"I sat up in shock when I was dying of illness, and the dark wind blew the rain into the cold window."

In layman's terms, this poem means "blessings never come in pairs, and misfortunes never come alone."

As for the end of the Tokugawa period, it was just such a process of repeated misfortune, making things worse.

When later generations talk about the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, they generally start from the sixth year of Kayei (1853) until the successful fall of the shogunate. After the first visit of the Miren Kurofune, Fuso society changed dramatically, and the Edo shogunate also went from bad to worse and finally had no choice but to collapse. Therefore,

This period is called the Bakumatsu period.

Samuel Huntington had this view: "Rulers in a crisis of authority often become the most sincere innovators. Their sincerity for innovation stems from their sincerity in retaining power."

The same is true for Fuso. As the apex of the shogunate system, the shogunate also carried out three reforms at the end of the shogunate in order to reverse the decline. They were Ansei, Bunkyu and Keio:

The earliest Ansei reform was initiated by Masahiro Abe. As the chief minister at the time, he united with ministers and princes in an attempt to rectify coastal defense and develop orchid science industry to cope with the oppression of Western countries.

As for the time, it was originally supposed to be in June of the first year of Ansei (1854), when the "Fuso Mi Renren Agreement" had just been signed. Everyone learned from the painful experience, so there was a wave of outbreaks.

But didn't Naohide trespass, so the Ansei reform started earlier, and was advanced to the fifth year of Kayei (1852) - when it was confirmed that the Japanese black ship was coming, the shogunate could not sit still and began to reform, but the host did not

Despite the changes, he is still the same old man, Abe.

Later, although Abe was overthrown, the Ansei Reform was actually implemented until June of the second year of Bunkyu (1862).

In early June, the former head of the Imperial Household, Kuze Hiroshu, resigned, and Matsudaira Keinaga was appointed as the new chief. After taking over the shogunate, he was confident and ready to flex his muscles.

Later generations called this innovation initiated by Qingyong the Bunjiu Innovation.

However, even though it was such a big matter, Naohide could not intervene directly - he was the elder of the Matsumae family, a typical aide, so it was not his turn to directly give instructions to the shogunate.

Isn't there a saying, "Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared." Now that Lord Shiro is cooperating with Aizu Kamiro, the door to politics has been opened to Naohide:

Matsudaira Yoho, the head of the Aizu family, is one of the four Takasu brothers, and among these four brothers is the head of the Owari family of the Gosan family, who is one of the cores of the Saishaki family.

As for the current shogunate in power, the elder Qingyong and the general Qingxi are not the chief generals of the Qi Zhao line.

Therefore, hooking up with Aizu is equivalent to hooking up with these two big bosses - although the big boss doesn't take Naohide seriously yet, his mastermind is not so aloof, and there is more or less possibility of hooking up.

Logically speaking, Lord Bai shouldn’t be so miserable:

The head of the family, Motomin, is not bad in name. He is the majestic lord of the Northland Kingdom and the adopted son of the Yasun family of Gosanqing. He is engaged to the princess of the Shimazu family and is nominally the son-in-law of the current father-in-law.

But the problem is that only two generations of Bai Zhusheng's family have made a fortune, and Naohide has carved out a world with his bare hands, but this sounds nice, but in fact it's not that his foundation is shallow.

Even if there is some connection between Naohide and the great royal family, the family must be afraid of trouble. Before he retired, he neglected government affairs and would rather leave power in the hands of powerful officials. Now that he is living in seclusion, he doesn't care about anything. This is not a hope.

As for the current general Iemo, they have only established some relationships through Shangluo, and they are still in the stage of accumulating trust. Besides, Iemo has only taken charge this year, and his prestige has not yet been established.

There is no hope of success in the short term.

Of course, for Jiamao, this is not bad:

Naoxiu's intrusion resulted in the death of the family. Although there is a father here, although it is unreliable, it is better than nothing.

Originally, after Iemo took over as general at the age of thirteen, his eldest brother Ii Naobi, the first among the old and middle-aged Kusei, including the current Qingxi and Qingyong, did not take him seriously. Iemo was able to regain a little initiative by marrying Wagoniya.

, but in the end it was not played to death by Qingxi.

If Iemo had known that he had avoided the fate of being manipulated by powerful ministers since childhood, he might have gone to Kan'eiji Temple, Zojoji Temple and Nikko Toshogu Shrine to offer incense and understand that the flames soaring to the sky were all deserved.

Anyway, that's what happened, and the situation is like this. If Naohide wants to participate in Wenjiu's revolution, he can only follow the path of Qi Zhao's family. Moreover, the person he hooks up with can't be the boss himself, but can be the mastermind or accomplice.

The level has reached the top.

Therefore, on October 15th of the second year of Bunkyu (1862), the upper room of Shirozuma Matsumae's house was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. There were many guests, but they were all accompanying ministers of each family, and none of them were important ministers of the shogunate.

And not only that, even the protagonist of this party was not Nao Xiu. They just borrowed his land, used his people, and spent his money.

But even so, Naoxiu has to be happy. After all, people feel that they are close to you, so they let you help.

Speaking of which, the relationship between the protagonist and Naohide is really good. It can even be said that he has been favored by Naohide. He is Hashimoto Tsunuki:

Hashimoto once studied with Mr. Koan Ogata.

In the third year of Kaei's reign (1850), when Naohide was going to the Northern Territory to serve as the acting official of the White Lord, he passed by Osaka and met Hashimoto by chance.

Hashimoto was only seventeen years old at the time, and was deceived by Naohide. Mr. Cha's "Mu Mu's Suicide Note" really surprised him.

Later, as a close associate of Matsudaira Keinaga, Hashimoto offended the elder Ii, so he was sent to Ezoji in Ansei Prison, and was well taken care of by Naohide, who was the leader of Hakodate at the time.

Now that Keinaga was in power, of course he couldn't just watch his cronies suffer, so he fished out Hashimoto, who had just returned to Edo.

All in all, from the fifth year of Ansei (1859) to the second year of Bunkyu, Hashimoto had been suffering for three years, and of course he would not let it go quietly.

However, the Ansei Prison has not yet completely overturned the case, so it is not easy to be too public. Therefore, Naohide said that he would take over Hashimoto Tsunayuki's reputation. Keinaga and Hashimoto both thought it was good:

"This traitorous soldier has become a guest of the guard. Is there anything more majestic than this? Everyone knows the situation better than others.

Moreover, the guests of the Fukui Domain’s banquet will inevitably gather together those who are seeking to sway others, which is not a good news. As for Lord Shiro washing the dust for Hashimoto, no matter how many guests come, they won’t be able to find anything wrong with it.”

Therefore, Hashimoto's first public appearance after his return was hosted by Naohide.

And Naoxiu doesn't have to worry about it. He just needs to prepare the banquet and there is no need to advertise it widely. Those who need to know will naturally know:

Hashimoto has suffered for Keinaga, and his future future will be limitless. He is a "seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's door", not to mention Hashimoto is far beyond the gatekeeper. Those who want to curry favor with the elder Keinaga cannot ignore Hashimoto.

Sure enough, on October 15th, Lord Shiro came to visit Hashimoto.

However, after returning home, Hashimoto is only an accompanying minister, and Keinaga has just taken charge of the court. The prestige of the minister is not stable, so there are no guests with high status, so it is relatively simple to entertain:

Most people presented their gifts, said goodbye to Hashimoto himself, said a few words and left;

The few people who stayed at the banquet, as long as Hashimoto and Naohide came to accompany them for a few drinks, the scene would be considered thoughtful - not to mention that Hashimoto was really popular and couldn't afford to offend, but the host Naohide, after all, was once the Tokoku minister of the shogunate, and now

He was also given the official position of being a housekeeper from the fifth position, so everyone had to give him some face.

From morning to dusk, it was quite a grand event, and the twenty-nine-year-old Hashimoto was quite proud of it.

But after three years of ups and downs after being assigned, he has gained a lot of depth. He knows that these are just the icing on the mountain. How far he can go after re-entering the mountain depends on his strength and hard work.

And speaking of strength, there was a group of guests at the dinner, and these people were all carefully selected by Naohide and him. Issui's strength cannot be ignored.

No wonder Hashimoto is so cautious. Apart from himself and the host Naohide, there are nearly ten celebrities participating in the dinner. And unlike those idle people, these people can all influence a vassal and a country:

In the Echizen Fukui Domain where Hashimoto is located, the four major plotters of the head of the clan, Matsudaira Keinaga, are all present. In addition to Hashimoto himself, Yokoi Tokimori, Nakane Shizhi, and Mikaoka Hachiro are all present;

Qingxi, who governed with Keinaga, also sent Mito celebrity Fujita Hiro to attend;

The core figure of the new Laochu, Itakura Katsushige of the Bitchu Matsuyama Domain, also sent out his subordinate Yasugoro Yamada, known as the "Sage of Bitchu";

Coming with Yasugoro is the founding figure of the Matsushiro Domain this year, Sakuma Shoyama, who is as famous as Mr. Konan;

As for the powerful foreign daimyo, people from Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa were all present. Among them, except Choshu Yoshida Nobukata, who was a newcomer, Satsumago Takainaga was my old acquaintance, and Tosa Yoshida Motoki was even more famous.

Government ministers.

In addition, the accompanying Okubo Rikichi, although he is only a leader of Hakodate Town, he also had dealings with him when he was sent to the Northland. He is talented and proficient in practical matters. Hehe, he is also a person who cannot be underestimated.

Put it this way, this dinner can be called a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger, and it is really not easy to deal with!

But what surprised Hashimoto was that the dinner ended peacefully, and it wasn’t until after-dinner tea time that the quarrel began:

Okubo Roshichi, he was the only minister present. He was able to attend because he had taken care of Hashimoto, the protagonist of today. Naturally, he was treated differently by everyone. Even Naohide was a retainer here, so he asked

Okubo's temptation can easily arouse the hatred of the same enemy.

Why do you say that?

Let’s start with a current innovation of the shogunate:

Didn't the imperial court set up five big bosses based on Toyotomi's old affairs? These five big bosses were all princes, which aroused widespread dissatisfaction among the ministers, especially Hatamoto, who believed that this was weakening the power of the shogunate.

But I don’t know what Shogun Iemo thought, but he actually agreed. Now the head of the Shimazu family, Qi Bin, has been promoted to Lao Zhongge.

At the same time, the general was overjoyed when he saw the incident, and he also vigorously promoted the matter. Feishu asked all the princes to gather in Edo as soon as possible to discuss the major policy together.

The shogunate's banners were discussing this, and voices of opposition were endless.

Now there is only one shogunate in the hall, Okubo, so why don't we all make fun of him - to be called a celebrity, one must have a tongue as sharp as a razor, so after teasing him, he will be relieved.
Chapter completed!