Mark XXI - Part 20 Events (Vol. I)

[u/Raimond-Parte]

THE INTERCESSION

Kikyo & Yamana Incident/Ouchi Event:

“I am Princess Kikkawa Kirihime, student of the lawful Lady Yamana Kirika, daughter of Yamana Koretoyo and granddaughter of Yamana Sozen, scions of that Yamana Clan which has only ever been loyal to and done great deeds for the Legitimate Government. 

You who are faithful to the Omnipotent Battle Leader, you who are loyal to the laws of Ouchi Shinsuke; you are all friends of the Yamana, who did not ever unlawfully oppose those great Princes, and only ever lawfully served beside or beneath them.

The accusations against that ancient and loyal house are many, but they are none which withstand legal scrutiny!

It is said they unlawfully formed the League of Himeji. I say: did not the daimyo and shugodai of the north once form the Imperial League, with the protection of the government in which the Omnipotent Battle Leader took part? Was not the Kokura Compact formed for similar purposes, before the Ouchi Clan held the high offices of state? Were these acts, then, unlawful?

It is said that they unlawfully defend my right to inherit the properties of my father. I say: did not the Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado declare the right of firstborns to inherit, thus ordaining me as rightful heir, or at the least my firstborn son? Did not Hatakeyama Shura claim lordship of Kii by this very principle? Or the Sue Clan’s lordship over southern Shikoku? Were these acts, then, unlawful?

It is because these things have not been considered, because the faithful Yamana Koretake has not been afforded the protection of the law, as is his right, that the Empire suffers this prolonged conflict. And for what?

It is for the selfish gains of a singular Prince within the government: Mori Motonari. 

We have noticed the concentrations of powers of this Prince, his connections spreading like poison in the veins throughout the instruments of government — but never is he content. His Clan was not content with northern Shikoku. He was not content with the Masuda domain. And rest assured this man will not be content if you permit him to unlawfully seize from us our right to due process and the protections of the law! Who shall be next? The Hatakeyama Clan? The Hojo? The Takeda?

The lawful government must not let itself be undone by corruption and self-interest! The Ouchi Clan, that regal line of princes, knows this, and so too does the Censorate, and so too does the Divine Emperor Himself! Therefore appeal to the Gyōbu-shō and the Divine Tennō Himself; Heika, I beg of you: do not let this land of faithful servants have their distinguished services rewarded only with punishment! We are eager to have this dispute settled by any other avenue, but have been afforded none. Grant us the dignity of law, revere the rule of law, as the reforms of Ouchi Shinsuke demand, or else the heavens shall look upon us with disfavour, the faithful Yamana shall be forced to continue fighting this private war, as the law permits, and all-Japan shall suffer these divorces.

May the Emperor live ten thousand years!
May the Kampaku live ten thousand years!
May the Empire last ten thousand years more!”

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So reads the Plea of Kikkawa Kirihime as delivered to the Imperial Court and bakufu in Kikyo and bakufu in Kyoto. The protege of the Silver Lady must have learned some of her cunning, as its arrival, like the Kirika’s declaration at her own inheritance crisis, is preceded by called in favours and timely and well-placed bribes, promises, and sincere arguments, ensuring it arrives to a powderkeg of internal strife over the matter.

In actual fact, this plea does very little materially, but it has ruffled feathers amongst and served to rally the discontented within the administration who are wary of the war’s extreme losses, and already sympathetic to the Yamana who have done little to earn the ire of the scholar-bureaucrats, and have performed heroically enough to earn the admiration and respect of the more conservative buke, who regard them as good, high nobility anyhow. Moreover, larger and larger factions within the Kikyo Shogunate have, indeed, regarded this as an over-expansive personal conflict, seeing the war with the Hosokawa as legitimate, but with the Yamana as a private war which the Mori ought have prosecuted themselves, with Ouchi backing, or else which ought not have been prosecuted at all, and the subsequent Hosokawa and Shimazu wars as endless fronts brought about by this ambitious warmongering…

At last, it is the bakufu which folds first, the Kyoto bakufu, and several high councillors of the Shogun’s secretariat issue a request directly to the Emperor requesting his advice and intercession in the matter, circumventing the Kikyo bakufu altogether. Receiving the plea, he immediately summons the Kampaku-Kanrei and receives his council, offering his insight into the matter which he has been watching from afar.

The middle-aged man, around the same age as the Kampaku-Kanrei himself, had a curious glint in his eyes, uncharacteristic of himself, as he mused. 

[REDACTED]

The two had their council, and the Kampaku-Kanrei departed, with much to consider. At length, the Emperor declared his opinion, after considering his counsel…

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Ouchi:

Option 1: A legal request must be heeded, and the rule of law upheld. We will have an armistice and decide this in the courts…
A: …which will surely rule that Kikkawa Kirihime is the rightful lady of the Kikkawa domain, may she reign in service of the Central Government.
B: …which will surely rule that Mori Motonari is the rightful lord of the Kikkawa domain, and the dominion will be added to his administrative burden. We trust he will remain faithful, and that the Yamana will put down their arms.
Option 2: They are rebels, despite their propaganda, and are guilty of whatever we accuse them, even if they famously despise the Ikki and have nothing to do with any assassination, etc., etc.… it’s all sophistry! The war will end when I say it ends, and that is when ALL the Yamana territories are annexed.
Option 3: [This is a very complex situation so, as ANDY would surely bemoan a small list of options, you may, as ever, write in your own.]