I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"The possibility that the new electoral group will clash with Satsuma no Chō on some future day cannot be ruled out!"

"Therefore, I have to prepare in advance."

“You arrived in Kyoto earlier than I did, so you know these two domains better.”

"Therefore, please provide a detailed account of the current situation in Satsuma and Choshu, especially their military strength and the individuals who require close attention."

Matsudaira Katamori nodded.

"Then let's start with the Choshu Domain."

"To introduce the various aspects of the Choshu Domain, there are two figures that cannot be avoided: one is Murata Seifu, and the other is Yoshida Shoin."

Matsudaira Katamori cleared his throat and began to speak eloquently—

More than 250 years ago, the decisive battle that determined the fate of the land—the Battle of Sekigahara—was fought. Tokugawa Ieyasu led the Eastern Army and defeated the Western Army in just one day.

At that time, the Mori clan's army was subordinate to the Western Army.

Following the Battle of Sekigahara, the Edo Shogunate drastically reduced the territory of the Mori clan as a form of punishment.

Due to this major reduction in fiefdoms, the Mori clan, which originally controlled 120 million koku of land in ten provinces in the Chugoku region, was reduced to only two provinces: Suo and Nagato.

The Choshu Domain was thus established.

The significant reduction in territory led to a sharp decline in income.

For this reason, the Choshu Domain's financial situation was never ideal, and it often relied on merchants to borrow money to make ends meet.

However, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise for the Choshu Domain.

Every so often, a wise and capable ruler would descend upon the Choshu Domain.

In 1719, the fifth lord of the Choshu Domain, Mori Yoshimoto, established the domain school "Meirinkan" to cultivate talent, which laid the foundation for the Choshu Domain's talent pool.

The name “Minglun” comes from Mencius, Book 1, Chapter 1: “Establish schools and academies to teach people… all for the purpose of clarifying human relationships. When human relationships are clarified by the rulers, the common people will be close to the people below.”

In addition to teaching Confucianism, the Minglun Academy also invited scholars to teach military strategy, swordsmanship, archery, and spearmanship.

The curriculum is designed for 10-year-old children, who are first taught Confucianism and military strategy. When they are around 15 years old and their physique is stronger, they are taught martial arts, and so on until they are 40 years old.

The academic year begins on the 12th day of the first lunar month and ends on the 10th day of the 12th lunar month.

Most of the students were from the samurai class, but ordinary people could attend classes at the school if they were interested, and the school would not turn them away.

The establishment of the Minglun Hall greatly improved the overall quality of Choshu samurai.

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Chapter 585 Wielding this Heavenly Sword, Foreigners are Excrement [4300]

The 7th lord of the domain, Mori Shigenari (reigned 1751-1782), launched a series of reforms to save the finances.

A department called "Childcare Support" will be established to oversee the reform efforts. All profitable businesses will be handed over to the Childcare Support team for management.

Because the fostering party was directly under the control of the feudal lord, and its accounts were not made public, the profits and losses of the fostering party were unknown. This independent account continued to operate until the end of the Edo period and served as a source of funding for the anti-shogunate movement.

The government alleviated its financial pressure by reducing spending, inspecting land, developing salt fields in Mitajiri, and establishing a new port in Izaki.

Besides salt production, rice, paper, and wax industries also developed significantly under the management of the government. These four products were collectively known as the "Four Whites of the Defense Headquarters" because of their excellent quality and the fact that they were all white.

Furthermore, education in the Choshu Domain saw further development.

Besides the Meirinkan, many other domain schools were established throughout the region. The number of terakoya (temple schools) reached a staggering 1304. In western Japan alone, the Choshu Domain had the most schools.

Although the fostering party has accumulated a considerable amount of funds, these funds are drawn from the supporting party (general income and expenditure account), the treasure silver (reserve account), and other assets to support operations.

In other words, the prosperity of the patronage party meant a decrease in the amount of silver and treasures it carried, and the debt of the domain government increased day by day.

By the beginning of the Tenpo era (1830-1843), the Choshu Domain's debt had reached 9 kan of silver.

With the outbreak of the Great Famine of the Tianbao era, the financial situation deteriorated further, and the rule of the feudal domains became increasingly precarious.

Faced with this dire situation, the 13th lord of the domain, and the current lord, Mori Yoshichika, began a new reform.

He promoted a man named Murata Seifu.

His reform measures mainly included the following:

1. Frugality.

2. Expand business with Vietnam and the Netherlands.

[Note: "Echigo-Ho" was a domain-run financial and warehousing agency. The western gateway to the Seto Inland Sea, the Shimonoseki Strait, was located within the sphere of influence of the Choshu Domain. Therefore, the Choshu Domain established the "Echigo-Ho" in Shimonoseki to manage the loading, unloading, and storage of returning cargo and to provide loans to these vessels.]

3. Strive to repay half of the debt without interest.

4. Waive the debts borrowed by samurai from the domain government, and the domain government will repay the private loans borrowed by samurai from merchants.

5. The domain government repaid interest to the merchants annually, while the principal was repaid in installments over thirty-seven years. The domain government also proactively disclosed its debts.

6. Promote capable junior soldiers.

7. Reform the military system and promote Western-style education.

On April 1, 1843, under the leadership of Murata Seifu, the domain government held a military exercise at Hagidai, a spacious outskirts east of Hagi Castle (the capital of the Choshu Domain), to practice the "Shinki Jin" (divine weapon formation).

It was a new formation created by Murata Seifu, based on the content about firearm tactics recorded in Zhao Shizhen's "Shenqi Pu" of the Ming Dynasty.

This formation was centered around the cannons, with musketeers surrounding them and foot soldiers stationed on the outermost perimeter. The cannons fired first, followed by the musketeers, and finally the foot soldiers charged.

This near-defaulting "Thirty-seven years of tax relief for officials" offended a large and powerful merchant group.

Therefore, not long after, Murata Seifu was forced to step down due to opposition from businessmen.

Tsuboi Kyuemon, who later took over the reform work, advocated the opposite of Murata Seifu.

He not only abolished the "thirty-seven-year tax system that all taxes were paid to officials," but also treated merchants well, even taking out loans to repay their debts. However, he was impeached and removed from office because the reforms had little effect.

Murata Seifu represented progressive forces.

Tsuboi Kyuemon represents the conservative forces.

Wherever there is politics, there is partisan strife.

There was a conflict between the "Nanki faction" and the "Hitotsubashi faction" during the shogunate.

The Choshu Domain was no exception.

Subsequently, two key retainers—Murashi Tōta and Shūbō Shōnosuke—entered the central government of the Chōshū Domain. The former's views were similar to those of Tsuboi Kūemon, while the latter continued the line of Murata Kiyōne.

The two factions that had been fighting each other and had dominated the political world of the Choshu Domain until now thus stepped onto the historical stage.

Initially, the reform policies of the two factions were not clearly distinct.

After the Ansei Five Kingdoms Treaty was signed, the Mori group in Edo was unwilling to offend the shogunate, while Shufu Masanosuke, who remained in Hagi, put forward the "Three Great Principles of the Domains," seeking a way for Choshu to become independent while fulfilling his duty to the shogunate.

[Note: The Ansei Five Treaties: In 1858, Japan was forced to sign five unequal treaties with the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, Great Britain, and France.]

Therefore, Zhou Fuzhenguo referred to the pro-shogunate faction, including Mukuri Tota, as the "popular faction," while calling himself the "righteous faction." This is how the conflict between the two factions arose.

The "Popular Theory School," led by Ryūri Tōta, was largely similar to the "Conservative School." They opposed any words or actions that attacked the Imperial Court and the Shogunate.

As for the "righteous faction" led by Zhou Buzhengzhi, they can be understood as the "reformist faction." Their proposition was: "The shogunate? How many cannons does it have?"

No wonder they were so arrogant.

The foster parents provided ample funding.

Murata Seifu's powerful reforms greatly improved the financial situation of the Choshu Domain, boosted production, and enhanced the domain's economic income and military strength.

From the time of the fifth lord, Mori Yoshimoto, the country consistently prioritized education as a fundamental national policy.

The long-term accumulation and development laid the foundation for the rise of the Choshu Domain.

Today, the Choshu Domain is undoubtedly the most powerful domain in western Japan, boasting a strong army and a wealth of talented individuals! Although it is not yet enough to rival the shogunate, it can be said that the shogunate is quite wary of it.

The current head of the Choshu Domain is the 13th lord, Mori Yoshichika, who has ruled the Choshu Domain since he took office in 1836.

Mori Yoshichika's original name was Mori Takachika, but he changed it to Mori Yoshichika due to the taboo of using the name.

"Bias" refers to the practice in samurai society where a superior bestows a character from their own name upon a subordinate to establish a master-servant relationship. The character "Kei" in Mori Yoshichika's name comes from the 12th shogun, Tokugawa Ieyoshi.

How should we evaluate Mori Keichiro?

In short: a notorious piece of junk!

Although he personally promoted Murata Seifu and strongly supported Murata Seifu's series of sweeping reforms, this was not because he was particularly visionary or talented.

The only thing he would do was sit high on his throne, silently watching his ministers discuss the matter.

After his ministers had discussed and reached a conclusion, he casually said, "Alright, let's leave it at that!"

Because he had no opinions of his own and never made his own decisions, he had no systematic ideology or philosophy. He would only say, "Okay, then so be it!" Therefore, he was contemptuously called "Marquis of Let It Be" by the world.

When Murata Seifu's reform proposals were widely welcomed, he was given important positions; when he was impeached, he was allowed to step down—this was Mori Yoshichika's style of rule, which was all about being capricious!

The reason why the political views of the Choshu Domain changed so frequently was largely due to Mori Yoshichika's "laissez-faire" approach.

In 1861, the Choshu Domain produced a wise man who "opened his eyes to the world" and was hailed as "the greatest talent in Ogijo". He submitted a proposal of 4,800 words to Mori Yoshichika, which is the famous "Strategy for Navigation".

Its main points can be summarized as follows: abolishing treaties and expelling barbarians are child's play. It is better to actively accept treaties, with the imperial court and the shogunate working in unison, and to learn from the barbarians' superior techniques to control them.

After reading the "Strategy for Navigation," Mori Yoshichika unsurprisingly said, "Okay, let's do it this way!"

Thus, the Choshu Domain became a proponent of the "unity of the court and the military"—a view that the "revere the emperor and expel the barbarians" faction within the domain could not possibly accept.

As a result, not long after, loyalists within the Choshu Domain raised the banner of rebellion, causing large-scale unrest within the domain.

It was at this time that the thinking of Zhou Buzhengzhi, the leader of the "righteous faction," changed, and he completely sided with "respecting the king and expelling the barbarians," and began to befriend patrons of those in the domain who advocated respecting the king and expelling the barbarians.

The "righteous faction" of the Choshu Domain and the patriots who advocated resistance and expulsion thus merged.

After the call for "Revere the Emperor and Expel the Barbarians" gained the upper hand within the Choshu Domain, Mori Yoshichika unsurprisingly said, "Alright, let's do it this way!" and made a 180-degree turn. He not only completely abolished the "Marine Strategy," but also followed the advice of Shu Fusei no Suke and others, and ordered the "treacherous villain" Nagai Masayoshi to commit seppuku as an apology.

A great hero lost his life in such an absurd way.

How could a scoundrel like Mori Yoshichika possibly manage politics?

With each "Okay, then let's do it this way!" he was completely sidelined, becoming a figurehead like an emperor.