These nobles, forming a union with certain princes, zealously opposed the court view; and finally succeeded so far as to procure the expulsion from Kyōto of the Chōshū lord, who, on his return to his fief, was accompanied by Sanjō Sanetomi, afterward destined to play a prominent part in the events of the restoration, and six other court nobles. The policy of the court was now directed to the reëstablishment of friendly relations with Edo, and the dissatisfaction engendered by this attitude led to _émeutes_ by _rōnin_ at Yamato, Tajima, and other places, but they were speedily reduced to order. In the following year, 1864, the Shōgun Iyemochi again proceeded to Kyōto, where his reception by the emperor was much more gracious than it had been on the previous occasion, various commissions being given to him, with the result that harmony was for the time restored between the two courts. Prior to this a British squadron had proceeded to Kagoshima to exact an indemnity on account of the Namamugi affair, and a sharp engagement had taken place between the ships and the Satsuma forts. The Edo government, however, paid the indemnity demanded by the foreign representatives. The affair was thus brought to an amicable issue, and foreign intercourse continued as before, though the policy of the shōgun's government toward it remained apparently as undecided as ever. In Mito "Rekkō" Nariakira had died, and the _samurai_ of the fief were divided into two parties, one following the late lord's policy and the other dissenting from it, which carried their enmity to such an extent that great numbers of persons fell victims to the sword. Finally in April, 1864, some of the ultra-conservative men of Mito renounced their service to their lord, and assembled in arms at Mount Tsukuba, where they were joined by a number of other malcontents, and became the center of a widespread disorder. It was quickly subdued by the Tokugawa forces, but while the Tsukuba insurgents were still in the field the Edo government found itself involved in an open quarrel with a vastly more formidable rival, the fief of Chōshū. The lord of Chōshū had been forbidden to enter Kyōto in consequence of his obdurate hostility to the policy of the Tokugawa, and the issue of such a mandate naturally caused great umbrage to his lieges. In June, 1864, they presented a memorial to the throne, setting forth their loyalty and praying that the ban of exclusion from the capital might be removed from their feudal chief and his son, as well as from Sanjō and the six other court nobles who had fled with him to Chōshū for refuge. By degrees _rōnin_ from Chōshū assembled in the environs of the imperial city, and after some collisions they entered Kyōto. But they were totally defeated by the troops of Aidzu and Satsuma, who guarded the city. This act of contumacy provoked an imperial edict depriving the elder and younger lords of Chōshū of their rank and commissioning the Shōgun Iyemochi to chastise Chōshū.