"Rong Baojun! You listen to Tongren! Emperor Komei interrupted Matsudaira Yoho's words, and his face was full of pleading: "I, Tongren, know that I am not capable of governing this country, and I am even willing to act as a puppet of the Tokugawa family, just to have a stable and peaceful life." But now that there are frequent disputes between the government and government, Tongren can't get it if he wants to be a puppet quietly. Mujin was sickly, emaciated, and had a peculiar status, and I always feared that some wrongdoers would murder him. Rong Baojun is my best friend of Tongren, the most trusted person, I will entrust Muren to you, you help me quietly take him out of the palace, hide in the Golden Ring Guangming Temple for refuge, and wait for the crisis to pass, and then take it back. ”

After speaking, without waiting for Matsudaira Rongbao to answer, he turned his head and shouted to his thin son: "Muren, come, today you will recognize Rongbaojun as your father-in-law, and from now on, you will treat him as if he were a father." Don't kowtow yet! ”

Although Muren was young, he was quite intelligent, and when he saw this, he hurriedly bowed respectfully and shouted, "My son Muren greets his father!" ”

"Your Majesty!" Matsudaira Rongbao kowtowed again and again, crying: "Your Majesty, rest assured, no matter what the situation is, the minister swears to protect the prince to the death." When he saw that the emperor had even changed his claim from me to Tongren, he was even more moved in his heart, and vowed to complete the tasks assigned by the emperor.

Emperor Xiaoming personally helped Songping Rongbao up, his face was much soothed, and said: "Rongbaojun, if Tongren can escape the catastrophe this time, there will be something to repay in the future!" After speaking, he waved his hand and said, "I'll tell Muren a few more words, and you will take him away tonight!" ”

Matsudaira Rongho was shocked when he heard this, and nodded in response, but he couldn't help the doubts in his heart: "Your Majesty, the feudal soldiers of Choshu and Shikoku, known as the Emperor of the Throne, attacked Kyoto this time, although they were disrespectful to the imperial court and the imperial family, but the target was mainly against the Tokugawa shogunate, they should not dare to be bold enough to embarrass the imperial family, right?" ”

Emperor Xiaoming sighed and shook his head: "People's hearts are unpredictable. The Tokugawa family did not claim to be loyal to the emperor for generations, and was given the title of Shogun, but now? I can't even reward the most loyal minister with ten pieces of silk? The lord of the shogunate was given the position of the general of Zhengyi, but he surrendered to the Chinese Empire and the Western Empire. ”

As if he intended to say it to his son Muhito, Emperor Komei today was unusually silent and continued: "Toyonobu Yamauchi, the lord of the Shikoku domain, is nothing more than a stupid puppet with inflated ambitions, who does not want to obey the orders of the shogunate and wants to be the lord of Shikoku Island. Mori Keiko, the lord of the Choshu Domain, was also a figure, but he relied too much on his subordinates, and he was overshadowed by his elders and staff. Therefore, it is better to believe that the Tokugawa shogunate is more reliable than that the Choshu Domain is a group of low-ranking samurai who want to seek power to satisfy their ambitions. ”

Matsudaira Rongbao didn't expect the emperor to say this, and he couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, he knew that he couldn't stay by the side and listen to these secrets anymore, so he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the junior minister will go out to arrange manpower first, and then come to pick up the crown prince later!" ”

Emperor Xiaoming knew that he was evasive, so he nodded, some things were really not suitable for him to know.

When Matsudaira Rongho withdrew from the palace, the personal samurai quietly closed the door and went out, leaving only the father and son in the entire wooden house.

Crown Prince Muren said in a milky voice: "What my father said just now, my son wrote it down!" Although the shogunate is against us, as long as our imperial family shows weakness, there is no danger, and on the contrary, the Tokugawa family will protect us. But for the sake of their own selfishness, the father was worried that they would do whatever it took to do so? ”

"Haha, Muren Wu'er is really smart! Exactly! Emperor Komei simply spread out and made it clear: "The Choshu Domain has some signs of getting out of control, and Maori wants to overthrow the shogunate and replace it, but he is afraid that he will not have prestige and excuses, so he wants to capture Kyoto and control me." That's it, the key is his men. Do you remember the Ikedaya incident half a month ago? And Yoshida Shoin of last year's Choshu Domain, do you know why their secrets were leaked and known to the shogunate? ”

A look of disbelief flowed from Muren's eyes, and he exclaimed, "Father! You mean....."

"Not bad! How do outsiders know about Yoshida Shoin's plan? The one who betrayed Yoshida Shoin was the one from their Choshu domain. Even if it wasn't for Maori himself, he certainly knew. They thought that they would secretly write to their father anonymously, and then through their father's mouth, with those eyeliners that the shogunate had arranged in the palace, they would definitely let the shogunate notice and make a good calculation. What a fool to be a father! However, the father wanted to see them eat dogs, so he pushed the boat down the river and directly handed over this information to the shogunate. As for the Tanaya incident, although my father was not involved, it can be seen that this is just an internal factional struggle within the Choshu Domain. Perhaps, the one who betrayed those radicals who fell behind the curtain was their radical accomplices, and you see, now, not only the Choshu domain, but also the Shikoku domain and other feudal states have sent troops to attack Kyoto, and they want to control you, my father and son! This is their purpose, and in order to achieve this goal, they will do whatever it takes, so sacrificing some of their accomplices is only a small matter for them. Remember, be careful with anyone. Even if it is your stepfather Matsudaira Rongbao just now, although he can still be trusted at present, when the situation changes one day, you must not be gullible! ”

Muren's eyes showed a look of horror, after all, he was only 7 years old, no matter how smart he was, his mind was not mature, and it was hard to believe that human nature in the world was so complex and ugly.

Seeing that his son was a little scared, Emperor Xiaoming sighed secretly, although his son is smart, he is too young after all, it would be good if he grew up a little more. There are still some things he won't say, it's just his own worry, what is the use of saying it to children? He just explained a few words, so that Muren could listen to Matsudaira Rongbao's words, and finally instructed: "Wu'er, no matter what, try your best to survive and keep the blood of my royal family." ”

.......

In the sixth year of Ansei, on the third day of the siege of Kyoto Castle by 50,000 feudal soldiers led by the Choshu Domain and the Shikoku Domain, the Imperial City of Nijo Castle issued a decree from Emperor Nijo: one decree was to crown the second son of the in-law, Muhito, as Prince Hiroko of Fushimi Palace, and to be the crown prince; Another holy decree was to order the soldiers of the Choshu domain outside the city to be rebels, attack the "Heavenly Territory" in a rebellious way, and order them to retreat quickly, but they were not to blame for the past, and ordered the armies of all sides not to kill innocents indiscriminately and hurt the people.

The response to the decree was accompanied by the rumbling of artillery and cries of killing.

Inside and outside the castle of Kyoto, tens of thousands of troops were already ready to fight and were fighting fiercely.

Kyoto, the thousand-year-old capital, is completely imitating the two cities of Chang'an and Luoyang in the Sui and Tang dynasties of China, the whole building palace is arranged in a rectangle, with the Suzaku Road that runs through the north and south as the axis, divided into two capitals in the east and west, Tokyo imitates Luoyang, but the proportion is reduced more than ten times, and Xijing imitates Chang'an, in the middle, it is the imperial city - Nijo Castle. Inside the Imperial Castle is the Imperial Palace, also known as the Nijo Imperial Palace, and outside the Imperial Castle is the capital.

The streets of the entire capital city are in the shape of a checkerboard, with east-west, north-south vertical and horizontal ranks, and the layout is neat and uniform, clearly dividing the palace, the government, the residential area and the commercial area. This was originally a prosperous place, but at this time, it was a mess, thick smoke was everywhere, and the people were crying and screaming.

Outside the capital, the combined forces of the Choshu and Shikoku domains set up only a hundred artillery pieces, and they bombarded the city of Kyoto. And the more than 30 artillery pieces on the city wall of Kyoto were no match for the artillery outside the city at all, and in a few rounds of kung fu, as many as half of them were dumbfounded.

And that's not all, but the main point is that in Kyoto City, there are fires and smoke billowing from residential and commercial areas.

Matsudaira Yoho, the lord of the Aizu domain, led the Aizu domain soldiers and the castle defense soldiers to fight the coalition forces outside the castle on the castle walls, and the Kyoto office Daishiro Sakai Tadayoshi led hundreds of wandering samurai, including more than 100 elite and Shinsengumi, to search for arson feudal soldiers around the castle.

However, there were no less than 100 samurai of the Shogunate faction in the city, and it was even more difficult to prevent it from setting fires everywhere, and in less than half a day, the whole of Kyoto was already in flames. Originally, the people of Kyoto Castle were very afraid of fire after the wars of Hogen Heiji and Onin. Today's fire is even more fierce than the original fire, and no one still has the heart to put out the fire, so the civilians and traders in the city have fled. As a result, the Aizu feudal soldiers and the Kyoto Castle defense troops who were originally defending the castle were insufficient, and in addition, they were attacked by the chaotic people in the castle and the feudal clans mixed in with it, and the outer gate of Kyoto Castle was accidentally breached by the feudal soldiers outside the castle.

Matsudaira Rongho and Sakai Tadayoshi hurriedly led thousands of his men to abandon the outer capital and retreat to the imperial city. But at this point, it was no longer helpful.

Outside the castle of Kyoto, the soldiers of the Choshu and Shikoku clans rushed into the open gate and entered the castle of Kyoto.

Shinano and Masuda Uemonsuke, two elders of the Choshu Domain, guarded the feudal lord Mori Kekin, and personally led his troops to attack the Clam Gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and it was Matsudaira Yoho, the lord of the Aizu Domain, who guarded the Clam Gate, and the two sides fought fiercely. Shinano, the national secretary, even ordered the Choshu feudal soldiers to set up artillery and bombard the imperial palace.

After holding out for half a day, nearly 1,000 soldiers of the Aizu domain were killed, and hundreds of Kyoto castle guards were killed and wounded.

The imperial city was also breached.

In the deepest part of the palace is an imperial garden.

Emperor Xiaomei and Imperial Concubine Keiko Nakayama stood side by side in a mountain stream, looking at a shallow pool under the mountain stream, the green leaves and red flowers all over the mountain, a beautiful scenery in midsummer, but through these maple trees, the palace behind them came with shouts of killing.

Not long after, a noisy sound of footsteps entered the Imperial Garden, and after a few screams, a young samurai armed with a katana and wearing a blue hatori, with a blank face, kicked open the garden gate first, leading dozens of wandering samurai to rush in.