their daily food and clothing.
There is no military power, financial power or governance power.
How can such a court have a military department?
If there is not a single soldier under his command, what power does the Ministry of War have?
To put it simply, these official positions in the Kyoto court are basically honorary titles.
Certain official positions are hereditary.
The ministers hold various important official positions according to their family status.
For example, a person who serves as a Taishei minister must be from the Gosei family (Konoe clan, Kujo clan, Takashi clan, Nijo clan, Ichijo clan) or the Seika clan (Kuga clan, Sanjo clan, Saionji clan,
Duke of the Tokudaiji clan, the Hanazhanin clan, the Okaimikado clan, the Kondekawa clan, the Daigo clan, and the Hirohata clan).
Some vassal daimyo can also obtain hereditary and irreplaceable official positions.
For example, the feudal lord of the Aizu Domain has been entrusted to five superiors from generation to generation to hold one post.
Under the careful design of the shogunate, the official positions in the imperial court had neither actual power nor specific benefits.
It has no use except making your name more famous.
Qingdeng's title of "Dacheng of the Ministry of War" is purely a false title that is of no use at all.
The minister of war, the chief assistant of the war department and the young assistant of the war department above him are all vacant, waiting for someone to make great achievements in the future and reward these official positions to others.
From a utilitarian point of view, imperial official positions are indeed useless.
However, if we use the values of this era to measure it, being awarded an official position in the imperial court is indeed a great honor.
First, influenced by the Zunxing Movement, the political status of the Kyoto court was strengthened to an epic level, and the value of the court's official position also greatly increased.
Secondly, driven by historical inertia, people have a special "filter" for imperial official positions.
Since the Heian period, those big figures have always had to obtain recognition from the Kyoto court before doing big things, such as usurping power.
The most typical example is Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the end of the Warring States Period.
Not just any cat or dog can create a shogunate.
Theoretically, only military nobles (from the Minamoto and Taira clans) could serve as generals to conquer barbarians and establish a shogunate.
The Ashikaga family (Genji) who founded the Muromachi shogunate, and the Tokugawa family (Genji) who founded the Edo shogunate, are all like this.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born into a poor peasant family.
His relationship with the military aristocrats is like the relationship between Kaspersky and Pakistan - there is a Kiba relationship.
Therefore, he was naturally not destined to be the general who conquered the barbarians.
So, he found another way.
After unifying the world, he changed his surname to Fujiwara as the adopted son of Konoe Maekyu, became Kanpaku and concurrently served as the Taizheng Minister. Later, he was given the surname Toyotomi by the emperor and founded the Toyotomi regime.
[Note: Guan Bai: The official position outside the official system of laws and regulations is equivalent to the prime minister in the Tang Dynasty. It is not a member of the Taizheng minister. It is an official position created by the Guan government during the Heian period and later became an honorary official. 】
Over time, this became a political practice - if you want to achieve great things, you must first be granted an official position by the imperial court, which means you must obtain the recognition and support of the imperial court.
This is just like the abdication in ancient China. Although it is all a pretentious trick, with a group of people acting out hypocritically, it is a necessary process.
Therefore, in the understanding of most people in the Edo period, being able to obtain an official position in the imperial court is a full affirmation of your social status and your own abilities.
In ancient Japan, just like ancient China, when someone reached the XX Ministry, they could be given the honorific title of "XX Ministry".
For example, Du Fu, who was once an official and a member of the Ministry of Engineering and Inspection, once had the honorific title of "Du Gongbu".
In other words, from now on, Aomori has a new honorific title - Tachibana Military Department.
According to the custom that "the status of imperial officials is higher than that of shogunate officials", the rank of the honorific "Tachibana Soldiers" will be higher than "Tachibana-sama", "Nioh-sama" and other titles.
If nothing else, until he resigned as the Chief of the Ministry of War, people in the officialdom would refer to Qing Teng as "Orange Ministry of War".
The rank of the Minister of War is lower than the sixth rank. Although this rank is not high, it is definitely not low, and it is in line with Qingden's current status and achievements.
After all, Qingteng is not yet a daimyo, and it would not be appropriate for him to obtain an excessively high official position.
Official positions above the sixth rank were basically held by ministers and daimyo of the vassal state.
In other words, Qingteng must at least become a daimyo of one of the separatist parties in order to obtain a higher-level official position.
And this goal... is not far away!
Qingdeng's original salary was 5,220 dan.
Now another 3,000 stones have been added, so now it is 8,220 stones.
In the Edo period, ten thousand stone family wealth was a watershed.
Beneath thousands of stones, there are ordinary samurai who can only earn dead wages.
And above ten thousand stones... it is a veritable great name that has its own autonomous territory and can appoint subordinates!
By then, Qingden will have truly reached the realm that countless warriors throughout the ages have dreamed of - becoming the master of a city and a land!
…
…
Different from the past, Qingden had only received rewards from the shogunate.
This time, because he has been awarded an official position by the imperial court, according to the etiquette system, Qingteng will go to the Imperial Palace in person to accept the official appointment from the imperial court.
Imperial Palace - the emperor's palace.
The investiture ceremony is scheduled for April 18.
Logically speaking, the imperial court would not make any big arrangements for just granting an official position to someone from the sixth rank.
However, Qingden's current social status and political energy are too transcendent to be measured by ordinary rules and common sense.
So, after considering the actual conditions and various factors, the imperial court decided to make a grand decision and held an extremely grand conferment ceremony for Qingdeng.
At this time, the current emperor, all the high-ranking ministers of the imperial court, and senior ministers stationed in Kyoto - such as Matsudaira Yongho and others - will all dress up to attend.
Since you want to enter the temple to meet the saint, you must treat him with great ceremony.
On this day, Qing Deng put on the most formal official attire for the first time.
Military attire (tunics) and public attire are not the same thing.
Qingdeng has always felt that the former was extremely ugly, lacking details and beauty, and had pauldron-like protrusions on its shoulders, resembling a giant flying cockroach.
In comparison, official attire is more beautiful and more grand.
After all, the prototype of public formal attire is the official uniform of the Tang Dynasty.
For this reason, its shape has a strong Tang style.
Time passed...in the blink of an eye, April 18th came quietly.
The sky was still dark today, so Qingdeng crawled out of bed and made the necessary preparations for today's conferment ceremony.
What stands out about the method of wearing official attire is that it is complicated. It is absolutely impossible for one person to put it on alone.
Just like putting on a crown or tightening a belt, you have to rely on the help of others.
Among all the newly selected people, the only person who knows how to wear official attire is Sanako, who comes from an outstanding family.
As a last resort, Qingteng could only find Sanako and ask her to help.
At first, Sanako was a little unhappy.
She curled her red lips and muttered "It's really troublesome"... In fact, she was just shy about "helping Qingdeng get dressed".
In fact, there is nothing to be ashamed of.
Qingdeng was not naked. Before putting on his official attire, he would definitely put on his white undershirt. There was nothing impure about it.
If it were the director-general, he would have helped Qingdeng get dressed without batting an eyelid.
However, in the eyes of Sanako, who is conservative in thinking and regards chastity as her life, "men wearing underwear" and "naked men" are the same thing.
It took a lot of effort for Qingto to finally get Sanako to suppress his shame and timidly walk into his room.
In this way, with the help of Sanako, Qingto finally put on a brand new official attire with difficulty——
He wears a black crown of Zaoluo Zaohui on his head, holds a tooth wat in his hand, wears a straight black turban, a white hakama, and a gold and silver belt around his waist.
[Note: Wat: A long and narrow board held by the officials in ancient times when they met with the monarch. It was made of jade, ivory, etc. according to rank. Events could be written on it. Vertical: A kind of top-lower skirt-style clothing, with the top collar crossed and a wide triangle
Sleeves, chest ties.]
At six o'clock in the morning (6 o'clock in the morning), the imperial envoys showed up on time.
They carried a luxurious sedan and came to greet Qingdeng.
Compared with ordinary sedans, there is no big difference between the imperial sedan chair and the ordinary sedan chair, except that the appearance is more flashy and there are more people to help you carry the sedan chair.
They are all like carrying a coffin, a long and thick piece of wood with a car hanging underneath.
Not to mention Akira, the most terrible thing is that Japanese people are generally short, so the interior of the sedan is not very spacious.
Every time Qingdeng sat in the sedan chair, he didn't get in, but squeezed in.
He had to tighten his shoulders, bend down, and bury his head before he could stuff himself into the sedan.
After entering the sedan chair, he must remain motionless. If he raises his head or stretches out his arms, he will definitely bump into them.
Therefore, Qingden hated riding in a sedan chair.
Every time he sat in the sedan, he would feel extremely uncomfortable. He would rather walk than stay in the sedan for one more second.
However, the imperial envoys would definitely not agree to Qingdeng's request.
The protagonist of today's investiture ceremony was not carried in, but walked over by himself - if this matter spread, wouldn't it make people laugh?
There is nothing I can do... No matter how painful and uncomfortable it is, I can only endure it a little bit.
Fortunately, the Imperial Palace is located in the heart of Luozhong, not far from Rensheng Township.
In just a moment, the majestic Jianli Gate appeared in front of Qingdeng.
【Note·Jianlimen: It is the main gate of the Imperial Palace, also known as the South Imperial Gate.】
After passing through the Jianli Gate, turn left and go forward, where you can see the rooms between the officials and the imperial chariots.
The imperial chariot gate is an ancient Tang Po Feng gate, where nobles can ascend to the palace to meet the emperor. When the scholar-bureaucrats enter the palace, they must put on the Qianda specially used for visiting the palace.
[Note: Tang Po Feng: A common front entrance roof decoration component in traditional Japanese architecture is a building with concave sides and a bow-shaped protrusion in the center, similar to a rain shelter. 】
Qianda is the Tao originating from ancient China.
Japanese asada generally refers to shoes made of leather, with silk padded on the inside and black paint on the outside.
After changing your shoes in the royal chariot, you can then go through the corridor and enter the "Sakura Room" (room for scholar-bureaucrats), "Hejian" (room for nobles), and "Tiger Room" (room for officials), which are divided into different levels from west to east.
).
[Note: His Majesty: a mid-level official serving the Emperor in the Japanese court.]
These three rooms are collectively referred to as the "doctor's room", which are three tatami rooms separated by Japanese-style sliding doors with pictures of tigers, cranes, and cherry blossoms painted on them.
Aoshinobu was a scholar-official, so he naturally stayed in the Sakura Room, silently waiting for the emperor's interview.
The waiting process is extremely long...
It was not until about half an hour later that he finally received the order to meet him.
Under the leadership of the envoys, he passed through the connecting corridor between the officials and entered the small imperial palace behind the Zichen Hall.
Zichen Hall is the main hall of the imperial palace. It is spacious, majestic, solemn and dignified. It is the main building in the main building complex of the imperial palace. It is also called the "South Hall" or "Front Hall".
Next to Zichen Hall is Qingliangden, also called Zhongdian, which is the daily residence of the emperor.
To the northeast of Zichen Hall, there is another building with a wooden structure and a juniper skin roof, called the "Little Imperial Palace".
Generally speaking, only extremely solemn ceremonial activities such as the emperor's enthronement, New Year's Day celebrations, White Horse Festival celebrations, crown prince installation, Yuanfu ceremony, abdication of throne, Dharma practice, etc., will be held in the Zichen Hall.
As for general daily activities and business processing, they are carried out in Qingliang Hall or Xiaoyushuo.
Qingdeng's conferment ceremony was held in the Small Imperial Palace.
As soon as he entered the small imperial palace, Qingdeng saw a lot of strange people.
The "strange shapes" here are not an exaggerated description.
Rather, it is truly bizarre!
Looking around, the left and right sides of the small imperial palace were already filled with well-dressed ministers.
Every time he saw the minister's appearance, Qingdeng couldn't help but shudder and felt his heart tremble.
There is no other reason - the appearance of these ministers is really scary!
Although it is now the 19th century, the ministers still retain the dress style of the Nara and Heian periods.
Black teeth, white face, high eyebrows - the "three-piece suit" most loved by ministers.
Use special black paste to dye your teeth black.
His face was covered with thick white powder.
The eyebrows are plucked and then an oval is drawn on the top of the eyebrows with ink - this custom of shaving or plucking the eyebrows and then applying paint is called "Dian Shang Mei".
Think about this picture...
The face is pale, with no eyebrows. There are round black patches where the eyebrows should be, and when he opens his mouth, there are two rows of black teeth... It's really scary!
Qingdeng tried his best to look straight ahead and not look at the ministers on the left and right sides.
Otherwise, he would really feel physically uncomfortable after seeing too many of the terrifying appearances of these ministers!
After a while, Qingdeng saw some familiar people.
The Lord of Aizu Domain, Matsudaira Yoho, led a group of ministers and sat in a corner of the small imperial palace.
Because they came to attend a court ceremony, Matsudaira Yongho and others also wore solemn official attire.
After noticing Qingden's gaze, Matsudaira Yongbao turned his head to the side, nodded to him gently, and gave him a silent greeting from a distance.
Matsudaira Yongho was a noble of the martial arts family, so he naturally would not shave his eyebrows or dye his teeth like the nobles of the public family (gongqing).
Looking at Matsudaira Yongho's normal appearance, Qingden felt relieved - this is what human beings should look like!
At this moment, Qingden suddenly felt a sharp gaze.
He followed this line of sight and looked sideways - he saw a rather young, ugly-looking young minister with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, glaring at him with an intriguing look.
After realizing that Qingdeng had noticed him, the young minister immediately looked away and pretended that nothing happened.
Qingdeng recognized this person immediately.
This person is none other than the leader of the "Zunbo Pai Gongqing" - Sanjo Sanmei.
To put it simply, this person can be considered his political enemy.
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This chapter has been completed!