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Edo, Japan, the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. Today's Japan is under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Tokugawa Shogunate was founded in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun, and was the most powerful and final samurai organization after the Kamakura, Muromachi shogunate, and Toyotomi regime.

Originally, the shogunate was a camp for the shogun to handle military affairs during the war, and the shogun later took over the actual ruling power over the emperor. Historically, there were three shogunates: Kamakura (1192-1333), Muromachi (1338-1573), and Tokugawa. The form of rule of the Tokugawa shogunate was the shogunate system. Under the shogun, the elder (not permanent) and the old (permanent) were appointed to control the national government affairs, and the old man was appointed to assist the old man, and the daime was set up, and the daisuke was responsible for monitoring the daimyo and the shogunate's direct samurai banners and royal families. The three commissions of the temple shrine, Kanjo, and Edo town were established to manage the temple shrine, the shogunate finances, and the Edo municipal administration. In major cities such as Osaka and Nagasaki, the Yuanguo Prefecture was established to govern the territories directly under the jurisdiction of the region. In Kyoto, he established a shoji to monitor the imperial family and temples, as well as the daimyo of. In the more than 260-270 feudal states granted by the shogunate, the feudal lords had administrative, judicial, and annual tributary powers. The samurai made it their duty to serve their feudal lords.

The current shogun, Tokugawa Iekei, served as shogun from 1837. He was 46 years old when he succeeded to the throne, and his father, Tokugawa Iesai, was still alive at the time, holding most of the power of the shogunate. Tokugawa Iekei's whole person is like a puppet. It was not until 1841, after the death of Tokugawa Iesai. Tokugawa Iekei seized power in the shogunate. However, just as he was preparing to make a big move, the British launched a war against the Manchus. And the defeat of the Manchu Qing was light, which greatly shook Japan.

Tokugawa Iekei began to seek to change the status quo in Japan, and with his support, Chief Elder Nakamino Tadashi adopted frugal physiocratism as the basis for his governance, following the internal reforms of the Tokugawa shogunate, including the Toho Reform (1716-1745) and the Liberal Reform (1787-1793). ), to understand the economic problems and the resulting collapse of the social structure as a problem of moral degradation, in an attempt to use retro means. These included savings, tax increases, currency recoining, and restrictions on the movement of commerce and people to counter the impact of the rapid growth of commerce during the Edo period on the agricultural economy on which the Edo shogunate depended. In addition, the armed uprisings and devastation that accompanied the Tempo Famine, the Great Shio Heihachiro Rebellion caused widespread unease about the shogunate's rule in the country, and the First Sino-British War showed that the Western threat to the Far East showed that the Edo shogunate's rule was threatened by the Otei dù, so the shogunate focused on economic reform. It is necessary to carry out a wide range of discipline rectification and military reform to solve the above problems.

However, this reform did not revive the shogunate, but rather accelerated its decline.

Emperor Hitotaka in Kyoto. At this moment, he is also in the prime of life. Emperor Hitotaka is the 120th Emperor of Japan. I don't want the emperor to be just a puppet in name only. A series of actions were launched to regain control of Japan from the shogun. Some of the feudal lords who supported the emperor fought fiercely against the Edo shogunate, causing turmoil in Japan. Although there has not yet been a large-scale war, the situation is no longer optimistic. It was at this time that Long Yufei, the king of Xinhua, ascended the throne and became emperor, and the Japanese side was asked to send envoys to participate in Long Yufei's enthronement ceremony. A diehard loyalist of Emperor Hitotaka. Onodera Sannori of the Onodera family attacked the soon-to-be-established Chinese Empire at the banquet. As a result, a shadow has cast on Sino-Japanese relations.

After the enthronement ceremony of Long Yufei, the old middle department hurriedly returned to Japan to discuss countermeasures with the shogun and a group of bureaucrats. At this moment, Japan is simply unable to confront the powerful Chinese Empire. Everyone was very dissatisfied with Emperor Hitoko's behavior. After all, if the Chinese Empire is provoked, the whole of Japan will suffer a disaster, and not only the Edo shogunate will not be able to escape, but even the emperor of Kyoto will not end well. Some of the would-be shogunate retainers even clamored to kill the emperor and replace him with an obedient emperor.

Next, the Edo shogunate carried out a war of military expansion with fear. Once the Chinese Empire launched a war against Japan, they would only have to resist with all their might, and they would never be captured. Fortunately, half a year passed, and no news of the Chinese Empire's use of force against Japan came, which made the Edo shogunate breathe a sigh of relief. It is undoubtedly impossible to avoid a war with the Chinese Empire.

Emperor Hitotaka, who was far away in Kyoto, was very sorry. He originally wanted to take this opportunity to sow discord between the Chinese Empire and the Edo shogunate. Once the Edo shogunate was destroyed by the Chinese Empire, he apologized to the Chinese Empire, and even if it was a great price, he would seek forgiveness from the Chinese Empire. When the time comes, he will be able to claim to be the savior of Japan, and it will be even easier for him to regain power in Japan. In Emperor Renxiao's view, China was a good-looking country, and even if it suffered a loss, if Japan bowed to China, apologized, and said something good, China would forgive their sins. As long as he can take back the right to rule Japan, Emperor Hitotaka will not hesitate.

However, there has been no movement on the Chinese side, which surprised Emperor Hitoko, but more helplessly. He thought the ploy had failed. The Chinese side did not take action against Japan, and the Edo shogunate, although it began to decline, remained strong. Under such circumstances, it would be more difficult for him to regain the control of Japan than to ascend to the sky.

It was at this time that the Chinese Navy escorted three brigades of marines into sorties. At this time, China had established diplomatic relations with many countries, and although the Chinese side kept the military operation strictly secret, the large-scale fleet dispatch inevitably attracted the attention of other countries. Not to mention Japan, which has been keeping an eye on China. Whether it was the Edo shogunate or Kyoto, there were a lot of spies under the Chinese subordinates. These spies used money and women to win over officials who corrupted China, and some officials who were not strong in willpower were inevitably captured by the sugar-coated shells of the Japanese. This is inevitable in any historical dynasty, and the only thing the Chinese side can do is to reduce the losses in this regard as much as possible. Of course, if you want to solve the problem once and for all, you can only destroy Japan.

Although, it is not yet known the goals of these Chinese * troops, the Japanese spies in China sent back the news as soon as possible. The spies of the Edo shogunate and Kyoto sent back messages respectively. It's just that their news can only be delivered by boat. Even small clippers are not much faster than the warships and transports of the Chinese Navy. The Japanese spies sent the news back in two or three days at most, and the Chinese navy would arrive in Japan. In a short period of two or three days, the Japanese side simply did not have time to make a perfect defense.

On July 16, spies from the Japanese Edo shogunate sent back to Edo the news that the Chinese* army was dispatched, and the target was most likely Japan. When Masahiro Abe, who was in charge of external confidence, learned of this news, he did not dare to slack off, and immediately went to the shogun's palace to report to the shogun Tokugawa Iekei.

"General, the big thing is not good, our spies in China have received the latest information, the Chinese have sent a powerful army to Japan, and now they are on their way to Japan, and they will arrive in Japan in a few days at most!" Masahiro Abe said.

"What? How so? Didn't the news we got before say that the Chinese no longer intend to hold us accountable? How could they send troops to attack us after half a year? "Tokugawa Iekei's face was like earth for a while. As a general of the Edo shogunate, he knew the strength of Japan, and if he insisted on going to war with the Chinese Empire, there would be only one final result, and that was to hit an egg against a stone.

"General, we have bought off a high-ranking Chinese official, and this is the exact information we got from them. The goal of the Chinese this time is indeed us. Masahiro Abe said.

"Damn, is there a way to ease relations with the Chinese?" Tokugawa Iekei asked. If there was a war, Japan would be defeated, and in order to avoid defeat, the only way to avoid the outbreak of war was to find a way.

"General, it's almost impossible. The order to fight against Japan was given by the Emperor of China. Masahiro Abe said.

"Bastard! Why did those Chinese come to attack us? Even if we were disrespectful to them at the beginning, it was the work of Emperor Renxiao, and it has nothing to do with us! "Tokugawa Iekei is very innocent, this qiē was planned by Emperor Renxiao, but the anger of the Chinese is obviously vented on the head of the Edo shogunate. Tokugawa Iekei only felt that he was so unlucky!

"General, let's bring in the elder, the old man, and Ruonian to discuss countermeasures!" Masahiro Abe said.

"Come on, gather everyone right away!" Tokugawa Iekei ordered.

Half an hour later, an elder of the Edo shogunate, four elders, and three Wakanyoshi arrived. It's just that when they learned that China had sent troops to attack, everyone didn't know what to do. Everyone knows very well what the final outcome will be if war breaks out. The biggest crisis since the founding of the Edo shogunate is about to erupt!

Not long after, Emperor Hitotaka in Kyoto also received the news of China's military dispatch, and unlike the panicked Tokugawa Iekei, Emperor Hitotaka was very excited, and he seemed to have seen the scene of the Chinese* army breaking through Edo and destroying the Edo shogunate. Once the Edo shogunate was destroyed, he would come forward as the supreme emperor, and he would naturally be able to clean up the mess and become the true ruler of Japan! (To be continued......)