The Kyoto Imperial Palace in Kyoto is synonymous with "mystery" not only to outsiders but even to the locals of Kyoto.
Because the Kyoto Imperial Palace is the emperor's bedroom.
It is the most forbidden place in Kyoto.
The emperor has almost no real power, and his daily life can basically be described as "doing nothing."
If the Edo shogunate followed the system of hereditary nobility and hereditary stipends, then the Kyoto imperial court was even worse.
Almost all official positions in the imperial court were inherited by the families of the Regent, Qinghua, Ministers, Yulin, and Ming families. The official positions that could be held or promoted were determined by the family background.
These people who could serve as officials in the imperial court for generations were called "Kukee", while the samurai who served as officials in the shogunate for generations were called "Buke".
Although their privilege of serving as officials in the court for generations seems powerful, they are actually just a group of mascots.
To be precise, the entire Kyoto Imperial Court had only one mascot. Even the Emperor who was in charge of the Imperial Court had no real power, so what power could these officials in the Imperial Court have?
They only have high-profile official titles, and all they can do every day is to compose poems and associate themselves with the elegant people.
From the emperor to ordinary officials in the court, everyone had nothing to do every day. Therefore, as the emperor's bedroom, the Kyoto Imperial Palace has always been very quiet.
However, what is rare is that the Kyoto Imperial Palace is quite lively today.
The reason is that a distinguished guest is visiting today.
…
…
Kyoto, Kyoto Imperial Palace——
"Your Excellency." The Grand Councilor, who was sitting in front of Matsudaira Sadanobu, said to him in a very standard courtly manner, "Your behavior this time has really made His Majesty the Emperor extremely dissatisfied."
Dainagon: A position of the highest rank in the imperial court, the position is held by the emperor's immediate family, and is responsible for reporting government affairs to the emperor and also for announcing the emperor's orders. This position has been held by the Ubayashi family, the Meika family, and the Hanka family for generations.
The so-called elegant language is a special speaking tone used by court officials to show their status.
At this time, Matsudaira Sadanobu, wearing a standing hat and a court uniform that he had worn for who knows when, knelt on the ground and spoke in a very standard and elegant voice:
"I cannot shirk my responsibility for this misconduct. I will bear all the responsibility."
For Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was a senior councilor of the shogunate, "being able to speak elegant language" was one of the skills he had to master.
There is a considerable difference between the official uniforms of the imperial court and those of the shogunate.
The shogunate's official residence was quite simple, in contrast to the much more ornate uniforms of the imperial court.
Almost a thousand years ago, when Japan launched the "Taika Reform" and comprehensively learned the advanced systems and culture of the Sui and Tang dynasties, it designed the official uniforms of their Japanese court based on the official uniforms of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Over the past thousand years, the style of imperial court uniforms has not changed much, so even today, one can still see some traces of the Sui and Tang dynasty uniforms from a thousand years ago on imperial court uniforms.
"Lord Rochu." The Dainagon, who was wearing white makeup, lipstick, and black teeth, continued to insist, "Your Majesty is extremely puzzled by the defeat this time. Why did an army of 10,000 people lose to a mere Ogata Noriyoshi?"
"And - why hasn't this evil villain Ogata Issei been caught until now?"
In addition to speaking elegant language, court officials often did one thing to show their status, and that was to put on makeup.
Paint the face white, paint the lips red, and dye the teeth black - this is the standard appearance of court officials.
In ancient Japan, painting one's face white, lips red, and teeth black was a symbol of elegance and nobility.
"This defeat was not only due to the surprise attack by Ogata Noriyoshi," Matsudaira Sadanobu said slowly, "but also because we underestimated the tenacity of the Ezo people in the Red Moon Fortress..."
Matsudaira Sadanobu slowly told the person in front of him the whole story of the disastrous defeat that happened a few months ago.
There was a curtained mat in front of Matsudaira Sadanobu.
Behind the curtain, there sat a man wearing an absurdly tall black hat.
Because the man's face was covered by a curtain, people could not see his appearance clearly.
According to the regulations of the Japanese imperial court, the higher the eboshi, the more noble the status.
Throughout the imperial court, there was only one person who could wear such a tall black hat - the emperor.
The person sitting opposite Matsudaira Sadanobu across a thin curtain is none other than the current Emperor of Japan: Emperor Kanehito.
In order to maintain the emperor's mystery, when the emperor summoned others, he would sit behind a curtain so that outsiders could not see his face.
At the same time, the emperor basically does not speak. When he wants to say something to the people he is meeting, he will ask the Dainagon, who is the emperor's close attendant, to convey the message on his behalf.
While explaining the whole process of the defeat, Matsudaira Sadanobu was secretly looking at the emperor behind the curtain.
Although the emperor's face was obscured by a curtain, Matsudaira Sadanobu could roughly guess what the emperor looked like at the moment - he was probably smiling smugly.
He smiled smugly at having successfully disgusted Matsudaira Sadanobu.
In fact, Matsudaira Sadanobu guessed right.
The emperor, who was sitting behind the curtain, did have a smug smile on his face.
He was looking at Matsudaira Sadanobu outside the curtained seat with a gloating look.
…
…
Matsudaira Sadanobu entered the Kyoto Imperial Palace to meet the Emperor this morning.
As a result, it was not until the afternoon that he dragged his tired body back to his temporary residence in the magistrate's office.
As soon as he returned to the temporary room, Matsudaira Sadanobu saw his nickname: Tachibana walking towards him quickly in two steps.
Tachibana was not qualified to meet the emperor, and he did not need anyone to accompany him, so Matsudaira Sadanobu left Tachibana in the magistrate's office and did not let him go with him.
"Tachibana." Matsudaira Sadanobu took off his tall hat. "Do you have tea?"
"Yes!" Tachibana nodded vigorously, then quickly brought a cup of still hot tea to Matsudaira Sadanobu.
Matsudaira Sadanobu sat cross-legged on the ground in a casual posture, sipping his tea in small sips.
Tachibana, who was kneeling beside him, quietly looked at Matsudaira Sadanobu's face, which was obviously tired, and then couldn't help but complain softly:
"Whether it's the Emperor or the court officials, how can they understand your hard work, Lord Senior..."
"His Majesty the Emperor must be seeking revenge for the title incident two years ago!"
Matsudaira Sadanobu smiled at his young master's words, and then said slowly: "Just put up with their noise."
Although the emperor has no real power, he is the nominal head of state after all.
Legally speaking, the Edo Shogunate only borrowed the power to govern the country from the emperor.
In theory, everything in the Edo Shogunate and the various feudal domains, including money and the military, belonged to the emperor, and the emperor had the power to take back state power from the Edo Shogunate at any time - of course, this was only in theory.
Therefore, when facing the emperor, some necessary face must be given to him.
For example, this time, the Edo Shogunate suffered the most devastating defeat since its establishment. Although it did not suffer any serious damage, it lost all face.
He actually lost to Ogata Yoshisei.
The emperor personally questioned the shogunate about this humiliating defeat.
In order to give face to the emperor, Matsudaira Sadanobu had to go to Kyoto in person to explain to the emperor the whole process and reasons of this disastrous defeat.
Matsudaira Sadanobu knew that one of the reasons why the Emperor personally questioned him about the matter was definitely to take revenge on him.
The previous emperor: Emperor Go-Momozono died young and had no children, and the immediate royal family had no heirs, so Prince Kanehito succeeded to the throne and became the current emperor.
Two years ago, Emperor Kanehito wanted to grant his father the title of "Retired Emperor", but was strongly opposed by Matsudaira Sadanobu on the grounds that it was "unethical."
Because he was no match for Matsudaira Sadanobu's power, the emperor had no choice but to give up.
This incident is now called the "Honorary Title Incident". Since this incident, the relationship between Matsudaira Sadanobu and the Emperor has been extremely bad.
Now that he has finally come across something that can really disgust Matsudaira Sadanobu, how could the emperor let it go?
He couldn't do anything to Matsudaira Sadanobu, but he could still make him feel disgusted.
Even though he knew that the Emperor's questioning was definitely ill-intentioned, Matsudaira Sadanobu still had no choice but to bite the bullet and rush to Kyoto.
Today's meeting with the Emperor, which lasted half a day, was nothing more than the Emperor constantly blaming Matsudaira Sadanobu, while Matsudaira Sadanobu kept lowering his head and saying that he would take full responsibility.
When there was only half of the tea left in the cup, Matsudaira Sadanobu drank the rest in one breath and then handed the empty cup back to Tachibana.
"Your Majesty the Emperor and the court officials, there is no need to worry too much."
Matsudaira Sadanobu said slowly.
"All they can do is open their mouths and say some noisy words."
"What they say should go in one ear and out the other."
"Compared to them, the real troublemakers are all in Edo."
Having said this, Matsudaira Sadanobu's expression turned serious.
"After learning that the war in the north has failed, those who hate me must be like cats smelling blood..."
"These people who are waiting for an opportunity and ready to bring me down at any time are the big threat and the big trouble."
"Tachibana, make arrangements tonight. Tomorrow morning, I want to see that our team is ready to return to Edo at any time."
"Are you going back to Edo tomorrow?" Tachibana asked in surprise.
Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded and said, "Your Majesty has already seen it. There is no reason to stay in Kyoto any longer. Since there is no reason to stay here any longer, then go back as soon as possible."
"Yes." Tachibana nodded vigorously, "I understand, I will make arrangements immediately!"
Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded slightly and was about to wave his hand to signal Tachibana to leave first when a loud announcement suddenly sounded outside the door:
"Lord Rochu! Here's an urgent letter from the Osaka Castle!"
The owner of this voice was one of Matsudaira Sadanobu's personal attendants.
"Osaka Castle Lord?" Matsudaira Sadanobu frowned slightly.
Osaka Castle Dai - one of the most prestigious official positions on par with Kyoto Shoshidai.
Responsible for monitoring the western daimyo over whom the shogunate had weaker control.
"Show it up."
"yes!"
The attendant opened the door, then ran quickly to Matsudaira Sadanobu with a sealed envelope in his hand and presented the letter to him with both hands.
Matsudaira Sadanobu took the letter, confirmed that the seal was correct, then opened the envelope with one hand and pulled out the letter in a very handsome manner.
The urgent letter sent by the Osaka Castle Representative to the Chinese elders - you can tell with your ass that it is definitely not a greeting letter to ask about the Chinese elders' well-being or to flatter them.
Tachibana wanted to see what was written in the letter.
But without the permission of the elder, he, who was just a commoner, naturally had no right to read the contents of the letter.
So Tachibana could only suppress her curiosity and wait quietly.
Matsudaira Sadanobu read the letter very quickly and put it down after a while.
"…Tachibana, tomorrow's formation needs to be changed." Matsudaira Sadanobu said lightly.
"Huh?" Tachibana looked surprised.
"We won't be going back to Edo tomorrow." Matsudaira Sadanobu narrowed his eyes slightly, with a gleam in his eyes. "We will change our route to the south tomorrow, to Osaka."
…
…
The Kinki Plain, where Kyoto and Osaka are located, was fully developed thousands of years ago, and this area can be regarded as one of the most developed areas in Japan.
Ogata originally thought that it would take them about three days to reach Osaka, but because the infrastructure between Kyoto and Osaka was much better than he had imagined, with straight roads everywhere, it only took them two and a half days to reach their destination - Osaka.
In Osaka, in a busy city——
"Is this Osaka..." Ogata raised his hat slightly and looked around.
Ogata, A-machi and A-tsuku had never been to Osaka. They were looking around this strange city like country bumpkins who had just arrived. Only Fuma looked calm and composed, walking in front to lead the way for them.
"Look! The latest arrival of Nanban glass beads!"
"Kumamoto's mandarin oranges! Kumamoto's mandarin oranges!"
“Edo soba! The most authentic Edo soba!”
…
Because we were in the downtown area, when we looked at both sides of the street, we saw shops and merchants shouting their wares everywhere.
Because he was in Osaka, what he heard was the most authentic Kansai dialect, which made him feel strange, as if there were many A-machi speaking...
"It's worthy of being called 'the kitchen of the world'..." Azuki, who was walking beside Ogata, murmured at this time, "Nanban glass beads, Kumamoto citrus, Edo soba noodles, Oshu crabs... You can really see commercial products from all over the world in Osaka..."
As soon as he entered Osaka, Ogata keenly felt that although it was one of the "three great cities" along with Kyoto and Edo, the atmosphere in the air of Osaka was extremely different from that of the other two cities.
To be more precise, it should be said that the atmosphere of the three cities is different.
The reason why the atmosphere of the three cities is different is probably related to the different labels of these three cities.
If Kyoto, as a thousand-year-old capital, is labeled as culture, and Edo, as the ruling center of the Tokugawa shogunate, is labeled as politics, then Osaka's label is probably economy.
Osaka is located in the Kinki Plain, adjacent to the sea, with extremely convenient water transportation. It is also located right in the center of Japan. This unique geographical location makes Osaka a "distribution base" for distributing materials from all over the country.
In Osaka, you can see goods from all over the world, especially specialties from all over the world, so it is called the "kitchen of the world."
As a giant economic city, Osaka has also attracted and cultivated a large number of tycoons who are truly wealthy enough to rival a country.
These tycoons in Osaka were so terrifying that a popular saying was born: When an Osaka businessman gets angry, all the princes in the world are frightened.
Due to the defects of the system, the gradual collapse of the small peasant economy and the emergence of the sprouts of capitalism, most of the feudal states are now in a dilemma of financial deficits.
In order to get rid of the predicament of feudal bankruptcy, many feudal states had to rely on borrowing money from Osaka's tycoons to survive - including powerful feudal states such as Satsuma.
The total number of koku of Satsuma Domain was 770,000 koku, making it one of the most powerful domains in the world. However, in reality, the finances of Satsuma Domain had always been in a very bad state, and it had always owed an extremely staggering amount of debt.
It is estimated that the Satsuma Domain now owes 5 million taels of gold to foreign countries. Even if the entire domain does not spend a penny for a whole year, it will take hundreds of years to pay it off...
It is precisely because most of the feudal states now rely on borrowing money from Osaka tycoons to survive that there is a saying that "When Osaka merchants are angry, all the princes in the world are frightened."
If one day, all these tycoons in Osaka stopped borrowing money from the various feudal domains, then more than half of the feudal domains in the world would directly collapse financially, and the feudal lords would not even be able to afford porridge.
"How is it?" At this time, Fuma, who was walking in front, suddenly turned back and chatted with Ogata and the others, "Is Osaka a lively city?"
Ogata nodded: "Yes, it is indeed more lively than Kyoto and Edo."
"I once seriously thought about moving to Osaka." Fengma laughed, "Compared to Kyoto, I actually prefer the more lively Osaka. But in the end, my moving plan was shelved for various reasons."
"I'm just the opposite." Ogata smiled, "Compared to Osaka, I like Kyoto more."
"Oh? Why?" Fuma cast a curious look at Ogata.
"There's no particular reason. How can I explain it to you? Simply put, I prefer the more soothing, slower-paced atmosphere of Kyoto."
At this point, Ogata changed his tone to a half-joking one:
"If I have to find a place to settle down one day in the future, I will probably choose Kyoto as my settlement."
"Haha. Settling in Kyoto?" Fengma laughed again, "The prices in Kyoto are very expensive."
…
…
As they were chatting and laughing, they finally arrived at the door of an ordinary-looking carpenter's shop.
This carpentry shop was opened by Fuma's old subordinate, Senbei.
Fuma was originally planning to accept the invitation of his old subordinate and go to Osaka to visit him, and at the same time help Ogata find the swordsmith who was said to be very powerful: Yoji.
So after arriving in Osaka, they planned to meet Senbei first, and then slowly look for Yoji.
Senbei has excellent woodworking skills. Before Fuma Village was disbanded, Fumas relied on pasting umbrellas and wooden handicrafts made by Senbei to subsidize the expenses of Fuma Village.
After Fuma disbanded Fuma-no-Sato, Senbei moved to Osaka with his family and opened a small carpentry shop in Osaka, which he still runs today.
Ogata, Omachi: "Mr. Senbei, it's been a long time."
Ogata and Omachi, who had met Senbei in Kyoto last summer, greeted him after seeing him after a long time.
When Senbei saw that Ogata had come here with Fuma, he was surprised at first, but then he quickly reacted and entertained them warmly.
Ogata and A-machi had only met Senbei once when he returned to Kyoto to visit Fuma last summer, so they were not very familiar with him, and A-tsuku didn't even recognize this person.
So in order to avoid embarrassment and to leave enough space for Fuma and his old subordinate to reminisce about the past, Ogata, Amachi and Azuki simply greeted Senbei and then left his carpentry shop to wander around the streets outside to kill time.
After a while, they passed by a tea house that was emitting a pleasant tea aroma.
The three people, who were salivating at the aroma of tea, went into the teahouse, found a seat at random, ordered three cups of tea and a few plates of snacks, and chatted casually while watching the busy streets outside the teahouse.
"I always feel that people in Osaka are so warm and cheerful." Azuki said as she held the hot tea in both hands and sipped it, "They are very different from people in Kyoto."
"Maybe this is the character of Osaka people." Ogata picked up a glutinous rice dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth.
"The Kansai dialect spoken by people in Osaka is quite different from my Kansai dialect ." Because her mouth was stuffed with a lot of glutinous rice balls, Atachi's speech was a little unclear.
The three of them were very interested in this city they were visiting for the first time. They quickly finished the tea in their cups and bought all the snacks, then prepared to continue to visit different places in Osaka.
But just as the three of them walked out of the teahouse—
“Uwaaaaaaaaaa——!”
The three of them heard loud crying coming from the door of the teahouse.
The three people were startled by the crying sound and hurriedly looked in the direction of the sound - the owner of the crying sound was a little girl who was probably only 12 years old.
She was crouching beside the door of the teahouse, holding a large package, burying her face in the package in her arms and crying loudly.
The girl's crying not only startled Ogata and the other three, but also startled the passers-by around them. However, almost everyone withdrew their gaze after taking a glance at the little girl and continued to do their own things - except Ogata and the other three.
"Little girl, what's wrong with you?" Ating walked over quickly, bent down and patted the little girl on the back.
Suddenly a stranger came forward and frightened the little girl so much that she stopped crying for a short while.
Maybe it was because Ating was beautiful and looked particularly friendly. Under Ating's kind words, the little girl gradually told the reason why she was crying.
It turned out that the girl was an apprentice in a grocery store.
She got a task from her boss today: to sell the tooth powder that had not been sold in the store along the street.
Tooth powder can be understood as the toothpaste of this era. Using tooth powder to wash teeth can not only clean teeth, but also make breath fresh. However, because the importance of brushing teeth and dental health is still not popular in this era, not many people like to brush their teeth, so tooth powder is not a hot-selling product.
The little girl has been selling dozens of packets of tooth powder given to her by the boss on the street since early morning. However, it is already afternoon and she has only sold 3 packets.
The little girl was very anxious because she couldn't sell the tooth powder - if she failed to complete the task, she would be scolded by her boss.
She was so anxious that her psychological defenses collapsed and she couldn't help but burst into tears.
"...I can understand your feelings." After knowing the whole story, Azhu looked at the little girl with sympathy, "When I was practicing martial arts under my grandfather's instruction, I often cried out of anxiety because I couldn't complete the tasks assigned by my grandfather."
A-Machi, who was still patting the little girl's back, had a glimmer of sympathy in her eyes - as a "former kunoichi", she also understood the anxious feeling of failing to complete the task.
Unlike A-machi and A-tsuku, Ogata does not have obvious mood swings and always has an expressionless face.
However, after the little girl finished explaining why burst into tears, Ogata said something to the little girl that made both A-Ming and A-Zhu look surprised: "Don't cry. I'll help you sell the tooth powder, so you can report to your boss, right? Anyway, I'm free right now."
A-Ting, A-Zhu, and the little girl: “Huh?”*3
The three of them said "Huh?" at the same time in perfect sync.
"Mashima-sama." Azuki's eyes lit up, "So you can sell things?"
——Lord Ittosai is indeed a superman!
From time to time, Ogata would show Azhu his other powerful sides besides his swordsmanship, which gradually made Ogata's image in Azhu's mind become strange.
"No." Ogata answered honestly, "I have never sold anything. The only business-related skill I have is using an abacus."
The skill point of using an abacus was given to him by "Hara Ogata". When he was a warehouse officer in Hirose Domain, he spent more time touching the abacus than the sword.
"To sell things, you don't have to shout loudly on the street." After adding this sentence, Ogata smiled and raised his hand to touch the handle of the Daishiten sword at his waist, "Someone once taught me the secret of selling things."
"If everything goes well, it will only take me two or three sticks of incense to sell all the tooth powder."
…
…
"Ms. Isshiki. Thank you for accompanying me to buy a knife." A very handsome young man with a very neat topknot smiled elegantly and bowed to express his gratitude to a beautiful woman in a goose yellow kimono who was walking beside him.
"You're welcome." Isshikika said coldly, "Those medicines you gave my grandmother were very effective, so I'm just returning the favor."
"Ms. Isshiki, I recently bought a batch of fine tea from West Lake in Tangtu. Let's come and taste it some other day."
"Yeah, okay." Isshikika answered without hesitation, and then added, "When I have time."
While they were talking, they had arrived at an intersection.
"Just send me here." Isshikika said in a very polite tone, "See you later, Kitahara-kun."
"Ms. Isshiki, let me take you to the entrance of your sword hall." The handsome young man called Kitahara said hurriedly, "The security in Osaka has been very bad recently, and there are many petty thieves."
"No need." Isshikika responded without hesitation, "No need to continue seeing me off."
Seeing Isshikika's firm attitude, Kitahara was too embarrassed to say anything more.
Just when Kitahara was about to follow Isshikika's wishes and leave here, Kitahara suddenly caught a glimpse of many people running towards a nearby intersection. He heard these people saying in an excited tone:
"It looks like there's going to be some amazing show over there."
"What show?"
"I don't know. Let's go and see."
…
Listening to the conversations among the people around him, Kitahara's eyes lit up.
"Ms. Isshiki." Kitahara said to Isshiki hurriedly, "There seems to be an interesting performance going on over there. Why don't we go and see it together before we go home?"