In the Heian-kyō Palace, several men in floral brocade robes hurried in, and the officials who were kneeling at their desks bowed to greet them. They ignored the officials and walked unimpeded into the corridor, and the guards on the corridor stood still and bowed silently.
As he went up the stairs, he saw the back of the Regent Minister Fujiwara no Mitsurari in a room. The most powerful person in Japan was not the Emperor, but this gray-haired, fat man, the Regent Minister Fujiwara no Mitsurari.
The left ministers bowed and saluted.
Someone immediately said impatiently: That must have been done by Ono. This person is really bold and presumptuous.
Fujiwara no Michiyasu still stood at the window with his back to the people, saying nothing.
The wooden window was open, and the wind was calm today. The view here was excellent, and the buildings of Heian-kyo and the mountains and rivers in the distance were faintly visible. The white clouds on the top of the mountain were mysterious under the bright sunlight.
People were talking excitedly. There was no need for our country to be hostile to the Central Plains. Now assassinating the people of Xu for no reason was just asking for trouble. The Xu court would not let it go.
Others echoed this, saying that not long ago, Councillor Ono wrote to the emperor that local officials had colluded with foreigners to seize our silver mines and land, which was a traitorous act that was harmful and useless, and demanded severe punishment. According to his political views, doing such a thing was reasonable.
Ono's suggestion makes sense, but this method is too reckless and stupid.
Fujiwara no Mitsuyori was silent and thought for a long time, then turned around and said: We cannot confirm now that the assassination was committed by Councillor Ono, let's wait until it is verified.
Someone asked: How should we respond to the new era of Xu Guo
Fujiwara no Mitsuyori said calmly: Everyone has their own duties. Do I have to do everything myself
Hearing his unhappy tone, everyone stopped talking and bowed.
I summoned Fujiwara no Asanari and Ono Yoshifuru to come and ask them face to face. Fujiwara no Sanada said again.
Several people felt the attitude of the Sekkan-gami, and although they did not understand why, they could only tactfully say goodbye.
Someone did this rashly, but the situation became very complicated. Fujiwara no Mitsuyori felt very troubled. He also believed that the assassination was probably done by Ono Yoshifuru. There was no personal gain in such a thing, only political reasons. There were not many people who had the ability and were willing to do it.
However, there are two types of people who were killed. The first type was local officials, who were of low status compared to the nobles. Killing them would not be a good way to severely punish the Ono family, at least it would not be possible to uproot the Ono family and his large number of followers. The second type was Xuguoren. The Heian-kyō court did not dare to use this reason to punish Ono Yoshifuru openly and give an explanation to Xuguoren; if it did so, Fujiwara no Tadahiro's prestige would drop sharply, and he would be considered a weak and incompetent government.
Therefore, Fujiwara no Tadahiro publicly made the excuse that the facts had not yet been verified and he did not dare to act rashly.
If he was not weak, how could he be tough on Xu State? Fujiwara no Kamiya felt powerless. In the previous years, there had been two rebellions, the Johei and Tenkei Rebellions, and the imperial army had felt powerless to suppress them. Now that a powerful enemy had suddenly emerged, Fujiwara no Kamiya was worried. The lowly officials and samurai made it impossible for the nobles to control them.
Fujiwara no Mitsuyori stood on a high place, the beautiful scenery of Heian-kyo was right in front of him, and the sound of singing and dancing could be faintly heard in the breeze, but he felt a chill.
After a long time, a servant came in to report that the person to be interviewed had arrived.
Amidst the hissing and panting sounds, a fat man appeared at the door. Bang, his huge body hit the door and got stuck.
The servant next to him laughed out loud without noticing, then regretted it and put on a serious expression, bending his waist slightly.
Oh, oh, oh, Fujiwara Asanari finally backed out, then leaned sideways and tried his best to squeeze in, with his legs bent and using a very strange posture he finally squeezed in, as if he had accomplished a great feat, and he breathed a long sigh of relief.
I pay my respects to the Minister of the Left.
Then Ono Yoshifuru, a thin and gaunt man, came in and bowed as usual.
Watch the tea, Fujiwara no Mitsuyori ordered.
Fujiwara no Asanari got the permission and sat down beside the coffee table. The wooden floor trembled and Fujiwara no Saneya frowned. Ono Yoshifuru knelt down on the futon and gently placed the sign in his hand on the edge of the table. His behavior was very polite and calm, and his clothes and temperament were also very neat.
Your younger brother Ono Michikaze is a world-famous calligrapher. Ono-kun was born into a noble family and is indeed good at calligraphy and tea ceremony. Fujiwara no Sanehiro said calmly.
Ono Yoshifuru bowed and said: I am grateful for the honor given by the Left Minister. I am far inferior to my younger brother because I am a military strategist.
Fujiwara no Mitsuyori said: In the past, Junyou rebelled, all thanks to Ono-kun's contributions to the country.
At this time, the neglected Fujiwara no Asanari said: Ono-kun, just tell me straight, it was you who did the Iwami Province incident, right
Fujiwara no Mitsuyori thought that Ono Yoshifuru would not admit it. As expected, Ono Yoshifuru said: "I live in Heian-kyo, how can I be related to what happened in Iwami Province? However, this matter is not necessarily a bad thing."
Oh, Fujiwara no Michiyasu carefully felt the meaning of the words of this thin soldier. On the one hand, he denied the specific things, but on the other hand, he did not hide his position, giving people a feeling of confidence and even fearlessness.
Yoshiko Ono: If foreign countries bully our country, giving in will only make them more aggressive. When the power of the country in Japan increases, it will be even more difficult to deal with those who do not care about bringing shame to the emperor.
At this point, it is better to take advantage of the fact that the Xu country has few people on the ground and their power is not yet established, destroy their strongholds and drive them into the sea. Relying on the vast sea, it is inconvenient for them to send troops for supply and protect the emperor and his people.
Fujiwara no Asanari frowned and said: Ono-kun often hangs out with those samurai and has lost the etiquette of a noble.
Ono Yoshikomichi: The one who often gets tangled up with the lower-ranking samurai is probably you.
You, Fujiwara no Asanari, seem to understand what Ono means.
Fujiwara no Mitsuyori raised his hand to stop them, and said calmly: "After the abolition of the conscription system, the long march warriors are no longer useful. What can we use to deal with Team Xu? I am afraid we can only rely on the samurai group. Although Ono-kun is a military strategist, he is a nobleman. It is not a good thing for us to always rely on samurai."
Ono Yoshikomichi: The Left Minister, as far as I know, there are only a few hundred people in Iwami Province. If things get worse, the local officials will not dare to collude with them easily, and it will become increasingly difficult to supply the people of Xu. The Left Minister should also pay attention to external threats and not delay the handling of the situation.
Fujiwara no Sanyori added: Once we come into direct conflict with the people of Xu, they may attack Heian-kyo, causing worry to His Majesty the Emperor.
Ono Yoshiko: The sea route is too far, and Xu State cannot do it.
Fujiwara no Tadahiro did not comment.
Ono Yoshifuru said: This matter should be reported to the Emperor for his instructions.
Fujiwara no Tadahiro also felt that this was necessary. He felt that the consequences were unpredictable and he was unwilling to bear it alone as the Regent. He thought that everyone should make their attitudes clear so that all the blame would not be placed on him in the future.
However, Fujiwara no Michiyasu finally reminded Ono Yoshifuru earnestly: Ono-kun has ambitions, but you must think carefully before doing anything, and don't ruin things because of a momentary impulse.
After he finished speaking, he turned his head and looked out the window, as if he was not going to talk to them anymore. Ono Yoshifuru's vision was not far-sighted, as if he was the only one who saw the danger of Daxu, and no one else understood. In fact, in Fujiwara no Mitsurari's view, this person did not understand government affairs at all, and he had ambitions but needed to be trained.
The daily affairs of the country are not handled by the emperor himself, most of the real power is in the hands of the regent ministers; but the emperor is not a puppet, he has a lot of decision-making power, mainly because of his high status and prestige. There is a power conflict between the emperor and his subjects, and they are also dependent on each other through marriage.
Most of the court cliques were members of the Fujiwara clan, who maintained the court's operations, while the ministers needed the identity of descendants of the sacred royal family's Amaterasu to guarantee their authority.
Emperor Nariaki accepted the request of his ministers and went to court to preside over state affairs.
As soon as Cheng Ming arrived at the court and sat down in front of a large screen embroidered with cherry blossoms, the ministers immediately became respectful, giving him an inexplicable halo.
May the country be peaceful and the people be safe, Chengming said this tone, but he did not judge the government affairs in a positive tone. The monarch and his subjects can maintain a balance and each has its own rules; if Chengming is too insistent, he cannot guarantee the implementation of his will, which will not only provoke conflicts with the regent ministers, but also affect his own authority.
So the ministers started arguing. Fujiwara no Tomonari was afraid of being accused of treason, so he took the lead and pointed at Ono Yoshifuru with his fat fingers: Ono assassinated a foreigner without authorization, putting the Emperor and the court in a difficult situation, and he should be severely punished.
Ono Yoshifuru immediately knelt before the Emperor and said: "I am honored to be the guardian of Your Majesty. If the Emperor blames me, I am willing to commit suicide to apologize."
When Cheng Ming heard this, he immediately looked at Ono Yoshiguchi twice more. However, he still did not express his attitude and simply remained silent.
None of the people arguing were capable of making final decisions on national policy, and neither the Emperor nor the Regent Fujiwara no Tadahiro was willing to express their opinions.
Ono Yoshifuru secretly guessed that the reason might be that the imperial court was unwilling to break off relations with the western big country, and at the same time did not want to expose its powerless situation and planned to delay it.
However, Ono Yoshifuru's political views were very clear. He learned from all sides and concluded that the Xu people wanted Japan's silver mines. Perhaps as long as they could gain a foothold, they would also want to nibble away at the land. Moreover, the Xu army was not strong when it crossed the sea to the east. In the current situation, they should have resisted.
He just grumbled in his heart that the people below were a little unreliable. His original intention was to cut the Gordian knot and kill the two lower-level officials to set an example, thereby affecting the morale of the Heian-kyō court. However, he did not expect that the person who took action would kill the people of Xu as well. This led to the situation where the envoys of Xu came to Heian-kyō to put pressure on others, which made things worse.
Ono Yoshifuru was also very dissatisfied with the nobles of Heian-kyō. These people were weak and incompetent, and they watched foreign countries plunder and were unable to clean up the domestic situation. If this continued, the future of Japan would be worrying.