On May 23rd of the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Ishikawa Bunbei paid a visit to Kuze Hiroshu. After that, the situation in the shogunate suddenly changed.

In fact, the previous situation was already very dangerous for Kuze:

There were five veterans of the shogunate before, and Kuze was the first. As the victor and foreign imperial minister, Ando Nobuyoshi was the de facto deputy.

But this year, Honda, an old man from a well-known family, has come forward to complain about his old age - but Honda is only thirty-eight.

In fact, this is a sign of the siege against Kuze and Ando.

But although the two of them were wary of the Sakashitamon Incident in January, they never expected that the momentum would be so strong later!

As soon as Honda retired, on March 15, Mizuno Tadaki and Itakura Katsushige were elected as the new senior middle school students.

There have always been four or five people in this group. Honda retired, Mizuno and Itakura were appointed, and the number suddenly increased to six. It's hard to explain, but one more person will have to be hired.

So, in early April, the shogunate began to besiege Ando, ​​Mizuno, and Itakura. The two new senior lieutenants also agreed with this theory. On the 11th of that month, the new minister Nobumasa Iemo made the final decision, and Ando Nobumasa's senior lieutenant was dismissed.

Now two have gone and two have been added, so the number of seniors remains at five, so Kuze feels that he can survive for a while.

But Kuze soon discovered that something was wrong. Except for his original allies, everyone started to avoid him. Even his biggest backer also avoided him - this person was not Masahiro Abe. Abe was hiding in Bingo Fukuyama. How could Kuze have time to run away like this?

Far.

Which kind of god is this?

It was none other than Dai Gosho Iatesada, the nominal head of the shogunate and the father of the shogun.

It turns out that from the first year to the fourth year of Kayei (1848-1851), Kuze served as a senior middle school student in Nishimaru and was a teacher at Iatei, who was still like Nishimaru at that time. Therefore, Iatei was Kuze's biggest supporter - in this regard

Yes, because Jiajing didn't die early, it was considered that Kuze had been exposed to Naohide's intrusion.

But since he went into seclusion in February, Jiading has no longer paid attention to the affairs of the shogunate. Now Kuze has asked to see him many times, but he has never seen him!

Coupled with the deliberate cold talk from the general Iemo, Ando was also dismissed. At this point, Kuze finally discovered that he was also betrayed by others!

After trying so hard to save himself, Kuze finally remembered to write a letter to his brother-in-law Abe when he was desperate. It was so embarrassing. It was so rare for the chief Lao Zhong to ask for help from the Lao Zhong in the field!

But just before Ishikawa Bunbei came to visit on May 23, a minister nominated another veteran candidate. The key is that the official, Iemo, actually agreed.

And the new boss is actually Wakisaka Yasaka, what the hell.

Wakisaka initially helped the elder Ii launch the Ansei Prison. Later, he became the leader of the old army and fought for power with Ii. In the end, he was squeezed out by Nobuya Matsudaira, Ando Nobumasa's backer.

After that, Matsudaira Nobuyoshi gave up the first seat of Lao Chu to Kuze.

Therefore, Wakisaka and Kuze are sworn enemies!

Kuze wanted to take action to hinder him, but he was already being besieged. The great Gosho family would definitely not take action, and the shogun Iemoge was not only not on his side, but might also be a big black hand, so Kuze could only look up to the sky and sigh, calling in vain.

Nothing can be done.

Therefore, before Ishikawa came to visit, the number of senior middlemen was actually six. If there was one more, one would have to be reduced. Therefore, Kuze had already accepted his fate and was ready to be dismissed in early June.

This is not just what Mitsuhise himself thinks. The princes and ministers in Edo all have their own judgments on the situation and are waiting for the final judgment to come out in early June and the dust to settle.

Is this really the only way to go?

The pattern is broken, boy, things in this world are unpredictable!

Today is the day off, that is, the first, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth days of the Lunar New Year. The shogunate is not open for business. Therefore, the Edo Castle Grand Appraisal is usually held from the third to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

Therefore, the second day of the Lunar New Year before the appraisal is held is the best time for princes and ministers to collude with each other. If there are any big things to be done in this major appraisal, the second day of the Lunar New Year is the time for final negotiation. There is no waiting for that.

As a result, on the second day of June, Kuze Hiroshu suddenly made a big move - he did not remove his old chief on this day. Kuze is the head of the current ministers, and he is capable of a lot in this position!

Counting Kuze at this time, there were six senior middlemen. As a result, the remaining five, none of them were recruited, were all temporarily summoned by Kuze. In the afternoon, in the imperial ministry room where the senior middlemen usually served their duties, Kuze came unexpectedly.

Attack!

At this temporary Lao-Chinese evaluation meeting, Kuze announced two things:

The first thing is that he said that he wanted to resign from his position as the chief minister.

"Who are you trying to scare? Kuze, you have to be able to run away even if you want to!

The situation is like this. I'm afraid the big review will remove you tomorrow. It's too late to escape from this golden cicada's shell today and make progress instead of retreat."

Wakisaka Anzai thought so in his heart, but his face remained calm. He also wanted to observe the expressions of other senior middlemen - no way, this big scene of the resignation of the chief senior middle school leader is rare, so it's better not to take a good look at it.

"Oops!"

After observing others, Wakisaka realized that something was wrong:

After excluding Kuze and himself, the six senior middlemen were left with four people. Among them, Matsudaira Nobuyoshi was a stable one. This storm had not brought him along for the time being, so Matsudaira looked calm, which was fine;

However, Mizuno Tadakei and Itakura Katsushige are new to the position, and they are secretly opposed to Kuze. With this wisdom in their hands, it is reasonable to hear that Kuze is resigning, and then stay on the safe side;

But Naito Nobuchika's reaction was wrong. He was leaning toward Kuze's lineage, and he had been attacked by ministers in the past two months. Why did he actually have a smile on his face when he heard that Kuze was going to admit defeat? Why?

!

Could it be that Naito found a way to change his career? I haven't heard of it.

Kuze saw that everyone was silent, and he smiled slightly. It felt so good to be able to change the rain and clouds. It was a pity that he started too late this time, and unfortunately he didn't get all the credit - but it doesn't matter, the future is long.

Since no one spoke up, Kuze began to announce the second thing.

But after listening to a few words, the old fox Wakizaka Anzai became more uneasy. He began to fidget. Finally, he couldn't bear it anymore and asked:

"Your Majesty Yamato, what do you want?"

There was no other way, Wakisaka was sweating from behind, so it was impossible not to ask.

What exactly did Kuze announce?

It turns out that Kuze actually wants to temporarily add a topic tomorrow, and the content is to reform economics!

It stands to reason that in the past two years that Kuze and Ando have been in power, although they have made many preparations and done a lot of things, they have mostly focused on negotiating with foreign countries. It cannot be said that there are no internal affairs, such as Wanyan coinage and the fifth-grade Edo return order.

, four copper coins for one, marrying into the palace, opening of the Nagasaki Iron Works, etc., but the results of many things were not very good, and instead they got themselves to the point where they are now besieged on all sides.

Now that Ando has been overthrown and Kuze has announced that he will resign as leader, he still wants to propose reforms to internal affairs. What is the purpose of this nonsense?

All fools know that this is definitely not "when a bird is about to die, its song is mournful; when a man is about to die, his words are also kind." There must be something else inside this gourd.

Moreover, it was the custom of the shogunate that all proposals for reform must be reviewed by senior officials in advance to avoid making generosity laughable.

Now that Kuze suddenly came up with this proposal, I'm afraid - yes, there must be a spy in this imperial ministry room!

In the final analysis, if you are not afraid of others, you are afraid of Sakayasu:

He used to follow the elder Jing Yi not to shout about the Anzheng Prison in Kyoto, but he was the one who charged forward and took care of it single-handedly. The royal family, Gongqing and Qi Zhao were all offended by him.

Although he and Ii later fell out, Wakisaka himself didn't believe that his old enemy could easily let him go.

With this comeback, generations of favors from the Wakisaka family have been completely wasted. If things go wrong again this time, it may not be a question of whether they can turn over, or the Wakisaka family may be in danger!

But what exactly has changed, and why hasn’t any news been revealed before?

But regarding Wakisaka's question, Kuze just gave a perfunctory answer, meaning, "I am very ashamed. I didn't realize that I had accomplished anything before resigning, so I went out of my way to make amends."

Of course Wakisaka Anzai didn't believe it. He slowly looked at everyone, hoping to discover something.

But being able to become a senior middle school student comes from a long journey. If Ando Nobuzai changed his name twice, Wakisaka might find out something about him, but Ando was dismissed last month.

.

Kuze Hiroshu and Naito Nobuchika had smiles on their faces, Matsudaira Nobuyoshi looked indifferent, and Mizuno Tadaki and Itakura Katsushige also had serious expressions. Therefore, Wakisaka was stunned and didn't see who this was who had a secret relationship with Kuze.

Collusion.

In the final analysis, this is still Wakisaka's own fault. He is unpopular, so no one informed him after the collusion between all parties:

Wakisaka was originally a founder of the country and had a close relationship with the Horita family. Later, he defected to the elder Ii. In fact, this was nothing. Hota Masamitsu was deposed as the leader of the old school. It is understandable that Wakisaka would join someone else. After all, Ii was also the founder of the country.

It's a series.

But the bad thing is that Masumu Hota was later held accountable by Ii and was given the punishment of "living in seclusion". It is said that Wakisaka didn't say a word about it at the time.

This is a bit too much. After all, Hota has taken care of Wakisaka. You said you can do nothing, but you have to talk. Isn't this ungrateful?

Moreover, Wakisaka and Ii broke up again later, which offended both the moderate and hard-line founding factions.

In addition, he suppressed Qi Zhao's group in Ansei Prison, and now he has jumped out to target Kuze and other conciliators.

Calculating it this way, Wakisaka is truly a talented person, and he has actually offended all the major factions in the shogunate.

Of course, Wakisaka also has someone to rely on, but the county magistrate is not as good as taking charge now. At this senior middle school evaluation meeting, he is in a hurry and has no choice.

Therefore, until the end of the game, he could not cause any hindrance to Kuze - Kuze is the leader of the old school, so he is so powerful that he will fall, not to mention that he will fall now!

With Kuze's "Innovation Economics" in hand, Wakisaka returned to the mansion in a daze, and immediately sent people to inquire around.

But for such a big change, if anyone wanted to tell him, he would have told him already. Therefore, on the second day of junior high school, he didn't ask anything.

However, the third day of junior high school is the big appraisal meeting of Edo Castle. This picture is very obvious. Big bosses from all parties will jump out when they appear. If you can't ask, you can't see it.

Sure enough, from the third to the fifth day of June in the second year of Bunkyu (1862), there was a lot of drama at the Edo Castle Grand Appraisal Meeting:

First of all, Kuze Hiroshu actually submitted his resignation in public, and the official Kaniemo pretended to retain him, and then relieved him of his post as the head of the old school.

However, because his proposal of "reforming economics" was highly appreciated by the participating princes and ministers, Shogun Iemoge did not fight Kuze to the end, but retained him as the winner, Fang Laozhong.

However, Kuze "could not refuse" and had to take office.
To be continued...