Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/232

the Royal Household had been offered, had refused the offer, and gone over to the Chinese side. But the Queen wished to return to the main palace, and Takezoyé also disapproved of Boku-ei-ko’s idea, and so the Royal Family now re-entered the usual residence in the evening of the day following the coup d’état.

The next day, the 6th of December, 1884, an apparent calm reigned over the whole of Corea, and the New Era seemed to have commenced gloriously. Takezoyé now asked for leave to retire with the Japanese soldiers, but the King entreated him to remain longer. The Cabinet Ministers were assembled in the royal presence, and discussing the Great Decree which was to be issued to mark the beginning of the Reformed Government, when, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, a sudden bursting noise was heard close at hand. The Chinese commanders, Go-chio-yu and En-sei-gai, had asked to be received by the King in person several times since the morning, but being refused as often, now fired a volley against the Corean and Japanese soldiers, and forced their way through the Senin Gate. The second and third volleys were also fired, and the bullets reached the royal presence. Captain Murakami now ordered the Japanese soldiers to return the fire, which they did with great precision, and killed eighty Chinese on the spot. The Corean soldiers either fled or went over to the Chinese ranks. The whole interior of the Palace now presented scenes of indescribable confusion, and as the poor King fled from one corner to the other for safety, Takezoyé had to hunt him out with great difficulty. Unfortunately, the King’s mother, to whom the son had always shown the utmost devotion, fell into the Chinese hands, and the King now insisted on going over to her side, happen what might. He would no longer listen to Takezoyé’s remonstrance that he should not show his person in positions so close to the Chinese and Corean soldiers; and as these latter would not cease firing so long as there were Japanese soldiers around the King, Takezoyé now resolved to retire with all his men out of sheer necessity of saving the King from the greatest of disasters. Takezoyé and his suite, and the Coreans—Boku-ei-ko, Kin-giok-kin, Jo-ko-han, etc.—now assembled the 130 Japanese soldiers around them, and made their way to the Legation, which they found well defended by the Japanese that had fled into it. But the want of food soon compelled the inmates to give it up to the fire of the Coreans, and retire to Ninsen. From here Takezoyé reported the whole incident to Japan.

In Seoul on the next day the remnants of the Chinese party came out of their concealment, restored the old form of government, and killed or gave poison to all the remaining partisans