Yes, just last year, in the second year of Ansei (1855), under the constant attack of natural and man-made disasters, the chief of Laozhong finally changed his name - Masahiro Abe, who was praised as the "smart power state" and was always good at playing both sides.

Unable to bear it anymore, he voluntarily gave up his position to Hota Masumu.

Since the sixth year of Horeki (1756), when the ninth-generation Tokugawa shogun Ieshige demoted the honcho "gosei servant" to the "old middle rank", the old middle rank has become the pinnacle of civil servants in the shogunate, and the first rank of the old middle rank has become the official title.

The first minister under Fang Yang.

Therefore, in the past years, when the leader of Laozhong was replaced, there would be great turmoil in the shogunate - both before and after.

There were already signs of this happening. On the fourth day of the eighth month of the Japanese calendar, Lao Zhongzhong Matsudaira Chengquan was dismissed, and Matsudaira Tadyu was forced to resign.

Also implicated was Hiromichi Ometsuke Ido - when the first black ship came to visit in the sixth year of Kayei (1853), he was the Uraga governor who participated in the negotiations.

The cause of the incident was the family of Tokugawa Saiaki, the old lord of Mito, headed by the Owari and Mito families, including Aizu, Satsuma, Fukuoka, Uwajima, Tokushima, Tottori, Okayama, etc., totaling more than 20 families.

The pro-vassal, genocide, and foreign daimyo united to demand that Edo properly handle three matters. Although the memorials were submitted separately, the contents were all centered around these three matters, and they were concentrated in July and August.

So anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that these big names are colluding.

The three events are "Procurement of Western Arms", "Confirmation of Foreign Policies" and "God's Warning":

The first "Western Ordnance Purchase" was an expression of dissatisfaction with the shogunate's monopoly. The shogunate purchased a large number of advanced ordnance through Xianheng Foreign Company, mainly rifled guns, breech-loading guns, revolvers and mines, but it has been kept secret.

After making a fortune, the secret was finally revealed.

There is no airtight wall in this world.

Especially after the second black ship visit in the seventh year of Kayei (1854), each family began to reorganize their weapons and equipment, and then these people discovered that something was wrong - they were all guns and cannons, why was the shogunate so effective?

In particular, the Mito clan was particularly dissatisfied - in September of the sixth year of Kayei (1853), during a drill for building a subway cannon island in Edo, after comparison, the large tubes cast by the family gained the reputation of being "not useful but useful".

Tokugawa Saiaki and his son originally thought it was a craftsman problem, but after careful investigation, they found that this was not the case at all. It turned out that the rifled cannon was causing trouble.

The Daimyo of Kyushu Island also discovered the existence of rifled guns in Odaiba, Nagasaki.

Everyone thought that this was sold to the shogunate by the Lan Guo Commercial House, so they ordered from the Lan Guo Commercial House through the shogunate. Rifled cannons were not a specialty of the Xianheng Company. Cavelli in the Kingdom of Sardinia made rifled cannons in 1846.

Subsequently, European countries imitated them one after another.

When the goods arrived, not only these people, but also the shogunate were shocked!

The Rangoku Shokan's rifled cannon is more effective than Fuso's bronze smoothbore cannon, but the effect is just that, and it is easy to explode. It is completely incomparable to the rifled cannon purchased by the shogunate before - Edo's Shinagawa Daiba and Nagasaki Daiba.

There are live-fire drills at the field, and someone who is interested has already obtained the specific data.

What's even more deceiving is that the material of the Lan Guo Shang Guan rifled cannon is bronze, which is extremely expensive, while the material of the Shogunate rifled cannon seems to be cast iron. Although the specific price is not known, any fool can understand that the price must be "

One in the sky and one on the earth.”

Fortunately, because the price was high, they didn't dare to sell more for the first time, so the purchasers were lucky enough to escape.

The shogunate also secretly rejoiced - Xianheng Foreign Company took the initiative to promote the business at that time, and because the price was much cheaper than that of Lan Guo Merchant, they chose this company. After all, it turns out that there are indeed honest businessmen in this world.

However, from then on, someone started to focus on the shogunate. Not long after, in addition to breech-loading cannons, they also took out breech-loading guns, revolvers and mines, and then asked the shogunate to purchase them on their behalf.

But how could the shogunate be willing to hand over such sharp weapons to outsiders, so they pushed back and delayed until the matter got out of hand - you said that the Kyoto court, the Edo shogunate and the daimyo from all over the country should unite as one, but you didn't agree at all.

Sharing, where is the sincerity and where is the integrity?!

The second major event is "confirmation of foreign policies."

This question was raised because one thing happened, and another thing was discovered, which confused many daimyo and ministers, so they couldn't do anything without asking.

"In the autumn and July of the second year of Anzheng, Lan Guo sent a steamboat."

The Ranguo Merchant Company sent a steam warship as agreed, and the shogunate renamed it "Kanko Maru" and established the Nagasaki Navy Training Center.

"Guanguangwan" is a mixed paddle wheel, steam and sail warship, with a total length of 65.8 meters, a displacement of 353 tons, a maximum speed of 6 knots, and 6 guns.

There is a saying, "You are at your peak when you are born, and you are left behind when you are well established."

This sentence can be used to describe Mito, Satsuma and other daimyo - they actively responded to the shogunate's call to build large ships, but after building them, they found that their efforts were in vain.

"Looking at the current situation, we know that big ships are necessary. Therefore, from today on, big names can build big ships. However, the manufacturing method, purpose of use and manufacturing quantity need to be reported."

This is the article on September 15th, the sixth year of Kaei (1853), when the shogunate lifted the ban on the construction of large ships.

Afterwards, the daimyo along the coast started plans to build large ships.

For example, in the same year, the Mito Domain began building the Western-style ship "Asahi Maru" on Ishikawa Island in Edo, and the Kagoshima Domain also began building the Western-style three-masted sailing ship "Shohei Maru".

In the seventh year of Kayei (1854), the Satsuma Shimazu family completed the manufacture of Etsutsu-bune, a small sailing ship with a Fuso shape and a Western keel. Although it was only less than 9 rooms (16 meters) long, it accumulated valuable experience.

At the end of the same year, the Satsuma Domain completed the construction of the "Shohei Maru" and handed it over to the shogunate. The Shohei Maru was later known as the "Shohei Maru". It was a three-masted sailing ship, 17 bays (31 meters) long, equipped with 16 cannons, and had a displacement of about

2800 stone (370 tons).

Satsuma Domain also started the construction of four other sailing battleships that year.

In comparison, the Mito Domain was much inferior. The "Asahi Maru" built at the Ishikawa Island Shipyard had a large number of problems discovered during the trial. It was basically hopeless and had to be demolished and rebuilt.

But the earliest Western warship built was the "Phoenix Maru" built by the shogunate. Construction started in October of the sixth year of Kayei and was completed in June of the seventh year of Kayei (1854). It was a three-masted sailing warship with a total length of 20 rooms (36.4

meters), with a displacement of 4,200 stone (550 tons).

But when Lan Guo's "tourist pill" came, everyone was a little discouraged. The hard work of building warships seemed to be of no use - everyone knew the benefits of steam ships, but if they can't be built now, how about continuing to build sail warships?

?

Originally, this was nothing. Now all Fuso knew that their warships were lagging behind, but another thing aroused everyone's anger:

It's not that the shogunate is on its own again this time - this time the Nagasaki Navy Training Center allows daimyo from all along the coast to send people to participate. However, the Tsushima Navy Training Center established in the previous year was exposed. When the daimyo took a look, this was not the case.

Do you eat alone? How much did the shogunate hide?

In addition, the most uncomfortable thing is that after confirmation, Lan Guo did not participate in Tsushima Navy training center. So which country did Tsushima’s Western instructors come from?

The whole Fuso family is united in fighting against foreign aggression. This time we must tell us, "Who did Edo secretly collude with without telling everyone? Will the country be opened for trade next year? We want the right to know!"

In the final analysis, this is the problem of the Fuso shogunate system - the important ministers of the shogunate are composed of a limited number of pro-dominary daimyo, genealogical daimyo and banners. Most of the Tokugawa pro-clan and many genealogical daimyo are lacking in depth.

Participate, so everyone is afraid of being tricked by the shogunate accidentally!

As for the last "divine warning", it was due to the continuous major earthquakes in Fusang in recent years. According to the Confucian theory of "the unity of nature and man", this was caused by someone, and various famous figures expressed uneasiness about this - in fact, it was a hint that "the court is in the middle"

Powerful ministers are in charge, and traitors are at work."

In fact, these are all suspicions caused by people’s fluctuations:

Ever since the shogunate signed two contracts with the Mi people and the English people in the seventh year of Kayei (1854), everyone in Fuso was a little panicked. After hundreds of years of peace, they were suddenly targeted by these evil spirits from the Western countries. What should they do in the future?

?Where is the way out?

The shogunate, as the center of Fuso's governance, that is, the leading brother, must solve this problem - otherwise it will end up being alienated and divided. This is a big crisis for the shogunate system composed of the shogunate and each lord!

"In times of national calamity, we miss our good generals." These two dozen big names have written letters. They are really not all sincere.

The reason for causing trouble to the shogunate was more or less because they felt a crisis and asked the shogunate to come up with a solution.

For example, Tokugawa Saiaki, Shimazu Saibin and others all felt that if they were in power, the situation would be much better.

Therefore, under the pressure of external forces, the shogunate system, which was originally very fragile in internal cohesion, has been subjected to a huge test. Since the seventh year of Kayei (1854), Chief Abe and others in the Ansei Reform proposed "lifting fuso"

Consistent", he drove himself to a dead end.

To "unify Fusang", it is necessary to have a small court and extensive participation of daimyo in governance. The previous organizational structure is no longer suitable, and a new power structure must be found.

The pie of power is so big, how will it be distributed if there are too many people eating it? Whoever gives in is a fool, so it is not surprising that disputes or even fights occur!

These are the conclusions that Naohide and Yingmin came to later when they analyzed the current situation.

This information was learned by Egawa Hidetoshi when he was on a mission to Edo at the end of April 1856. Most of the inside information came from Nagasaki's envoy Oguri Tadjun - Oguri "residence for one year" in Edo since October 1855, and another long-term

Saki followed Arao Shigemitsu while he was "in the country" in Nagasaki.

According to what Yingmin learned about the situation, in response to the doubts raised by many famous people, the response of the old and middle-aged people at that time seemed very weak:

Regarding the suspicion of being a one-man shop caused by the "Western arms procurement", although the middlemen gritted their teeth and did not expose the existence of Xianheng Foreign Company, they still handed over the goods list and gave up 40% of the ordnance share allocation;

As for why the "Tsushima Marine Training Center" was kept secret, the veterans said that "the situation is special". The other party is a maritime trade force, not a certain country, so there is no situation where the shogunate communicates with a certain country in private;

"Confirmation of foreign policies", the shogunate once again expressed its attitude of working together and reiterated that "opening the port is a helpless move, and no trade is the current national policy";

As for the "divine warning", the old and middle-aged people believe that "the official government seemed to have divine help and issued disaster prevention instructions in advance before many earthquakes. Many families benefited from it, so the shogunate was protected by all the gods. This suspicion of 'warning' is completely

Incorrect".

However, Matsudaira Tadayu, who originally advocated "peace is the most important thing" and supported the signing of the two agreements, was still forced to resign in August of the Japanese calendar. This time, most of the famous names in the list are tough.

They opposed signing an agreement with the Americans and the British, believing that "they are greedy people who are greedy and greedy. Once the agreement is made, there will be endless troubles." Therefore, the two resigned to appease these people.

However, "the gourd was overturned, and the gourd was lifted." Although the Qi Zhao family was appeased, many Daimyos and Hatamoto who controlled the actual power of the shogunate began to be dissatisfied, believing that "the response was too weak and would lose the prestige of the shogunate." Therefore, the chief

In early October of the Japanese calendar, Lao Naka Abe and others added a new Lao Naka, Hota Masumu—this man was highly respected and had originally supported signing agreements with foreign countries. Appointing him was a kind of balance.

Since then, Abe's nickname of "Laotan Catfish" has spread like wildfire - "Laotan Catfish" is a kind of origin (mascot) of fuso. People use this to ridicule Mr. Abe's tendency to "screaming children have milk".

"Eat", whoever makes a big fuss will benefit.

However, not long after Hota Masaki took office, "in October of winter, there was a great earthquake in Edo." Attendant Abe, who was overwhelmed by government affairs and disaster prevention, was finally exhausted mentally and physically, and voluntarily gave up the throne of the chief minister to Hota Masaki.

In April of the seventh year of Kayei (1854), because of the signing of the "Fuso U.S. Peace Agreement", Abe's servant resigned on his own initiative, but was persuaded by the new Crown Prince to stay. The same thing happened this time, and the Crown Prince

Yan Jiading still refused to let Abe completely resign. He only agreed to his resignation as the chief of Laozhong and appointed him as "Shengshou Fang Laozhong" - Shengshou Fang Laozhong was in charge of finance and agricultural affairs. He had great real power and was regarded as

Second seat for senior middle school students.

During the same period, other important positions in the shogunate were adjusted. The most important one was that the position of "Omatsuke" as the highest censor was increased by two people after the resignation of Hiromichi Ido, Ryobi Atobe and Toki.

Yorishi-Daimatsu was held by the shogunate Hatamoto, which means that in this turmoil caused by the daimyo, the daimyohatamoto also made their own reaction to it.

As for the White Lord's two-part implementation, Hori Naohide and Egawa Hidetoshi not only survived the storm unscathed, but were also promoted to official positions in April of the following year, on the grounds that they "have the courage to serve."
Chapter completed!