Soon after, imperial loyalist (anti-bakufu) troops recruited by Kinmochi SAIONJI, the general placed in charge of pacifying the Sanindo highway and the surrounding area, appeared in Tanba Province, and in Yamaguni, whose inhabitants had been training to serve the imperial cause, for example by standing guard at the imperial palace in Kyoto, since the end of the previous year (1867), they were also hoping for a restoration of their own hamlet along with a resumption of the ties with the imperial house they had held since the Heian period, desires which quickly prompted them to form, at their own expense, a fighting force of farmers.
間もなく山陰道鎮撫総督西園寺公望から丹波に王政復古(日本)の募兵があり、前年末頃から御所警備などの勤王奉仕策を練っていた山国では、平安時代以来の皇室との関係と郷中復古（禁裏御料回復）の願いから、直ちにこれに応じて自弁による農兵隊が結成された。