Changing the subject of the announcement to "the imperial court" and never mentioning that the date "May 10" was the fault of the shogunate subconsciously hinted to others that this was the intention of the imperial court and had nothing to do with the shogunate.

Aoshito's suggestion quickly won the unanimous approval of Tokugawa Iemo, Tenzouin and others.

One after another, fast horses and fast sedan chairs rushed to various vassal states.

When the envoy arrived in person, the vassals could not do anything even if they wanted to pretend to be deaf and dumb.

In this way, the shogunate and the feudal lords all shouldered the heavy responsibility of "repelling the foreigners" and became grasshoppers on a rope.

When May 10th came, sure enough, the situation was exactly as Qingdeng expected - no one took any action.

There was no one to resist the foreigners at all.

Even the Tosa Clan and Mito Clan, which usually talked about "repelling the barbarians," did not make any movement.

Qingden had already expected the silence of the two vassals.

Previously, the Mito clan was the absolute main force in the Zunban movement.

The "Sakurada Gate Incident" that led to the murder of Naomi Ii and shocked the whole country was led by the loyalists of Mito Domain.

Logically speaking, Mito Domain's Zunhou patriots have both a distinguished "resume" and amazing achievements, so they should occupy a leading position in the current Zunhou movement.

But, as the old saying goes: Party strife is really everywhere!

The Mito Domain was destroyed by party strife.

The specific process is quite complicated.

In a nutshell - the conservatives and radicals in the Mito domain fought internally, resulting in heavy casualties. The elite power was completely lost, and they were no longer able to participate in the Zhengtong movement.

It was precisely because of the decline of the Mito clan that the Choshu clan came to power.

Tosa Domain... no, to be more precise, the Tosa Kinnoi Party led by Takeichi Hanheita sincerely wanted to repel the barbarians.

However, their voices were suppressed by Yamauchi Hall.

Yamauchi Do—36 years old, former lord of Tosa Domain, currently living in Edo.

Qingden had met with Shannetou several times and had drinks with him several times.

Qingnog has only one comment about Yamauchi-do: a seasoned politician!

Although he is very young, he possesses the quality that a politician should have and is also the most difficult to possess: he only cares about interests and not about emotions in everything.

Although Yamauchi Dou has abdicated and is still living in seclusion in distant Edo, he is still the former lord of the domain and has a decisive influence in the domain.

Because he was easy-going and loved drinking, he often got drunk with the young warriors in the domain, so the younger generation in the domain liked him and loved him very much.

In short, under the suppression of Yamauchi Hall, the Tosa Domain did not participate in the anti-barbarian operation on May 10.

As a result, in the end, only the Choshu clan was determined to block the Shimonoseki Strait and bombard Western ships on this day.

Regarding the behavior of the Choshu clan... to be honest, it was beyond Qingto's expectation.

Qingneng really did not expect: How could the Choshu clan give up its great advantage for nothing?

Logically speaking, the best solution for the Choshu clan should be to sit back and watch, conserve their own power, drag the shogunate into the muddy waters of resisting the foreigners, and consume the shogunate's power.

Changzhou has already achieved half the success of this plan that is completely beneficial and harmless.

Hitotsubashi Keiki's bizarre operation caused the shogunate to be burdened with the heavy responsibility of resisting the foreigners and fell into an extremely unfavorable situation.

Next, Changzhou should be able to win easily.

As a result, how come they dropped the ball at the most critical moment?

In short, no matter what, for Ayoto and others in the shogunate camp, the Choshu clan's decisive behavior is indeed an unexpected surprise!

All the other forces are keeping to themselves, but you, Changzhou, are the only one who has jumped out to cause trouble.

Western countries that are accustomed to being bandits will definitely not give up.

It is conceivable that Changzhou will suffer fierce revenge from Western countries in the future.

In addition, Hisaka Genzui's insistence on going his own way greatly deepened the estrangement between the major factions in the Choshu Domain.

The "radical faction" of Genzui Hisaka and the "slick faction" of Shinsaku Takasugi and Kogoro Katsura almost broke up.

The "Serumon Sect" led by Makuri Tota also began to make moves.

It is not difficult to imagine that unless a fierce man emerges from the sky, it won't be long before Changzhou will fall into a desperate situation of internal and external troubles.

As for the shogunate and other vassal states that did not participate in the fight against the foreigners...to describe it in one word, it is "win"!

To describe it in two words, it is "win hemp"!

Everyone is wrong, which means everyone is right.

It is true that what the shogunate did was to say one thing and do another. You were the one who announced the rejection of the foreigners, and you were the one who ruined it afterwards.

But, so what?

The other vassal states did not fight against the foreigners. Even if they wanted to denounce the shogunate, they lost the confidence.

You said we didn't resist the foreigners, didn't you also not resist the foreigners? Do you still have the nerve to rebuke us?

In this way, because everyone has "shit" in their bodies, they formed a natural alliance and acted unanimously against the outside world...or in other words, against the court.

The imperial court was naturally dumbfounded by this situation.

Sanjo Sanimi and others never expected that a clever move that was supposed to "defeat the shogunate" would actually be killed by the shogunate!

In order to restore the situation, the imperial court issued an edict to reprimand the shogunate for reneging on its promises and criticize the vassals for their inaction.

On the other hand, an edict was issued to commend Changzhou for his bravery and loyalty.

The rhetoric used by the imperial court when criticizing the shogunate and the feudal lords was very harsh and sharp.

However, the court's voice has lost its intimidating power.

In recent years, boosted by the Zunxing trend and the strong support of Changzhou, the power of the imperial court has greatly increased.

Even the Tokugawa generals came to see the saint after more than 200 years to discuss matters of fighting against the foreigners. It was so impressive.

However, this lofty majesty is just a blown bubble after all.

It looks very bright and beautiful, but in fact it will break when you poke it.

The imperial court never got rid of the dilemma of having no money, no food, and no soldiers.

Based on the adulation and support of others, rather than on substantial deterrence... Such majesty is nothing but a castle in the air.

No matter where you are or what era you are in, having materials and an army, these two tangible things, is the way to go!

With the exception of Choshu, the shogunate and the various vassals have formed a united front because of "joint destruction". Will they still be afraid of you as a court?

Sanjo Sanimi and others were furious, but there was nothing they could do.

Not to mention Changzhou.

Just after May 10th, Choshu immediately used the coldest words to angrily criticize the shogunate and the vassals, and also angrily slandered the treachery of the patriots in other vassal states.

The already tense situation in Kyoto has become increasingly thrilling.

Soon, a sudden political accident suddenly occurred.

This accident greatly shook the three-legged power of Maku, Sa, and Chang in Kyoto!

What is unexpected is that the first to be hit was not the shogunate and Choshu, but Satsuma, who had been sitting on the fence.

On May 20, Xiaolu Gongzhi, the sister of Gongqing of the Zunbang faction, was assassinated and died at the age of 25.

That night, Lord Aneskoji was assassinated outside Shuoping Gate on his way back to his residence after attending the imperial meeting.

That night, he went out with two retainers and a servant and was attacked by three assassins.

The retainer who stood in for my sister, Koji Gongzhi, who was holding the sword, was so frightened that he actually ran away with his sword.

Anegaoji Gongzhi could only take out his folding fan to fight against the enemy.

Although he resisted tenaciously, he still suffered severe injuries to his head and chest.

Although he was a high official, his courage was extraordinary. He managed to hold on for a breath and snatched the knife from an assassin's hand.

When the assassins saw this, they fled in fear.

On the morning of the next morning after being rescued and returned home, Anokoji Gongzhi died of his injuries.

Speaking of Gongzhi Jixiaolu, his political position is quite interesting.

In layman's terms, it means "respecting conflict, but not completely respecting conflict".

At first, he, like Sanjo Sanimi and others, was the most staunch believer in respecting the enemy.

It was not until September last year (1862) that he went to Edo and inspected the Edo Bay shore accompanied by Katsu Rintaro, and his thoughts suddenly changed dramatically.

He no longer advocated "immediately expelling the barbarians", but advocated "learning from the barbarians and developing skills to control the barbarians", which was to follow the line of the shogunate.

It is reported that when he inspected the shores of Edo Bay, he accepted the suggestion of Katsurin Taro and boarded the steamship in person. He saw with his own eyes the power of Western countries and realized how stupid the ideas he had previously believed in were, so he gradually changed

own thoughts.

In the eyes of radical-minded people with lofty ideals, incomplete loyalty means absolute disloyalty.
To be continued...