【6100】

The leader of the Shoron sect (pro-shogunate force) of the Choshu Domain was named Muri Tota.

As a veteran official with many years of service, Muri Tota embodies many typical traits of conservative officials.

Old-fashioned and stubborn, they do not accept new things and only understand the world according to their own old ideas.

He has always been strongly opposed to any words and deeds that attack the shogunate

Therefore, his relationship with Takasugi Shinsaku, Katsura Kogoro and others can be described as incompatible.

However, regarding the edict to "begin fighting the barbarians on May 10th," Muri Tota, Takasugi Shinsaku, Katsura Kogoro and others reached an extremely rare consensus - Choshu would never obey the edict!

Both sides know very well that if they rashly get involved in the war against the foreigners, Changzhou will fall into an abyss of eternal destruction!

In order to avoid such a situation from happening, Takasugi Shinsaku tried his best to dissuade Hisaka Genzui and ordered him to give up his "righteousness".

However, Kusaka Genrui no longer listened to his opinion.

"Takasugi, don't stop me. I have made up my mind. Unless you kill me, you can't stop me." He said this.

"...Kusaka, we once practiced martial arts together and studied sword skills together. Is the sweat and blood we shed in the past just for today's internal fighting?"

As he spoke, Takasugi Shinsaku raised his hand and grasped the knife at his waist.

Coming from the same family, the two people who used to be in love with each other ended up fighting in the same room...

If it weren't for Katsura Kogoro's desperate efforts to stop them, the two fellow disciples would have almost drawn their swords at each other.

The current political structure of the Choshu Domain is roughly as follows - the anti-makuta "Justice Faction" has overwhelmed the pro-makuta "Serumon" faction.

Among the "Justice Faction", the "Radical Faction" led by Hisaka Genzui overwhelmed the "Slicker Faction" led by Takasugi Shinsaku and Katsura Kogoro.

After years of management, the Choshu Domain has completely gone crazy.

From temples to folk, from cities and towns to villages, the air inside and outside Changzhou is full of fanaticism.

People always call it "repelling the foreigners".

Even young children and old people in the countryside will gnash their teeth and feel indignant when talking about issues such as the Western Barbarians and the Shogunate.

The entire Changzhou Domain has become a solid fortress and a warm harbor for the Zunfang faction.

Fighting the barbarians became the biggest political correctness in the Choshu domain.

Anyone who dares to raise objections is a traitor to the country and will be punished by heaven.

To this day, the hardliners headed by Hisaka Genzui have occupied the mainstream public opinion of the Choshu Domain.

Sober people like Takasugi Shinsaku and Katsura Kogoro who see the reality clearly are in the minority.

The current situation of the Choshu Domain is very consistent with the modern famous saying - nationalism is a double-edged sword. When used to deal with foreign enemies, it is always disadvantageous; when used to "injure oneself", it is equally disadvantageous.

He tried to unite the scholars and people by "repelling the foreigners", but was eventually countered by "repelling the foreigners".

It is no exaggeration to say that the Choshu Domain is now out of control.

No matter how capable Takasugi Shinsaku, Katsura Kogoro and others are, they cannot resist the fierce public opinion.

As for "That's it, Hou"...that is, the current lord of the Choshu Domain, Mori Qingqin, he performed stably as expected.

When Hisaka Genrui and others presented the "rejection of foreigners", Maori Qingqin immediately said: "Well, that's it!"

In this way, the entire domain reached a "common opinion" - fight against the foreigners! Fight against the foreigners! Fight against the foreigners!

On May 10th, give Xiyi a head-on blow!

Kusaka Genrui summoned all the combat power he could mobilize and prepared to fight Xiyi to the death!

Finally, on May 10, the American merchant ship Pembroke anchored in the Tanoura Strait.

At first, Noto was hesitant to pursue Mori.

Kusaka Genrui quickly made up his mind for him: shelling immediately!

They used coastal forts and Gengshen Pills and Guihai Pills for bombardment.

Their will to fight was unwavering, and the shells were fired as if they were free of charge.

However, due to old weapons and lack of actual combat experience, not a single shell hit the Pembroke.

Despite this, the Pembroke's crew was so frightened that they quickly left the battlefield and fled elsewhere.

This was the first time that the Choshu clan repulsed a Western ship.

The first battle was won and morale was greatly boosted.

The patriots of the Choshu Domain exaggerated it into a hearty victory, which greatly inspired the morale of the army.

Immediately afterwards, on May 23, the Chofu Domain (a branch of the Choshu Domain) discovered that the French notification ship Kien-Chang stopped in the Chofu Strait while traveling from Yokohama to Nagasaki.

The Choshu clan was on standby to prepare for an attack. When the Jianchang entered the strait, it bombarded it and the Jianchang was damaged.

At that time, the crew of the Jianchang still did not know that the Pembroke was attacked, nor did they know that Changzhou was determined to resist the invaders.

In order to negotiate, they allowed the civilian officials to land, but the feudal soldiers continued to attack, and the civilian officials were injured and four sailors were killed.

Subsequently, the Jianchang quickly left the strait, and the Gengshen Maru and Guihai Maru continued their pursuit. The Jianchang suffered considerable trauma and fled to Nagasaki the next day.

After two battles and two victories, all the patriots in Changzhou were very proud and ran around telling each other: We have won! We have defeated the Western Yi! The Western Yi are just a bunch of cowards who bully the weak and fear the strong!

At first glance, Choshu's feat of blocking the Shimonoseki Strait and bombarding Western ships is indeed a thrill.

However, people with insight... no, anyone with a little bit of brains can see that the Choshu Fan has made a big mistake!

The reason why people have such a consensus is that on May 10th, other forces except Choshu - including the shogunate who made the political promise of "starting to fight against the foreigners on May 10th"

——All remain silent!

It has been like this for the next few days and to this day.

The songs are sung, the dances are danced, and the horses are danced.

It was calm, as if nothing happened.

Changzhou performed an embarrassing one-man show.

For such a situation to arise, Qingdeng's suggestions are really indispensable.

Kiki Hitotsubashi caused such a big trouble, irresponsibly making a promise to the court, and then irresponsibly running away on his own, leaving Seito and others to wipe his ass.

In the past few days, Qingdeng and others have been thinking hard, looking for ways to break the situation.

He is a general with military power. Once a war against the barbarians is really launched, the people and troops who will go to the battlefield will be him and his Shinsengumi.

Qingdeng would not waste the precious combat power he had worked so hard to cultivate on such a meaningless war.

Although he felt very unhappy, for the sake of his own interests, he had to work hard to deal with the aftermath of Hitotsubashi Keixi.

It's funny to say that just when everyone was looking sad...suddenly, Qingden suddenly realized it!

True strategy requires only the simplest means.

He realized: Why should we think about the aftermath?

Can't we just ignore this matter?

Because the vassals will definitely not pay attention to this matter!

To put it simply, it is to use the tried and tested method of evading responsibility - to expand the responsibility! Make everyone involved! Make everyone have shit on their body!

As long as the water is muddy, the scope of damage is expanded, and everyone is dragged into the water, then the problem will naturally be solved!

The whole class has handed in their homework, but you are the only one who has not handed in their homework, so you are the one who is in trouble.

If no one in the class turns in their homework, then the person in trouble is the teacher!

The shogunate and the feudal lords did not hand in their homework, leaving the imperial court to be the embarrassing teacher.

Qingdeng didn't believe it - would the vassals dare to obey the imperial edict?

Do you dare to resist the foreigners?

You owe a lot of debt! You can't even afford to offend Osaka businessmen, how can you afford to offend Western countries?

Even the shogunate doesn't have that ability, and other vassals certainly don't have this ability!

It has been nearly 10 years since Japan was founded. Regardless of the people at the bottom, most people at the top have a basic understanding of the world situation overseas.

How powerful the Western countries are, each vassal country has already known clearly.

Qingdeng dared to conclude that the vassals would never resist the foreigners!

If this is the case, then we will follow up!

As a result, Qingdeng quickly finalized his strategy——

In order to prevent the vassals from using "not receiving relevant edicts" as an excuse in the future, they sent out all the fast horses and all the fast sedans to notify all the vassals and tell them that the imperial court had issued a "May 10, start to fight against the foreigners"

All the vassals obeyed the edicts without making mistakes!

Especially the feudal kingdoms that clamor the most against the barbarians on weekdays - such as Tosa Domain and Mito Domain - we must focus on informing them!

Qingdeng specially played a word game.
To be continued...