My personal opinion on Gensokyo

Sighing, Kaguya felt quite dissatisfied that she couldn't satisfy her own bad taste.

"However, the Fujiwara clan is doomed. After a few months, when the Yamato court discovers that no Tang army has crossed the sea, the emperor will breathe a sigh of relief and order all the nobles to keep silent about the incident. The Yamato court will pretend nothing has happened and will not punish Fujiwara no Fuhito. However, he will be removed from the center of government from now on. Fujiwara no Fuhito's life will be spared, but his political career will be completely over, and this will be more painful than taking his own life."

The young man said calmly, holding a comic book in his hand.

After this incident, Shang Yang no longer cared about the affairs of the Yamato court.

What is more important now is to further master the power of yin and yang and increase one's own strength.

This is also closely related to another more important thing.

Nara, outside Fujiwara no Kyo, Asuka Kiyomihara Palace.

A few months later.

During these months, both the current monarch, Emperor Wenwu, and the nobles were extremely nervous and frightened, fearing that one day they would wake up to find that the Tang army had entered Fujiwara-kyo, or that they would see many huge and majestic Tang warships sailing on the sea.

The court officials hated Fujiwara no Fuhito and the entire Fujiwara clan to death. They had forged the Tang Dynasty's sage treasures, dragging them down with them. It was said that the Tang Dynasty's sage treasures, the imperial seal, and the Heshi Bi were as important as the three sacred artifacts. If the court officials and Emperor Wenwu heard that someone had forged the three sacred artifacts, they would immediately send troops to suppress them. Putting themselves in their shoes, it was no surprise that the Tang Dynasty would react in any way.

You know, that was the Tang Dynasty!

As a result, Emperor Wenwu could not eat or sleep well, and was worried about his fate every day. The ministers and nobles were even more worried, and their days were like years.

Fortunately, after waiting for several months, the young Emperor Wenwu even wrote a letter of apology to the saint of the Tang Dynasty, and finally the good news came.

After the Yamato court carefully sent envoys to Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty, the envoys sent people to report back and said that they had not heard of the Tang court issuing an order to mobilize the Tang navy. When the envoys from various vassal states attended the grand court in Chang'an, the Tang saint did not draw the emperor's sword and shout a declaration of war on Japan.

Generally speaking, perhaps because Japan is too remote, the sage of the Tang Dynasty did not sense that someone was privately engraving the imperial seal in Japan, or he simply ignored Japan.

Although the reason was not pleasant, the young Emperor Wenwu and the nobles finally breathed a sigh of relief. The most direct manifestation was that the young emperor immediately burned the letter of apology and ate an extra bowl of rice in the evening.

Afterwards, the young Emperor Wenwu finally thought of the ending issue.

Similar to Shang Yang's speculation, Emperor Wenwu ordered all the ministers to keep their mouths shut and pretend that this incident had never happened. However, he was still uneasy and killed dozens of the ministers' attendants who had gone with him that day.

Fujiwara no Fujoshi and others were not punished and were even promoted.

He was promoted from Junior Second Rank, Minister of the Interior to Junior First Rank, Grand Minister of State.

This was a tactic of promoting officials in name only and demoting them in reality. After the Taika Reform, the position of Daijoshi was mostly held by members of the imperial family. Although the Daijoshi had a respected status, he had no rights and no authority in government affairs. It was just an honorary position that looked good.

The enormous power that Fujiwara no Fuhito had wielded as the Minister of the Interior was divided equally among other high-ranking nobles.

The high-ranking officials were very satisfied, thinking it was a blessing in disguise.

At the same time, due to a series of events caused by Fujiwara no Butsu's act of privately engraving the imperial seal of the Tang Dynasty, the attitude of the court officials towards the Fujiwara family dropped to freezing point. Even some low-ranking nobles would mock and ridicule the Fujiwara family when they saw them.

However, after being forced to be promoted to the rank of junior minister of state with only an empty title and honor, Fujiwara no Fuhito, who had been idle in his residence for several months, once again received an order from the young Emperor Mommu to go to Asuka Kiyomihara Palace for an audience.

PS1: I came back late today and only had time to revise 5,000 words of the old article. I will revise a few more chapters and post them tomorrow.

Volume 2: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter: Chapter 46: The Princess's Thoughts

Nara, outside Fujiwara no Kyo, Asuka Kiyomihara Palace.

The current monarch of the Yamato court, Emperor Mommu, sat on the throne with a solemn expression, watching Fujiwara no Fuhito enter the hall in an orderly manner and bow to the young monarch.

"Get up, Lord Fujiwara."

Emperor Wenwu spoke lightly.

"It's been a few months since we last met. How is Lord Fujiwara?"

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am well."

Fujiwara no Fuhito straightened up. Although he said this, it was not difficult to guess from his frivolous tone that Fujiwara no Fuhito had no energy left. The end of his political career also took away most of his life. Now Fujiwara no Fuhito was like a lost soul.

Emperor Mommu did not care about Fujiwara no Fuhito's tone. If it were not for the special nature of the incident, the Fujiwara family would have been expelled from the central government and exiled.

Emperor Wenmu leaned forward and asked Fujiwara no Fuhito with great interest.

"Lord Fujiwara, have you seen Princess Kaguya on the moon? What do you think of her?"

"… Kaguya-hime is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life."

Sighing, Fujiwara no Fuhito answered honestly, then tried again.

"Could it be that Your Majesty is also interested in Princess Kaguya?"

Emperor Wenmu did not answer Fujiwara no Fuhito's question, but changed the subject and asked.

"Lord Fujiwara, I have released Miyako from the palace prison. I now order her to remain in the old palace. However, Lord Fujiwara's daughter, Fujiwara no Momoko, is still imprisoned. I wonder what Lord Fujiwara's plans are?"

"This……"

Upon hearing this, Fujiwara no Fuhito frowned, sighed, and bowed to Emperor Wenwu.

"Everything is entirely up to His Majesty."

"Then order the Minister of Justice to release her home after a while."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Wenwu casually decided the matter for Fujiwara no Fuhito. Fujiwara no Fuhito had no choice but to bow and thank him, then left the hall.

A month later, Fujiwara no Kyo was imprisoned in the Prison Division of the Ministry of Justice.

There were two prisons in Fujiwara-kyo for holding criminals. One was the palace prison originally located in Fujiwara Palace, which was completely burned down in the Fujiwara-kyo fire eleven years ago.

The other one is the Prison Division Prison of the Ministry of Justice located in the Fujiwara-kyo government office. The criminals held here are very diverse, including rioters, thieves, bandits, criminal ministers and their families, and all criminals who have no connection with the palace are imprisoned here.

Deep inside the prison, there is a small single cell.

Imprisoned in the prison was a girl of only about sixteen years old. She was sitting on wet straw, her face pale. She had iron handcuffs on her wrists and an iron chain as thick as a thumb on her right ankle, with the other end of the chain embedded in the wall.

The girl hugged her knees, resting her chin on them, her pure black eyes filled with loneliness.

After being locked up for several months, Fujiwara no Moeko spent most of her time sitting quietly like this. From time to time, miserable cries of grievances and injustices could be heard from other cells, but Fujiwara no Moeko had remained silent since she was locked up. The prison guards were also quite interested in her. The bored prison guard wanted to go in with a whip and give the girl a beating, but was stopped by the prison warden.

However, even if the prison guards did not have the opportunity to embarrass the girl, she suffered a lot during the months she was imprisoned. It was early summer when Fujiwara no Mokou was imprisoned, and the gradually warming weather filled the prison with an unpleasant stench. Fujiwara no Mokou, who had never stayed in such a place, vomited the first time she smelled the stench. Then, gradually getting used to the stench, Mokou encountered a new trouble - mosquitoes.

In summer, mosquitoes buzz all day and night. They pounce on girls when they are not paying attention and suck their blood, leaving them with extremely itchy mosquito bites.

It wasn't just the mosquitoes that were unbearable. When the girl first discovered a centipede in her cell, she screamed and desperately stomped it to pieces. Then, she huddled in a corner and cried softly.

The girl didn't understand why her father had locked her up in this terrible place, and what about the slap she received that day? Did she do something seriously wrong?

The clothes have become sticky because they have not been changed for a long time, and they feel like they are stuck to the body when worn.

After a tough summer, the weather began to cool down, but more deadly dangers also arose. The girl had seen several prisoners die of typhoid fever in prison and were dragged out by the guards. Every time she saw such a scene, the girl would shrink into the corner in fear, not daring to look again.

However, the good times did not last long. Not long after, as the weather continued to turn colder, the girl who caught a cold began to cough constantly one day. She was very scared. At night, the girl was too scared to sleep. She hugged her knees and hid in a corner of the cell against the wall, burying her head and crying softly. She was afraid that she would die.

The girl heard the prison guards talk about how when a prisoner died, if no one came to claim the body, the guards would load the body onto a cart, cover it with straw mats, and take it to a mass grave outside the city, where they would just throw the body there at random without burying it. Most of the bodies would eventually be torn apart and eaten by wolves and wild dogs.

Thinking of her body being torn apart and eaten by wolves and wild dogs, the girl couldn't help crying and sobbing softly.

After several months, the girl finally survived the typhoid fever and was finally released from prison.

After being transferred from prison to the Fujiwara household's retainers, the weary girl boarded the Fujiwara household's carriage. The carriage soon arrived at the residence of a Grand Minister, and the girl, having changed into the clothes brought by the retainers, alighted. She found the residence, once bustling with activity, now deserted. Even withered leaves lay in front of the gate, a desolate scene.

When she returned to the mansion and saw her father, the girl was surprised to find that her father looked almost twenty years older. Fujiwara no Fuhito did not explain to Meihong why she was imprisoned, and the girl could not ask.

Fujiwara no Mokou's inner room.

The girl was lost in thought as she heard the servants vying to tell her all the gossip that had spread outside, about how their father had proposed to the Moon Princess Kaguya but was humiliated.

"Kaguya-sama..."

Fujiwara no Moeko firmly memorized this name in her heart.

It is said that not long ago, even His Majesty admired Kaguyahime's beauty. After sending people to invite Kaguyahime to the palace but being rejected, he actually disguised himself as going out for a trip to see Kaguyahime on Mount Yoshino. It is said that he was already obsessed with her beauty after only seeing Kaguyahime's silhouette through the curtain.

Mount Yoshino, hot spring resort

"I can't live like this anymore..."

Her Royal Highness the Princess lay powerlessly on the table, complaining weakly.

Shang Yang shrugged.

This is called the idol effect.

"I thought I'd be able to live in peace for a while after I dealt with these guys."

Kaguya complained in great distress.

"Why weren't there so many people pursuing me when I was still in the Moon City..."

Seeing that Kaguya Houraisan had completely lost the desire to live, Lian Ai couldn't help laughing.

It's so pitiful, so pitiful that it makes people just want to laugh.

"Shang Yang, Ai, is there a complete solution?"

Kaguya turned her expectant gaze towards Shang Yang and Ai.

"Otherwise, how will I spend the remaining hundreds of years of my exile?"

Shang Yang put down the teacup in his hand and pretended to think when he heard it. It was indeed the case. Judging from Kaguya's expression, she was completely accustomed to living here. If she had been complaining about marriage proposals for hundreds of years, life would be really unbearable.

...Wait, hundreds of years?!

Suddenly catching the incredible keywords, Shang Yang looked at Kaguya in surprise.

"Princess, how many hundreds of years will your exile last?!"

"correct."

Her Royal Highness the Princess nodded as a matter of course.

"Didn't I tell you that Tsukuyomi's original decision for me was to execute me directly? After I was executed and resurrected, the Moon People realized they couldn't kill me, so they changed it to exile."

"My original sentence was to be banished to the Earth forever, but Eirin pleaded for me, so it was changed to exile for several hundred years. However, once I return to the Moon City, I will probably be imprisoned in the depths of the Moon City forever. So how can I not enjoy the remaining few hundred years?"

Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Moon City acted completely indifferent about her future, but this news had a different meaning for Shang Yang.

Kaguya will stay on the earth for hundreds of years, so how did Kaguya-hime in "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" return to the moon?

There are three possibilities. The first is that the worlds are different. Perhaps in the world of "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" that the doctor knows, the Moon People's exile of Miss Kaguya was very short. The second is that it's Miss Kaguya's own fault. The so-called return of Princess Kaguya to the Moon in "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" was a play written and performed by Miss Kaguya herself.

Miss Lord God quickly summarized the possibilities, and before she finished speaking, Shang Yang also thought of a third possibility.

"The third possibility is that Kaguya-hime had been on earth for hundreds of years, but later records only recorded part of her experiences. Because the records were incomplete, some of her experiences were mixed together. Even the five suitors and the final emperor lived a long time apart."

The young man ruffled his hair and concluded.

"By the way, Princess, does this mean you have absolutely no expectations of returning to the Moon City?"

Thinking of this, Shang Yang asked casually.

"Of course."

Her Royal Highness the Princess was still lazily lying on the table, and she glanced at the young man strangely.

"Life on earth is so comfortable and leisurely, much better than the coldness of the Moon City. I was hoping for a change when I took the Penglai medicine made by Yonglin. Now it seems that the result is quite good."

Having said this, Her Royal Highness the Princess stood up and looked at Shang Yang and Ai with a rare gentle gaze.

Seeing their confused looks, Kaguya couldn't help but smile with her hands covering her mouth.

"Since I was young, I was taught in the Moon City that everything in the mortal world is dirty, 'filthy.' It's precisely by rejecting change and 'filth' that the Moon City can enjoy an eternal pure land. Although I'm very confused by this, the Moon City doesn't have any other explanation. That's why I took the Penglai medicine that can bring about 'change.' Perhaps I'm not a person who likes to stay still, but after these ten years with you, I think the Moon City is wrong."

"Uh……"

Upon hearing this, Shang Yang looked at the confident Princess with some surprise.

"Let's not talk about anything else! If the Moon City refuses to change, then there won't be any new games or animations to play or watch, right?!"

Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Moon City righteously accused her hometown.

"This is definitely the most evil of evil ways!"

...As expected of you.

The young man with messy hair twitched his mouth, but he didn't complain in the end.

"As expected of a NEET-ji, but it's nice that you think that way."

However, after she finished speaking, Kaguya leaned down on the table in a somewhat dejected manner, and her ethereal and sweet voice became a little sad.

"But after all, are the 'changes' that Penglai's medicine brings to me limited?"

"In the end, I will be bound by eternity, quietly waiting in the Moon City for the day when eternity ends and eternal calamity arrives..."

"...That sounds rather sad."

The young man ruffled his hair again and said in agreement.