Next, a slightly tipsy Hitotsubashi celebrated, he saw his glorious moments and failed ending in his dream:

On August 20, the second year of Keio (1866), he announced the death of General Iemoge. Then, on the 22nd of that month, he pushed the court to issue an order for the Second March to cease the war.

On September 2, the shogunate's envoy Katsuyoshikuni successfully negotiated peace with Choshu. On September 19, the shogunate ordered the allied forces to withdraw, and the second expedition ended hastily.

But during this period, Qingxi discovered many secret and strange things from a very strange perspective.

After Shogun Iemo died of illness on July 20th, relying on the help of Odaisho and the palace, and the connections he had worked hard to cultivate in the past few years, he defeated Tian An on the grounds that "having a long-term monarch, the blessing of the country"

Kamenosuke became the Tokugawa family's internal candidate for the fifteenth generation of shogun.

Of course, the fact that the army of the Second Expedition fell into his own hands at Iashimo was a factor that Edo had to consider.

There is no peace in Edo, and Kyoto will inevitably experience some turmoil.

On August 30, Ohara Shigetori and other twenty-two ministers took the opportunity to pay homage to the court and proposed:

"Due to the recent loss of Shogun Iemo and the shogunate's great disadvantages during the expedition, please gather the feudal lords and update the government in order to stabilize Fuso."

To put it bluntly, the ministers saw that the shogunate was at a disadvantage in the Choshu war and the Tokugawa family leader died violently, so they took advantage of the chaos and jumped out to try to seize power.

But in recent years, he had been close to the royal family, and Emperor Fusang was a prudent person. After hearing his concession, he immediately severely punished these courtiers.

At this point, the internal integration of the imperial court and the shogunate was ready, and it was finally a matter of course for him to take over as the general of the conquest of barbarians:

At the end of November, the imperial court issued an appointment. On December 5, he was officially inaugurated as the 15th Tokugawa Shogun. He finally reached the pinnacle of his life - after experiencing two disastrous defeats with Iesada and Iemo in the fight for the throne, this time

I finally got what I wanted.

It's a pity that it's very cold at high places, especially during this stormy time.

Even before he officially took office as a shogun, between August and November, he had to make a painful decision for the sake of the shogunate's survival:

After repeated and careful consideration, he continued the shogunate's previous strategy of reviving with the help of France and officially launched the Keio Reform.

This is also the reason why he has completely changed his position from "rejecting foreigners" to "respecting foreign countries" since he fought for the founding of the country last year.

As for the reason, it actually makes sense:

First of all, this is the general trend.

Fomi's bombardment of Shimonoseki, the Battle of Saiying, the Four Nations' bombardment of Shimonoseki, and the Four Nations' allied forces advancing on Osaka. These numerous incidents have fully proved that it is unrealistic to use force to resist the invaders.

After experiencing the August 18th Incident, the Forbidden Gate Incident, the first expedition to Changzhou and the imperial edict to found the country, he gradually distanced himself from the anti-barbarian faction.

Especially after the failure of the second expedition, the shogunate exposed its extreme weakness. Under such circumstances, after taking over the position of general, it urgently needed strong reinforcements to deter Xiaoxiao and stabilize the internal affairs.

Therefore, relying on foreign countries and self-respect seems to be a better choice.

Secondly, among the two powerful Western powers, the British and the Buddhists, France's attitude towards supporting the shogunate was very firm.

In February of the first year of Keio (1865), the shogunate and France signed a cooperation agreement for the Yokosuka Iron Works. The subsequent construction of the Yokohama Iron Works also received strong support from the Buddhist people.

Even from January to April of the second year of Keio (1866), the shogunate navy received training on the Yokohama Buddhist warships.

At the same time, regarding the purchase of new

The Buddha also showed great goodwill in terms of arms, loans and other support.

And the most important thing is that the Buddhist minister Rosius is very reliable:

Before the shogunate's first expedition, he organized the four Western countries to ban the sale of arms to the Maori family.

Not only that, when the four nations' joint naval forces invaded Osaka last year, he also actively mediated, which was of great help to the shogunate in dealing with the aftermath.

More importantly, when he tested it in August, the Buddhist country responded positively.

On August 20, Minister Rossius signed a large loan of 32 million francs with the shogunate. This huge amount of real money could not only save the shogunate from the crisis, but also revealed France's great concern for his family.

Firm support.

Subsequent requests for military assistance were also supported by Rosius, who promised to provide full mediation in the formal signing of the French mainland.

Compared with the British minister Pachus, who had ulterior motives, this was a world of difference.

What did Pacus do?

On April 7 this year, the shogunate announced to each family that students who were allowed to practice medicine and merchants who were engaged in foreign trade could sail overseas. In fact, this was actually the opening of the country internally.

On May 13th, the shogunate signed a second tax reform treaty with the four countries (France, England, Milan, and France).

According to this treaty, Fuso significantly reduced shipping (tariffs) to the level that China was forced to accept after the Battle of Alor.

But what response did the British receive to these concessions?

Just before the official engagement of the second expedition in June this year, Parkus, as the British minister, actually went to Xiaguan, Changzhou, for inspection.

Although he did not officially declare his support for Changzhou, in fact, the British minister almost prevented the war from happening.

In June, Pacus visited Satsuma, who was gradually showing his opposition to the shogunate, and stayed in Kagoshima for a long time.

At the end of June, he visited Uwajima again.

…

The British minister's frequent contacts with foreign lords revealed his subtle attitude - it was obvious that England was dissatisfied with the shogunate and was no longer satisfied with negotiating with the shogunate.

Coupled with other things, such as the increase in trade between Satsuma and the British after the Battle of Satsuma, and the large amount of Western ordnance that appeared in Changzhou during the Second Expedition, how could this not make Qingxi and the ministers panic?

Do the British want to strongly support the feudal lords against the shogunate?

Since the British also have different intentions, the French side should not miss it. Otherwise, after the failure of the second expedition, the shogunate's weakness is well known to everyone. If internal and external pressure is continued, the Tokugawa family may be in doom.

Already.

Therefore, even though the position of general had only been confirmed by the imperial court and had not yet been recognized by the court, Qingxi still issued the "Eight-Point Policy Platform" of the New Deal on September 2.

The seventh article is "Pay attention to diplomatic integrity and strictly enforce commercial laws", which shows that it has completely changed from the earliest stance of "repelling foreigners" to "opening up the country and promoting trade".

And later, he even refused the request of the shogunate to return to Edo, hoping to stabilize the situation between the government and the opposition by staying in Kyoto.

Unfortunately, fate did not go as planned. On December 5th, he took office as a general, but Emperor Fusang, who had always been a believer in "Yihuisang", actually died on the night of the 25th of that month.

The candidate to take over the throne will be greatly detrimental to the shogunate and himself:

The sixteen-year-old prince is too young to be in charge of the government himself, so he inevitably trusts his elders. But his father-in-law on the maternal side is Nakayama Tadunō, who has a murderous grudge against the shogunate. What should he do?

turn out to be,

Zhongneng's son Zhongguang was a radical in the fight against the barbarians. The leader of the Tenchu ​​Group Revolution that took place around the August 18th Incident was Zhongguang.

After the defeat, Zhongguang fled to Changzhou, but was stabbed to death in the mountains during the first expedition.

Therefore, the prince had a grudge against the shogunate for killing his uncle, and he had a grudge against his own family for the loss of his son, the minister Zhongneng on whom he trusted so much.

Compared with the prince who succeeded him, although the deceased Emperor Fuso resolutely opposed the foreigners, he actually did not completely reject the shogunate he commanded.

After all, the legend of Mito Zunou has been passed down for two hundred years, and Mito Tokugawa has always been married to the royal family and ministers. This has a long history.

Moreover, for more than ten years, the Mito Tokugawa family and the imperial court have been in the same boat, and their friendship has become even more profound:

In the seventh year of Jiayong (1854), after Fusang and the Mi people signed a marriage agreement, Emperor Fusang firmly opposed it. Those who cheered for him were his father Qi Zhao and his family;

In the following years, it was with the support of his father Qi Zhao that the imperial court slowly accumulated prestige. Of course, the anti-barbarian faction and the imperial court supported each other. While the imperial court gained prestige, the anti-barbarian faction relied on the imperial court's support and cooperation within the shogunate.

Political enemies fight;

In the fifth year of the Anzheng period (1858), Fuso signed the Five-Nation Trade Treaty. Afterwards, the government and the public were shaken. This was due to the joint opposition of the imperial court and the Qi Zhao anti-barbarian faction;

Later, during the Anzheng Prison (1858-1859), the imperial court and the Qi Zhao family were severely punished, and even he himself was not spared. This is a friendship in adversity;

After that, in the second year of Wenjiu (1862), the imperial court and the Qi Zhao family made a great turnaround, which was also a sincere cooperation between the two parties.

Then the August 18th Incident (1863), the establishment of "Yihuisang" (1864) and the subsequent Forbidden Gate Incident (1864) were all the result of the joint efforts of everyone.

Even if he can take over the position of general this year, it is also due to the support of the Fuso royal family.

If Emperor Fusang hadn't scolded twenty-two court officials on August 30th, he might have had to go through more twists and turns if he wanted to become a general to conquer the barbarians.

But now Emperor Fusang died violently, and the princes who took over the government were hostile to him. Who could have imagined this earth-shaking change?

Alas, in the past Emperor Fuso knew that the current situation was not easy to come by. After the imperial court's prestige soared and could even suppress the shogunate, he took the initiative to ease the confrontation with Edo.

For example, his marriage to Gong Xia (1862) was the result of his efforts.

The successor prince, because he has not experienced the wind, frost, rain, and snow, and his youthful spirit is instigated by those around him, may have other thoughts about the shogunate who failed in the second expedition.

Now that the shogunate is weak, he must not turn back to Edo. It seems that he can only maintain the situation in Kyoto. Qingxi knows that Fuso's economic situation will become more turbulent after the tax change in May, and the undercurrent is surging after the failure of the second expedition.

These are matters of life and death.

The celebration in the dream suddenly came to the third year of Qingying (1867) in the following year.

On January 9, the third year of Qingying, the new emperor officially ascended the throne. What made me breathe a sigh of relief was that Qijing, the former Guanbai Erjo, was appointed as the regent of the imperial court.

In February, for the first time as a new general, he met with ministers from various countries. Among them, the Buddhist minister Rosius reaffirmed his support for the shogunate, while the British minister also softened his attitude.

Afterwards, on the basis of the previous "Eight-Point Political Platform", he proposed the "National Code One" as a guide for the reform of the shogunate, and vigorously promoted the Keio Reform.
Chapter completed!