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While the feudal lords were still bickering if they should make Tokugawa Yoshinobu carry out the Taisei Hokan and hold him responsible for the series of mistakes he committed before, Shinsaku Takasugi had made a decision to overthrow the shogunate in Kyoto. His main purpose was to come to Kyoto to meet up with Okubo Toshimichi and Saigo Nakamori and cook up a plan to overthrow the shogunate.

To travel from Edo to Kyoto, they first needed to deceive Tokugawa Yoshinobu. After that, they would use force to detain him. Be that as it may, Tokugawa Yoshinobu had always been very cautious, and he might just see through their plan. If he traveled to Kyoto, he would be protected by his soldiers all the time, not to mention how influential and powerful the Shogunate was in Kyoto. Forces like Gosanke, Sesisanke, Shinsengumi, Kyoto Mimawarigumi and various ronin groups took the shogunate’s side. And if Choshu and Satsuma Domain soldiers came to Kyoto, Tokugawa Yoshinobu would certainly be alerted. There was a high chance a fierce battle would break out between them.

This was not what Shinsaku Takasugi and Okubo Toshimichi wanted to see. The two still hoped to complete the exchange of power through a court coup. This was to protect and preserve Japan’s Genki. However, the feat would require more manpower to be achieved, which meant they needed to send these people into Kyoto without the shogunate’s knowledge.

So, in the end, they decided to place their hopes on Gabriel, a French businessman.

Shinsaku Takasugi had started to contact and cooperate with Gabriel as early as the time Choshu Domain were reforming and strengthening their military-he knew Gabriel had a lot of connections—his hands deep in the business of cotton yarn, iron cannons, and matchlock guns. Even the two new battleships, one being the infamous Heishin-maru that Shinsaku Takasugi bought was made possible by Gabriel. Since he was French, few dared to inspect the cargo on his vessels.

Shinsaku Takasugi hoped to order a batch of weapons from Gabriel and secretly transport them to Kyoto aboard a cotton vessel. At the same time, a three-hundred-man samurai squad would serve as the secret weapon against Tokugawa Yoshinobu—these would be transported to Kyoto through the cargo ship as well. To make it possible, Satsuma and Choshu Domain were willing to fork out ten thousand koban.

Gabriel, however, did not immediately agree. It was a businessman’s nature to go after more profits, and there were no exceptions when it came to that. Unfortunately, Gabriel turned out to be the stereotypical industrialist with voracious greed. His business in Japan over the years had made him a lot of money-the reason why he was inclined to give careful thought before accepting Shinsaku Takasugi’s proposition.

At the same time, Gabriel and other Western businessmen silently observed the civil war in Japan. To protect themselves from the barbarians, the United Kingdom, America, France, and the Netherlands launched a retaliatory attack on Shimonoseki. That said, most foreigners still tried their best to avoid getting involved in a Japanese civil war.

A good example would be when Shinsaku Takasugi defeated the shogunate during the second Choshu expedition-Western nations merely observed them from the beginning to end. Judging by the current situation, both the shogunate and the Tobaku had an equal chance to claim victory. Tobaku supporters were known for their assassinations of westerners, but they had changed over time, and they were the ones that opened up Japan for westerners to do business. Meanwhile. The shogunate led by Tokugawa Yoshinobu was just the opposite. Having previously cooperated with westerners, they now wanted to lock down the country, preventing them from entering Japan. For these reasons, the Western countries had no intention to support either of the two.

Such a political investment was precarious. If it failed, the next ruler would treat the investors as the enemy. On the other hand, it could also be extremely profitable. Although Gabriel didn’t say yes to the deal, he didn’t explicitly refuse it as well—an indication that Shinsaku Takasugi should increase the amount of koban offered.

The samurai in the room began cursing Gabriel for his insatiable greed. Gabriel, nonetheless, had the power to make the call right now. If he said no to the deal, soldiers from Choshu and Satsu would not travel to Kyoto. In other words, their plan would fall apart.

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Zhang Heng was actually a little surprised. Historically, Ōkubo Toshimichi and Saigo Takamori were the main forces that brought down Tobaku. It was simply that it wouldn’t happen so soon-in fact, the Tobaku supporters could afford to drag on a little longer. Hence, Tokugawa Yoshinobu initiated Taisei Hokan and took the initiative to return the shogunate’s power to Emperor Meiji in exchange for position and rights in the newly formed government. He first pushed himself to the end of the road, then forcing himself to figure a way to get out of this sticky situation, which was no less an impressive feat.

Now, not only did Õkubo Toshimichi and Saigo Takamori run out of excuses to execute a coup, they even managed to successfully divide the Tobaku forces. After completing the move to restore Emperor Meiji’s return to power, people started to side with Tokugawa Yoshinobu. More and more people wanted him to join the new government. In retrospect, Okubo Toshimichi and Saigo Takamori were only becoming more and more isolated.

Forced into desperation, they transferred troops to Kyoto as a last resort. At that time, the Satsuma Domain had no advantage over the shogunate, but Saigo Takamori triumphed over the shogunate army three times larger than his own. The battle of Toba Fushimi had determined the course of the time.

Compared with history, Shinsaku Takasugi was still alive and kicking. This was undoubtedly a significant variable. He came to Kyoto before he was fully recovered and talked happily in front of everyone. He might hide from the samurai in the tea house but Zhang Heng’s improved observation skills acquired from the Deductive Reasoning quest allowed him to see that Shinsaku Takasugi was living on borrowed time.

It might also be the reason why he could not wait to do something big. He wanted to catch a glimpse of the new era that he created before he died. But before that, he still needed to negotiate the current deal with Gabriel. The French businessmen had a ravenous appetite, and the ten thousand koban they offered wasn’t about to satisfy him. The Shinsaku Takasugi, however, had their bottom line too. Although keen to learn from the West, many were reluctant to allow westerners to interfere in their country’s affairs.

Among those was Saigo Takamori.

The Convention of Kanagawa caused the shogunate to lose its reputation among the people. It was a mistake that the new government vowed to never make again. Therefore, according to the agreement made by Shinsaku Takasugi and his group, Gabriel could negotiate for more money, but that would be all. If he wanted something else, he had to find another way, even if it meant postponing their plan.

The negotiation had entered a stalemate, and to prevent miscommunication due to the nuances of different languages, both sides brought their own translators. Simultaneously, they could also correct the other’s translation errors to ensure that their intentions were made known to the other party.

But Zhang Heng’s mind was not on this business meeting. He had been thinking about how to get the Juzumaru hanging around Kirino Toshiaki’s waist. And the most important thing was how to get out of hanamachi alive. Since the person who came here tonight was Takasugi Shinsaku, they couldn’t let a temporary translator like him walk out of this tea house alive. Once the two parties agreed on the deal, he would be no longer useful for them.