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On the seventh day after Ambassador Wei Zhengdao was attacked in Edo, nearly 50 warships of the North Sea Fleet entered Edo Bay. The treasure ship, which served as the flagship of the entire fleet, was so huge that it made all the Japanese who saw it tremble.
This was the first time that the Qin warships entered a Japanese port, and directly entered the Edo Port, the heart of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Tokugawa shogunate was afraid of causing a war, so it did not dare to stop them and could only negotiate patiently and carefully.
This was an event that was destined to go down in history. The arrival of the North Sea Fleet not only caused great anxiety within the Tokugawa Shogunate, but also further intensified its internal struggles.
Hoshina Masayuki had a special status as the uncle of the successor Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuga, and had a special status.
He originally tended to agree with Abe Tadayuki's opinion, adopting conciliatory means to appease the Japanese ronin, while actively solving the ronin's living problems and fundamentally eliminating this social hidden danger.
However, this policy was not only strongly opposed by officials such as the senior councilor Sakai Tadakatsu, the senior councilor Matsudaira Nobunaga, and Matsudaira Norihisa who advocated a complete expulsion of all the people, but also the tremendous pressure generated by the North Sea Fleet entering Edo Port forced Hoshina Masayuki to change his attitude and support the policy of Sakai Tadakatsu and others to expel all the people.
Although Abe Tadayu and his cousin Abe Shigetsugu tried their best to oppose it, it was too late to save the situation. Finally, after Hoshina Masayuki changed his attitude, the shogunate issued an order to expel everyone.
The promulgation of this order will undoubtedly have a huge historical impact on Japan.
In Japan today, there are many samurai who have lost their source of livelihood. They are like stray dogs, helpless and homeless, but they belong to the "samurai" class, a class that "makes a living by fighting."
Once the Tokugawa shogunate issued this tribute order, it was equivalent to pushing all the ronin to the five hostile parties.
Yui Masayuki, who had retreated to the Hara-Seki area, was already on the verge of death and could be wiped out at any time.
But as the order to drive them away was issued, the number of ronin who came to surrender increased immediately. In just a few days, Yui Masayuki's team was restored to more than a thousand people. Moreover, there were still a steady stream of ronin who came to surrender, making Yui Masayuki, who was originally on the verge of death, more powerful.
At this time, Yui Masayuki raised the slogan of loyalty to the emperor and fighting for the emperor, and sent people to Kyoto to meet the emperor and ask for a banner from heaven.
The retired emperor Masahito, who had long been fed up with the humiliation of the Tokugawa shogunate, saw the death of Tokugawa Iemitsu and the chaos among the ronin, and thought it was the best time to restore the emperor's authority.
However, Yui Masayuki is still relatively weak, and the emperor, out of caution, has not publicly expressed support for Yui Masayuki, but some negative attitudes are inevitable.
At the same time, he sent people to Edo to ask the Tokugawa shogunate to revoke the decree to expel people, in this way, to win the favor of the Japanese samurai class.
This series of events caused a huge uproar in Japan. The helpless Japanese samurai flocked to Yui Masayuki in Sekigahara, and Yui Masayuki's power expanded rapidly.
On the other hand, because of the arrival of the North Sea Fleet, Abe Tadayuki, who was in charge of the military, had to mobilize a large number of troops to strengthen Edo's strength to prevent possible mutations.
This greatly hindered the shogunate's military operations against Sekigahara. In a battle at Kaner Mountain, Yui Masayuki used the tactic of feigning defeat to annihilate 500 troops of the Tokugawa shogunate in one fell swoop.
Five hundred men may not seem like a large number, but this was the first victory won by Jing Zhengxue since the rebellion, and it was a victory won on the front battlefield. It was of extraordinary significance and played an immeasurable role in consolidating his position among the ronin.
This defeat at Kaner Mountain, in turn, put Abe Tadayuki into a huge crisis.
In the shogunate's council hall, Sakai Tadakatsu took advantage of the situation to settle accounts with Abe Tadaki from beginning to end. He pointed at Abe Tadaki with an upright face and loudly rebuked him: "Abe Tadaki, what on earth do you want to do? When we suggested to drive them away, you strongly opposed it, and finally raised a tiger to harm the Qin envoy, causing the biggest crisis since the establishment of the shogunate;
Now the Qin fleet has clearly stated that it will only pursue the criminals and will not use force against the shogunate, but you chose to leave the rebels alone and transferred a large number of troops back to Edo, which led to the defeat at Kaner Mountain. What is your intention? I think you are more dangerous than Yui Masayuki. Sooner or later, the Shogunate will be overthrown in your hands. "
After Sakai Tadakatsu finished his rebuke, Matsudaira Nobunaga immediately followed up and said to Hoshina Masayuki: "Abe Tadaki's transfer of troops back to Edo has aroused the vigilance and alertness of the Qin fleet. The Qin fleet may think that the shogunate has transferred troops back to deal with them;
The atmosphere in Edo Port is getting increasingly tense. I am worried that if any misunderstanding occurs, a war will immediately break out. This will be extremely difficult. Abe Tadaki is so stubborn that he has caused such a consequence. This is unforgivable!"
Abe Tadaki was still able to keep his composure, but his cousin Abe Shigetsugu could not help but jump up and refute: "The Qin fleet suddenly arrived, who was panicked at that time? You also agreed to recall the troops to prevent any accidents, why do you blame us alone?"
Another senior councilor, Matsudaira Norihisa, was fifty years old at the time. He was the second lord of Iwamura Domain in Mino Province, the lord of Hamamatsu Domain in Totomi Province, and the first lord of Tatebayashi Domain in Ueno Province. He ruled three domains in total, and his strength should not be underestimated.
After Abe Shigeji finished speaking, he immediately snorted, "We are not shirking our responsibilities. It was indeed our fault for agreeing to transfer the troops back to Edo. We are willing to apologize to the general."
Matsudaira Nobuhisa's tactic of retreating to advance was indeed powerful, and even the calm Abe Tadaki was speechless for a moment.
The subtext is that we just agreed with this decision and we all admitted our mistakes. You, Abe Tadayuki, were the first to propose withdrawing troops back to Edo, so shouldn't you bear the main responsibility
Abe Tadaki sighed, stood up and bowed to Tokugawa Ietsugu who was sitting at the top, saying: "I have put the general in an unjust position, and I cannot escape the blame. I am afraid that I will not be able to assist the general in the future..."
Abe Tadayuki resigned from the position of elder council so decisively that Sakai Tadakatsu and others were very surprised. This was totally beyond their expectations.
Abe Shigetsugu followed his cousin out of the general's residence. As soon as he got into the car, he couldn't help but ask anxiously, "Brother, why are you resigning from the position of elder councilor? Why is this?"
Abe Tadaki lowered his eyelids and sighed, "If I don't resign from the position of Elder Councillor, I'm afraid the General will really be in danger."
"Why do you say that, brother?"
Abe Tadaki looked at the street scene through the gap in the car curtain. There were more soldiers than pedestrians on the street, and the atmosphere was very tense.
The situation became like this, and he suddenly felt powerless. "Recently, Sakai Tadakatsu has been frequently visiting the Qin Embassy and has been very close to Wei Zhengdao.
There seems to be nothing wrong with the attack on Wei Zhengdao, but the Qin fleet arrived too quickly, and Sakai Tadakatsu insisted on retreating, allowing the Qin fleet to enter Edo Port. The whole incident is connected, and there are many intriguing points;
If I don't resign, the shogunate may really come into conflict with Qin. If I think about it, it's nothing more than someone trying to force me to resign. Now that things have come to this, if I don't take the initiative to resign, not only will I implicate the general, I'm afraid I won't be able to get out of this unscathed in the future."
Abe Shigeci was frightened by Abe Tadaki's analysis. Power struggles are always extremely dangerous.
"Brother, what about me? Should I also resign from the general?"
"As long as you don't get involved, it should be fine for now. As long as I don't die, others will still have some concerns. There are some things right now that I am still confused about, so let's wait and see."
The Abe family has always been the most powerful family in the shogunate, and they also rule over several feudal domains. The two brothers hold high positions in the elders and are highly valued by Tokugawa Iemitsu, which is unmatched by other families. This is why Sakai Tadakatsu, Matsudaira Nobunaga and others joined forces to strongly exclude Abe Tadayuki's ambitions.
Although he has resigned from the post of elder councilor, he is still the lord of the domain, and this has not changed. If Sakai Tadakatsu and others want to touch Abe Shigetsugu again, they have to think about the consequences.
A dispute in the shogunate seemed to have been settled because of Abe Tadayuki's resignation, but this was only a superficial phenomenon. In fact, with Abe Tadayuki's resignation, the undercurrent was even more turbulent... ... ... .
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