Ichibashi's drunken dream, and this matter also became unpleasant:

In fact, since the change of the forbidden gate on July 19, 1864, the difficulty is not how to crusade against Choshu - after all, Choshu has committed a big taboo to attack Kyoto without authorization, and the siege of Choshu is a joint effort, which is sure to be victorious and undefeated.

What makes Qingxi embarrassed is how to clean up the mess.

To put it bluntly, what will happen to the political situation in Fuso in the future, and how the "Ichihui-san" forces led by Keiki will maintain their power, these are all issues that must be considered.

At this time, it had been more than three years since the outbreak of the War between the North and the South of the Mi people in April 1861 according to the Western calendar, and the amount of cotton that Europa obtained from the southern part of the Mi people was becoming less and less, so the amount of foreign cloth and foreign yarn, which was the main goods imported into Fuso, was also decreasing.

Coupled with the inactivity of the rice people and foreign merchants, in fact, the economic crisis in Fuso has eased.

Of course, Keiki had to admit that this result was related to the Takeuchi Hotoku mission to Europe sent by the shogunate, which successfully delayed the opening of the two ports and capitals, although the negotiations in the second year of Bunkyu (1862) paid a serious price such as tax cuts.

Under such a general trend, the defeat of last year's armed attack, coupled with the continuous gathering of troops and ships by Westerners in Yokohama since this year, is the fundamental reason why the imperial court acquiesced in the renunciation of the "Yuan Zhi" military reform.

Of course, the princes are also very awake, and the change of August 18 last year and the change of the forbidden gate this year all reflect the foresight.

However, alleviation does not mean that the fundamental contradiction has been resolved.

The two major crises in Fuso today are the predicament caused by the opening of the port to the outside world and the turmoil caused by the decline of the Tokugawa shogunate.

In fact, these two things are tightly entangled:

The dilemma of opening the port caused the Edo shogunate to lose people's hearts and become more and more embarrassed;

The Tokugawa shogunate was declining, which caused the Fuso parties to be unable to work together with the outside world, so that the rebellion could never be realized.

In total, it has been 262 years since the opening of the 8th year of the reign of Ieyasu Gongkei (1603), which is much longer than the reign of the Kamakura Shogunate and the Muromachi Shogunate - the Kamakura Shogunate (1192-1333) ruled for 242 years, and the Muromachi Shogunate (1336-1573) existed for a slightly shorter period of 238 years.

The Confucian scholars said that "China has a cycle of chaos for three hundred years", and the poor Fuso shogunate, only the Tokugawa family has exceeded two hundred and fifty years.

Today, even the toughest shogunates dare not guarantee that under the oppression of Western countries, the Edo shogunate will be safe and sound.

This is everyone's tacit opinion, and it is also the reason why the court, the princes, and even themselves dare to stir up trouble.

If it is not for King Wen and Wei Wu, it will be Guangwu and Zhaolie.

But what's worse is that his foundation is not deep, and he got up too late:

Don't look at your own family as the head of the Ichitsubashi family, but the 100,000 stone territory of the Ichitsubashi family has always been managed by the shogunate, and the retainers are also the same as the flag and the imperial family, and they are all directly loyal to Edo.

Although he had been trying to accumulate strength since the second year of Bunkyu (1862), he had been trying to accumulate strength since he became the "Shogun Gomi", but in fact, it was not until March of the fourth year of Bunkyu (1864) that he became the "Governor of the Imperial Guard" of the Forbidden Sato that the foundation began.

Heaven is pitiful, has 610,000 stone imperial territory, but it has been turbulent since the opening of the port, and these have to be controlled by Kyoto Guardian Rongbao and Kyoto Shoji Dai Dingjing.

In addition, the ministers of the imperial court and the Edo shogunate were not easy to get along with:

One party wants power and money to the death, and if it doesn't, it will make trouble;

On the other hand, there are constraints everywhere - to say a thousand ways and ten thousand, Ieshige is the rightful Tokugawa clan Masasho, if he encroaches on the interests of the imperial domain too much, it will attract a counterattack from the shogunate's old ministers.

Now, due to the rebellion of the Mito Tengu Party, his Mito family has attracted the collective resentment of the shogun, and even his most important ally, the "political president" Matsudaira Naokatus, was forced to resign in June.

In total, he lost a lot of power in the shogunate.

Now that the crusade against Choshu is imminent, how can we skillfully maneuver between the court, the shogunate, and the princes, so that the shogunates can not only know their "loyalty", but also appease their dissatisfaction, and strengthen the relationship with the princes?

Life is really difficult everywhere, and you can't relax a step.

In fact, I didn't do it myself afterwards – or more appropriately if I didn't do it well.

But this is also a matter of poor consideration, who would have thought that the foreigners would make a brazen move.

On the 19th of July, the Forbidden Gate Rebellion occurred, and on the 27th of the same month, the joint warships of Britain, Buddha, Mi, and Lan sent troops from Yokohama, with a total of 17 warships to attack Choshu.

The war began on 5 August, and in three days the lower pass was cleared, forcing Choshu to bow down and make amends.

Prior to this, on July 23, he was ordered by the Shogunate to pursue Choshu, and on August 2, Edo ordered the princes to prepare, and as soon as there was a movement, the Shikoku bombardment of Choshu took place.

This is extremely embarrassing:

Originally, the Changzhou Maori family was excessive, but in fact, it was also ordered to destroy it.

Therefore, before the change of the forbidden gate, there were quite a few people in the ministers, princes, and even within the shogunate who suggested leniency.

Now, the four Western countries are shelling Xiaguan, and the sympathy of the government and the opposition for Changzhou has also flooded - after all, there have been Yangyi attacking Changzhou, and the Fuso families will crusade against the Maori family, and it is inevitable that they will be suspected of eating inside and outside and helping outsiders bully their own people.

There are even folk rumors that the shelling of Shimonoseki by foreigners was carried out by the Edo shogunate in collusion with outsiders.

Keiki is absolutely sure that the shogunate will not do this - after all, Choshu has committed a big taboo in the Forbidden Gate Change, and almost everyone has shouted and beaten it, which is very easy to clean up, so why bother so much.

The greed of foreigners is well known, please send troops, I don't know how much benefit you have to concede!

And although the shogunate is embarrassed, but after all, it still controls the righteousness of Fusang, and it is easy to invite the gods to send the gods.

Unfortunately, what happened next fueled the credibility of this rumor.

Because of the chaos in Kyoto, the frightened Fuso Emperor and the ministers, most of them hated Choshu. As a result, after the Shikoku bombarded Xiaguan, after being designated as an "enemy of the DPRK" before, on August 23, the Maori father and son were again stripped of their official positions by the imperial court.

The shogunate in Edo did not suspect it, and on September 1, it announced that it would restore the pajj that had been eased during the Bunkyu Reform (1862) to the status quo ante, that is, to suspend the hajj and the three-year visit and revert it to the two-year visit.

Originally, Keiki was very annoyed, and after Shikoku bombarded Shimonoseki before, his ally Aizu Yoho and his brother Ikeda asked for "lenien" to the Mori family.

This time Edo made another trick, and actually tried to restore the prestige of the shogunate at this time, could it be that Shikoku shelled Shimonoseki, what kind of face-raising thing for the shogunate!

Besides, after the conquest of Changzhou Liwei, and then resume the Hajj explanation, he will die in a few months, and he has to announce this matter less than a month after the bombardment of Shikoku, which is really speechless.

It's really "dressed like snow for a while, and if you look closely, you are stupid".

When you get to such a field, you don't have much to do.

After that, his own family stirred up the shogun Ieshige's pro-conquest of Liwei, and replaced the commander of the expedition to Choshu, from the head of the Kishu Tokugawa family, who was born in the shogun Ieshige, to an ally Tokugawa Keikatsu - Keikatsu is one of the four Takasu brothers, and Aizu Yoho and Kuwana Dingkei of "Ichihui-san" are brothers.

In November of the first year of the Genji era (1864), the conquest of Choshu ended with a wide ceremony:

Although the Maori father and son apologized and accepted a prudent punishment, Choshu also agreed to abandon Yamaguchi Castle, and the three old and fourth staff officers all apologized, and the Wuqing of the Shoyi who fled to Choshu after the August 18 Incident were to be severely punished.

In fact, the war did not start, and the Maori family neither reduced nor moved, let alone fell apart, so to speak, it was completely the team raised high and gently fell, and the actual loss was not large.

Of course, it is not so easy to let go of Choshu.

On September 22 of the first year of Genji, the shogunate signed an agreement with foreigners in Yokohama on the Shimonoseki incident, and because they refused to open the port of Shimonoseki or Hyogo immediately, the final agreed compensation was as high as 3 million US dollars!

With such a large amount of compensation, the culprit will definitely have to be borne by the culprit Changzhou.

After the Western countries formally approved this agreement, the total amount of nearly 2.6 million yuan of small judgments, although it was paid in six installments over 18 months, it is believed that Changzhou will not be happy.

But that doesn't satisfy you -

According to Qingxi's plan, the dismemberment of Choshu is a good result. Because whether it is to divide allies or take the opportunity to establish a bridgehead in the western country, this is a rare opportunity for expansion.

But that's all it can be.

Sure enough, Tianyu did not take it, but suffered the blame.

The army withdrew in November, but on December 15, the Gongshan Temple Rebellion occurred, and the Choshu Gongshun faction, which was supported by the shogunate, was quickly defeated to the ground by the strange army led by Takasugi Haruki and others.

Later, in March of the first year of Keio (1865), Choshu continued to be submissive to the outside world, but secretly began to actively rearmament.

What made Qingxi furious the most was that in the aftermath of the previous Xiaguan incident, the foreigners asked for the opening of the port and Xiaguan, which was actually proposed by Takasugi Chunfeng and others before.

Although since the second year of Bunkyu (1862), when the shogunate Chitose Maru visited Matsue of the Tang Dynasty, the daimyo of Kyushu and Western Province began to secretly carry out secret trade. But Changzhou is so presumptuous, blatantly colluding with foreigners to open the country, isn't this against the sky!

Yu Gong, the turmoil since the opening of Fusang is well known to the world, and Changzhou is doing this because it is crazy to eat inside and out.

Even if we have to continue to open the port, can the opening of the port of Shimonoseki be the same as the opening of the port of Hyogo and Osaka? This tariff was a big purchase, and the establishment of the "Ichihui-san" to control was not a good thing, so how could this benefit fall into the hands of outsiders.

Therefore, in April of the first year of Keio, he instigated the shogunate to launch another expedition to Choshu, and the reason was that "the rioters have resurged" and "private transactions with foreign countries".

However, at this time, it was not as smooth as the first expedition to Choshu:

First of all, the imperial court and the princes began to be wary of the shogunate.

Last year, the shogunate announced the resumption of the hajj confession, and in addition to the boycott, the daimyo began to be wary of the revival of the shogunate's authority, so they were not enthusiastic about recruiting the shogunate again.

Since the merger of the public and military forces in the third year of Wenjiu (1863), although the imperial court has restored a lot of authority on the surface, it has actually gained little benefit.

Especially the ministers, they have not been able to gain real power, and now they are beginning to doubt the original leader of the king, Qingxi.

Second, the turmoil in Fuso, triggered by the opening of the port, began to worsen again.

From the first year of Genji (1864) to the first year of Keio (1865) this year, the price of grain began to rise rapidly, and the folk riots of Ichiwa and rice reappeared.

In this regard, the government and the opposition blamed this on the Shogunate's failure to lock down the port and the implementation of the Tsunomachi tax reform treaty that began at the beginning of the first year of the Genji era.

Originally, the economy of each family was not good, so they were unwilling to help the military service anymore, and the shogunate had the ability to recruit Choshu again but had no intention of restraining foreign merchants, which also increased the criticism of the government and the opposition.

In addition, some of the princes led by the Satsuma Shimazu family who had made a great contribution to the first expedition to Choshu last year were also very dissatisfied with the lack of sufficient returns, so they opposed the second expedition and refused to send troops to help.

Therefore, although in April of the first year of Keio, the shogunate and Keiki provoked the idea of reconquest of Choshu, but it was not until September of the first year of Keio that they received the permission to reconquer Choshu - now that the high price of food has caused Fuso to be violently turbulent again, the shogunate does not dare to easily abandon the name of the combination of public and military forces, so it can only ask for the permission of the commander.

And for himself (Qingxi), it is also unacceptable to enlist the chief without getting the imperial permission:

As the "Governor of the Imperial Guard" of the imperial court, if he did not get permission, he undoubtedly showed that he was beginning to lose power, so how could he continue to be left and right between the imperial court, the shogunate and the princes?

Moreover, in July of that year, under the pressure of the ministers of various countries, the shogunate had already paid the first batch of compensation for the Shimonoseki incident. And because Choshu was indifferent to this and denied it in every possible way, the 500,000 US dollars were finally advanced by the shogunate.

If the punishment of such evil deeds is not supported by the imperial court, what is the point of the shogunate's support for the combination of public and military forces?

And if the shogunate had recruited the governor without the imperial decree and the combination of the public and military forces had broken down, what would be the righteousness and foundation for the "Ichiga-san" to control and control the situation?

But finally, after getting the edict for the re-enlistment of Choshu in September, the shogunate was unable to start the second re-enlistment.

Why?

Because at the instigation of the new British minister Parks, on September 17, 1865, the joint fleet of the four Western countries threatened to attack Osaka if they could not get along.

In this situation, how can we continue to recruit long.