I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 263 The Incident of the Nine Years of Meiji
Under the warning and arrangement of Yagyu Heiyan, Japanese business groups headed by Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Honchi and other consortiums entered the Qing Dynasty to carry out trade.

Because gold and silver were the hard currency in the Qing Dynasty, companies could only exchange Japanese yen for silver to carry out trade with the Qing Dynasty.

In Japan, the price of silver was relatively low, but in the Qing Dynasty, the value more than doubled.

In the trade between Japan and the Ming Dynasty, one of the major goods was silver.

When the Ming Dynasty was trading with Japan, a large amount of silver entered the domestic circulation of the Ming Dynasty.

The same is true today. The Qing Dynasty has already paid a large sum of silver in compensation for ceding territories. Now that Japan is providing silver, it is a good thing for the Qing court.

And Japan made a lot of money from the difference in silver prices between the two countries.

Now Yagyu Hide is in Kyoto. Everyone knows that this is the last year of Yagyu Hide's tenure as prime minister and they dare not make mistakes, but things are surging in other places.

Yamazaki Hao from Osaka sent a secret letter, reporting that the Constitutional Party in Osaka frequently contacted other opposition parties, and even officials from the capital often came to Osaka to meet with Kusama Tokifuku, Furuzawa Shigeru and others to discuss major matters.

The specific content is mainly to find ways to win over other forces, raise money to build momentum, win the votes of parliamentarians, and seek the position of prime minister.

A large group of people immediately rushed into the Shibata family's mansion, and everyone was in a panic.

In March, Yagyu Higen submitted a proposal to Emperor Meiji, who then convened a parliament and passed a resolution that members of the two houses of Congress would no longer serve as officials. If they wanted to run for government officials or be members of the two houses of government, they would have to resign one of their identities.

The servants changed one delicacy after another for the people on the table.

Unlike Yagyu Heiyan, although he is the prime minister and has a wealthy family, Akin cooks dinner. The family eats three dishes and one soup around a round table, which is simple.

When Yagyu Heeyan saw this information, he cursed secretly: "These people are so greedy for profit! They must be punished for such acts of harming the public and enriching themselves."

Shibata Gozhong, who was eating, heard the noise outside, his face changed, and he said angrily: "Baga, who is making trouble?"

Yagyu Heiyan already knew Tokugawa Kei's general thoughts, so why didn't he have a way to deal with it?

This night, Shibata Gochu was having dinner with his family. Their style was Russian style, but the dishes were French cuisine.

Tokugawa Yingxi saw that Yagyu Heiyan agreed to him being the Speaker of the National Assembly. He did not hesitate and immediately agreed: "I understand. I will formally resign later."

Another point is that government officials must be members of the Restoration Party, and the Prime Minister is the leader of the Restoration Party.

Shibata Gochu elegantly picked up the tablecloth and wiped it, calmly and calmly, he glared at Tanimantaro and said, "Who are you!"

"Search for me!"

Although Tokugawa Keiki honestly did not reveal his ambition, he knew that he had ambition, otherwise Tokugawa Keiki would not insist on the position of Speaker of the National Assembly.

Mantaro Tani stepped forward and knocked on the door directly: "Open the door!"

The porter of the Shibata family stepped forward to open the door and said without any hesitation: "Who is it? Don't you know this is the residence of Lord Shibata?"

He really didn't expect that these people would jump out so eagerly, so naturally he would not let go of this opportunity to scare the monkeys.

He immediately wrote to Yamazaki Hao, asking him to collect conclusive evidence and settle the accounts at that time.

Gensaburo Inoue of the Tax Bureau's action team and Mantaro Tani of the Anti-Corruption Bureau's action team went straight to Shibata's mansion.

Mantaro Tani snorted coldly and said: "The one caught is Shibata Gochu!"

Naturally, people from the Constitutional Party would not support Iwakura Tomomi without any reason, so Beijing officials promised the Constitutional Party that they would enact legislation to reduce business taxes and sell some state-owned enterprises to Osaka's wealthy businessmen at a low price.

Even one knife on this dining table is enough for an ordinary family to spend a month.

Mantaro Tani said angrily: "Shibata Gochu, this is an arrest warrant, this is a search warrant!"

Taro Tanimantaro said disdainfully: "Stop making excuses. The merchants who bribed you have already confessed. Come and take them away!"

Shibata Gochu was in charge of foreign affairs during the Edo shogunate period and was also familiar with Western things, so the interior decoration of his residence was a combination of Japanese and Western.

Yagyu Heiyan decided to speed up his plan and eliminate these unstable factors as soon as possible to avoid the second prime minister having to face power disputes, which would affect Japan's development.

……

Maybe if he is more ruthless, he can kill the monkey as well.

After he promised that Tokugawa Keiki would become the speaker of the Diet, he began to purge the old ministers of the shogunate.

However, relying solely on the salary of the nobility, the salary of officials and factory dividends was not enough to support the luxurious life of the nobility, so Shibata Gochu received the tribute of some foreigners and local businessmen.

He quickly got into action.

Tokugawa Yoshiki felt that his position as Speaker of the National Assembly was secure, so he only waited for him to become the Speaker, and then find ways to alienate the relationship between the next Prime Minister and Yagyu Hiyan, and then the two of them would work together to overthrow Yagyu Hiyan's rule.

Behind this group of capital officials are Iwakura Tomomi, Motoda Nagafu and others. Their goal is to make Iwakura Tomomi elected prime minister.

He was not only a government official, but also an earl. He adopted elite education for his children and hired many tutors.

Shibata Gochu ate very elegantly, almost more aristocratic than French aristocrats.

Then Yagyu Heiyan came to Tokugawa Qingxi and said: "Mr. Tokugawa will run for Speaker of the Diet next, so he should resign as Foreign Minister first."

Tokugawa Keiki quickly submitted his resignation letter. Yagyu Heiyan directly approved Tokugawa Keiki's resignation application and accepted Roku Oku Munemitsu as the foreign minister.

Shibata Gozaka's expression changed drastically, and he immediately retorted: "Fake, it's all fake!"

The attendant immediately opened the door of the hall and was about to go out when Mantaro Tani rushed over, pushed the attendant aside and entered the hall.

If the leader of the opposition party becomes prime minister, he will have to quit his original party and join the Restoration Party.

Even for Okubo Toshimichi, he had a way to deal with it. People's hearts were far apart, and he had to guard against it.

However, for Gochu Shibata, his good days have come to an end.

"Asshole, don't touch me, I want to see Lord Tokugawa!"

Mantaro Tani ignored the struggling Shibata Gochu, turned around and waved: "Close the team!"

The anti-corruption bureau acted very quickly. No one else in the Shibata family could react, and Shibata was taken away just as he was hit.

Mrs. Shibata immediately panicked and didn't know what to do. Shibata's son immediately set off and ran to Tokugawa Yoshi's house for help.

Shibata's son ran to Tokugawa's mansion, banged on the door frantically and said: "Open the door, open the door quickly, I am the son of Count Shibata!"

The concierge did not dare to neglect and opened the door immediately.

Shibata's son immediately ran into the mansion.

Tokugawa Yingxi looked at Shibata's son running in a panic and asked, "What happened to Shibata?"

Shibata's son immediately said: "Sir Tokugawa, just fifteen minutes ago, the Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested my father for corruption." "What?"

Tokugawa Yingxi didn't understand for a while why people from the Anti-Corruption Bureau took Shibata Gochu away.

He knew that the three major departments within the government, including forensics, anti-corruption, and police, were all close confidants of Prime Minister Yagyu Heiyan, and all the officials in these departments were from the Shinsengumi.

Therefore, he did not understand why Yagyu Shengxiyan suddenly started arresting his people?
You must know that not long ago, Yagyu Heiyan promised to give him the position of Speaker of the National Assembly, but in the blink of an eye, his people were arrested.

Tokugawa Qingxi couldn't believe it, and he asked again: "Did you hear that correctly?"

Shibata's son shook his head and said, "Mr. Tokugawa, I read that right. Those people are wearing the clothes of the Anti-Corruption Bureau."

"This is impossible, why? Have I been deceived!" Tokugawa Kexi was a little guarded. He felt that he had been tricked by Yagyu Heiyan.

Before he could continue to vent his unhappy temper, wives or eldest sons from other families came to his house one after another.

In short, it was the same thing. All the old officials of the shogunate who came from the shogunate and occupied high positions were basically defeated.

And the reasons are almost the same, they are all evidence of being caught accepting bribes.

Tokugawa Yingxi suppressed the panic and anger in his heart. He raised his hand and said: "You all calm down and don't make any noise. I will give you an answer."

"Come here, prepare the carriage!"

Tokugawa happily boarded the carriage and rushed to the Yagyu mansion.

Ichimura Tetsunosuke led Tokugawa Keiki to meet Yagyu Hien in the study.

Tokugawa Yingxi asked impatiently: "Prime Minister, what happened tonight! Why were Shibata, Oguri and the others arrested!"

Yagyu Heiyan stared at Tokugawa Keki without saying a word. This moment of silence made Tokugawa Keki feel cold from head to toe. He was filled with anger just now, but now he was only filled with fear.

Seeing Tokugawa Qingxi calm down, Yagyu Heeyan said, "Mr. Tokugawa, you have to pay attention. These people were arrested because they violated the criminal law.

That they accepted bribes is proven and there are certified physical evidences, not a frame-up.

I know that taking bribes was a normal thing in the late Edo period, but this is New Japan, not your shogunate! "

Tokugawa Qingxi said in a tactful tone: "But so many people have been taken away, I don't understand."

Yagyu Heiyan had no intention of being a Riddler in front of Tokugawa Qingxi, he said directly: "Mr. Tokugawa, I only agreed to you being the Speaker of the National Assembly, not agreeing to you being the leader of the National Assembly.

Have you forgotten our original agreement? As long as your Tokugawa family cooperates well with me, I can guarantee your Tokugawa family's status in Japan.

But Mr. Tokugawa has forgotten that agreement. In the past few years, you have been contacting old ministers to develop your own power.

Do you think that if you become the Speaker of the Diet next year, you can join forces with others to seize power and restore the glory of the Tokugawa family? "

Tokugawa Qingxi smiled miserably, and all the energy in his body was released. He said feebly: "It turns out that the Prime Minister knows everything."

Yagyu Heeyan leaned on his chair and said somewhat casually: "Of course, although you contacted for a rally in another place, the secret police still discovered you and memorized the contents of your several meetings.

Mr. Tokugawa, I gave you a chance, this is the last chance, to become the Speaker of the National Assembly, and then learn from Speaker Matsudaira Yoshiho, do you understand? "

"I understand, I understand everything."

Tokugawa Yingxi walked out of Yagyu Mansion disheartened.

After the fall of the shogunate, he still had a trace of ambition. He led his old ministers to endure hardships under the command of Yagyu Heiyan, just to regain power one day.

But today, he realized that he had been wishful thinking all along.

He dragged his exhausted body back home and looked at the group of people who had gathered together. He could only shake his head and said: "I tried my best. The person who arranged this was the Prime Minister. I...sigh..."

Tokugawa Qingxi didn't know what to say. He ignored these people's pleas for help and hurried back to the study without seeing any guests.

After this night, Tokugawa Keiki was not so enthusiastic about politics. He fiddled with the best camera and became addicted to it.

But the matter did not end there. Several members of the Reform Constitutional Party in Edo were affected and several were arrested. The Reform Constitutional Party was suppressed.

The Iwakura Tomomi faction was also arrested for colluding with the Osaka Constitutional Party. Several officials from the capital were arrested. The Constitutional Party's Tokifuku Kusama was arrested because of conclusive evidence of bribery. The Constitutional Party suffered a huge blow.

This thunderous operation caused a great shock to others and was known in history as the Meiji Nine Incident.

At this time, dozens of Kyoto officials were arrested, imprisoned, and shot.

Those who have committed the most heinous crimes will be expelled directly.

There were hundreds of Chinese families, but one-fifth of them were suddenly reduced.

This is a heavy blow to the old forces.

And Yagyu Heeyan took advantage of this to promote a group of officials who passed the national examination.

In Goto's mansion, Kataoka Kenkichi and others came to Goto's house in a hurry. As soon as they saw Goto Shojiro, they said: "Goto-sama is wise. He saw that there is a problem this time. Otherwise, we will be like Osaka." The Constitutional Party of Edo met the same fate as the Reform Constitutional Party of Edo.”

"It's terrible. I didn't expect Yagyu Hiyan to make such a big move in his last year!"

"I think resigning is also fake. He clearly just wants to see who has ambitions!"

"Lord Goto was so wise that we escaped disaster."

Goto Shojiro raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said with a smile: "Hmph, these people are so stupid, they always focus on eating rather than fighting. How can a hero like Prime Minister Yagyu be so easy to deal with?

You must also remember, don’t get carried away at any time. As long as Prime Minister Yagyu doesn’t die, no one can change the world! "

Kataoka Kenkichi asked: "Lord Goto, what should we do next?"

Goto Shojiro took a puff of his cigar, holding the pearl in his hand and said: "Just wait and see what happens!"

"Now the company we founded is about to do business in the Qing Dynasty. It is a treasure land and we will definitely make a lot of money."

Kataoka Kenkichi said with some reluctance: "Goto-sama, are we just doing business?"

Goto Shojiro shook his head and said: "Remember, never be in a hurry, you must be patient, there is no point in rushing at the beginning, only the one who survives to the end is the winner.

Naturally, we won’t be in business forever, but we can’t live without money. With sufficient funds, we can sustain the party until the right opportunity comes. "

Kataoka Kenkichi was overjoyed when he heard this. He praised: "Goto-sama is still far-sighted. It is really difficult for me to catch up with your pace."

Others followed suit.

(End of this chapter)