On April 8, the first year of the Yuanzhi era (1864), the flower festival was poured into the Buddha.

With the recent improvement in people's livelihood, the townspeople and the common people have also gained a lot of interest. Today, everyone went out to participate in the Buddha irrigation meeting, respectfully offering sweet tea to the Buddha statue surrounded by flowers and plants, and praying that their livelihood will continue to improve and their homes will be safe.

Mibu Village, on the outskirts of Kyoto, is even more lively, because in addition to the Buddha Irrigation Society, the White Master is also celebrating the 19th birthday of the head of the family, Shimotoshi.

Iwakura was wearing a hunting suit, and his eyes were snuggly on the horse.

But although Iwakura looked lazy, the entourage who led the horse did not dare to slack off at all, he was the old man of the Iwakura family, and he knew the master's power:

Since this turnover, the Lord has changed his past fierce style and treated people with kindness and generosity, but his methods have undoubtedly become more and more powerful.

It has been less than three months since the first month's comeback, and the official has been reinstated and has become a lieutenant general of the imperial court from the fourth rank left, and the bad reputation of the traitors in the past has also disappeared unconsciously.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look around at the samurai who followed, the head of the family brought these irrelevant people here, and he really didn't know what his idea was.

"There are still new writers at the pass!"

Hearing such an indignant complaint from his companion, he realized that Mibu Village was close at hand, so he had to stop thinking nonsense.

There were a lot of people queuing at the gate, and the attendants were waiting impatiently and were about to come forward to report their home, but they were stopped by Iwakura. So after checking the shape of the hand, I sat on a cup of tea in the water tea house, and finally waited for the people of the white lord Matsudaira family to appear.

"I don't know if Lieutenant General Zuo Konoe Quan is visiting, there are many neglects, please forgive Naoxiu's crime."

Iwakura smiled and waved his hand to show that it was okay, and he also deliberately explained:

"Come uninvited, don't blame Yue for being reckless.

Before, some ministers were ignorant, and the court didn't notice it for a while, so please don't mind the embassy. ”

What the two are talking about is the fact that Zhixiu was deposed just now:

A few days ago, the new academy headed Tsunaki Hashimoto and Kanjo Ginmi Naohide Hori, and the two of them rushed to Kyoto from Edo together with Mizuno Tadashi Mizuno.

After that, the three of them instigated the general Ieshige and the president of political affairs, Keinaga, and demanded that the "Governor of the Forbidden Imperial Guard" and "Command of the Sea Defense" of Yoshiki Hitotsubashi be restricted.

Of course, the shogunate said very tactfully, and the establishment of a survey party for the governor's palace was to facilitate the supply of money and grain; The purpose of detailing the regulations for the command is to give instructions to the commander so as not to delay the military aircraft.

But this can't hide the fact that it restricts Qingxi's authority, so it aroused the anger of the ministers:

Keiki was originally born in Tokugawa, but even so, becoming the governor of the imperial court still attracted the suspicion of many shoguns.

It can be seen from this that the shogunate was insincere about the combination of public and military forces, and it could not be said to be shameless when it went back on its word and was capricious. So, a minister counterattacked on the spot, accusing Zhixiu of losing his honor in court, and immediately dismissed Zhixiu's Anfang Shou.

Poor Naoxiu, the three of them did bad things, but in the end, he alone bears the consequences.

But this does not blame anyone:

Although Tsunori Hashimoto is Keinaga's confidant, he can't go to the palace as an official under the sixth rank of "university assistant", so he is naturally fine;

And Mizuno Tadashi, who is the chief guard from the top to the bottom, is a veteran of many years, how can etiquette or something be faulted;

Only Zhixiu, who knelt reluctantly, sometimes secretly peeked behind the curtain, which was not too easy to catch him.

After this incident, the establishment of a survey party for the governor of the Imperial Guard of the Forbidden Sato and the refinement of the regulations for the command of the defense of the sea were deadlocked—the imperial court was reluctant to talk about it, and the shogunate could not think of a good way for a while.

But Naohide was kicked out of court, such a "great shame", the white lord Matsudaira family naturally had to say something, such as today's visit, as the head of the family, Mao Min was stunned and did not come forward, only Naohide greeted Iwakura in a hurry.

It was undoubtedly a humiliation to receive the imperial court minister in a white body, but despite this, Iwakura talked and laughed with Naohide casually.

"With armor on your body, you can't bow it all. Hey, hey—"

Naoxiu and Shiokura were pretending to be there, but at this time, someone else was in trouble.

It turned out that Naohide saw Iwakura just now, but he bowed slightly, and he didn't bow down as a white body, under the pretext of "armor is ...... body".

The young man who spoke up,It's the only two people in Iwakura's party who ride a horse.,I've just been introduced.,It's the current head of the Saion Temple family.,Although young.,It's also the right guard lieutenant general of the imperial court.,It's currently the prince's close practice.。

He was good friends with Iwakura, and Iwakura celebrated the birthday of the head of the white family this time, and he also came curiously.

"Mr. has expanded the land for Fusang for thousands of miles, and now the white lord is also the barrier of the north, and his contribution is great.

With poor etiquette, humiliate heroes for no reason, what a word! ”

Seeing that Naoxiu was still there, hehe smirked, Ryoma couldn't look past it, so he jumped out first to fight the grievances.

"A place outside the law, impudents!"

Xiyuan Temple held back a lot of anger along the way:

Iwakura forbids swaggering, but before entering Mibu Village, pedestrians still respectfully avoid them when they see them hunting clothes and riding horses. But when they arrived at the customs office at the entrance of the village, no one took them seriously at all, and even when they took out their hands, no one knelt down.

When he met with Bai in charge, not only did Zhixiu not kneel, but his entourage was just a shallow bow, he was just a young man when he was angry, and he was sensitive to this, so he spoke out.

In fact, Naohide is "rude", Iwakura had expected it, and this crowd drove people out of the court, which offended people thoroughly, and I didn't see Naohide's son Matsudaira Shigertoshi "holding on to the court" from now on.

At the time of the incident, Iwakura didn't have time to dissuade him, this time he came privately to celebrate Mao Min's birthday, just to ease the emotions of the white master's side, but how to think that Xiyuan Temple couldn't nourish his qi at home, and this meeting was launched.

Seeing this, he had no choice but to come forward to persuade him, but fortunately, Naohide didn't care about himself, and took the initiative to signal that Ryoma didn't need to say more, so the scene eased up.

At this point, Iwakura and Naohide couldn't pretend anymore, so they had to leave the water tea house and go directly to the place where the white lord celebrated his birthday.

Although the White Lord Thousand People Group claims to be stationed in Mibu Village, it is actually stationed outside the village, but this birthday banquet is set up in the Four Seasons Building in the village.

Now the white lord is known as the first strong feudal clan in the north, this lord celebrates his birthday, naturally there are many guests, although because of Mao Min's "ill", the princes are inconvenient to come here in person, but the courtiers have come, and a small Misheng village is crowded.

Because the Four Seasons Building couldn't sit down at all, the banquet was even held outside the building, and when Iwakura arrived, he saw this scene.

Of course, Iwakura is also a minister, so he must "sit, please sit, please take a seat", and under the guidance of Naohide, he and Saionji went up to the second step of the Four Seasons Building.

Mao Min did not show up, and the host here was naturally headed by the old Zhixiu of the pen family, and when he came back, the guests greeted one after another, and Zhixiu also responded one by one.

Because Yancang did not follow the will of the imperial court, but only came to celebrate his birthday with personal kindness, Naoxiu did not make a big fanfare, but just introduced him to the people in the main hall.

Iwakura was happy at first sight, he was familiar with everyone here, so he didn't need to introduce:

The six "countries are involved", and one of them has been sent to the city, including the mastermind of Keiki, Tsunaki Hashimoto, Yoshiho's family old Saigo Yorimu, Satsuma's Saigo Takanaga, Tosa's Takeichi Hanheita, Uwajima's Ninomiya Keisaku, and even Governor Keiki's henchman Sakuma was also present.

For the rest, there are Mimefu Mizuno Tadashi of the shogunate, and Kido Junichiro, the advance envoy of Choshu Maori father and son to enter Beijing.

plus Naoxiu, him and Xiyuan Temple, exactly eleven people.

After taking his seat, Iwakura Gushi glanced thoughtfully at Kido before starting to greet everyone.

The noisy guests can't take the master, and when the Iwakura is finished, Naohide begins to persuade him to drink.

However, Xiyuan Temple is like a fish in his throat, how can this sake not be swallowed, he is not hated for what happened just now, but this banquet is too rich:

The five treasures are "three birds and two fish", cranes, larks, oribes, sea breams and anglerfish.

Xiyuan Temple lost his father since he was a child, and inherited the head of the family at the age of three, but his life was not as good as one day, and "three birds and two fish" were not eaten all.

And don't say it's him, Emperor Fusang doesn't have a good life.

In the second year of Bunkyu (1862), when Kyoto guarded Rongho Kamiraku, he offered freshness

Several fish in the sea. As a result, the emperor was reluctant to eat the leftover fish and meat, and asked to keep it properly and wait for the next meal to be served.

At that time, not to mention the attendants, even Rong Bao, who was matched with the table, couldn't help crying.

It wasn't until the shogun Iemo went to Luo twice and gave a lot of money that the life of the minister gradually improved.

Today is just the birthday celebration of the head of the white master Matsudaira family, and in front of Xiyuan Temple, although it is not "three birds and two fish", he dares to guarantee that the taste is still delicious.

Even the simple pickles are unheard of as white as jade wild vegetables, which is simply sensational!

Even the Tokugawa family has such luxury, but in contrast, the imperial family and the ministers live frugally, is there any reason for this!

If Naoxiu knew that Xiyuan Temple really thought, he would definitely be surprised:

It tastes good, it is the boys of Fengyuan, after the mass production of three acids and two alkalis, they finally developed MSG;

And the unheard of pickles are just the successful transplantation of Chinese cabbage began to spread.

However, Naohide couldn't notice the strangeness of Saionji, because at this time Kido Junichiro was pestering him again:

It turned out that the imperial court intended to limit the head of the Changzhou family, Maori and his son, to defend themselves within one month, otherwise they would be enemies. As the advance envoy to Beijing, Kido came to celebrate his birthday today, and there were inevitably many justifications during the banquet.

In fact, according to the status of Choshu and Kido, it was his turn to enter the main hall anyway, although Naohide was like this, but no one here was willing to deal with him.

So Naohide came back. Kido continued to complain to him:

"The matter of Choshu is just in accordance with the decrees of the imperial court and the shogunate, and the grievances in it are no matter what, please ask Horiden to appeal on your behalf."

Naoxiu shook his head when he heard this:

"You've fallen to the wrong temple gate.

I even lost my official position, where can I help.

All of you here are important ministers from all families, and you ask me for help, what do you say?

Don't say anything else, the two ministers of Iwakura and Xiyuan Temple are here, no matter how you count, it won't be my turn to speak. ”

Iwakura was originally watching the excitement on the side:

If you know today, why bother in the first place.

Who doesn't know this, according to the rumors of the Maori retainers, after the previous bombardment of Shimonoseki by the Three Kingdoms, it was Satsuma and White Lord who were in the middle to protect Choshu.

Now Changzhou has broken the contract and defaulted on the debt, causing the two families to be very embarrassed.

If it weren't for the Shimonoseki shelling indemnity bonds issued by the shogunate later, these two families bought the lion's head through their respective royal merchants, and the shogunate would never have spared Satsuma and the white lord.

Therefore, this time, the Maori father and son defended themselves, if they want to seek a good ending, then they must settle these two families first no matter what.

He was waiting to see how Junichiro Kido made a fool of himself, but he didn't expect Naohide to push it casually and burn the fire on himself.

Iwakura first calmed the eager Saionji Temple with his eyes, and then he comforted Kido slowly:

"It is a great plan for Fusang Zhongxing, and this dangerous road will inevitably have twists and turns.

Changzhou has made merits, and when the head of your family enters Beijing, there will be a conclusion.

Now Kido, why should you bother with yourself in vain? ”

After listening to Iwakura's words, everyone present smiled, this minister is unfathomable, and his words are not leaky, no matter how you understand it.

Seeing that Iwakura was indifferent, Kido thought about it, and simply got up and knelt down in front of Saionji, and continued to plead.

When everyone here saw this scene, they all had all kinds of feelings in their hearts:

Choshu has now fallen into such a field, and the ministers and princes are afraid to avoid it, so since Kido entered Kyoto, it has really hit a wall everywhere.

Naoxiu invited him into the main hall today, I'm afraid it was also a deliberate humiliation.

However, Xiyuan Temple is a young minister, and it is inevitable that he can't hold his breath, but he can get a glimpse of the true attitude of the imperial court on this matter.

But Saionji is not stupid, under Iwakura's hint, let Kido pound his head like garlic, he blushed and turned over and over with only one sentence, that is, "In the future, the imperial court will have its own public opinion".

Just when the scene was embarrassing, suddenly there was a commotion outside:

"It's fighting, it's fighting!"