The sudden invasion of the Ming army shocked not only the shogunate in Edo, but also the imperial court in Kyoto.

It's just that after the young Emperor Gomizuo learned that the banner of the Ming army actually had "Respect for the Emperor", the hostility towards the Ming army in his heart went a lot, and then he summoned the imperial court Guan Bai Nijo Faithful for the first time and asked him about the true intentions of the Ming court.

"Your Majesty, judging from the notice of the Ming Kingdom, the enemy of the Ming Kingdom is the Tokugawa family, not the Emperor!"

Nijo Tadashi was the most prejudiced minister of the Kyoto court against the shogunate, and now holds the nominally most powerful position in Japan, Sekihaku, a position that his family, the Fujiwara clan, has monopolized for thousands of years. Except, of course, for that nameless Toyotomi.

"That is to say, the people of the Ming Kingdom respect me, the emperor? They didn't want to destroy Japan, but the Tokugawa family? "Hou Mizuo's spirits were greatly lifted.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Nijo, who hated the shogunate and the Tokugawa family very much, gave the emperor a clear and satisfactory answer, telling His Majesty that the Ming people had announced the whole of Japan, and once the Tokugawa shogunate was eliminated, the power of Japan would still be assumed by a person of insight in Japan.

Then, the great government will inevitably be returned.

Sekihaku will inevitably regain real power, rather than become a puppet of the shogunate.

These, the chrysanthemum organs of the Ming people have been released to Kyoto through some means.

Although, Nijo knew that the Ming people did not feel good about releasing goodwill to the Kyoto Imperial Court at this time, but hoped that the Imperial Court would confront the shogunate, so as to benefit the military operations of the Ming people.

However, Nijo still accepted the "goodwill" of the Ming people, after all, it was impossible for the Ming army to truly conquer Japan, and after defeating the shogunate, the Ming people would inevitably return the great government.

At that time, the imperial court with the emperor was the one who could really take over the shogunate's legacy, and those wavering and wait-and-see powerful feudal lords were not qualified to become the second Tokugawa Ieyasu, let alone the second Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Therefore, both in public and private, both of them firmly hope to cooperate with the Ming Kingdom.

The emperor is the biggest weight of this cooperation.

Now, the young Emperor has shown his attitude. This is crucial.

After hesitating for a while, Hou Shuiwei lowered his voice and said, "So, is it okay?" ”

"The minister understands what His Majesty means, and the minister will send someone to do it immediately."

With the emperor's acquiescence, Nijo had greater confidence to persuade his important ministers to rise up against Tokugawa Hidetada.

"Your Majesty, the Satsuma Shimazu family has written to the imperial court to publicly express their willingness to respond to the Hizen Arima clan." In order to strengthen the emperor's desire to eradicate Hideloda, Nijo told the emperor the good news he had just received.

"The Shimazu family is up too?"

Hou Mizuo was surprised and delighted, Satsuma is a strong domain, if the Shimazu family can express their support for the return of the great government, Kyoto will become the real Kyoto of Japan.

"The shogunate acted perversely, and everyone was punished! Please ask Your Majesty to secretly edict all feudal domains to discuss Xiuzhong! "Nijo, who struck while the iron was hot, actually came up with a secret edict.

His Majesty the Young Emperor hesitated, and instead of discussing the matter of the secret edict, he said, "That man is so hateful, I don't like him very much." ”

In this way, after leaving such a sentence for the only important minister who could be trusted, Hou Mizuo got up and left the secret room.

His Majesty the Emperor's hatred of the Tokugawa family is unreserved, because the Tokugawa family has given the emperor too much humiliation.

At that time, Gomizuo's father, Emperor Goyosei, abdicated the throne precisely because of Tokugawa Ieyasu's intentions. If the imperial court needed the financial assistance of the shogunate and had to submit to the power of the shogunate, then Tokugawa Hidetada's finger-pointing at the emperor's private affairs was even more hateful.

Hou Mizuo loved his female official deeply, and gave birth to a son and a daughter, this matter was originally the emperor's harem, but it caused Tokugawa Hidetada's strong dissatisfaction, to force the emperor to marry his eleven-year-old daughter and son, this is simply too deceitful!

I will never become the son-in-law of the Tokugawa family!

Gomizuo secretly swore that if it weren't for the shogunate troops gathered outside the castle, he wouldn't even be willing to send people every day to comfort Tokugawa Hidetada, who was going to fight a decisive battle against the Ming army.

Forbearance, but also forbearance.

Kyoto was still under the watchful eye of Hidetada, and the young emperor did not dare to reveal their true thoughts at this time, even if his ministers had all the guts.

The decisive battle with the Ming people was not only the hope of the shogunate, but also the hope of the emperor.

How Your Majesty hopes that the great government can be returned!

How Your Majesty hopes that the people of insight throughout Japan will join the army of the Ming Kingdom to "respect the emperor".

Both history and the Ming people's proclamations show that the Ming had absolutely no territorial ambitions for Japan, and their crusade was simply to eliminate the evil shogunate.

..........

The Satsuma clan openly wrote against the shogunate, which deeply stimulated Tokugawa Hidetada.

In order to seize the initiative in the war and destroy the Ming army around Nara before the arrival of reinforcements from the Ming army, Tokugawa Hidetada ordered the shogunate troops near Kyoto to advance to Nara, and he wanted to establish the unshakable position of the shogunate with a great victory.

On the 14th, more than 80,000 standing troops of the shogunate marched toward Nara under the banners of red, white, blue, yellow, and black.

The news continued to spread back to Kyoto, and it evolved into a scene of red and black suppressing the actions of a large army, which had a huge psychological deterrent effect on the imperial court in Kyoto.

Whether the Ming army will win or the shogunate will win has become the biggest question mark in the hearts of everyone in Kyoto.

The Imperial Army on the front line of Nara also received the news of the general attack of the Japanese army, and in terms of troops, the Japanese army had a great advantage, the Japanese army was equipped with a large number of iron guns, iron cannons, and cavalry to fight, while the Imperial Army stationed in Nara Castle was only the first infantry wing of the Guards Division and some baggage and engineering troops, with a total strength of less than 5,000.

The latest order came from the base camp, and Gong Wei wrote in his hand: "The Guards Division must win the battle for the defense of Nara Castle!" ”

At the same time, the Ming Imperial Army moved towards Nara from all directions, and both sides were constantly increasing their troops.

On the 18th, more than 12,000 soldiers from Taiwan arrived in the direction of Nara with the reinforcements of the 3rd Infantry Wing of the Taiwan Garrison Division and the 1st Wing of the Taiwan Volunteer Emperor's Allied Army, and soldiers recruited from Fujian and Zhejiang.

The "Youxi Detachment" led by Wang Youxi, the brother-in-law of Wei's father-in-law, also successfully landed in Osaka, and in order to purify the resistance of the Japanese army, the commander of Wang Youxi's brigade ordered the sacking of Osaka, causing at least 20,000 innocent deaths of more than 20,000 Osaka people.

The Ming army in the Osaka direction seriously threatened the Japanese flank, and in order to gain time, Tokugawa Hidetada ordered an attack on Nara Castle on the 24th.

Although the Imperial Army in the castle was weak, it resisted stubbornly with the Nara Walls and had firearms superior to the Japanese army, so the shogunate army was unable to complete a major breakthrough.

After several days of hard fighting, the shogunate army was still unable to break through Nara.

During the war, ancient buildings such as the thousand-year-old Tang Zhaoti Temple were destroyed.