After inviting Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari, two henchmen, out of Osaka, it stands to reason that Hidebo can finally calm down and deal with government affairs, but this is not the case.

After this war, Hideho had begun to slowly establish his dominance in Japan. Militarily, Hideho relied on his own strength and allies in various places to maintain absolute superiority; Politically, he held the center of the Toyotomi regime in the name of Hideyori Gomi, and he was also unshakable; Economically, with his large stone height and monopoly on the exploration trade, he had left the Toyotomi clan and other daimyo far behind.

However, even in such a situation, there are still some murmurs from inside and outside Osaka from time to time, mainly because Hidebo completely abolished the Elder Worship System. In fact, Hideho and Maeda Toshimasa, Ukita Hideie, and Asano Nagamasa were vague at the beginning, and only explicitly abolished the joint meeting of the elders, but still retained the positions of the three elders and commissioners, and in a certain sense, still let the elders' system survive. However, as the situation gradually favored Hidebo, and in order to eliminate the threat of the "uncertain factor" of Ukita Hideya, he simply abolished the system that had lasted for nearly three years. Instead, it was the "Seven Divisions, Nine Cao and Twelve Systems" carefully concocted by Hidebo and his retainers.

Looking back at the development of the Kamakura Shogunate, the Muromachi Shogunate, and even the Toyotomi regime, the supreme ruler was often replaced by the most relied on and trusted force in the early days: the Hojo clan, the wife clan of Minamoto Yoritomo, took over the shogunate as the "ruling power"; The "three pipes and four positions" that made great contributions to the establishment of the shogunate by the Ashikaga clan sounded the death knell for the Muromachi shogunate with the "Onin Rebellion"; When Toyotomi Hideyoshi was alive, the elders who lowered their eyebrows and were respectful and respectful became man-eating tigers in the blink of an eye, tearing the world of the Toyotomi clan to pieces.

To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, Hidebo had to devise a completely new system.

"You can have power, but you can't have it." During the banquet, Fujido Gaohu's words woke up Xiubao: Now that the situation is very good, why not follow the example of the Ming Dynasty on the other side of the ocean and strengthen the centralization of power in one fell swoop? After many days and nights of discussion and planning, referring to the development process of China and Japan in history, combined with the current reality of Japan, Hideho finally made a final decision, and the "Seven Divisions and Nine Cao System" came into being.

The Seven Divisions, as the nominally highest administrative body of the Toyotomi regime, originated from the decomposition and refinement of the functions of the Five Executives, with the powerful daimyo resident Fushimi serving as the supreme prefect "Division", which mainly consists of the following seven parts:

Warrior Guard: The highest military organ of the Toyotomi regime, responsible for the recruitment and deployment of troops throughout the country;

The chief secretary of the government: the highest civil affairs organ of the Toyotomi regime, responsible for civil affairs throughout the country, the most important thing is the appointment and dismissal of acting officials in various places, the approval of changes in the elders of the daimyo family, and the subsequent imperial examinations;

Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office: The highest judicial body of the Toyotomi administration, in charge of the national penal decree and the examination of criminal names;

Degree Branch: in charge of the national land, taxes, salaries, food, fiscal revenue and expenditure;

Bingli Division: In charge of temple sacrifices, ceremonial music and manufacturing ceremonies, responsible for docking with the royal family;

Camp Department: in charge of national engineering affairs, all local city repair requests need to be reported to it for approval in accordance with regulations;

Exploration Division: In charge of overseas trade, Hideho directly appoints a daimyo to serve as a director.

Jiu Cao, as the policy implementation and communication agency directly under Xiubao, similar to the Cao family in the Prime Minister's Mansion in the Han Dynasty, directly obeyed Xiubao, and was responsible for submitting the decisions and suggestions of the Seven Divisions to Xiubao for final decision, and had the right to guide and suggest the policies of the Seven Divisions. Although it was nominally only a private institution of Hidebo, it actually became an important force to suppress and weaken the Seven Divisions. It mainly includes the following nine parts:

Bing Cao: also known as Dong Cao, the final review and approval of the military requisition, the scale of the military under the command of the daimyo to feel and supervise, and the docking of the Armed Health Division;

Officials Cao: also known as Xicao, the final review and approval of the changes of acting officials and daimyo families in various places, and docking with the political secretary;

Ichicao: Responsible for the maintenance of public order in the markets across the country (with exclusive military strength), the final review and approval of the construction of Daimyo Castle Town, and docking with the Political Division;

Criminal Cao: The final review and approval of the criminal law decree, docking with the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office;

Hucao: the final review and approval of household registration and military quartermasters, and the docking degree branch;

Tax Cao: the final review and approval of tax collection and storage, policy formulation, and docking degree branches;

Song Cao: The main charge is connected with the royal family and temples, and has a close relationship with the "samurai legend", docking with the Bingli Division;

Gong Cao: The final review and approval of the construction of the project and the general application of the city, and the docking of the Camp and Renovation Division;

Superintendent: Supervise and record the behavior of acting officials and daimyo in various places, report and take measures in a timely manner for misconduct and bad intentions, and do not connect with the department, and the specific composition of personnel is unknown.

To sum up, it can be seen that the Seven Divisions system is the inheritance of the system pursued by the previous elders, and the status is nominally roughly the same as before, and the nine Cao are all directly under Hideho, and although they are independent of the Toyotomi regime, they have the final decision. The profound meaning of this is self-evident, that is, to further transfer the power held by the Toyotomi clan to the Yamato Toyotomi clan, so as to avoid another situation where a powerful daimyo occupies the center and coerces the Son of Heaven to order the princes.

Based on this purpose, Xiubao identified the first batch of candidates for the judge and Cao Peng:

Warrior Guard: Kiyomasa Kato; Chief Secretary: Toshimasa Maeda; Metropolitan Inspectorate: Ukita Hideya; Division: Asano Nagamasa; Bingli Division: Katagiri and Yuan; Camp Division: Terumasa Ikeda; Kasai Division: Keiji Goto.

Hyosa: Shima Kiyoxing; Cao: Fujitang Gaohu; Ichicho: Nasu Zikichi; Torture Cao: Fukushima Takayoshi; Toca: Ogasawara Tadashi; Tax Cao: Sangshan Yiqing; Socao: Long Shu Zhengjia; Gongcao: Katsukin Takeda; Supervisor: Hidemasa Asai.

In addition, in order to better implement the central policy to various places, and at the same time avoid the monopoly of the seven divisions to conceal the report, Xiubao also successively set up under the seven divisions of the Fu Bei, Andu, Guantu, temple, general invitation, forging money, tribute, prosecutor, eye payment, guard, camp, lodging post and other 12 institutes, and selected confidant retainers and close to the daimyo to serve as the executive, responsible for the effective implementation of the policy, and timely feedback on the implementation of the implementation to the Seventh Division and Jiucao.

As a result, the system of "Seven Divisions, Nine Sho and Twelve Offices", which replaced the system pursued by the elders, was officially implemented in the first month of the sixth year of Keicho in the second year of the Battle of Aizu, under the pressure of Hideho. The judge and Cao Peng all made proper arrangements for the affairs of the consulate to be stationed in Fushimi Castle, and the 12th commissioner also rushed to Fushimi in the following three months to accept Hideho's appointment and arrangement.

Some people say that the "Seven Divisions, Nine Sho and Twelve Offices" is a reinstatement of the Toyotomi Hideyoshi system and a powerful measure for Hidebo to strengthen his own power; Some people also say that Hideho still took into account the face of the Toyotomi clan, and except for Goto Kiji, all of the seven judges were daimyo who had received the grace of Taiko, and the twelve institutes were still headed by "dedication", which can be regarded as retaining the position of "commission" in disguise, and it can be regarded as an explanation for the clan and the Owari faction.

However, in fact, the 12 commissions here are really not worth mentioning compared with the 5 commissions that took over the central power and could mobilize thousands of troops at every turn, and the responsibilities of the commissioners have also changed from active decision-making and command to passive execution.

Not only that, nominally, the Seven Divisions replaced the position of the Great Elder as the new decision-making body, but under the suppression and containment of the Nine Cao and the Twelve Institutes, their power was greatly limited and weakened. In particular, with the continuous deepening and consolidation of Xiubao's power in various places, Jiucao's power was greatly enhanced, and the twelve institutes supported by Xiubao also disobeyed the Yang of the Seven Divisions, and gradually changed from accepting the orders of the Seven Divisions to accepting the direct leadership of Xiubao.

Therefore, in the later period, the power of the Seven Divisions gradually shrank, and the functions also changed from decision-making bodies to advisory bodies, almost becoming dispensable. Halfway through, although Katagiri and Moto and others insisted on maintaining the authority of the Seven Divisions, they had no choice but to go away, and it was difficult to improve in the end.

Of course, these are all later words, at least when the "Seven Divisions, Nine Cao and Twelve Institutes" were first established, whether it was the Toyotomi clan or the daimyo in various places, it was still recognized, after all, there were lessons from the past, and no one wanted to have an institution that could influence national policy and overhead the sect, and the decentralization of power was mostly regarded as a last resort when the main family was weakened. Few people realize that behind this system is the further expansion of Xiubao's power, and the decision-making power held by the five elders and the five commissioners in the past is imperceptibly transferred to Xiubao alone, and at the same time, the undercurrent behind him seems to be more turbulent.