The essence of the shogunate is actually a group of people from samurai families.
The samurai has naturally become the ruling class of this country. The core of the samurai is not "scholar", but "martial", that is, violence. When violence weakens, the outside cannot resist powerful enemies, the superiors cannot intimidate the ministers, and the subordinates cannot suppress them.
When the peasant and merchant class fell into collapse, it became a matter of course.
Due to the impact of the Black Ship Incident, the shogunate's authority at this time had dropped to a freezing point. In order to cope with the increasingly aggressive political demands of the major feudal lords and the imperial power eager to regain power, it had no choice but to implement the "combination of public and military forces" system.
However, this approach of drinking poison to quench thirst has no practical effect other than slightly delaying the collapse of the shogunate.
The reformers are still vigorously carrying out the "respect the king and reject the barbarians" activities, secretly communicating with the court ministers, trying to completely overthrow the shogunate and install the emperor on the throne; the people at the bottom of the country have already reached their limit in the face of daily exploitation, and uprisings continue in various places.
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"Humph, a bunch of bastards who only know how to fight for power!" Naobi Ii, the shogunate boss, tore up emergency memos reported from various places.
Although he had been at odds with the 13th shogun Tokugawa Yoshi's political views, Kazuha Sorayama made an excuse to cause the Edo incident and angrily went home. However, faced with the reality of the shogunate's deteriorating decline and the consolation from many colleagues, he finally reluctantly agreed to continue
He took up the position of elder, but his temper became increasingly violent. The elder Abe Masahiro could only secretly coordinate with him except for persuading him.
"Elder brother, there is information from the Imperial Court. The former Shura and Sword Master Sorayama Kazuyo appeared in the Choshu Domain, accompanied by a little girl of about ten years old. After fighting a ninja, he returned to the mountains. After investigation,
I learned that there is a hidden sect called 'Hiten Sword Style', but there is only one master at the moment, and it is said that he is also a master of swordsmanship."
Abe Masahiro took out the file from his sleeve and put it in front of Ii Naobi. He knew that any information about Sorayama Kazuha would be of great concern to the senior in front of him.
"Yitingban? It seems that these ninjas are not useless. I thought they would never do anything else but die."
Sure enough, Naoki Ii immediately opened the file and read it carefully, "That bastard Sorayama Kazuha is still at large until now, which is really the teeth of the shogunate! We are no match for the American steel fleet, so why can't we do anything with a mere ronin? If we had
If the general and you had not stopped me, even if I destroyed half of Edo, I would definitely kill him with this beast and hang his body at the Sakurada Gate for a hundred days to deter the disloyal thieves in the world!"
Abe Masahiro poured a cup of tea for Ii Naomi and said, "What are you going to do, boss? The Choshu Domain has always been the stronghold of the traitors who have overthrown the empire. Since Ichiyo Sorayama is in this domain, I don't think it's better..."
"No!" Ii Naobi waved his hand directly and said: "The Choshu Domain will never agree to send troops. Even if it is forced, it will be just a show. They will even happily and secretly send people to befriend Sorayama Kazuha."
"In this case, send the elite banner to Changzhou..."
"Stupid! Do you think that all the feudal lords will rebel immediately? It is a taboo for the shogunate to send troops to other lords to shake the world. You must know that the current Tokugawa shogunate is no longer the shogunate in Ieyasu's era."
Masahiro Abe did not get angry in the face of reprimand. He knew that these two plans would never work. However, in order to prevent the second-in-command of the shogunate in front of him from making an irreparable wrong decision in anger, he could only let him block this decision first.
Two shortcuts that are most likely to kill Ichiyo Sorayama quickly.
Sure enough, after Ii Naoki frowned and pondered, he made a decision that was the lowest cost for the shogunate, but the result was also the most uncontrollable: announce to the world the location of Sorayama Ichiyo, and the reward for Sorayama Ichiyo's head was the same as a few years ago.
Double the ratio again!
Fully mobilizing the power of the people can disrupt the situation of the Choshu Domain without spending a single soldier from the shogunate, and delay its use of force to fight against the shogunate. Not only that, this will also prevent Kazuyo Sorayama from returning to the shogunates of Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka.
The huge resistance from important cities forced him to stay in the mountains and swamps. After all, the more people around him, the greater the danger.
"Korayama Ichiyo, although I can't kill you now, I will never make it easy for you. Just watch, there will be a day when we meet again, and then, either you will die or I will die!" Jing Yi
Zhibi thought silently in his heart, turned his head and looked westward without saying a word for a long time.
…
Changzhou Domain, Dicheng.
As the residence of the Daimyo Mori family, Ogijo is a remote town on the coast, but after two hundred years of construction in the domain, it has become quite large. A large number of samurai houses built around the castle tower have intentionally built out the straight streets.
It is twisted at right angles to prevent attacks from the enemy, mainly the Tokugawa Shogunate.
At this time, in an ordinary samurai courtyard, a group of feudal lords were gathering to listen to a lecture by a young swordsman at the front. This man was none other than Katsura Kogoro, who was implicated by Kuyama Kazuha a few years ago and was forced to leave the feudal clan.
"The shogunate is corrupt and foreigners are rampant, and the people are miserable. The princes of the imperial court have nothing to eat, but what about us warriors? We either hang out in the flower street tavern all day long, or we just hang around our salaries. Looking at the Qing Dynasty next door, I heard that a group of peasants called the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are about to attack
Now that we have entered their capital, have we warriors lost the courage to make progress?"
"Kogoro of the Katsura family, shut up! What do you know? Do you think that the adults in the domain are unwilling to overthrow the shogunate as soon as possible? But the Tokugawa family's lineage and close daimyo's combined military strength is more than ten times greater than that of the Choshu domain.
In addition, there are constant conflicts between the feudal clan and foreigners, and those bastards in the Satsuma clan are trying to make things worse... At this time, the uprising will be wiped out by the shogunate in less than a month. How can it be successful with just bravery?" There are some stable people around.
The people immediately nodded in agreement and accused Katsura Kogoro of being unrealistic.
Kogoro, who was already a young man, frowned deeply. In the past two years, he had been continuously active in the domain, trying to contact people with patriots to resist the tyranny of the shogunate, but with little success.
Without high-level support, it is really difficult to succeed!
He had no money, connections, or force. Not only that, he was also monitored by the ninjas who worked for the Maori family. He himself deeply despised the Maori family's approach of wanting to sit on the results but not taking risks, and this would also be the case in the future.
One of the reasons why he sidelined the Maori family and took sole power.
"Everyone, listen to me! Important information!" A clear voice came from outside the door. It turned out to be Shinsaku Takasugi, Katsura Kogoro's good friend, "The shogunate issued an announcement that the sword master Sorayama Kazuyo has reappeared, just outside the Mita Castle of the Choshu Domain.
In the mountains! In addition, the shogunate has doubled the wanted reward. This time it is not limited to Sorayama Kazuyo's head, but no matter which part of Sorayama Kazuyo is chopped off, he can be exchanged for different levels of rewards after verification."
What!
Katsura Kogoro rushed to his friend and grabbed the information. After browsing it hastily, he rushed out of the door without even saying hello. However, at this time, everyone in the courtyard no longer cared about Kogoro's whereabouts. They had not recovered from this shock.
I came back to my senses after hearing the news. The teacher finally came to the Choshu Domain! I knew, I knew that sooner or later such a day would come. If the teacher was here, with his martial arts and influence, it would be easy to convince the feudal lord and the elders. If the teacher
If you can take action yourself...
Katsura Kogoro couldn't help but fall into the beautiful fantasy, and he could not wait to fly to Sorayama Kazuyo the next moment.
In a house a few streets away from here, a young woman was packing her luggage.
Chiba Sana was already nineteen years old at this time. Her originally slender and beautiful appearance became even more delicate. The lingering melancholy between her brows made this once beautiful girl look extremely charming. If she hadn't been wearing a hat all year round,
Wearing a Kodachi and dressing up as a man will probably result in someone trying to marry you.
It was only recently that she came to the Choshu Domain. After Sorayama Kazuyo left without saying goodbye, she did not stay at the Genbukan dojo in Edo for a long time. Instead, she followed the merchants affiliated with the Chiba family and traveled throughout Japan to look for traces of Sorayama Kazuyo until
After meeting Katsura Kogoro by chance, he decided to stay in Choshu Domain and wait for Sorayama Kazuyo to show up based on his analysis.
She got the news about Sorayama Kazuyo even earlier than Katsura Kogoro. Everyone in the Chiba family knew the thoughts of this most beloved young lady, but they couldn't make it public due to Sorayama Kazuyo's identity and the hostility of the shogunate.
"Korayama-kun, do you still remember me? This time, no matter what, I can't let you escape again..." Chiba Sana put on her bamboo hat, carried a small package on her back and went straight to where Sorayama Kazuyo was.
There are countless unknown people in Japan who have taken notice of the news like them. At this time, Sorayama Kazuha had no idea and was carefully looking at the crimson-haired little boy in front of him, "Higu, is this what you gained from this trip? Feiten
The fourteenth generation successor of the sword-fighting style, Himura Kenshin?"