Although the marriage to the palace had been going through many twists and turns since the fifth year of Anzheng's reign (1858), the time was decided again in April of the first year of Bunjiu's reign (1861).

But before that, in order to increase mutual trust, the small imperial court in Kyoto put forward an additional requirement:

"The marriage partner of the royal princess must be a shogun" - that is to say, the public family must give way to Nishimaru family Shige.

In view of the political turmoil after the opening of the port to the outside world, Jiading agreed to this harsh request. However, he was also afraid that people would go away and change later. Therefore, in addition to appeasing the ministers and winning people's hearts, he also actively prepared to marry powerful people:

Because of the relationship between Odaisho Atsuhime, the Satsuma Shimazu family was the must-choice; but the other in-laws could not be decided for a long time.

Iedada, Atsuhime and their adopted daughter's biological father, Shimazu Saibin, are all interested in joining the current Hakodate family, but the ruling elders Kuze and Ando are hesitant for fear of provoking material disputes.

In the opinion of these two people, it is because of insufficient attention in the early stage that Naohide now dominates Hakodate and even has the capital to go alone. But marrying a princess of the Tokugawa family to the Hori family cannot even adopt a daughter——

In the past, the person she was marrying to was at least a famous person at the level of the country's leader. To rise from the family and suddenly become the country's leader, this is too sensational.

Therefore, Du Ji encouraged her husband Jia Ding to talk to the two of them several times, but to no avail.

However, the first seat of Lao Zhong, Kuze Duan, was relatively soft, so he did not push hard, but instead put forward a new suggestion:

"The family backgrounds between the Princess of the Tokugawa clan and the Hide clan are too different. Can we choose one from the branch Matsudaira eighteen families to marry?"

But if this is the case, the Hori family is not close enough to Iesada and the Shimazu family, so wouldn't it be a waste of time? Therefore, both Iedada and Atsuhime disagree.

After a few twists and turns during this period, time waits for no one, and in a blink of an eye, it is the New Year's Day in the first month of the second year of Wanyan (1862).

However, according to the scheduled plan, on February 8th, Iesada lived in seclusion, and the crown prince Iemoji succeeded to the throne. On the 11th, the marriage ceremony between Iemoji and Wagonomarai was held. It was too late at this time, so Iatesada and Atsuhime were ready to give up.

It's over.

But I never expected that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, things would unexpectedly turn for the better:

It turned out that Nobuyuki Ando, ​​the winner that day, came to the city to perform pilgrimage, but he encountered an assassin on the way.

Afterwards, Ando, ​​who originally expressed deep resistance to the marriage grant and a new family, changed his attitude from before and took the initiative to promote the matter:

"Your Highness is extremely wise, and today I suddenly realized it!"

At the same time, Kuze, the chief among the old Chinese, no longer objected.

This transformation of two completely different people, of course, made Gongfang Yida and Godaisho Atsuhime overjoyed. However, when they understood the reason, the fathers couldn't help but feel a little creepy:

From the Sakurada Gate Incident two years ago to today's Sakashita Gate attack, this is the second blatant attack on the shogunate in recent years, and the prestige of the Tokugawa family is also shaky.

But what is even more frightening is that the results of the investigation of the Sakurada Gate incident were the work of various families who were damaged in the Ansei Prison, but the incident at the Sakashita Gate was very different. Although the veteran Ando was also famous for his fierce methods, after all, he was not as powerful as him.

The elder Ii was firing map cannons like that, so Ii's matter can barely be regarded as a personal vendetta, but Ando's matter is aimed directly at the shogunate!

It turns out that among the murderers, apart from the so-called Mito Roshi and the royal figures who always add fuel to the flames, the main plotter turned out to be Ohashi Junzo from the Utsunomiya Domain!

Ohashi was a well-known person in the Utsunomiya Domain who respected the king and resisted barbarians. He had been arrested by the shogunate before the attack on Sakashitamon.

But the problem is that Ohashi's reputation in the Utsunomiya Toda family is not small, and it is obviously supported by someone secretly. The Toda family is not only a famous family in the lineage of daimyo, but also has a veteran Toda Tadon (born and died 1804-1851).

character.

The current head of the Toda family, Tadashi, is only sixteen years old, so naturally someone is kidnapping him.

The previous head of the family, Tadaki, was married to the princess of the Sakai family in Himeji, Harima Province, and the Tadon family house further up was the adopted daughter of Tadakuni Mizuno, who was the former chief minister. Therefore, it is scary to think about it.

Was it the handiwork of the Sakai family, one of the four most famous families on the spectrum, or the work of the famous Mizuno family? Or even a joint effort between the two families?

It is not unreasonable for everyone to be so suspicious - outside the Sakurada Gate is actually outside the Edo Castle, and the Sakashita Gate is inside the Gokuriwa, that is, within the moat and the castle gate. This place is heavily guarded. If no one helps, these six

How can a famous ronin be lighthearted?

Easy to sneak in!

Moreover, the garrison leaders in the Gokuriun are all members of the Tokugawa family. This is extremely scary if you think about it carefully.

Therefore, after experiencing this incident, the two ruling elders, Kuze and Ando, ​​no longer cared about material issues, and took the initiative to promote the marriage with the Yui family. If their lives were about to die, they still care about material issues. That is not a joke.

!

As soon as this idea was relaxed, they also discovered the benefits of this matter:

First of all, the straight show is not very big at the end of the box.

Isn't it delicious?

This is positive and negative, why not do it.

Besides, without the Western-style carriage that Naohide presented last year, Ando would have died on the spot. From this point of view, his heart is still towards the shogunate (himself), so it is not a bad idea to go with the flow of the beauty of a gentleman.

But these two people forgot that when Naohsiu presented ten carriages last year, they ridiculed Naohsiu for being "ignorant"!

It turned out that according to the etiquette of the time, this Western carriage was a prohibited item.

So where do you sit?

When a minister rides in an ox-cart, he is given special favors from the royal family;

As for those who do not have this kind of treatment, the ministers and other famous people can only be used as "carriages", which is said to be high-end, but in fact it is just a luxurious version of the "cage" of a human-powered sedan chair.

As for the carriage, because the local horses in Fuso are small, this is really not available - Wamiya traveled from Kyoto to Edo in a "chariot" carried by many people. As a top figure, that's all.

Therefore, when they saw Hakodate's carriage, everyone was sore and said, "It's an extravagant and useless thing!"

Why? Because it’s not enough points for ten cars.

Fortunately, Zhixiu was a wise man and wrote, "In addition to making such contributions to the government, all the old, middle-aged and elderly people have worked hard, so each of you can travel in one car."

Fragrant, so fragrant!

This carriage, which is wrapped in rubber and has bows and shock absorbers, comes with a spacious space. Whoever sits on it will know how comfortable it is - compare it with the previous "ride". At first, you had to pay attention to even placing your feet. Now,

Come to think of it, that's where people sit.

Moreover, the tall horse sent by Hakodate is also quite eye-catching. It has a charming attribute and attracts people from all walks of life. They are all salivating, "What? It's delivered by car. How about matching it with a certain species?"

Therefore, all the senior middlemen felt that although Naohsiu was bold and arrogant, he was still quite sensible and "not completely incompetent."

But looking back in hindsight, this was Naohide Hide's foresight. It wasn't until Ando was assassinated that everyone knew that the Hakodate carriage was actually covered with iron plates! And why the doors were automatically locked, this time they also understood.

Emotions are not about fear of losing things.

But based on these interests and gratitude alone, the two ruling elders Kuze and Ando would not agree to marry Princess Tokugawa to the Hori family.

But after the incident at the Sakamon Gate on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the two brothers finally understood that someone was deliberately planning to harm this baby, especially the various security groups in Edo City. They felt that everyone had ulterior motives and looked like the mastermind behind the scenes.

.

then what should we do?

Replace them all. The civil and military elites have different paths, and the ruling senior middlemen cannot be so aggressive. Not to mention that these two came to power by coincidence. They have no confidence at all.

But people come up with solutions. Now, marrying the princess to Naoxiu will more or less solve this problem:

Looking from top to bottom, if the Horie family marries a princess, then they are the lord of the country. Does this Hakodate's position have to be given up?

Who should I leave it to? It’s naturally Hori Toshi.

As Hakodate's head assistant and former chief executive, he almost took over last time. Although he and Ando had a quarrel, but "a good man never avoids hatred" - he has a good father, Hori Kenguang became the thirteenth head of the company.

Years ago, it can be said that it is deeply rooted, and now it is a top-ranking position that "stays behind". This good relationship with Hori Toshi can increase its influence in the fan side to some extent.

Moreover, although Naohide Hide was of low origin, his influence was not small - especially at the bottom of the Dauban-gu and the New-bun-gu in the shogunate's standing army.

It turns out that although Naohide was born in the second half of the Terasha side, his father and ancestors were both from the major group. It was only that his father was injured while saving a nobleman in Kitai Ezo, so he transferred to the Terasha side.

But since Nao Soo's meteoric rise, the royal family members of the big group have no choice but to

Not proud of him, "Look, this is the kid from my big team. I even hugged him back then."

Of course, Naohide's friends and relatives, the "Zaowa Group", also contributed to it.

Thanks to Naohide, these families not only had spare money, but also received an education in Orchid Studies in advance. Therefore, in the past few years, under the east wind of the shogunate's implementation of the Western military system, many children have made a small fortune, although only Naohide's

My uncle's Takezen family and my father-in-law's Nakamura family were mixed up with the lower-level banners, but the imperial family genealogy really produced a lot.

Therefore, since good words don't cost money, why don't you say something good for Naoxiu?

Besides, when Naohide planted a flag in the north, friends and relatives of the Zaoya-gumi went to defect to him in the early stage. After he became a Hakodate priest in the fifth year of Ansei (1858), the big and new groups wanted to give the second son to him.

, The third son is rushing to have a bright future, so he will not be able to seek help from his disciples.

Naohide was the only one left in the Hide family, and the eldest son, Fukutaro, was still young. Naturally, this relationship had to be entrusted to the Zaoya clan.

Afterwards, although Naohide didn't just accept people when he saw them, and he used them according to his talents when he arrived at Hakodate, but compared with the homeless people who are all over the streets today, this is not a benefit at all.

Moreover, Hakodate is not the same as before. Although it is still enough for the salted fish, the samurai who serve as officials have become richer and can actually support the head clan in Edo.

Since then, the praise for Zhixiu has naturally been overwhelming.

Because of such a good reputation, the Hokuchi Hide family was quite prestigious among the fifth division of the Edo Standing Army.

In fact, the two ruling elders, Kuze and Ando, ​​are still a bit arrogant, and they have not discovered Naohide's real means of raising hopes:

That's right. Just being an official can't benefit many families. After all, there are still only a few people who are willing to leave the prosperous Edo and go to the remote north.

So the real power of Nao-soo is not here.

So what method can benefit everyone? Of course it’s Anli, no, it’s an internal job.

Because the salaries of lower-level samurai like the imperial family are not much, and in recent years the shogunate has promoted frugality and the market has been sluggish, the rewards and external benefits have also shrunk greatly, and even the regular salaries have been deducted and reduced in various names, and the pomp of the samurai
To be continued...