15/02/2026 04:11

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ed in ashes until thetime of Yoshimasa, when the priest, Chushin, persuaded the shogun toundertake the work of reconstruction. It isnot by any means clear that, in thus acting, Saigo had anyrevolutionary intention. shment, wishing nevertheless to show them mercy, weorder them under pain of death to quit Japan within twenty days. This proclamation, though couched in terms of simulated benevolence,amounted in reality to a peremptory order.

But their skill in using their gunswas such that they never missed. Thus commenced negotiations which lasted five and a half months. their partisans were so numerousin Kyoto and its vicinity that they could impose their will upon all. Hidehira owned and administered the whole ofthe two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, which in those days