Tokugawa Iemo smiled slightly:

"It's nothing, I just feel... the way you two urge me to have a good rest is like my parents."

Suddenly, the whole place was silent.

This eerie silence lasted for about 2 seconds.

Two seconds later, Tianzhangyuan's eyes suddenly opened wide, and his face became extremely red due to rapid congestion.

"Wha...what...?! Iemao, what nonsense are you talking about?!"

Tokugawa Iemo smiled and silently endured Tenzouin's rebuke.

It's strange... After hearing this joke from Tokugawa Iemo, Aoto didn't feel upset or ashamed.

Instead, he murmured seriously:

"A 17-year-old son, a 21-year-old father, a 27-year-old mother...what an incredible family..."

Tianzhang Academy turned its attention to Qingdeng:

"Hey! Why are you talking so much!"

Qingden smiles.

Tokugawa Iemo also laughed out loud.

However, because he laughed too hard, he coughed "cough, cough, cough, cough" after laughing a few times.

Qingdeng quickly put away the smile on his face, and Tianzhangyuan did not care to protest anymore.

"Okay, stop laughing and lie down quickly."

Saying that, Aoto stretched out his hands, held Tokugawa Iemo's shoulders, and pushed him back into the bed with a slightly domineering attitude.

After lying down, Tokugawa Iemo's cough suddenly calmed down a lot.

He took several deep breaths, and then said softly in a dreamy tone:

"Now... we can only hope that Hitotsubashi will be happy..."

He didn't say anything. As soon as he said it, the atmosphere in the whole room became weird.

Tokugawa Iemoge fell ill, so naturally he could no longer discuss with the imperial court the matter of expelling the foreigners.

Now that Tokugawa Iemo is absent, the only person left who is qualified to hold talks with the imperial court is Hitotsubashi Keiki.

How far can Hitotsubashi Keiki, who regards Mito Gakushu as a model and respects the Emperor from the bottom of his heart, go in this confrontation with the imperial court... To be honest, it is really frightening.

Even Qingdeng couldn't help but feel a little "thump" in his heart.

The already confusing "Baku court talks" are now becoming more and more confusing.

After Tianzhangyuan was silent for a while, he said calmly:

"I don't doubt Hitotsubashi's ability."

"Although Keiki Hitotsubashi is a supporter of Mito Studies and respects the emperor very much, after all, he has the blood of the Tokugawa family."

"I think he will still try his best to fight for the interests of the shogunate without offending the emperor."

Tokugawa Iemo's cheeks turned bitter:

"I hope so... Sigh... Now I can only take one step at a time and leave it to fate..."

…

…

Regarding this once-in-a-century "Shogunate Meeting", the current situation can be summarized in one sentence, that is, "the shogunate is in a downturn, and the imperial court is in high spirits."

Just yesterday, April 30, was the day before Tokugawa Iemo fell ill.

Emperor Tohito and the ministers of the imperial court took Tokugawa Iemo, Hitotsubashi Keiki and other high-level officials of the shogunate to go to Kamigamo and Shimogamo shrines to pray for success in the fight against the invaders.

This was the emperor's request, and Tokugawa Iemo and others naturally could not refuse, so they had no choice but to follow the emperor and his ministers to the shrine.

On that day, Emperor Tōhito and Tokugawa Iemo walked together in a huge formation.

The scholars and people in Kyoto have never welcomed the general who conquered the barbarians.

On the day I went to Kamo Shrine, from time to time the onlookers uttered joking jeers:

"Ouch! General Zhengyi!"

This tone seems to say: "Ouch? Isn't this the general who conquered the barbarians of the Edo shogunate? I haven't seen him for several years, why are you so embarrassed?"

The loss of authority of the shogunate is evident.

The Choshu Domain operates secretly. As long as it is the emperor's will, no one dares to object.

If it had been the Tokugawa Ieyasu era two hundred years ago, facing this sealing edict issued by the imperial court, Tokugawa Ieyasu might have said contemptuously, "Emperor? How many soldiers does he have?", or "

Why did Your Majesty rebel?"

But now, the offensive and defensive momentum is different.

How to fight this kind of battle where you can't fight back?

After Tokugawa Iemo fell ill, Hitotsubashi Keiki took over his post.

It is reported that after learning that he was going to negotiate with the court on behalf of Tokugawa Iemo, Hitotsubashi Keiki gasped several times.

On May 3, the Emperor went to the Ishikimizu Hachimangu Shrine in Otokoyama, and Hitotsubashi Keiki, who became the "Shogun's agent", had to go along in accordance with the "Emperor's will".

Kazuhashi Keixi could only obey obediently.

When he reached the foot of the mountain, he suddenly complained of abdominal pain and could not take another step.

I don't know if it was a coincidence or if he received the news in advance and relied on his "Shit Escape" to escape the disaster.

Originally, according to the plan, the emperor was to present the sword to his generals on the top of the mountain.

If Ichibashi Keixi takes over the sword of repelling barbarians, the shogunate will really be roasted on the fire, neither advancing nor retreating.

Fortunately, Hitotsubashi Qingxi relied on "Shit Escape" to successfully muddle through.

The sword awarding ceremony had to be canceled due to the absence of Yoshiki Hitotsubashi.

Although we have survived this hurdle, the ministers and lofty ideals of the Zunbang faction will definitely not give up.

The patriots of the Zunbang faction were extremely angry at Hitotsubashi Keiki's negative attitude of pushing back and running away.

Someone wrote a sign on the Sanjo Bridge on May 5, accusing Tokugawa Iemo and Hitotsubashi of celebrating.

He said that Tokugawa Iemo was "faking illness", which was an insult to the imperial court and should be executed.

However, Tokugawa Iemo was the general who conquered the barbarians after all, and it was always inappropriate to openly seek trouble for him.

Therefore, they used the reason that "the general is still young" and called "pretending to be ill" and "escape from shit" and other behaviors at the hands of the traitorous officials around the general - basically scolding Keiki Hitotsubashi in a roundabout way.

——Therefore forgive the General.

However, "the traitor's crime must be proven as soon as possible and dealt with seriously. It cannot take more than ten days, and he must be punished by heaven."

The anti-barbarian faction openly clamored for "Tian Zhu" from the top officials of the shogunate... It can be said that at this time, the power of the anti-barbarian faction has reached its peak.

The house leaked and it rained all night.

At the same time that the "Bakucho Talks" in Kyoto reached a deadlock, big trouble arose in Edo.

Huge trouble!

Nine British warships gathered in Yokohama Bay with hundreds of cannons, and formally demanded that the shogunate pay compensation for the raw wheat incident-100,000 pounds, equivalent to about 270,000 taels!

The British asked the shogunate: "How can we bear the responsibility for killing and injuring our citizens? Although the person who killed our citizens was Satsuma, the responsibility lies with the shogunate."

For this matter, Tokugawa Yoshiki, the lord of the Owari domain, rushed to Edo Castle as an agent, but he quickly fled.

As a result, the British fleet stayed in Yokohama Bay, with alarm bells ringing, and prepared to bombard Edo at any time.

The scholars and people of Edo had never seen such a posture...

For the first time, they felt the terrifying oppression of "war coming".

For a time, tabloids were flying all over the town of Edo, exaggerating the atmosphere of terror. The townspeople, thinking about the danger this time, packed their luggage and prepared to flee.

There was great chaos in Edo.

There was an entangled imperial court in Kyoto.

There were aggressive British troops in Edo.

It can be described as being in trouble both internally and externally...

The so-called "internal and external troubles" are nothing more than this.

*******

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PS: Book lovers with PS5 must play the new "Rise of Ronin". It is an open world with a Bakumatsu background, Sanako Chiba and Tenjoin all appear in it. It is worth playing!
Chapter completed!