The real name of Yamauchi Do is Toyonobu, and he is a descendant of the branch of the Tosa Yamauchi family. The 12th generation lord of the feudal lord, Yamauchi Toyoshi, is his second uncle. After Yamauchi Toyozu retired, he passed the throne to his son Toyohi Yamauchi. He died after reigning for five years, and then passed it to Toyoxi's brother Toyodun. He only reigned for 12 days and died again. Yamauchi Toyonobu's remaining brothers and sons were still young and unable to take on the important role of feudal lord. It was an unfortunate coincidence that the position fell into the hands of his cousin Toyonobu Yamauchi.

Yamauchi Toyonobu occupied the position of Lord of the Tosa Domain for a full 10 years. He appointed Toyo Yoshida to reform the domain administration and became famous throughout the world. He was known as one of the "Four Wise Lords". During the Anzheng Prison, Fengxin was also implicated and forced to live in seclusion. He gave the throne back to the second eldest uncle Fengzi and his family, and passed it on to Fengxi and Fengdun's brother Yamauchi Toyohori. After giving up the throne, Toyonobu Yamauchi still firmly held the real power in the domain. Everyone no longer called him lord, but gave him another title that seems very funny now, calling him "husband".

"Husband" Yamauchi Toyonobu announced his retirement and took the nickname "Nindo" - which probably means that although I was persecuted by the shogunate, I couldn't resist, so I had to endure it. But then a friend reminded him: "This is a bad name." Yamauchi Toyonobu was said to be a very good drinker and a large drinker. He was nicknamed "The Drunken Marquis of the Whale Sea". He made a lot of drinking friends, and also They are all talented people in the world, and among them is Toko Fujita, the leader of the Mito Domain Zunbo faction and a close confidant of Tokugawa Saiaki - that is, the father of Fujita Koshiro, the leader of the Tengu Party. Although the two have different ideological tendencies, they have a good friendship. Legend has it that Toko Fujita once said privately to Toyonobu Yamauchi: "Our domain is one of the three imperial families and we cannot take drastic actions. As a foreigner, you Tosa can take advantage of it." "Rebellion is the main goal." Toyonobu shook his head and laughed: "Seinojin (East Lake), you drank too much, and you are talking nonsense again." This time Fujita East Lake suggested that the name of "Nindo" is not good, and suggested Yamauchi Yutaka. The letter was revised to "Rongtang". Rong means that the sea is open to all rivers and inclusive of everything. Toyonobu listened to his suggestion and the name was changed to Yamauchi-do from then on.

The main idea of ??Yamauchido is the integration of public and military affairs, and there is no idea of ??collapse. After the assassination of his confidant Toyo Yoshida, the "Tosa Kinou Party" headed by Takeichi Hanheita emerged and took control of Tosa's feudal government. Although Yongtang disliked this group of people, the public opinion in the domain generally favored the collapse of the king, so he did not It's not good to go against the trend. We can only turn a blind eye or close one eye temporarily and let them make trouble. After the coup on August 18, the wind suddenly changed. The radical Zunbo faction headed by the Choshu clan was suppressed everywhere, and Tosa was no exception. Yongtang took the opportunity to re-launch a comprehensive investigation into the assassination of Yoshida Toyo and arrested him. He killed "Human Killer" Okada Izo and a large number of members of the "Tosa Kinou Party". On July 3, 1865, the second month after General Tokugawa Iemo arrived in Osaka and planned to launch the Shikoku War, the "husband" Yamauchido ordered: "Takeichi and others disrespect the lord and their sins are unpardonable." Forced Half Heita committed suicide at the age of 36.

The "Tosa King Party" has collapsed, and Takeshi Hanpei is dead. So who should be appointed to preside over Tosa's government affairs? Yamauchi Hall spotted a person, a disciple of Toyo Yoshida named Goto Shojiro. This man is talented and famous, proficient in orchidology and navigation. Most importantly, he advocates the integration of public and military affairs. He is not radical at all, but has the style of the past in the East. So Rongtang recommended Goto Shojiro to the feudal lord Yamauchi Toyonori. How dare Yamauchi Toyohori disobey his "husband"'s wishes, he immediately appointed Shojiro as the "grand supervisor" and entrusted him with the feudal administration. However, not long after Goto Shojiro, who was extremely satisfied with Yamauchi Dou, took power, the wind suddenly turned again. Choshu defeated the shogunate and the allied forces of the feudal lords in the four-border war, and the wind of resistance once again surged like a hurricane. Sweeping across Japan, calls for the collapse of the curtain are also rising. Yamauchido is so angry. On the one hand, it is worried about the shogunate. On the other hand, it is also worried about its own Tosa. Choshu is so close to Tosa. If troops are sent to overthrow the government, what will I, Tosa, do? If you respond to them, the shogunate will inevitably collapse and people will be in ruins; if you oppose them, how can you resist the Choshu Army?

He called Goto Shojiro to discuss: "What is the best way to get the best of both worlds?" After all, Goto Shojiro was a hero for a while, and he came up with a good idea in a flash of inspiration, so he asked Goto to get the best of both worlds. Rong Tang suggested: "There is a ronin in my family who broke away from the feudal clan, named Sakamoto Ryoma. Have you heard of it?" Yamauchi Tang slapped his thigh: "Great idea! Go and get Ryoma for me.

"Although Sakamoto Ryoma once joined the "Tosa Kinou Party", he quit very early, which shows that he and Takeshi Hanheita are not from the same group. The most important thing is that Ryoma now has a very good relationship with the Choshu Domain. If he can persuade If he mediates, he won't be afraid of Changzhou raising troops to attack Tosa. Besides - "I heard that the Kameyama Society that Ryoma has been doing recently is very prosperous. He has a wild career and a lot of money. If he brings him back, doesn't that mean he will bring him back? Did a large trading company belong to me, Tosa? "The more Yamauchido thought about it, the happier he became.

So after Goto Shojiro's persuasion, Sakamoto Ryoma agreed to resume his status as a samurai and return to the Tosa Domain. But just after the discussion, something came out of the Kameyama Society A big event - a merchant ship carrying weapons was sunk by Kii Domain's warship - Ryoma and Shojiro almost broke their legs and broke their legs in order to demand compensation from Kii Domain. Finally, the matter was resolved satisfactorily, and they were together Take a boat to meet "husband" Yamauchi Hall.

At this time, Yamauchi Hall is holding a meeting of the four princes in Kyoto. Although this guy is a foreign prince and advocates respecting the king and resisting barbarians, he is also a "combination of public and military affairs." As a strong advocate, Shimazu Hisamitsu was so angry that he almost vomited blood about the outcome of the meeting, but Yongtang himself was quite satisfied - the negotiation was successful in opening the port of Hyogo, the shogunate was also happy, and the punishment for Choshu was reduced, and Satsuma had nothing to say. You see , all problems can be solved at a meeting, why bother talking about whether the curtain will fall or not?

Ryoma and Shojiro set out from Nagasaki, the base of Kameyama Society, on the Tosa feudal ship Yuugao Maru. Went to meet him. We talked about the current situation along the way. How could we agree? Isn't Ryoma a fellow traveler of Satsuma and Choshu, while Shojiro is not only a man of great knowledge but also an eloquent person? Very good. After some talk, Goto Shojiro was convinced. But Shojiro was still a little worried: "According to what Mr. said, the integration of the public and military forces is unrealistic. The whole of Japan must gather under the banner of the imperial court in order to reform. Politics, seeking prosperity. So, how should we persuade the shogunate to hand over power? Is it really necessary to send troops to overthrow the whole country? Once the war breaks out and the war continues, Japan will probably become a place beyond redemption! Ryoma smiled and nodded: "I don't want to see the war start again." Judging from the current situation, the prestige of the shogunate has dropped to the bottom, and it has recently been defeated by Changshu. We just take this opportunity to force it to voluntarily hand over the power. This is called - 'return of great power'

And now In Ryoma's view, if we can get the shogunate to return power to the court without fighting or bloodshed, just by scaring them, that would be the safest and most peaceful method. He told this method to Goto Shojiro, who couldn't help but nodded repeatedly and said, "Very good, it's feasible." After arriving in Kyoto, Ryoma and Goto Shojiro explained in detail the principle of "returning the great government" to Yamauchi Hall. The gist of the plan was approved by Rong Tang (although it could not protect the shogunate, it at least protected the Tokugawa family), and through Rong Tang, the "Eight Strategies in the Ship" was submitted to the shogunate Tokugawa Qingki.

The people of the Tosa Domain advocated the "return of the great power" with all their strength, but they failed to see that the world situation had completely turned, and the collapse of the world by force was the general trend. Even Satsuma no longer had hope for peace, Sakamoto Who else would pay attention to what Ryoma and Goto Shojiro are doing? As a result, he encountered repeated obstacles in front of the imperial court and various princes. Even the military president of the Tosa Domain, Sakagaki Taisuke, said: "Although the words of returning the great power are beautiful, they are all empty words. The Tokugawa family conquered the world from a horse. If they cannot take it back on a horse, they cannot defeat the people who have fought for hundreds of years." Hegemony!" After hearing this, Yamauchido was so angry that he cursed this as a "violent argument" and immediately ordered the dismissal of Sakagaki Taisuke.

Of course, Sakamoto Ryoma was not a complete ideologue after all. He did not expect that the shogunate would take the initiative to hand over power if external pressure was insufficient. So, how to increase the pressure on the Edo shogunate? There is only one answer, and that is the "union of heroes and feudal lords". In June of this year, with the intermediary contact between Ryoma and his life-and-death comrade Nakaoka Shintaro, the Satsuma Domain and Tosa formed an alliance. Soon thereafter, the Aki Hiroshima Domain was also involved, and the alliance was formed. Cheng Sa Tu Yi San Fei Alliance. Choshu, Satsuma, and Tosa, three of the four powerful vassals, were thus twisted into a rope.

The Edo shogunate was really frightened when they heard the news. What should we do? The Four Realms War had just been defeated for less than a year, and the military strength of the shogunate had not yet been restored. If the Sa, Cho, To and other vassals united and raised troops to overthrow the empire, it was hard to say whether they could withstand it.

General Tokugawa Keiki was so worried that he was thinking about things and was at a loss. But suddenly, he saw the "Recommendation for the Return of the Great Government" submitted by Yamauchi Hall on the table, and his eyes suddenly lit up - "This is a plan. An excellent strategy to delay the war!" On October 14, Tokugawa Qingxi presented to the court, proactively requested to return the great power, and expressed his willingness to resign as the general of the conquest of barbarians - since he returned to the court, I don't want this false name. Hearing this news, Yamauchido and other princes who advocated the integration of public and military affairs were very happy, but Satsuma and Choshu looked at each other coldly -

The shogunate was using a slow-down strategy to retain the dominant position of the Tokugawa family. , the powerful vassals were busy scrambling to seize power. The conflicts between the two sides did not gradually resolve due to the apparent "return of the great government." On the contrary, each of them had their own troops and horses, and the war was still on the verge of breaking out. On November 13, the Satsuma Domain finally took action. The feudal lord Shimazu Tadayoshi led 3,000 troops into Kyoto, requesting the court to hold a meeting and issuing a major order to "return to the imperial government." Although the shogunate, as the center of power in Japan, has been abolished in name, the Tokugawa clan still retains the hereditary right of the samurai's highest position, the shogun, and Tokugawa Keiki still holds the title of great official of the imperial court, Iwakura Tomomi. In the hope that Qingxi should hand over these official positions - resign, in addition, all the land under the direct jurisdiction of the Tokugawa family must also be returned to the court - Nadi.

As soon as this statement came out, Yamauchi Tang was the first to jump out and express his opposition, saying: "This is a coup, this is an atrocity! Duke Qingxi has already expressed his loyalty to the court, and if he does not Are you going to deprive him of his official position and fiefdom instead of rewarding him? Don’t try to steal power and do whatever you want just because His Majesty the Emperor is young! "In terms of eloquence, no one can compare with him who does not work or fight. , the ministers who keep talking every day, Iwakura Tomomi immediately seized on Yamauchido's words and rebuked loudly: "Today, I am an unparalleled hero, and everything discussed in today's meeting must be finalized by His Majesty. , Who dares to steal power? Who dares to defy His Majesty because he is young? ” This roar made Shan Naotou tremble, and he quickly admitted his mistake and shrank back.

This meeting was held in the imperial palace and was known as the "Little Imperial Palace Meeting" in history. However, not all the discussions and participants were present. For example, Saigo Takamori, who was responsible for guarding the palace gates, stayed outside the venue. Although he stayed outside, he was informed of the proceedings of the meeting from time to time. When he heard that everyone at the meeting was arguing about the handling of the Tokugawa family, Long Sheng curled his lips coldly and asked someone to inform him quietly. Iwakura Tomomi and Okubo Toshimichi said: "Words are useless at this time, use swords!" This was heard by Nagasun's retainer Tsuji Shojiro, who secretly informed Shojiro that Cao Su had become friends with Goto Shojiro. . Xiang Erlang hurriedly went to his "husband" Shannei Tang and said that if a good man doesn't suffer the immediate consequences, it would be better for him to take a step back.

As a result, the meeting was reopened. Yamauchi Dou, who wanted to reform politics while retaining the Tokugawa family, gave in first. Matsudaira Keinaga and Tokugawa Keikatsu were unable to support the overall situation, so they had to reluctantly agree to let Tokugawa The family resigned from office and accepted land. The Xiaoyushuo meeting ended with the overall victory of the overthrow faction.

The results of the small imperial palace meeting reached Tokugawa Qingxi’s ears, and Qingxi was at a loss for a moment. Although Tokugawa Qingxi was timid and didn’t like to cause trouble, he couldn’t afford to offend the court. I couldn't afford to offend these retainers who were about to die, so on the one hand, I asked Yamauchido, Matsudaira Keinaga and others to "come up with another solution", and on the other hand, I wrote a letter to the court, saying that once I resigned and accepted the land, The retainers were afraid of causing a big disturbance and asked the court for an extension.

Yamauchi Dou and others accepted Tokugawa Yingxi’s request and began to engage in collusion and lobbying among superior ministers. On the one hand, the shogunate had a strong military force, and they were afraid of threatening the court if they were anxious. On the other hand, they also incited the superior ministers to say: "Iwakura, Okubo and the like are of too low status, and they are afraid of the world being unstable. How can we listen to their opinions?" They tried to divide and disintegrate the Tokaku faction camp.

The new government meeting was held again on the 23rd and 24th. In the absence of Iwakura Tomomi, Yamauchi Dou and Matsudaira Keinaga became the leaders. Since the imperial court has ordered the Tokugawa family to resign and accept land, and the order cannot be changed, let’s write some articles on the specific content of resigning and accepting land - resignation is okay, but the official reputation must be retained. Just call Duke Qingxi the "former Dainanagon"; land can be paid, but it doesn't say how much it will cost, so let the Tokugawa family pay a "government fee" to the new government and treat it as handing over the land. Finally, it was agreed to appoint Tokugawa Yoshiki and participate in the new government.

In this way, the Gongwu Combined Faction and the Samu Faction made a comeback, and the resolution of the Small Imperial Palace Meeting became a piece of paper.

Seeing that the reform situation was about to reverse, ministers such as Iwakura Tomomi were afraid of bloodshed and had to give in. Saigo Takamori, Okubo Toshimichi and other samurai were not so easy to dismiss, so they gathered They discussed together: "The time has come, and the curtain must be brought down by force, otherwise, all the hard work for many years will be in vain."

Okubo Toshimichi proposed: "Tokugawa Yoshiki took the initiative to return the great power, and Yamauchi Hall returned To pass the new resignation and land transfer proposal at the meeting, it would be unfair to start a war now." Saigo Takamori curled his lips and said, "I have already planned it, let the shogunate make the move first. We have an excuse to engage in a full-scale confrontation with them. " Saigo Takamori is a very ruthless guy. He immediately ordered his chessmen who had been ambushing Edo for a long time - Satsuma feudal ministers Masumi Kyunosuke and Imuta Naohei - to make a big fuss. When trouble breaks out, the Tokugawa family is forced to take action first. So with the Satsuma Domain as the backstage, a large group of ronin from the King's sect, including Sagara Sosan, were assembled. They set fires and robbed everywhere in the Edo market, making the Tokugawa family's headquarters a mess. After hearing the news, Oguri Tadatsun, the chief minister (equivalent to the Minister of the Interior), was furious: "Is Satsuma really going to rebel? If we ignore it, all the feudal clans will follow suit, and how will the prestige of the shogunate exist?" He immediately ordered the soldiers of the Shonai clan to surround Satsuma. The feudal lord's residence, as well as the feudal lord's residence of Satsuma's branch clan Satohara clan, were all burned to ashes.

The crowd was so excited that Tokugawa Kexi lost his mind for a while. Keiji himself had no determination to go to war - this little bit of weakness later directly led to the complete collapse of the Tokugawa regime - but he could not withstand the repeated lobbying of the hardliners, and finally in the second year, Keio 4th year On the second day of the first lunar month (1868), the "Request for Satsuma" was signed, and an army was officially sent to Kyoto to fight Satsuma.

How many soldiers and horses does the Tokugawa army have? According to statistics, the total number is about 15,000. In comparison, the total number of Satsuma soldiers, newly arrived Choshu soldiers, and other soldiers of various feudal sects who guarded the Kyoto Imperial Palace was less than 5,000. With one against three, no matter how well-equipped the Sa and Chang soldiers are and how brave their soldiers are, this battle will still be difficult to fight. Moreover, most of the shogunate's troops are equipped with French equipment, which is not necessarily worse than the British-equipped Sa and Chang soldiers. But the result was a major defeat of the shogunate army at the Battle of Toba Fushimi. Since then, Toyonobu Yamauchi has lost his political market.