At the beginning of May, a civil war broke out on the island of Kyushu, and the allied forces of Hizen and Higo, led by Hosokawa Shaokuni, the lord of the Kumamoto domain, fought intermittently with the Satsuma Tozu forces.

The Satsuma Tozu family has always been the strongest force on Kyushu Island in the past, but over the years, the various ideological forces in the country have been singing and appearing, and the balance of power between the various clans has long undergone earth-shaking changes, and the Hosokawa family, which is supported by the Chinese, has long wanted to avenge the feud with the Tozu family since the Warring States period, and heard that the 5,000 riflemen have been trained by the middle [***] officer.

In less than half a month, the Tsukami and Bungo feudal clans succumbed to the coalition offensive and swore allegiance to the Hosokawa family, and the Totsu clan was left with only the Satsuma clan struggling to support it.

The "fierce horse of Kyushu" and the brave Tozu Tadayoshi was seriously injured and died shortly after returning to the castle at the age of 23.

And on the island of Honshu, in addition to the battle of the northern Echigo coalition and the Izuwa coalition; The Mori clan of the Choshu domain, loyal to the emperor, wanted to cross south to Kyushu to support their ally Tozu family, but the Shogunate of Bizen, Misasaka and other countries took the opportunity to send a coalition force south, and the battle between the two sides was the most tragic, and more than 100,000 soldiers participated in the Battle of Bigo, and the casualties were extremely heavy.

However, in the war, the suffering is naturally the civilians, and the whole country seems to have returned to the Warring States Period, when the chaos broke out and was almost in a state of disorder, and the people whose families were destroyed and displaced did not know how many.

In June, the seriously ill Emperor Xiaomei announced his abdication and passed on the throne to Prince Muren, who was only 15 years old, and asked for the title of "King of the country", and at the same time asked for the help of the Central Plains political axe to quell the rebellion of the feudal domains, restore the royal power, and abolish the feudal county.

This is the first time Ye Zhao has faced the challenge of Muren, this young man who is only fifteen years old, obviously has extraordinary insight and endurance, it seems that he is kneeling down to the courtier, but he is fighting for an excellent opportunity for his country to rise. With the help of the Chinese, the county system was established to eliminate the power of the daimyo and achieve restoration.

And by taking the throne when he first ascended the throne, he will not appear too humiliated, and in exchange for the sacrifice of the Chinese to calm down the civil strife so that millions of people can live a stable life, it will only greatly enhance the prestige of the imperial (royal) family among the people.

The first time he made a move across the sea, Ye Zhao felt the power of this young man, obviously, at a young age, he knew what sacrifice and forbearance were, what it was to take advantage of the situation, survive in danger, and take advantage of the fire.

In the East Warm Pavilion of the Heart Cultivation Palace, Ye Zhao paced, thinking about the matter.

On the kang table, there are several strategies and countermeasures, all of which are about the twists and turns of the book, and the temple is divided into several factions, including several ministers led by Vice Prime Minister Zheng Zhen of the Government Council who believe that they should agree to Muren's request, and there are ministers such as Li Xiaocun and Li Hongzhang who think that they can take advantage of this opportunity to fully support the Hosokawa family to unify the book and establish a completely pro-China shogunate.

Foreign Minister Zou Kai said that China should send troops to quell the civil strife, but he did not need to pay attention to the seal of Muren, and from then on, he only negotiated with the shogunate of his own country.

Obviously, Zou Kaizhi somewhat saw Muren's intentions, and his countermeasure was to hang up the royal family, and the empire would treat it as an ornament, so that the prestige of the royal family would be lost, and its influence would be slowly eliminated.

Ye Zhao also convened a joint meeting of the Privy Council and the Military Committee, but no results were discussed.

"Xianggong, are you too concerned about your country?" The matchmaker sat at the kang table, looking at Ye Zhao pacing back and forth, and her heart was extremely strange.

Ye Zhao was stunned, and then laughed dumbly, yes, it's too attentive, who calls himself a memory of his past life. In the eyes of matchmakers and others, the problem may be very simple.

Suddenly, the fog suddenly disappeared, looking at the matchmaker, Ye Zhao smiled, walked two steps, took the matchmaker into his arms, smelled the fragrance, and said with a smile: "You are really my guiding light." ”

The palace maid hurriedly retreated, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the imperial concubine's small red embroidered shoes being sandwiched between her legs by the long-lived lord, as if she was struggling, her face was hot, she didn't dare to look at it again, and withdrew from the pavilion.

…… In mid-June, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos signed the Treaty of Mukden, announcing the establishment Chinese of the "Alliance of Collective Defense States in Eastern and Southern Asia" (referred to as the Southeast Alliance), and the signatories declared that the Great Emperor of China would be the supreme head of the signatories to the treaty, and that the Southeastern United Nations Armed Forces Committee would be established, with the first chairman of the committee being Shen Bao, chief of the general staff of the Imperial Military Commission of China.

At the same time, the signatories have signed a large number of commercial and trade cooperation treaties, including commercial treaties such as mutual granting of most-favored-nation treatment, and have granted each other tax-free status in a large number of fields.

The news of the explosion reached Europe as soon as possible, and Britain, France, and other domestic cabinets held a meeting overnight to determine the possible impact of the treaties of the Eastern countries on their trade in the China Sea.

King Wilhelm I of Prussia sent a warm message of congratulations.

In the days that followed, congratulatory messages were sent from Austria-Hungary, the United States, and several European countries, such as the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Portugal.

Many European countries have judged that the era of colonization in the China Sea has passed, and in East Asia it is no longer the era of British and French monopoly trade, and they can start commercial trade with the Orientals and Chinese, and the monopoly of trade in the China Sea by the British and French has become a thing of the past.

Shortly after the signing of the Mukden Treaty, the Chinese Government Council issued a statement condemning the attack on the Chinese by the Yumoto armed group, expressing strong dissatisfaction with the Yumoto shogunate, expressing deep disappointment at the weakness of the central political axe of the emperor and the shogunate's representatives, and saying that in view of the chaotic situation in the country, it would be difficult for the imperial political axe to determine the target of cooperation and would not send troops to intervene in the situation in the country.

At the same time, he also said that the Imperial Government would not invite him to join the Mukden Treaty Organization, would not regard him as a member of the Southeastern Alliance, and would consider canceling the status of Nagasaki Free Trade Port and severing trade ties with him.

When the newspapers in Edo, Nagasaki, and other places published a series of news about the explosions, the situation in the country became extremely chaotic.

Coastal ports and inland cities and towns where mining is becoming more and more developed by Chinese people are panicking, and petitions have begun to appear in some towns, and tens of thousands of signatures asking Chinese to leave petitions have appeared frequently. When the first newspaper he founded, the most influential newspaper in Edo, the Edo Shimbun, wrote an article by Miki Kasato, a great businessman, criticizing the shogunate and the emperor for being incompetent and unable to give any hope to the people of Samoto, criticism of the shogunate and the emperor gradually appeared in various places.

In July, the arrest of the great merchant Jia Sato Miki was met with fierce resistance, and soon it turned into a riot for the entire Edo Castle, and the rioters who supported Sato Miki stormed the general Imperial Palace, Ooku, who was bloodily suppressed, and Sato Miki fled to Nagasaki.

Immediately, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the temporary suspension of trade ties with the country, and sent an urgent telegram to the Chinese merchants in the country to retreat to Nagasaki.

…… There are white clouds in the sky, and July is the time when the sun is like fire.

On the spacious square in front of the noon gate, a strange car with a small front wheel [***] wooden seat walks slowly, although the wooden seat has a canvas canopy, but more of a role may only be shaded, from the outside, you can clearly see the people on the wooden seat.

The steering wheel on the car is more like a hinge with a long grip, at this time, Ye Zhaozheng said with a smile: "Yes, slowly, slowly." Rong'er, who was wearing a white gauze skirt, sat in Ye Zhao's arms, scared and happy, screaming in fright from time to time.

It was the third car in the history of automobiles to be traded.

The first, a three-wheeled vehicle, was sold to a businessman in Guangdong.

The second, a four-wheel drive vehicle, was also purchased by merchants.

The third car is the one that Ye Zhao and Rong'er are riding, which is of course more technically mature than the previous two cars, which is why Dongfang Automobile Company has the courage to sell it to the royal family, of course, except for the highest level, no one in the staff of the car dealership knows that the car dealership is the royal family's industry.

The car that Ye Zhao bought was small in the front and [***] in the rear, the diameter of the two front wheels may only be half of the diameter of the rear wheels, and the wooden seat and the several iron frames supporting the chassis below were completely separated, which was naturally extremely simple in Ye Zhao's eyes.

With Ye Zhao's sketch, maybe the pace of the evolution of the car into a later model will be accelerated, but at present, it is obviously very different from the car in Ye Zhao's imagination, from the cabin, it is more like a double wooden chair with a shed.

"Xianggong, it's not as fast as a carriage?" Rong'er gradually became proficient and knew how to turn the steering wheel.

Ye Zhao smiled: "It's going to be fast in the future." ”

At this time, he saw a group of people hurrying towards Duanmen, Ye Zhao hurriedly pulled down the brakes, and hugged Rong'er to the side and sat down.

Hurriedly came to the left prime minister Li Xiaocun, arrived in front of the car to see the queen was also there, hurriedly greeted the salute, and said that the emperor and the queen have a very strong relationship, and the young man has knotted his hair, which is really envious of others.

As for the emperor's liking of strange things, Li Xiaocun has long been accustomed to it, and new industrial products and new technologies have sprung up.

But thinking of the affairs of the East, Li Xiaocun was really uneasy, and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, is it because of this chaos?" I heard that the shogunate Kazuhito wrote a letter to the British and French consuls in Edo, and the shogunate also sent special envoys to frequently enter and leave the two embassies. ……”

Ye Zhao smiled and said, "It's good to mess up, and then mess up for a while." Fingers tapped slowly on the handlebars, pondered for a while, and said, "The French don't have to worry about him." The British, on their part, asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give a briefing to the outside world, saying that China intended to sell 5,000 ten-shot guns to Burma. ”

Li Xiaocun bowed his head, hesitated, and asked: "Your Majesty, the minister is dull, but he is just talking about the affairs of his country, and the minister has been thinking about it for a long time, which is really incomprehensible...... Although the holy will is unpredictable, but in external matters, if you can't understand the true intention of the emperor, many facts are difficult to grasp.

Ye Zhao smiled: "I should have told you a long time ago, saying that my country, the emperor and the shogunate are ......" whispered a few words.

Listening to Ye Zhao's words, Li Xiaocun's face was cloudy, and he nodded again and again.

Ye Zhao said again: "Ming said that the Privy Council is collegial, and you also have a score in your heart." ”

"Yes, the minister understands!" Li Xiaocun knew that he had another errand to do.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

(To be continued)