After the fat man left, the other two immediately sheathed their swords and followed him out.
In a short while, all three of them disappeared from Aoto’s sight.
Watching the three leave, Aoto, feeling relieved, let out a long breath.
He did not pursue the three.
He would have to be out of his mind to chase after them.
If the three had been unarmed, Aoto might have had some confidence in taking them down with his combat skills from his previous life, but the problem was that all three of them were armed with swords.
Moreover, not knowing their background, rashly pursuing them also carried the risk of falling into an ambush.
The’sudden attack’ just now ending in such a peaceful manner was already a blessing in disguise.
His previously taut nerves relaxed all at once.
It was only then that Aoto realized that the back of his clothes had been slightly soaked with cold sweat at some point during the encounter.
More and more bold ‘onlookers’ gathered around, looking at Aoto, who was still holding his sword, with confused and wary eyes.
“Everyone, don’t be nervous.”
Aoto quickly said, while sheathing his sword.
“I am Tachibana Aoto, a Doshin of the North Magistrate Office’s Regular Town Patrol.”
With that, Aoto lifted the lower right hem of his haori, revealing the Jutte with a red tassel tied to its hilt, tucked into his right waist, and the inro hanging from his right waist.
[Inro: A small, box-shaped lacquerware that became a common decorative item worn at the waist by samurai during the Edo Period.
While primarily for decoration, it also had some practical use, capable of holding small items like coins and keys, functioning like a pocket]
Aoto had always carried an ‘inro for Magistrates Office staff’ issued by the Magistrates Office on his right waist.
Its black body was adorned with a golden triple-hollyhock crest and various decorative patterns on the front—only samurai working at the Magistrates Office possessed such an inro.
During the Edo Period, Japan did not widely use tokens, and this inro took on some of the functions of a token.
After Aoto displayed the inro, which only samurai serving in the Magistrates Office would possess, and the Jutte, a blunt weapon only carried by ‘police,’ the wariness and confusion in the eyes of the surrounding ‘onlookers’ immediately dissipated by more than half.
“I was just attacked by ruffians; it’s nothing serious,” Aoto continued, “Everyone, don’t gather here!
Disperse!”
These ‘onlookers’ who dared to leave their homes were mostly there to watch the excitement.
Seeing that there was no more excitement to be had, they immediately dispersed, most of them leaving.
Having successfully sent off these ‘onlookers,’ Aoto let out another long breath.
—Those three people just now… who exactly were they?
—They called me a Kokuzoku who worships and flatters Barbarians?
Aoto wiped the cold sweat from his forehead while searching the memories of Tachibana Aoto.
In just a moment, he found the identities of the three people who had attacked him in Tachibana Aoto’s memory.
And after figuring out who those three people were, black lines immediately appeared on Aoto’s face…
…
…
Edo, Hatchobori—
Following Tachibana Aoto’s memory, Aoto arrived at a place called Hatchobori.
This area was a samurai residential district, and almost all officials of the Magistrates Office lived in this neighborhood known as Hatchobori.
Even though it was his first time walking this way home, with Tachibana Aoto’s memory, Aoto had a strange feeling of familiarity.
After turning onto two small paths, Aoto stood before the door of an ordinary small house.
Before entering, Aoto once again scanned his surroundings with vigilant eyes.
Only after confirming that no one was actually following him did he reach out to pull open the door.
“I’m home.”
Thump, thump, thump.
As soon as Aoto opened the door and entered the small house, he heard ‘thump, thump, thump’ footsteps from within.
Then, an old man with white hair and beard appeared from the depths of the house.
The man slid in front of Aoto in a manner similar to a slide tackle, then knelt down to greet Aoto.
“Young Master, welcome home!
Here, please give me your sword… Ah!
Young Master!
What happened to your leg?!”
“It’s nothing,” Aoto said with a wry smile to the old man, “I was just attacked by the Anti-Foreign Faction again”.
This old man’s name was Kyubei, and he was a servant in Aoto’s household.
A servant can be understood as an attendant, a retainer in a samurai household.
Kyubei was considered an elder of the Tachibana family.
Even before Aoto’s mother had married his father, Kyubei had come to the Tachibana family to serve his father.
After Aoto’s father died, Kyubei began serving Aoto.
By this reckoning, Kyubei had served their family for almost 30 years.
Tachibana Aoto had always greatly respected such an old man who had served their family for most of his life and was still diligently working, so the relationship between master and servant was particularly harmonious.
Aoto had no siblings and was not yet married.
With his parents deceased and no other family members, Kyubei was Aoto’s only family member at present.
Upon hearing the words ‘Anti-Foreign Faction’ from Aoto’s mouth, Kyubei’s face immediately turned pale.
“Again, again it’s the Anti-Foreign Faction…?
Those people are truly too much… Young Master, you only worked at the United States Embassy for a period of seven days, why do they keep attacking you like this…?
If they really want to expel the barbarians, they should go chop down the real Barbarians… Ah!
Young Master, please come in quickly!
I’ll bandage your wound!”
…
…
Japan in this era naturally did not have bandages.
People in this era used something called ‘hemp cloth’ to stop bleeding and bandage wounds.
The wound on Aoto’s leg was minor and did not affect his daily activities; it would fully recover with a few days of rest.
While Kyubei awkwardly bandaged the wound on Aoto’s leg, Aoto rubbed his tightly furrowed brow hard.
—So what’s the situation now… I just transmigrated and immediately fell into a desperate situation where I could be cut down by a bunch of lunatics at any moment?
After searching Tachibana Aoto’s memory, Aoto finally ascertained the identities of the three samurai who had attacked him.
They were members of the Anti-Foreign Faction!
What is the Anti-Foreign Faction?
That’s a long story.
Over 1000 years ago, the great Eastern nation across the sea had entered the Sui and Tang Dynasties, while Japan was still in a backward slave society.
After witnessing the huge disparity between their own country and the Sui and Tang Empires across the sea, the Japanese rulers of that time, seeking prosperity and strength, decided in 645 AD to comprehensively learn from the advanced systems and culture of the Sui and Tang Empires.
This reform is historically known as the “Taika Reform”
The “Taika Reform” can be said to have completely transformed Japan, transitioning it from the slave society directly into the feudal era.
Not long after the Taika Reform, Japan moved its capital to Nara, and the period with Nara as the capital was called the “Nara Period” (710 AD – 794 AD).
By 794 AD, Japan moved its capital again, to Heian-kyo (present-day Kyoto), and this period with Heian-kyo as the capital was called the “Heian Period” (794 AD – 1192 AD).
The Japanese Emperors during the Nara Period and Heian Period, like the Emperors of China, were true heads of state, holding great power.
However, by the mid-to-late Heian Period, the Buke forces… that is, the samurai groups began to rise.
The Buke forces were originally just a bunch of rough men responsible for fighting, but in the late Heian Period, they gradually banded together, rose, and began to control the court, stripping the Emperor of his power.
The samurai groups gradually transformed into a crucial new class in Japan: the samurai class!
Finally—by the late 12th century, the Minamoto Clan samurai group completely stripped the Emperor of his power and took over all court authority.
Due to its unique national conditions, Japan could not arbitrarily depose emperors and change dynasties like China.
At that time, abolishing the Imperial family, which had existed for several centuries, was an extremely difficult and risky undertaking.
Therefore, the leader of the Minamoto Clan samurai group, Minamoto Clan Yoritomo, established the “Shogunate system”.
He obtained the official position of Shogun from the Emperor, preserving the Emperor and the court, but established a new government in the Kamakura region.
This new government was called the “Shogunate”.
Because it was established in Kamakura, it is commonly referred to as the “Kamakura Shogunate.”
The head of the Shogunate was the Shogun, and the official position of Shogun was passed down through generations of the Minamoto Clan family.
Nominally, the head of state and the governing body of the country were still the Emperor and the Kyoto Imperial Court.
But the actual power holders and the institution that governed the country were the Shogun and the Shogunate located in Kamakura.
The Shogun thereafter became the de facto emperor of Japan, and the title of “Shogun” also became a title representing supreme power in the land, coveted by countless ambitious individuals.
The Kamakura Shogunate lasted for just over 100 years (1185 AD – 1333 AD).
This period during which the Kamakura Shogunate ruled Japan was known as the “Kamakura period”.
After the Kamakura Shogunate declined, the Imperial Court led by the Emperor once tried to reclaim national power, but it ultimately failed, and national power was seized by another samurai group—the Ashikaga clan.
The Ashikaga clan destroyed the Kamakura Shogunate and established Japan’s second Shogunate in the Muromachi region: the Muromachi Shogunate.
They seized the official position of Shogun and national power from the Minamoto Clan, and the Emperor and the court continued to serve as mascots.
The period when the Muromachi Shogunate ruled Japan was called the “muromachi period” (1336 AD – 1573 AD).
Due to its unique political system, by the late muromachi period, local powerful lords rose up and rebelled, and Japan entered an unprecedented era of war: the Warring States Period (1467 AD – 1603 AD).
This was a chaotic era where various feudal lords took turns on the stage, and national hegemony was fiercely contested.
Ultimately—the one who had the last laugh was the Tokugawa clan.
A samurai named Tokugawa Ieyasu successfully unified the country in 1603, then established Japan’s third Shogunate in Edo (present-day Tokyo): the Edo Shogunate.
The title of Shogun thus fell to the Tokugawa clan.
And this is the era Aoto is currently in—the Edo Period, ruled by the Edo Shogunate.
By the Edo Period, where Aoto currently resides, the Shogunate system could be said to have been perfected to near flawlessness.
At this time, Heian-kyo had long been renamed Kyoto.
The Emperor and the Imperial Court still remained in Kyoto, but they had become complete mascots, with no real power to speak of.
Simply put—present-day Japan has two governments: the Kyoto Imperial Court in Kyoto, and the Edo Shogunate in Edo.
The head of the Kyoto Imperial Court is the Emperor, while the head of the Edo Shogunate is the Shogun, a title inherited by the Tokugawa clan through generations.
The former is a mascot, the nominal head of state, while the latter is Japan’s true ruler, the true ‘Emperor of Japan.’
Aoto did not know Japanese history, nor did he know what year it approximately was in the Gregorian calendar, but based on Kitsutachibana Aoto’s memory—it was roughly the mid-to-late 19th century.
Because seven years ago, the United States’ steam fleet forced open Japan’s doors.
Since there was a steam fleet and aggression from the Western Powers… then the time period was most likely the mid or late 19th century.
Not long after the Edo Shogunate was established, to ensure national stability, the Shogunate issued a seclusion decree, and Japan entered a state of isolation, maintaining contact only with China, Korea, and the Netherlands.
Under the seclusion decree, Japan enjoyed over two hundred years of peace.
Until… seven years ago, in Kaei 6 (1853), United States Navy Commodore Perry led his fleet to force open Japan’s doors.
Because Perry’s fleet included black steam warships, people called this event the “Black Ships Incident.”
How could Japan, still in an ancient society, be a match for America, which had already undergone the Industrial Revolution?
Under duress from America’s might, Japan was forced to accept the “Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan.”
Japan’s doors were thus opened.
The “Black Ships Incident” brought too great a shock to both the Shogunate government and the common people.
Some people recognized the disparity between Japan and the overseas powers and proposed learning from the advanced systems and technologies of the Western Powers, just as Japan had comprehensively learned from the great Eastern nation across the sea a thousand years ago, demanding “restoration” to strengthen themselves by adopting foreign skills.
However, the number of people in Japan who currently held this idea of “learning from the West” was pitifully small.
The “seclusion decree” that had lasted for nearly 250 years had made everyone in Japan, from the ruling class down to the common people, narrow-minded and arrogant.
Facing the invading Western Powers, the most popular and widely embraced ideology among the Japanese populace at this time was—these foreigners are all barbaric Barbarians, and they must all be expelled without exception!
Fight!
Fight!
Fight!!
These people who advocated for driving out the Western Powers raised the slogan of “expel the barbarians.” Therefore, those who advocated “expel the barbarians” were collectively referred to as the “Anti-Foreign Faction.”
The “expel the barbarians” ideology was, without a doubt, the most mainstream ideology at the time.
The “Anti-Foreign Faction,” who advocated for driving foreigners out of the country, was currently the undeniable majority, while those who advocated peaceful coexistence with and learning from the powers were all minorities.
Although those who advocated “expel the barbarians” were collectively called the “Anti-Foreign Faction,” the “Anti-Foreign Faction” itself was subdivided into many different ideological schools.
Some people had more moderate views, advocating for expelling Westerners through peaceful means.
However, most of the Anti-Foreign Faction members currently advocated using force to expel the powers, led by the Americans, without exception.
Over these past seven years, as more and more foreigners set foot on Japanese soil, the ideology of some people who advocated for expelling the Barbarians by force became increasingly radical and extreme.
Even today, within the Anti-Foreign Faction, such a voice has emerged: those who admire the West, believe Western things are good, or work for Westerners, are Kokuzoku who worship and flatter Barbarians!
These Kokuzoku should also be killed!
Such absurd and extreme ideas even gradually spread and were increasingly held as truth by more and more people.
The three samurai who just tried to assassinate Aoto were members of the “Radical anti-foreigners faction” with such extreme ideologies.
Why did the Radical anti-foreigners faction target Aoto?
The reason was that Tachibana Aoto had worked at the United States Embassy for seven days more than a month ago.
*****
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