The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 577: Yamagami Toru, what's the point of Zhongchi raising you?

On the tenth day of the eighth lunar month, Sei Seisai, who was in charge of entering Kyoto, brought good news. He successfully "persuaded" Kyoto's deputy governor Makino Sadanaga to give up resistance.

Although the Japanese capital Luoyang at this time also looked like the Luoyang in the Central Plains at the end of the Tang Dynasty, with a dilapidated appearance of a majestic capital with green fields around it, the inner city directly controlled by the Kyoto Daishi was still relatively difficult to capture.

But only this small inner city was difficult to attack. Once Makino Sadanaga, the governor of Kyoto, surrendered, the rest of the places immediately became easy to attack.

On August 12, Chen Qiuze led his army into the city and accepted the surrender of Kyoto Governor Makino Sadanaga, thus completely controlling the nominal capital of Japan.

However, soon after, Seisai Nishige, who had just made a great contribution, came to report that a group of rebels had gathered in the Emperor's Imperial Palace in Kyoto and were plotting a rebellion.

Chen Qiuze understood immediately and ordered the Kumamoto domain lords Hosokawa Shigetaka and Nishii Narisai to go and quell the rebellion.

It was evening and the sky was dark. The two men could not see the situation clearly, so they could only command more than 10,000 soldiers to surround the Imperial Palace and wait for dawn to make a decision.

As a result, not long after, a fire broke out in the Imperial Palace.

After dawn, the two came to report that the fire in the Imperial Palace could no longer be extinguished. In order to ensure the safety of the soldiers, they requested to retreat and temporarily suspend the attack.

Chen Qiuze glanced at the two of them. There was really no shortage of smart people. He didn't even give a hint, but the two of them knew what to do.

The fire cannot be put out, what a joke. Although the Imperial Palace cannot be compared with Middle-earth, it covers an area of about 160 acres.

There is only one way to make such a large garden burn down in an instant and become impossible to extinguish, and that is to set fire to multiple places and add more dry firewood and kerosene.

Moreover, those rebels were not fools. They were just dissatisfied with the surrender of Kyoto Governor Makino Sadanaga and wanted to occupy the Imperial Palace to support the emperor as a last-ditch effort. They hadn't even started the battle yet, so it was not the point where they would set themselves on fire.

"What about the traitorous thieves who usurped the throne? Were they also burned to death?"

This is what Chen Qiuze is most worried about. If he is burned to death, it may become an unsolved case. Whenever the year is bad, someone will use this name to cause trouble.

"No!" Nishii Seisai answered immediately. What he wanted was the credit for taking Kyoto, forcing the Kyoto Sodaishi to surrender and burning down the Imperial Palace.

If the emperor were burned to death in an unclear and sticky manner, his contribution would be greatly reduced.

"The Emperor and his family, under the protection of the court officials, have already fled to Hachimangu Shrine."

Nishii Seisai reported the confirmed news. The reason for this was that among the warriors who escorted the emperor to escape, there was a fellow disciple whom he had specially arranged.

Kyoto was still too big. Chen Qiuze led his army from the south, and Emperor Go-kaku and his family also fled south, but they didn't encounter them.

. . . .

Hachimangu Shrine is one of the three main shrines and imperial palaces of the Japanese Emperor. If you go east from here, you can avoid the swamps east of Kyoto, take the main road to Lake Biwa northeast of Kyoto, and then escape to the Kanto region.

"Your Majesty, we cannot stop. We must at least find a boat at Lake Biwa before we can rest properly."

Kujo Naozane, the regent who helped Emperor Kōkaku ascend the throne, prevented Emperor Kōkaku from taking any more rest.

Emperor Kokaku had sweat dripping down his forehead. The imperial family only had 30,000 koku of koku, and they had to support a large group of people and maintain their appearance. So in order to survive, everyone had to eat vegetarian food and live frugally.

They even made up many high-sounding excuses for this helplessness, but no matter how many excuses they made, they could not change the reality.

Because of the pure vegetarian food that Emperor Kokaku ate every day and his bird-like stomach caused by hunger since childhood, his body didn't store much fat at all.

The calories he consumed every day were barely enough to meet his daily needs and could not sustain his long-term, high-intensity escape.

Therefore, as soon as Emperor Kokaku was helped up by Kujo Naozane, his knees went weak and he knelt down again.

"Kanpaku, why don't we stay here at Hachimangu for one night? It's getting late now, so we can rest and eat something. We should still be in time tomorrow morning."

Emperor Gokaku's biological father, Prince Kan'in Norihito, could not bear to see this, so he made a suggestion.

Upon hearing this, Kujo Naomi shook his head cruelly. He sighed and said, "We can't stop, because the one going to Kyoto this time is not Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hideyoshi, even Tokugawa Ieyasu will do!"

Kujo Naomi was about to cry, "The people who came this time are from Tang Dynasty. They are here to punish us for the crime of claiming to be emperor without permission.

In all of Japan, everyone has a way out, even the Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu has a way out, but we have no way out."

Prince Kan'in Palace Norihito immediately shut his mouth, and he did not say that the Emperor of Middle-earth had no right to pursue the matter.

When it comes to matters of orthodoxy and legal principles, Japan has always been a mess.

Because the ancestor of the imperial family, Himiko and even those before Himiko, had indeed received titles.

During the Sui Dynasty, he once arrogantly claimed to be the emperor of the land where the sun rises. However, after being defeated at Baijiangkou, although he did not directly pay tribute, the model of sending envoys to the Tang Dynasty to China was completely based on the vassal state.

As for the confusing things that happened later, there are even more of them.

This legal basis, which makes it impossible to completely exclude vassal states, is simply indefensible when China has an overwhelming military advantage.

Thinking of this, Prince Kan'in Norihito also came over to support his son Emperor Gokaku.

Unfortunately, just as he and Kujo Naozane helped Emperor Kōkaku up, they heard the sound of horse hooves like drums outside. More than 200 cavalrymen, carrying the family crest of the Shimazu clan of the Sadowara domain, came chasing after them.

"There are no Tang cavalry, all of them are Shimazu clan's horses. They really were treated like dogs by the Tang people, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to produce so many fine horses!" Prince Kan'in Norihito stood on a high place in Hachiman Shrine, pointing down and shouting.

"Hurry, put on your crown, keep your demeanor, and let's go down together." Kanpaku Kujo Naomi still has some ability.

Although Hachimangu Shrine is called a palace, even the Imperial Palace in Kyoto is only 156 acres, so Hachimangu Shrine is even smaller.

This palace that looked like a landlord's mansion and the hill that was actually just a mound of earth could not possibly withstand the attack of hundreds of cavalry, nor could they escape.

"The Emperor of the Land of the Rising Sun has been a single dynasty for thousands of years. The people of the Sadowara Domain are also citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun. Even if the Shimazu clan above are ruthless, the samurai below may not dare to do anything to them."

Well, it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but this is also a desperate choice when there is no other way.

So, not long after Shimazu Tadamitsu, Saigo Kichibei, Goshogaku Chisai and others arrived, Emperor Kokaku, the imperial family and more than 30 nobles who had fled to the mountains had already dressed up in formal attire.

They sat on a high platform at the foot of the main gate of Hachimangu Shrine to welcome the visitors from the Sadowara clan.

At this time, Japan had not yet experienced the transition from Asia to Europe, so the emperor's formal dress was not the Western-style tailcoat seen in later generations. Instead, he wore a twelve-chapter imperial crown for formal court meetings, and a robe dyed with cotinus coggygria for receiving the sun, holding court, and meeting with envoys from feudal states.

The former is a complete one-to-one reproduction of Middle-earth after the Taika Reform, except for the heraldic patterns, and the latter is a magical modification of the ochre-yellow robes of the emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties.

However, although it is a magical modification, it is not like the Vietnamese ones that make it look like a monkey in human clothing. The magical modification made by the Japanese is very suitable for their short stature.

After all, if it is really made according to the proportions of Middle-earth, it will definitely be unbalanced when worn.

Therefore, this somewhat majestic costume, combined with the fact that the Japanese emperor has been passed down for more than a hundred generations for thousands of years, and the divinity of the descendants of Amaterasu, is still very awe-inspiring.

"You are riding here on horseback to protect His Majesty?" Emperor Kokaku was sitting at the back, wearing a crown with twelve emblems, and his face could not be seen clearly. In front of him, the regent Kujo Naomichi was wearing a dark purple robe with a plum blossom pattern and a crown with tassels on his head. He stood in front of the emperor and asked loudly.

Pretending to be stupid, Shimazu Tadamisu muttered to himself, but when he opened his mouth, he felt dryness and the words on the tip of his tongue could not come out. He didn't even dare to look at the emperor for fear of going blind.

Only Saigo Kichibei, who had spent several months with the Emperor, had overcome some of his psychological barriers. However, he did not dare to look directly at the Emperor. Instead, he looked at the Chancellor, Kujo Naozane, and replied, "We have long since become the Emperor's warriors. Today we are here to...

Saigo Kichibei was suddenly speechless. As a Confucian disciple, he had to have a legitimate reason for everything he did. Could he really say directly that he was here to kill you?
This wasn't a good idea, since he was the former emperor and now had surrendered to the great emperor. But it wasn't a good idea to directly say that he wanted to kill the emperor and father. Saigo Yoshibei was stunned.

Kujo Naomi saw this and immediately seized on Saigo Kichibei's weakness, and went a step further and said loudly: "Everyone has their own aspirations. If you want to surrender to the Emperor of China, we will not force you.

But since you have already successfully surrendered and become a noble member of the Chinese family, why do you still come here to force me? Don't you have any loyalty at all?"

"There is no two suns in the sky, and no minister has two masters." Saigo Kichibei gritted his teeth and said, "In the Eastern world, there should be only one true Lord. You have usurped power for hundreds of years, and how dare you still demand loyalty from others?"

Now it was Kujo Naomi's turn to be speechless. It was not that he didn't know how to refute, but the situation was not the time to talk about legal principles. God knew if these people were followed by the Tang army.

The Japanese warriors would hesitate, but the Tang army would not. They must leave immediately.

Thinking of this, Kujo Naomichi immediately looked at Emperor Kokaku's biological father, Prince Kan'in Norihito, who was standing behind him.

Prince Kan'in Norihito understood what he meant and immediately stepped forward, holding in his arms Kinko, the only daughter of the previous Emperor Gomozono, who was also the Empress of the current Emperor Kōkaku.

For the safety of his son, the prince actually knelt down and begged bitterly:

"Even if we don't talk about loyalty and righteousness, we should still have some compassion. Even if my family has usurped power, that's the fault of our ancestors. Our ancestors have been usurping power for thousands of years, and we are just following the old ways. We haven't committed any serious crime.

Your Majesty is only twelve years old, and the Empress is only four. What crime could they have committed at such a young age? Even if they were to execute their entire clan, they would not harm someone so young!

After Prince Kan'in Norihito knelt down, the Right Minister Konoe Tsunehiro, the younger brother of Emperor Go-Momozono's adoptive mother, Konoe Yoshiko, also came over and begged.

At the same time, Ichijo Tomiko, who was equivalent to the Empress Dowager, also walked over slowly and said to Saigo Kichibei with tears in her eyes:
"As old men, I shall die as an apology for my sins, but please allow Your Majesty and the Empress to leave. It would be a very good thing if you could become good citizens in the future."

After saying this, the biological mother of Emperor Go-Momozono, along with a group of palace maids, began to cry and beg non-stop while crying.

The warriors who gathered together all showed a look of pity on their faces. After all, this was the emperor of Japan who had been in power for thousands of years, the emperor of the dynasty for eternity!
Moreover, the Emperor and Empress are just a pair of children, and it is hard not to feel sympathy when they beg like this.

Not only ordinary samurai, but even some members of the Shimazu clan's Sadowa clan showed expressions of pity on their faces, and some even turned sideways and made gestures to make way.

Human nature is like this, a mixture of good and evil, one thought can lead to heaven, one thought can lead to hell.

When these people came, they shouted loudly that they would use the lives of the emperor's family in exchange for enormous wealth. However, when they really faced a group of orphans and widows, and the former supreme being's desperate pleas, they still couldn't bring themselves to do it.

When Kujo Naomi saw that it was effective, he was immediately overjoyed. He waved his hand and whispered, "Let's go, let's go!"

On the side of the Sadohara clan of the Shimazu clan, some people opened their mouths, but when they saw that others did not take action, they were unwilling to take the initiative to be the first to cause trouble.

When Emperor Kokaku came out in his carriage, many people even knelt down, or at least did not dare to look the emperor in the eye.

Saigo Yoshibei was sweating profusely on his head. He knew very well that if he failed to do this job well, not only would his future be in jeopardy, but his life might even be in jeopardy. He would definitely be sent to the imperial prison of the Ministry of Justice when he returned.

However, when asked to order the killing of the emperor's entire family, Saigo Kichibei could not bring himself to say it. He looked at Shimazu Tadamisu beside him.

Shimazu Tadamisu was also sweating profusely. He also looked at Saigo Kichibei, and both of them wanted the other to speak first.

At this critical moment, Saigo Kichibei's son Saigo Takamitsu stepped forward.

Because he was good at Confucianism, he became a disciple of the great Confucian scholar Hong Liangji from Jiangnan, and was summoned by the emperor to the Eastern Palace to serve as the prince's guard and companion.

Compared to Shimazu Tadamichi who had to go to Southeast Asia, and his father Saigo Kichibei who was almost forty years old and could hardly become a high-ranking official, Saigo Takamitsu had an extremely bright future.

He also felt that the emperor seemed very close to him, thought he was very talented, and had high hopes for him.

Of course, even if Mo Zibu didn't know Saigo Takamori's grandfather's abilities, he would still look up to him because his surname was Saigo and his character was Takashi, a samurai from the Satsuma domain.

"Yamagami Toru!" An anxious Saigo Takamitsu ignored his father and shouted at the also nervous Yamagami Toru (Yamajiro): "What are you just watching? What's the point of Mr. Tadamichi raising you?"

"Ahhhh!" Shan Shangche let out an inhuman roar. He didn't want to be poor all his life and have no dignity as a lowly person.

"I will kill this usurper for the poor people of the world!" Yamagami Toru roared, thrust the ten-character iron spear in his hand forward, and stabbed it into Prince Kan'innomiya Norihito's chest.

The prince did not expect the accident to happen so quickly. He screamed and tightly grasped the iron spear of Yamagami Toru, preventing him from pulling it out.

"Go, go, go!" The prince howled miserably, and the regent Kujo Naoshige also screamed and came over to hug Yamagami Toru's thighs, because the man had already gotten on Emperor Gokaku's carriage.

Yamagami Toru was extremely nervous. He couldn't pull back the iron spear, so he simply relaxed, drew out the katana on his left, held it with both hands and stabbed it down.

"Ah!" Kanpaku Kujo Naomi screamed, and blood spurted out of his chest. He screamed and tried to grab Yamagami Toru, but Yamagami Toru kicked him away.

"I, I, I am the rising sun..." Emperor Gokaku was almost frightened silly. He was trembling and couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Yamagami Toru's eyes were already red. He drew out the last weapon on his body, a pistol given to him by Saigo Yoshibei, and looked at the short emperor, and his heart suddenly felt relieved.

"I have looked directly at the Emperor and I am not blind. It seems that he is indeed an usurper and a pretender, not the Son of Heaven."

"I, I, I, you dog-foot I!" Yamagami Toru pointed his pistol at Emperor Kokaku and cursed at him.

"Without you, the warriors of the Land of the Rising Sun will no longer have to suffer poverty!"

After saying that, Yamagami Toru pulled the trigger without hesitation. There was a flash of fire from the pistol, and the huge lead bullet suddenly hit Emperor Kokaku's forehead, knocking his thin body off the carriage.

Saigo Takamitsu was extremely excited and was about to step forward immediately, but was stopped by his father Saigo Kichibei.

"Don't do it. This is disloyal. You have to do it cleanly so that you can have the best future."

Saigo Kichibei roared, "What are you still standing there for? Kill these usurpers."

After saying that, he roared, swooped down, and with one stroke, he cut off the neck of Ichijo Tomiko, the nominal grandmother of Emperor Go-kaku.

The black head shot up into the sky, and blood bloomed on the white sheet like cherry blossoms.

"Hah!" Shimazu Tadamisu also took action. He shouted loudly, and the iron spear dropped to the ground, nailing the crying Nakamiya Kinko to death!

Once he took action, the hundreds of samurai from the Sadōhara clan who followed him finally stopped hesitating.

They howled as they advanced and killed Prince Fushimi Sadayuki, the younger brother of Emperor Go-Momozono, and Takashi Sukehira, the elder of the Fuji clan.

Screams rang out one after another, the sound penetrating the waves of time. That day happened to be August 15th. More than 300 members of the Japanese royal family and public officials were all killed, without a single one escaping!

(End of this chapter)