I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 52 Yagyu enters the palace to meet the emperor at night

It is really not an easy task to sneak into the imperial palace. Although the Japanese emperor has been in power for a short time in more than 1000 years of history and has been just a mascot most of the time, the imperial palace still has the specifications.

From the Heian-Kyo period to the Azuchi-Momoyama period, the emperor's palace continued to be expanded. The most recent expansion was during the Ansei period.

Today's imperial palace has twelve outer gates, six middle gates, twelve inner gates, and three-story gates to protect the safety of the interior (li) of the palace.

The inner emphasis is inside Chengming Gate, the middle emphasis is outside Chengming Gate and inside Jianli Gate, and the outer emphasis is outside Jianli Gate and inside Zhuque Gate.

The inner palace includes Jinjuden where you can watch sumo wrestling and hold internal banquets. It was originally the emperor's bedroom, but later it was moved to Qingliangden.

The Shichenden Hall where the emperor succeeded to the throne and enthronement ceremony was held, and the Gojoden Palace where the modern emperors lived, that is, several emperors after the Meiji period lived.

The Qingliangden Hall, the Houliangden Hall, where the emperor resides, and the seven halls of the harem.

In addition, the Queen's Palace Tsunegoden is where the Empress lives, and the Crown Prince's residence is Ohanagoden. Meiji, who is still the Crown Prince, lives here today.The prince lives in Wakamiya, and the princess lives in Himemiya Palace.

Entering from the Jianli Gate in the south direction, and then through the inner south gate Chengming Gate, you can see a large square. The palace at the front is the Zichen Palace. Under the steps in front of the palace, there are two orange trees on the left and cherry trees on the right.

Behind Zichen Hall is Renshou Hall, and to the left of Renshou Hall are Qingliang Hall and Houliang Hall.On the right is the Flower Palace.

Behind Renshou Hall is the harem with seven halls and five rooms.
After the seven halls, to the north is the Queen's Palace, the Changyu Palace, and to the left behind the Palace is the palace of the princes and princesses.

There are two stories: Konoe and other ministers narrated that Yagyu drew a map of the palace, and now he must find a way to enter it.

Yagyu saw the Konoe Residence. The Konoe Residence was inside the Imadegawa Imperial Gate. Walking south was the Shohei Gate. Behind the Shohei Gate were the Empress and Prince's residence, Tsunei Palace, Wakanomiya and other palaces.

If he sets out from the guard's house at night, he does not need to pass through three layers of protection, but only needs to deal with one layer of protection, and the difficulty factor is doubled.

The second was how he could break through the city gate guarded by the Choshu clan. It seemed that he had no other option but to climb over the wall.

Fortunately, the walls of the Japanese Imperial Palace are not as tall as the Forbidden City, so it is not difficult to climb over the walls.

Yagyu immediately told Matsudaira Yongho about his plan. Matsudaira Yongho found Konoe Tadahiro and had a discussion with Yagyu. Konoe Tadahiro nodded and said: "Although this is a bit... um... Anyway, how did Jubei get to my house? Up?"

Yagyu said quickly: "I can go back disguised as a slave of the Konoe Palace, but not today. The servants around the Konoe Palace are too short, so I need someone with my stature."

Konoe Tadahi knew this, and he brought two tall retainers here the next day. Yagyu immediately changed into the clothes of a Konoe family retainer and followed Konoe Tadahi back to the Konoe mansion.

As night fell, Yagyu had already put on a set of gray clothes and covered his face.

In fact, the previous heads of the Yagyu family served as otomesuke and were the leaders of Otawaban. Yagyu belonged to the ninja lineage when he was in the Yagyu domain. However, the original Yagyu preferred to be a samurai, so he practiced Yagyu Shinin-ryu hard, and then left the domain and became a ronin. .

His name should be Lietou Yoshiaki. It is said that the Miao character of Sentou was founded by Yagyu Jubei Sanyan, one of the three dogs of Yagyu, as a ninja. The people of the Yagyu clan who later became ninjas all used this Miao character as their Miao character.

The reason why Yagyu broke away from the feudal clan and changed his name to Yagyu Jubei was based on this allusion.

Yagyu had some background as a ninja, so he had already prepared the tools to climb over the wall. He used the night and the heavy mountain paths to reach the dead end of the inner city wall.

He took out the hook rope and threw it up. The iron hook hit the edge. Yagyu just used his strength and climbed up the city wall in a few steps. He took back the hook rope and immediately got off the city wall. He walked north and passed the palace of the prince and princess. Then we came to the Thunder Pot, also known as Xi Fang House, which was named after the huge tree that was burned down by lightning.

This palace is located in the northwest corner of the imperial palace. To the south is Ninghuasha and to the east is Denkaden, where the emperor's female imperial concubines lived.

It was already late at night when Liu Sheng came in. There was only a faint light in Xifang House, and a woman's back was seen through the window, which seemed to be distorted.Yagyu just took one look and left. Forget it, Emperor Xiaomei treated him well, so he didn't want to take advantage of him anymore.

In the palace, there are maids patrolling, and Yagyu can only walk bent down the corridor. Although the emperor is a puppet, the maids are basically the daughters of the Duke's family. They are not bad in appearance and are very eye-catching.

Liu Sheng glanced hastily, turned and left.

Yagyu carefully walked a few hundred meters to the Ogiya House in the back courtyard of Qingliang Hall, which was named after the Ogi flowers planted there.

When we got here, there were more people, and there were ministers guarding the door.

Yagyu didn't rush forward. He waited for more than an hour. The guards began to feel sleepy. Then Yagyu used the shadow to come to the wall and turned over to enter the hospital.

When Yagyu entered the courtyard, he saw a female emperor napping in the corridor. He quickly stepped forward and knocked the female emperor unconscious. Then he opened the door of the bedroom, entered, and closed the door.

The dormitory was very large, with fifteen tatami mats, and the emperor slept behind a small room with mats hung directly in front.

Yagyu came to the mat and vaguely saw the emperor's figure. He whispered: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

Emperor Takamei, who had not slept well because of the incident involving Yamato, suddenly woke up when he heard the man calling his name. He looked at the black figure outside the curtain and asked, "Who is that person?"

Yagyu saluted and said, "Your Majesty, it's me, Jubei Yagyu, the director of the Shinsengumi."

The emperor was a little surprised, and he quickly opened the curtain and said happily: "Jubei, why did you sneak into the palace?"

Yagyu explained: "Your Majesty, Lord Matsudaira, the Konoe Palace and the Nakagawa Palace all know about the conspiracy of Choshu Domain and Sanjo Sanimi. Lord Matsudaira and the others are thinking of ways to deal with Sanjo Sanimi and Choshu Domain. Please bear with your Majesty for a while." day."

Emperor Takamei was overjoyed, and he quickly said: "Jubei, tell them that I have no intention of conquering the shogunate personally. My intention has always been to focus on the shogunate. Everyone should work together to fight against foreign aggression. It's just Sanjo Sanimi and others." Every time you misinterpret my meaning, it’s really hateful.”

Yagyu said in a low voice: "Can you please write a letter to your Majesty? I'm worried that people will speak lightly and no one will believe what I say."

Yagyu found a pen and paper and handed it to the emperor to write. Although the night was dark, Emperor Komei used the moonlight to write a piece of paper and give it to Yagyu.

The Emperor held Yagyu's hand and said sincerely: "It's true that the strong wind knows the strong grass, and the strong wind knows the loyal ministers. Jubei, you are the second person I trust besides Lieutenant General Aizu."

Yagyu reassured: "Your Majesty, don't worry. With your support, the Aizu Domain will join forces with the Satsuma Domain to catch them off guard and drive away these traitors. Your Majesty will be safe."

"Okay, okay, I believe in you!"

"Your Majesty, take care. I will take my leave."

The emperor watched Yagyu disappear into the night, and then glanced at the unconscious female imperial concubine in the corridor. He closed the door silently and went back to lie down.

　Note 1: The protagonist's identity as a member of the Yagyu branch family is fictitious because the Miao character of the Yagyu branch family was not found.

　　The fact that the protagonist has ninja skills is also due to some Japanese speculation about the Yagyu family, which is borrowed and quoted in this novel.

　　Note 2: I am not sure whether Emperor Komei’s sleeping chamber is located in Qingliangden or Gosugoden, so I chose Qingliangden. However, Baidu mentioned that the emperor moved to Goshin Palace, so I did not go into the details.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)