[quote=@Lady Lascivious]
Bad harvest is good with me if it is with you. It avoids the population crash issue of a plague. It provides context for the land reforms, as well as extra motivation for wanting to seize more land outside of Japan.
[/quote]

Bad harvests or maybe a series of them works. That said, once Russia figures out that the 'New Shogun' can't be manipulated easily, they'd probably turn against her or try to undermine her.