Just when Shinmon Tatsugoro alerted Qingxi, Naohide was leading troops into Osaka with a smile - Tatsugoro's statement that Osaka had fallen was actually a misinformation.

At dawn on October 24th in the third year of Keio (1867), King Zun's army landed at Jiegang. The troops who came to Osaka that day were only a few hundred forwards. With this small number of people, let alone enter Osaka, a city with a population of one million.

, in fact, it didn’t even break through the obstacles of Osaka’s fixed number and Osaka’s extra number.

But at that time, Osaka's businessmen formed internal forces, the market was in chaos, and people's hearts were floating. Only then did rumors spread that Osaka had fallen.

Of course, when Tatsugoro alerted him, Osaka Jodai had indeed switched sides. In this way, the news that Qingxi got was actually correct due to an accident.

But why did the Osaka shogunate surrender in one day?

This is a long story to say.

Because of Naohide's intrusion, during the first public-military merger in the third year of Bunkyu (1863), General Iemo and political president Keinaga did not bow completely.

At that time, the opening of the port to the outside world caused outrage and public outcry, and Shogun Iemoge had to declare a ban on the barbarians. But later he felt something was not right, so under the protection of Shiro's strong soldiers, he broke through the obstruction and ran back to Edo.

In fact, this shows that the Tokugawa shogunate is not optimistic about resisting the foreigners. As for the court and the princes who want to aggressively resist the foreigners, then you can do it yourself.

Sure enough, Choshu bombarded foreign ships in Shimonoseki, and as a result, the four-nation allied navy counterattacked, causing the Maori family themselves to be disgraced.

After the August 18th Incident occurred, the imperial court and the Qingxi clan also gave up their extravagant hopes of radically resisting the foreigners.

Therefore, in March of the first year of Yuanji (1864), although Hitotsubashi Yoshiki also took office as the "Governor of the Forbidden City Guards", due to the strength of Edo, "Ichikai-san" could not actually control Kinki.

In April of that year, the "Aoi Matsuri Incident" occurred. With the failure of the radical anti-barbarian faction's desperate struggle, the Edo shogunate once again occupied the dominant position of the public-military combination.

After that, the reformers showed their strength, and it was not until the spring of the first year of Keio (1865) that Oguri Tadjun proposed the "return of the original territory" of the flag, which led to a massive counterattack against the reformers within the shogunate.

But even so, the reformers did not completely lose power until the third year of Qingying (1867):

In February of that year, the leader of the "Ichikai-san", Ichibashi Qingxi, unified the three imperial powers of Nakamito and Owari Ryōtokugawa. He contacted the Duke of Kyoto and the princes who were inclined to use force to resist the foreigners, and joined hands with Sakai Tadashi, the first of the shogunate's senior officials.

When the conservative ministers launched an attack, they overthrew the reformists in one fell swoop.

In early April, Tadayoshi Sakai, the President of Domestic Affairs who returned to Edo, took charge of the shogunate because General Iemoge was stranded in Kyoto. It was then that he began to vigorously clean up the reformist shogunate.

As a result, on September 16, the four Western countries joined forces with their navies to force the troops to seize the sea. At that time, there was a lot of chaos.

All in all, it's only October now, less than half a year before the reformers completely lost power. During this period, all kinds of troubles have occurred. Therefore, whether it is the celebrating "Ichikai-san" or the Tadashi Sakai faction of the shogunate, there is no time to completely sort out the situation.

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Therefore, the current generation of Osaka Castle is Makino Sadatoshi, the lord of Kasama Domain in Hitachi Province.

In fact, Makino is a good choice:

For Qingxi, Mito and Kasama are both in Hitachi Kingdom, and the Makino family has been in charge of Kasama Domain for more than a hundred years, so there is no way the two sides can be friends;

As for Sakai Tadaki and his family, the Makino family participated in the siege of the Mito Tengu Party in the first year of the Yuanji period (1864) and performed actively during the period. This inclined them to the shogunate and excluded Mito.

Therefore, while both sides were busy, Makino, Osaka Jodai seemed to be doing well, so he was not replaced.

After the king's army threatened Osaka, the hidden dangers were exposed:

In September, the four Western countries united with their navy to threaten him. Although he left, Makino was already exhausted and his liver and gallbladder were split.

Therefore, after careful calculation, he felt that King Zun's army had a better chance of winning.

So he resisted slightly

He resisted, saying that he was not just for food, but when he saw that Naohide's offer was really good, Makino readily switched sides.

Not to mention anything else, since Makino's hometown, the Kasama Domain in Kanto, had been persuaded by King Qin's army to join forces, so what was he left to struggle for?

Of course, Osaka is a city of merchants, and wealthy merchants armed a large number of townspeople to respond to the King's Army, which also put great pressure on Makino.

In the past, Edo was opened without blood, but now there is a message to decide Osaka!

The two were superimposed, so the momentum of the King Zun's army was the same.

But to the surprise of the small court in Kyoto, Celebration for a Time, and even the princes of the world, after the king's army settled on Osaka, they did not take advantage of the victory to pursue it.

After blocking the streets of Fushimi and Toba, under the leadership of Naohide, the Sovereign Army actually began to neglect their duties.

What on earth are Naohide and others busy with?

Actually it’s two things:

First, the princes were widely invited to Luo to discuss major affairs;

The second thing is to sail the boat to release grain.

Now that the king's army is so powerful, the princes of Kinki have already come to curry favor with them. Seeing Naohide acting like this, everyone can't help but say:

"It is better to send Yu Yong to chase the poor bandits. How thoughtful is this?

If you are worried that your men will suffer too many losses, each of our families can gather forces to help."

In response to this, Naoxiu always responded with a slight smile:

“Isn’t it good to go all out to distribute food now?”

Of course, that's good. It had only been half a year since the reformers fell, and the Qingying massacre had started. Now that King Qin's army is willing to release grain on a large scale, this is of course the best.

If this were not the case, the princes of Kinki were so cunning that they could deceive others, so how could they have stood up so early?

In fact, if the reformers had not been effective, the Qingying massacre would have caused a catastrophe as early as last year. However, after suppressing the outbreak for a year, this food crisis appears to be even more sinister.

As for King Qin’s army releasing grain, that was very cunning:

In Osaka, rations are allocated based on head count and supply is based on tickets;

As for the businessman who wants to resell it, that's fine, but you have to make it clear where you plan to sell it to.

If it's from the Kinki Imperial Territory, then I'm sorry, you need the local agent to come to contact you, and you can only entrust merchants to transport it after calculating the share;

As for the territory of the vassals, the empty talk is unfounded, so the daimyo needs to come forward in person.

What kind of letter paper? This thing doesn't show sincerity at all. It just so happened that King Qin's army didn't have much food shipped. We can negotiate with someone who is sincere about the purchase.

What does it mean to be a murderer? It means a great famine.

Food can save lives, so even if the princes can feed themselves, as long as they are not stupid, they still have to go to Osaka to bow their heads and fawn over them.

But after arriving at Osaka, if the princes are still unwilling to sign the letter from King Qin, then their trip must have been in vain.

Therefore, after boarding the pirate ship, the princes were even more anxious than Nao-hsiu's "King Qin", and urged Nao-hsiu to quickly go to Luo, so as not to be overturned by his opponent inadvertently.

Comeback?

How can it be!

Zhi Xiu is confident, but of course he is unwilling to act rashly.

Now is the decisive moment that will sweep the world. We have a sure-fire way to win, but we still have to work hard to build momentum.

As the saying goes, if you pass this village, you won’t find this shop!

The princes could not be persuaded, and panicked for a while, thinking that King Qin's army was getting carried away and took jujube pills. But then they discovered that there was an endless stream of grain ships arriving at Osaka, and then they all turned to praise Naohide for his foresight:

As long as the food supply is sufficient, there is nothing to worry about.

Just by being able to keep people fed, at this time of Qingying’s murder, he is basically invincible!

Not to mention King Qin’s army is dispatched, as long as they are given enough food, the princes of Kinki alone can capture Kyoto with great force!

Although flattery was pleasant to hear, Naohide was not dizzy. He stayed in Osaka. In addition to trying to divide his opponents and build momentum, he was actually waiting for all parties to form alliances.

Friend Shangluo.

In the final analysis, Naohide was not really interested in reviving the shogunate. What he wanted was to modernize Fuso, so there was no need to steal the limelight.

As a result, the King's Army refused to take the initiative to attack, and the troops of the Kexi faction were defeated several times in Fushimi and Toba. Kyoto also acted calmly - what else could it do if it couldn't be defeated?!

King Zun's army spread the word to the world, and the small imperial court and the Qingxi clan also desperately issued edicts asking the princes to go to Luo to protect them. Therefore, those who were willing to wade through the muddy waters came to Luo one after another.

Nao Soo’s attitude is very calm:

Those who are willing to stay in Osaka are welcome; those who are willing to go to Kyoto can do it, even via a route near Osaka.

As for how many troops can be brought to Luo?

It doesn't matter, it's more or less optional.

But there are no fools in the world. As long as they are from Fushimi or Toba streets, they will conscientiously control the number of accompanying troops to less than two hundred.

This is because one is Qing Ying's murderous act, and everyone doesn't have the energy to do it even if they want to; and the other reason is self-explanatory:

Believe whatever others say. It's enough to allow you to go to Luo. But if you dare to lead soldiers to Fushimi, Toba, aren't you asking for a beating?

On November 20, the nominal first minister, political president Keinaga, and his party finally arrived in Osaka.

He is really not a self-appointed political president by the reformists, because the Imperial Palace is scheduled to come back, and Qingyong's position was obtained honestly.

As for Jiading, he also came.

Originally, Jiading had been living comfortably these years, and he didn't want to make any trouble at all - when he was a general, he neglected the government, and later gave up the throne to Jiamao easily. He didn't care about the country at all, as long as he was happy.

But Qingyong's words convinced him to come forward.

What did Qingyong say?

"Fuso is undergoing great changes. If you don't step forward, the Imperial Palace, all the limelight will be gained by fools. I'm afraid something unspeakable will happen in the future."
To be continued...