Chapter 1641: Japanese Collaborators

"The Great Han really has come, and they're about to take Kyushu — the day we reclaim the realm is almost here!"

Deep in the secluded mountain forest, a man shouted excitedly to the people gathered around him.

He was the one this group had sent out to gather news and buy some food. Normally the most steady and composed of them all, he was now cheering and leaping with joy, as if he had forgotten they were still in grave danger.

Laughing as he spoke, he recounted one by one all the news he had carefully gathered on this trip.

The Great Han had launched a war against the shogunate, landed on Kyushu, won a string of victories, and had now all but seized the entire island...

This news, carried along by the tides of chaos and refugees, had finally reached the vicinity of Kyoto. Driven by panic, the Great Han army was being described in ever more fantastical terms, and the shogunate's crushing defeats were exaggerated several times over — everywhere, people's hearts were seized with terror.

Yet he was elated, and those around him were just as elated, if not more so — even though, in theory, they ought to be worried and indignant about this.

"Wonderful! Heaven truly blesses us!!" Minister of the Right Nijo Yasumichi cried out in ecstasy, so loudly that it startled a flock of birds into flight. "The great plan can succeed — our sacrifices have not been in vain after all!"

Under his determined leadership, these people had together rescued — or rather, abducted — both His Holiness the Cloistered Emperor and His Majesty the Emperor from Kyoto, then fled in panic and gone into hiding deep in the mountains outside the capital.

At first they had intended to find an opportunity to continue south, but the Kyoto Shoshidai, upon discovering such a momentous event, was profoundly shaken and immediately began dispatching nearly every force he could muster to search for the Cloistered Emperor, the Emperor, and these high-ranking court officials, ordering the domain lords across the land to lend their support.

From the very beginning, the search was extraordinarily intense. In such an atmosphere, merely concealing their tracks had already exhausted all their strength and energy; they truly had no way to travel south and were forced to remain hidden in these deep mountains.

These people had all previously been court nobles. Though they had not lived in great wealth, they had never endured much hardship either. The Cloistered Emperor and the Emperor, raised in even greater luxury, were utterly unaccustomed to such conditions. After only a few days, they were already suffering unbearably.

What sustained them was the precedent of Emperor Go-Daigo, who had resisted the Muromachi shogunate, overcome every hardship, and ultimately established the Southern Court to stand against the shogunate — and the hope that the Great Han army would soon strike, defeat the shogunate, and restore all their honor and privileges. But hidden deep in the mountains, cut off from the flow of information, they had no way to confirm whether the Great Han had truly attacked as the envoy had declared.

After many days had passed and everything still seemed unchanged, a kind of dread gradually rose in many hearts — if the Great Han had not attacked at all, or had already been stopped by the shogunate, then would not everything they had done become a laughingstock? Would they not have thrown away all their prospects and hopes, and ruined the life they could at least have maintained, all for nothing?

As time wore on, this dread intensified day by day, until even Nijo Yasumichi's resolve began to waver, deeply afraid that he had led everyone and His Majesty down the wrong path.

And so, when he finally heard the confirmed news that the Great Han had indeed attacked, and that the campaign was going so smoothly that Kyushu was essentially already taken, Nijo Yasumichi, contrary to his usual demeanor, was wild with joy, as if venting all his pent-up anxiety.

The others, of course, felt much the same, because the reality of events proved that they had, at last, bet on the right side.

They had shared hardship with the Cloistered Emperor and were now wandering in destitution together with him; they had been proven to be the court nobles most utterly loyal to the imperial house. From this moment on, as long as everything developed as they had envisioned, and as long as they could survive the war, they would surely become the men the court relied upon most heavily — and that future court would be nothing like the one today.

The incomparably glorious prospect before them swept away the gloom that had hung over their heads these past days, and none could restrain themselves from cheering.

However, compared to the others, Ichijo Kanetou, who as Minister of the Left was the foremost of the court nobles, was far more composed. He merely smiled faintly before returning to his usual calm.

"Enough, gentlemen. If you must celebrate, this much time is sufficient. Do not forget we are still on ground controlled by the shogunate — we are by no means absolutely safe!" He stopped them all with a mildly reproachful tone, then continued, "We still have many important things to do next; we cannot afford to slacken."

"His Excellency the Left Minister is right — we cannot rejoice just yet." Nijo Yasumichi, too, gradually regained his composure. "Right now we must still find a way to move Their Majesties to a safe place. It is far too dangerous here."

All these days, to evade the shogunate's pursuit, this group had not dared to stay in one place for long and could only hide and move constantly. Had it not been for the men they had arranged beforehand to serve as guides and protectors, they would have been captured by the shogunate long ago. Yet even so, the sense of crisis had not lifted from their hearts.

Typically, once they reached a temporary hiding place, the guides would find ways to trade with farming households near the mountains to secure food to fill their bellies, and after spending the night, they would set out again and move to a new location.

"My lords, there is more good news. Because of the threat posed by the Great Han army, the Kyoto Shoshidai has ordered the shogunate's forces and the domain armies loyal to the shogunate to assemble toward Kyoto. The men searching for us out there have grown far fewer." At that moment, the guide who had just returned continued his report to the Left and Right Ministers. "It is precisely because of this that this humble one was able to return far more easily than usual."

This was indeed the truth.

When the Left and Right Ministers, the Emperor, and the Cloistered Emperor had fled under cover of night, emptying the central court, the Kyoto Shoshidai appointed by the shogunate — Itakura Katsushige, the highest shogunate official in the western provinces — had been utterly furious and ordered troops dispatched to search everywhere. But not long after, even more shocking news arrived from Kyushu: the Great Han, catching the shogunate almost completely unprepared, had suddenly launched an offensive and had already landed on Kyushu.

When he first received the news, Kyushu was still resisting, but the shogunate army's several defeats had already revealed a terrifying prospect — Kyushu might fall before the shogunate could mobilize a large army to reinforce it and resist the Han invaders, and Kyoto itself might become the next target of the Han vanguard.

This terror outweighed his fury over the central court's flight. Itakura Katsushige weighed the situation and ultimately concluded that defending Kyoto and resisting the Han invaders was more important. He therefore began ordering the shogunate forces everywhere and the domain lords loyal to the shogunate to assemble near Kyoto and prepare to resist the Han invasion.

In his view, as long as the shogunate could withstand the Han invasion, Japan would remain in the shogunate's hands no matter what. Even if the central court raised its banner and called upon the realm to rise against the shogunate, it would be useless, and he could thereby atone for his earlier failure. Conversely, if they could not withstand the Han onslaught and Kyoto fell, then his guilt would be inescapable, and he could only atone to His Excellency the Shogun with his death.

Weighing the two, he could only make this choice.

The news that the search had been scaled back was yet another tremendous boost to this group, and they cheered once more.

All these days they had been hiding and fleeing, terrified both of being caught by the shogunate and that the Great Han might not attack. Now that both fears had been largely dispelled, every one of them was beside himself with joy.

The Left and Right Ministers, however, did not linger in their delight. Instead, they exchanged a probing glance, then both nodded.

Whether by official rank or actual influence, Ichijo Kanetou and Nijo Yasumichi were the undisputed leaders of this group, and it was necessary for the two of them to reach a consensus on the next course of action.

The two walked together to a spot beside a great boulder and a stream. The sound of the flowing water was enough to drown out their conversation, so they need not fear anyone overhearing.

"What do we do next? Stay here and quietly wait for them to arrive, or find a way to head south?" Ichijo Kanetou asked first.

This was the choice they now had to make.

"I believe we should head south," Nijo Yasumichi stated his thoughts. "The situation is changing by the moment and could shift at any time. The Great Han's help is now absolutely vital to us — we cannot afford to remain out of contact with them. What if they assume we failed to escape the shogunate's grasp and end up backing someone else? Would that not render all our efforts utterly wasted?"

"You do have a point..." Ichijo Kanetou nodded. "But I also have a concern..."

"What concern?"

"If we head south, setting aside the hardships and obstacles of the journey and whether Their Majesties can endure it — even if we reach Kyushu and come under the Great Han's control, is that necessarily a good thing?" Ichijo Kanetou's brow was tightly furrowed, clearly still weighed down by heavy worries. "The Great Han has surely attacked for their own interests. What they truly intend to do with us remains unknown. If we walk into Kyushu isolated and helpless like this, our very lives, fortunes, and fates will be held in another's hands — the risk is too great..."

"What point is there in saying such things now?" Nijo Yasumichi grew angry the moment he heard this. "We have already come this far — is it not absurd to still speak of trusting or not trusting the Great Han?! Your Excellency the Left Minister, the Great Han kept faith with their promise and dispatched their forces to Kyushu in time — that has already given us tremendous help! Furthermore, we are very useful to them; I see no reason why they would not support us."

"They will indeed support us. But if we do not demonstrate some capability, they may not support us wholeheartedly." Ichijo Kanetou gently shook his head, still dissatisfied with the other's opinion.

"Then what do you want?" Nijo Yasumichi grew impatient. "Can staying here demonstrate our usefulness?"

"That is certainly not what I mean. I also agree we should travel south, but... we should remain on Honshu and not go to Kyushu to live under another's roof." Ichijo Kanetou lowered his voice and laid out his plan. "If we go to Kyushu — never mind whether we can even make it — we become puppets living under another's roof. But if we stay on Honshu, we remain the imperial court, the moral leaders calling upon the realm to resist the shogunate."

"You... you mean...?" Nijo Yasumichi more or less understood. "Stay on Honshu and rally the realm?"

"Yes. We flee south, to a place beyond the shogunate's control, and then, following the example of Emperor Go-Daigo, issue an imperial decree declaring Tokugawa Iemitsu an enemy of the throne, summoning all subjects and daimyo across the land to rise up and overthrow his rule." Ichijo Kanetou spoke unhurriedly. "In the south there are many domain lords who harbor grievances against the shogunate. Now that the Great Han has attacked and the shogunate is tottering, they must surely be entertaining many thoughts — perhaps many have already gone to make contact with the Great Han... or at the very least are watching and waiting."

Ichijo Kanetou raised his head and gazed at a thatched hut in the distance — the very place where His Holiness the Cloistered Emperor and His Majesty the Emperor were resting. "Right now they do not know the court's situation, so they might choose to surrender to the Great Han. But if we go south and issue an imperial decree, they might then rally to our side before cooperating with the Great Han. The difference here — surely Your Excellency the Right Minister can see it clearly?"

The court now had no money and no men; its sole advantage was its moral authority. Since the southern domain lords were already stirring restlessly and bore old grudges against the shogunate, they would not oppose raising troops to resist it. What the court needed to do now, before the Great Han advanced into Honshu and those lords surrendered to them, was to go south and rally them, provide them with a legitimate reason to oppose the shogunate, and then gather them around the court.

To these domain lords it might make little difference — they would be raising troops against the shogunate either way — but to the court it was crucial. Doing so would, first, prevent the court from falling entirely into the Great Han's hands, and second, increase the court's bargaining chips with the Great Han, demonstrating its own worth.

In Ichijo Kanetou's view, since the Great Han had kept its word and possessed such overwhelming military might, the most important thing now was to consider how to secure as much status and tangible benefit for the court as possible after the war.

Nijo Yasumichi was also a very intelligent man. Though Ichijo Kanetou had spoken somewhat vaguely and obliquely, he quickly grasped the Left Minister's intent and carefully weighed it.

"His Excellency the Left Minister's foresight is indeed profound!" After a moment, he let out a long sigh. "I am not as thorough in my thinking as the Left Minister... Very well, we shall do as the Left Minister says. We head south but do not cross the sea; we find a place and issue the court's decree."

"Cooperating with the Great Han was something the Right Minister single-handedly championed and insisted upon. It is only natural that the Right Minister should have some blind spots because of it." Ichijo Kanetou smiled faintly. "The future court will rely on the Right Minister to sustain it. I ask the Right Minister to consider the broader picture from now on."

"Left Minister, at this stage, say no more about retiring!" Nijo Yasumichi could certainly detect the faint mockery in those words, but he had no time to dwell on it. "The Left Minister is so astute and capable of deep, far-sighted planning — if you were to simply retire after the war, it would be a grave loss to the court. After the war, the court will inevitably be swamped with a hundred affairs, countless matters that will tax us to exhaustion — can the Left Minister truly bear to wash his hands of it all and walk away?"

"I have already stated my intention to retire and take monastic vows. That is my decision and it will not change." Ichijo Kanetou, however, was utterly resolute and showed no sign of altering his stance. "Such a great responsibility cannot be borne without someone taking it upon themselves. That said, I do not intend to simply wash my hands of everyone and the court. Should you become the court's chancellor in the future, as long as you are willing to seek my counsel, I will do my utmost to assist you."

Ever since reaching an agreement with the Great Han and confirming that the court would eventually receive a considerable amount of territory, it had become clear that — to prevent the old story of the court being reduced to a figurehead from repeating itself — the court would obviously need an entire bureaucratic system to administer these territories. The current official structure was plainly incapable of achieving this.

Although the two had not discussed in detail how the postwar court should be reformed, as they had too many other matters to worry about, they had reached a consensus: the official system must be restructured based on the Great Han's experience, achieving direct rule over the localities by the central court just as the Great Han court did. Even if such a reform could not be implemented across all of Japan, it must at least be carried out within their own domain.

Japan's previous legal and bureaucratic system was entirely modeled on the Great Tang — the Left and Right Ministers were the Left and Right Deputy Directors, and every ministry and department was arranged exactly according to the information brought back by the envoys to the Tang. Although this bureaucratic structure had undergone minor adjustments over successive generations, its fundamental framework had been handed down for nearly a thousand years.

Back then they had to learn from the Great Tang; now they must learn from the Great Han. Since the Great Han has swept across the eight wildernesses and proven itself the strong one, then they should learn from them — in every respect.

Although, due to the isolation of information, they did not fully understand the Great Han's specific bureaucratic system, they did know that the Great Han implemented a cabinet and ministerial system within the court, and a province-commandery-county system in the regions, with top-down layered vertical governance. They intended, at the start,

Ichijō Kaneyoshi and Nijō Yasumichi were the Left and Right Ministers, and also the direct leaders of this undertaking. After Ichijō Kaneyoshi retired, Nijō Yasumichi would clearly become the Chancellor — that was the popular expectation, and no one could object. However, both of them also knew that the court nobles had long been mired in deep-rooted abuses and were completely ignorant of practical affairs; for generations they had done nothing but chant poetry about the wind and moon. So they also planned to emulate the Great Han and promote new and rising talents to fill the court — though, of course, from the Fujiwara clan's standpoint, they still wanted the descendants of court nobles to control the government as much as possible.

This would naturally provoke backlash among the court nobles, so Ichijō Kaneyoshi did not intend to wash his hands of it entirely afterward; he would assist Nijō Yasumichi in maintaining stability and reviving the court.

"Ah... Lord Left Minister is truly stubborn..." Nijō Yasumichi shook his head and sighed, not knowing what else to say. "Since the Left Minister insists, I have no choice but to hope that when the time comes, the court will find everything going smoothly."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes. Come, since we have made up our minds, let us go and have an audience with His Majesty and tell him our decision." Ichijō Kaneyoshi pointed toward the thatched hut. "If we want the southern daimyō to answer the court's call, His Majesty will have to put in considerable effort."