List of assassination attempts on Shljaps-tsung
The following is a list of assassination attempts on Shljaps-tsung, Emperor of Themiclesia from 1921 to 2016.
Background
Security measures
Traditionally, security of the emperor's person and his palaces was under the purview of the Secretary of State for War (五兵尚書), but the establishment was divided into several layers and overseen by different officers. There were driving political considerations behind this design, which developed early and was largely upheld by all dynasties.
Whenever the emperor was in the capital city of Kien-k'ang, the first layer of security was provided by the Capital Defence Force, or the regular army that protected the capital city and its vicinity. Compared to regional forces, the CDF was characterized by a higher degree of mobilization in the pre-modern period, though by the 19th century, when the entire Themiclesian Army was professionalized, this ceased to be relevant. The second layer was provided by the Royal Guards, which were small but dedicated formations permanently staffed in the outer perimeters of palaces; technically, each palace had its own Royal Guard formation, but the one at the Hian-lang Palace, in Kien-k'ang, was the largest by far, since the monarch almost invariably lived there, and also since it was the government's permanent seat. The third and innermost layer was provided by the three Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, consisting of the nation's fourth- and fifth-rate civil service cadre. They were sometimes considered a "political" guard, having a vested interest in the survival of the monarchy.
With such an elaborate security establishment, the Themiclesian military took much pride in its proper operation, and the defence of the monarch's personal safety has always been deemed a high priority for the responsible minister. At its maximal extent, the Hian-lang Royal Guards numbered over 6,000, and the CDF over 15,000. However, there was evidently little prestige in the rank and file for guarding the monarch, since it was virtually impossible for enlisted men to become officers, much less the high-ranking ones that had general responsibility for the palace's security. Further, the Royal Guards have historically been recruited from veterans of regional armies by drawing lots—preventing miscreants from joining the force voluntarily. Nevertheless, due to these measures and the political impotence of most emperors, assassination attempts have been relatively rare. The layered approach also discouraged collusion and reduced the danger of negligence, on the part of any one segment. The efficacy of the system have led many Themiclesian officers to assume the defence of the monarch was impregnable by nature.
List (by date)
October 30, 1941
Yamabe no Oshimaro (山部押麻呂, やまべのおしまろ) was a member of the Themiclesian Marine Corps, which guarded the city of Blim-tsi during the Pan-Septentrion War. According to later confessions, Yamabe was an infiltrator acting on behalf of the Dayashinese Imperial Special Operations Group (D/ISOG). He arrived in Themiclesia in Jul. 1939, as a prisoner of war, captured at the Battle of K'jem-tju; he surrendered deliberately. In Sept. 1939, he naturalized to Themiclesian citizenship under government incentive of a purse of 600 mjen (worth about $20,000 in 2019) and a piece of land in Blim-tsi. There, his neighbours later described him as "an agreeable but shy person". The following year, he tried to join the Army but failed his language tests; later it emerged he failed deliberately to give an impression of a desire to fight for Themiclesia. The Navy, building two regiments of marines that spoke Dayashinese out of diaspora citizens, recruited him in Mar. 1940.
Once in the Marine Corps, he quickly fraternized with other Dayashinese operatives that have already infiltrated into it. Because the Themiclesian Navy did not have a Dayashinese-speaking surveillance department, their discourse was largely undetectable. One of several competing schemes to sabotage Themiclesia was devised by Yamabe and executed by Kokura Tokito (小倉辰人, こくらときひと), who was apprehended on Jun. 26, 1941, having fallen from the Rjem-hme' Palace's defensive walls with two machine guns strapped to his back. According to Kokura, Yamabe had asked him to proceed with two pistols, which were issued to patrols at dock, but he insisted on taking the risk of stealing two machine guns, ultimately occasioning his fall. Yamabe was almost uncovered when Kokura answered recklessly to inquiries by the Blim-tsi Prefectural Police. While he identify more infiltrators successfully and attempted to co-ordinate with them, he had little success in trying to form a team with them. His petition to lead a detachment to guard the points of interest, such as banks and food stores, was rejected for unknown reasons in Jun. 1941.
Yamabe, ranked as Sergeant in Oct. 1941, was ordered to escort a convoy of various aquatic produce along a 300-mile route into the Rjem-hme' Palace. The Navy, like most other agencies, was required to pay various speciality items as tribute to the Emperor. Sensing this as his chance, he ensured his detachment of 15 was composed of Dayashinese persons, but only one other was known as Yamabe's accomplice—Aramashi no Kimi Ishimori (新君石守, あらましのきみいしもり). During the selection phase, he apparently pulled the elbow of his captain (who was Themiclesian) quite hard for the chance to lead this convoy, for which he expressed much enthusiasm. The captain later recollected Yamabe to have claimed he would "do everything a Themiclesian native can do, but only better". On his way, he arranged for several delays, so the convoy arrived a day late, to the exasperation of the staff at the gate of the Palace. In the Skjuar-lang gate (宣陽門), he asserted he had express instructions to follow the convoy to its final destination, but the guards pointed out that guns were not allowed on Palace grounds.
Unable to find an argument against it, Yamabe swiftly drew it and shot the guard. He then revealed his plans to his detachment, at which seven or eight were speechless. His accomplice, Aramashi no Kimi, also pulled his weapon and threatened to shoot anyone who refused to co-operate. One, Yamaguchi Komatsuki (山口駒月, やまぐちこまつき), said Yamabe would only "shame to his native land by following the Suzukian madness", prompting Yamabe to shoot him and mutter, "you and your corrupted blood can stay in this doomed land". Yamaguchi, floored, yelled "treason" (反, pjan) in Shinasthana four times, before Yamabe shot him in his chest again. Yamabe shouted to the remainder that the "standard of the bloody sun will fly over Kja-lung County", Kja-lung (居庸縣) being where the 3rd Regiment of the Marines (later, the Star-chasers) were headquartered. The 3rd Regiment was a Themiclesian-majority unit.
The grounds of the palace were large enough that the guards at other gates did not hear Yamaguchi's monitions. With the rest of the detachment in tacit assent, they made for the South Carriage-Stop Gate (南止車門, nem-tje'-k'lja-men), which was even more lightly guarded. However, the gatehouse was located on a raised platform and access was restricted to three narrow staircases; this design, as its name suggests, was meant to slow passage into the gatehouse and prevent anything wider than a single person to enter at one time. Two members of the Blim-tsi Prefectural Police shouted for Yamabe's men to lay down their arms; Yamabe shot the two but sustained a baton hit to the side, when one jumped over the railings to strike. Making it past the Carriage-Stop Gate, they found the South Middle-Kingdom Gate (南中華門, nem-trjung-gwra-men) barred and locked. Yamabe ordered two marines to attempt to push it open, but the gates would not budge; asking them to shoot its locks, the gates' sheer thickness prevented bullets from doing any damage to the lock inside.
Yamabe ordered his men to duck under the Gate's canopy when a troop of Gentlemen-at-Large, led by a Tribune of the Hall, walked past them. However, Yamabe was still noticed by some of the Gentlemen-at-Arms, who asked him to stand up. Instead of Yamabe, Aramashi no Kimi stood up and saluted them. This caused the Lieutenant-Captain to giggle and semi-jokingly tell Aramashi no Kimi that "military salutes are banned within the Carriage-Stop Gates". The saluter shouted back he would not make this mistake again, but it was his first time on this mission. Aramashi no Kimi then asked Yamabe to stand up, since the Gentlemen-at-Large, seemingly unarmed, were too numerous for them to engage. Yamabe thought it was likely they were armed with handguns concealed under their robes. However, as Aramashi no Kimi was about to introduce Yamabe, a third marine suddenly shot Aramashi no Kimi in the buttocks and exclaimed, "traitor!"
This shocked the Gentlemen-at-Large and the Tribune of the Hall leading them; a majority of the Gentlemen-at-Large immediately escaped from the scene, rushing to their headquarters. There, they edited the attendance records to say almost all of them were on "sick leave". Yamabe, finding his fellow conspirator incapacitated and his men uncommitted, decided to proceed alone into the Dais-'an Hall (大安殿, dais-'an-den). He escaped the commotion and jumped off a 3-meter-high ledge to land east of the South Middle-Kingdom Gate and dashed around the limits of the Palace Hall. He knew that the east gate of the Hall was most likely open, for timely communication between the monarch and ministers; indeed, it was partly open, but also guarded. He hid in a thick bush and shot a Gentleman of the Corridor from over 200 meters away, under the failing light. B. Larry of Anglia and Lechernt called this "a remarkable feat of eyesight and marksmanship". Yamabe took great risks with this act, since there could easily be more Gentlemen of the Corridor that would notice their fallen comrade and sound alarms.
Yamabe then sprinted for the Gate and entered it, to find the Gentlemen of the Corridor indeed bewildered; however, due to the fact that they were on the other side of the dais (closer to the West Middle-Kingdom Gate, opposite Yamabe), they thought he had collapsed out of tiredness or boredom. Most of the Gentlemen of the Corridor were petrified when Yamabe burst into the Hall, but a few stayed and drew their swords; Yamabe later recounted that he felt massively relieved, knowing the Gentlemen of the Corridor were not permitted any ranged weapons. Then, as about 20 attempted to advance on Yamabe with halberds and shields, he slowly backed away and fired a few shots. Some of the shots landed on the shields, which failed to protect their holders. Yamabe attempted to conserve his bullets but then realized he did not know where the Emperor lived in the palace. He backed off past the East Pavilion Gate, which would have led to the Emperor.
As he concentrated on shooting the Gentlemen that approached the fastest, he failed to notice that a Tribune of the Hall, the one who spotted him at the South Middle-Kingdom Gate, approached him from behind. The Tribune smashed Yamabe with a large shingle, which temporarily stunted him. Yamabe feigned unsonsciousness for a few moments, as the Tribune carried him out of the Palace Hall. Half-way, he suddenly pulled a second pistol out of his belt and shot the Tribune in the midsection, who fell over him. Struggling to disarm Yamabe, the Gentlemen-at-Arms used their halberds to hack at Yamabe's pistol-holding hand, successfully hooking away the pistol. The Tribune again tried to drag Yamabe away, but with surprising dexterity he kicked an advancing Gentlemen-at-Arms and broke loose from the injured Tribune. The Tribune grasped at him, barely catching him again when another injured Gentlemen-at-Arms took hold of his bootlaces. The Tribune dragged Yamabe another few meters then hurled him off the railing of the East Middle-Kingdom Gate. Unprepared for the fall, Yamabe broke his ankle and a rib.
By this time, the police and ambulance arrived and sent Yamabe, still hobbling towards the East Middle-Kingdom Gate and pelting expletives, to the infirmary. On the stretcher, he smacked a paramedics and attempted to break free two times. He was glued to the ambulance vehicle to thwart escape. The following day, he was transferred to Blim-tsi General Hospital for treatment under strong sedatives. Yamabe spent two months in the hospital, while the news of his attempt on the Emperor's life made it to the press. Reading the newspaper in the invalid ward, he was reported to have laughed uncontrollably when articles attacking Dayashinese immigrants and the Navy for "harbouring miscreants" appeared. Conversely, a gloom set over him when articles defending the allegiances the immigrants or asking the public not to judge a group of thousands on the conduct of a few were published. On Dec. 2, 1940, he fell out of his bed reading a piece using Prime Minister Gwjang Go (in office 1382–94) as an example of forbearance: he negotiated Themiclesia's surrender to Menghe and was canonized a national hero.
Yamabe was indicted for high treason at the Exchequer Chamber on Dec. 13. Yamabe's family, still in Dayashina, hired a Themiclesian legal firm (Ree, Ree, and Ree) to defend Yamabe. Questions of jurisdiction over Yamabe's case delayed the indictment. Foreigners were entitled to be tried by the Foreign Secretary under a mixture of Themiclesian and the offender's native law, but the Foreign Secretary declined to admit this case, as Yamabe was clearly under a Themiclesian identity when he joined the Marine Corps. As a member of the force, Yamabe could also be tried at the Exchequer of Pleas. The Secretary of State for Appropriations held residual jurisdiction over criminal actions involving "officers of revenue", but the defence demurred that Yamabe was not of commissioned rate and therefore not an "officer". The Exchequer of Pleas sustained the demurrer and dismissed the Crown's case without prejudice. The Crown next sought to bring action at the Exchequer of the Inner Court; however, this court then ruled that, while the Marines were connected to the Inner Court via the Director of Supernumeraries, similar actions in the past have never been tried there. Finally, the Crown relented to a trial by jury at the Exchequer Chamber.