Choshu Domain. Ogijo.

Although it was late at night, the meeting hall in the middle of the feudal lord's mansion was still brightly lit.

There were only four people in the room, and the first one was the lord of the domain, Mori Keami.

At this moment, Maori Jingqin held the information from his secret agents, and his brows were tightly knit.

Just this afternoon and evening, he received three secret letters, respectively from Tokugawa Iesadari, the shogunate of the Shogunate, Hayashi Hongnian, the new lord of the Kyushu domain, and Yamauchi Toyonobu, the lord of the Shikoku domain.

As for the shogunate, there seems to be a sense of easing the situation and recruiting; The Kyushu Domain, on the other hand, directly claimed that they ignored the matter of Honshu Island and supported the Choshu Domain's conquest of the shogunate and the unification of Honshu Island; The Shikoku Domain claimed to be headed by the Choshu Domain.

Therefore, Maori Jingqin summoned the two major cronies, Lao Zhou Buzheng and Masuda Danzheng, to come to discuss.

"Dan Zhengjun, who is this person?" Regarding the discussion of the elder Masuda Danzheng privately bringing a young man to participate in the major affairs of the feudal government, although Maori Jingqin did not blame, he was still a little dissatisfied, but because the major events were now in charge, he did not care.

"The head of the family, this person is Takasugi Shinsaku, the son of the feudal lord Takasugi Haruki, although he is not yet 18 years old, but he is smart and clever. A few days ago, I heard his argument about resisting the Chinese branch, and I felt that it was justified, so I kept what I considered to be a righteous son and kept him by his side as a staff member. "Masuda Danzheng is obviously very fond of this young man.

Maori respectfully sighed, then ignored it, and just sighed: "The newly established Kyushu Domain, sure enough, abolished the original puppet, and directly appointed the Chinese Lin Hongnian as the lord of the domain." After speaking, he handed the information in his hand to the two of them to check.

The elder Zhou Buzheng watched it silently, pondering silently, and Masuda Danzheng also quickly finished reading it, and said: "Family master, it can be seen that this Kyushu Domain is already completely controlled by China!" Today's China, is not what it used to be, now the control of China, I heard that it is an emperor named Feng Yunshan, this person was born out of thin air, from a rebel leader, within three or four years of effort, he unified the entire China, became the emperor of the Heavenly Empire, eloquent and strategic, and the previous Manchu emperors have been completely different. It is said that it was ambitious, and as early as the southern rebels, they occupied the Ryukyus, and now they not only unify the whole of China, but also occupy Annam and Korea successively. It also extended its tentacles to Kyushu Island, which can be said to be clear in its heart. ”

Zhou Bu Masanosuke nodded, he has been assisting the Mori clan for decades, and he has a great deal of weight in the hearts of the Mori family.

"Not bad! The head of the family, I have also heard the legend of the rise of Feng Yunshan, which can be described as a generation of heroes. I can't imagine that there is such a person in that ancient country, judging by his style of acting, first occupying Ryukyu, Annam and then Korea, and I heard from the mouth of that Western merchant that this person acted unscrupulously and vigorously developed the industry and military within the territory. ”

Maori's brow furrowed even deeper.

Originally, because of the reform of the feudal administration over the years, the Choshu Domain developed new fields, appeased the wandering samurai and farmers, and with the assistance of local merchants, realized the circulation of local products of the Choshu Domain, and developed commerce. It was precisely because of this that the Choshu domain was hostile to the shogunate. To be precise, the Tokugawa Ieda, the general of the Seiyi, was actually a waste, and the Choshu Domain did not see it, but in fact, the source of the contradiction came from the elders of the Tokugawa Shogun's Mansion, Masahiro Abe, and Naobi Ii.

Since the Choshu Domain became a standout, the scheming Shogun Assistants such as Masahiro Abe and Naobi Ii have felt the threat of coming to Choshu, and have continued to suppress the Choshu Domain.

The Saga Domain was controlled by Shina, and even controlled all of Kyushu Island. At this moment, even the shogunate panicked.

But Mori didn't want to make peace with the shogunate over this! He was extremely disgusted with the villains of the shogunate.

"Even if the Kyushu Domain is controlled by Navon Yunshan, my Choshu Domain is on the island of Honshu, and no one can control it except my Yamato samurai. And the tens of thousands of troops of the Kyushu Domain, my Choshu Domain hasn't taken it into account yet! Maori said proudly. He had proud capital, the Choshu Domain had the strongest military strength, and the mercantile policy made the Choshu Domain rich, and the large population, emphasis on education, and the policy of enriching the country and strengthening the army made the Choshu Domain produce many talents, and the military strength was far stronger than that of other feudal states.

"The head of the family, how does our Choshu Domain treat the shogunate?" Zhou Buzheng couldn't help but ask. According to his intentions, it was natural to accept the hard-won goodwill of the shogunate and reconcile with it.

Maori Jingqin couldn't help but look at the young man standing next to Masuda Danzheng, and said, "That Takasugi family, since Danmasa-kun said that you are smart, you can tell me, according to the current situation of our Choshu Domain, how should you deal with yourself?" ”

The young Takasugi Jinsaku bowed respectfully and said, "The head of the family, I don't know if you have heard an old saying of Chinese Confucianism: Respect the king!" ”

"Respect the king? Why? ”

"The head of the family, the Neo-Confucianism that I learned in Japan is a transformation of the Confucianism of Zhu Xi, a great Confucian in China. Now, for my Choshu Domain, that's exactly what happened! What is a king, the emperor is also the king, for my great Japan, only the emperor can be the king, the so-called shogunate, just a servant. But now the slave is setting up the emperor and acting as a prestige, which is really a big mistake! The Edo shogunate should be stripped of its military and political powers and returned to the emperor. The so-called Yi, today's China and the Western forces, vainly trying to invade Japan, are all Xiyi! Takasugi Jinsaku said eloquently: "Therefore, the head of the small suggestion family led the Choshu domain and jointly called on the other feudal domains in the world to respect the king, support the emperor, resist the shogunate, and expel the Xiyi!" ”

Of course, there is one thing that Takasugi Shinsaku did not say, that is, if the Choshu Domain can succeed in honoring the king, whether it is really a matter of returning the emperor to the emperor, and it is not a matter of the feudal lord's words, replacing the shogunate, and even when the time comes, it is not impossible to abolish the emperor's self-reliance.

Maori couldn't help but glance at Takasugi Shinsaku! This young man, the plan he gave was the most in line with his intentions. He hadn't thought it through yet, and he was in a quandary. He was unwilling to submit to the shogunate and obey the dictates of those who disgusted him, nor did he want to watch the ambitious Shina gradually occupy Japan and make the whole of Japan under Feng Yunshan's rule.

"Good! The Takasugi family has a good son! Respect the king, as it should be! Maori applauded.

"After passing the order, I, the Choshu Domain, issued an order to all the feudal domains to 'respect the king', calling on the feudal states of the world to respect the emperor together, asking the shogunate to return the emperor, and all the feudal states of the world to unite to resist the Kyushu Domain and drive the Chinese people out of Japan!" Maori exclaimed. In his heart, he was thinking that when the Tokugawa shogunate was abolished, it would be impossible for him to really return the government to Emperor Nakomei, and he could directly follow the example of the Western overlord Great Britain, offer the emperor to him, and set up a new general's mansion by himself, the hereditary general of the Maori clan, and these young people still have to be well encircled.