New Royal Court episode!【4400】

Edo, Xiao Town, Tsukinomiya Shrine, a certain room in the shrine——

"Mr. Tachibana, please have some tea."

Sha Zhong, who was kneeling beside Qing Deng, gently pushed a cup of hot black tea with strong aroma to Qing Deng.

"Thanks……"

After Qingden thanked Sha Zhong softly, he raised his head and scanned the layout of the room he was currently in.

The environment is clean and tidy; the selection and placement of furniture are very particular; there is a beautiful landscape painting hanging in the niche...a guest room with good decoration taste.

"Master Yu Du, Mr. Orange."

Shazhong hugged the empty tea tray, lowered her head, and bowed lightly to Qingdeng and Tianzhangyuan.

"My little girl has resigned first. If you need anything, please call me at any time."

After saying that, Shazhong stood up and left without any hesitation.

The moment Shao overlapped and closed the sliding door, Qingdeng looked at Tianzhang Yuan, who was sitting in the same room with him as a solitary man and a widow...correctly, a "lone man and a widow", sitting face to face with him.

Sitting in Tianzhang Courtyard, two steps away, directly opposite Qingdeng, he also had a cup of black tea placed in front of his knees.

Between the two of them, there was a plate of Japanese confectionery that was particularly exquisite in shape and smelled particularly fragrant.

"Tangerine-kun, come and have a taste."

Tianzhangyuan smiled and pushed the plate of wagashi in Qingdeng's direction.

"This plate of wagashi is a first-class treasure purchased from an old store above with decades of history. It tastes so good."

Above: The customary name for the Gyeonggi region by the Kanto people.

Although Kyoto has long ceased to be the political and economic center of this country, as an ancient capital with a history of thousands of years and the residence of the emperor, Kyoto still has unparalleled cultural influence.

People in Kyoto often call themselves "subjects living under the emperor's feet" and are notoriously arrogant. They regard people outside the capital as country people and ridicule their clothes and accents. All outsiders who come to Beijing are inevitable. Suffered the glare and ridicule from the locals.

What's more, they regarded the Edo shogunate, which had usurped the emperor's political power, as an "enemy of the imperial court" and directly scorned all the Kanto people as "Eastern Yi".

The Kanto people often feel a sense of psychological weakness when facing people from the Gyeonggi region. They often use "Shangfang" as a general term for the Gyeonggi region.

"Thanks……"

Qingden glanced at the plate of wagashi... let's thank Tianzhangyuan for the kindness of inviting him to tea and snacks.

Whether it was snacks or tea, the rich aroma made people want to eat... However, Qingden didn't have the leisure or appetite to taste these delicacies.

"His Royal Highness Tianzhangyuan...I apologize for my presumption."

Qingdeng turned the chaotic thoughts in his heart into a voice with "ha", and his originally straight waist slightly bent as he sighed.

"What on earth is all this about?"

"What's going on?"

Tianzhangyuan's eyes narrowed slightly... Her expression made the charming look on her face even more intense.

"..." Qingden glanced at the sliding door on the right, then lowered his bass line and asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, Saege, Yae, and that Amakura Owl know that you are the current Grand Odaishou of the shogunate: Tianzhang Courtyard?"

"Of course they know." Tenzōin nodded and said without thinking, "They know that I am both the Tenzōin, the grand palace of the Edo shogunate, and also the miko Utsu of the Tsukinomiya Shrine."

Well...there are more and more questions.

"You should?"

Qingdeng noticed an unfamiliar term that Tianzhangyuan just mentioned.

"What are you supposed to be?"

"Oh, Tachibana-kun, don't you know the duties of the shrine?"

"I haven't had a deep understanding of the shrine's culture..."

"You should be a priestly rank in the shrine."

Tianzhangyuan smiled and talked freely.

"In a shrine, the person with the highest status is the 'gongsi'. You can understand the 'gongsi' as the leader of a shrine."

"Below the 'Gong Si', there are 'Quan Gong Si', 'Ni Yi', 'Quan Ni Yi'... The lowest status is the 'Miko' whom people come into contact with the most."

"As the level rises, the colors of hakama worn by priests will continue to change."

"An ordinary shrine maiden who is at the lowest level in the shrine wears a scarlet hakama."

"Further up, there are dark green hakama, light onion hakama, purple hakama, purple hakama embroidered with white patterns, and white hakama embroidered with white patterns."

"The top-level white hakama, only a few or less than a hundred people across the country are qualified to wear it. Those who can reach this level are basically gray-haired old people."

"To put it simply and plainly - Tachibana-kun, you can think of me as the 'superior shrine maiden' of Tsukinomiya Shrine."

"Although in terms of identity, I am a shrine maiden just like Saye and Yae."

"But in terms of priesthood level, I am quite different from those two sisters."

"They are just ordinary miko. They can only wear scarlet hakama."

"And I am Miyoshi from Tsukinomiya Shrine, so I can wear purple hakama."

Qingdeng, who listened carefully to Tianzhang Institute’s science popularization, nodded gently:

"So that's it... No wonder the color of your hakama is different from that of Saju and the others..."

A question was successfully resolved.

But the "fog" that trapped Qingdeng's brain has not been alleviated at all...

"Your Highness Tenjoin, if that's the case...then I can't understand it even more. Why do you, who is the Grand Odaisho of the Shogunate, appear here? Why did you suddenly transform into the 'superior shrine maiden' of this shrine?"

"Cackle, cluck, cluck~"

Tianzhangyuan glanced at Qingdeng's eager look for immediate answers, covered his mouth and chuckled as if he was amused.

The laughter was as strange as ever but not unpleasant.

"Tachibana-kun, it seems that you have quite a few questions."

"There are so many questions I want to ask you..."

Infected by Tianzhangyuan's friendly, easy-going and unassuming demeanor, Qingdeng has habitually adopted a more casual attitude towards Tianzhangyuan, like interacting with ordinary friends, to deal with this "Mother of the Nation".

Tianzhangyuan smiled brightly, picked up the black tea in front of his knees, and took a sip.

"Oh well."

"I originally planned to explain everything to you in a long article."

"Now that I think about it, it would be a good idea to switch to a 'you ask and I answer' format..."

"Junior Jun, just ask whatever you want to ask, and I will tell you everything you want to know."

Since this woman said so...then Qingdeng was unequivocal and polite.

After thinking for a moment, Qingdeng said in a deep voice:

"Then...His Royal Highness Tianzhangin, please answer the question I just asked. Why do you, who is the Grand Odaisho, appear in this shrine as Miyi?"

"Hmm... Well... where should I start talking about this..."

Tian Zhangyuan smiled and took another sip of tea, then slowly put the teacup back to its original position.

“Tachibana-kun, do you know ‘Yitingban’?”

Qingdeng was stunned for a moment, and then replied without thinking:

"of course I know."

This name is also very popular.

Yutingban - an intelligence agency directly under the general's control!

On the surface, the job of the Imperial Guard is to stay at Fukigami Palace and be responsible for patrolling and guarding the courtyard.

But in reality, they are agents under the orders of the general who specialize in secret reconnaissance, intelligence collection and other covert tasks!

The main task on weekdays is to help the general monitor the ministers and the lords of the feudal states in various places.

From a functional point of view, Yutingfan is very similar to the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty in China - an intelligence agency + directly responsible to the emperor/general + supervising officials on behalf of the emperor/general.

Because the work content of the Oniwaban is very similar to the work content of ninjas in public perception, many people jokingly call the Oniwaban the "royal ninja force" of the Edo shogunate.

"Since Yuanhe and Yanwu, the world has been at peace. For more than two hundred years, there have been few major wars."

Tianzhangyuan spoke calmly.

"Whether it is the Imperial Guards like the 'Third Division', the Advanced Archer Group, the Advanced Iron Cannon Group, the Small Ten-man Group, or general troops such as the New Division, all the standing armies of the shogunate are only composed of the shogun's direct ministers...

…that is, the flag base, where soldiers are recruited from the imperial family and their descendants.”

"The purpose of this design is to ensure the source of troops and the loyalty of the generals to the shogunate and the general."

“But gradually, the drawbacks of this recruitment system, which is no different from ‘hereditary’, gradually became apparent.”
To be continued...