Gashin (臥信) is the General of the Zui Provincial Guard of the Right in the kingdom of Tai and formerly one of Gyousou’s regimental commanders. Cheerful and friendly, Risai counts him as an excellent tactician. According to Gyousou, Gashin is loved for his big heart. He is famously on good terms with both the shusei and the shin’nou and has been known to gather military intel by exchanging information with and consulting both groups. For this reason he accompanies Gyousou during the Shouzan. Having run into each other in taverns, Yuushou describes him as good natured and said that he “always made for good company to raise a little hell with.”
Career[]
Gashin is from Ran Province. Like Ganchou, he rose up the ranks in the military and as a result is considered to be poorly suited to politics. He served as one of Gyousou’s five regimental commanders during Emperor Kyou’s dynasty and was promoted to General of the Zui Provincial Guard of the Right during Gyousou’s dynasty. He’s friendly and relaxed with his peers and is known to joke around with them. While Taiki is away for a diplomatic mission, he likens Gyousou to a hungry tiger and, when Risai informs the other generals of the spreading rumors about her and her peers, mock-complains that “It’s disappointing to discover that you’re considered such a small fry that you don’t qualify as being sufficiently envious of Gyousou-sama.”
Among his colleagues, Gashin is known for being cunning, clever, and is never caught unprepared. However, while he is considered an outstanding tactician like Eishou, Risai describes his movements as having a “strange openness” while Eishou’s movements are more shadowy. He’s on good terms with the shusei and is known to hold them in high regard due to their access to rumors and information that could very well turn out to be valuable military intel. As a result, Yari claims that, like Gyousou, he is well-known among the goushi for sharing information and ideas.
The Shouzan[]
When Gyousou makes the trip to Mount Hou, he is one of the officers to accompany him—while he remains unnamed in the anime, he makes an appearance on-screen. He is indignant when Taiki rejects Gyousou and when Gyousou reveals his intentions to leave Tai, he initially argues that he doesn’t want to serve anyone other than Gyousou and offers to accompany him. However, once Gyousou lays out his reasons for leaving his retainers behind, he acquiesces.
The First Tetsui Campaign[]
While Gashin wasn’t mentioned specifically by name during the first Tetsui campaigns, he was present and, like his fellow officers, initially didn’t think that the Palace Guard could handle Tetsui on their own. However, when Gyousou gives his orders, he follows them without question.
The Bun Province Rebellions[]
Gashin remains behind in Kouki during the Bun Province rebellions and only mobilizes after Asen sets up his provisional court. His division is sent to aid Eishou in the mopping up operations and is placed on standby in Bun Province to maintain order. However, when news of Asen’s betrayal reaches him and Eishou, he is ordered to return to Kouki with half his division, rounding up or down as he saw fit. Like the other generals, he is also given orders to execute Risai for regicide should he encounter her. He obeys Asen’s orders while Eishou and his men disband and disappear, leading to the theory that the two generals formulated a plan before they acted.
Gashin returns to Kouki with two regiments under orders to defend the capital and leaves the other three in Bun Province under the guise of following orders. However, he escapes with his men soon after and isn’t heard from again. The ledgers are discovered to have gone missing from the Imperial Repository not long after his disappearance, leading to another theory that he, Eishou, and Seirai worked together to steal the ledgers and hide them from Asen.
Asen's Dynasty[]
During the following six years, no one hears any news of Gashin’s arrest and/or execution. It is later revealed that when he escaped, a shusei agent helped him go underground in Ran Province, where he bided his time and gradually gathered soldiers. Kaei joins him not long after she and Risai separate in Sui Province, and the two remain hidden until they hear news of uprisings against Asen in Bun Province.
Gyousou's Rescue[]
Gashin receives a messenger not long after Kouryou reunites with Eishou, which is how he learns about Risai’s activities in Bun Province and Taiki’s return to Hakkei Palace. He and Eishou get in contact and initially plan to join Risai’s forces in Bun Province, but they run into Kouka in the mountains of Bun Province and learn that Gyousou had been recaptured by the Ba Provincial Guard. Deciding that going to Bun Province was useless, Gashin and Eishou head for Kou Province instead. Gashin has 4,000 soldiers undercover in Ran Province at the time.
In Kou Province, their forces ran into Kyoshi, who was injured from the fight with the Ba Provincial Guard and exhausted from riding the short-tempered Ragou. Kyoshi explained what had happened to them and presented to them Gyousou’s sword and Taiki’s passport that had been provided by Youko when he and Risai left Kei. Hearing that Gyousou had the Imperial En’s support, Eishou and Gashin sent an envoy to En with the sword and passport. Upon recognizing Cold Jade—Gyousou’s sword—and Taiki’s passport, Shouryuu agreed to send a warship to meet with Gyousou. When Gashin and Risai reunite, he is the one who tells her that he survived.
Needing a stronghold to retreat to once they free Gyousou, Gashin and Kouyuu work together to capture Kou Castle. At first the Provincial Guard and officials resists, but because of the illness afflicting the province lord, Gashin’s forces face weak opposition. Rounding up the high officials and officers, Gashin puts them under house arrest before hurrying to Kouki. He left behind only two platoons of fifty soldiers to enforce the house arrest, and those men were later relieved by Kouyuu and his men when they arrived at the castle.
On the way to Kouki, Gashin sends a company of a hundred men ahead to plant the banners that Houto had designed along the route to Soukou Castle and return to the column. While Eishou takes his army to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Gashin takes command of a stable outside of Kouki and, saddling kijuu for battle, assigns them to riders as more and more people arrive to help free Gyousou. After doing so, he and his army waits for Eishou to escort Gyousou, Taiki, and the Black Flags. On the way to Kou Castle, he and Risai ride with their air cavalry, where he explains to her how he and Eishou made it in time. When Gashin and Eishou reunite with Gyousou, the two generals literally run over to meet their emperor and former commander.
Relationships[]
Gyousou[]
Gashin speaks casually and openly with Gyousou even after he becomes emperor. When Taiki visits Ren, he informs Gyousou that during that time, he was on edge and therefore scary and unapproachable. In addition to this, he said that being around Gyousou was like “spending time with a hungry tiger”. Gyousou also speaks to him in a similar manner and, while explaining why he had to leave Tai when Taiki first rejected him, he consoles him saying that he wouldn’t mind if he and the others tracked him down once Tai became more stable and his retainers still couldn’t stand to live without him.
Taiki[]
Gashin and Taiki don’t interact during the books, but Gashin serves him steadfastly and accompanies Risai to look for him in the remains of Jinjuu Manor after the meishoku destroys the palace.
Sougen, Eishou, Ganchou, Santou[]
Gashin gets along well with his colleagues and is relaxed around them. He works well in a group but also isn’t afraid to tease them—for example, after Gyousou’s rescue, he spread a rumor that Eishou broke down in tears during their reunion with Gyousou.
Shouhaku[]
Similar to him in personality, Shouhaku is one of Gashin’s most trusted lieutenants to the point where Gashin leaves him behind to maintain order in the still uneasy Bun Province with half of the division while he returns to Kouki with the other half of the division.
Seishi[]
Seishi’s and Gashin’s relationship is never discussed, but he is trusted by Gashin. When gathering men to accompany him and Gyousou on the Shouzan, he offers to lend Seishi a kijuu of his choice from his own stables.
Risai[]
As fellow general in the Zui Provincial Guards, Risai and Gashin get along extremely well. Having met each other during the Shouzan, they joke around with each other and respect each other’s skills.
Kaei[]
Like Gashin, Kaei is also from Ran Province and therefore joins him when she runs into him in their home province. Despite being from two different career backgrounds (the military and the civil service), they work well together. When Gashin and his men mobilize to join Risai in Bun Province, she stays behind and puts her extensive network of contacts to use in order to gather more allies.
Image Gallery[]
