On May 4, 1866, in the reception hall of Nanjing, a group of Japanese sat respectfully on the sofa, although they all looked solemn, but their foreheads were sweaty, and their bodies were stiff, which proved that they were uneasy.

"His Majesty Wei Ze has arrived!" With a sound, the Japanese jumped up from the couch with a spring on his buttocks. Then, a group of personnel wearing the 65-style military uniforms of the Liberation Army strode into the reception hall. This Type 65 uniform is an 1865 uniform, not a 1965 uniform. But apart from the 100-year time gap, the rest of the place is basically the same. The grass-green military uniform is approachable and embodies the principle of uniformity between officers and soldiers to the greatest extent.

The military uniform is not gorgeous, but the person wearing the military uniform has a murderous aura. In the center is Wees, whose epaulettes have pine and cypress leaves, but no stars that symbolize military rank. In what should have been a star is a national emblem, and as the supreme leader of China, he shoulders the country.

Following Wei Ze was Shen Xin, vice chairman of the Military Commission and director of the Political Department, and then Zuo Zongtang, the secretary. The delegation sent by the Tokugawa shogunate had already received the arrangement, and they lined up in an orderly manner and shook hands with Weizer one by one.

Led by Sheng Haizhou, the head of the delegation, was able to shake hands with His Majesty the Chinese Emperor, Sheng Haizhou was already trembling slightly with excitement. In the eyes of Japan, this kind of hospitality is a supreme courtesy and honor.

After shaking hands, Wei Ze waved his hand and said, "Let's sit down!" ”

The Japanese retreated to the front of the sofa and sat down, it was clear that they were not used to this way of talking. At meetings in Japan, they all sit on their knees. Sitting comfortably on the sofa, it doesn't seem solemn enough. In other words, there are no sofas to sit on in Japan at all.

But Weeser didn't care about this at all, and after simply welcoming the Japanese delegation, Weeser put forward his own views. First of all, China naturally believed that the shogunate represented the legitimate government of Japan, so China was willing to engage in friendly exchanges with the shogunate. The second is that the shogunate itself has serious problems, and if the shogunate cannot solve some problems related to the life and death of the shogunate, China will have to wait and see what happens to Japan in the future. Finally, Weizer hoped that the shogunate delegation would return to Japan, bring back the Chinese side, and survive the changing situation in Japan in the future.

These words are not polite, but they are very real. For Weeser, if the Japanese shogunate continued like this, there was no reason for China to pay a very large price for the shogunate. Not to mention China in 1866, even the United States in 1966 poured unprecedented support into South Vietnam, and the end result was that all that aid was lost. Weeser disagrees with the idea that "even if it's a bastard, it's our bastard." What he believes is that "even if it's our bastard, it's still an untrustworthy bastard." ”

In fact, there are very few specific issues involved in high-level meetings, and everyone talks about conceptual issues. For example, whether China supports the shogunate or not, and what Cheng dù will support the shogunate. As soon as this was clarified, the tone was set.

As the leader of the delegation, Sheng Haizhou had already probably known China's attitude at the previous preparatory meeting, and after Wei Ze personally came out to finalize it, he also knew that many things could not be reversed. For example, the Chinese side asked the shogunate to make internal changes, and if it could not do so, China would not have given full support to Japan.

For this request, Sheng Haizhou not only did not get angry, but quite agreed. Katsukaishu was loyal to the shogunate, but the backbone of the fallen shogunate, Sakamoto Ryoma and Takasugi Shinsaku, once worshipped under him. Moreover, Katsu Kaishu also visited the United States once, and it was one thing to be loyal to the shogunate, but it was another thing to fiercely criticize the old employment system. Because he had seen the advanced social system, he attacked the old system very violently, so Sheng Haizhou was ordered to "think about it behind closed doors" for a year and a half. It happened that the shogunate sent a delegation to China, and those in the shogunate who admired Katsukaishu asked him to lead the team.

"Your Majesty, Emperor, but I don't know why you think the shogunate can't hold on?" The deputy head of the delegation, Kosu Tadashun, expressed dissent. Kosu Tadashun has long followed the shogunate boss Ii Naobi. Ii Naobi was the lord of the Omi Hikone domain and the elder of the late Edo shogunate. He is best known for signing the Japan-US Treaty of Commerce with the United States, granting extraterritoriality to American merchants and seafarers, and opening ports. In 1860, after Ii Naobi was assassinated outside the Sakurada Gate by the Ronin with a scar on his face, Kosu Tadashun was completely opposed to the Shogun. As the absolute hardcore of the shogunate, Kosu Tadashun certainly did not want to hear the Chinese emperor make such an unlucky prediction to the shogunate. It's just that there is fear in his voice, after all, he is facing the emperor of China, and the pressure in Xiao Su Zhongshun's heart is indescribable.

"Because the Tokugawa shogunate can't afford to lose, but the shogunate can't afford to lose." Even if someone objected to Weizer, he was not angry, and he calmly explained, "The Tokugawa shogunate, as the traditional leader of Japan, had to win every battle. Even if there were a few setbacks in the war, the Tokugawa shogunate had to win the final victory. This is what the Tokugawa shogunate could not afford to lose. The Shogunate faction was originally considered weaker than the Tokugawa shogunate, so it would not be surprising that they lost again and again. In the first Choshu Expedition, even though the fallen faction of the Choshu Domain was hit hard, didn't they still regroup now? But as long as they were able to win once, the other daimyo who were dissatisfied with the shogunate would see an opportunity. They would think that the shogunate was not invincible, and that as long as they joined the side of the shogunate, at least not on the same side as the shogunate, the shogunate would suffer more defeats until it was overthrown. This is the current state of Japan. ”

In fact, most of the delegation sent this time were of the younger generation, and with the lifeless appearance of the Tokugawa shogunate, it was impossible for them to really send bigwigs to China to "visit". Of course, if it was really a group of Japanese bigwigs who came, what Weizer said would have been different. After all, negotiating with the old guys and negotiating with the young guys are two completely different things.

Sure enough, as Wei Ze expected, some of these young people could indeed understand this, such as Sheng Haizhou. There are also people who can't accept Wei Ze's statement, such as Xiaosu Zhongshun. But this is not what Wei Ze has to care about, what he has to do is to lay out the facts. In recent months, the Chinese side has not been idle, collecting intelligence from various sources, which is collated and analyzed by the intelligence analysis department. In the end, it was left to Wei Ze to make a judgment, and Wei Ze only knew some about the Meiji Restoration in the history books, and after this specific information reached Wei Ze, he found that the fall of the shogunate may be much higher than Wei Ze had imagined before.

The most important problem is that the shogunate has lost the hearts and minds of the people in the whole of Japan, and Japan was indeed enlightened earlier than the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so the people of insight in Japan may not really oppose the shogunate, but a considerable number of people of insight in Japan do not think that the shogunate can solve the problem. The first thing that Wei Ze remembered about was the Manchu Qing after 1900. In all fairness, it cannot be said that the policies of the Manchu Qing Dynasty at that time did not grasp the main points, nor can it be said that the policies of the Manchu Qing Dynasty at that time were really unreasonable. In the final analysis, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's own rotten and degenerate system made everyone have no confidence in the Manchu government. Everyone thought that the Manchus were just trying to survive on their own, and in fact there was no way to deal with the situation at that time.

Therefore, the scale of the Wuchang uprising was not large, and the purely military impact was also limited, but in the blink of an eye, the situation changed, and all the former pillars of the Manchu Qing Dynasty abandoned the Manchu Qing. Now the Tokugawa shogunate was facing the same problem, and the local Japanese daimyo did not necessarily think that the Choshu domain would lead Japan into a new era, but they all believed that the Tokugawa shogunate would not be able to lead Japan into a new era. Unless the shogunate could demonstrate its ability to suppress the opposition of the Ichiē, what reason would the local daimyo have for the burial of the Tokugawa shogunate?

In Japan's political system, the Tokugawa shogunate was the oppressor of the local daimyos, rather than the leader who convinced the feudal lords.

This kind of meeting is to set the tone down, and the rest of the matter is in charge of the lower-level diplomats. This is also a kind of norm, and after the Japanese delegation personally listened to Weizer's tone, they were completely sure of China's attitude.

Zuo Zongtang followed Wei Ze out of the venue, and he asked thoughtfully: "Your Majesty, when you say this, I think the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Tokugawa Shogunate are quite similar. ”

Wei Ze sneered, "It's not just that there are some similarities, they are exactly the same." It's just that China is bigger, and it will take a little longer. And now there are Zeng Guofan, Jiang Zhongyuan and others who are still swearing allegiance to the Manchu Qing Dynasty and desperately holding on. However, in the latest information, the Twist Army has been assembled in Henan to fight Zeng Guofan, and it depends on who falls first this time. ”

Zuo Zongtang nodded slightly after listening, and in the latest news, the rebellion in the northwest broke out completely. This is based on the profound economic contradictions between the local Hui and Han, and the contradictions accumulated over hundreds of years have come to a general outbreak at this time. Of course, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a strong Han identity, and the Han people in the northwest rallied around the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, from Shaanxi to the west, the swordsmen of Ganshan and Shaanxi united around the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, leading the way and serving the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and killing the scattered enemies. The brutal fighting left the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom completely powerless to take care of the war in other regions.

At this juncture, the Guangfu Army skillfully used the family members of the Twist Army who fled to their own territory, and asked Wen Yuewei, the female leader of the Twist Army, to bring the news that the locals of Wuyang were slaughtered by the Hunan army. The Twist Army then began to assemble in Henan and launched an attack with the Hunan and Huai armies as targets. If the Twist Army wins, then the Manchu Dynasty will be finished. If the Hunan army and the Huai army win, then the Manchu Qing can continue to survive for a while.

Zuo Zongtang vaguely felt Wei Ze's desire for the war to continue to spread, but he didn't dare to ask deeply. With Zuo Zongtang's cleverness, he already felt some very ominous taste. The Taiping Army and the Twist Army were undoubtedly the two knives in Wei Ze's hands, one knife cleaned the northwest, and the other knife formed a deep hatred with the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Retaliation against the Manchus would never be an understatement.

This is the Wei Ze that Zuo Zongtang has gradually become accustomed to, a powerful, rational, and ruthless monarch.