Truly, this is where
Travelers who go or come
Over parting ways--
Friends or strangers--all must meet:
The gate of "Meeting Hill."
- Semimaru
Tokugawa no Haiku: Chapter 2 - The Strings of the Puppets
Characters:
- Emperor Komei
- Tokugawa Iemochi
- Makimachi Marou (Misao's father)
- Kashiwazaki Nenji (Okina)
- Aki Fujiwqara (Noble, Militery Advisor)
- Senjirou Hito (Satsuma's Tactician)
July 1864, the Oniwa and several other intelligence agencies received news of Choshu getting ready for a sudden attack of Edo, planning to overthrow the shogun and dominates the nation. Immediately, they report it to the shogun and his advisors. One of those advisors suggested rather than using massive numbers of troops to guard against Edo, they should withdraw troops from the Royal Palace to protect Edo, this way other rebel clans will not have a chance to attack other important locations. As for the royal family, the rebel clans are not expected to attack the emperor's palace since they go by the slogan, Sonno Joi - revere the emperor, expel the barbarians. Makimachi Marou, then, was against the decision. Kashiwazaki Nenji told Makimachi Nien a night before, "It is strange that the Choshu should attack Edo without any support from its allies, I suspect something is wrong." but he was in no position to defy direct orders so he secretly sent a small team of agents to follow the clues.
Sure enough, on a fateful night of August, a surprise attack from the Choshu landed but not on the Shogun but on the Emperor's palace. Ironically, they believed the Emperor was in control by the minions of the Shogun and his aides so they planned to rescue the Emperor from the clutches of evil and save the kingdom. Suddenly men from Satsuma came in from nowhere and joined in the fight. The battle raged on for hours, buildings, homes, mansions and shinto shrines around the palace were burnt to the ground. The last few remaining guards protecting the palace was in no shape to defend themselves, let alone the emperor. It dawned at that momment was that the Satsuma Clan was fighting for the side of the Tokagawa and Komei. Leading the Satsuma warriors was Senji Hiro, a tactician from the Satsuma's clan.
At the same time, the small backroom in the royal palace, several guards protecting the Crown Prince Mutsuhito are murdered by assassins, they grab the prince but a dagger struck into one of the assassins' neck and several Oniwa agents fell into place and rescued the prince. More guards came in, the Oniwa agents escaped. In the front garden, Choshu men were backstab by Satsuma's gunfires, the small victory here reflects the outcome of the entire battle. Most of the Choshu men were shot dead, several commited suicide; only one remains. The battle came to a halt at sunrise, troops from the Tokugawa arrived and the representation of Satsuma Clan was welcomed into Edo. A few days later, a decree from the Shogun came down into the Oniwabanshuu main base in Edo. "By the decree of the Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi, the leader of the Oniwabanshuu, Makimachi Marou shall surrender himself for punishment for defying direct orders and shall be held responsibility for the attack on Crown Prince Mutsuhito and possible alliance with the rebels of Choshu." As loyal as ever, he gave himself in, and locked up in jail under close supervision in Edo.
"How is that possible!?" Kawshiwazaki Nenji sat down on the ground, deep in thought. "We saved the prince! How can they claim that we tried to attack him!" "Yeah! The Shogun is blind!" "Shut up!" Nenji shouted, "There must be something else.." "It must be Satsuma's spies, I know many nobles have sided with them secretly. Satsuma must have used this event to gain trust from the Shogun and remove their rivals." "Right, and with their people within the government, they are able to turn the tables to their own advantage." "How can we prove their misdeeds?"
4 days from the battle, Kashiwazaki Nenji visited Makimachi Marou secretly in jail, it was Tuesday morning. "The shogun is a fearful man, despite his age, Nenji. Wait paitently." That was all the old man said, Nenji sat in the tavern, sipping tea as he ponder upon the words. A young begger crawl beneath him and begs for some loose coins. The owner of the tavern spots the boy, drag him out and give him one trashing. Nenji stops him, and gives the boy some coins. The boy ran away happily. Suddenly, it dawned upon Nenji that he have not really looked at the everyday lives around him. The prostitutes lurking in the entertainment district, clearly farmgirls sold to pay their family debts with all their country accent and vulgars. The country is devestated after the famines, and the people still live in hell-like state. "Am I really fighting for the right side?" He wondered to himself, quietly as he recalls cases of people eating human flesh just to stay alive in a northen remote village just a year ago, it was a horrible sight. Shaking his head, he kept his purse and his sword. And all the while the Tokugawa and the upper classes enjoy their lives on others misery.
At the beginning of September of the same year, the reginments of Nabeshima was attacked and overtaken by Choshu clearly proven the threated posed by Choshu is alive and well but at the same time, it also reenforced the trust of the Satsuma by the Tokugawa government. The people on the streets are saying, "The rebels will not stay long, the Tokugawa have the help of the Satsuma Clan." and faith in the government increases slightly. The militery advisor, Aki Fujiwara, presented the idea of bring troops from Satsuma into Osaka in protecting any future conflicts with Choshu warriors since they have the biggest influence in Hiroshima and Kochi but only manage to bring the shogun into "considering" this proposal. However, it does prove that the government advisors are already ready to believe in the Satsuma cause and this is very dangerous especially for the Tokugawa. To counter this, the shogun brought in troops from Aizu, the most loyal state under the Tokugawa, into Osaka instead while he plans to take on Shikoku from sea from his own forces.
The Satsuma clans are not sitting ducks either, although their troops are not allowed to be in Edo, they have sent their men secretly while their spies infiltrate the government offices. Nobles especially who defaulted to their side in promise of power in the new government aided behind enemy lines, and with the Oniwabanshuu crippled, their chance is here. Their plan was to secretly fuel Choshu with weapons while nodding quietly towards the Tokugawa and the Emperor, and they will reap the fruits no matter which side wins. They know, they have the upmost authority over illegal arms sales throughout the region. It is a hard time for normal people, spies are everywhere and no matter which side you are on, you will get into trouble for saying the slightest words. The Oniwabanshuu especially, had to keep a low profile, simply vanished from the scene for a period of time.
Less than a week passed, the Shogun requested the Lord of Choshu, Lord Mori to surrender himself for punishment but he naturally refused so Shogun Iemochi had to plan for militery actions, something Satsuma wanted. And it is also clear that the Emperor Komei was in favor of the Tokugawa, by bringing their families closer through marrige, Emperor Komei has incidently passed on his royal heritage to the Tokugawa thus making himself expendable for someone is there to continue the bloodlines. A mistake he will regret in the future..
PS: Kenshin is still training somewhere. XD
Travelers who go or come
Over parting ways--
Friends or strangers--all must meet:
The gate of "Meeting Hill."
- Semimaru
Tokugawa no Haiku: Chapter 2 - The Strings of the Puppets
Characters:
- Emperor Komei
- Tokugawa Iemochi
- Makimachi Marou (Misao's father)
- Kashiwazaki Nenji (Okina)
- Aki Fujiwqara (Noble, Militery Advisor)
- Senjirou Hito (Satsuma's Tactician)
July 1864, the Oniwa and several other intelligence agencies received news of Choshu getting ready for a sudden attack of Edo, planning to overthrow the shogun and dominates the nation. Immediately, they report it to the shogun and his advisors. One of those advisors suggested rather than using massive numbers of troops to guard against Edo, they should withdraw troops from the Royal Palace to protect Edo, this way other rebel clans will not have a chance to attack other important locations. As for the royal family, the rebel clans are not expected to attack the emperor's palace since they go by the slogan, Sonno Joi - revere the emperor, expel the barbarians. Makimachi Marou, then, was against the decision. Kashiwazaki Nenji told Makimachi Nien a night before, "It is strange that the Choshu should attack Edo without any support from its allies, I suspect something is wrong." but he was in no position to defy direct orders so he secretly sent a small team of agents to follow the clues.
Sure enough, on a fateful night of August, a surprise attack from the Choshu landed but not on the Shogun but on the Emperor's palace. Ironically, they believed the Emperor was in control by the minions of the Shogun and his aides so they planned to rescue the Emperor from the clutches of evil and save the kingdom. Suddenly men from Satsuma came in from nowhere and joined in the fight. The battle raged on for hours, buildings, homes, mansions and shinto shrines around the palace were burnt to the ground. The last few remaining guards protecting the palace was in no shape to defend themselves, let alone the emperor. It dawned at that momment was that the Satsuma Clan was fighting for the side of the Tokagawa and Komei. Leading the Satsuma warriors was Senji Hiro, a tactician from the Satsuma's clan.
At the same time, the small backroom in the royal palace, several guards protecting the Crown Prince Mutsuhito are murdered by assassins, they grab the prince but a dagger struck into one of the assassins' neck and several Oniwa agents fell into place and rescued the prince. More guards came in, the Oniwa agents escaped. In the front garden, Choshu men were backstab by Satsuma's gunfires, the small victory here reflects the outcome of the entire battle. Most of the Choshu men were shot dead, several commited suicide; only one remains. The battle came to a halt at sunrise, troops from the Tokugawa arrived and the representation of Satsuma Clan was welcomed into Edo. A few days later, a decree from the Shogun came down into the Oniwabanshuu main base in Edo. "By the decree of the Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi, the leader of the Oniwabanshuu, Makimachi Marou shall surrender himself for punishment for defying direct orders and shall be held responsibility for the attack on Crown Prince Mutsuhito and possible alliance with the rebels of Choshu." As loyal as ever, he gave himself in, and locked up in jail under close supervision in Edo.
"How is that possible!?" Kawshiwazaki Nenji sat down on the ground, deep in thought. "We saved the prince! How can they claim that we tried to attack him!" "Yeah! The Shogun is blind!" "Shut up!" Nenji shouted, "There must be something else.." "It must be Satsuma's spies, I know many nobles have sided with them secretly. Satsuma must have used this event to gain trust from the Shogun and remove their rivals." "Right, and with their people within the government, they are able to turn the tables to their own advantage." "How can we prove their misdeeds?"
4 days from the battle, Kashiwazaki Nenji visited Makimachi Marou secretly in jail, it was Tuesday morning. "The shogun is a fearful man, despite his age, Nenji. Wait paitently." That was all the old man said, Nenji sat in the tavern, sipping tea as he ponder upon the words. A young begger crawl beneath him and begs for some loose coins. The owner of the tavern spots the boy, drag him out and give him one trashing. Nenji stops him, and gives the boy some coins. The boy ran away happily. Suddenly, it dawned upon Nenji that he have not really looked at the everyday lives around him. The prostitutes lurking in the entertainment district, clearly farmgirls sold to pay their family debts with all their country accent and vulgars. The country is devestated after the famines, and the people still live in hell-like state. "Am I really fighting for the right side?" He wondered to himself, quietly as he recalls cases of people eating human flesh just to stay alive in a northen remote village just a year ago, it was a horrible sight. Shaking his head, he kept his purse and his sword. And all the while the Tokugawa and the upper classes enjoy their lives on others misery.
At the beginning of September of the same year, the reginments of Nabeshima was attacked and overtaken by Choshu clearly proven the threated posed by Choshu is alive and well but at the same time, it also reenforced the trust of the Satsuma by the Tokugawa government. The people on the streets are saying, "The rebels will not stay long, the Tokugawa have the help of the Satsuma Clan." and faith in the government increases slightly. The militery advisor, Aki Fujiwara, presented the idea of bring troops from Satsuma into Osaka in protecting any future conflicts with Choshu warriors since they have the biggest influence in Hiroshima and Kochi but only manage to bring the shogun into "considering" this proposal. However, it does prove that the government advisors are already ready to believe in the Satsuma cause and this is very dangerous especially for the Tokugawa. To counter this, the shogun brought in troops from Aizu, the most loyal state under the Tokugawa, into Osaka instead while he plans to take on Shikoku from sea from his own forces.
The Satsuma clans are not sitting ducks either, although their troops are not allowed to be in Edo, they have sent their men secretly while their spies infiltrate the government offices. Nobles especially who defaulted to their side in promise of power in the new government aided behind enemy lines, and with the Oniwabanshuu crippled, their chance is here. Their plan was to secretly fuel Choshu with weapons while nodding quietly towards the Tokugawa and the Emperor, and they will reap the fruits no matter which side wins. They know, they have the upmost authority over illegal arms sales throughout the region. It is a hard time for normal people, spies are everywhere and no matter which side you are on, you will get into trouble for saying the slightest words. The Oniwabanshuu especially, had to keep a low profile, simply vanished from the scene for a period of time.
Less than a week passed, the Shogun requested the Lord of Choshu, Lord Mori to surrender himself for punishment but he naturally refused so Shogun Iemochi had to plan for militery actions, something Satsuma wanted. And it is also clear that the Emperor Komei was in favor of the Tokugawa, by bringing their families closer through marrige, Emperor Komei has incidently passed on his royal heritage to the Tokugawa thus making himself expendable for someone is there to continue the bloodlines. A mistake he will regret in the future..
PS: Kenshin is still training somewhere. XD