On the eighth day after the occupation of Osaka, Li Chenfang finally could not bear to listen to the endless contradictions and quarrels between the representatives of the merchants, the representatives of the townspeople, and the town commissioners. He felt that if this trend continued, merely mediating these internal contradictions would drain all his time and energy, making it difficult for him to make a cautious and timely judgment of the external situation.

So after he listened to another quarrel between Yodowa Musashi, Yoshida Kanbei, Saburo Uemon and Mizuno Nobuko, Li Chenfang did not make a final decision as usual, but said after a long silence: "As the castle representative of Osaka, it should have been my duty to handle internal affairs.

However, the current external situation in Osaka is well known to you, and if I concentrate all my energy on mediating internal issues, then I will not have the energy to deal with the shogunate's attack on Osaka. I want you to remember that the most fundamental issue for us should first and foremost be the question of the survival of Osaka Castle, and if Osaka Castle is recaptured by the shogunate, all the issues we have been discussing these days will be meaningless.

Therefore, I decided to establish the Osaka City Council, which is based on the current 43 towns, and each town will elect one representative to the council. The 99-member Osaka City Council was formed by selecting 20 representatives of the Osaka Citizens' Assembly who were over 40 years of age from the samurai, 30 representatives from the military, and finally 6 representatives from the city's foreign merchants.

The main duties of the Council are to amend the relevant civil laws for my confirmation; Voting on various internal affairs within Osaka Castle is carried out in accordance with the voting results of the town council. Review of matters related to conscription and taxation, and punishment of those who refuse to comply with conscription obligations or tax obligations...

I have given you three days to prepare for the establishment of the city council, after which the city council and the town council will have full authority over civil affairs, and I will only be responsible for supervising the conduct of the city council and the town council, after which I will turn my focus to the military aspect. ”

Sitting in front of Li Chenfang, Mizuno Shinko, Yodowa Musashi, Yoshida Kanbei, Saburo Uemon and other businessmen naturally had objections in their hearts, and the former was already very dissatisfied with the lowly merchants and representatives of the townspeople and the samurai sitting together to discuss political affairs, not to mention that they now had to get a city council to manage the affairs of the town.

And several merchant representatives, such as Yodowa Musashi, were not very reluctant, fearing that the establishment of this city council would rob them of their current special political status. As the first batch of businessmen who took refuge in Li Chenfang, such as Yodo Musashi and the businessmen who also knew Li Chenfang's true identity, they felt that their current status was won by their advanced vision.

Therefore, sitting with Li Chenfang and the samurai lords of the past to discuss the internal affairs of Osaka Castle made them feel that they had broken away from the merchant class of the past and had real political power.

Their current special status also makes Li Chenfang need to use them to gain the support of the townspeople, and those townspeople must also pass through them in order to deliver their wishes to Li Chenfang.

In such a delicate situation, Yodowa Musashi and other representatives suddenly became the upstarts in the city. If it were to replace them with such a city council now, wouldn't it allow other people who had no vision to share the power they now have, and abolish their monopoly on information between Li Chenfang and the townspeople.

However, just when the two sides wanted to oppose each other, the good news that Yuta Higuchi and Goro Hirano had captured Sakai City and defeated the Kishu clan was delivered. After listening to the messenger of the First Division read the good news, Li Chenfang glanced at the people in the room and asked again, "What do you have any opinions on my request just now?" ”

Yodoya Musashi and Mizuno Shinko spoke up almost at the same time, saying, "Your Highness is far-sighted, and I support the decision to establish a city council..."

The other deputies and officials were a little slower, but they also expressed their obedience to Li Chenfang in unison. It was only a matter that the newly formed 1st Division was able to defeat the defeated army led by Inagaki Shigetsuna, and even the soldiers of the Kishu Domain were defeated in one fell swoop, which made everyone present immediately see their bright hope for the future.

If you add to this the news that the Kataoka detachment had occupied Hyogo two days ago, it seems that the Osaka West and South Roads are safe for the time being. They felt that at this moment, Li Chenfang was putting his energy into military affairs, and maybe he could create some miracles.

They didn't expect a miracle to bring down the Edo shogunate, as long as they could maintain the current state of Osaka, it was what they wanted most now. Some people even felt that it was best for the shogunate army and His Royal Highness Tadashi not to come to Osaka, and that would be the best outcome for Osaka.

Just when Li Chenfang received the good news from the 1st Division, Emperor Masahito, who lived in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, also received the news about the rebellion in Osaka Castle brought to him by the Minister Yatsukoji Takaki.

I heard that the Osaka rebels in the name of Tokugawa Tadanaga had erected the banner of "Mukden Jingnan" and demanded the abdication of the three generations of shoguns. Masahito, who originally had the mentality of watching jokes, was suddenly enraged, and he roared and said: "None of these two brothers is good, Fengtian is difficult, where did Tokugawa Tadacho put the imperial court..."

Honda Tadamasa, the lord of the Himeji Domain, was on his deathbed, and the entire clan was concerned about the change of feudal lords, and he had no intention of responding to the news that Osaka and Hyogo had been captured by the Tadanaga rebels, and he did not even send troops to retake Hyogo.

Masaji Abe, who had just arrived in Hiroshima with 15,000 members of the Choshu Expeditionary Army and joined up with Asano Nagasaki, the lord of the Hiroshima Domain, also received a report from Mitsutaka Kohama, a ship that had fled Osaka.

Faced with the changes that occurred behind him, Abe Masaji had to suspend the crusade against Choshu. However, he did not return with this army to attack Osaka, and the conscripted feudal army in this army would not obey his order to attack Osaka until Edo's order was received, so he could only ask Kohama Mitsutaka to go to Edo to receive a new order from the shogunate.

The Choshu Domain's stay outside the Choshu Domain surprised the Choshu Domain, which was in full swing, and began to send spies to inquire about the reason for the Raider's stay in Hiroshima.

On the Edo shogunate's side, after receiving news of the fall of Osaka from the Kishu domain and Kyoto shoshidai, the shogunate ministers and shogun Iemitsu finally believed that Osaka was taken by an army under the banner of Tadanaga, and it was not a false news.

Shogun Iemitsu had to go to Nishinomaru himself and report the news to Tokugawa Hidetada, the great imperial palace where he was recuperating. Tokugawa Hidetada was also shocked when he heard this, and he immediately summoned the shogunate's important ministers to Nishinomaru to discuss how to deal with it.

In the discussion, Naotaka Ii, the head of the retainers, believed that the news of the seizure of Osaka Castle should be true, but it was not necessarily true that he was not a subordinate of Tadashiga. Because the three kingdoms of Kai, Enoe, and Suruga, which were under the control of the shogunate, were under the supervision of the shogunate, there was no news of any army movements.

Tadashi may be able to secretly train a small army of more than 100 men, but he must not be able to train a strong army capable of capturing Osaka Castle under the nose of the shogunate. Therefore, he suggested summoning Tadanaga to Edo for protection in the name of the Great Imperial Palace, and then demanding the surrender of the rebels in Osaka on Tadacho's orders.

If the rebels refuse to surrender, then it means that the matter has little to do with the loyalist. If the rebels did surrender, they could quell the rebellion at Osaka Castle at minimal cost.

In addition, the shogunate should order the Choshu Raiders to return and prepare for the recapture of Osaka Castle by force.

There are two streets to walk from Edo Nihonbashi to Kyoto, one is the 1080-mile-long Nakasendo Road, which is mostly mountainous, with 69 lodging sites in between, and it can be traveled in as fast as 2 weeks.

The 1,000-mile Tokaido is the 1,000-mile Tokaido through Sunpu Castle, with 53 lodgings in between, and since the Tokaido is mostly located on the coastal plains, it can be used in half the time of travelers compared to the Nakasendo Trail, and it is the fastest and most convenient street for a large-scale march from Edo to Kyoto.

In order to control this street, which was the most important to Edo, the daimyo who were divided into feudal titles on the Tokaido were all retainers of the Tokugawa family, who had followed the Tokugawa family since the beginning of the Tokugawa family, and have been retainers for several generations.

For example, the Okubo family of the Odawara domain, the Matsudaira family of the Kakegawa domain, the Mizuno family of the Numazu domain, the Honda family of the Okazaki domain, the Ii family of the Hikone domain, and the Tokugawa relatives such as Tokugawa Tadanaga of Suruga and Tokugawa Yoshinao of the Owari domain.

Now that Tokugawa Tadanaga has a problem, it means that the Tokaido from Edo to Kyoto may be cut off. Losing control of the imperial court was tantamount to shaking the shogunate's rule over Japan, which Hidetada and Iemitsu father and son could not tolerate.

Therefore, the idea of bringing Tokugawa Tadanaga back to Edo house arrest was quickly approved by Hidetada. But then they ran into another problem, and if Tadashi returned to Edo obediently, it would be the best solution for the shogunate.

However, if Tadashi refused to answer the call and took the action of resisting Edo by force, then the Suruga Province, which was surrounded by mountains and seas, would not be able to be conquered in a short time.

Therefore, in the end, the Great Imperial Palace Hidetada made a decision, ordering Yagyu Tajima Mori to go and convey the order to summon Tadashi to return to Edo, and then ordered Kinjiin Takaden to persuade Tadashi not to make a foolish decision.

After the decision was made by the Daigosho Hidetada, the shogunate was suddenly in motion. Under the auspices of Naotaka Ii, a group of messengers passed the shogunate's orders to the Owari Domain, Kyoto Shoshiyo, Kishu Domain, Tokushima Domain, and Choshu Raiders through the Nakasendo on land and ships at sea.

Naturally, the shogunate's aggressive actions could not be concealed from those who worked for the shogunate, and soon news of the fall of Osaka and the rebellion of His Royal Highness Tadashi spread privately in Edo Castle.

Masatoshi Inaba, who was resting at his home in Edo, soon heard these rumors from relatives and friends. As a retainer of Tokugawa Tadanaga, he only thought about it for an hour, then packed up some money and food and left Edo Castle. It takes about 3-4 days to travel from Edo Nihonbashi to Sunpu Castle, but Inaba Masatoshi only took 2 and a half days to arrive.