From the visit of the black ships in the sixth year of Kayei (1853) to the beginning of the fifth year of the Shogunate Ansei (1858), Fuso's political situation was in turmoil, and the Qi Zhao group took many actions.

To put it simply, the political situation means that "the original person at the helm died, and the new person at the helm was unable to convince the public, which led to constant internal disputes."

On June 22, the sixth year of Kaei, ten days after the first visit of the Kurofune, the then-gongfeng Jiaqing died due to an aggravation of his illness. However, the successor shogun Iashada was weak, so the shogunate actually became

The ministers were the main ones, and the power fell into the hands of the senior middlemen headed by Masahiro Abe.

Due to the successive man-made disasters (the persecution of Western countries) and natural disasters (three consecutive years of major earthquakes), the shogunate, which had been in peace for a long time, was at a loss. Faced with the crisis, it had to relax its power and control, so it originally replaced the name with a genealogy.

The ruling method of taking the main banner as the main body was broken, and the Kyoto court, which was originally marginalized, began to interfere in the affairs of the shogunate.

It is a pity that the old order has been destroyed, but the new order of governance has not been established for a long time - as long as the sweetness of power has been tasted, no one is willing to let it go.

In the process of rebalancing power, the conflicts between the various parties continued to escalate, and the "culprits" that triggered this change, the former chief veteran Abe Masahiro and his family, were unable to quell the disputes, so he had to prepare to retire sadly.

In October of the second year of Ansei (1855), citing the occurrence of the Great Edo Earthquake, Abe resigned as Chief Laochu, and Masumu Hotta took over. Abe originally wanted to leave completely, but he had been serving as Laochu for ten years before.

As the chief of the Central Committee, he has high prestige and huge potential power. All parties need him to balance the situation, so he cannot leave. In desperation, he had no choice but to switch to the winning side and continue to serve at the Lao-China Evaluation Committee.

The confidence of all parties to fight comes from strength and "righteousness."

In terms of strength, the official height of the shogunate's royal family (including the flag territory) is about 6.8 million koku; the territory of the Daidai Daimyo is about 6.7 million koku; the official feudal clan's is about 2.6 million koku; and the outside daimyo's is nearly 10 million koku.

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The Shodai daimyo and Hatamoto who originally controlled the political situation, and the Ishigao who managed it, accounted for half of the total number of Fuso, and the responsibilities of the shogunate were all in the hands of these people, so the Shinto clan and Gaibo were naturally at a disadvantage.

But nominally speaking, the feudal lord and the shogun are closer than others. After all, they have the same ancestor.

However, it has been nearly 250 years since the Tokugawa family established the shogunate. Therefore, although the surnames of Tokugawa and Matsudaira are still attached to the clan, their bloodline has gradually become distant from that of the shogun family. Therefore, in some genealogical daimyo and banners

It seems that being a vassal is only honorable in name.

However, the shogunate ruled the world with Confucianism, and with the influence of tradition, great justice, that is, reputation, was extremely valued:

The hereditary territory of Daimyo and Banata is passed down by the family name, and the shogunate's service is also awarded based on the family's high status.

Take Oguri Tadatsun as an example. His family background is 2,500 koku. Therefore, as long as his talents are comparable when he reaches adulthood, he will naturally have a high-level service in the shogunate waiting for him.

The shogunate himself was even more proud of Tokugawa Gorenji, and regarded himself as a relative of the Tokugawa family.

In the past, the daimyō of the shogunate had always participated in the shogunate affairs through interactions with the shogunate - after all, the shogunate still belonged to the Tokugawa family, so the lord of the shogunate naturally held the highest power. In theory, all shogunate decrees required the final approval of the shogunate, and the shogunate naturally acted as

Naturally, the Tokugawa lineage could influence the shogunate by being close to the public.

However, because the shogunate family was considered to be weak and weak, the influence of each family's vassals on the shogunate was actually weakened in recent years.

Although there were two pro-clan representatives among the five elders, there were still some dissatisfied among the pro-clan members after Iedada succeeded to the throne - in the second year of Honghua (1845), the first year of Kayei (1848), Matsudaira Norizen, Matsudaira Tadashi

You were promoted to Laozhong, and when Gongyang succeeded to the throne in the sixth year of Jiayong (1853), both of them were still Laozhong.

In fact, this is understandable - although all the kin-domains are branches of the Tokugawa, their blood lines have long been estranged after more than 250 years of independent development. Therefore, these two old and middle-aged daimyos of the kin-domain cannot and cannot

Wish it, let alone represent the interests of all pro-vassals.

In addition, the deaths of Kōkō and Daigosho Iekei in Western countries caused great chaos in the political situation. Therefore, many vassal daimyo could not wait to have the idea of ​​personally participating in politics. The daimyo had the right to go to the city every month to discuss matters, but in fact, their participation in politics was very weak.

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First, the pilgrimage request requires replacement every other year. If the daimyo himself is not present, he can only leave it to fate;

Second, even if you are present and participate in the discussions on the city, you are only participating in expressing opinions. You have no decision-making power, only the right to make suggestions. The real power is still in the hands of the Lao-Chinese Appraisal Committee - the public officials do not like to take care of things, so the Lao-Chinese have more power.

increase.

Therefore, among the nominally close vassal leaders, the Yu Sanjia and the Yu Sanqing, there are people who are ready to make moves.

In particular, the Mito Domain had convenient conditions and unique advantages - Mito was a feudal lord of the royal family. In other words, the head of the Mito Tokugawa family was legally required to assist the general in Edo.

However, it was Mito himself who messed up things before.

The old lord of Mito, Tokugawa Saiaki, was ordered to "live in seclusion" by the shogunate in the first year of Koka (1844) because he was not on good terms with the then-incumbent Duke Nogata Iekei, and because of his political disagreements, he offended many people.

"Prudent", he stayed away from the shogunate from then on. Keitsu, who took over as the head of the family, was only thirteen years old at the time, and his opinions were not taken seriously at all.

However, Qi Zhao's potential power is huge - he has many sons and daughters, his sons are adopted as the crown prince of his domain, and many of his daughters marry other daimyo. Moreover, Qi Zhao has a straightforward personality and extraordinary talents. Although he has offended many people, he still supports

He also has many.

For example, Date Munejo, the lord of the Uwajima domain who was famous for his negotiation, almost made Qi Akira his son-in-law - they were already engaged, but before the marriage, Qi Akira's daughter suddenly died of illness.

For example, Qingsheng, the head of the Owari Tokugawa family in the Gosan family, was made famous by Sai Zhao, and the head of the branch domain was appointed as the head of the main family. He himself was of Mito blood - his ancestor was the adopted son of the Mito clan, so Qingsheng

He is very close to Qi Zhao.

For another example, Keinaga, the head of the Fukui Matsudaira clan, admired Qi Zhao very much and asked Qi Zhao for advice on how to manage the feudal government before he became a feudal lord.

Qi Zhao, who had huge potential power, originally turned over after the death of General Ie-kei in the sixth year of Jiayong (1853). He was attracted by Abe, the chief minister of Laozhong at the time, and resumed his participation in the shogunate affairs in the name of Haibogaku.

However, due to Naohide's intrusion, the shogunate had some confidence when Kurofune came to visit, so Qi Zhao, who advocated a tough attitude in foreign negotiations, came out of the army again before the death of the Duke.

However, Qi Zhao was still unhappy in the shogunate affairs - in Naohide's original world, because of his tough attitude toward foreign affairs, Qi Zhao was considered by many to be "an unintended enemy who wanted to destroy the life of the shogunate."

After Naohide's chaos, the shogunate knew more about the outside world, so the shogunate, especially Laozhong and Da Shenhaben, supported Qi Zhao even less. This time, he was further considered to be "talking on paper, with great ambition and limited talent."

However, Qi Zhao's hardline views are quite popular. In addition, ten years before Kurofune's visit, he had been advocating for strengthening coastal defense. He was regarded as prescient and therefore had a high reputation. This was the shogunate's decree and message to seize the country.

The trouble caused by the secrecy policy. Many people do not know the real gap with Western countries. Everyone only sees that the shogunate surrendered without fighting, but they cannot understand the reason why the shogunate made this decision, so they have expectations for Qi Zhao who dares to fight.

and good feelings.

The outside daimyo on the fringes of the shogunate also supported Qi Zhao for various reasons:

Needless to say, there is no need to mention the relationship between relatives and friends. The main reason why others support Qi Zhao is because they share the same political views, burn a cold stove and take advantage of the opportunity to make profits.

The daimyo along the coast were all very frightened by the invasion of Western countries. Many of them hoped that the shogunate could lead the shogunate to protect their own territories, so they naturally had a favorable impression of the hard-line leader Qi Zhao. Qi Zhao united with the slogan of jointly resisting aggression.

There are many daimyo, but the shogunate did much worse in this regard.

Although the shogunate also asked each country to strengthen coastal defense, relaxed the ban on large ship building and the purchase of ordnance, and also put forward the slogan of supporting Fuso, these were all recorded in the name of Qi Zhao and his family, and were considered to be promoted by him, and even among the people

There is a saying that Qi Zhao and his family are the reformists, while the Lao and middle-aged people are the die-hards.

There are many reasons for this impression:

First, Qi Zhao is famous in this regard - Qi Zhao was the first to propose the construction of coastal defenses, and was also the earliest person to trial-build large ships. Moreover, he was brave in doing things, and the sponsor or instigator of many laws was Qi Zhao. Over time, Qi Zhao and his family were

Considered an innovator, his reputation grew.

Second, the shogunate is indeed very old and very unpopular - before the Kurofune's visit, the shogunate imposed many restrictions on the armaments of each domain; after the Kurofune's visit, many shogunate officials were worried that each clan would use this to increase their strength, so they relaxed and increased their military strength.

There are many restrictions, such as too long declaration time limit or quantity limit, etc.

In addition, the shogunate had many black-box operations, such as clinging to the channels of Lan Guo Commercial House and Xianheng Foreign Company.

The various vassals complained about this, so they pinned their hopes for change on the Qi Zhao family.

The reason for burning the cold stove is because of Hitotsubashi Qingxi - Gongfang Jiading has never had any heirs, and the market for establishing Qingxi as Nishi Maruyang continues to rise. As Qingxi's biological father, Qi Zhao naturally also rises.

As for taking advantage of the opportunity to make profits, it’s even simpler:

Originally, the foreign daimyo had always been a marginal figure in the shogunate, so he had no part in the good deeds and could not escape the drudgery even if he wanted to.

The claims of Qi Zhao's family gave these outsiders hope - Mito, where Qi Zhao was located, had always advocated the theory of Mito respecting the king.

Although the shogunate still respects the small imperial court in Kyoto, and then each feudal lord respects the shogunate, after all, it is a trap for the dominant shogunate - in the future, if the daimyo is wronged, he can still go back to the small imperial court if it is not possible.

Thinking of other ways is, after all, one more way.

As for those who want to completely get rid of the shogunate, after more than two hundred years of accumulated power, no one has the courage at this time.

With the support of many relatives, friends, allies and foreign daimyo, and his noble status as a top vassal, the straightforward Qi Zhao naturally began to give advice on the shogunate affairs.

In the first year of Ansei (1854), the shogunate signed the "Peace Agreement" with the Mi people and the British. There should have been an agreement with Lucia, but Naohide assisted the Anglo-French allied forces to successfully wipe out the Lucia Far East territory, causing the special envoy

Pujiatin disappeared, so naturally the agreement could not be signed.

Starting from the fourth month of the second year of the Japanese calendar, Qi Zhao united with many daimyo to put pressure on the central government of the shogunate. He believed that the two agreements had seriously damaged Fuso's interests and shaken Fuso's foundation, and demanded that someone be responsible for this.

Indeed, these two agreements were alliances under the city, especially when the black ship came for the second time. The American Admiral Perry repeatedly provoked them with force. When they were signed, everyone was not satisfied, so they just swallowed their anger.

This year, rice ships and English ships frequently visited Fuso according to last year's agreement, which caused some disputes and turmoil, initially showing the negative consequences of the agreement. This caused many daimyo and ministers to change their original views. Qi Zhao and his family

The momentum also increased greatly.

But there was no turning back. Although Qi Zhao and others did report the signing of the agreement at the time, a year later Qi Zhao and his colleagues found out about the matter again. It can only be said that the drunkard's intention was not to drink, but to have other motives.

In fact, on April 10, the seventh year of Kayei (1854), shortly after the "Fuso-American Peace Agreement" was signed, Lao-Chinese chief Abe Masahiro submitted a letter to resign to apologize, but was persuaded by the public to stay.

This time Qi Zhao and his party attacked the matter again, so Abe was naturally embarrassed to stay in office and asked to resign again.

But the result of the matter was: on August 4th of the Japanese calendar, Abe still remained as the chief of the Lao Chu. He had clearly supported the two former feudal lords who signed the agreement, Matsudaira Jozen and Matsudaira Tadayu, who were dismissed.

The results are so confusing that they naturally lead to speculation:

Some say that "Abe's servants and the old lord of Mito reached a secret agreement to settle the matter." Others say that it was because Qi Zhaoyi's letter specified the impeachment of Matsudaira Nozozen and Matsudaira Tadyu. Anyway, there are different opinions.

After that, he pulled out the radish and pulled out the mud. There were many daimyo and important officials of the shogunate who supported the signing of the agreement that day. After the news spread, these people also began to write letters one after another to argue for the two old ministers who were dismissed.

There are two reasons for this recurring situation:

First, the pilgrimage report came to Edo the following year. When Qi Zhaoyi submitted the letter, many daimyo and Tokoku followers were not in Edo, so they did not know about it;

Second, those who knew about it didn’t care too much.

After all, before signing the agreement at that time, the shogunate held a special evaluation meeting to discuss this matter. Logically speaking, unless it was a big mistake and there was a big flaw, no one of the senior officials should be held responsible for this matter.

Especially since Mr. Abe had already resigned as chief and apologized for his sins, it would be a bit unkind to bring this up again.

Therefore, many people thought that the matter would be settled, and the most they could do was to impose a fine, so many people did not care.

However, Matsudaira Jozen and Matsudaira Tadyu were really dismissed for their crimes, which was a bit unexpected.
Chapter completed!