I formed the strongest swordsman group.

All of a sudden, bundles of expectant, curious, or nervous eyes fell on Qingdeng.

Qingdeng's face was calm, and he didn't even move his brows.

Qingdeng was not surprised by Echigoya Fumisaburo's question.

Before he came to the banquet, he had already guessed what the other party's purpose was for the banquet and what he wanted to ask.

How is the situation in Kyoto—this is probably the Kanto... no, it is the topic that people in Japan are most concerned about right now.

"Mr. Echigoya, sorry."

Qingdeng put down the teacup in his hand, smiled wryly and shook his head.

"As for the recent situation in Kyoto, I am still waiting and watching."

This is the truth.

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.

Less than two years is not a long time.

However, in less than two years, countless major events occurred in Japan!The situation in the country has undergone earth-shaking changes!
In recent years, the thoughts of "respecting the king" and the thoughts of "rejecting foreigners" have gradually merged.A new group - the patriots who respect the king and fight against the barbarians (referred to as "the patriots who respect the king and fight against the barbarians") became active.

The core essence of the former is to enhance the authority of the emperor and the Kyoto court.

The core essence of the latter is to deport all foreigners in Japan.

Logically speaking, these two irrelevant trends of thought should not overlap.

However, history is like this, full of all kinds of joking coincidences.

For the Japanese in the Edo period, their respect for the emperor was not necessarily that deep.

After more than 250 years of relentless 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 "Kongfang-sama" and "Dashu-gong" and recognized him as the sole ruler of the country.

The emperor is the emperor, and the imperial court is called "Naili" or "Forbidden Village", which is an insignificant and distant existence.

However, the emperor has always existed, and so has the public and the Kyoto court.

[Note: Public family: specifically refers to the hereditary nobles who live in the capital and serve the emperor and the court.Corresponding to this is the "Wu family", that is, the families and characters of the warrior 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 a lot 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 Tohito hates foreigners very much 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 to promote the ideology of resisting the foreigners.

Your Majesty has said that he hates foreigners, so what are we who uphold the idea of ​​respecting kings waiting for?Hurry up and stand up!Respond to His Majesty's call to expel all barbarians in the country!
The barbarians were also excited.

Although since the opening of the Tokugawa family, the emperor has been a mascot who has no soldiers, no power, no food, and only has extraordinary influence in the cultural field, but he has always been the nominal head of the country, and even the shogun is one of them. Courtier.

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 most taboo thing in war is to have unknown teachers.

And now, the "name" of the people with lofty ideals has come!
Our anti-barbarian action is a just act in accordance with the holy will-in this way, the anti-barbarians took advantage of the emperor to carry out anti-barbarian activities even more recklessly.

As a result, the ideas of expelling barbarians and respecting the emperor merged, and quickly evolved into a movement of respecting the king and expelling barbarians.

The Gyeonggi region, where the emperor and his court were located, became the center of the movement to honor the king and repel the foreigners.

If Emperor Tohito was an enlightened person who welcomed the founding of the country, then it is not known whether the two will converge, and whether the movement of respecting the king and eliminating barbarians will still be popular throughout Japan.

The shogunate was deeply worried about the intensified movement of respecting the king and fighting against barbarians in the Gyeonggi area.

Unlike the Kyoto court, which had been away from politics for a long time and therefore lacked understanding of the real situation in the country, and the anti-Japanese patriots who were only enthusiastic, the Edo shogunate was quite aware of how terrible the industrial civilization of overseas powers was.

"Fighting the barbarians" will definitely not work, and "founding the country" has become an unavoidable 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 suns in the sky, and there are no two masters in the country.

As the authority of the emperor and the Kyoto court rose, the authority of the shogun and the Edo shogunate was bound to decline—this was absolute and impossible to avoid.

"Respecting the king" and "repelling the barbarians"... are all taboos of the shogunate.

The advocacy of the Zhengxing movement was completely contrary to the interests of the Edo shogunate.

Ever since, in order to suppress the respect movement, and in order to save the declining national situation and reshape the authority of Tokugawa, the Edo shogunate decided to restart the "combination of public and military forces".

As early as Aoshino'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 imperial court became linked. Inseparable relationship.

Ii Naosuke believes that if Edo and Kyoto are hostile for a long time, it will 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 "which one is more suitable to marry the general".

At this time, there are three princesses who are suitable for marriage.

The late Emperor Renxiao and his wife Mingong, who is 30 years old, and Hegong, who is in the prime of his youth.

Today's emperor also has a daughter, Fuguigong, who was only 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 suitable imperial daughter to marry is the palace who is about the same age as Iemo Tokugawa.

While the shogunate and the imperial court were discussing slowly, the "Changes Outside the Sakurada Gate" broke out, Naosuke Ii was killed, and the "combination of public and military forces" was temporarily suspended.

After the shogunate decided to restart the "combination of public and martial arts" in order to fight against the movement of respect and rebellion, Nobumasa Ando, ​​the successor of the old middle chief, continued to negotiate with the court.

[Note: In order to prevent the concentration of power, there are many elders in the Edo shogunate, with a fixed number of four to five, and a monthly rotation system is adopted to manage different affairs in turn.

After repeated discussions between the two parties, they finally decided to try their best to facilitate the marriage contract.

However... He Gong strongly resisted the matter of getting married.

She had been married to Prince Arisugawa Chiren since she was a child, and the two also hit it off, and she didn't want to leave her husband.

In addition, people in Gyeonggi generally discriminate against people from Kanto, thinking that Kanto is an undeveloped wild and smoggy land, and that people from Kanto are a bunch of rude and unmannered "Dongyi". Things are getting more contradictory.

Emperor Tohito personally tried to persuade his younger sister to marry Iemo Tokugawa, but Kazumiya 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 on the court side, and riots began to appear outside.

The shogunate's "combination of public and military forces" has done harm to the Zunhuang movement. It can be said that the shogunate and the imperial court are already a family, so it would be inappropriate for you to dictate the shogunate's propositions and policies?
People who uphold the idea of ​​respect and humility are naturally unwilling to be led by the nose by the shogunate.

As a result, they criticized the public-military integration movement.

When the situation was at a stalemate, Kazuyomi refused to marry into the samurai family, a capable man named Iwakura Tomohiro appeared on the stage.

This person is a waka disciple of Seki Baitaka Shizhengtsu, who is good at currying favor with Takashimatsu, and became his personal attendant in the first year of Ansei (1854).

【Note · Guan Bai: The official position of the Kyoto court.Responsible for assisting the emperor in handling government affairs.Guan Baizhi to the Kyoto court is similar to the old middleman to the Edo shogunate]

This man is extremely smart. Compared with those public and nobles who are indecent and only know how to recite poems and poems, he is outstanding and very broad-minded, good at strategy and rich in 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 abrogated, thus reversing the situation and proposing a 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 Tongren also believed that in order for the shogunate to implement the policy of expelling barbarians again, it must adopt Iwakura's opinion.

There are also people in the government who are opposed to marrying Hegong to the Kanto. Iwakura Toshishi interviews them directly, or bribes the poor government, and sometimes threatens to relegate him.

In short, he tried his best to consolidate his power.

In the end, even Prince Arisugawa Chihito, who had a baby marriage with Kazumiya, 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 10 years to find a way.

All in all, the shogunate wanted to make friends with the imperial court, so they accepted most of the conditions and married the palace.

Iwakura Jushi used his excellent means of coercion to promote the marriage between the public and the samurai and achieved his goal.Because of his cold blood, he is called "Gecko" by the world.

After many efforts and compromises, He Gong finally married Guandong smoothly.

At that time, there was such a Japanese song: For the sake of the king and the people, dissipate with the dew of Musashino.

The appearance of He Gong crying into tears is widely circulated in this way.

On the occasion of the wedding, the royal family dispatched six capable generals to the palace, and Iwakura Toshimi, who was promoted to Major General Right Guard Quan, also followed.Not only to protect the peace palace, but also to directly convey the imperial court's request to the shogunate, it can be said that it bears the great responsibility of supervising the actions of the shogunate.

The original intention of "Public Military Combination" is to eliminate the gap between Edo and Kyoto, strengthen the national power, and suppress the movement of respect and hustle.

But... just through the marriage of Iemo Tokugawa and Kazumiya, it is still difficult to ease the relationship between the two parties, and instead aroused the resentment of the King and Barbarian faction.

"The public family and the Wu family form a family" - this is unreasonable to the faction of respecting the king and fighting barbarians outside the court.

They believed that there was no need for the court to flatter the shogunate, thus triggering an even more intense campaign of respect.

They collectively referred to the four public officials, including Iwakura Gushi, who worked hard for the marriage with the palace, as well as the female officials Shigeko Imajo and Horikawa Noriko (Iwakura Gushi's younger sister) as the "four rapes and two concubines" and listed them as "Tenchu". "Object.

In Kyoto, the ronin of the respectful faction, those who escaped from the feudal domain, and disgruntled public officials allied with each other, and began an increasingly radical movement of respectability, and the streets and alleys of Kyoto blew a strong bloody wind.

Following the "Nanji faction" and "Yiqiao faction", new mutually hostile political groups - "community and military integration faction" and "respecting the king and fighting barbarians faction" - stepped onto the stage of history.

Compared with the "Nanji·One Bridge Controversy", this time the party dispute is more intense and cruel, and it is about to escalate into a war!
The first move was the Changzhou Fan who had been silent, watching the development of the situation, and had been dormant for a long time.

There was a smart man with a salary of 150 shi in the Changzhou domain, named Nagai Gagaku.

Looking at the world situation, he believed that domestic turmoil must be prevented, and based on this, he came up with the "Navigation and Long-distance Strategy", the main contents of which are as follows:
[Abandoning treaties and expelling barbarians are child's play.It is better to actively accept the treaty, the imperial court and the shogunate are in harmony, and it is better to enrich our country's armaments.Therefore, it is necessary to send inspection teams overseas to learn from the strengths of foreign countries and change people's hearts in our country, and then consider various methods.This is a long-distance navigation]

"Navigation and long-term strategy" means long-term planning.

Nagai Gagaku proposed this strategy to the lord of the Changzhou feudal domain, Mori Kyiki, and it was approved by the other party.

Therefore, Maori Jingqin submitted this plan to the imperial court in an attempt to strengthen the relationship 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.

The shogunate cabinet members also greatly appreciated this and adopted this plan.Finally, the relationship with the imperial court was eased through the marriage of the palace, and then this strategy was used as an opportunity to make the situation smooth.

The case was also supported by Zhou Buzhengzhisuke, another powerful figure in the Changzhou feudal clan, and a consensus was reached on the feudal clan.

In this way, Changzhou Fan entered the political center and became one of the players in this grand chess game with "national belonging" as the bet.

Whether Changzhou’s purpose is to use this plan to mediate between the shogunate and the imperial court, and then to gain political dominance is unknown. In short, Changzhou has entered the stage of history.

If the "Navigation Strategy" can be carried out smoothly, the marriage of He Gong will be successful, and the movement of respecting the king and fighting against barbarians will also be suppressed.Whether it is the imperial court or the shogunate, they will take advantage of the situation to abandon confrontation and ease relations.

But for the "Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians", this plan will naturally not be accepted.

Genzui Kusaka of the Choshu Domain, Seiichiro Homma of the Echigo Domain, Saigo Takamori of the Satsuma Domain... The capable people of the "Respecting the King and Dispelling Barbarians" got in touch with each other and began to plan and promote a larger-scale movement of respecting and expelling foreigners.

The shogunate and the imperial court wanted to reconcile, but the pro-rebellion movement below was always difficult to contain, and the situation became increasingly chaotic.

On January 1862th in the second year of Bunjiu (1), Nobu Ando, ​​the head of the Laozhong, was attacked by six nobles from Mito and Utsunomiya at the Sakashita Gate.

Due to the lessons learned from the "Sakuda Gate Incident" and strengthened defenses, Ando Nobumasa defeated the assassins with only minor injuries.

All the assassins were killed and the incident was temporarily put to rest.

However, Ando Nobumasa left the center of the shogunate cabinet due to injury, and Nagai Gaara's work was temporarily suspended. The work that had been finally advanced was suspended due to this assassination attempt.

In addition, Changzhou, which was originally consistent with the vassal theory, also began to have disputes.

At first, the consensus reached was to run the country through the integration of public and military forces, and Changzhou participated in it. However, the faction of respecting the king and fighting barbarians raised the flag of rebellion, and gradually grew in strength, beginning to shake the Changzhou Fan.

Zhou Buzhengnosuke also began to change his previous opinions and made friends with Hisaka Gensui of the Zunwang and Expelling Barbarians faction.

At the same time, Maori Jingqin, the lord of the Changzhou Domain, suddenly stated that the "navigation and long-distance strategy" is not feasible, and it is necessary to re-examine the future development of the Changzhou Domain.

In this way, the almost successful "Navigation Strategy" was completely bankrupt. Nagai Gaara was also 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.

Due to the change of attitude of the Changzhou Domain, the ongoing integration of public and military forces was in vain.

At this time, another powerful "chess player"—Satsuma Domain—stretched out his fangs.

In the fifth year of Anzheng (1858), Shimadzu Qibin... the 11th vassal lord of the Satsuma domain, the adoptive father of Tianzhangyuan, and the chief culprit who caused Tianzhangyuan to marry a disabled person died of illness.

Shimazu Saibin, who had no heirs, left a last word 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 Shimadzu Tadyoshi, son of Shimadzu Hisamitsu, would succeed him as Lord of Satsuma.

In fact, his operation is no different from directly passing the position to Hisamitsu Shimadzu.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu became the father of the feudal lord, which is no different from his becoming the feudal lord.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu, who inherited the mantle of Shimadzu Saibin, began to govern and lead the Satsuma domain as the father of the country.

He is a very open-minded and insightful person.

He saw that the current domestic reality is that the "respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians" has the upper hand, and they will not accept even enlightened opinions.

Therefore, Shimadzu Hisamitsu made a gesture of "respecting the king and fighting barbarians" at first glance, but actually had the idea of ​​"combining public and military forces".

In addition, he is also a careerist who hopes to occupy a leadership position.

After Nagai Masaku's steady strategy collapsed, he led 1000 soldiers and came to Kyoto with cannons to suppress the instability in Kyoto or the ronin who had plans, and arrested all the ready-to-movement Zunwangyi faction and locked them in the Satsuma mansion And in the hotel, they were thoroughly cleaned up.

His purpose in doing this is to consolidate his position and increase his voice in the court.

Saigo Takamori, who played a leading role in the Satsuma Domain's "Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians", was also exiled to Tokunoshima by him.

However, Shimadzu Hisamitsu has done such a great job, but there are still some people who don't know what he thinks in his heart, and some people regard him as the leader of the "Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians".

Shimadzu Hisamitsu led the army to Kyoto, so the Satsuma people were very high-spirited. They thought: "This is a good opportunity. Now it is time to support Hisamitsu as a general, emerge in Kyoto Town, drive away the shogunate forces, and let me Satsuma seize the world."

They even made a plan to bring the emperor to Mount Hiei if something happened, and start a full-scale war with the shogunate.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu was terrified by the weird brains of these guys, and he immediately suppressed their actions.

On April 1862, the second year of Bunjiu (4), more than 23 people from the "Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians" gathered at Fushimi's Funajuku Temple Field House to discuss future countermeasures.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu believed that this could never be tolerated, so he sent nine highly skilled soldiers there. He instructed: "Don't attack everyone, only target people from your own domain."

As a result, the leaders of the Satsuma Fan's "Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians" were wiped out in one fell swoop.

Shimazu Hisamitsu sent people to massacre members of the "King King and Expel Barbarians" faction of the feudal clan... His decisiveness and cruelty shocked the world.

This event is known as the "Teradaya Incident" by the world.

The owner of Teradaya is named Toshi, a mature woman who is still in her early 30s and still has charm.

After the "Teradaya incident", she calmly ordered her servants to replace the damaged tatami mats and paper doors, and wash the blood on the ground. Her calm and calm appearance left a deep impression on people, and she can be called a heroine.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu, who used a series of iron-fisted methods, completely controlled the power of public security in Kyoto, and the entire Kyoto was under the influence of the Satsuma clan.

Afterwards, Shimadzu Hisamitsu proposed to the court that an imperial envoy must be sent to Edo again to thoroughly explain the court's thinking.And put forward the conditions he said, in order to negotiate with the Edo side again, and clarify the leadership of the Kyoto side.

The imperial court agreed to the case and sent a figure named Ohara Takatoku to Edo.In order to protect him, Shimadzu Hisamitsu personally led 1000 soldiers to Edo.

In this way, the conflict between the shogunate and the imperial court with the power of Satsuma as the background unfolded in Edo.

On June 1862, the second year of Bunjiu (6), 7 soldiers from Ohara Sotoku, Shimadzu Hisamitsu, and Satsuma arrived in Edo successively.

On the initiative of Shimadzu Hisamitsu, Ohara Takatoku proposed the following conditions on behalf of the imperial court:

First, in order to discuss the matter of expelling the barbarians, the general Tokugawa Iemo had to come to Kyoto to discuss the issue with the imperial court.

Second, set up five elders (Shimadzu from Satsuma, Mori from Choshu, Yamauchi from Tosa, Maeda from Kanazawa, and Date from Uwajima).Political affairs need to convene a meeting of the five elders to make decisions.

Third, reform the politics of the shogunate and promote the elimination of barbarians.However, it was not possible to rely on the shogunate, so Yoshiki Hitohashi was appointed as the general assistant, and Matsudaira Harutake of the Fukui domain was appointed as the political president.

[Note · Assistant to the general: When the general was young, he replaced the general to perform government affairs.Similar to "Deputy General"]

【Note·Chairman of Political Affairs: A position set up to assist the general in handling internal and external political affairs of 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 bosses are all powerful foreign daimyo.Shimazu Hisamitsu's original intention was to improve the status of the Satsuma Domain and weaken the authority of the shogunate.

As for the last third requirement... Satsuma has always belonged to the "Hitobashi faction" camp, and Shimadzu Hisamitsu himself is also a die-hard "Hitobashi faction".

That's why he strongly demanded that Yoshitaka Hitohashi be promoted to assistant general, and Matsudaira Haruyake, who is also a hardcore "Hitsubashi faction", be promoted to political president.

The first two requirements are easy to say, but the third requirement is strongly opposed by the "Nanji faction" shogunate cabinet ministers and Ooku women.

Yoshiki Hitohashi's biological father was the late former Mito feudal lord: Narimaki Tokugawa.

Tokugawa Noriaki 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 Daao hate Hitotsubashi Keiki very much.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu had long expected that the shogunate would not agree to these three requirements so readily, so he specially brought 1000 soldiers and cannons.

After lengthy discussions and wrangling, the shogunate finally compromised, especially deciding to accept Yoshiki Hitohashi as the general assistant.

As a result, Yoshihito Hitohashi, who had been silent and dormant before, began to appear on the political stage.

文久二年（1862）7月6日，一桥庆喜就任将军辅佐。7月9日，松平春岳就任政事总裁。

With Yoshiki Hitohashi coming to power, the confrontation between "Nanji faction" and "Hitsubashi faction" has entered a new stage of more fierceness.

On the other hand, the confrontation between the "Gongwu Fit faction" and the "Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians" is becoming more and more intense.

After the "Navigation Strategy" went bankrupt, the Changzhou Fan, who had been quiet for a while, made another move.

The Changzhou Fan completely changed its previous policy, from the "Gongwu Fit School" to the "Respecting the King and Fighting the Barbarians" in full compliance with the intention of the imperial court and resolutely carrying out the fight against the barbarians.Advocate the reuse of a large number of radical anti-barbarians, abandon all treaties signed with other countries, and lock the country again.

In order to regain political dominance, Changshu's attitude became increasingly radical.

At the beginning of August in the second year of Bunjiu (1862), when Shimadzu Hisamitsu raised his troops to Edo and was not in Kyoto, the lord of the Changzhou feudal clan, Mori Kyoki, showed a tough posture.

He catered to the imperial court, advocated extreme anti-foreigner theories, and advocated "Changzhou supports the imperial court."

In this way, the patriots who seemed to have been expelled or wiped out by Hisamitsu Shimadzu before, as well as the hidden low-level samurai and ronin of the Yiyi sect, all thought that "a wise master has ushered in."

So they gathered in Kyoto to establish contact with the samurai in Changzhou, and the whole Kyoto was full of voices of respecting the king and fighting against barbarians.

More than a month ago, Kyoto, which centered on Satsuma and reached an agreement on the theory of combining public and military forces, has undergone a major reversal in the blink of an eye, and the theory of respecting the king and fighting barbarians centered on Changzhou has gradually spread.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu returned to Kyoto on August 8th.

At that time, the anti-barbarians centered on Changzhou continued to expand, and people all supported this proposition.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu was deeply shocked by the sudden 180-degree change in the previously suppressed situation in Kyoto Town.

However, it is very difficult to suppress the current situation again.

Moreover, Shimadzu Hisamitsu believes that the shogunate has accepted all his conditions, and the situation in Kyoto will improve soon, so he doesn't care about the situation in Kyoto for the time being.

On August 8rd, he left Kyoto and returned to Satsuma-the subsequent developments proved how wrong his thoughts at this time were.

Hitotsubashi Keiki and Matsudaira Harugaku, both of whom are highly regarded by the "Ichitabashi School", are quite capable.

After they assumed the positions of general assistant and political president respectively, they led and carried out a series of reform measures at a vigorous speed.

First, in order to highlight the majesty of the imperial court, the previous rule that the Palace of Peace was called "General's Imperial Palace" was abolished, and it was directly called "Palace of Peace".

Second, the nine guards of the Kyoto Imperial Palace appointed by the shogunate in the past were now under the imperial court's orders. That is to say, the imperial court could use the Satsuma and Changzhou guards 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 to explain the financial constraints, so it was changed to 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 majesty have been abolished.

Many reform measures are being steadily carried out in Edo, while in Kyoto... it is becoming increasingly chaotic.

After the Changzhou Fan clearly announced its support for the movement of respecting the king and fighting the barbarians, people who respected the nobles, rotten people who wanted to fish in troubled waters and made a fortune, and spies from the "Gongwu Fit School" swarmed into Kyoto.

Cruel assassination operations continued to take place in the streets and alleys of Kyoto day and night.

The outstanding swordsmen of the "Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians", including Tanaka Shinbee and Nakamura Hanjiro from the Satsuma Domain; Okada Izo from the Tosa Domain;

On July 1862, the second year of Bunjiu (7), Shimada Sakon of the Kujo family was killed, and his head was exposed in Shijo Kawara.The assassin is said to be a master of the show: Shinbei Tanaka.

This is a start.

As a result, atrocities of assassinating members of the "public-military integration faction" and the founding faction continued to occur.

On August 8, Naoki Ii’s confidant, Nagano Sozen, was killed.

On August 8th, Echigo's anti-barbarian advocate Seiichiro Homma flattered the government and collected money. Because of this betrayal, he was also poisoned and killed by Shinbei Tanaka and Izo Okada.

On August 8, the prisoner Wen Ji, who was in charge of escorting anti-barbarians in the Anzheng Prison, was strangled by Okada Yizang.

[Note Ansei Prison: After Naosuke Ii became the boss, the political incident of persecuting the "Hittohashi faction" involved more than 100 people]

On September 9, four people, Yuri and Doshin, from the Kyoto Town Prison, who were known as "evil ghosts" in Ansei Prison, were killed.

On October 10, businessmen such as Hiranoya Kosaburo and Senbeiya Hanbei were exposed to the streets for seeking unfair profits in trade.

On November 11, Takashi Murayama, the concubine of Nagano's main meal, was found dead on the streets of Sanjo Street.On the same day, Takashi Murayama's son was also killed.

In this way, the atrocities of the "respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians" continued to expand and spread.

From the original ones who only killed officials and samurai of the "Gongwu Fit School", now even ordinary people and powerless women are not spared, even if it's just a wrong sentence, or simply because you don't like it , may lead to death.

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 8st that the governorship in Kyoto alone was not enough.The post of "Guardian of Kyoto" was newly established, which has the power to command Kyoto Soji, Osaka Castle, and nearby daimyos. The Aizu feudal lord Matsudaira Yung assumed this important task, and asked him to quell the turmoil in Gyeonggi.

Speaking of Songping Rongbao, Qingdeng and him are quite destined.

In the first year of Wanyan (1860), Matsudaira Rongho, who stayed in Edo due to attending the imperial court, funded and held a fencing competition that only allowed novice swordsmen to participate in, in order to encourage young samurai to actively practice martial arts. Qingdeng is here Won first place in the competition.

Matsudaira Yongho's calm and capable appearance left a deep impression on Qingto.

The loyal and powerful Aizu Domain 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 1000 Aizu domain soldiers southward to Kyoto, and set up a main formation at Kurotani Kinkai Kokoji Temple, officially confronting the rioters of the "King King and Expelling Barbarians Faction" in the name of "Guardian of the Royal Castle".

Although Shimadzu Hisamitsu left Kyoto, the forces of the Satsuma clan did not withdraw from Kyoto, and thousands of soldiers of the Satsuma clan were still stationed in Kyoto.

In this way, a scene of vigorous vitality and all things competing for the "Three Kingdoms" appeared in a corner of Kyoto.

The "Respecting the King and Repelling Barbarians" formed an alliance with the ministers who respected and argued, and indirectly controlled the Changzhou Fan of the imperial court.

Aizu Fan who is loyal to the shogunate and is a "common military fit school".

The Satsuma clan is also a "public and military fit faction" but only cares about its own interests.

The three forces each have their own hidden agendas and are confronting each other.

The air in Kyoto is filled with a strong smell of gunpowder, and the situation is imminent.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the shogunate's power in Kyoto seems to be too weak, and Matsudaira Yongho is unable to support himself.

So, just recently, a member of the shogunate cabinet proposed: Send another strongman to lead the troops westward and appease Gyeonggi!

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There are a full 9000 words today!And the plot is full!Even if you press it with a punching machine, you won't be able to press even a trace of moisture!Since I started the book, this is the first time I have written a chapter with such a full plot (Leopard laugh.jpg)

Ask for a monthly pass!Ask for a recommendation ticket! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

This chapter is really important. It not only outlines the major events that cannot be avoided in the past 1 year and 8 months, but also paves the way for the subsequent plot.If you don't understand and familiarize yourself with this chapter, you will definitely not understand the plot behind it.