Chapter 489: Human killing is in action! The storm is about to come! [Leopard]
For a moment, a bunch of expectant, curious, or nervous eyes fell on Qingdeng.
Qingdeng looked calm and didn't even move his brows.
Qingto was not surprised by Echigoya Bunzaburo's question.
Before he came to the banquet, he had already guessed the purpose of the banquet and what he wanted to ask.
How is the situation in Kyoto? This is probably the topic of greatest concern to people in Kanto... no, all over Japan.
"Mr. Echigoya, I'm sorry."
Qingden put down the tea bowl in his hand, smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"As for the recent situation in Kyoto, I am still waiting and watching."
This is true.
What's going on in Kyoto... Qingto really doesn't know much about this, or he hasn't gotten the latest information yet.
It has only been 1 year and 8 months since Qingdeng took up his position as the side minister and the servant of the Imperial Palace.
A mere two years is not a very long time.
However, in less than two years, numerous major events occurred in Japan! The national situation has undergone earth-shaking changes!
In recent years, the thoughts of "respecting the king" and "repelling the barbarians" have gradually merged. A new group - those with patriots who respect the king and resist the barbarians (referred to as "respecting the king and resisting the barbarians") has become active.
The core purpose of the former is to enhance the authority of the emperor and the Kyoto court.
The core essence of the latter is to expel all foreigners in Japan.
Logically speaking, these two unrelated trends of thought should not overlap.
However, history is like this, full of all kinds of joke-like coincidences.
For the Japanese in the Edo period, their respect for the emperor was not necessarily that deep.
After more than 250 years of unremitting suppression by the Edo shogunate, the emperor and the Kyoto court were excluded from the political and economic space, and their own influence was greatly weakened.
The Japanese in the Edo period called the shogun "Kongkata-sama" and "Oshu Lord" and recognized him as the sole ruler of the country.
The emperor is an emperor, and the court is called "inner area" or "forbidden area", which is an insignificant and distant existence.
However, the emperor has always existed, and so has the public family and the Kyoto court.
[Note: Public family: specifically refers to the hereditary nobles living in Gyeonggi who serve the emperor and the court. Corresponding to this is the "samurai family", that is, the families and characters of the samurai system]
Long before the outbreak of the "Black Ship Incident", the idea of respecting the king centered on the Mito Domain had taken root and spread widely.
In other words, there have always been people who uphold the idea of respecting the king, and there are still many of them.
However, these people are basically concentrated in the samurai class, and the civilian class may not even understand what the imperial court is.
The currently reigning Emperor Tsuhito hates foreigners and strongly opposes the founding of the country.
As a result, he became the "embodiment of resisting the foreigners", an excellent and very convenient banner for promoting the ideology of resisting the foreigners.
Your Majesty has already said that he hates foreigners, so what are we, those of us who uphold the idea of respecting the king, waiting for? Why don’t we stand up quickly! Drive out all barbarians in the country and respond to His Majesty’s call!
The anti-barbarian patriots also became excited.
Although since the founding of the Tokugawa family, the emperor has always been a mascot with no troops, no power, no food, and only an extraordinary influence in the cultural field, he has always been the nominal head of state of the country, and even the shogunate is one of them.
Minister.
In other words, as long as the banner of "This is the Holy Will" is raised, it will occupy the natural political highest point.
The worst thing to avoid in war is to have unknown troops.
And now, the "name" of the patriots who fought against the foreigners has come!
Our actions to resist the foreigners are just acts that comply with the holy will. In this way, the anti-barbarian patriots used the emperor to carry out their anti-barbarian activities even more unscrupulously.
From this, the ideas of opposing the barbarians and respecting the emperor merged, and quickly evolved into the movement of respecting the king and resisting the barbarians.
The Gyeonggi region, where the emperor and his court were located, became the center of the movement to respect the king and repel the foreigners.
If Emperor Tohito was an enlightened person who welcomed the founding of the country, then it is unclear whether the two would have merged and whether the movement to respect the king and resist the foreigners would have spread throughout Japan.
The increasingly fierce movement to respect the king and repel the barbarians in the Gyeonggi region has made the shogunate deeply worried.
Unlike the Kyoto court, which had been away from politics for a long time and therefore had little understanding of the real situation in the country, and the anti-Japanese patriots who were only enthusiastic, the Edo shogunate was well aware of how terrible the industrial civilization of overseas powers was.
"Repelling the foreigners" is definitely not feasible, and "founding the country" has become the inevitable trend of the times.
In addition, the "reverence for the king" proposition of the Zunban movement was also unacceptable to the shogunate.
There are no two days in the sky, and there are no two masters in the country.
As the authority of the emperor and the Kyoto court increased, the authority of the shogun and the Edo shogunate was bound to decline - this was absolute and impossible to avoid.
"Honoring the king" and "repelling the barbarians"... are all taboos of the shogunate.
The idea of respecting the pro-prohibition movement was completely contrary to the interests of the Edo shogunate.
Therefore, in order to suppress the pro-protest movement, save the declining national power, and reshape the Tokugawa authority, the Edo shogunate decided to restart the "combination of public and military forces."
As early as Aoshito's first bole, Naomi Ii, was still alive, he was vigorously promoting a combat strategy-letting the general (Tokugawa Iemo) marry a woman from the royal family. As a result, the shogunate and the court formed a relationship.
Inseparable relationship.
Naomi Ii believed that if Edo and Kyoto were hostile for a long time, it would be very detrimental to the future of the country, so a cooperation mechanism must be established.
So he proposed marriage to the royal family and asked "who would be more suitable to marry a general."
At that time, there were three princesses suitable for marriage.
The late Emperor Nitaka's daughter, Toshinomiya who is 30 years old, and Wagoniya who is in her youth.
Today the emperor also has an imperial daughter, Fugui Palace, who was born just over 5 months old.
It is not suitable for a dignified general to conquer barbarians, whether he is marrying a 30-year-old aunt or a five-month-old baby.
Therefore, the only imperial daughter suitable to marry was Wagoniya who was similar in age to Tokugawa Iemo.
While the shogunate and the court were slowly discussing, the "Sakurada Gate Incident" broke out, Naomi Ii was killed, and the "combination of public and military affairs" was temporarily suspended.
After the shogunate decided to restart the "combination of public and military affairs" in order to fight against the pro-rebellion movement, Nobumasa Ando, the successor of Lao-Chinese leader, continued to negotiate with the court.
[Note: In order to prevent the concentration of power, there were many senior middlemen in the Edo shogunate, with a maximum number of four to five. They adopted a monthly system to take turns managing different affairs. The person who took the leadership position among them was called the "first laoshi"]
After repeated discussions, the two parties finally decided to work hard to promote the marriage contract.
However... He Gong strongly resisted the marriage.
She had been married to Prince Arisugawa Chihito since she was a child, and they were in love with each other. She did not want to leave her husband.
In addition, Gyeonggi people generally discriminate against the Kanto people. They think that Kanto is an undeveloped, barbaric and smoky land, and think that the Kanto people are a bunch of rude and ignorant "Eastern Yi". This kind of prejudice makes the He Palace dissatisfied with the marriage.
Things are getting more and more conflicting.
Emperor Sohito once personally tried to persuade his sister to marry Tokugawa Iemo, but Wagongiya flatly refused.
She directly put down her harsh words: "I don't want to go to Edo. Even if I become a nun, I will not marry in Kanto!"
Something went wrong in the imperial court, and riots began to occur in the outside world.
The shogunate's move to "combine the public and military" has done a lot of harm to the Zunzheng movement. The shogunate and the court are already one family. Isn't it inappropriate for you to dictate the shogunate's ideas and policies?
People who uphold the idea of respecting and resisting will naturally not be happy to be led by the shogunate.
As a result, they criticized the public-military integration movement.
Wakura refused to marry into the samurai family, and when the situation reached a stalemate, a capable man named Iwakura Tomoshi appeared on the scene.
This man was a Waka disciple of Guan Baiying Si Zhengtong. He was good at pleasing Takashi Si Zhengtong and became his personal attendant in the first year of Anzheng (1854).
[Note·Guan Bai: An official position in the Kyoto court. Responsible for assisting the emperor in handling government affairs. Guan Bai is to the Kyoto court, similar to Lao Zhong to the Edo shogunate]
This man was extremely smart. Compared with those shabby public aristocrats who only knew how to recite poems and compose poems, he was outstanding and broad-minded, good at strategy and political vision.
Iwakura Tomoe said to Emperor Tohito: "This is a rare opportunity. Since the shogunate requires so much from us, we should adopt this opinion and grant them a gift. In this way, we can put forward conditions, and the conditions are
The Ansei Provisional Treaty ("Japan-U.S. Amended Trade Treaty") signed by Naomi Ii was abolished, thereby reversing the situation again and proposing the policy of expelling the foreigners. In this way, although the administration was entrusted to the shogunate, the shogunate must seek instructions from the imperial court before doing anything. In this way, in the end,
The real power will be in the hands of the imperial court."
Emperor Tohito also believed that if he wanted the shogunate to implement the policy of resisting foreigners again, it must adopt Iwakura Tomomi's opinions.
There were also people in the royal family who objected to Wakura's marriage to Kanto. Iwakura Tomomi interviewed them directly, or bribed poor members of the public family, and sometimes threatened to be demoted.
In short, he used all his tactics to consolidate his power.
In the end, even Prince Arisugawa Chihito, who was engaged to have a baby marriage with Wagoniya, succumbed.
The isolated and helpless Hegong had no choice but to agree to the marriage.
On the other hand, the shogunate was completely unable to meet the conditions imposed by the imperial court, which was to abandon treaties with foreign countries.
Therefore, the shogunate racked its brains and asked the court to give it 10 years to find a solution.
All in all, the shogunate wanted to have good relations with the imperial court, so it accepted most of the conditions and married Wagongiya.
Iwakura Tomoshi used his outstanding method of controlling vertical and horizontal forces to promote the marriage between the public and samurai families and achieve his goal. Because of his cold-bloodedness, he was called "Gecko" by the world.
After many efforts and compromises, Wagongiya was finally successfully married to Kanto.
At that time, there was such a Japanese song: For the sake of the king and the people, dissipate with the dewdrops of Musashino.
Wagongiya's appearance of bursting into tears became widely circulated.
On the occasion of the wedding, the imperial family sent six capable generals to Wagongiya, and Tomomi Iwakura, who was promoted to Major General Ukonoe Gon, also followed. Not only to protect Wagongiya, but also to directly convey the imperial court's requests to the shogunate.
It can be said that he has the great responsibility of supervising the actions of the shogunate.
The original intention of "combination of public and military forces" was to eliminate the barriers between Edo and Kyoto, enhance national power, and suppress the pro-protest movement.
However... it was still difficult to ease the relationship between the two parties through the marriage between Tokugawa Iemo and Wamiya. Instead, it aroused the resentment of the king-respecting and barbarian faction.
"The public family and the military family become one family" - this makes no sense to the faction outside the imperial court who respect the king and resist the barbarians.
They believed that there was no need for the imperial court to flatter the shogunate, thus triggering a more intense respect movement.
They collectively referred to four members of the public family including Iwakura Tomoshi who worked hard for Wakura's marriage, as well as the female officials Imajo Shigeko and Horikawa Noriko (Iwakura Tomoshi's sister) as the "Four Traitors and Two Concubines" and listed them as "Tenchu"
"object.
In Kyoto, the ronin of the Zunban faction, those who broke away from the feudal vassalage, and dissatisfied public figures allied with each other and began an increasingly radical Zunban movement. A strong bloody storm broke out in the streets and alleys of Kyoto.
Following the "Nanji Faction" and the "Ichitsubashi Faction", new mutually hostile political groups - the "Public Military Combination Faction" and the "Respect the King and Reject the Barbarians Faction" - came onto the stage of history.
Compared with the "Nanji·Yitiao Bridge Controversy", this time the party struggle is more intense and cruel, and it has almost escalated into a war!
The first one to take action was the Choshu clan, which had been silent and waiting for the situation to develop.
The Choshu clan produced a smart man named Nagai Gaara with a salary of 150 dan.
He looked at the world situation and believed that domestic unrest must be prevented. Based on this, he came up with the "Navigation Strategy", the main contents of which are as follows:
[Abandoning treaties and fighting off foreigners are both child's play. It is better to actively accept the treaty, the court and the shogunate to be consistent with the military, and strengthen our country's military equipment. Therefore, we must send inspection teams overseas to learn from the strengths of foreign countries and change the hearts of our country, and then think about various issues.
A method. This is a navigation strategy]
"Navigation strategy" means long-term planning.
Nagai Gaara proposed this strategy to the lord of Choshu Domain, Mori Norikin, and was approved by the other party.
Therefore, Mouri Keqin submitted this plan to the imperial court in an attempt to strengthen the connection between the imperial court and the shogunate and resolve the chaotic situation.
Emperor Tohito, who hated foreign countries, appreciated this very much, and the public also felt that this method was feasible.
After gaining power, Nagai Araku came to Edo and submitted the plan directly to the shogunate cabinet officials.
The shogunate officials also greatly appreciated this and adopted this plan. Finally, the relationship with the imperial court was eased through Wagongiya's marriage. If we take this as an opportunity to make full use of this strategy, the situation will be smooth.
The case also received support from another powerful figure in the Choshu Domain, Shu Fumasanosuke, and the domain also reached a consensus.
In this way, the Choshu clan entered the political center and became one of the players in this grand chess game with "the ownership of the country" as the bet.
It is unknown whether Choshu’s purpose was to use this plan to mediate between the shogunate and the imperial court and then gain political dominance. In short, Choshu entered the stage of history.
If the "Navigation Strategy" can be carried out smoothly, the marriage of the Imperial Palace will be successful, and the movement to respect the king and resist the foreigners will be suppressed. Both the imperial court and the shogunate will take advantage of the situation to give up their confrontation and ease relations.
But for the "Respect the King and Reject the Barbarians" faction, they will naturally not accept this plan.
Hisaka Genzui of the Choshu Domain, Honma Seiichiro of the Echigo Domain, Saigo Takamori of the Satsuma Domain... the capable people of the "Respect the King and Reject the Barbarians" got in touch with each other and began to plan and promote a larger-scale respect movement.
The shogunate and the imperial court wanted to reconcile, but the rebellion movement below was always difficult to contain, and the situation became increasingly chaotic.
On January 15, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Ando Nobuzai, the leader of the Lao-Chinese clan, was attacked by six patriots from the Mito and Utsunomiya clans at the Sakashitamon Gate.
Due to the lessons learned from the "Sakuda Gate Incident" and heightened defenses, Nobumasa Ando defeated the assassins with only minor injuries.
All the assassins were killed and the incident was temporarily put to rest.
However, Ando Nobumasa was injured and left the center of the shogunate cabinet, and Nagai Gaara's work was temporarily suspended. The work that had been finally advanced was suspended due to this assassination attempt.
In addition, Changshu, which originally maintained a consistent feudal status, also began to have disputes.
At first, it was agreed that the country should be run through a combination of public and military forces, and Choshu was involved. However, the King-respecting and Barbarian faction among them raised the flag of rebellion, gradually grew in strength, and began to destabilize the Choshu clan.
Zhou Buzhengnosuke also began to change his previous opinions and made friends with Hisaka Gensui of the Zunwang and Expelling the Barbarians faction.
At the same time, the lord of the Choshu Domain, Mori Kinkin, suddenly stated that the "navigation strategy" was not feasible and that the future development of the Choshu Domain needed to be re-examined.
In this way, the almost successful "Navigation Strategy" was completely bankrupt, and Nagai Gaara was held accountable and was considered to have done unnecessary things. Many people from the King-Respecting and Expelling Barbarians faction strongly demanded that Nagai Gaara commit hara-kiri and apologize.
Due to the Changshu Domain's change of attitude, the ongoing public-military merger was in vain.
At this time, another powerful "chess player"—Satsuma Domain—stretched out his fangs.
In the fifth year of Ansei (1858), Shimazu Saibin... the 11th generation lord of the Satsuma Domain, the foster father of Tenchoin, and the culprit who caused Tenchoin to marry a disabled person, died of illness.
Shimazu Saibin, who had no heirs, left a last note when he died. He believed that if the position of lord of the domain was handed over to his younger brother Shimazu Hisamitsu, trouble would be difficult to end.
Therefore, he decided that Shimazu Hisamitsu's son Shimazu Tadayoshi would succeed him as Lord of the Satsuma Domain.
In fact, his operation is no different from directly passing the ball to Shimazu Hisamitsu.
Shimazu Hisamitsu became the father of the feudal lord, which was no different from him becoming the feudal lord.
Shimazu Hisamitsu, who inherited the mantle of Shimazu Saibin, began to govern as the father of the country and led the Satsuma Domain.
He is a very open-minded person who can understand current affairs.
He saw that the current reality in the country was that the "respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians" faction had the upper hand, and even if they offered enlightened opinions, they would not accept them.
Therefore, at first glance, Shimazu Hisamitsu's attitude was that of a "respecting the king and repelling the barbarians faction", but in fact he had the idea of a "combined public and military faction".
In addition, he is also a careerist who hopes to occupy a leadership position.
After Nagai Gaara's steady strategy collapsed, he led 1,000 feudal soldiers and came to Kyoto with cannons to suppress the unstable or attempted ronin in Kyoto, arresting all the scheming king-repelling faction and imprisoning them in the Satsuma Domain.
and hotels, and thoroughly clean them out.
His purpose in doing this was to consolidate his position and increase his voice in the court.
Saigo Takamori, who took a leading position in the "Lord of the King and Expulsion of the Barbarians" faction of the Satsuma Domain, was also exiled to Tokunoshima by him.
However, even though Shimazu Hisamitsu has done such a great job, some people still don't know what he is thinking, and some people regard him as the leader of the "Respect the King and Repulse the Barbarians" faction.
Shimazu Hisamitsu led the army to Kyoto, and the Satsuma people were very high-spirited. They thought: "This is a good opportunity. Now we can appoint Lord Hisamitsu as a general, stand out in Kyoto, drive away the forces of the shogunate, and let our Satsuma domain seize the world."
They even made a plan to take the emperor to Mount Hiei and start an all-out war with the shogunate once something happened.
The weird ideas of these guys scared Shimazu Hisamitsu so much that he immediately took action to suppress their actions.
On April 23, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), more than 30 members of the "King of the King and the Fighting of the Barbarians" gathered at the Funajuku Temple House in Fushimi to discuss future countermeasures.
Shimazu Hisamitsu believed that this could never be tolerated, so he sent nine highly skilled domain soldiers there. He instructed: "Don't attack everyone, only target people in your own domain."
As a result, the leaders of the Satsuma Domain's "King-Resisting and Barbarian Faction" were annihilated in one fell swoop.
Shimazu Hisamitsu sent people to massacre members of the "Honor the King and Repulse the Barbarians" faction of the feudal clan... The decisiveness of his actions and the cruelty of his methods shocked the world.
This incident is known as the "Teradaya Incident" by the world.
The owner of Teradaya is named Toshi, a charming mature woman in her early thirties.
After the "Teradaya Incident", she calmly ordered the servants to replace the damaged tatami mats and paper doors, and clean up the blood stains on the floor. Her calm and calm appearance left a deep impression on people, and she can be called a hero among women.
Shimazu Hisamitsu, who used a series of iron-fisted methods, completely took control of the security of Kyoto, and the entire Kyoto was under the influence of the Satsuma clan.
Subsequently, Shimazu Hisamitsu proposed to the imperial court that the imperial envoy must be sent to Edo again to thoroughly explain the imperial court's thoughts. He also proposed the conditions he said in order to negotiate with Edo again and clarify the leadership of Kyoto.
.
The imperial court agreed to the case and sent a figure named Ohara Takatoku to Edo. In order to protect him, Shimazu Hisamitsu personally led 1,000 feudal soldiers to Edo.
In this way, the conflict between the shogunate and the imperial court based on the power of Satsuma began in Edo.
On June 7, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Ohara Takatoku, Shimazu Hisamitsu, and 1,000 feudal soldiers from the Satsuma Domain arrived in Edo.
At the initiative of Shimazu Hisamitsu, Ohara Sotoku proposed the following conditions on behalf of the court:
First, in order to discuss the matter of repelling the foreigners, General Tokugawa Iemo must come to Kyoto to discuss the issue with the imperial court.
Second, set up the five elders (the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma clan, the Mori clan of the Choshu clan, the Yamauchi clan of the Tosa clan, the Maeda clan of the Kanazawa clan, and the Date clan of the Uwajima clan). Political affairs need to convene a meeting of the five elders to make decisions.
Third, reform the shogunate politics and promote the fight against the barbarians. However, we cannot rely on the shogunate cabinet to carry out this task. Therefore, Yoshiki Hitotsubashi was appointed as the assistant to the general, and Matsudaira Harugaku of the Fukui Domain was appointed as the political president.
[Note·Assistant general: When the general is young, he replaces the general in performing government affairs. Similar to "deputy general"]
[Note·Political President: A position created to assist the general in handling political affairs inside and outside the shogunate, equivalent to the elder]
Regarding the first request, since the third generation general Tokugawa Iemitsu went to Kyoto, no general has gone to Kyoto to meet the emperor, so Tokugawa Iemo was allowed to go to Kyoto.
Regarding the second requirement, the five proposed lords are all powerful foreign daimyo. Shimazu Hisamitsu's original intention was to improve the status of the Satsuma clan and weaken the authority of the shogunate.
As for the last third request... Satsuma Domain has always belonged to the "Hitobashi faction" camp, and Shimazu Hisamitsu himself is also a die-hard "Hitotsubashi faction" person.
That's why he strongly requested that Hitotsubashi Yoshiki be promoted to general assistant, and Matsudaira Harugaku, who was also a die-hard "hitotsubashi faction", was promoted to political president.
The first two requests were easy to argue with, but only the third request was strongly opposed by the shogunate officials of the "Nanki Sect" and the women of Daoku.
Hitotsubashi Keiki's biological father was the late former lord of Mito Domain: Tokugawa Saiaki.
Tokugawa Saiaki believed that the women of Ou were too extravagant and wasteful, so when he was still alive, he always strictly required the women of Ou to be thrifty, so he was collectively disgusted by the women of Ou.
Under the "Hate House and Crow" situation, the women in Daou hate Hitotsubashi Keiki very much.
Shimazu Hisamitsu had long expected that the shogunate would not readily agree to these three demands, so he specially brought 1,000 feudal soldiers and cannons.
After lengthy discussions and wrangling, the shogunate finally compromised, specifically deciding to accept the appointment of Hitotsubashi Yoshiki as assistant to the general.
As a result, Hitotsubashi Keiki, which had been silent and dormant until now, began to appear on the political stage.
On July 6, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Hitotsubashi Yoshiki was appointed as the general's assistant. On July 9, Matsudaira Harugaku was appointed as the political president.
With Hitotsubashi Keiki coming to power, the confrontation between the "Nanki Faction" and the "Ichitsubashi Faction" has entered a new and more intense stage.
On the other hand, the confrontation between the "Gongwu Combination Faction" and the "Respect the King and Repulse the Barbarians" faction has become increasingly fierce.
After the "Navigation Strategy" went bankrupt, the Choshu clan, which had been quiet for a while, took action again.
The Choshu Domain completely changed its previous policy, from the "combining public and military forces" to the "respecting the king and expeling the foreigners" faction that fully complied with the court's wishes and resolutely fought against the foreigners. It advocated the use of a large number of radical anti-foreigners and the abandonment of all agreements signed with other countries.
Treaty, once again locking the country away.
In order to regain political dominance, Changzhou's attitude became increasingly radical.
In early August of Bunkyu's second year (1862), it happened that Hisamitsu Shimazu raised troops and went to Edo in person. When he was not in Kyoto, the lord of the Choshu domain, Mori Noriyoshi, showed a tough attitude.
He catered to the imperial court, advocated extreme anti-foreigner theories, and advocated "Changzhou supports the imperial court."
As a result, the patriots who seemed to have been expelled or wiped out by Shimazu Hisamitsu, as well as the hidden lower-level samurai and ronin of the anti-barbarian faction, all thought that they had "welcome a wise master."
So they gathered in Kyoto and established contact with the warriors of Changshu. The whole Kyoto was filled with calls to respect the king and repel the barbarians.
More than a month ago, Kyoto, with Satsuma as the center, had reached an agreement on the theory of the integration of the public and military forces. In the blink of an eye, a big reversal occurred, and the theory of respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians, centered on Choshu, began to spread gradually.
Shimazu Hisamitsu returned to Kyoto on leap August 7th.
At that time, anti-foreigners with Changzhou as the center continued to expand, and people supported this idea.
Shimazu Hisamitsu was deeply shocked by the sudden 180-degree change in the previously suppressed situation in Kyoto Town.
However, it is already very difficult to suppress the current situation again.
Moreover, Shimazu Hisamitsu believed that the shogunate had accepted all of his conditions and the situation in Kyoto would soon improve, so he ignored the situation in Kyoto for the time being.
On leap August 23, he left Kyoto and returned to Satsuma - the subsequent changes in events proved how wrong his idea was at this time.
Hitotsubashi Keiki and Matsudaira Harugaku, both highly regarded by the "Hitobashi School", are quite capable.
After they took office as general assistant and political president respectively, they took the lead with resolute speed and carried out a series of reform measures.
First, in order to highlight the majesty of the imperial court, the previous rule of calling the Harmony Palace the "Shogun's Imperial Palace" was abandoned, and it was directly called the "Japanese Palace".
Second, the nine gate guards of the Kyoto Imperial Palace who were appointed by the shogunate in the past were now subject to orders from the imperial court. In other words, the imperial court could also use Satsuma, Choshu and other security forces stationed in Kyoto without the permission of the shogunate.
Third, because the daimyo proposed to go to Edo every two years to attend the pilgrimage and there was some financial constraints, so it was changed to once every three years.
In addition, at this time, there was no longer any need to force the feudal lords to keep their wives and children as hostages in the Edo feudal residence, so they were allowed to return to their respective clans.
In addition, many red tapes specially set up by the shogunate to show their majesty were also abolished.
Many reform measures are being steadily carried out in Edo, but on the Kyoto side... it is becoming increasingly chaotic.
After the Choshu Domain clearly announced its support for the movement to respect the king and resist the barbarians, spies from the "Gongwu Combination Sect" who respected the king and resisted the barbarians, who wanted to fish in troubled waters and wanted to make a fortune, swarmed into Kyoto.
Brutal assassinations continued to occur in the streets and alleys of Kyoto day and night.
Tanaka Shinbei and Nakamura Hanjiro of the Satsuma Domain; Okada Izo of the Tosa Domain; Kawakami Hikosai of the Higo Domain and other outstanding swordsmen of the "King King Repelling Barbarians Faction" assassinated supporters of the "Kongwu Combination Faction" everywhere.
On July 20, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Sakon Shimada of the Kujo family was killed, and his head was exposed in Shijo Kawara. The assassin was said to be a master of the gengen style: Tanaka Shinbei.
This is a beginning.
As a result, atrocities of assassinating members of the "public-military integration faction" and the founding faction continued to occur.
On August 27, Naoki Ii’s confidant Nagano Sosen was killed.
On August 20th, Seiichiro Honma, an anti-barbarian critic of Echigo, tried to please the public and collect money. Because of this betrayal, he was also brutally poisoned and killed by Tanaka Shinbei and Okada Izo.
On August 29th, the prison officer Bunkichi responsible for escorting the anti-barbarian dissenters in Ansei Prison was strangled by Okada Izo.
[Note: Ansei Prison: After Ii Naomi became the boss, he persecuted the "Hitobashi faction" political incident, involving more than 100 people]
On September 23, a total of four people were killed in the Kyoto Town Prison, including Yuriki, who was known as the "evil ghost" in Ansei Prison.
On October 9, businessmen such as Hiranoya Jusaburo and Senbei Hanbei were exposed dead on the street for seeking unfair profits in trade.
On November 15, the body of Takashi Murayama, the concubine of Nagano's chef, was found on the streets of three streets. On the same day, Takashi Murayama's son was also killed.
In this way, the atrocities committed by the "King-Respecting and Expelling the Barbarians" continued to expand and become widespread.
From the original practice of only killing ministers and warriors of the "Gongwu Combination Sect", to now, even ordinary people and powerless women are not spared, even if they just say the wrong thing or simply dislike you.
, may lead to fatal disaster.
The shogunate officials collectively believed that the bloody storm in Kyoto must be quelled as soon as possible.
Therefore, the shogunate decided on leap August 1st that the Kyoto shogunate alone was far from enough. A new position of "Kyoto Guardian" was created, which has the power to command the Kyoto shogunate, Osaka Castle, and nearby daimyo. It was headed by Matsudaira Yoho, the lord of the Aizu Domain.
To shoulder this important task, ask him to quell the unrest in Gyeonggi.
Speaking of Matsudaira Yongho, Qingden and him are quite close.
In the first year of Manen (1860), Matsudaira Yoho, who was staying in Edo for an imperial mission, funded and held a swordsmanship competition that only allowed novice swordsmen to participate in order to encourage young samurai to practice martial arts - Aoshito is here
Won first place in this competition.
Matsudaira Yongho's calm and capable appearance left a deep impression on Qingto.
The Aizu Clan, which is both loyal and powerful, is currently the most reliable and trustworthy ally of the shogunate.
Matsudaira Yoho, who was ordered to do so at the critical moment, personally led 1,000 Aizu domain soldiers southward to Kyoto, and set up a main formation at Kurotani Kinkei Komyoji Temple, officially confronting the rioters of the "King King Expulsion Faction" in the name of "Kingsheng Guardian".
Although Shimazu Hisamitsu left Kyoto, the forces of the Satsuma Domain did not withdraw from Kyoto. Thousands of Satsuma Domain soldiers were still stationed in Kyoto.
In this way, a corner of Kyoto emerged with the vigorous vitality of the "Three Kingdoms" and the scene of all things competing.
The "Respect the King and Repulse the Barbarians" formed an alliance with the ministers who held the theory of respecting the king and repelling the barbarians, and indirectly controlled the Changshu Domain of the imperial court.
The "public and military combined faction" is loyal to the Aizu clan of the shogunate.
The Satsuma clan is both a "combined public and military faction", but only cares about its own interests.
The three forces each have their own agendas and are confronting each other.
The air in Kyoto was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder, and the situation was on the verge of breaking out.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the power of the shogunate in Kyoto seems to be too weak, and Matsudaira Yongho is unable to support himself alone.
Therefore, just recently, some shogunate ministers proposed: Send another strong man to lead the army westward to subdue the capital!
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There are a full 9,000 words today! And the amount of plot is full! Even if I use a stamping machine to press it, I can’t press out even a trace of water! This is the first time since I started the book that I have written a chapter with such a full amount of plot (Leopard laughs)
Please give me a monthly ticket! Please give me a recommendation vote! (Leopard Head Cries)
This chapter is really important. It not only outlines the unavoidable major events that have happened in the past year and eight months, but also sets the stage for the subsequent plot. If you don’t understand it, familiarize yourself with this chapter.
Chapter, you definitely won’t understand the plot behind it.
