Necessary Corruption 7: Expansion (Patreon)

Necessary Corruption

Chapter 7: Expansion

-VB-

Numbers and numbers and numbers.

Everything came down to numbers and how well I wielded them.

It was about knowing the numbers, using the numbers, hiding the numbers, and numbers decided all.

My people just had the numerical quality advantage over the others, and it was how I put an end to not only a pesky annoyance that skimmed from my merchants and all other merchants but also the backstabbers who wanted to do me in.

I couldn’t bring these heinous men, who set fire to a lord’s castle, to justice. They died fighting to the last against my better armored, armed, and trained men.

I did, however, bring their heads for the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers. The elected daimyo stared at me and the four boxes, each containing the cleaned heads of the noble lords and clan heads.

“I am … glad that you put an end to an alliance that would have surely ruined our relationship with the Land of Fire,” Daimyo Tokamashi Tondo spoke softly. “It is known that the merchants, both River and Fire, have suffered at the hands of the bandits, but to hear that he had a hand in directing them…” He nodded to himself. “Lord Takanori.”

“Hai!” I answered his call.

“You have done the Land of Rivers a favor. You have proven your honor and upheld the duty of a noble clan.” He paused. “I cannot thank you enough. As such, I must reward you in a fitting manner. I give you control over the Fukuhami Clan and Ginzunobo Clan, the two perpetrators of two different schemes.”

“Such a reward is too much for this noble servant!” I bowed my head. “I have only done my duty!”

“And it is because it was duty that I cannot give you the lands and responsibilities of all those involved,” he said as his aide stepped forward and gingerly dropped three scrolls onto my awaiting hands.

“Thank you, daimyo-dono,” I said as I glanced at the scrolls while bowing. The first two scrolls were marked with the Land of Rivers land grant seals. The third seal held the mark of a highly sought after prestige: the designation of taijinshi, a hereditary rank of a noble only below the daimyo in hierarchy.

“You may leave, Takanori-dono. I must meet with my advisors.”

I stood up and left while continuing to bow. As the rice doors slid shut with a soft tap, I straightened my back and left. As I walked out of the daimyo’s castle in the northern Land of Rivers and then got into my carriage, I clicked my tongue and Washimoto, my ever loyal retinue, opened the door of the carriage. “Yes, milord?”

“Make sure that the daimyo and this castle is under good surveillance. He is not our friend.”

By the law of the land, the wronged party should get everything from the perpetrator. The daimyo purposely gave me only half. In fact, I could even say that he gave me less than half because the lands of only one of the three backstabbers was given to me while I was sure that he swallowed the other two lands for himself and his backers.

In essence?

I was cheated.

I could not speak up about this. Unlike the liberal Land of Winds, to speak against the daimyo publicly was to invite retaliation on the spot up to and not limited to death.

“Hai.”

“And make sure that our lowest quality exports find their way to him and his supporters.”

“Hai.”

The door closed and the carriage started its journey back to Gyushi.

More and more enemies… There wasn’t an end to my list of enemies.

-VB-

I now possessed a deep river access to the ocean as well as a major trade route between the Land of Fire and the Land of Winds.

I needed … a base in the ocean. Somewhere I could fortify, stock, and colonize for my own sake. Having an ocean base would also increase the amount of area my merchants would be able to cover. As it was, my ships could reach as far as the Land of Sea. I also didn’t want any merchants who would carry questionable goods to be associated with my lands.

With my advisors, I looked over the map of the known world, the Elemental Nations, and pondered on where I should do just that.

And I found one.

It was a small island off the coast of the biggest market in the Elemental Nations, the Land of Fire. It was also small enough and close enough to my lands in the Land of Rivers to serve as a naval base as well as a warehouse. There weren’t a lot of people there, and I knew for a fact that I could keep them under my control.

Not under any official nation’s control, no one could argue against me if I went for a full conquest of it, either.

Land of Waves.

“What do you think?” I asked my advisors.

My newly legitimized brother Hisou stood beside me as an advisor. Ever since he’d been learning as much as he could about … everything. He wanted to be a mind that I could consult when I needed advice, and here he was now, doing exactly that.

“The Land of Waves is a small country. It has its own daimyo, but he is a weak-willed child. His soldiers are next to none when compared to land powers. The best he has are the dock patrols, whose main job is to ensure the commerce that is the lifeline of the Land of Waves does not stop. However, Gatou has come in, gave the child daimyo trinkets, and started taking over the docks.”

I frowned. “That does not sound good.”

Gatou was a scummy but big name in commerce. He controlled a large portion of shipping in the Land of Tea, Land of Sea, and the Land of Waters. For him to come and settle the Land of Waves, it meant that he was looking to expand his business into the Land of Rivers and the Land of Winds.

“Why have I not heard of this before?” I asked curiously.

“He doesn’t want the Land of Fire to interfere with his business, and that means tight information control.”

“I see, I see,” I mumbled. “And I suppose that freeing these people will endear them to me?”

“Very much so. Due to Gatou’s tyranny, they are suffering from a famine and medicine shortage.”

I harrumphed. “So a bad ruler. I suppose we can kick out another bad ruler from another land.”

Washimoto smiled from my left as did my other advisors.

“Good. Then set our sights on the Land of Waves and the Gatou Shipping. I want the former under my control and the latter gone.”