I formed the strongest swordsman group

"Restore the shogunate's discipline!"

"We will never allow the Nanji Faction to continue to act recklessly!"

"Those who don't want to continue to sink, let go and fight with me!"

…

Shouts similar to this were heard all over Edo.

Countless samurai - basically all the direct descendants of noble families and with good family status - shouted "Support Ichibashi" and "Defeat the Tachibana thieves" and rushed to the Akasaka Palace Gate to join the battle!

[Note: Nao-san: The samurai directly under the shogunate, i.e. the general term for the hatamoto and the gokenin]

At first glance, it seems that the "Nanji School" has lost the support of the people, and the "Yiqiao School" has become the popular choice.

In fact, this is not the case at all!

The reason for this situation is purely due to interests.

Tokugawa Iemochi and Naosan were not on good terms - this was something that everyone knew about and it was no longer a secret.

For the direct participants, the situation they would like to see most is naturally "unchanged".

No matter who is the Shogun, no matter what kind of unrest occurs, as long as their interests are not harmed, they will be satisfied.

Maintaining the original system allows them to continue to enjoy privileges and live a life of luxury.

And this is exactly what Tokugawa Iemochi hated the most.

A shotgun cannot hit its own trigger... This chronic disease cannot be eliminated by self-improvement alone.

Tokugawa Iemochi saw clearly that if he wanted to completely suppress direct participation, he needed "reform" rather than "improvement"!

Since this "old shit mountain" cannot be cleaned up, we can only build a new mountain.

The "establishment of a new army" that Tokugawa Iemochi has been vigorously promoting in recent years is the concrete realization of this idea.

Forming a new army...Since the "Black Ship Incident", this matter has been mentioned countless times and has been implemented many times, but in the end it was shelved due to various changes.

However, with the retirement of Ichibashi Yoshinobu and the rapid rise of Aoto, Tokugawa Iemochi's authority grew day by day.

A few months ago, when Tokugawa Iemochi mentioned "forming a new army" again, he already had the high-spirited momentum of "swearing to accomplish this."

In fact, with his allocation of resources and personal supervision, the progress of army building was indeed advancing by leaps and bounds.

Other things are fine, but the formation and promotion of the new army is a real infringement on the interests of the direct counselors, and it is their fundamental interests!

In name only, the Naosan were the regular army of the shogunate.

Once a war broke out, they would be conscripted to fight for the shogunate.

If we have a new army, what is the point of direct participation?

Now that we have a new army that is more capable of fighting, it is only a matter of time before the old army is gradually marginalized!

The cornerstone of the Zhisan's privileged status was his lofty status as "the regular army of the shogunate."

In other words, the formation of the new army is to dig out the roots of Zhican!

Once the new army is formed and successfully promoted, the influence and presence of the direct troops will inevitably be greatly reduced - this is absolute!

Their own core interests were violated... How could the direct candidates tolerate this?

To sum up, the anxiety and regret of the direct candidates can be imagined.

Tokugawa Iemochi tried to reform, while Naoto only wanted to maintain the existing system...there was no room for negotiation between the two sides.

This is not a conflict that can be eased by spending some money or saying some nice words.

This is an irreconcilable fundamental contradiction!

As a result, more and more direct advisers came to hate Tokugawa Iemochi.

They slandered Tokugawa Iemochi to the utmost by accusing him of "arbitrarily changing the ancestral rules" and "disrupting the order of the country".

In the spirit of "hating everyone, everyone", some people even hated Qing Deng.

As for why they hated Aoto, the reason they gave was "Aoto bewitched Tokugawa Iemochi! The Shinsengumi under his command was too powerful, which made Tokugawa Iemochi have the wrong idea of ​​'vigorously promoting the new army'!"

Gradually, they came to a common idea: if Tokugawa Iemochi continued to rule, our solid crops might really be lost!

Tokugawa Iemochi must step down!

However, it is obvious that it is impossible to defeat Tokugawa Iemochi by fighting alone.

Only by supporting a leader who can integrate and lead them can they compete with Tokugawa Iemochi.

There is no other leader who can compete with Tokugawa Iemochi except Itohashi Yoshinobu.

No matter from which angle you measure it, Ichibashi Yoshinobu is the ideal leader for the direct descendants.

First of all, from the very beginning, the "Hitotsubashi faction" has presented itself as a conservative group.

The "Ichibashi faction" advocated "expelling the barbarians, restoring the 'isolation order', and returning the shogunate to its former 'right track'" - which happened to coincide with Naosan's philosophy.

Secondly, Hitohashi Yoshinobu has always been known as a virtuous man.

Even now, there are still many people who insist that Ichibashi Yoshinobu's talent is superior to Tokugawa Iemochi's, and they say "If Ichibashi Yoshinobu were to be the shogun, he would definitely achieve far more brilliant results than Tokugawa Iemochi."

Finally, Ichibashi Yoshinobu's biological father was the former lord of Mito Domain, Tokugawa Nariaki.

Tokugawa Nariaki was a notoriously conservative.

He opposed all reform plans, believing that only by adhering to the ancestral constitution could the world be kept in long-term peace and stability.

Tokugawa Nariaki has long been dead, but his spirit still lives on in the hearts of countless comrades.

Influenced by him, his son Yoshinobu Ichibashi became a "spiritual totem" of the conservatives.

Although the current war was very sudden, the direct officials with a keen sense of nose all noticed: this is a great opportunity to pull Tokugawa Iemochi out of power and support Hitotsubashi to take the throne!

It doesn't matter what the truth is.

They didn't care whether Tokugawa Iemochi was dead or not, nor did they care whether Tachibana Aoto was a traitor or not.

They only care about whether their own hardcore crops can survive!

As long as the "Nanki faction" is defeated and Edo Castle is captured, Tokugawa Iemochi will die! Tachibana Aoto must be a traitor if he is not a traitor!

Thus, the scene of "countless direct soldiers rushing to Akasaka Gomon to support Hitotsubashi's army" was born.

After all, it’s all for the sake of profit.

Things like "Ichibashi-kun is a wise ruler" and "Iemochi is dead, Yoshinobu should be the heir" are all excuses used to cover up their own dirty deeds.

Of course, not all direct participants wanted to go against Tokugawa Iemochi.

There were also some direct informants who adhered to the principles of loyalty and righteousness and were unwilling to betray the general.

But... unfortunately, these direct soldiers who supported Tokugawa Iemochi and were willing to fight for Tokugawa Iemochi had all fought bravely in the previous "Edo Siege War" and suffered considerable casualties.

Those direct representatives who hated Tokugawa Iemochi chose to passively avoid fighting after the "Edo Siege War" began.

As soon as the French and Qi coalition forces launched an attack, they simply ran away or pretended to be dead, so they all survived.

There are not many direct members left who stand on the side of Tokugawa Iemochi...

There are still many direct candidates who are sworn enemies of Tokugawa Iemochi...

At first glance, it seems that the "Nanji Faction" has lost the support of the people and has no support from the people.

…

…

Edo Castle, Akasaka Gate——

"Captain Harada! Another group of enemy troops is coming!"

Harada Sanosuke wiped the sweat from his face and turned his head to look - more than 20 young samurai rushed into the battlefield roaring, and when they saw the people wearing light green feather robes, they raised their swords and started to chop.

Seeing this, Harada Sanosuke gnashed his teeth and scolded:

"Damn it... these bastards who are always causing trouble but can't do anything good...!"

Countless direct visitors continuously rushed to Akasaka Palace Gate from all directions, like a trickle of water flowing into the sea.

These guys don't understand formations, don't know discipline, and only have brute force. They can't really be called excellent soldiers.

However, their participation in the war did provide considerable assistance to the "Death Corps".

This is a very simple truth: those who dare to take the initiative to fight are definitely not the kind of losers who are muddle-headed every day and can't even hold a knife.

How could such a good-for-nothing have the courage to go to the battlefield? He would have already hidden himself away.

Anyone who knows that this is a battlefield with blood and flesh flying everywhere but still dares to come and try it must be a ruthless person who is confident in his skills and dares to fight bloody battles!

Therefore, the direct members who are now gathered outside the Akasaka Imperial Gate are not the walking dead as the public imagines, but the rare elites among the direct members who can and dare to fight!

In just a short while, Qing Deng, Harada Sanosuke and others had noticed several direct participants whose strength should not be underestimated.

The strength of the Hitotsugi Army is constantly increasing, and the total number has exceeded 3,000! And this number is still rising!

The battlefield balance, which had originally tilted towards the Shinsengumi, has undergone new changes.

Harada Sanosuke quickly turned his eyes and inspected the battlefield while cheering loudly:

"The rebels are here to reinforce us! They're just right! I was just worried that there weren't enough enemies for me to kill! Look! They're working hard to send us their military exploits, how can we not accept them? 'Winning with fewer troops' is our Shinsengumi's specialty! Defeat the rebels!"

After yelling, he turned to the soldier beside him and said:

"You guys! Follow me!"

Then he raised the spear in his hand and headed straight for the place where the fighting was most intense.

Tadashi Matsubara and Kotono Nakazawa led their troops respectively, running back and forth on the battlefield like "firefighters".

Although the fighting power of the Shinsengumi has long been beyond doubt, the current clash between the two armies will undoubtedly provide strong verification of the Shinsengumi's powerful fighting power!

Thanks to the encouragement of Harada Sanosuke, the members of the Shinsengumi regained their confidence.

The glorious past of repeated victories makes every member of the Shinsengumi extremely proud: How can such a rabble be our opponent!

The light green haori fluttered with the gleam of swords and guns.

"You are just a direct referee! Go back and drink and play with women!"

"Humph! As expected! Your movements are too rigid! All your swords are 'Dojo Swords'!"

"Let you young masters see the 'battlefield sword'!"

"You are all parasites of the shogunate! I have disliked you for a long time! Go to hell!"

The normally arrogant Naosan were not only standing right in front of him, but he also had the chance to chop them down... In a sense, this greatly boosted the morale of the Shinsengumi.

The Shinsengumi soldiers brandished their weapons and launched a fierce attack on the direct-commissioned officers with a "revenge" mentality.

A sword with a curled blade.

A broken spear.

Exposed bones.

Broken limbs were thrown out.

A huge amount of blood soaked the earth into a quagmire.

One foot after another trampled this "quagmire" beyond recognition.

Blades were constantly swinging.

Stones, arrows, and bullets kept flying through the air.

People kept falling down, and then new people filled the gaps left by the dead as quickly as possible and continued to fight with the enemy.

Flocks of crows flew in from afar, circling over the battlefield, making noisy calls of "Ga--!" and "Ga--!", ready to fly down and have a big meal as soon as the battle was over.

Relying on their strong fighting power and iron discipline, the Shinsengumi managed to keep the battle at a "tie"!

Ichibashi's army was unable to break through the Akasaka Gate.

The Shinsengumi was also unable to defeat Ichibashi's army.

No one can do anything to anyone...the battle situation is at a stalemate.

Shimada Kai in the back was already regretting having "opened the champagne in advance" just now.

He carefully tilted his head to observe Qing Deng's facial expression, hoping that Qing Deng could issue a winning order at this critical juncture and reverse the situation in one fell swoop.

But Qing Deng had a blank expression on his face and was silent.

For fear of disturbing Qing Deng, Shimada Kui didn't dare to speak and even lowered his breathing.

Unexpectedly... the saying "Good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes singly" does have a certain metaphysical meaning.

At this moment, a messenger came running from afar, breathlessly bringing Qing Deng and his friends new bad news:

"My lord! The Mito Army is coming! The Mito Army has appeared in the northern suburbs of Edo! There are more than 3,000 soldiers! They are heading straight here!"

At this moment, Shimada Kai could not control his facial expression. His eyes suddenly opened wide, and his expression was dominated by intense shock.

In comparison, Qing Deng was much calmer, not even frowning.

However... rather than saying he was "calm", it would be more accurate to say that he "had anticipated this and was mentally prepared in advance."

He was silent for a moment, then he twitched the corner of his mouth, revealing a half-sigh, half-self-mocking sneer:

"The scale of this battle is really getting bigger and bigger."

…

…

Edo, northern suburbs——

The flag embroidered with "Mito trefoil" fluttered in the wind.

The leading general turned his head and looked at the soldiers behind him, and shouted majestically:

"Hurry! Everyone, run! The battle has begun! Defeat the Shinsengumi! Conquer Tachibana! Recapture Edo Castle! Hey—hey—"

The soldiers of the Mito Army shouted in unison:

“Oooooooh ...

…

…

Mito Domain was located in the north of Edo, so close to Edo that it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was just a stone's throw away.

Because the distance is very close, the lord of Mito Domain traveled back and forth between the two places all year round.

For this reason, the lord of Mito Domain has always been nicknamed "Deputy Shogun of the World".

The comprehensive strength of Mito Domain is undoubtedly the best among all the domains!

In terms of political status, it is one of the "Three Great Families".

In terms of economic level, it owns 350,000 stones of fiefdom, and all the land within its territory is good and fertile land in the Kanto Plain.

In terms of military strength, it is as famous as the Aizu Domain and is a world-famous military power.

Among the many relatives of the shogunate, there was always a lack of "traitors" who pretended to obey the shogunate but actually disobeyed it.

Among this group of "traitors", Mito Domain is definitely the most jumpy one.

The Great Japanese History, edited by the second lord of Mito Domain, Tokugawa Mitsukuni, became the starting point for the formation of Mito Studies.

Mito School advocates "respecting the emperor and serving the king", and successive lords of Mito Domain were deeply influenced by Mito School.

This created a bizarre scene: although the Mito clan was a close vassal of the shogunate, it always had great respect for the imperial family and was more willing to stand on the side of the imperial court than the shogunate.

It is no exaggeration to say that the "traitor" behavior of Mito Domain has a long history.

Tokugawa Iemochi was not only against Ichibashi Yoshinobu, but also intended to suppress the imperial court - the Mito domain had no reason not to assist the Ichibashi army!

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