"Everyone is so miserable, why are you so hypocritical? Your parents have lived like this, why can't you live like this? ”

Amidst the gunfire, gunfire, firelight, and screams, Yoshisuke Kusaka, the governor of the Choshu Odd Troop, remembered this passage inexplicably.

When he was fifteen years old, all his family members died, and he began to face this cold world alone.

For this reason, he asked himself countless times at that time:

"Why is the world so difficult? Why are good parents not rewarded? Why do you suffer so much? Is it fate that such a day is? ”

No!

Fan doctor is not his choice, he deserves a better future! At that time, Kusaka vowed to change all this, not only to get ahead himself, but also to change this world.

Thinking of this, Kusaka couldn't help but smile bitterly.

He lamented in his heart, fate is really going to play tricks, what is given to you easily, may be easily taken back:

In December of the first year of Bunhisa (1861), at the behest of his teacher and brother-in-law, Yoshida Jukata, he founded a young samurai organization called "Ildeng Qian Shinhe", and from then on began to emerge in Choshu.

In the spring of the third year of Bunkyu (1863), he became the head of the garrison of Shimonoseki Odaiba, and his teacher Yoshida had been a feudal lord for more than a year, and his fellow brother Takasugi Haru became the governor of the Strange Army, and even other classmates began to come out.

But who knows, as early as the first year of Wenjiu, there began to be dirt within the Matsushita Village Juku family:

At that time, Nagai Tokiyong, who was the head of Choshu Daimesuke, proposed a long-term navigation strategy to support the founding of the country, which was discussed within the domain and became a formal feudal policy.

However, the Four Heavenly Kings of Matsushita, Takasugi Haruka, Irie Sugizo, Yoshida Eitaro and himself, did not agree with this theory, but because the teacher Yoshida supported this policy, everyone did not show it.

Later, it was confirmed that the teacher had indeed made a mistake, and after that, not only did the wind of rebellion between the government and the opposition become increasingly strong, but even the shogunate's rulers Nakahisai and Ando, who supported the long-term strategy of navigation, also lost their position.

However, his teacher Yoshida did not give up, and personally persuaded the feudal lord to protect Nagai Shiyong, and also pushed Choshu to Edo to participate in the shogunate's new policies - Bunkyu University and Yokosuka Iron Works.

Counting the Yokohama Bank in which it had a stake before, Choshu is properly bound to the shogunate.

At that time, I was also involved in:

On October 15, 1862, the Hakujo Matsumae family gave Hashimoto Tsunaki a banquet for the wind and dust, and the teacher took Takasugi Harune and himself to attend.

It is undeniable that the situation at that time had a great impact on me, whether it was the operation of the Yokohama Bank or the prospect of a Western-style university and an iron works.

But the problem is that things have taken a turn for the worse since then:

The old Nakawakizaka Yasuta, who was close to Choshu, was dismissed from his post that year, and his family and the shogunate began to be estranged;

And through the three families of the Gongqing Beixiaolu who entered the Jiang clan with Maori, the Changzhou and the Gongyi became closer and closer.

What's more, not long after, in the spring of the third year of Bunjiu, the general Iemo Kamiro, the president of political affairs, Keinaga, and the shogun, later saw Keixi, because of the founding of the country and the ruling of the two shogunates, the two shogunates almost openly broke down. The shogunate itself was internally separated, so Choshu was more inclined towards the imperial court and ministers.

As a result, Yoshida, the teacher and brother-in-law of the feudal lord, began to lose power. After that, the official separation of the Matsushita Murajuku family also followed:

Since the opening of the port, prices have been boiling and people's livelihood has been difficult, and everyone has been inclined to be unhappy - although the teacher Yoshida, Asada Kosuke, Nagai Tokiyong and others have opened up trade with foreigners, but life is much more difficult than in the past, which is always unpretentious.

The teacher always said, "This is temporary, and these costs have to be paid", but in reality, everyone really can't bear it

Finish.

Of course, Chōshō's pro-military stance became more and more distinct, which led to the gathering of people from various feudal domains, and the impassioned enthusiasm of these people also deeply affected everyone.

Not to mention others, even Takasugi Chunfeng was shaken - just the previous year, in May of the second year of Bunku, Takasugi had visited Matsue in China with the Shogunate's Chitose Maru Mission. After returning, his attitude changed from being arrogant to founding a country.

On April 20 of the third year of Bunkyu, the shogunate issued a proclamation to the feudal domains, setting May 10 as the deadline for the rebellion.

On May 10, as the head of the Shimonoseki Odaiba garrison, he discovered the traces of the Mi merchant ship Pemberon, and then fired the first shot of the armed attack.

In June, Takasugi Haru also completely abandoned his teacher Yoshida, single-handedly established the Odd Soldier Brigade and became the governor, and personally participated in the cause of the rebellion.

However, on June 27, ten warships of the British, Buddha, and Mi coalition counterattacked Choshu Shimonoseki, and once defeated Choshu back to its original form - after four days of fierce fighting, Choshu was defeated, not only was Shimonoseki Odaiba destroyed, but also the foreign soldiers who landed also defeated the feudal army selection team, and then broke into Shimonoseki Town to burn and plunder.

In the end, it was Takasugi Chun Chun who led the strange soldiers to constantly harass him, which saved the scene and repelled the foreigners.

And the most difficult thing for me to accept is that it is Mr. Yoshida, who has always opposed the rash start of war, and he came forward to negotiate with the foreigners for four days, which temporarily ended the war.

Later, due to defeat and huge losses, he fired the first shot, and fell from being praised by thousands of people to being pointed out by thousands of people, and it was the teacher who came forward to protect him, and he distinguished from people everywhere, "This is the order of the vassal, not someone's own opinion." ”

Thinking of this, Kusaka's eyes moistened.

"Teacher, you know, I can't go back."

Afterwards, although Mr. Yoshida was running in all directions to deal with the aftermath, and his senior brother Takasugi Haru also went to Edo to plead with the shogunate for forgiveness, in fact, Choshu has never given up its intention to use force to destroy the country.

Can't afford to lose?

Possibly.

After nearly half a year, Kusaka also began to be able to face up to this bloody problem.

After the bombardment of Xiaguan by the Three Kingdoms, Choshu knew from top to bottom that this matter could not be easily ended.

Sure enough, due to the defeat of Choshu, on August 18 of that year, the original allies turned their faces one after another, led by the shogun Gomi Keiki, the shogunate and the princes united with the imperial court to uproot the seven ministers and the Choshu forces who insisted on using force from Kyoto - not only were the seven ministers headed by Minoru Sanjo expelled, but even the Choshu feudal soldiers led by the old man Masuda of the Choshu family on July 12 were all oppressed by force and driven out of.

At this point, the forces within Changzhou that hoped to turn around in a desperate situation suffered a heavy blow.

And then, the Maori family got another desperate news:

At the end of October of the third year of Bunkyu (1863), the shogunate, Choshu, and Shikoku of the West reached an agreement on compensation.

Moreover, the shogunate did not exterminate everything, not only exempted the first 30% indemnity, but also gave the favorable conditions of deferred payment, calculated, in addition to the 260,000 gold of the year, for the next three years, as long as the annual payment of a little more than 130,000 gold can understand the matter.

However, such generous conditions are undoubtedly a catastrophe for the armed faction in Choshu - if Choshu agrees to such conditions, the people who caused the shelling of Shimonoseki will undoubtedly be firmly nailed to the pillar of shame as sinners.

Therefore, when Yoshida Jufang and Takasugi Haru returned to Shimonoseki from Edo beamingly, they didn't expect their ending anyway:

Just when the two of them met with the head of the family, Maori Kei, Fukuhara Motoshi, Masuda and Kokuji were the three elders, they turned their faces on the spot, invited the head of the Seven Emperors in distress, Sanjo Shimi, and took out the secret decree of the imperial court, and in the name of violating the edict, Yoshida and Takasugi were immediately imprisoned.

After that, Choshu ignored the shogunate's collection envoys

while actively preparing for the war.

Yoshisuke Kusaka, who had already been idle, was also re-entrusted with the task of taking over the position of governor of Takasugi's Spring Breeze Force.

Although at that time, Kusaka convinced himself that it was even more natural to make no mistake and shell foreign ships, because of this, he would have to make Changzhou pay more than 700,000 gold, and even the father and son of the head of the family had to go to Edo to confess their guilt, which was a great injustice, so the three families did the right thing.

But the imprisonment of Yoshida and Takasugi still made it clear to him that these were all excuses:

Mr. Yoshida is running in the name of the head of the family, and no matter how you say it, it is also meritorious;

And the senior brother Takasugi, who turned the tide in the previous Shimonoseki shelling, has no reason to go to prison.

"When you're staring into the abyss, the abyss will stare at you."

In the spring of the sixth year of Ansei (1859), when he entered the disciple of Mr. Yoshida Jukata, the training of Matsushita Village Jukuku was this sentence.

It's a pity that I was 20 years old at the time, and I was only obsessed with the Western military system taught by my teacher, and I didn't realize the painstaking loneliness of this good saying.

In the face of the ugliness behind the passion of the Emperor, all Kusaka can do is to just seize the power of the Odd Soldiers - he knows that only this can save his future and save the lives of Yoshida and Takasugi.

Even in March of the first year of the Genji era (1864), when he heard that "the imperial court and the princes were so dissatisfied with the shogunate's termination of the port lockdown in Yokohama that they secretly invited Choshu to send troops, hoping that the Mori family would take the opportunity to defend themselves in Kyoto and ensure that Fuso had a great plan", he did not have any mood swings—trouble always had to be solved, and force was undoubtedly the best reliance.

It's just that unlike before, he used to think that Zayi was the best thing to do, but this time he only said to his increasingly emaciated wife, Awen:

"After this expedition, no matter whether you win or lose, my brother (Yoshida Jukata) will be released."

But even with such calmness, after Awen cried and said "martial arts for a long time", Hisaka's heart was broken.

Therefore, after the Choshu soldiers and horses entered, although his hunch became more and more ominous, Hisaka did not have the anxiety of the past, and just issued orders over and over again.

Even before the war, Kusaka, who was cautious, was attacked by the leader of the selection team, Kurishima and Guard, as, "Cowards, doctors, monks, etc., do you know about the war?" ”

But even so, he still asked the leader of the army, Fukuhara Motochen, to be:

"Can you confirm this again?

Although Osaka Castle did not move, there was no hostile behavior. However, there is something wrong with the white main army blocking the streets of Fushimi and Toba and preventing our main force from approaching Kyoto.

We only have 2,000 people, but the shogunate alone has 3,000 elite soldiers from Shangluo this time.

'Soldiers, dangerous roads. 'Please keep an eye on it. ”

But Fukuhara praised Kusaka for having a calm demeanor, but he didn't care:

"The right guard of the imperial court ~ the general Saionji, the governor of the confidant Fujita, both have come to our army.

Moreover, on March 27 last month, the Mito Tengu Party had already raised troops in Mt. Tsukuba, and Fujita Koshiro announced to the world that the shogunate had reversed itself and stopped the lock of the port in Yokohama, which had been confirmed.

Therefore, Kusaka, you can rest assured, you only need to attack bravely on time. ”

Thinking of this, Kusaka shook his head vigorously, stopped thinking nonsense, and focused on the battle in front of him.

On the first day of April in the first year of Genji (1864), on the day of the "Aoi Festival" of the Three Edict Festivals, 2,000 soldiers and horses from Choshu Kamiraku suddenly attacked from the streets of Saga, Yamazaki, and Fushimi.

According to the original plan, the Ronin began to set fires all over Kyoto, and at the same time, the princes who had been prepared for a long time also began to mobilize their troops and horses.