Kaguya, Kyoto, Japan.

This place was the Emperor's manor in Heian era. At that time, after the Emperor became a monk, he would live in seclusion here. Therefore, the environment here is extremely elegant. The forest in early winter rustled under the breeze, as if a woman was whispering.

By the river, the remaining snow is covered with withered grass, leaning towards the south, and it has been connected to the reed marsh in the low-lying land. Today, the sun is shining and the river water reflects golden light, which is a good time to hunt.

By the river, a deer was drinking water. From time to time, he looked up and looked around. He seemed to smell some danger. He looked nervously towards the valley on one side, and seemed to see an orange spark lit up. The deer became nervous, raised her head and sniffed the air, and let out a vigilant growl.

But then, a sharp roar came, and when he heard this sound, the deer had fallen to the ground, and a hole as big as a thumb appeared on its beautiful neck, bleeding. Before he died, the deer only let out a whine...

Soon, a small cavalry team emerged from the woods. These men were dressed in military uniforms, with bows and arrows hanging on them. Several cavalrymen stepped forward, picked up the deer and placed it in front of the most noble man. This was a young man. Seeing the gunshots at the deer's neck, he nodded slightly and said, "It seems that I lost."

The person who gave up was the current emperor of Japan. After he muttered to himself, he ran from afar. The man immediately came to Nobusuo Goto, who had a history of studying abroad in the empire with the delegation.

"Ninjung-kun, you are right. You can indeed hit this deer at such a long distance, and I lost." The Emperor said with a smile.

Nobusuo Goto said, "I dare not accept it."

"It's okay, I will give you a knife that matches your identity with just one word." The Emperor said.

The two rode forward together and went up the valley. At the end of the valley was a pasture, and here, the river water slowly narrowed. On the grassland, fog rose, and there was actually a hot spring.

And here, the temperature is much higher, and it is very comfortable and comfortable in the early winter sun.

"Kun Nobunaga, can you invite me to eat venison?" the emperor asked.

Goto Nobuzuna smiled and said, "Naturally, one of my subordinates is the best at barbecue, and the venison at this time is also very fat. I let them......" Speaking of this, Goto Nobuzuna looked at the Emperor in surprise: "Your Majesty, what did you say, eat meat?"

This is not Goto Nobuzuo's gesture, but the emperor's eating meat was a bit too shocking, because since Emperor Tianwu, a meat ban was issued. Since then, every generation of emperors has been like this. It has a history of more than a thousand years. In Japan, eating meat is illegal.

However, after the War of the Anti-State War, Japan's founding of the country had long since collapsed, but the Emperor was still a model of Japanese etiquette.

The emperor smiled and said, "Your gun can shoot a deer a hundred feet away. This is simply incredible. So why not eat a piece of venison?"

Goto Nobuzuki carefully pondered this sentence, but he didn't know what it meant, but he still said, "Your Majesty, of course this is OK."

Soon after, Goto Nobuzuki's subordinates came down, and there were four people who specialized in serving his diet. The Goto family was not a rich daimyo in Japan, but they were not poor either. Goto Nobuzuki, who had a history of studying abroad, was particularly particular about food.

Next to the stream, the chefs began to process the venison and brought a lot of vegetables. Nobuzuo Goto said: "My Majesty, we will eat roasted venison and tempura later."

"Okay, tell the chef that if their meat is well cooked, then I will lift the meat ban." The emperor said with a smile.

Nobuzuo Goto nodded. He knew that the Emperor was interested in lifting the ban, and everything he said just now was just an excuse.

"Kun Xin Gang, in two days, I will meet with the envoy from China, and he will also submit a letter of state to me. And I heard that the envoy named Bai Le is your classmate in China, right?" The emperor asked as he tasted the dry tempura.

Nobuzuna Goto nodded: "Yes, but this does not mean that Monkey can influence him. He is a very good and confident person. When he was in school, he was the best among us."

"The Satsuma lord said that the Hue talks would be destroyed by him," the emperor said.

Goto Nobuzuki mixed his own dipping sauce and said, "That's right, I have warned them not to cause trouble in Hue. We should wait three years later when the textile quota meeting is held in Nagasaki before confrontation."

"Is that messenger very powerful?" asked the emperor.

Nobusuo Goto said, "No matter how much wisdom he has, he is not as powerful as he is, and he is even more unlikely to fight against us. But the problem is, the Satsuma lord and the others made a mistake in thinking that Bai Le was just an official from a civilian.

This is indeed, but the problem is that his fate has long changed with his sister, who is now the princess of the British Prince of China. With this background, all the tricks arranged by the Satsuma lord and the others are useless."

"It sounds like a difficult person, but the envoy I sent to greet said that this Bai Le envoy is humble and rare among all the Chinese envoys. He also respects me and Kyoto very much." The emperor said with a smile.

After the War of the Overthrow, the Emperor was still very gentle towards the empire. Before the War of the Overthrow, the Emperor was a puppet in the hands of the Shogunate, but after the War of the Overthrow, the Emperor's status increased year by year. Although he still had no real power, he no longer had to listen to the general in Edo Castle's random orders.

Most importantly, the Anti-South Shogun War made the rise of the southwestern vassals and became a force against the shogunate. Although this force was defeated during the Japanese civil war, it was even more united. In the case of the two tigers fighting, the emperor, who represented justice and orthodox, was even more respected.

Take the Chinese Embassy in Japan as an example. At first, he was in Nagasaki and later went to Edo, but at the request of all parties, he had to move to Kyoto to show his surrender to the emperor.

"If that's the case, then the arrival of this Chinese envoy must have something to ask for, otherwise he would not have entered Kyoto in such a low attitude." Nobusuo Goto said very affirmatively.

The Emperor asked: "What will it be? I have always been confused and wanted to prepare in advance, but I couldn't start."

"I don't know, Your Majesty, but I think this is an excellent opportunity for Your Majesty to display his ambitions. Whether it is the shogunate or the southwest vassal daimyo, this time, you have to crawl at your feet and obey your orders. Only by seizing every opportunity can you make the shogunate and the various vassals return the great power." Nobutsu Goto said.

"How did you make sure this is an opportunity, Nobutsukun." The Emperor asked.

Nobusuo Goto said: "The Chinese Embassy in Kyoto has been very busy in the past month. People inside are coming in and out and cleaning up all the buildings. And I also have a friend who is in the furniture business. According to him, the Chinese Embassy has ordered a lot of Japanese furniture, some of which are obviously used to decorate the conference room.

There is also evidence that the embassy ordered vegetables and eggs for half a year with a small farm outside Kyoto Castle.

Obviously, Ambassador Bai Le will make big moves after he arrives."

When the emperor heard this, he nodded slightly. Although the Chinese Embassy is now in Kyoto, in fact everyone knows that the core of Japan's power is still in Edo Castle. So the embassy here is just like that. Only on several important festivals every year will the Chinese ambassador appear, and almost always work in the consulate in Edo Castle for the rest of the time.

"But you know, the shogun and Daming will not submit easily." The Emperor was still a little worried.

Nobusuo Goto said: "No, they will. Once the Chinese make big moves, it is not something they can bear alone. They must unite, and only under your banner can they unite. This will highlight Your Majesty's status...and... Your Majesty, we will also help you with all our strength."

At the end of the day, Goto Nobuzuo lowered his voice, and the Emperor also knew that what Goto Nobuzuo said was actually the Reform Club.

"Notaka, you have done a lot. The Great Japanese Empire needs loyal ministers like you, and I don't want you to be hurt." The Emperor said.

Nobusuo Goto knew that although the emperor in front of him was eager for power and to become the real emperor, he was still full of fear of the shogunate and the samurai class. More importantly, the emperor knew very well that his wish was not accepted by the empire. The empire always believed that the split Japan was the best.

"I am just doing my responsibilities for His Majesty and Japan. Compared to me, Mr. Kido is truly admirable."

"Yes, sir should have arrived in Europe now. I sincerely hope that everything goes well for him."

The two mentioned Mr. Kido is naturally Fumio Kido who founded the Restoration Club. Mr. Kido, who had traveled half of China, took a boat to Europe with the shogunate envoy a year ago and embassy, ​​embarked on his first trip to Europe.

"Mr. Kido's itinerary was very smooth. He has arrived in Amsterdam, a big city in the Netherlands. The visit and inspection have officially begun." Nobuzuna Goto said with a smile.

The emperor asked: "Has he sent a letter?"

"It's the telegram, your majesty." Nobutsu Goto said.

The Emperor sighed: "I really don't know how many bizarre things there are that I don't understand?"

Nobusuto Goto said: "Mr. Kido asked me to tell you something, he believes that this visit to Europe is a victory for Japan."

The emperor's eyes lit up, and it was actually easy to understand that the so-called victory of Japan was actually beneficial to him, the emperor.

Unlike the previous shogunate sent envoys to the empire Shinkyo, this time the visit to Europe was because Britain, the Netherlands and Spain successively sent envoys to Edo, hoping to reopen trade with Japan. Of course, Japan's trade with these countries had long been reopened. During the Japanese civil war, the shogunate realized that the empire supported the weapons of the southwestern vassals and wanted to buy firearms from Europe.

But the problem is that trade has been restricted and European countries want comprehensive trade.

Just as the shogunate was hesitating, the southwestern vassals came to the door, especially the Satsuma and the Choshu vassals, which had frequent foreign trade and developed industry and commerce, demanded trade with European countries.

Seeing this, the shogunate could only do the same thing in order to win over European countries. Soon, the countries wanted to establish diplomatic relations with Japan. The shogunate wanted to represent Japan, so it sent a mission.

But this time it was different. The mission was riding an ocean cruise ship purchased from China as a diplomatic ship. There were more than 400 people on the diplomatic ship, but only more than 20 officials. Most of the rest were young people sent by the shogunate, including the best among the samurai samurai and young people from all branches and veins of the Tokugawa family.

These people were responsible for the purpose of examining European politics and wanted to find a path suitable for the shogunate and unify Japan. But the shogunate was wrong, and chose Fumiso Kido, a person with overseas travel experience as the deputy envoy.

The diplomatic ship set out from Edo, first arrived at Shinkyo, and then headed west along the coast of China. Along the way, passed many Chinese cities, saw the prosperity of the empire, and entered Europe, saw the vitality of Europe, and developed various doubts about the rule of the Japanese shogunate.

These frogs in the well see the outside world. The more they see, the more they agree with the ideas of the Reform Club. What Kido Fumio said is beneficial to Japan because he clearly noticed this.

The Emperor was obviously a frog in the well, otherwise how could he not even know what the telegram was? He asked: "Is this really useful? So many people went to Europe, what can we learn from those Europa barbarians?"

Nobusuo Goto said: "It's hard to say, Your Majesty, but there are two things that are certain. First, European countries have always been afraid of by the superior countries, which is enough to show that they have strengths. Second, it is also very good to let young people go out to see them. Now many people believe that Japan is behind the superior countries because it is restricted by the superior countries. However, the superior countries also have restrictions on European countries, and their development is better than ours. If young people understand this, they will look for reasons in themselves.

And what is the reason?”

The emperor asked: "What is the reason?"

"I don't know, but I all know that Japan is controlled by the Wu family now. If there is a problem, it is naturally the Wu family's problem. What does it have to do with you? If there is a problem with the Wu family, you have to solve the Wu family. But just as it is impossible for people to cut off their own heads, how can the Wu family deal with it?

Then someone needs to stand up to deal with the Wu family. Except for Your Majesty, who has the qualifications and who has the courage?" said Goto Nobutsu.

The emperor's face changed slightly, and he didn't want to continue discussing it anymore, so he said: "Notaka, you are right, but what exactly depends on what results Mr. Kido brings back."
Chapter completed!