On April 8, the first year of Yuanzhi (1864), a flower ceremony was held to worship the Buddha.

With the recent improvement in people's livelihood, the townspeople and ordinary people have become more interested in life. Today, everyone went out to participate in the Buddhist ceremony, respectfully offered sweet tea to the birth Buddha statue surrounded by flowers and plants, and prayed that their livelihood would continue to improve and that their families would be safe.

Mibu Village on the outskirts of Kyoto is even more lively, because in addition to the Buddhist worship ceremony, Bai Zhubing is also celebrating the 19th birthday of the head of the family, Shigemin.

Iwakura, who was wearing hunting clothes, sat on his horse with his eyes closed, looking drowsy.

But even though Iwakura looked lazy, the attendant leading the horse did not dare to neglect at all. He was an old man of the Iwakura family and knew very well how powerful his master was:

Since his rebirth this time, the Lord has changed from his staunch style in the past and treated people with kindness and magnanimity, but his methods have undoubtedly become more powerful.

It has been less than three months since his return in the first month of the year, and he has been restored to his original position and has become the fourth-rank Sakon Guards Lieutenant General of the imperial court. Moreover, his bad reputation as a traitor in the past has also disappeared without realizing it.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look around at the warriors following him. The head of the family brought these unrelated people here. He really didn't know what he had in mind.

"There are people from the Shinsengumi at the checkpoint!"

After hearing the indignant complaints from his companions, he realized that the village of Rensheng was already in front of him, so he had to stop thinking.

There were a lot of people queuing up at the checkpoint. The waiter was impatient to wait and was about to step forward to announce his home address, but was stopped by Iwakura. So after checking the hand shape, he sat down for a cup of tea at the water tea house, and finally waited until Bai

Someone from the Matsudaira family appears.

"I didn't know that Lieutenant General Sakon Guard Quan was here, so I was negligent. Please forgive Naohide."

Iwakura smiled and waved his hand to express that it was okay. He also deliberately explained:

"I came uninvited, don't blame me for being reckless.

In the past, some ministers were ignorant and the court was not aware of it for a while, so please don't worry about it."

What the two people were talking about was the incident that had just happened that Naohideo was deposed from his official position:

A few days ago, the newly-appointed scholar, Hashimoto Tsunaki, appointed the Ginmi Governor Hori Naohide. The two of them rushed to Kyoto from Edo together with Mizuno Tadōtoku.

Afterwards, the three men instigated Shogun Iemoge and Political President Keinaga to demand restrictions on Hitotsubashi Keiki's "Governor of Forbidden Guards" and "Sekai Defense Command".

Of course, the shogunate said it very euphemistically. The purpose of setting up a surveyor's office for the governor's palace was to facilitate the supply of money and food. The purpose of detailing the regulations for command was to avoid delaying military aircraft.

But this could not hide the fact that the power of celebration was restricted, which aroused the anger of the ministers:

Qingxi was originally a direct descendant of Tokugawa, but even so, becoming the governor of the imperial court still aroused the suspicion of many ministers.

It can be seen from this that the shogunate has no sincerity towards the integration of public and military affairs. It goes back on its word and is capricious. Therefore, some ministers counterattacked on the spot, accusing Naohide of misconduct in court, and immediately dismissed Naohide's Afang Mamoru.

Poor Naoxiu, three people did bad things, but in the end he was the only one to bear the consequences.

But there’s no one to blame:

Although Tsunaki Hashimoto is Keinaga's confidant, he can't hold the official position of "University Assistant" under the Sixth Rank, so naturally he will be fine;

As for Tadori Mizuno, the five-year-old general guard, he is a veteran, so how can he be found faulty with etiquette?

Only Naoxiu knelt down reluctantly, and sometimes secretly peeked behind the curtain. It was not easy to catch him.

After this incident, there was a stalemate in setting up an appointment for the governor of the Forbidden City Guards and refining the regulations for commanding the sea defense. The imperial court was unwilling to discuss it, and the shogunate could not think of a good solution for the time being.

But Naohide was kicked out in court. For such a "shame and humiliation", the Matsudaira family, the head of the family, naturally had to express something. For example, when they came to visit today, Shigetoshi, the head of the family, didn't show up. Naohide was the only one who greeted Iwakura.

It was undoubtedly a humiliation to receive an official of the imperial court in a white body, but despite this, Iwakura talked and laughed with Naohide as if nothing had happened.

"I'm wearing armor, so I can't be polite. Hehe -"

Naoxiu and Yancang were pretending to be in love, when someone else started to get angry.

It turns out that just now Naohide visited Iwakura, but he bowed slightly. As a white man, he did not kneel down. His excuse was "I am wearing armor...".

The young man who spoke out is the only one in Iwakura's group who rides a horse. He was introduced just now and is the current head of the Saionji family, Konomo. Although he is young, he is still the Lieutenant General Ukonoe of the imperial court and is currently the prince's apprentice.

.

He became good friends with Iwakura. Iwakura was celebrating the birthday of the head of the Shiro clan this time, so he came with him out of curiosity.

"Sir, he helped Fusang expand the territory for thousands of miles, and now the White Lord is also a barrier to the north. His contribution is extremely great.

How can you humiliate a hero for no reason with a trivial matter of poor etiquette?"

Seeing that Naohide was still there laughing and giggling, Ryoma couldn't stand it, so he jumped out to fight the injustice.

"Lawless place, rude people!"

Xiyuan Temple was holding back a lot of anger along the way:

Iwakura prohibits ostentation, but before entering Mibu Village, passers-by watched them hunting clothes and riding horses, and they still respectfully gave way. But when they arrived at the checkpoint at the entrance of the village, no one took them seriously at all, and even showed their hand signs.

No one knelt down to worship.

When he met Director Bai, not only did Naohide not kneel down, but the entourage only gave him a brief bow. He was a young man with a sense of loyalty and was extremely sensitive to this, so he spoke out.

In fact, Iwakura had anticipated Naohide's "rudeness", and by driving him out of the court in full view of everyone, he had offended the man so much that Naohide's son, Matsudaira Shigetoshi, was "unwell" from then on.

When the incident happened, Iwakura didn't have time to dissuade him. He came to celebrate Shigetoshi's birthday privately just to ease the mood of Shirozu. However, it was unexpected that Saionji couldn't keep up his energy, so he went into a rage after this meeting.

Seeing this, he had no choice but to come forward to persuade him. Fortunately, Naohide didn't care about himself and took the initiative to signal Ryoma that there was no need to say anything, so the situation calmed down.

At this point, Iwakura and Naohide could no longer pretend to be in love, so they had no choice but to leave the teahouse and go directly to the banquet where Lord Shiro was celebrating his birthday.

Although the White Lord Thousand Persons Group claims to be stationed in Rensheng Village, it is actually stationed outside the village. However, this birthday party was held at the Four Seasons Building in the village.

Nowadays, Bai Zhu is known as the most powerful vassal in the North. When this family leader celebrates his birthday, guests naturally gather. Although it is inconvenient for the princes to come here in person due to Mao Min's "illness", all the accompanying ministers are here, and the small Rensheng Village

, it was packed to the brim.

Because there was no room in the Four Seasons Building, the banquet was even held outside the building. When Iwakura arrived, this was what he saw.

Of course, Iwakura is also a minister after all, so he must "sit down, please sit down, please take your seat." Under Naohide's guidance, he and Saionji went up to the second step of the Shiki Tower.

Mao Min did not show up because he was ill, so the host here was naturally led by Zhixiu, the old man of the Bi family. When he came back, the guests paid their respects one after another, and Zhixiu nodded in response.

Because Yan Cang came to celebrate his birthday not under the decree of the imperial court, but out of personal kindness, Naohide did not make a big fanfare and just introduced him to the people in the main hall.

Iwakura was happy when he saw it. Everyone here was familiar with him and no introduction was needed:

Six "national ministers" were involved, and one of them sent people to the ruins, including Hashimoto Tsunori, the mastermind of the celebration, Saigo Norai's mother, Saigo's mother, Satsuma's Takayaga, Takeichi Hanheita from Tosa, and Uwajima's second wife.

Miya Keisaku, and even Governor Qingxi's confidant Sakuma Xiu were also present.

The remaining ones include Mizuno Tadōtoku, the royal minister of the shogunate, and Junichiro Kido, the advance envoy of Choshu Mori and his son to Beijing.

Including Naohide, he and Saionji, there are exactly eleven people.

After sitting down, Iwakura Tomomi glanced at Kido thoughtfully before starting to greet everyone.

The guest cannot take over the host. After Iwakura's business was over, Naohide began to persuade the guests to drink.

However, Saionji felt like it was stuck in his throat, and he couldn't swallow the sake. It wasn't that he hated what had just happened, but that the meal was too sumptuous:

The five treasures are "three birds and two fish", crane, skylark, grebe, sea bream and angler.

Xiyuanji lost his father when he was young and took over as head of the family at the age of three. However, his life was getting worse day by day. He had never eaten all the "three birds and two fish".

And let alone him, Emperor Fusang was not living a good life either.

In the second year of Wenjiu (1862), when the guardian of Kyoto, Rong Bao, went to Luo, he offered fresh

There were several pieces of sea fish. As a result, the emperor was reluctant to eat the leftover fish and asked to keep it properly until the next meal.

At that time, not to mention the waiters, even Rong Bao, who was sitting next to the table, couldn't help crying.

It wasn't until the shogunate Iemo went to Luo twice and made a lot of donations that the minister's life gradually improved.

Today was just a birthday celebration for the head of the Matsudaira family, the White Master, and although what was placed in front of Xiyuan Temple was not "three birds and two fish", he could guarantee that the taste was even better.

Even simple pickles are made from wild vegetables as white as jade, which is unheard of. It is simply sensational!

Even the Tokugawa clan had such extravagance, but in contrast, the royal family and the ministers lived frugally. How could this be justified?

If Naohide knew what Saionji really thought, he would definitely be shocked:

It tastes good. It’s the guys from Fengyuan who finally developed MSG after mass-producing three acids and two alkali;

As for the unheard-of pickles, it is just the Chinese cabbage that has been successfully transplanted and has become popular.

However, Naohide couldn't notice anything strange about Saionji, because at this time Junichiro Kido was pestering him again:

It turns out that the imperial decree limited the heads of the Changzhou family, Maori and his son, to go to Luo to defend themselves within one month, otherwise they would be facing the enemy. As the advance envoy to Beijing, Kido came to celebrate his birthday today, and there were inevitably many excuses during the banquet.

In fact, according to the status of Choshu and Kido, it was his turn to enter the main hall anyway. Although Naohide was an exception, no one here was willing to pay attention to him.

Therefore, as soon as Naohide came back, Kido continued to complain to him:

"In the matter of Choshu's repelling the barbarians, I only strictly followed the orders of the imperial court and the shogunate. If I have any grievances, please ask Horidian to appeal on my behalf."

Naoxiu shook his head after hearing this:

"You worshiped at the wrong temple door.

I've even lost my official position, so how can I help?

All of you here are important officials from various families. You asked me for help. What do you say?

Not to mention anything else, the two ministers of Iwakura and Xiyuanji are here, so no matter what, it’s not my turn to speak.”

Iwakura was originally watching the fun:
To be continued...