I formed the strongest swordsman group

Make a small correction to the end of the previous chapter - instead of "receive 20,000 taels of gold every month", but "receive 20,000 taels of gold every year", I hope everyone knows~

Through what he saw and heard, as well as his own practical experience, Qingdeng realized a truth - party struggle is actually the number one disaster in politics!

Once party strife breaks out, no matter how large an organization or how powerful a group, it will be in danger.

A lot of energy and resources were invested in endless internal fighting.

The most obvious and tragic example of "party strife harming the country" is China's Nanming period.

In this huge dynasty, because of the feuding between brothers and repeated party disputes, the mountains and rivers were shattered and the country was no longer a country.

In recent years, the shogunate has quite a Nanming style.

The "Nanki Faction" led by Tokugawa Iemo and Tenzouin, and the "Ichitsubashi Faction" led by Hitotsubashi Yoshiki and Matsudaira Harugaku, fought fiercely and in confusion.

The struggle between the two parties has almost reached the highest form of party struggle - opposition for the sake of opposition.

As long as it is an idea put forward by the "Nanki School", no matter whether it is right or wrong, the "One Bridge School" will oppose it.

Vice versa - no matter whether the ideas put forward by the "Ichitsubashi School" are correct or wrong, the "Nanki School" has only one attitude: No!

The administrative efficiency of the shogunate was extremely slow due to redundant officials and personnel.

And now, because of the increasingly fierce party struggle between the "Nanki Faction" and the "Ichitsubashi Faction", administrative efficiency is getting worse and worse.

What could have been done in three days took more than a month, or even more, to get it done.

Yoshiki Hitotsubashi is the current governor of the Hitotsubashi family, one of the "Three Imperial Lords". His father is Tokugawa Saiaki, the respected former lord of Mito Domain, and he himself is known as a virtuous man.

Regardless of his family background or his own prestige, Hitotsubashi Keixi can be regarded as the best in the world.

In addition, he also has the full support of many powerful feudal lords such as Matsudaira Harugaku and Shimazu Hisamitsu.

With the blessing of so many positive buffs, the political energy of the "Ichitsubashi Sect" is not inferior to that of the "Nanki Sect".

Everyone must think so - the struggle between the two factions will last for a long time.

However... it turns out that human history is indeed full of unpredictability!

At the critical moment when Tokugawa Iemo fell ill, Hitotsubashi Kei was ordered to negotiate with the court on behalf of the shogunate.

But what's the result? Because of the temporary loss of control of his emotions and his anger and blood, he lost control of his words!

The random political promise of "starting to fight the barbarians on May 10th" put the shogunate into an extremely unfavorable situation!

After getting into such a big disaster, instead of trying to remedy the situation, he hid in Nijo Castle without meeting anyone.

After nightfall, he sneaked back to Edo alone without saying hello to anyone, including Matsudaira Harugaku.

Such mindless, unscrupulous and irresponsible behavior is really shocking!

It is no exaggeration to say that Hitotsubashi Keihi’s outrageous operations directly caused a huge “political turmoil”!

The political landscape of the shogunate changed suddenly!

The first thing to bear the brunt was the disrepute of Hitotsubashi Keiki and the decline of the "Ihitotsubashi Sect".

Prior to this, in order to improve the reputation of Hitotsubashi Keihe, members of the "Ichitsubashi Faction" have been sparing no effort to promote it.

He is said to be a "sage with both civil and military skills" and "he is the one who can re-create the shogunate"... He is just short of being praised as "the reincarnation of Yao and Shun".

There is a proverb that goes like this: Don't get angry casually, because once you get angry, you will use your true skills, and then people will find out that your true skills are terrible.

This proverb could not be more appropriate when applied to Hitotsubashi Keiki.

Previously, under the propaganda offensive of the "Hitchhike Sect", many people...even Ayonobu believed that Hitotsubashi Keiki, who had received elite education since childhood, was more or less capable.

However... Hitotsubashi Keixi's actual performance in the face of crisis formed a strong contrast with its reputation.

The sages praised by the "Ichibashi Sect"...are these?

Is this the leader of the "Hitobashi faction"?

Is there really any way to save the shogunate with such a thing?

The world has come to realize that Hitotsubashi Keihi seems not as majestic as it appears on the surface.

Overnight, Hitotsubashi Kexi's reputation plummeted and he became the laughing stock of the world.

Even the "Ichitsubashi Sect" became the object of ridicule.

Obviously, the infamous "Ichitsubashi Sect" is no longer qualified to confront the "Nanki Sect".

Hitotsubashi Yingxi knew that he had caused a big trouble. After he sneaked back to Edo, he voluntarily resigned from his position as "a general post", hid in his house, and became an apartment owner, giving himself a decent life. .

As the core figure of the "Ichitabashi faction", Keiki Hitotsubashi has "surrendered". Matsudaira Harugaku, who is only the "second in command", naturally has no reason to continue to hold on.

He also handed over his position as "political president" and returned to his domain (Echizen Fukui Domain).

In this way, the two leaders of the "Ichibashi faction" resigned and retired.

Just because of Hitotsubashi's happy words, the "Itotsubashi faction" completely lost power and was already dead in name only.

The fierce party struggle between the "Nanji Sect" and the "Ichitsubashi Sect" that had lasted for many years came to an end with a funny and absurd result.

There will never be a vacuum in power. There will always be other people or forces to fill the power vacancy.

The "Ichibashi Sect" lost power, and the "Nanji Sect" naturally gained power.

Compared to the hesitant Ichitabashi celebrating, Aoto's heroic feat of retreating from the British ships a few days ago can be described as vigorous and resolute, full of masculinity!

It not only solved the siege of Edo, but also enabled the shogunate to finally give an explanation to the court.

In any case, it was the shogunate who issued the call to "start fighting the barbarians on May 10th."

Judging from the current situation, this call is misplaced.

The shogunate was not burdened by "repelling the barbarians".

On the contrary, Changzhou fell into the pit.

It's just that... it still can't change the fact that "the shogunate went back on its word."

At this critical moment, Qingdeng took action.

Driven away the British fleet in Edo Bay - this can be regarded as fighting against the foreigners!

Although it was not the kind of resistance the imperial court wanted, it still took some practical action.

In terms of actual power and status, Qingnobu is the third-in-command of the "Nanki Sect"-the first two are Tokugawa Iemo and Tenzouin respectively.

The third-in-command has made such a great contribution, and the prestige of the entire "Nan Ji Sect" has also increased.

Under the circumstances, without the constraints of the "Ichitsubashi Sect", Tokugawa Iemo finally could concentrate his strength and resources to build the shogunate in his mind!

The first thing he did was to allocate funds to the Shinsengumi.

Previously, when the Shinsengumi was first established, the reason why Tokugawa Iemomo only paid such a small amount of military expenditure (3,000 taels) was because the "Ichitsubashi faction" obstructed him at every turn.

Sometimes he says that the national treasury is empty, and sometimes he says that money needs to be spent here and money needs to be repaid there... In short, he is going against Tokugawa Iemo!

Now, all these noisy noises like flies have disappeared.

With a stroke of his pen, Tokugawa Iemo directly approved "to allocate 20,000 taels of military expenditure to the Shinsengumi every year, with one quarter to be delivered in the spring, one quarter in the summer, and the remaining one-half in the winter, divided into three parts." "Pay in full on time" order.

At a time when the "Ichitsubashi Sect" is weak and the "Nanki Sect" is strong and who has made great contributions to "saving Edo", Aoto is at the peak of his power. No one or force dares to treat Germany without a long-term view. Chuan Jiamao's imperial order said half of the word "no".

20,000 taels of gold - in the eyes of ordinary people, this is a dizzying astronomical figure.

In the Edo period, generally speaking, 1 tael of gold could buy 1 shi of rice, and 10,000 shi of territory... that is, 10,000 shi of rice could support 250 retired soldiers.

The Shinsengumi now has 3,000 soldiers.

Calculated - if you want to feed the 3,000 soldiers of the Shinsengumi, you need at least 120,000 stone meters, which is 120,000 taels of gold.

The annual military payment of 20,000 taels... is really a drop in the bucket for the current Shinsengumi.

However, this is better than nothing.

It’s better to have money to take it than to have no money to take it.

As for the current financial situation of the shogunate, Qingneng still knows a lot.

It is not easy to squeeze out 20,000 taels of gold every year to support the Shinsengumi.

Then, with a stroke of his pen, Tokugawa Iemo allocated large sums of money to the Institute of Military Studies and the Institute of Buddhist Studies.

The latter is an educational institution specializing in the study of Western culture.

As for the former - since several years ago, the Military Academy has been trying to train and form a fully westernized new army.

Tokugawa Iemo's intention of allocating funds to these two institutions is clear at a glance.

Then, he summoned Roche, the French Minister in Japan, to discuss the possibility of "cover-to-law cooperation."

Both Ayoto and Katsurintaro participated in this unique meeting between the two countries.

On the surface, France has the largest army in Europe.

Since the "Black Ship Incident", the number one enemy of the shogunate has never been the Western countries, but the imperial court and the Western vassals who are ready to take action when they see the situation is different.

Therefore, the shogunate now wants a strong army more than a strong navy.

In this way, the shogunate must favor France, which is better at the army.

The shogunate's proposition is simple - France provides the shogunate with advanced weapons and assists the shogunate in establishing a new army.

As one of the greedy and shameless Western powers, France naturally has no good intentions.

Its purpose is simple - the shogunate is France's dog.

The interests of both parties are consistent in some respects.

The French want the shogunate to be their dog, but to make the dog easier to use, they have to make the dog stronger.

After several days of repeated wrangling, although the two parties have not reached a specific cooperation agreement, they can be considered to have negotiated something substantial.

All the things that need to be dealt with have been dealt with.

The vacation that should be spent has almost been spent.

The new recruits in Edo have completed preparations for departure and are ready to be dispatched at any time.

Therefore, Qingdeng, who was full of energy, immediately issued an order——

June 24th, return to Kyoto!

…

…

Wenjiu three years (1863), June 23, night——

Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi Town, Test Guard Hall——

Early tomorrow morning, Aoto and Hijikata Toshizo will lead all the new recruits of the Shinsengumi on their way back to the capital.

Tonight is their last night in Edo.

For this reason, the meal at the Trial Guard House tonight was particularly sumptuous.

It's full of flavors and comes with ice-cold drinks.

Aoto, Hijikata Toshizo, Kondo Shusuke, Okita Hikaru, Okita Rintaro (Okita Hikaru's husband), Abi (Kondo Shusuke's wife), Tsunemu (Kondo Isamu's wife), and Aoto's old servant Kubei, They gathered together in the hall of the Trial Guard Hall and had dinner quietly.

After Ayoto and others arrived in Luo, Kubei took Gensaburo Inoue's place and became the current "butler" of the trial defense hall, fully responsible for all chores such as sweeping the floor and laundry in the trial defense hall.

Kubei was originally an old servant of the Tachibana family and served the Tachibana family.

Therefore, he is very handy with these trivial household chores.

It is worth mentioning that the meal Qingden and others had tonight was unusual.

There are obviously only 8 people eating here.

But there are more than 8 meals placed here.

Around Qingdeng and others, there were many dining tables, each with sumptuous dishes.

Count carefully, no more, no less, exactly 8 meals.

These eight meals were steaming out alone.

There is no one sitting around them...

There are obviously not so many people, but so many meals are served... At first glance, this scene is very scary.

But in fact, this is a very solemn custom in Japan - Yinshan.

The so-called "yin meal" refers to providing three meals to people who are away from home when traveling or going on an expedition, praying that they can be fed, clothed and safe in a foreign place.

These 8 meals respectively represent the 8 people who are currently not in the trial defense hall - Kondo Isamu, Shannan Keisuke, Okita Souji, Nagakura Shinpachi, Saito Ichi, Inoue Genzaburo, Toudo Heisuke, and Harada Sanosuke.

In fact, it's not just tonight.

After Qingdeng and others went to Luo, everyone who stayed behind at the Trial Guard Hall would prepare Yin Meal for them every day and every meal with great ceremony.

Before Aoto and Hijikata Toshizo returned, Kondo Shusuke and the others had to prepare not just 8 portions, but a full 10 portions - because they also had to put Aoto and Hijikata Tozo's portions on the table.

Three meals a day, every meal has to prepare so many meals that no one eats... You can imagine how much waste this will cause.

It was only after Aoto returned to Edo that he learned that Kondo Shusuke and others had been praying for them through the "yin meal" method.

He originally thought it was Kondo Shusuke's idea.

Unexpectedly... the person who advocated this matter was actually the hostess of the Trial Guard Hall - Aunt Abi.

Qingdeng was shocked at first, and then had mixed feelings.

No wonder Qingdeng is like this.

When Qingdeng and others first moved into the Trial Guard Hall, Abi always put on a bad face and looked like he didn't want to see them.

For this reason, many people, including Qingden and Nagakura Shinpachi, were quite afraid of Abi and tried to avoid him as much as possible.

This hostess, who values ​​money, is stingy, and caressing every dollar, actually took the lead in proposing to use Yin meal to pray for Qingdeng and others, and she has persisted until now...

In addition, according to Kondo Shusuke's revelations, every morning and dusk, Abi would take out her Nianchifo and recite sutras respectfully.

[Note on the Buddha: a Buddha statue that never leaves the body or is placed at home for kneeling and worshiping. 】

Why is she chanting?

This can only be left to your imagination.

…

…

After dinner, Kondo Shusuke suddenly summoned Aoto and Hijikata Toshizo to the dojo.

Although the two of them didn't know the master's purpose, they still rushed to the dojo in a daze and confusion.

As soon as he arrived at the dojo, he saw Shusuke Kondo sitting on the main seat.

"Ji Jun, Sui San, you are here, please sit down quickly."

The two sat side by side in front of Kondo Shusuke.

"I hesitated for a long time... I still have to hand this thing over to you..."

Kondo Shusuke sighed softly and handed each of them a scroll.

Although they have not read this scroll, both Ayoto and Toshizo Hijikata widened their eyes in surprise.

As disciples of Natural Rishin-ryu, they naturally know what this is - a certificate that is passed down to everyone without permission!

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