Inside the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

Emperor Xiaoming quietly looked at the courtyard in front of him, looking a little anxious, and looked at the courtyard gate from time to time, as if something would appear there at any time.

And no wonder. He is only less than thirty years old, and it is a good time to scold Fang Xuan, but he has been on the throne of the emperor for more than ten years, and he is still at a loss, and the position of the emperor does not have any actual rights at all, all the rights are on the side of the Great Shogun's Palace, and the core of the rights of the entire Japan is in Edo Castle. And Kyoto, where he lives, is nominally an imperial city, but in fact, it is like a cage that imprisons him here.

After so many years, how did he not understand that the so-called emperor was nothing more than a puppet.

However, the day before yesterday, the lord of the Mori domain of the Choshu domain sent a secret letter saying that he had sent an envoy to report something important to him. Emperor Xiaomei's heart moved, could it be that Japan's strongest vassal state finally couldn't help but make a move?

Emperor Komei was well aware of the situation in Japan. The shogunate divided Japan into more than 200 feudal states, and its purpose was naturally not to threaten his position with a powerful feudal state, but now that the Kyushu domain aside, the Choshu domain and the Shikoku domain have risen, and the shogunate will inevitably take action to suppress it, so that the opportunity to reinvent the emperor has arrived!

Emperor Komei naturally wanted several powerful feudal clans to join forces, defeat the shogunate, and then respectfully set himself up as a pro-government, but now he could only wait.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, Takasugi Shinsaku, a feudal lord of the Choshu Domain, greets Your Majesty!" A young samurai opened the courtyard gate, saw Emperor Xiaomei, and hurriedly fell to the ground.

"Aiqing is flat!" Emperor Xiaomei said directly: "I don't know what the Maori feudal lord said he wanted to report to the widow?" ”

"Your Majesty, I, the Choshu Domain, have gathered the troops of the Domain, and are preparing to raise 100,000 troops in three days to defeat the Shogunate under the slogan of 'Respect the King'. He also asked His Majesty the Emperor to come forward at that time and make a statement to the world about the policy of the Choshu feudal domains. "Takasugi Shinsaku is still very respectful to the emperor.

'What?' Respect the king'? The Choshu Domain and other feudal states have sent troops? Emperor Komei was shocked, and then there was a burst of ecstasy: how many years have passed, and finally a vassal state is willing to take the lead against the shogunate. The imagination that he could be as powerful as the emperor of the Celestial Empire was a thrill.

However, in the middle of the night the next day, Emperor Komei, after careful consideration, decided that the forces of the Choshu domain were too weak to defeat the shogunate army. The next morning, the shogunate received a letter from Kyoto: "The Choshu Domain, together with several feudal domains, wants to conquer the Shogunate, and asks the Shogun to take precautions as soon as possible!" ”

……

At the beginning of the fourth year of Japan's filial piety, the Choshu domain led the daimyo of the Shikoku domain and the Honshu feudal domain to officially launch the "Respect for the King" campaign, which was echoed by dozens of feudal states. When the news spread, the whole of Japan was shaken. In particular, the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo hurriedly sent envoys to each feudal domain to win over them, and finally united more than 100 feudal states to form a shogunate force to resist.

However, the Choshu Domain's forces were not weak, and the Shogunate wanted to conquer the Choshu Domain, so they asked for an alliance with the other Kyushu Domain, which was still in a neutral position. Suddenly, the whole of Japan became a tripartite era of three powers.

The Kyushu clan hasn't replied yet. The sea fleet, which had always been huge, appeared, and came directly to Edo Bay, where nearly ten warships were displayed. The shogun, Tokugawa Iejo, was frightened and suddenly fell ill and died that night. At this time, the two elders who presided over the shogunate, Masahiro Abe and Naobi Ii, began to fight each other for power, and Masahiro Abe was defeated and killed. Naobu Ii became the elder who presided over the shogunate.

In order to ensure a smooth transition of his power, Naobi Ii insisted on going his own way and negotiated peace with the attacking fleet without the emperor's approval.

Worried about being attacked from both sides and lacking troops, he thought about the plan to fight the outside and must settle the interior, so he decided to be tough at home and compromise with the outside.

As a result, the shogunate's army marched west from Honshu Island to Kyoto in the center, and on the other hand, sued for peace with the fleet approaching Edo Bay. It turned out that Chen Bing's fleet in Edo Bay was composed of the Beiyang Fleet and the Oriental Fleet of the Chinese Empire, and he took advantage of the fire to loot and came to Edo Bay to demonstrate.

In desperation, the shogunate sent Inoue Kiyoshi and Iwase Tadashi as plenipotentiaries to rush to the warship and sign the "Japan-China Treaty of Friendship and Commerce" with Rosen, the envoy of the Chinese Empire.

The treaty stipulated that Japan agreed that the Chinese Empire would send ministers to Edo and consuls to the open port. Japan opened Kanagawa, Hakodate, Hyogo, Shimoda, and Osaka to the Chinese Empire as treaty ports, and the Chinese Empire had all freedoms, including free entry and exit. The tariff rate on goods exported by Japan to the Chinese Empire is 5%, while the customs duty on goods imported into Japan by the Chinese Empire is tax-free, and Japan has no right to determine tariffs on its own. The coins of the Chinese Empire were free to circulate in Japan. The Imperial Chinese Consul in Japan had consular jurisdiction. In the event of an attack on Japan's coastal defenses, it may request the Chinese Empire to send troops and pay the corresponding salaries; When Japan was attacked by a rebellion or a foreign attack, it could borrow the troops of the Chinese Empire to resist and suppress it.

As soon as this treaty was signed, the whole of Japan was in an uproar.

The lord of the Choshu domain, Mori Keikin, immediately declared the shogunate a traitor to Japan, demanded the resignation of the shogun, and strongly requested Emperor Komei to come out and govern himself.

Only the shogunate had a word of suffering. In fact, they also wanted to concentrate on sending troops to conquer the Choshu Domain's army, and they didn't want to go to war with the Chinese Empire at the same time, and Nagasaki was already occupied by the Kyushu Domain, so opening a few more ports would just be enough to collect more tariffs. Therefore, the shogunate did not hesitate to sign the treaty.

Externally, Ii Naobu supported Tokugawa Yoshifuku, who was closest to his blood, to succeed him as the shogun of Seiyi, and renamed him Tokugawa Ieshige, and for a time, he was in power and became the de facto controller of the shogunate. He immediately ordered the shogunate army composed of more than 100 feudal states to attack the Choshu domain.

Under the influence of the Chinese Empire, Japan's modern history began to change.

Because there was no participation of the original two powerful domains, Mosa and Saga Domain, the Choshu Domain and the Shogunate Army were evenly matched, and the two sides had a fierce battle not far from Kyoto, each with casualties, and the two sides went back and forth, holding each other, but, in general, although the Shogunate had a large number of troops, the Choshu Domain was well-armed, and the Shogunate Army was faintly defeated.

At this time, Lawson, who was in the Kyushu Domain, transported a large number of old Manchu shotguns from the Chinese Empire and sold them to the shogunate, allowing the shogunate soldiers to regain momentum.