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... Qingdeng really doesn't know much about it, or he hasn't got the latest information yet.

It has only been one year and eight months since Qingdeng took office as a side member and imperial servant.

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 idea of ​​"respecting the king" and "repelling barbarians" have gradually merged. A new group——respecting the king and fighting the barbarians (referred to as "respecting the people with lofty ideals") has become 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, the reverence for the emperor may not be so 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 "Nairi" or "Kinri", which is an insignificant and distant existence.

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

[Note·Gongjia: refers specifically to the hereditary nobles who serve the emperor and the court and live in Gyeonggi. Corresponding to it is "Samurai", that is, 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 a lot of them.

It's just that these people are basically concentrated in the warrior class, and the commoner class may not even know 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 "incarnation of resisting barbarians", an excellent banner that is very convenient to use to promote the idea of ​​resisting barbarians.

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 played, it will occupy the natural political supremacy.

The most taboo in war comes from 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 area, where the emperor and the imperial court are located, became the center of the movement to respect the king and fight against barbarians.

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 far away from politics for a long time, and lacked understanding of the real situation of the country, and the enthusiastic patriots, the Edo shogunate was quite aware of how terrible the industrial civilization of the 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 claim of "respecting the king" of the Zunhuang 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", "repelling barbarians"... are all taboos of the shogunate.

The proposition of the Respect Movement is 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 when Qingdeng’s first Bole: Naosuke Ii was still alive, he was trying his best to promote a combat strategy—letting the general (Tokugawa Ieshiro) marry a woman from the royal family. 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.

Whether it is a 30-year-old aunt or a baby who is more than 5 months old, it is not suitable for the dignified General Zhengyi.

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 Tomomi said to Emperor Tongren: "This is a rare opportunity. Since the shogunate wants us so much, we should adopt this opinion and give them gifts, so that we can raise conditions, and the conditions are Abolish the Anzheng Interim Treaty signed by Naosuke Ii ("Japan-U.S. Amendment and Trade Treaty"), thereby reversing the situation again and proposing a policy of resisting barbarians. In this way, although administration is entrusted to the shogunate, the shogunate must ask the imperial court for instructions before doing things. In this way, in the end, The real power can be in the hands of the 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 He Gong had no choice but to agree to the marriage.

On the other hand, the shogunate was completely unable to fulfill the condition imposed by the imperial court, which was to abolish the treaties signed 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.

Sometimes there is such a waka: For the king and the people, dissipate with the dewdrops 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 imperial court to flatter the shogunate, which led to a more intense movement of respect and rejection.

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.

Nagai Gagaku, who gained power, came to Edo and directly submitted this plan 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 movement of respect and chaos below was still difficult to contain, and the situation became more and more chaotic.

On January 15th in the second year of Bunjiu (1862), Nobu Ando, ​​the head of the Laozhong, was attacked by six nobles from Mito and Utsunomiya at the Sakashita Gate.

Due to the lessons of "The Change Outside the Sakurada Gate", the defense was strengthened, so Ando Shinmasa only suffered minor injuries, and defeated the assassins.

All the assassins were killed, and the incident subsided for the time being.

However, Nobumasa Ando left the center of the shogunate cabinet due to injury, and Masara Nagai's work was also temporarily suspended. The work that was finally advancing was forced to be suspended due to the attempted assassination.

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 Buzhengzhisuke also began to change his previous opinions, and made friends with Hisaka Xuanrui of the Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians.

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 already successful "Navigation Strategy" was completely bankrupt, and Nagai Masaku was also held accountable for doing unnecessary things. Many people who respect the king and fight against barbarians strongly demanded Nagai Masaku to apologize.

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 Fan - 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.

Shimadzu Qibin, who had no heirs, left his last words when he died. He believed that if he handed over the position of feudal lord to his brother Shimadzu Hisamitsu, there would be troubles that would not 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 an ambitious man, hoping to occupy a leadership position.

After Nagai Masaku's steady strategy collapsed, he led 1,000 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 23, the second year of Bunjiu (1862), more than 30 people from the "Respecting the King and Fighting Barbarians" gathered in 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.

Shimadzu Hisamitsu sent people to kill the "King Respecting the King and Dispelling the Barbarians" who had come from the vassal... The decisiveness of the actions and the cruelty of the methods shocked the world.

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

The owner of Teradaya's name is Toshi, a mature woman in her early thirties who 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 1,000 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 7, the second year of Bunjiu (1862), 1,000 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, they could not rely on the shogunate, so Yoshiki Hitohashi was appointed as assistant to the general, 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\