I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The next moment, pure maternal love drove the women to rush towards their children and hold them tightly in their arms.

Fortunately, the unidentified army ignored the civilians.

They ignored the group of trembling women and children and walked straight ahead.

Suddenly, someone stopped in their tracks, turned their head, and looked at the group of children with a complicated expression.

He immediately recognized that the children had just been playing "Red and White Battle".

After a moment of silence, he said softly:

"Stop playing this boring game. Once you actually pick up swords, you won't like this game anymore. Go home with your mothers."

Having said that, he fell silent, looked away, quickened his pace, and caught up with the main group.

……

……

This unnamed army sped through the streets of Edo without hesitation or pause.

Wherever they moved, the people there screamed in terror.

The peaceful atmosphere vanished completely! In its place was intense panic!

"What's going on? Who are they?!"

"Never mind that! Let's go!"

"Waaaaah! Wait for me! Don't leave me alone!"

In the blink of an eye, the crowd vanished... leaving only the dust left by the stomping of shoes on the ground, still drifting on the street.

This army was not running around aimlessly; their objective was clear—their advance was aimed at the majestic Edo Castle!

As for their direction of attack, it was equally clear—they charged straight towards Akasaka Mikado!

Akasaka Mikado, which was blasted into ruins by a massive amount of gunpowder, has yet to be rebuilt.

Without advanced equipment such as excavators, relying solely on manual labor, even with Ren Qingdeng and his team's exceptional abilities, it would have been impossible to rebuild Akasaka Mikado in such a short time.

In other words, Akasaka Mikado, which is still in ruins, is the weakest point of the "Thirty-Six Attachments"!

If we were to attack Akasaka-mikado, even without ladders, cannons, or siege equipment, we could easily break through the "Thirty-six Gates" and enter Edo Castle!

Why wouldn't we take advantage of such a perfect breakthrough point?

As the large army gradually approached Akasaka Mikado, urgent shouts suddenly rang out from behind Akasaka Mikado—the garrison's post:

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Prepare to meet the enemy! Prepare to meet the enemy!"

The next moment, a series of agile figures clad in light blue haori rushed about! To their positions!

War again... another fierce battle erupts at Akasaka Mikado!

However, the last time the two sides fought were the combined forces of the Mu army and the Faki army.

This time, both sides in the battle were the Mu army!

The defenders shouted:

"They are rebels from the 'Hitotsubashi faction'! Show no mercy! Defeat the rebels! Suppress the unrest!"

The attacking side shouted:

"The enemy is at Edo Castle! Slay the traitor Tachibana!"

Two completely different voices resounded inside and outside the Akasaka Gate.

A moment later, the two armies collided heavily!

On January 1, 1865, the first year of the Keio era, the civil war broke out in the Tokugawa shogunate!

The Nanki faction and the Hitotsubashi faction have launched a full-scale war!

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Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu: "Tachibana Aoto, Tokugawa Iemochi, do you like my assassination methods?"

P.S.: In reality, Akasaka Mikado is one of the few remaining gates among the "Thirty-six Gates," and there's even a subway station there; you can find it when you travel to Tokyo. However, in this book, Akasaka Mikado is frequently persecuted.

Chapter 976 Nanki Faction VS Hitotsubashi Faction, The Second Siege of Edo! [4600]

"The enemy is in XXX"—a famous slogan in Japanese history.

Back then, Akechi Mitsuhide shouted "The enemy is at Honnoji!" and led his troops to attack Honnoji, where he assassinated his lord, Oda Nobunaga.

From then on, the slogan "The enemy is in XXX" had a special meaning, much like "Purge the court of corrupt officials".

Nowadays, the soldiers of the "Hitotsubashi faction" are shouting "The enemy is in Edo Castle"... Putting everything else aside, just shouting this sentence has made the tense atmosphere in Edo even more intense!

……

……

Edo, Imado-cho (north of Edo Castle), a certain mansion—

The sounds of rousing shouts, angry roars, and the clanging of clashing weapons created a terrifying cacophony during the fierce battle between the two armies.

These waves of sound pierced through the small world of Akasaka Mikado, spreading in all directions and reaching far away. Even Hitotsubashi Yoshiki and the others in Imado Town could faintly hear them.

The tall man raised his eyelids, his gaze deep, and murmured:

"here we go……"

In a room deep within this mansion, the high-ranking members of the "Hitotsubashi faction" gathered—Hitotsubashi Yoshiki was also present.

They sat upright, with Yoshiki Ichibashi in the head seat, and tall, short, fat, and thin men sitting on either side.

Every single one of them was fully armed, with a precious sword at their waist, a battle robe on their body, and their ancestral armor.

Standing ready for battle, swords drawn... such a scene, such an atmosphere, is just like the main battle formation of an army.

Looking closely, one can discover the myriad aspects of life within this room... no, to be correct. Within this very formation.

Some remained calm and composed, such as a small number of people like the tall man.

Some people appeared anxious, such as overweight individuals and most others.

Some had complex expressions. For example, Yoshiki Ichibashi.

Suddenly, the fat man let out a heavy sigh:

"Sigh... seizing power by force... it has finally come to this..."

He had barely finished speaking when the skinny man chimed in:

"Do we really need to go this far?"

As soon as the skinny guy finished speaking, the tall guy gave him a cold glare.

"At this point, don't say such foolish things! Do you think I don't want to use more prudent methods?"

Faced with the tall man's rebuke, the skinny man lowered his head in shame, not daring to utter another word.

Abandoning verbal attacks and assassinations, mobilizing the army, and seizing power by force... without a doubt, this is the ultimate means with no room for maneuver!

The tall man wasn't lying; if given a choice, they would indeed prefer to use a more secure and safer approach.

Just like the "Xuanwu Gate Incident" of that year, the impact was minimized, and the power grab was completed at the lowest possible cost.

For a while now, they've been trying to assassinate Tokugawa Iemochi and Aoto.

There are essentially two methods to assassinate these two people—

One option was to send out skilled ninjas to slit their throats with short swords.

Second, they used poison to kill them.

The former is so difficult that it is practically impossible.

Although Qing Deng was seriously injured, Gao Lao and the others still did not believe that there was a ninja in the world who could get close to Niou.

Regardless of the feasibility of "assassinating Qingdeng", the mere question of "how to find Qingdeng" is enough to leave them helpless.

Recently, Qing Deng has seemed to have disappeared, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

So far, regarding the specific location of Qingdeng, Gao Lao and others have received information from Edo Castle, the Domain Secretariat, the Imperial Palace, and so on, and so forth.

In comparison, Tokugawa Iemochi is much easier to find; he is definitely in the Honmaru of Edo Castle and could not possibly be anywhere else.

However... sending ninjas to infiltrate the citadel of Edo Castle was also an impossible task.

Edo Castle is the pinnacle of Japanese castle-building techniques; how could it be easily infiltrated by just two or three ninjas?

There are no secret passages leading directly to the main compound within the city, nor are there many hidden places for ninjas to hide.

To get to the main castle, one must walk along the wide avenues, cross the moats, and pass through the third and second castles...

Even a powerful figure like Shuten-dōji never considered sneaking in when facing this imposing fortress; instead, he launched a fierce frontal attack.

In conclusion, the idea of ​​"infiltrating Edo Castle" is physically impossible!

The only feasible method left is the latter, namely, poisoning.

However... as it turns out, the Edo Shogunate was able to last for more than 260 years, becoming the longest-lasting samurai regime in Japanese history, and it did indeed have some tricks up its sleeve.

The shogunate devised a comprehensive system to prevent poisoning.

First, the daily meals of the shogun, the imperial palace, the great imperial palace, and other nobles of the shogunate were prepared by the imperial kitchen.

The Imperial Kitchen was extremely strictly managed, and it was very difficult for unauthorized persons or those with questionable backgrounds to get close to it.

How the Imperial Kitchen prepared food and how it was served... all of these were governed by extremely complicated regulations, which could be written in thousands of words in detail.

Secondly, the food served to the general and others was tasted for poison by designated personnel.

After the imperial kitchen prepared the food, the imperial chefs would first test it for poison.

The number of people in charge of meals ranged from several to more than ten.

They were in charge of the food and drink in Edo Castle, and also served as poison testers for the meals of the shogun and others; they were commonly known as "Oni-yaku" (demon servants).