Qingxi saw in his dream the contents of his "National Code":

First, a large-scale westernization was carried out within the shogunate.

In addition to colonizing industry and reforming the military system, he also hoped that by imitating the political structure of foreigners, he could not only adjust personnel and gain power, but also eliminate various shortcomings and revive the shogunate.

Moreover, he set up his administration in Kyoto and asked a large number of ministers to help him stabilize Kinki.

If Kinki can really be stabilized, then the land of Western Country will not be able to make any waves.

Second, to ease the relationship with the imperial court, hoping to continue to coerce the emperor and order the princes.

While dedicating the imperial lord of the Yamashiro Kingdom shogunate to the imperial court, he also had to extensively repair the imperial palace. This was a substantial benefit to the imperial family and ministers.

Also, he planned to adopt his younger sister Sadako as his adopted daughter and marry her to Prince Arisugawa Miya Shihito, who was beginning to gain power - Shiren and the shogunate had a grudge against his wife. When Princess Wanomiya married the shogun Iemozen, she was originally related to him. Chiren is engaged.

Because his biological mother, Tominomiya, was born in Arisugawa Palace, this matter has been tacitly approved by the other party.

In addition, since he was appointed as a general within the Tokugawa family last year, he has frequently worked for marriages between ministers and ministers.

I believe that through these measures, the intimacy between the public and the military can be greatly deepened.

Third, promote cooperation with foreigners.

In January of the second year of Keio, the shogunate had appointed Hailart as the honorary governor-general in France. But this time, he ordered to directly hire foreigners as ministers to serve in various shogunate officials to manage Western industries.

Moreover, in order to please the British and balance the French forces, he also invited the British to guide the ministers in the restructuring of the naval army. The previous military cooperation with the Buddhists mainly focused on the new land army.

In addition, he sent envoys to try to stabilize relations with Western countries.

But while he was working hard to govern, he faced two unavoidable problems:

The first is how to deal with the aftermath of the second military expedition failure;

The second one is the opening of two ports and two cities.

The second expedition failed, the shogunate's coalition forces were beaten into a state of disarray, Kokura Castle was destroyed, Iwami Ginzan was captured from behind, and even the former shogun Iemo died of illness in Osaka.

If Changshu cannot be made to bow his head in time, how can he and the shogunate lose face?

The opening of two ports and two capitals is a matter of great concern to Western countries:

Two years ago, the four countries jointly invaded Osaka with naval forces, demanding that the port be opened in advance. This request was rejected at the time, which made the British minister dissatisfied.

Now if the port cannot be opened as scheduled, I am afraid that dissatisfaction will turn into actual actions. There are lessons learned from the Shikoku bombardment of Shimonoseki. If the shogunate does not want to fall out with the foreigners, it must handle this matter properly.

Sure enough, these two problems directly led to the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate:

On March 22nd of the third year of Qingying (1867), the shogunate petitioned Hyogo to open the port. However, inspired by the Goryeo "Bingyin Foreign Disturbance" that occurred last year, the anti-barbarian trend revived, so the Kyoto court did not respond. He was willing to make a decision and requested that the princes be summoned to discuss important matters together.

As a result, after Shimazu Hisamitsu, Date Munejo, Yamauchi Toyonobu, and Matsudaira Keinaga came to Luoki one after another, the "Four Lords Meeting" took place in May.

At the meeting, headed by Shimazu Hisamitsu, it was decided to punish Choshu first and then discuss the opening of the port. As for how to punish Choshu, these political opponents demanded leniency.

But if the code is lenient, it means that the shogunate bows its head and admits defeat. I am afraid that the shogunate will be pressed harder and harder by various families regarding the opening of the port.

Therefore, I insisted on discussing both matters together.

The result was more losses than gains. Only Hyogo Port was approved to open a port on a regular basis, but Choshu Kandori was actually passed.

At this point, because the lords were unable to influence the political situation, the situation worsened:

Following the secret alliance between Satsuma and Nagasaki in January of the second year of Keio (1866), and in May of the third year of Keio (1867), the Satsuma and Tosa families reached a secret agreement to end the war.

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News of the establishment of the Hyogo Trading Company by the shogunate was leaked. Due to the impact on the shogunate's desire to monopolize the benefits of foreign trade, the princes began to respond to last year's call for "twenty-two courtiers to participate in the meeting" and demanded "strong vassals and joint governance."

In August, after Yamauchi Toyonobu left Kyoto in May, the other three of the four princes also returned to the domain one after another. On the contrary, headed by Satsuma and Choshu, the princes continued to increase their troops to Kyoto.

At this point, the situation became increasingly serious.

In September, the Yishu Asano family also joined the Overthrow Covenant and increased their troops to Luo.

But at this time, the shogunate was already in crisis because of two things:

The first is the delay in delivery of the second tranche of allocations for the French Grand Loan and the ordnance purchased with the loan.

Asked about Minister Rossius, he regretfully said that the situation had changed.

The second thing is that the leadership of the shogunate is unstable.

Although the riots in Dayikui and Mi in the second year of Qingying (1866) were suppressed, there were still many riots in various places after that.

Especially at the end of August, starting from Owari on Tokaido, Tokaido, Kinki and Kanto, the shogunate residents started the "Isn't this good?" activities - this riot lasted until December of the Japanese calendar that year.

While singing and dancing, they looted the offices of merchants, wealthy farmers, and even officials. What they wanted was to successfully attend the Ise Shrine's annual shrine visit every twenty years.

Because the number of participants reached millions, the shogunate was helpless and the order in the territory was completely destroyed.

By this time, the weakness of the Tokugawa family was clearly visible to everyone.

On October 3rd in the Japanese calendar, Tosa Yamauchi Toyonobu, one of the four princes, sent someone to propose a "return of great power" to Qingxi. He suggested that the Tokugawa family give way to the general who went out to conquer the barbarians, and then return the power to the imperial court and the feudal lord.

In desperation, Qingxi and the shogunate had no choice but to give in:

On October 14th, Qingxi made a declaration of "return of the great government", and on the 15th, the imperial court accepted the invitation of the Tokugawa family after a discussion at the imperial court.

What is very thrilling is that on October 14, the overthrown minister had issued a secret edict to attack the Tokugawa family. However, because the shogunate had "returned the great power", the matter could only be abandoned halfway.

Afterwards, the imperial court issued an edict to the various daimyo to come to Beijing to participate in the state affairs, but at first very few responded. After the "return of the great affairs", the strength of the Tokugawa family was intact, and the majority of the princes were waiting and watching.

In November, the princes in Kyoto gradually divided into three factions. There were the Tokugawa faction who advocated the complete overthrow of the Tokugawa family and to enrich themselves, and the Gongyi faction who suggested that it was enough to stop discussing major affairs among the princes. There were even Samaku who aggrieved the Tokugawa family.

group.

But on December 9, after a meeting at the Imperial Palace, the imperial court issued the "Order for the Restoration of Royal Government" and officially began to form a political coalition. However, no celebration was invited for such a major event. For the Tokugawa clan, this was undoubtedly a

Very bad omen.

Sure enough, the next day, Qingxi was notified that "the territory was returned to the upper class." The imperial court reduced the title of the Tokugawa family to 2 million koku, while the royal title of the Tokugawa clan was about 6.8 million koku - nearly 2.6 million of which

Shi is the territory of retainer Banner.

Although in a dream, it is inevitable to sweat profusely when celebrating this point.

But being possessed by the nightmare, he could only watch the situation worsen step by step:

On December 12, he decided to give in, so he left Nijo Castle in Kyoto and entered Osaka.

In Osaka, the Tokugawa retainers learned from the experience and were extremely angry, so they decided to submit a "Form of Promoting Righteousness and Retreating Traitors" to Kyoto in protest.

On December 24, through the mediation of the Gongyi faction, the court's proposal "returning the territory to the upper class" was changed to "resigning the official position and accepting the land". Although the content remained unchanged, the rhetoric was softened a lot - because according to "resigning the official position and accepting the land"

It means that the Tokugawa family took the initiative to give in.

On December 27, during the "August 18th Incident" four years ago, the seven troubled ministers of the radical expel faction who were driven out of Kyoto returned to Kyoto to report on their duties - one died of illness, and the other was involved in the Ikuno Uprising.

He was hiding in Tibet, so there were actually five people who came back.

These people were re-activated, and the news came that the father and son officials of Choshu Mori were reinstated. Osaka and his retainers couldn't help but feel on pins and needles - their mortal enemies turned over.

My body, if I think about it, I will definitely not give up.

At this point, the situation that had eased slightly became tense again.

At this time, news of the attack on the Satsuma feudal residence in Edo on December 25th reached Osaka.

It turns out that starting from October, based on the Satsuma Domain's residence, the Tokugawa faction continued to provoke:

In the name of protecting Tenjoin, the widow of the 13th Tokugawa shogun Iatesada, the Satsuma clan formed a rōshi detachment of hundreds of people in Edo.

These people caused trouble everywhere, roamed the streets, and even intentionally attacked the former shogunate's residence.

From November to December, when these people went to the countryside in Kai, Sagami raised an army and started a rebellion. As a result, they were defeated and fled.

On December 23, these rogues caused trouble again and took the initiative to attack the residence of Shouchi Domain, the "Edo City Director" who maintained the stability of the city.

Even when Jiangchuan City was set on fire that day, it was said that these people were responsible.

Therefore, on December 25, the Shonai Domain, together with the original shogunate troops, completely destroyed the Satsuma Domain.

The news reached Osaka, and they heard about the reluctance and misbehavior of the Tokugawa faction, which greatly angered Qingxi and his retainers.

Inspired by the burning of the Satsuma feudal residence in Edo, the main war faction demanded that Kexi not give in any more.

So on New Year's Day of the fourth year of Qingying (1868), he ordered the chief minister Fu Takigawa Ju to go to Luo to "ask Satsuma" to ask the court to punish Satsuma and other traitors for their illegal activities.

But what never happened was that Takigawa Guju and his party were intercepted, and when they forced their way forward, they were attacked again.

Therefore, the grieving and angry retainers asked themselves to send troops to Luo.

So, on January 3, the Battle of Toba Fushimi broke out.

But just like the previous second expedition to Choshu, the Tokugawa Allied Forces of more than 10,000 people were defeated by an enemy army of less than 4,000 people - even the Yodo and Jin clans that had always supported them switched sides.

The fighting began on the third day, and by the sixth day, some defeated troops had retreated to Osaka.

The situation was over, and in panic, he did not even have time to arrange defenses, so he left Osaka on the night of January 6th, and fled back to Edo in embarrassment on January 8th using the Yangmaru.

On January 7, taking advantage of the victory at the Battle of Toba Fushimi, the imperial court issued a demand order against him.

On the ninth day of the month, the ministers Sanjo and Iwakura were appointed as presidents. At this point, the Sabaku faction took control of the imperial government in one fell swoop.

On January 15, the imperial court contacted the envoys of various countries, and on the 25th, the Western countries expressed neutrality.
To be continued...