It was April 23rd, the fifth year of Ansei (1858), that Ii Sobu took office as the eldest boss of the shogunate, and he was assassinated or, according to the shogunate, was seriously ill and unable to govern, which happened on the third day of this year.

The first day of the month.

Calculated this way, the elder Ii's time in power was less than two years - shorter than the term of his predecessor, the chief of Laozhong, Hota Masumu. At any rate, Hota served from October of the second year of Ansei (1855) to the fifth year of Ansei (

1858) June, which lasted nearly three years. Even if Jing Yi was the elder, it was still two and a half years.

What changes happened to the shogunate during Ii's reign?

Apart from the "Wuwu Secret Edict Case" and internal fighting, he actually did a lot of things:

Simply divide it into two categories: external and internal.

The most famous one to the outside world is of course the signing of the Five-Nation Trade Agreement.

In the fifth year of Anzheng (1858), Jingyi signed trade agreements with the four countries of Milan, England, and Buddhism without obtaining the consent of the small court. The following year, he signed the same agreement with Lucia, and the agreement was signed according to the cultural tenth year (

1813) of the Old Testament, and the cloudy islands that divided the north.

Many people in Fusang were dissatisfied with this, and those leading the charge were Qi Zhao and his group, who believed that the concession was too much.

But Naohide and his colleagues have a high opinion of this. They are not as strong as others, so they have to sign. Otherwise, it will really become a toast and a penalty. Naohide and others have been tossing and turning in the north, but in the future,

A year's delay did not finally change the signing of the contract with Lucia. This is the situation and it has to be this way.

In addition, there is a famous misunderstanding in later generations, that is, the Ansei Five Kingdoms Trade Agreement has no deadline. In fact, there is, and it was agreed at that time to "revise the treaty after fourteen years." As for the later change to an unlimited period, it was on the fifth day of the second year of Keio

The "Tariff Reform Treaty" signed between the shogunate and the Western countries on June 25, 1866 did a good job. Moreover, it was not really indefinite at that time. It was just an agreement that "if one party (the Westerners) does not agree, the tax rate will be reduced."

Cannot be changed" is all.

And others don’t know, but Naohide knows that in his original world, in August 1859, Muravyov, the governor of Siberia, led 9 warships to Edo Bay and proposed that "Northern Land should be drawn along the 48° north latitude line"

boundary, the entire northern Ezo land belongs to Lucia." However, the Daioii family firmly refused.

Judging from this incident, Jing Yi did not just grovel to the outside world, it was just that his strength was greatly different and he had to submit.

Moreover, Jing Yi also did a big thing, which can prove that he is not willing to submit to the Western countries all the time.

This major event had a profound impact on the end of the shogunate, and truly opened the prelude to the integration of public and military forces. Although the Qi Zhao family had long proposed that the Fuso event required the approval of the small court in Kyoto, in fact, it basically only stayed at the shogunate to report the trial of the small court.

Stage. Kyoto wants to intervene in major affairs, but in fact it has neither institutional guarantees nor a basis for cooperation with the shogunate.

Of course, if Qi Zhao and his family come to power, these two things may be supplemented.

In October of the fifth year of Ansei (1858), one month after the Ansei Prison began, while suppressing the small imperial court, Ii began to test, "Can the imperial family and the Tokugawa family marry?"

Before this, the Tokugawa family, the generals who conquered barbarians, had married their daughters to the royal family, but the father-in-law himself married the daughter or adopted daughter of a top minister. This marriage between the royal family and the Tokugawa family was undoubtedly Ii's plan to drain money from the bottom of the cauldron -

-Don’t make it so ugly when everyone is fighting for power. How wonderful it is to have a marriage. They are connected by blood. You are one of us and you are one of me. Nothing can be discussed in the future.

Originally, the royal family did not agree. After all, this was their last face and bottom line - the shogunate was a minister in name. It would be too dangerous for the royal princess to marry a minister. To save others by oneself, if the royal bloodline is cut off, then the Tokugawa family

There seems to be nothing wrong with having an adopted son become emperor. Besides, Anzheng Prison is so ugly, what do you want from the shogunate?

But Akiguii is not someone to be trifled with, so the Fuso royal family has been perfunctory, not saying yes or no, saying, "Such a big matter should not be taken lightly. We must confirm all the details first before talking about it."

During this period, the elder Jingyi informed the small court and the royal family through his subordinates, "This founding of the country is only a temporary measure. When Fuso's coastal defenses are improved and the army and horses are strong, there will be plans for it. Even if there is trade, this country cannot be built."

shake."

What does it mean?

The so-called unshakable foundation of the country refers to the royal family or the royal family, the shogunate or the shogunate. In other words, the future Fuso in Ii's mind is still the current political structure, and all actions are just for improvement and survival.

And "I will take care of myself when the time comes" means that Jing Yi is not satisfied with being low and petty now, but it is just the situation, so she has to endure it for the time being.

In fact, until the Restoration, the shogunate was wary of the Western countries, and in the end the foreigners came to their senses. Later, England turned to support the collapse of Satsuma, Choshu and other vassal states. This was for a reason.

Even if the words of Jingyi and the small imperial court are suspected of being false, the decrees of the shogunate are always implemented, right?

In May of the sixth year of Ansei (1859), the Edo Order banned foreign clothing; in June of the same year, "Official titles, books, and weapons were prohibited from being shipped overseas."

On June 20th, an order was issued to allow the shogunate's banner, the daimyo and his accompanying ministers to purchase guns and cannons on their own. In the past, they had to apply for the shogunate's approval before they could purchase it, but this time they bought it first and then reported it. You must know that the shogunate has always

Be wary of each family accumulating force, but this time they have opened a big hole.

Based on these few decrees, no one believes that the elder Ii has no hostility towards Western countries - are the weapons bought just for fun? There must be an imaginary enemy. Of course it is not a decree issued by the shogunate

Targeting oneself, and at this time, the Fuso family was still the dominant shogunate. Using the elimination method, it was natural that the targets could only be Westerners.

In September of the same year, he also ordered Ida Qingbang and Baoke

Six families, Yongho, Nanbu Togo, Satake Yoshijo, Tsugaru Seiretsu, and Sakai Tadahiro, assisted in the reclamation of Ezo land.

The imperial commanders under the direct jurisdiction of the shogunate were willing to give up part of their power to the daimyo. The vigilance of Lucia in the north of the Ii line was clearly evident.

There are also other things that can explain Jing Yi’s unwillingness to submit to Western countries or to strive for self-improvement:

Since the fifth year of Ansei (1858), the shogunate has begun to relax the restrictions on clans, and the official school has been restructured. In the past, only middle- and senior-level ministers were recruited. Now, lower-level samurai children can also enroll, and the number of children from each domain has also increased.

quota. At the same time, the textbooks also added content such as classics, history books, criminal names, etc. from the original Confucian classics, which were mainly the Four Books and Five Classics.

As for the Western academic education institution of the shogunate, the "Hoshu Tiaosho", it maintained the expansion trend before Ii came to power. In addition, it was also opened to the children of each domain in the same year - in the fourth year of Ansei (1857), there were about 190 students.

people.

Military science, which is a top priority, also received strong support during Jing Yi’s administration:

Although the martial arts school that implemented the Western military system moved from Chikutsubo Paoshima to Kanda in the 7th year of Ansei (1860) and began to expand its enrollment, the expansion had begun before that.

As for the navy, the shogunate closed the Nagasaki navy training center in the fifth year of Ansei (1859).

This closing of the training center should be a step back. How can it be said to be a support?

The reason is that although the Nagasaki Naval Training Institute was closed, this was because the Naval Training Institute was growing stronger - the shogunate was not willing to allow naval training to remain in the hands of outsiders.

In the 4th year of Ansei (1857), a warship teaching institute was attached to the Edo Military Training Institute. The teacher Hatori was Naohide's old friend Rintaro Katsuyoshikuni, and the other professors were graduates of the Nagasaki Military Training Institute. The training place

Located on Vietnam Central Island.

Although the Nagasaki training center was closed, the shogunate did not stop its plan to build a large navy. In addition to expanding the warship training center, it also prepared to purchase a large number of warships from outsourcing.

In the first month of the seventh year of Ansei (1860), the shogunate dispatched the first mission to Western countries, which was later known as the "Kamrimmaru Visit to Rice". In addition to its coordination mission, its most important task was

Just buy a warship.

At the same time, the shogunate did not forget to build its own warships. Since the Saga Domain presented imported shipbuilding machinery in the sixth year of Ansei (1859), the shogunate's first Western-style shipbuilding plant, the "Nagasaki Iron Works", has begun project preparations.

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Apart from the Ansei Prison, the above-mentioned policies of the Ii and Naohide factions are not dissatisfied with anything. At most, they feel that they are a bit low - the imagination is not enough, the system construction is not bold enough, the execution is mediocre, and the pace is too slow.

.

However, Fuso has been suffering from internal shortcomings for a long time, and it is not easy to do this. If Naohide was in charge of it himself, some things may not be possible.

However, regarding other aspects, especially internal affairs, Hakodate and others did not have high praise for the elder Ii. They all agreed, "The bad cards in this hand were played to pieces. It is really expected and there is no surprise at all."

It turned out that in the fifth year of Ansei (1858), Oguri Tadatsun was appointed as the chief of the commission in advance. Although the number of persons for the commission of the commission was four, it could be said that "the beginning is in the pocket, and the end is clear". The original big man could only reconcile yin and yang.

, you, Oguri, are a pioneer in orchid studies, and you have worked in Nagasaki for many years. Where are the skills you learned?!

As a result, in addition to the achievements in promoting agriculture, Oguri could not even save the Nirayama Iron Works. After the death of Mr. Tanan in 1858, the shogunate began to split up the Nirayama Iron Works and divert a large number of personnel and equipment to the Yushima Cannon Foundry.

, Yokohama Iron Works and Ishikawajima Shipyard.

Logically speaking, it is not wrong to let the flowers bloom and scatter like this, but people and things must be put to use. The advanced management system established by Mr. Tan'an is difficult to implement in other places. These Western talents who have been cultivated with great difficulty quickly learned to flatter themselves.

, the game of running and dripping is very fun - this does not disappoint Mr. Tan'an's vision, they are all smart people, they can learn everything very quickly.

Fortunately, under Naoxiu's suggestion, the Nirasan Iron Works built a number of supporting factories. These were businessmen or Jiangchuan's own industries, and most of the personnel came from the old people of the rope martial arts hall and the locals of Nirashan. And these technicians were either

I trust the administrative environment of Jiushan more, and I can't leave even if I don't have a system, so I can retain the vitality of Jiushan.

Nowadays, Jiushan can produce some civilian machinery, and this is actually the reason.

In the final analysis, it is because Oguri, like other surveyors, trusts the government more and has less regard for private industries. He only wants to build a few big factories and then do earth-shattering things.

This Naohide can't say that it takes a long time to swing before enlarging the move, and the White Lord also took this path in the beginning. But the Shogunate and the White Lord are fundamentally different:

Master Bai was short of money and had no choice at the time, but the shogunate was a vast area with many people, so what kind of trouble would it cause if he insisted on going there himself?

Anyway, the internal affairs of the shogunate achieved very little results during the Ii era.

What else can be said is:

The order to destroy bells and cast cannons was finally abolished.

In December of the first year of Ansei (1854), the small court issued a decree to the shogunate, requiring that "all the bells must be destroyed in order to make guns and cannons." In March of the second year of Ansei (1855), the shogunate issued an order to "dispose of the bells and replace them with guns."

Cast large and small cannons. Only the famous ancient bells, the ancestral temple bell, and the chime clock remain intact."

Before the success of steelmaking at the Jiushan Iron Works in 1857 and the successful imitation of rifled cannons in 1858, this law had been implemented, providing an excuse for various places to embezzle temple property, causing a lot of troubles - I really thought it would destroy the clock.

Can't these other properties also be used to strengthen coastal defense? Anyway, if you open the hole, you can't close it.

In February of the sixth year of Ansei (1859), I don’t know whether it was because the shogunate came to the realization that the Buddhists inciting the people to cause chaos would damage the foundation, or because steel was enough for casting rifled cannons. Anyway, it was difficult to extract gun materials from the cast iron of the Brahma Bell.

"For the reason, the shogunate abolished the "Order to Destroy Bells and Cast Cannons".

The other two things, although they were carried out after the assassination of Jingyi, are inseparable from him:

The first thing is the Fifth Rank Edo Return Order.
To be continued...