Tom Holland

Incredible tension.

We should probably take a break here because it's so tense.

But what a cliffhanger.

Return after the break to find out what happens next.

Welcome back, everybody, to The Rest Is History.

What tension and what a cliffhanger.

We are now in early August 1183, so seven weeks after Kiso won that tremendous victory, unexpected victory with his blazing oxen and whatnot,

at the pass of Kurikara.

And Kyoto, the imperial capital, is a city on the edge, a city in panic because Kiso is closing in.

So he'd won a second victory, which we won't massively go into, 100 miles east of Kyoto at a place called Shinohara.

And the survivors, the refugees, have been drifting into the capital.

And the sound of approaching drums from the east of the Minamoto forces has been growing louder and louder.

and louder and louder.

Well, you say people fleeing, but there are some people in particular whose fate is crucial.

and chief among them.

We haven't really talked about the imperial family specifically.

So what's going on with them?

Yeah.

But one person doesn't go with them.

And this is somebody called Go Shurikawa.