On March 25, the first year of Yuanji (1864), Hitotsubashi Yoshiki officially resigned from the shogunate service as "Shogun Houmi" and transferred to the newly created official position of the Kyoto Imperial Court as "Governor of the Forbidden City Guards".

Not only that, he also served as the "Haihai Defense Command" newly established by the imperial court.

"May my emperor be happy for eternity and may my ministers be happy and obey the imperial edict."

Seeing this scene, General Jiemao, who was sitting aside, curled his lips, but in the end decided not to say a word - after all, they had communicated before, and it was not easy to get into trouble now.

Seeing that Jia Mao's expression was wrong, the ministers next to him snickered:

This is really interesting.

I have never heard of the shogunate interfering in the appointment and dismissal of ministers of the imperial court; but now it is true that the Tokugawa emperors neglected their important posts as shoguns and instead switched to the arms of the imperial court. This is really a long time coming!

After finally staying up until the end of the ceremony, Iemo left the table in a hurry, ignoring the congratulations from the princes.

Although in the eyes of outsiders, Qingxi's taking office was a great benefit to the shogunate, Iemo, who knew the inside story well, felt bitter in his heart:

The "Governor of Imperial Guards" is responsible for guarding Kyoto and coordinating the military forces of various families in Kyoto; the "Commander of Xinhai Defense" has the authority to inspect the armaments along the Xinjin coast.

The ministers declared to the outside world that handing these two positions to the top Tokugawa feudal lords was a further sign of the shogunate's regard for the shogunate. However, in the view of Iemo, who was familiar with the inside story, this was nothing more than a plan to drain money from the bottom of the cauldron.

Not to mention other things, there are already such a large number of shogunate offices such as Kyoto guardian, Kyoto chief executive, Kyoto town official, etc., and the imperial court also established a new governor of the Imperial Guard. Is this necessary?

Moreover, although the governor-general held a court official position, he required a monthly salary of 7,500 warriors from the shogunate.

Using one's own money to support the imperial soldiers, isn't this blatant bullying?

Regret, is what Iamao thinks now.

But who would have thought that just over two months after entering Kyoto, the situation would become inexplicably chaotic:

The combination of public and military forces makes one ghost!

Iemo, who was married to Wakamiya, was originally relatively optimistic about the cooperation between the shogunate and the imperial court. They could work together to overcome the difficulties. As long as both parties were sincere, no difficulty could be overcome.

According to his opinion, the failure of the first public-military alliance was due to the dispute between the force and the moderate force to resist the barbarians. However, after the August 18th Incident, most of the force to resist the barbarians withdrew from Kyoto, so things should not have gone smoothly.

What.

In the beginning, it was exactly as he expected. After the second time he went to Luo, the shogunate got tough and the court gave in:

The "Gongwu Ichiwa Decision" was changed from the leadership of the imperial court to the control of the shogunate;

Then, a group of radical ministers were deposed and replaced by a group who supported the integration of public and military affairs;

More importantly, in the form of an edict, it was reiterated that "the shogunate is responsible for entrusting great government to the government";

Moreover, at the end of February, the year title was also changed to "Yuanzhi", implying that the imperial court had completely given up on the idea of ​​radically resisting the foreigners.

But who could have imagined that, after more than a month, the dispute between the shogunate and the court became fierce again:

The cause of the matter is still related to the contracts between the Western powers.

Last year, on the 29th day of the twelfth year of the third year of Bunkyu (1863), the shogunate and Su Yivia signed a draft trade agreement.

Now the focus of the dispute between the two sides is still the issue of imperial edicts.

Speaking of imperial edicts, this is an old issue that cannot be avoided between the imperial court and the shogunate:

Starting from the "Fuso Mi Reconciliation Agreement" in the seventh year of Jiayong (1854), the shogunate and Mi, Ying, Lan, Lu, France, Frankie, Pu and others

The country has signed various agreements, but until now, none of these agreements have been approved by the imperial court.

For a long time, the main reason why Qi Zhao and his family were fighting against the central government of the shogunate was the issue of imperial edicts - it was rude to establish a country and a port without the permission of the imperial edicts from the imperial court.

This problem has become a long-standing hemorrhoid fistula in the shogunate, which will cause bleeding when touched.

Although the trade agreement with Su Yivia was signed in Edo as a draft and then went to the court for approval in a formal manner, it still aroused the anger of the ministers and princes:

Didn’t the shogunate say it would be ten years to fight off the barbarians? While talking about fighting the barbarians, they continued to expand trade. When will the fight against the barbarians be successful?

Those who are now speaking and in charge of affairs include the six imperial court "participants in state affairs", Qingxi, Keinaga, Yongbao, Shimazu Saibin, Yamauchi Toyonobu, Date Munejo, plus Guanbai Nijo Saijing, Shogun Iemoge, etc. eight people.

At first, these eight people didn’t take this seriously:

As soon as they entered Kyoto, two members of the shogunate, the general Iemo and the political president Keinaga, reported the matter, saying that Ying and Buddha were behind Su Yivia's support and had to do this.

If the court finds it difficult, it can refuse, and the shogunate will definitely comply with the arrangement.

It stands to reason that if the shogunate has this attitude, what else can they do? It doesn't matter whether they allow it or not.

But the problem is, no one expected that if there is no good thing, there will be no good people. A group of ministers made a big deal about this matter. They jointly signed a petition and demanded that the previous imperial edict and permission should be dealt with.

Isn't this a joke?

Today's Emperor Fusang is an out-and-out anti-barbarian faction. He believes that there are no good people in the southern barbarians, and that foreigners come to Fusang to bully, rape, and plunder.

The emperor has never changed his attitude since then. At that time, the shogunate leader Ii didn't even bother to do anything. When pressed, he would abdicate as an excuse, so he would never agree to it.

If this time the previous imperial edicts are actually submitted together with the request, and the emperor refuses, then the fun will be great:

Let’s do it. Let’s not just suppress the force of the anti-barbarian faction, but let’s talk about the foreigners. What can they do? It’s impossible to say that they have to do it immediately. And with the experience of the Three Kingdoms bombardment of Xiaguan, they can’t defeat it at all – even if they win this wave ,Have you heard about the Battle of Yarrow? You will have to kneel down in the next wave.

If you don't implement it, then the combination of public and military affairs will become nonsense.

Nowadays, the six "states participating", except for Rong Bao, were originally the Qi Zhao clan who resisted the barbarians. They used to insist that they couldn't do it without the permission of the imperial decree. But now, the issue of the imperial decree has become my own trouble. What can I do?

In addition, although the problem of port opening has been alleviated recently and the price boom has also been alleviated, "the disease comes like a mountain and the disease goes away like a thread." The people are just rising from the eighteenth floor of hell to the seventeenth floor, and they are still living in dire straits. , whoever raises the imperial edict to open ports for trade, isn’t that because he feels uncomfortable and takes the initiative to stir up a hornet’s nest?

So everyone complained about Qingyong:

"As a political president, you don't think things through carefully.

You should ignore this trade agreement.

If you hold it in front, you can move around in the back."

Qingyong was also wronged. The Three Kingdoms bombarded Xiaguan and defeated it. It was the time when the foreigners were arrogant. You can refuse, but you must find a legitimate reason:

“If we say that opening ports for trade is not good, what about the current trade with Western countries?

Su Yivia's attitude is quite low, and the conditions are better than those in other countries before. Why do you want me to refuse?

If you are dissatisfied with anything, they will change it immediately. We in Fusang are known as a big country, so we have to be reasonable."

Everyone could only sigh at this. They couldn't fight again and again, and they even broke up before they started fighting.

There was nothing the god could do, so the six people involved shrank their heads and kept dragging this matter on.

This is actually a mature and prudent approach. If it is not enough to just mention the Soviet Union trade issue, regardless of whether it is passed or not, this is a medicine. Rather than getting out of hand, it is better to delay and slow down the matter.

But the problem is, you can put off one thing, but you can't put off everything.

The so-called "state participation" actually involves many things under the premise that the political commissar is in the shogunate:

In fact, from the first public-military integration, the imperial court took back an important right, that is, although "major political commissars are in the shogunate", if the imperial court is willing, it can also consult the princes on major political affairs - establishing the legal principle of "state participation".

It comes from this article.

But what is big policy?

For example, Fuso's trade with other countries is considered a big deal.

Of course, the first thing discussed by the "national participants" was the locking of Yokohama's port.

Last year, the shogunate promised to fight the barbarians for ten years, and the imperial court asked for a charter. At that time, the locking of Yokohama port was the first article.

But this year, the shogunate's attitude changed, saying that locking Yokohama port was unrealistic after the Three Kingdoms bombarded Shimonoseki, and could only restrict trade.

At any rate, Yokohama's transaction data was accurate, and the trade volume had indeed dropped a lot. Coupled with the shogunate's tough attitude this time, it was finally possible to fool them.

But this is also one of the important reasons why the imperial edict incident became so big:

The fact that Yokohama did not lock up the port was a breach of contract by the shogunate against the world first, and then it was linked to the draft of the Soviet Union Trade Agreement. Then wouldn't the shogunate formally oppose the rejection of the foreigners?

As for what else is important?

The internal affairs of each family certainly do not count, but the imperial court can intervene in the affairs between the shogunate and feudal lords. For example, the imperial court can intervene in how to deal with Changzhou after the Three Kingdoms bombardment of Xiaguan.

Speaking of Changzhou, this is also a strange thing:

In the aftermath of the Three Kingdoms bombardment of Xiaguan, Changzhou sent people to participate. They all nodded in agreement and signed and pledged their names, but they actually regretted it afterwards!

At the end of October of the third year of Bunkyu (1863), the shogunate signed a contract with the four countries of England, Buddhism, Milan, and England to resolve the anti-barbarian incident of the Shimonoseki shelling at the cost of 200,000 pounds. Of course, this agreement also required the local governments of each country.

Approval, but according to experience, this is basically just a formality.

This compensation of 200,000 pounds is to be paid in four installments, that is, 50,000 pounds will be paid every six months. The first installment will be paid when the aftermath is signed, and it will be paid off within one and a half years.

The down payment is required upon signing the contract. This is what the four Western countries learned from the Yarrow war, and they were afraid that Fuso would suddenly change his mind.

In fact, there was a consulting fee of 50,000 yuan, but the shogunate was afraid of leaking the news, so in the end they did not dare to tell the truth to Choshu - if Choshu made noises everywhere and the foreigners became angry, the blame would be placed on the shogunate.

Although Changzhou is said to be wealthy, two hundred thousand pounds is equivalent to nearly 104 thousand taels, which is Fuso's 1.04 million taels. It is really unaffordable to spend such a large amount of money in a year and a half.

.

So, the shogunate took the lead:

First, 30%, which is 60,000 pounds, was waived, and the shogunate paid it on behalf of Choshu;

Then, the internal accounting period was extended to five years. In other words, the shogunate would first advance the compensation to foreigners within one and a half years, and then Changzhou would pay it back slowly.

To be honest, this is not bad. Repaying 140,000 pounds in five years, excluding the down payment of 200,000 pounds, is equivalent to just over 130,000 pounds per year for the next four years. This is quite stressful for Changzhou.

But it's certainly not big.

But the problem is, it’s hard to let go of good money.
Chapter completed!