I formed the strongest swordsman group

The 7th generation lord Mori Shigetari (reigned 1751-1782) launched a series of reforms in order to save the finances.

A "nurturing party" department is set up to be responsible for reform work. Leave all profitable businesses to the caregiver.

Since the custodian is directly under the feudal lord and the account books are not disclosed to the public, there is no way to know the custodian's profits and losses. This independent account, still operating until the end of the Tokugawa period, was the source of funds for the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa Tokugawa.

Financial pressure was eased by measures such as reducing costs, inspecting land, developing salt fields in Mitajiri, and building a new port in Izaki.

In addition to salt production, rice, paper, and wax industries have also developed rapidly under the management of the nursery. These four products are of high quality and are all white, so they are collectively called the "Fang Chang Four Whites."

In addition, the education industry of the Choshu Domain was further developed.

In addition to Myeronkan, many feudal schools were opened in various places. The number of temple houses is as high as 1304. As far as Western Japan is concerned, the Choshu Domain has the most schools.

Although the fostering party has accumulated a considerable amount of funds, this is allocated from the fostering party (general income and expenditure account), treasure bank (reserve account) and other assets to support operations.

In other words, the prosperity of the foster family meant that the amount of money brought and treasures decreased, and the debt of the feudal government also increased day by day.

By the early years of the Tenpo period (1830-1843), the Choshu domain's debts had reached as high as 90,000 guan.

With the outbreak of the Tianbao Great Famine, the financial situation further deteriorated and the vassal rule was on the verge of collapse.

Faced with this severe situation, the 13th generation lord and current lord Yoshiuchi Mori began new reforms.

He promoted a person named Murata Qingfeng.

His reform measures mainly include the following:

1. Frugality.

2. Expand business in Vietnam and the Netherlands.

[Note. The Vietnamese side: the financial and warehouse industry run by the feudal lord. The western gateway of the Seto Inland Sea: Shimonoseki Strait is located in the sphere of influence of the Choshu Domain, so the Choshu Domain established a feudal agency "Etsuka Fang" in Shimonoseki to specifically manage the loading, unloading and storage of returning cargo, and provide it with loan. 】

3. Strive to repay half of the debt without interest.

4. The samurai are exempted from borrowing from the feudal government. As for the private borrowing of samurai from merchants, the feudal government will repay it.

5. The feudal government repays interest to merchants every year, and the principal is amortized in thirty-seven years. It also proactively disclosed the debts of the feudal government.

6. Promote talented lower-level warriors.

7. Reform the military system and establish foreign schools.

April 1, the 14th year of Tianbao (1843). Under the leadership of Murata Seifu, the domain government held military exercises at the spacious Hanagadai on the eastern outskirts of Hagi Castle (the capital of the Choshu domain) to practice the "Sacred Weapon Formation".

It is a new formation created by Seifu Murata with reference to the content about musket tactics contained in Zhao Shizhen's "Artifact Book" of the Ming Dynasty.

This formation is centered on the artillery carriage, with foreign gun teams surrounding the cannon, and ashigaru at the outermost periphery. The artillery bombarded first, then the gun team fired, and finally the Ashigaru charged.

This almost deadbeat "Thirty-seven years of taxation all contributed to official duties" offended a large business group.

Therefore, soon after, Murata was opposed by businessmen and stepped down.

Tsuboi Kyuemon, who later took over the reform work, had the opposite views than Murata Seifu.

Not only did he cancel the "Thirty-Seven Years of Taxes", he also gave preferential treatment to businessmen and did not hesitate to borrow money to repay businessmen's debts. However, he was impeached and resigned because the reforms had little effect.

Murata Qingfeng represents progressive forces.

Tsuboi Kyūemon represents conservative forces.

Wherever there is politics, there will be party strife.

There was a dispute between the "Nanki Sect" and the "Ichibashi Sect" in the shogunate.

Choshu Domain was no exception.

After that, two important ministers - Mikiri Tota and Shubu Masanosuke - successively entered the government center of the Choshu Domain. The former's ideas are similar to those of Tsuboi Kyūemon, while the latter continues Murata Kiyone's line.

The two factions that have been fighting endlessly and dominating the politics of the Choshu Domain until now have entered the stage of history.

At the beginning, the reform policies of the two groups were not clearly defined.

After the Ansei Five-Nation Treaty was signed, the Maori team in Edo did not want to offend the shogunate. However, Shu Fumasanosuke, who stayed in Hagi, issued the "Three Outline of the Domain". While doing his best to the shogunate, he also sought a way for Choshu to become independent.

[Note: Ansei Five-Nation Treaty: In the fifth year of Ansei (1858), Japan was forced to sign five unequal treaties with the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, Britain, and France]

Therefore, the Shogunosuke of the Zhou Dynasty called the Shogunate faction such as Mikiri Tota and others the "Serumon faction" and called himself the "Justice faction". This is where the confrontation between the two parties started.

The Seokron school, led by Mikiri Tota, is generally similar to the conservative school. Oppose any words or deeds that attack the imperial court and shogunate.

As for the "Justice Faction" headed by Zhou Buzhengnosuke, it can be understood as the "Revolutionary Faction". Their argument was: "Shogunate? How many cannons does it have?".

No wonder they are so arrogant.

The caregiver provided ample funds.

Murata Seifu's powerful reforms greatly improved the financial situation of the Choshu Domain, promoted production, and enhanced the domain's economic income and military strength.

Since the fifth generation of the feudal lord Mori Yoshimoto came to power, he has consistently attached great importance to the basic national policy of education.

Long-term accumulation and precipitation laid the foundation for the rise of the Choshu clan.

Today, the Choshu Domain is already the leading powerful domain in Western Japan with strong troops and talented people! Although it is not enough to compete with the shogunate, it can be said that it makes the shogunate extremely jealous.

The current governor of the Choshu Domain is the 13th generation feudal lord: Mori Qiuchin, who has ruled the Choshu Domain since he came to power in the seventh year of Tenpo (1836).

The original name of Maori Qingqin was Maori Jingqin, but it was renamed Maori Qingqin due to "taboo".

"Pan taboo" means that the upper-ranking person in Wu family society gives the character of his own name to the lower-ranking person to establish a master-slave relationship. The word "kei" in Mori Keishika comes from the 12th generation shogun Tokugawa Ieki.

How to evaluate the Maori wedding celebration?

In a word: notoriously rubbish!

Although he single-handedly promoted Murata Qingfeng, and he strongly supported Murata Qingfeng's series of drastic reforms, this was not because of his vision and talent.

The only thing he can do is sit high on the throne and watch the discussions among the ministers below without saying a word.

After the ministers discussed it and came up with a solution, he said lightly, "Okay, let's do it!"

Because he has no independent opinions and has never made up his own mind, he does not have a systematic ideological concept at all. He can only say "Okay, then let's do it!", so he is despised by the world as "Let's do it like this".

When Murata Seifu's reform ideas are widely welcomed, he will be re-employed. When he is impeached, he will be allowed to step down. This is Mori Keichika's ruling style, which focuses on casualness!

The reason why the political opinions of the Choshu Domain were repeated so frequently was because of Mori Qingqin's "ruling by doing nothing".

In the first year of Bunkyu (1861), the Choshu clan gave birth to a wise man who "opened his eyes to see the world", Nagai Gagaku, who was known as "Ogijo's best talent". He submitted a long-term document to Mori Qingqin. The 4,800-word proposal is the famous "Navigation Strategy".

Its main content can be roughly summarized as follows: Abandoning treaties and resisting foreigners are child's play. It is better to actively accept the treaty, and the imperial court and the shogunate will agree with each other and learn from the barbarians to learn skills to control the barbarians.

After reading "Navigation Strategy", Qingqika Mori said, not surprisingly, "Okay, then let's do this!"

In this way, the Choshu Domain became a supporter of the "combination of public and military forces" - naturally the "respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians" faction within the domain would not accept this.

As a result, it didn't take long for the loyal people in the Choshu Domain to raise the flag of rebellion, causing a large-scale commotion within the domain.

It was also at this time that the thoughts of the leader of the "Justice Faction", Shu Fumasanosuke, changed and he completely turned to "respecting the king and resisting the barbarians", and began to make friends with people with lofty ideals in the domain.

The "Justice Faction" of the Choshu Domain and those with lofty ideals joined forces.

After the voice of "honoring the king and rejecting the barbarians" in the Choshu domain gained the upper hand, Mouri Qingqin said "Okay, let's do it!" without any surprise, making a 180-degree jump, not only completely abolishing " "Navigation strategy", and he also followed the advice of Zhou Fumasei and others and ordered the "treacherous villain" Nagai Gaara to commit hara-kiri.

A generation of heroes lost their lives in such a ridiculous way.

How can an insect like Mori Keichika do good politics?

In the "Okay, let's do it!" one after another, Mouri Qingqin was completely ignored and became an emperor-like mascot.

The vacuum of power will naturally lead to competition - the "secular faction" and the "justice faction" have launched a fierce overt and covert struggle.

In the end, the "justice faction", whose strength was greatly increased by joining forces with people with lofty ideals, won the right to speak.

The power of the Seolun Sect was weak, and the military and political power of the feudal state fell into the hands of the Justice Sect.

Although compared with the "Song Lun School" whose ideological realm is still stuck in the feudal era, the "Justice School"'s political views are much more advanced - but not much.

How would you describe the “justice faction”?

To put it simply: they are a bunch of crazy dogs!

The reason for this must start with a guy named Yoshida Shoin (1830-1859).

Yoshida Shoin was born in the first year of Tenpo (1830). He was a rather complicated person.

He is a thinker of the Yangming School, proficient in Sinology, Mito Studies, Chinese Studies, Military Studies and many other subjects. He has been a famous child prodigy since he was a child.

While he strongly advocated respecting the king and resisting foreigners and defending against foreign humiliation, he did not have pedantic ideas of blind xenophobia.

After the "Black Ship Incident" broke out, in order to better understand the barbarians, Yoshida Shoin, who happened to be studying near Edo at the time, took his disciple Kaneko Shigesuke. The two rowed a small boat and secretly boarded the American Black Ship at night. ship and wanted to go to the United States with the fleet.

According to the "Lockdown Order" that had not been abolished at that time, the shogunate strictly prohibited citizens from leaving the country, otherwise they would be sentenced to death.

Therefore, although Yoshida Shoin's courage to disregard personal safety greatly admired U.S. Fleet Commander Perry, it also made him feel quite embarrassed. The United States has just signed a treaty with Japan, and if they want to help Yoshida Shoin and others, they have to negotiate again.

Eventually, Yoshida Shoin and his disciples were returned to the shore.

After his attempt to board the black ship failed, Yoshida Shoin was released back to his hometown. He was first imprisoned, and then in the second year of Ansei (1855), he was pardoned and sentenced to confinement.

During this period, he borrowed the Matsushita Village Private School from his uncle Tamaki Fuminosusum and his uncle Kubo Gorozaemon, studying and giving lectures.

In addition to studying, Yoshida Shoin will also arrange martial arts, swimming and other physical training for his disciples, as well as teach military science and practice formations to prepare for future actual combat.

It is worth mentioning that the connotations of the idea of ​​respecting and exalting that Yoshida Shoin originally followed and the currently popular idea of ​​respecting and exalting are different.

The keynote of Yoshida Shoin's theory is that the emperor is a descendant of Amaterasu, a line that has never changed for eternity. Now the emperor has appointed the shogunate to govern the princes and govern Japan. As subjects of the emperor, we should not overthrow the shogunate who is also a subject of the emperor; as a feudal lord, we should try our best to persuade the shogunate to correct its mistakes.

On the other hand, as long as the shogunate respects the emperor, it will naturally get the allegiance of the emperor; and the princes who respect the shogunate will naturally get the allegiance of their retainers. In other words, respecting the king does not mean bringing down the curtain, but rather it is a set of theories that consolidates the social ethical order.

However, in the fifth year of Ansei (1858), shortly after Ii Naomi took office, the shogunate bypassed the imperial court and signed trade treaties with the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, Britain, and France without authorization, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the imperial court. The Toto clan issued a secret edict, reprimanding the shogunate for signing the contract without authorization, and asked Mito and other clans to work together with the shogunate to repel the invaders. After being discovered by the shogunate, Ii Naomi used this as an excuse to directly launch the "Ansei Prison" and vigorously suppressed it. After the "Illegal Seal Incident" of the "Ichitsubashi Sect" broke out, Yoshida Shoin went out of his way and directly threatened that the general who conquered the barbarians was a thief in the world. If he did not conquer the shogunate, he would only cause criticism in the world.

He doesn't just talk but doesn't do anything, he actually plans various actions to bring down the curtain.

He advocated the use of radical means such as assassination and sabotage to deal with the shogunate, which angered the shogunate.

In the sixth year of Ansei (1859), the shogunate asked the Choshu clan to escort Yoshida Shoin to Edo for trial. He was killed shortly afterwards.

Because Yoshida Shoin was a very radical person, the students who came from his disciples were naturally more radical than the others.

Among the many disciples of Yoshida Shoin, three are the most outstanding - Takasugi Shinsaku, Katsura Kogoro, and Hisasaka Genzui.

Shortly after the death of Yoshida Shoin, under the leadership of these three people, the power of the Choshu Domain grew rapidly.

Under the call of these three people, the loyalists of the Choshu Domain were notoriously radical.

They advocated war against the Westerners and always believed that "holding this Tiangang sword and smiling at the foreign gunmen, foreigners are nothing but shit" and "as long as you show the spirit of a warrior who is not afraid of death, even an armored warship on the ocean can be killed with a single blow." He vowed to expel all Westerners from the land of Japan without leaving a single trace. In addition, the shogunate who bowed to the Westerners must be severely punished.

After Shufubonosuke's "Justice Faction" merged with Takasugi Shinsaku and others, they were also infected by this radical atmosphere.

Under their leadership, and the iron-waste Maori Qingqing's words of "Okay, so be it!", the Choshu clan completely turned to "respecting the king and resisting the barbarians" and became the strongest fortress of the respecting and resisting camp.

In the spring and summer of last year (1862), Shimazu Hisamitsu, who personally led 1,000 soldiers of the Satsuma domain to Kyoto in order to seize political dominance, briefly took control of Kyoto and then led his entire army eastward to force the shogunate to accept his "establishment of the five great powers". "Old" and "supporting Hitotsubashi Yoshiki and Matsudaira Haruge as general post-appointment and political president respectively".

With the departure of Shimazu Hisamitsu and the Satsuma Army under his command, there was a power vacuum in Kyoto. Choshu Domain seized this opportunity and exploited every opportunity to march into Kyoto and hijack the emperor and the court.

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Leopard, can you even write less than 5,000 words for a chapter explaining the background of the plot? It’s really a miscellaneous fish ~ miscellaneous fish ~ (miscellaneous fish leopard.jpg)

You can review Chapter 3 of this volume. The content of this chapter has many echoes with the content of Chapter 3 of this volume. Reading them together will help you understand the plot background.

The content of this chapter is quite important! But don't say that leopards are very watery! If you don’t understand the past and present life of the Choshu clan in detail, you will definitely not understand the subsequent plot development and character motivations.