The Ministry of War is responsible for the military affairs of the world, and the Minister of War is responsible for supervising all the documents and files of the government... At first glance, it seems deceptive, but in fact, it just sounds nice.

In Japan under the shogunate, it is unnecessary to talk about the specific responsibilities and actual powers of imperial officials.

The emperor and ministers of the Kyoto court relied on the support of the shogunate and the feudal lords for their daily food and clothing.

There is no military power, financial power or governance power.

How can such a court have a military department?

If there is not a single soldier under his command, what power does the Ministry of War have?

To put it simply, these official positions in the Kyoto court are basically honorary titles.

Certain official positions are hereditary.

The ministers held various important official positions according to their family status.

For example, a person who serves as a Taishei minister must be from the Gosei clan (Konoe clan, Kujo clan, Takashi clan, Nijo clan, Ichijo clan) or Seika clan (Kuga clan, Sanjo clan, Saionji clan,

Duke of the Tokudaiji clan, the Hanazhanin clan, the Oikawamikado clan, the Kondekawa clan, the Daigo clan, and the Hirohata clan).

Some vassal daimyo can also obtain hereditary and irreplaceable official positions.

For example, the feudal lord of the Aizu Domain has been entrusted to five senior officials from generation to generation to hold one post.

Under the careful design of the shogunate, the official positions in the imperial court had neither actual power nor specific benefits.

It has no use except making your name more famous.

Qingdeng's title of "Dacheng of the Ministry of War" is purely a false title that has no purpose.

The minister of war, the chief assistant of the war department and the young assistant of the war department above him are all vacant, waiting for someone to make great achievements in the future and reward these official positions to others.

From a utilitarian point of view, imperial official positions are indeed useless.

However, if we use the values ​​of this era to measure it, being awarded an official position in the imperial court is indeed a great honor.

First, influenced by the Zunxing Movement, the political status of the Kyoto court was strengthened to an epic level, and the value of the court's official position also increased greatly.

Secondly, driven by historical inertia, people have a special "filter" for imperial official positions.

Since the Heian period, before those big figures do big things - such as usurping power - they must first obtain the recognition of the Kyoto court.

The most typical example is Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the end of the Warring States Period.

Not just any cat or dog can create a shogunate.

Theoretically, only military nobles (from the Minamoto and Taira clans) could serve as generals to conquer barbarians and establish a shogunate.

The Ashikaga family (Genji) who founded the Muromachi shogunate, and the Tokugawa family (Genji) who founded the Edo shogunate, are all like this.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born into a poor peasant family.

His relationship with the military aristocrats is like the relationship between Kaspersky and Pakistan - there is a Kiba relationship.

Therefore, he was naturally not destined to be the general who conquered the barbarians.

So, he found another way.

After unifying the world, he changed his surname to Fujiwara as the adopted son of Konoe Maekyu, became Kanpaku and concurrently served as the Taizheng Minister. Later, he was given the surname Toyotomi by the emperor and founded the Toyotomi regime.

[Note: Guan Bai: The official position outside the official system of laws and regulations is equivalent to the prime minister in the Tang Dynasty. It is not a member of the Taizheng minister. It is an official position created by the Guan government during the Heian period and later became an honorary official. 】

Over time, this became a political convention - if you want to achieve great things, you must first be granted an official position by the imperial court, which means you must obtain the recognition and support of the imperial court.

This is just like the abdication in ancient China. Although it is all a pretentious trick and a group of people just pretending to be acting, it is a necessary process.

Therefore, in the understanding of most people in the Edo period, being able to obtain an official position in the imperial court is a full affirmation of your social status and your own abilities.

In ancient Japan, just like ancient China, when a person reached the XX Ministry, he could be given the honorific title of "XX Ministry".

For example, Du Fu, who was once an official and a member of the Ministry of Engineering and Inspection, once had the honorific title of "Du Gongbu".

In other words, from now on, Aomori has a new honorific title - Tachibana Military Department.

According to the custom that "the status of imperial officials is higher than that of shogunate officials", the rank of the honorific "Tachibana Soldiers" will be higher than "Tachibana-sama", "Nioh-sama" and other titles.

If nothing else, until he resigned as Minister of War, people in the official circles would refer to Qing Teng as "Orange War Department".

The rank of the Chief of the Ministry of War is lower than the sixth rank. Although this rank is not high, it is definitely not low, and it is in line with Qingden's current status and achievements.

After all, Qingteng is not a daimyo yet, so it would be inappropriate for him to obtain an excessively high official position.

Official positions above the sixth rank were basically held by ministers and daimyo of the vassal state.

In other words, Qingteng must at least become a daimyo of one of the separatist parties in order to obtain a higher-level official position.

And this goal... is not far away!

Qingdeng's original salary was 5,220 dan.

Now another 3,000 stones have been added, so now it is 8,220 stones.

In the Edo period, ten thousand stone family wealth was a watershed.

Beneath thousands of stones, there are ordinary samurai who can only earn dead wages.

And above ten thousand stones... it is a veritable great name that has its own autonomous territory and can appoint subordinates!

By then, Qingden will have truly reached the realm that countless warriors throughout the ages have dreamed of - becoming the master of a city and a land!

…

…

Different from the past, Qingnog had only received rewards from the shogunate.

This time, because he has been awarded an official position by the imperial court, according to the etiquette system, Qingteng will go to the Imperial Palace in person to accept the official appointment from the imperial court.

Imperial Palace - the emperor's palace.

The investiture ceremony is scheduled for April 18.

Logically speaking, the imperial court would not make any big arrangements for just granting official positions to people from the sixth grade.

However, Qingden's current social status and political energy are too transcendent to be measured by ordinary rules and common sense.

As a result, after considering the actual conditions and various factors, the imperial court decided to make an unprecedented decision and held an extremely grand conferment ceremony for Qingdeng.

At this time, the current emperor, all the high-ranking ministers of the imperial court, and senior ministers stationed in Kyoto - such as Matsudaira Yongho and others - will all dress up to attend.

Since you want to enter the temple to meet the saint, you must treat him with great ceremony.

On this day, Qing Deng put on the most formal official attire for the first time.

Military attire (tunics) and public attire are not the same thing.

Qingdeng has always felt that the former was extremely ugly, lacking details and beauty, and had pauldron-like protrusions on its shoulders, resembling a giant flying cockroach.

In comparison, official attire is more beautiful and more grand.

After all, the prototype of public formal attire is the official uniform of the Tang Dynasty.

For this reason, its shape has a strong Tang style.

Time passed...in the blink of an eye, April 18th came quietly.

The sky was still dark today, so Qingdeng crawled out of bed and made essential preparations for today's conferment ceremony.

What stands out about the method of wearing official attire is that it is complicated. It is absolutely impossible for one person to put it on alone.

Just like putting on a crown or tightening a belt, you have to rely on the help of others.

Among all the newly selected people, the only person who knows how to wear official attire is Sanako, who comes from an outstanding family.

As a last resort, Qingteng could only find Sanako and ask her to help.

At first, Sanako was a little unhappy.

She curled her red lips and muttered "It's really troublesome"... In fact, she was just shy about "helping Qingdeng get dressed".

In fact, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Qingdeng is not naked. Before putting on official formal attire, he will definitely put on white bottom clothes. There is nothing impure about it.

If it were the director-general, he would have helped Qingdeng get dressed without batting an eyelid.

However, in the eyes of Sanako, who is conservative in thinking and regards chastity as her life, "men wearing underwear" and "naked men" are the same thing.

It took a lot of effort for Qingto to finally get Sanako to suppress his shame and timidly walk into his room.

In this way, with the help of Sanako, Qingto finally put on a brand new official attire with difficulty——

He wears a black crown of Zaoluo Zaohui on his head, holds a tooth wat in his hand, wears a straight black robe, a white hakama, and a gold and silver belt around his waist.

[Note: Wat: A long and narrow board held by ancient ministers when they met with the monarch. It was made of jade, ivory, etc. according to rank. Events could be written on it. Vertical: a top-lower skirt-style garment, with the top collar crossed and a wide triangle

Sleeves, chest ties.]

At six o'clock in the morning (6 o'clock in the morning), the envoys from the imperial court appeared on time.

They carried a luxurious sedan and came to greet Qingdeng.

Compared with ordinary sedans, there is no big difference between the imperial sedan chair and the ordinary sedan chair, except that the appearance is more flashy and there are more people to help you carry the sedan chair.
To be continued...