Qingxi saw the content of his "National Law" in a dream:

First, there was a major westernization of the shogunate.

In addition to renewing the military system, he also hoped that by imitating the Westerners' administrative structure, he would not only be able to adjust personnel and consolidate power, but also wash away various shortcomings and revive the shogunate.

Moreover, he set up the place of government in Kyoto, and asked a large number of shogunate Kamiraku to help him stabilize.

If is really stable, then there will be no waves in the land of the western country.

Second, ease the relationship with the imperial court, hoping to continue to blackmail the emperor and order the princes.

While dedicating the Yamashiro Shogunate to the imperial court, it was necessary to renovate the imperial palace on a large scale, which was the real benefit to the imperial family and ministers.

Also, he planned to adopt his sister Sadako as an adopted daughter, and planned to marry her to Prince Chihito of the Arisugawa Palace, who began to gain power - Chiren and the shogunate had a hatred of taking his wife, and before the princess of the palace married the shogun Iemo, he had a marriage contract with Chiren.

Because his biological mother, Nobumi Palace, was born in the Arisu River Palace, so this matter has been tacitly approved by the other party.

In addition, since he was positioned as a general by the Tokugawa family last year, he has frequently campaigned for the marriage of the minister and the shogun.

It is believed that through these measures, the intimacy between the public and military forces can be greatly deepened.

Third, promote cooperation with foreigners.

In January of Keio 2, the shogunate had appointed Herald as honorary governor in France. This time, however, he ordered the direct employment of foreigners as shogunates, who worked in various shogunate-run Western industries.

Moreover, in order to curry favor with the British and balance the influence of the French, he also invited the English to guide the reform of the shogunate naval army - the previous military cooperation with the Buddhists was mainly in the new army on land.

In addition, he sent envoys to try to stabilize relations with Western countries.

But when he was working hard to govern, there were two problems in front of him that could not be avoided:

First, the second defeat of the commander, how to completely deal with the aftermath;

The second one is the opening of the two ports and the opening of the two cities.

The second expedition commander was defeated, the shogunate coalition army was beaten to the ground, Ogura Castle was broken, Iwami Ginzan was recaptured, and even the former shogun Ieshige died of illness in Osaka.

If you can't get Choshu to bow your head in time, how can you and the shogunate save face?

The opening of the two ports and the two capitals is a place of great concern to Western countries:

Two years ago, the joint naval forces of the four countries entered Osaka, and what was required was to open the port ahead of schedule. This request was rejected at the time, much to the dissatisfaction of the English minister.

Now, if the port is not opened on schedule, I am afraid that dissatisfaction will turn into practical action, and there is a lesson from the Shikoku bombardment of Shimonoseki, and if the shogunate does not want to fall out with the foreigners, it will have to handle this matter properly.

Sure enough, these two problems directly led to the destruction of the Tokugawa shogunate:

On March 22, 1867, the shogunate asked for permission to open the port of Hyogo. However, encouraged by the Goryeo "Bingyin foreign disturbance" that occurred last year, the tide of rebellion reappeared, so the Kyoto court refused to make a decision on this and demanded that the princes be convened to discuss major matters.

As a result, after Shimazu Hisamitsu, Date Munejo, Yamauchi Toyonobu, and Matsudaira Yoshinaga went to Luoluo one after another, the "Four Marquis Meeting" took place in May.

At the meeting, Shimazu Hisamitsu and Hisamitsu decided to discuss the opening of the port after disposing of Choshu. As for how to punish Changzhou, these political opponents demanded leniency.

But if it is lenient, it means that the shogunate bows its head and admits defeat, and I am afraid that the shogunate will be forced step by step by the opening of the port in the future.

Therefore, he insisted on discussing the two things together.

As a result, there were more losses and fewer wins, and only the port of Hyogo was allowed to open the port on a regular basis, but the Choshu Kandeni was actually approved.

At this point, because the feudal clan could not influence the political situation, the situation deteriorated:

Following the secret alliance of Sacho in January of the second year of Keio (1866), in May of the third year of Keio (1867), the Satsuma and Tosa families reached a secret agreement to raise their troops and bring down the curtain.

Six

When the news of the establishment of the Hyogo Trading Company leaked out of the Shogunate, the princes began to respond to the call of the "22 courtiers to join the government" last year due to the influence of the shogunate's desire to monopolize foreign trade.

In August, following the departure of Toyonobu Yamauchi from Kyoto in May, the other three of the four marquis also returned to the domain. On the contrary, the princes, led by Satsuma and Choshu, continued to increase their troops in Kyoto.

At this point, the situation has become more and more serious.

By September, the Asano family of Yishu also joined the Covenant of the Fall of the Curtain and increased their troops in Shangluo.

But at this time, because of two things, the shogunate was already in crisis:

The first was the delay in the delivery of the second tranche of the Francis loan and the ordnance purchased with the loan.

When asked about Minister Rosius, he regretted that the situation had changed.

The second is the instability of the shogunate's imperial leadership.

Although the Iichi and Rice riots in the second year of Keio (1866) were suppressed, there were still many riots in various places after that.

In particular, at the end of August, starting with Owari on the Tokaido Province, Tokaido,, and Kanto, the shogunate began to campaign "Is this bad?" – a riot that lasted until December of that year.

While singing and dancing, they ransacked merchants, wealthy farmers, and even the official offices, and all they wanted was to go to Ise Jingu to participate in the 20-year Grand Shrine Shrine.

Because the number of participants reached one million, the shogunate was helpless about it, and the order in the territory was disrupted.

By this time, the weakness of the Tokugawa family was obvious to everyone.

On the 3rd day of the 10th month of the Japanese calendar, Tosa Yamauchi Toyonobu, one of the four marquis, sent someone to Keiki to propose "Taisei Fenghui", suggesting that the Tokugawa family should go out to conquer the general of Yi, and then return the power to the imperial court and the male domain.

In desperation, Keiki and the shogunate had no choice but to back down:

On October 14, the Imperial Court accepted the Tokugawa family's invitation after a large discussion on October 14.

What is very alarming is that on the 14th of October, the Fallen Shogun had already issued a secret decree against the Tokugawa family. However, because the shogunate had already "returned the great government", the matter could only be abandoned halfway.

After that, the imperial court issued an edict to the daimyo to enter Beijing to participate in the country, but at the beginning there were few responders, and after the "great government was returned", the strength of the Tokugawa family was not damaged, and the princes who waited and watched were the mainstream.

In November, the princes in Kyoto gradually divided into three factions: the shogunate faction, which advocated the complete defeat of the Tokugawa clan and enriched themselves, the public council faction, which suggested that the princes should be allowed to discuss major policies in moderation, and even the Sashoku faction, which was aggrieved by the Tokugawa family.

However, on December 9, after a meeting of the small imperial palace, the imperial court issued the "Decree on the Retrospective Monarchy" and officially began to form a governing association. However, such a major event was not invited to rejoice, which was undoubtedly a very bad omen for the Tokugawa clan.

Sure enough, the next day, Keiki was notified that the "territory was returned", and the imperial court reduced the Tokugawa family's title to 2 million koku, while the Tokugawa clan's imperial title was about 6.8 million koku—nearly 2.6 million koku of which was the domain of the retainer's banner.

Although in a dream, it is inevitable to sweat profusely when you are happy so far.

But he was stunned, and he could only watch the situation deteriorate step by step:

On December 12, he decided to back down, so he left Nijo Castle in Kyoto and moved to Osaka.

In Osaka, the Tokugawa retainers were so angry that they decided to submit a "Righteous Resignation Form" to Kyoto in protest.

On 24 December, through the mediation of the public council faction, the court's proposal to "return the territory" was changed to "resign from the government and accept the land". Although the content remained the same, the rhetoric was much softened - because according to the meaning of "resignation and land", it was the Tokugawa family who took the initiative to retreat.

On December 27, in the "August 18th Incident" four years ago, the radical rebels who had been driven out of Kyoto returned to Kyoto to report on their work—one died of illness, and the other went into hiding in Tibet because of his participation in the Ikuno Rebellion, so in fact five people returned.

These people were reactivated, and the news of the reinstatement of the Choshu Maori father and son officials came, and Osaka's himself and his retainers couldn't help but feel like pins and needles - sworn enemies

body, thinking about it, will not give up.

At this point, the situation that had eased slightly became tense again.

At this time, news of the attack on the Edo Satsuma Domain reached Osaka on December 25.

It turned out that starting in October, based on the Satsuma Domain, the Shogunate faction continued to provoke:

In the name of guarding Tenshoin, the widow of the thirteenth Tokugawa shogun, the Satsuma clan formed a team of several hundred ronin in Edo.

These people went around causing trouble, running rampant in the market, and even deliberately attacked the former shogunate's mansion.

Between November and December, these men rebelled in Kai, Shimono, and Sagami, only to be defeated and flee.

On December 23, these ronins made another disturbance and took the initiative to attack the Shonai Domain, the "Edo City Nakatori Servant," which maintained the stability of the market.

Even the arson of Jiangchuan Castle on that day is rumored to have been committed by these people.

Therefore, on December 25, the Shonai Domain, together with the original shogunate, completely set foot on the Satsuma Domain.

When the news reached Osaka, he heard about the unforgiving and misdeeds of the shogunate, which greatly angered Keiki and his retainers.

Encouraged by the burning of the Edo Satsuma Domain, the main battle faction demanded that Keiki could no longer back down.

So on the New Year's Day of the fourth year of Keio (1868), he ordered the big eye Fu Takigawa to raise Shangluo and ask the imperial court to punish the lawlessness of Satsuma and other traitors with a "begging table".

But what never arrived was that Takigawa Guju and his party were intercepted, and when they forced their way forward, they were attacked by the other party again.

Therefore, the grief-stricken retainers demanded that they send troops to Shangluo.

So, on January 3, the Battle of Toba Fushimi broke out.

However, as in the previous Second Expedition to Choshu, the Tokugawa coalition of more than 10,000 men was defeated by an enemy force of less than 4,000 men, and even the Yodo and Tsu domains, which had always supported them, defected.

From the 3rd the battle began, by the 6th, some of the defeated troops had retreated to Osaka.

The general situation was gone, and in a panic, he did not even have time to arrange a garrison, so he left Osaka on the night of January 6, and fled back to Edo in embarrassment on January 8.

On January 7, the Imperial Court issued a recourse order against himself in the Battle of Toba Fushimi.

—On the 9th of the month, the ministers Sanjo and Iwakura were appointed presidents, and the Sashoku faction took control of the imperial court in one fell swoop.

On 15 January, the imperial court approached the ministers of the various countries, and on the 25th the Western countries expressed their neutrality.

On February 3, the imperial court issued an edict against Edo, and on February 11, the army was officially dispatched in three directions.

And when he returned to Edo Castle on January 12, he was helpless about it. So, on February 12, he retired to Ueno Kaneiji Temple to be punished, in order to show his deference.

On April 10, after receiving the promise of lenienori, the Tokugawa retainers surrendered under the leadership of Katsuyoshikuni, and Edo opened the castle bloodlessly, and the loss of the castle made the Tokugawa shogunate's more than 260 years of history in ruin.

During this period, the most shocking thing for himself was to missee Katsu Yoshibang - I was expecting him to make a difference, but who would have thought that Katsu Yoshibang would successfully persuade most of his retainers to give up resistance on the grounds that "Fusang should not fight inwardly so as not to give foreigners a chance to take advantage of".

After that, the heart is dead, and when you see the battle of Ueno and Okuba? The Battle of Hakodate took place. During this period, the remnants of the Tokugawa clan loyal to them were all wiped out.

At this moment, a thunderclap suddenly sounded, and he who was originally unable to move, but he actually woke up from his dream in one fell swoop.

"It turned out to be a dream, strange and so vivid."

Just when Keiki was wiping his sweat, the head of the guards, Shinmon Tatsugoro, suddenly pulled the door and broke in, and before Keiki could get angry, Tatsugoro had already knelt down and shouted:

"Hearing that the imperial court approved the tax change, the rebels in the north sent troops to Luo.

Osaka has fallen yesterday, so please make a quick decision! ”

Qingxi listened to it, and couldn't help but feel angry, is this going to be over again?