Next, the slightly drunk Hitohashi rejoiced, and he saw his beautiful moment and the end of failure in his dream:

On August 20, 1866, he announced the death of the shogun Ieshige, and on the 22nd of that month, he pushed the imperial court to issue an order for the second truce.

On September 2, the shogunate's envoy Katsuyoshikuni successfully negotiated peace with Choshu, and on September 19, the shogunate ordered the coalition forces to withdraw their troops, thus ending the second expedition to Choshu.

But during this period, from a very strange perspective, Qingxi discovered many private and treacherous things.

After the death of the shogun Ieshige on July 20, relying on the help of the Imperial Observatory and the Palace, coupled with the connections he had painstakingly managed in the past few years, he defeated Tayasu Kaminosuke and became the fifteenth generation of shogun candidates within the Tokugawa family on the grounds of "the curtain has a long monarch and the blessing of the society".

Of course, the army of the Second Expedition Commander fell into his own hands, which was also a factor that Edo had to consider.

This Edo is not peaceful, and Kyoto will inevitably experience a lot of swords.

On August 30, 22 ministers, including Ohara Shigetoku, took the opportunity to visit the pilgrimage and proposed:

"Due to the new death of the shogun, the shogunate is at a great disadvantage in the expedition, so please gather the feudal clan and renew the great government in order to stabilize Fuso."

To put it bluntly, this is because the ministers saw that the shogunate was unfavorable in the Choshu war and the head of the Tokugawa family was dead, so they jumped out and tried to seize power while they were in chaos.

But over the years, he has been close to the imperial family, and Emperor Fusang is safe, and after listening to his concessions, he immediately punished these courtiers.

At this point, the integration of the imperial court and the shogunate is ready, and it is finally a matter of course for him to take over as the general of the expedition:

At the end of November, the imperial court issued an appointment, and on December 5, he officially took office as the 15th Tokugawa shogun, and finally reached the pinnacle of his life - after two disastrous defeats in the competition for the throne with Ieding and Iemo, this time he finally got what he wanted.

It's a pity that it's not cold in high places, especially when Fuso is stormy.

Even before he officially became a shogun, between August and November, he had to make a painful decision to survive the shogunate:

After much careful consideration, he continued the shogunate's previous strategy of reviving with the power of France, and officially launched the Keio Reform.

This is also the fact that since he won the approval for the founding of the country last year, he has completely changed from a stance of "embracing foreign countries for self-respect."

As for the reason, it is actually logical:

First of all, this is the general trend.

After the events of Fomi's shelling of Shimonoseki, the Battle of Saying, the artillery bombardment of Shimonoseki by Shikoku, and the invasion of Osaka by the allied forces of the Four Kingdoms, it has been fully proved that it is unrealistic to use force to destroy the country.

After experiencing the August 18 Change, the Forbidden Gate Change, the first conquest of Changzhou and the founding of the country, he gradually became estranged from the Yiyi faction.

Especially after the defeat of the second commander, the shogunate exposed its extreme weakness, and in this situation, after taking over the position of shogun, it urgently needed reinforcements to deter Yokoi and stabilize the interior.

Therefore, it seems that it is a better choice to carry foreign self-respect.

Secondly, among the two great powers of Western Britain and Buddhism, Francis was very resolute in supporting the shogunate.

In February of the first year of Keio (1865), the shogunate and France signed an agreement to cooperate with the Yokosuka Iron Works. The Yokohama Iron Works was built later, and it was also strongly supported by the Buddhists.

Even from January to April of the second year of Keio (1866), the shogunate navy was trained on a ship of the Yokohama Buddhist army.

And at the same time, about the purchase of a new style

Armaments, loans, and other support, the Buddhists also showed great kindness.

And most importantly, the Buddhist minister Rotheus is very reliable:

Before the shogunate's first conquest, he organized the Western Shikoku to ban the sale of arms to the Mori family.

Not only that, but when the Shikoku Combined Naval Army invaded Osaka last year, he also actively mediated between them, which helped the shogunate a lot in dealing with the aftermath.

More importantly, in August's own temptation, the Buddha Kingdom responded positively.

On August 20, Minister Rosius signed a large loan of 32 million francs with the shogunate, a huge sum of real gold and platinum, which could not only save the shogunate from a crisis, but also showed France's unwavering support for his family.

Subsequent requests for military assistance were also supported by Rosius, who promised to provide full mediation in a formal contract with France itself.

This is a world of difference compared to the ill-intentioned English Minister Pacus.

What did Pacus do?

On April 7 of this year, the shogunate announced that students and merchants who were allowed to practice and trade abroad would be allowed to sail overseas. In fact, this is actually the opening of the country internally.

On May 13, the shogunate signed a second treaty with Shikoku (France, England, Milan, and Land).

According to this agreement, Fuso drastically reduced the tariff to a level that China was forced to accept after the Battle of Yaluo.

But what was the response of the British to these concessions?

Just before the official surrender of the second expedition commander in June this year, Pacus, as a British minister, actually went to Changzhou Xiaguan to investigate.

Although there was no official declaration of support for Chōshōshō, in reality, the British minister almost prevented the war from happening.

In June, Pacus visited Satsuma, who was gradually showing an antagonistic attitude towards the shogunate, and stayed in Kagoshima for a long time.

At the end of June, he visited Uwajima.

……

The English minister's frequent contacts with the foreign lords revealed his subtlety - it was clear that England was dissatisfied with the shogunate, and that it was no longer content to negotiate with the shogunate.

Coupled with other things, such as the increase in trade between Satsuma and the British after the Battle of Saying, and the large number of Western ordnance that emerged from Changshu during the Second Expedition, how could this not make Keiki and the shogunates panic.

Did the British want to vigorously support the Ōvaō against the shogunate?

Since the British also have different intentions, the Francis side should not be missed. Otherwise, with the weakness of the shogunate after the defeat of the Second Expedition to the Shogunate, it is well known to everyone, and if it is forced both internally and externally, I am afraid that the Tokugawa family will be gone.

Therefore, although the position of general has only been established and has not yet been recognized by the imperial court, Qingxi still issued the "Eight Outlines" of the new policy on September 2.

The seventh of them is "pay attention to diplomatic integrity and strictly uphold commercial law", which shows that it has completely changed from the earliest position of "rebellion" to "opening up the country for trade".

And later, he even rejected the shogun's request to stay in Edo, hoping to stabilize the situation in the government and the opposition by staying in Kyoto.

Unfortunately, the sky was not as good as people wanted, and on December 5, he was inaugurated as a general, and the Fusang Emperor, who had always believed in "Yihui Sang", actually died on the night of the 25th of the same month.

And the candidate to take over the throne is greatly detrimental to the shogunate and himself:

The sixteen-year-old prince could not be in charge of the government because he was too young, and he inevitably trusted his elders. But his maternal father-in-law is Nakayama Zhongneng, and he has a grudge against the shogunate to kill his son, how can this be good?

Originally

Zhongneng's son, Tadamitsu, was a radical faction in the armed rebellion, and the leader of the Tianzhu Group that occurred before and after the August 18 Rebellion was Zhongguang.

After the defeat, Tadamitsu fled to Choshu, but was stabbed to death in the mountains during the first expedition.

Therefore, the prince and the shogunate have a grudge against his uncle, and his trust is relied on by the loyal minister, and he has a hatred for losing a son with his own family.

Compared with the prince who succeeded to the throne, the deceased Fuso Emperor, although he was resolute, did not completely reject the shogunate under his control.

After all, King Mito said that it had been passed down for 200 years, and Mito Tokugawa had always been married to the imperial family and the ministers, and this had a long history.

Moreover, for more than ten years, the Mito Tokugawa family and the imperial court have been in the same boat, and the friendship is even deeper:

In the seventh year of Jiayong (1854), after Fusang signed a peace agreement with the Mi people, Emperor Fusang resolutely opposed it, and it was his father Qi Zhao who cheered for him;

In the following years, it was with the approval of his father Qi Zhao that the imperial court slowly accumulated prestige - of course, the Zayi faction and the imperial court supported each other, and while the imperial court gained prestige, the Zayi faction relied on the support of the imperial court to fight with political opponents within the shogunate;

In the fifth year of Anzheng (1858), Fusang signed the treaty of trade between the five countries, and then the government and the opposition were shaken, relying on the joint opposition of the imperial court and the Qi Zhao and Yi families;

Subsequently, in the Anzheng Prison (1858-1859), both the imperial court and the Qi Zhao family were severely attacked, and even they were not spared.

After that, in the second year of Wenjiu (1862), the imperial court and Qi Zhao and the family turned over, which was also the sincere cooperation between the two sides.

The August 18 Revolution (1863), the establishment of Ichikai-san (1864), and the subsequent Forbidden Gate (1864) were all the result of the joint efforts of everyone.

Even if he was able to take over the position of general this year, it was also due to the support of the Fuso royal family.

If it weren't for the fact that on August 30, the Fusang Emperor reprimanded 22 courtiers, I am afraid that if he wanted to become the general of Zhengyi, he would have to go through more twists and turns.

But now that Emperor Fusang has died violently, and the prince who took over the government is hateful to himself, who would have thought of this earth-shaking change?

Hey, in the past, Emperor Fuso knew that today's scene was not easy to come by, and after the prestige of the imperial court increased and even suppressed the shogunate, he took the initiative to ease the confrontation with the Edo side.

For example, marrying Miyashita (1862) was the result of his best efforts.

But the successor prince, because he has not experienced the wind, frost, rain and snow, and the young man's spirit is instigated by the people around him, I am afraid that he will have to think differently about the shogunate that failed in the second expedition.

Now that the shogunate is weak, he must not return to Edo, and it seems that he can only maintain the situation in Kyoto - Keiki himself knows that after the tax change in May, Fuso Jinglun is more turbulent, and the dark tide is turbulent after the second expedition, these are all important matters of life and death.

The joy in the dream came in a trance to the third year of the following year (1867).

On January 9 of the third year of Keio, the new emperor officially ascended the throne. What made me breathe a sigh of relief was that the former Sekihaku Nijo Saikei was made the regent of the imperial court.

In February, he received ministers from various countries for the first time as a new shogun, in which the Buddhist minister Rocius reaffirmed his support for the shogunate, while the British minister softened.

Later, on the basis of the previous "Eight Guidelines", he proposed the "National Law Ichi" as a guide for the shogunate reform, and vigorously promoted the Keio reform.

At this time, the dream of Keiki was full of ambition, and he was full of expectations for the Nakako-Tokugawa clan again.