Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 370 Chaos Caused by the Tianming Fire

Zhao Xin and the others led the army to fight vigorously against Tsarist Russia in the north, while the isolated island country in the south was in chaos because of a fire that happened in Kyoto at the beginning of the year.

Of course, the cause of the incident was the plan that Zhao Xin and Tai two made.

After successfully handling the Yingsi family last year, Pingta became more courageous.This guy thought that instead of doing it one by one, it would be better to have a big one. It would be best to solve it all at once, or he could take advantage of the chaos.

It is not uncommon for fires to break out in island cities these days, and buildings with all-wood structures often lead to uncontrollable fires.

Not to mention, 80 years ago in Hoei five years ago, there was a big fire in Kyoto. At that time, all the Jinli Imperial Palace, Xiandong Imperial Palace, Nuyuan Imperial Palace, and Donggong Imperial Palace were burned down.From public residences such as the Kujo family and the Takashi family to temples and townhouses, the entire core area of ​​Kyoto was affected by the fire; 410 seven towns and more than 1 houses, including the famous Buddhist Temple and Shimogamo Shrine, were all burned down.

Unlike the ancients who set fire to add firewood and pour some oil, the arson weapons provided by Beihai Town to Pingtai were thermite developed by Fanghua Research Laboratory and napalm added with naphthenic compounds.

This mixture of napalm is similar to the syrup used for dipping candied haws. It is a semi-solidified paste, which is convenient for transportation and carrying.In addition, Fanghua also added some active metals, such as calcium powder, barium powder and so on.

But Pingtai never imagined that his plan was launched ahead of time because of another sudden fire, which almost burned himself to death, and brought disaster to the entire Kyoto!
On March 1788, 3, that is, in the early morning of January 7th in the eighth year of Tianming, a house that had been unoccupied for a long time was suddenly destroyed for some reason. up.A strong southeast wind blew that night, and the fire quickly spread throughout the entire Tuanli row house.

(The Tianming fire in real history also started here, but the cause of the fire is unknown.)
Because the houses of the islanders are all wooden structures, those lit window frames, thatched roofs, etc. were blown to the other side of the Kamo River along the wind, so Teramachi Street on the other side was also lit up.

At the same time, Pingtai and two companions sent by Beihai Town were sleeping in a house on Kawaramachi Street on the east side of Kyoto.They chose to live here because both Kawaramachi and Kiyamachi are very lively areas in Kyoto.It won't be too eye-catching if you go out in the downtown area and pretend to be a business traveler.

What a coincidence, the two large boxes of napalm they finally shipped from Kyushu via Osaka just arrived yesterday, and they were placed in the warehouse in the yard.Inside the box were bags of sealed napalm in plastic bags, and the top was covered with satin to cover it up.

When the fire reached the Honnoji Temple, Heita and his companions were woken up by screams in the street.The three of them went to the yard and took a look, okay, the Honneng Temple in the south is already ablaze.

Pingtai and his companions looked at each other in blank dismay, wondering who did this?We haven't done it yet!

The original plan of the three was to set fire to Nijo Castle, Jinli and Xiandong Imperial Palace, and the gasoline bombs are not ready yet!Molotov cocktail!
The faces of the three of them who knew the power of petrol bombs turned green in an instant. The fire at Yingsi's house was proof that it could not be extinguished at all.If it weren't for the westerly wind blowing at that time, the whole of Kyoto would have been captured.

Stop talking nonsense and run away!The three of them didn't have time to take anything, so they put on a white undershirt, rolled their asses out of the courtyard with bare feet, and followed the flow of people to the north. When they reached the intersection, they turned east. Kamogawa was [-] meters away, and the three of them rolled Take the climb and jump into the river, ready to swim to the other side.

When Pingtai, who was running at the back, just jumped into the water, he heard a "boom" behind him, and a mushroom-shaped fireball rose from the ground, and the whole city of Kyoto suddenly became bright as day.

Taking the courtyard where Heita and the others lived as the center, the ignited and unignited napalm bags from the two boxes splashed in all directions, and the high temperature of nearly [-] degrees immediately covered the entire Kawaramachi and Teramachi.The firefighter in charge of fighting the fire was dumbfounded as soon as it disappeared, threw away his tools and ran away.

Along with the wind, the fire quickly burned through two streets, and rushed towards the Nijo Castle Imperial Palace to the west and the public housing area to the north.

The three of Pingtai climbed out of the Kamogawa River wetly, and ran eastward for several miles before stopping. Looking back at the red-hot sky in the distance, they thought they were too hung up and almost didn't run out.

In another time and space, the famous "Tianming Fire" in history burned for two full days, and it was known as the largest fire in Kyoto during the Edo period.But in this time and space, with the help of two boxes of about two hundred kilograms of napalm, the fire burned for four full days before it was gradually extinguished.

This fire burned all 1967 towns in Kyoto, and reduced more than 4 houses, more than 200 temples, and more than 30 shrines to ashes.The Kyoto Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle, Koyashiki, Nishimachi Magistrates’ Office, Shokokuji Temple, Shinsenen Garden, Rokkakudo, Seimei Shrine, Kamigoryo Shrine, Kamo Gozu Shrine, and Tozai Honganji Temple all became ruins.

According to statistics afterwards, more than 3000 people were buried in the flames.

The most unlucky ones were Fushimi Gongbanglai's family, all of them lost their lives; five of the six sons of Xianin Gong Norin's family died; The Si family suffered heavy casualties, and the last female emperor in the history of the island nation, the 110th emperor of Gosakuracho, finally failed to escape the flames and was buried in the Xiandong Imperial Palace.

However, Kanenhito, the big boss of Kyoto, that is, Emperor Guangge, escaped under the protection of Kyoto Soshidai, and then used the St. Koin in the east of Kyoto as a temporary residence.

After hearing the news, the three of Pingtai sighed deeply.Everyone said that they knew there would be such a fire, and they should have buried a box of napalm in the Holy Guardian's Hospital the night before the fire.

It is said that the Emperor Guangge was not called Kanenin before, but was called "Shiren". Because his Japanese pronunciation is the same as "dead person", he changed his name after he took the throne.In another time and space, Kanenhito is the direct ancestor of the modern emperor in history.

For the misfortune of Emperor Gosakuracho, Emperor Mitsuka expressed great grief.Since he came to the throne eight years ago, due to blood problems, the only one who can rely on and help him is the empress.

Why is it like this?Because the former Emperor Gotoyuan died too hastily, the only offspring, Prince Kinkonai, was only one year old.Therefore, after being recommended by the ministers, Emperor Guangkaku, who was a candidate at the time, was hastily established as the crown prince because he showed the closest relationship with Prince Kinkonai.

And his future queen is none other than Prince Kinko, who was only one year old when he ascended the throne.If you want to count by seniority, the uncle married the granddaughter.But this is nothing to the island country, after all, the lineage has been separated by three generations.

The problem lies in this bloodline separated by three generations. To put it bluntly, the bloodline is impure!Therefore, no matter whether it is the public or the samurai family, they do not respect the adopted emperor very much, and even the people have criticisms.

Since blood cannot be respected, there is only one way to gain respect, sacrifice.To put it bluntly, it is to restore the ritual system through celebration activities, which is what Confucian culture says "etiquette is the foundation of governance."

The first is the festival celebration of "Suodan Winter Solstice".

In ancient times, the emperor of the island country would come out of the main hall "Zichen Hall" to feast on his officials at this time of year.However, since the Onin Rebellion, it has not been held for more than 300 years due to wars.

So starting from May of the sixth year of Tianming (1786), Emperor Guangge expressed to the shogunate through the "Samurai Chuanzao" that he wanted to personally participate in the festival celebration of "Shudan Winter Solstice".The shogunate didn't think much about it, and quickly approved it, and also approved two hundred Shilumi as a fee.

However, Emperor Guangge and a group of ministers seemed to have forgotten one thing.The last Emperor Gotoyuan passed away in November, so November is also the "month of death".As the adopted son of Emperor Gotoyuan, Emperor Mitsukari also married Prince Kinkonai, so holding a celebration that has not been held in more than 300 years during the "Jiu month" when the previous emperor passed away is simply a "grave dance".

Sacrifice must be done, so after communicating with the shogunate, the death month was changed to the death day, as long as the celebration was not held before November [-]th.

Afterwards, Emperor Guangge worked hard to restore the Shintasai Festival in the sixth year of Tianming, and the revival of various sacrifices not only improved the status of Emperor Guangge in the hearts of the ministers, but also became popular with the people of Kyoto.After all, with more sacrificial activities in the palace, the atmosphere of the city will be much more lively, which will require more supplies and personnel, and the people of Kyoto will also get more business and employment opportunities.

In this way, Emperor Guangge carried out his "retro plan" step by step.

Last year, didn't rice riots break out in places like Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto?Therefore, the common people needed a clear spiritual sustenance, and the establishment of the ceremony by Emperor Guangge naturally made the nearby townspeople and farmers feel that there was someone they could rely on in Kyoto, and they naturally rushed to attend the ceremony.

The fire in Kyoto shocked the world.The emperor even lost his palace, and the question of reconstruction came to the fore.

Who pays for this money?Naturally, it was from the Tokugawa shogunate.Emperor Guangge's annual salary is only [-] shi, so he has no money to support a large group of people.

However, the Tokugawa shogunate’s current deposit is only 80 taels of gold. Due to the dispatch of troops last year, the compensation for the Kyushu vassals who were violently beaten by Beihai Town, and various expenditures that will occur this year, the fiscal deficit is expected to exceed 200 million taels of gold.

It is precisely because of the financial hole that the head of the shogunate, Matsudaira Sadanobu, decided to ease the confrontation with the Sendai Fan.At the end of February this year, with the consent of Tokugawa Iezari, a representative was sent to start negotiations with the Sendai Domain.

And the Sendai Domain is another look.

It is said that after collaborating with Beihai Town to destroy the Satsuma clan last year, the territory of the Sendai clan increased by 60 shi, and the actual total stone height was close to 200 million shi, making it the number one name in the world after the shogunate.

Today, the three counties of Sendai Fan in the north of Southern Kyushu belong to Beihai Town, and there are 700 garrisons to help resist the offensive of the shogunate.At the same time, Mutsu also got money and material assistance from Beihai Town to train the new army. It can be said that the guns are sharp and the soldiers are strong and strong.

Seeing this situation, the foreign daimyos of Kyushu and Mutsu Izuha also communicated secretly with the Sendai Fan one after another, either seeking refuge, or secretly doing business behind the back of the shogunate.

Faced with the envoys sent by the shogunate, the Sendai clan headed by Ishikawa Cunfumi had clear and clear demands, just two: declare the Shimadzu family to be rebellious, and place the land of the Three Kingdoms of Southern Kyushu into the Date family; He Shizaburo sent it back.

Returning people is nothing, as long as the Sendai Fan promises not to use force again.But it is unacceptable to declare to the world that the Shimadzu family is rebellious.

Everyone in the world knows that Shogun's wife is the daughter of Shigego Shimadzu, and last year the shogunate announced that Date Shigemura died of a serious illness; now that the Shimadzu family is rebellious, isn't that a slap in the face!
As a result, the negotiations have been delayed, and the two sides have been talking back and forth for more than half a year without reaching an agreement.

The Tokugawa shogunate in Edo was in a state of desperation, and the officials in Kyoto who lived in temples actually started to jump up and down, and some even shouted "return the great government".

Things have to start with rebuilding the palace.

After the fire broke out, Sadanobu Matsudaira, the head of the old middle school, personally led a team to Kyoto to investigate the disaster situation in May and stayed for ten days.After inspecting the emperor's temporary residence "Shogo-in", Matsudaira Sadanobu asked the governor of Kyoto to write a report to the samurai, hoping to build one or two temporary palaces for Kanehito and Gongqing to live in, and then according to the burned palace. The original palace complex was rebuilt.

Nothing else, the shogunate is too poor now!Matsudaira Sadanobu even pointed out that "the beauty of the palace is also the blood of the ordinary people", hoping that the Kyoto court can "correct the evil style of luxury".

But in mid-June, after receiving Zhao Xin's instruction, Liu Zheng, who had moved from Shiqiubin to the foot of Aoba Castle, found Wen Ishikawa.This guy has been living a shameless life in the island country for more than a year, and his daily conversation level has improved by leaps and bounds.

"I heard that there was a fire in Kyoto, and the emperor's palace was burned down?"

Ishikawa Cunwen didn't understand Liu Zheng's reason for coming, so he followed the other party's words with worry on his face and said: "Hey, thinking about it, we courtiers are really worried."

Liu Zheng told Ishikawa Village Wenping to step back, and then said in a low voice, "Your Excellency Ishikawa, don't you think this is a very good opportunity?"

Shi Chuancun asked, "What does Liu Sang mean by this?"

"Since the Sendai clan wants to compete with Edo, how long will we wait if we don't win over the imperial court?"

"Hiss~" Ishikawa Cunwen heard it, and thought he was right, let's not be the general who conquers the barbarians, just be a Guan Bai, and when the time comes to fight against the Tokugawa family, it will be beautiful to think about it!
"However, there is not much money left in this feudal clan. You know how to spend the 300 million taels that Zhao Dian borrowed before, Liu Sang."

Of course Liu Zheng knew that most of the 300 million yuan had turned into a boatload of food, artillery, and various products produced in Beihai Town.

In the years of famine, everyone is very realistic. If you have no money, who will mess with you!

Liu Zheng chuckled and said, "I've already told Zhao Dian, how about providing an interest-free loan of 200 million taels to the Sendai Fan?"

Wen Shichuan village was overjoyed, he patted Lin Xi with his fan and nodded, "If so, great things will come true!"

So in late June, the Sendai Clan, who had received a loan from Beihai Town, sent someone to quietly send 50 taels of gold to Kyoto.With the money, the Kyoto imperial court was determined from top to bottom to rebuild according to the style of the palace in the Heian period.

Emperor Guangge first summoned Guzen, a monk who had been studying the history of imperial palace architecture in private.For the past 30 years, this person has been trying to verify and restore the drawings of the imperial palace in the Heian period, and he later collected them into a [-]-volume textual research on the "Dainai Litu".Many years ago, Gu Zen was carefully punished for being involved in political disputes; now, in order to rebuild the palace, Emperor Kokaku not only pardoned Gu Zen's punishment, but also appointed him as a consultant for rebuilding the palace.

However, the ministers are not fools. No matter how much the Tokugawa family focused on, the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, so the Kyoto court played with the details of the drawings.Although the Zichen Hall and Qingliang Hall on the drawings added corridor buildings, the drawings that were finally submitted to the Edo Shogunate for review were 10 ping less than the total area of ​​the palace before the burning, a total of 1514 ping (close to 5000 square meters).

The fact that Emperor Guangge dared to do this meant that with the support of the Sendai clan, he began to try to get out of the framework set by the Tokugawa shogunate.

You thought this was the end?That is impossible!Emperor Guangge's retro actions and the rebuilding of the imperial palace brought his prestige to the peak gradually.

So he started the next step, to give his biological father a title.

As early as the beginning of his accession to the throne, Emperor Mitsuka asked whether he could add the title of "Shanghuang" to his biological father Norihito Kanin. If it was realized, Prince Kanin norihito could receive the treatment of the Emperor, but the shogunate was noncommittal at that time.

Just kidding!Your legal father is Emperor Hou Taoyuan, and Xianyuan Gong Norin is a courtier.

At the end of August, at the instigation of Kyochu, who had received bribes from the Sendai Domain, Emperor Guangge made a comeback again, and sent a letter to the shogunate, in which he listed two "emperors who did not ascend the pole" (that is, those who did not ascend the throne) The "precedent" of the Emperor) and asked the shogunate to discuss the issue of giving the title to the 57-year-old Prince Norinhito.

At the beginning of September, this letter was delivered to the hands of Matsudaira Sadanobu, the head of the shogunate, and the foreheads of Matsudaira and other veterans exploded.

Nothing else, the current general, Tokugawa Jiaqi, is also making a fuss about this matter, and wants to give his own father Tokugawa Jisuke the title "Great Imperial Palace" to show his filial piety.

As the initiator and implementer of the "lenient government reform" in the Edo period, Sadanobu Matsudaira attached great importance to building a set of ideology to maintain the stability of the Edo shogunate.He valued loyalty more than filial piety; when Qianlong next door often said that "a monarch and his ministers are like father and son", when he thought of the island country, he turned it into "father and son are like a monarch and his ministers".As long as you don't have the experience of succeeding the general or the emperor, you can't get the titles of "big imperial palace" and "shanghuang".

Go play it all, reject them all!

(End of this chapter)