章節 67: Trade Wars! (Part 1)
"Everyone, I believe I don't have to elaborate anymore about the reason why I assembled all of you in here."
"No need, Yamada-sama. We all know what you meant with the letter you sent to us."
In a hidden cellar at a certain tea house at Southern Iwaki city, a group of men sitting around a rectangular table spoke to each other.
"So, the day finally came, huh…"
"I've been waiting for this since I lost everything to that prick."
They were different in many ways. Many of them were simple businessmen, some owns multiple businesses while an exclusive few owns entire corporations.
"Don't worry. You want to bring him down? I'll let you do it as much as you want later."
"…"
But all of them shared the same hatred against one particular person.
"Today, we will declare a trade war against Miyazaki Hiro and those who are serving under his trading alliance."
Trade war. It's not a light word to speak especially in Hashidate where money and profit is held as the absolute deciding factor of one's power and influence.
To declare a trade war is to gamble the stability and gains of your business. And to say that it is dangerous would be an understatement.
"Just to make this clear, all of you do know that once we fail, we cannot even pay their demands even if we hand over our own lives."
"We are well-aware, Yamada-sama. We are prepared to do it if that will give us a shot in defeating him."
Just like what has just been said, even if they hand over their own lives, it will not satiate the losing conditions set if they fail in this trade war. Even if they and their family become slaves, they won't be able to pay that price.
A trade war is that fierce. It doesn't care about anything other than who wins and who loses.
"That's why I want all of you to pray. Pray to the goddess of wealth and victory to bless us. Pray that we will be able to retake the things that has been taken from us."
The only mistake they did was to declare that against someone who has been waiting for it all this time.
"Miyazaki Hiro… You will fall today."
Early in the morning, to be exact, the sun hasn't even risen up yet, a man riding a horse made his steed sprint to a certain building in the center of Iwaki.
"Get out of the way! Get the hell out of the way!!!"
"Hey! Watch where you're going!"
He shouted to make the other pedestrians get out of his path as he didn't let his horse to slow down as they drew near to the Stock Exchange building.
"W-Whoa…!"
"Kid! Take her to the stable and prepare another horse!"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
He stopped by the building's stable and handed the reins to the stableboy who was surprised with his sudden arrival.
"Abauf!"
"S-Sir! Are you alright?!"
In his rush, he wasn't able to take his feet off the foot harness and tripped on it as he fell face-first on a nearby pile of horse dung.
"Ah! Just help me up and hand over some wet cloth!"
After a brief clean-up, he ran to the building shouting a single thing.
"Manager Ikehara! Is Manager Ikehara in here?!"
"Whoa! Calm down. What's wrong?"
Instead of the general manager of the stock exchange, the person who confronted him was the floor manager, a second in command of the General Manager.
"Haah… This… letter!"
"Letter? Hmm… What the-?!"
After reding the letter briefly, he ran to his table and took a book that was inside a locked drawer. He hurriedly fluttered the pages one by one, finding a certain word.
"Trade… trade… trade… Trade war!"
After he shouted those words, the accountants and analysts that were busy with their works suddenly stopped and stood up from their seats.
"Manager, that…"
"Who declared it?"
The floor manager sighed and turned around to answer his co-workers.
"The Yamada Clan… No, the Yamada Clan's Asakura Trader's Alliance."
"""The elites?!"""
His answer caused an uproar amongst his co-workers who immediately ran to their tables to clear their work areas.
"Runners! Are the runners here?!"
"""Y-Yes sir!"""
"Go to our branch offices! Tell them to close down or else, they'll be overrun with requests for cancelled investments from the brokers."
"We will, sir!"
"Everyone! Prepare for the Trade War! Don't let Hashidate's economy to collapse from this!"
"Yes, sir!"
The messengers went out and rode their horses to do their work as the office workers prepared for the disorder that will later befall the city's economic market.
"May the heavens have mercy on us…"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Iwasawa- I mean, Shachou-sama… Good morning."
"Good morning too, Minori-kun. Still not used to not referring to me by our real identities?"
"Apologies… In any case, everyone is waiting for you."
With a mug of steaming coffee by my left hand, I was greeted by Minori who has been waiting for my arrival. After a brief conversation, we went inside the room that I've been preparing for a long, long time.
"Well… Good morning, ladies and gentlemen."
"""Good morning, Miyazaki-sama!"""
All around the room that looked like a spaceship's command room at the topmost floor of our business office, the people I spent several months to assemble greeted me with a bow.
They number about 24, a mixed group of individuals who either asked us to take them in to fight the oligarchs or I personally enlisted due to their skills and talents.
"Haha… You guys sure are proud to wear your best clothes."
I chuckled to myself as I saw them wearing formal hakama kimonos.
"We wouldn't want to come out to the victory party looking like usual office workers, Miyazaki-sama."
"Hmph! A refined lady always keeps her appearance in tip-top shape, please remember that Shachou-sama."
"Okay, okay… I got it."
Once I took my seat at the center of the room, I began a short speech that Minori forced me to do before we got in.
"As you already know, our enemies are fierce oligarchists who will do everything in their power to stay in power. I brought all of you together for this special day that I knew would come soon as we siphon at our opponent's strength."
All of them seemed to have understood what I meant to say with those lines.
"All of you came from different backgrounds, different social standings and situations, but I know that deep in your hearts, you can relate to the pains of the person next to you and thus, form a sense of camaraderie with them."
I gave them a smile and concluded my speech.
"Now, let's go and rip off those bastards so they'll learn how to be humbled!"
"YOOSH!"
The battle started as early as the sun has risen.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Before we proceed to the scene of the trade war, it is imperative to first learn about how this works and its history amongst the city of trade and commerce.
The earliest form of a trade war came from the legendary man named Ikehara Masuyo, the father of the current General Manager of the Stock exchange, who once owned almost all the businesses in Hashidate.
When he was still a newcomer who didn't have much presence in the city-state, he challenged his opponents who didn't want to cede their businesses to him.
"All of you against me! First one to go bankrupt or have a smaller net worth at the end of the week will have to give the winner everything they own!"
It was the bout of a rapscallion. A stupid and haphazard challenge that the nobles and rich merchant of that time scoffed at while laughing at him to scorn.
Yet by the end of the week, all of them bowed down to that young man whom they insulted for being foolish to challenge their rule. They all fell on their faces, begging him to at least spare their families from slavery, however, he sneered and shouted to his subjects.
"Seize all of their property! Don't leave anything that has a value!"
That day, everyone learned about how heavy the word "Trade War" is.
This war repeated again and again for a while, all of it ending only once he has seized everything that his enemy has. From his actions, he amassed great wealth, prestige and a noble title from the Taka Daimyo and became the minister of Hashidate's treasury.
All of it he received from declaring war and taking what his enemies owns once he has defeated them. This made the act an attractive thing to do when one is in a tight spot, but the fact that what you can gain would be the total opposite if you're the one who loses made this a thing that most wouldn't want to partake in.
So, to summarize the act into a single statement: "Outbuy your enemy and you'll get everything that he has, even his own kinsmen."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"It's the 7th hour in the morning! The Stock exchange is resetting!"
"Good. Now, let's outdo our opponent with our technical superiority. Minori, I hand you the command for the general functions."
I spoke and wore my radio transceiver headphones.
"As you wish, Shachou!"
The fun thing in this is the fact that we have equipment that gives us a superiority that is more than capable of making us win this war.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've already taught you how to use this new equipment that we procured, and we've practiced for so many hours on how to use them… I believe that everyone is now ready to proceed with our attack plan?"
"Of course!"
"Believe in us, Minori-dono!"
The workers seem to be more than enthusiastic to start it already. They rolled up their sleeves and sat in front of their tables where a wooden box with wires and metal antennas are attached.
"Hmm… Humu, humu… I see, copy that."
While listening to the transmitted messages of our men in the Stock Exchange building, I spoke loudly to announce the start of our battle.
"Everyone! The markets are open! Go buy stocks like there's no tomorrow and make us win!"
"Yes, sir!"
With that, we started our offensive as everyone wore their headphones, manned their calculators and opened the book of people that we have to contact to buy stocks or convince to invest on our business.
At the other side of the war, hundreds of workers serving under the Asakura Trading Alliance are running to and fro, trying to do their works without even a moment of rest.
"Come on! Calculate our gains and losses!"
"If we lose here, everyone will lose their jobs!"
If an Otherworlder is present in this place, he would most likely describe the large office as a sweatshop in a third-world country.
The place feels very hot and humid due to the amount of people and lack of windows for ventilation. The lamps and candles at each table filled the room with the smell of smoke and the tables that was either made in a rush or was simply substandard broke with the amount of paper and the force that the accountants must use just to move their abacus to make calculations.
"How is our situation going now?"
"We've acquired the resources and stocks that we targeted in the preliminary market investigation. I apologize for saying this when I am aware of your anxiety, but it is still too early to deduce if we will win or not."
"No need to apologize, I know that asking about our stance when only two hours has passed is a fool's errand."
"I am honored."
The old man grunted as his right-hand man retreated back to the work area to check their current situation.
"There are enough horsemen to keep our communications in a good pace. I'm glad that the Kawasumi clan was able to provide enough horses even after they lost so much at their headquarters at Kiko."
"Yeah."
A middle-aged man spoke while approaching the old man. He is one of the people who just joined the Asakura Trader's Alliance and provided the large office where they are performing their own actions.
"You're the first to arrive here… Where are the others?"
"At temples, praying for our victory… there are some though who are rumored to be staying at border villages if ever things won't go our way. They're preparing to run away and leave the payment of the losing terms to us."
"Tsk! Traitors…"
"They are scared of our enemy so we can't blame them."
"I know… they are businessmen after all."
The old man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while groaning. It seems like he's not feeling well now that things are proceeding like this.
"Yamada-sama…"
"Yes?"
"How did… that kid acquire his current wealth and standing?"
The old man didn't expect to be asked that question, but he quickly regained his bearings and answered with a calm tone.
"He's a wild and sporadic businessman, when he does things, he's like a wildfire that started inside a field of dried corn stalks. He doesn't make calculated or precise business plans. He goes with the momentum of the market and rides in whatever business looks promising to him."
"Aren't those traits owned by…?"
"Yeah. He's like a modern example of my teacher and the founder of the Stock Exchange, Ikehara Masuyo. His brash tactics, his speedy twists and turns… even his ability to just swing from one business to another and still emerge with a huge profit… that prick is a spitting image of him."
Yamada Youji hated his teacher. But even he cannot deny that if not for him, there will be no way for Hashidate to become a predominant trading hub in the country. This "survival of the fittest" style of economic doctrine gave birth to millions of possible ways for people to do business and it all started with him.
"Do we have a chance against him then?"
"Don't be afraid. He's just a naïve boy."
"Huh?"
"Even my teacher fell from grace and had to sell his businesses to save his family from debt. No one is invincible, he has his own weaknesses."
He knew that fact that not many people outside the Ikehara clan knows about.
Shortly before creating the Stock Exchange institution, Ikehara Masuyo mysteriously sold all the businesses that he acquired from the long list of Trade Wars that he participated in.
No one knows about the reason for this decision, but one of the strongest speculations that people made about it is that he gave it up after racking up huge amounts of debt during the drought and famine that hit the country and the subsequent weakening of the Taka clan.
"He doesn't realize it yet, but he is falling victim to the same kind of pitfall that Masuyo-sensei once fell down to."
"What… do you mean, Yamada-sama?"
"Yamada-sama…"
"W-whoa! B-Bandits?!"
Just in time, several men wearing torn and dirty clothes walked and knelt behind the old man.
"Calm down, they are with us."
"I-I see…"
The men raised their faces and spoke.
"We will make our move now."
"Hm. Thank you for your service, everyone."
Following that exchange, the group of men went out and rode their horses.
"What will they do, Yamada-sama?"
"…It seems like I have to confess something to you."
"And… that is?"
"I never fight fair. This is war, nothing is prohibited."
Indeed, Yamada Youji never fights fairly.
And in his desire to bring down his opponent, he has again, decided to do what he has always did to get what he wants.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Sir… a report from our men in the western district."
"Got it, give me the frequency."
"Yes sir."
After calibrating the radio frequency in my console, I heard the calm voice of Namikaze-san, the newest member of our group and Minori's old mentor.
[Am I clear? Can somebody hear me? Flalalalala…]
"Stop licking the microphone for cripe's sake, old man. How many times do I have to scold you about this?"
[A-Ah! S-Sorry…]
"Anyways, why did you call? Has something happened in there?"
[Well, something could've happened if not for our quick counteraction. I saw some shifty lads around here and suspected that they are up to no good. I lead my team to trail them from the rooftops and sure enough, I was right.]
"What did they do?"
[They were about to torch down one of our stores, so we dealt with them. Don't worry boss, we'll clean this up.]
"Good job."
I replied with a smile and put down my headphones before twirling around the swivel chair that I was sitting at.
"You look bothered, Shachou."
"Hm? Oh… It's nothing, really. I just feel bad about something."
Minori's eyes slanted down after my reply, so I gave an explanation to what I said.
"Our enemies are too willing to waste human lives. I'm feeling bad for having to put them down for our own sake."
"…Is it because of you're not you right now?"
"Not me, huh?"
Indeed. It's easy for me to accept that lives will be taken from mine and my opponent's side if I am a Daimyo. But it is not the same right now. Now, I am just a businessman caught up in this feud in a city that isn't even related to me and my goals.
"Perhaps it's because you are an Otherworlder that it is hard for you to accept that people have to take lives and run the risk of theirs' being taken too in this world…"
"You're right."
"But that is not something that a man like you must keep, Master."
"Huh?"
Minori placed his hand on my shoulder and spoke.
"You are our leader. You are our hope. Don't mind our feelings and welfare. When we pledged our loyalty to you, we already resigned our fates on your hands…"
"But…"
"So, think nothing of what we may feel or what might happen about this and that… Lead us. Just lead us and prove our doubts about you as wrong."
Hearing those words, the sense of worry left me, and I sighed, thinking that I have yet to remove that part of me from myself.
"Okay… Everyone, report your statuses."
"I am halfway through my list, Shachou!"
"I'm nearly done, Boss."
"I'm having some problems with one client. Our people on the ground are having a hard time convincing them to invest."
"Tell him that we'll give him a premium deal and a 30-day money-back guarantee if he's not satisfied."
"Yes, sir!"
Yeah. Why am I worrying right now?
I have to worry about those under me, not those who are going against me.
"Minori. I have a message to send. Prepare the morse code button."
"On it."
You want war? I'll give you what you want, Yamada.
At Danzo farmstead, the farmland owned by the Yamada clan, the tenants who are tending to the vegetable fields of the farmland suddenly went into a frenzy.
"Get the torches!"
"Get some firewood in here!"
The reason was something that they didn't expect to have in this late winter season.
"Damn, damn, damn! Why didn't we notice this?!"
"Burn it before it jumps to the other plants!"
The laborers threw baskets upon baskets of winter vegetable seedlings that they kept in a roofed nursery room into a fire at the fields. And once someone saw the wriggling creatures in the consuming fire, they will know the reason.
"We're screwed! All of these are supposed to be planted soon!"
"Quit yapping! Haul those out before the disease goes to the other ones!"
The diseases were of the most unsalvageable kind. Blighted potatoes, Anthracnose in red beans, Downy mildew in cabbages and bok choy and gray mold in tomatoes.
As more and more of the infantile seedlings were burned due to the sickness that they carried, the fief of the farm grew more and more anxious as he saw their storage nursery's potentially farmable plants become lesser and lesser.
"Yamada-sama wouldn't be pleased with this…"
"How the hell did diseased plants get through us anyway?"
"I have no clue. But he might be able to understand that this is within normal parameters."
They calmed their selves down as they thought about the reaction of their master. However, another shout rang out from the fields.
"Boss! We have a problem here!"
"What the hell?"
The fief ran towards the two young men in the middle of the thawing winter farm field and looked at where they were pointing at.
"Look at this, sir…"
One of them plunged a shovel into the ground and the handle snapped and the metal spade sounded like it hit solid rock.
"What the hell is happening here…?"
It is not unrealistic for the soil to become solid and almost undiggable in winter, however, this kind of hardness was something unprecedented.
"This… the soil is too solid. How can just thawed ice do this?"
That's when he noticed something was unnaturally wrong in the entire farm.
"The snow… it snowed a lot yesterday but… Did you and the others shovel the field yesterday?"
"Huh? No sir. We didn't."
He looked around and the amount of snow wasn't as he expected it to be.
"No… please don't tell me that-"
He scooped a handful of snow and placed some into his mouth.
"S-Sir! What are you doing?!"
"…I was right…"
"Huh?"
He ran away from the scene and went to the stables where he took a horse and rode towards the other workers.
"Everyone! Get your tools and shovel the snow off the fields! We've been sabotaged!"
"W-What?!"
"Just go! I'll report this to Yamada-sama!"
He rode out and on his hand was still a few of the snow that he took from the ground.
"That snow… it has salt. How… how did they slipped under my watch?!"
Salting the ground. It is something that not many people at this time knew about. But when salt is placed on the ground, it basically kills any kind of plant that may grow on it. So, not only were their seedlings blighted, even the ground that they were supposed to farm was sterilized.
And who else has the knowledge to culture those diseases and know about soil salting? Of course, it's already obvious.
"That covers our delaying action and sabotage of their potential profits."
"Good job. We just have to handle the imports of seedlings from Shinka, and we'll be able to outdo them in the first day."
I spoke as Minori gave the report from our inside men in Danzo farmstead that the sabotage was successful.
"Edogawa-sama is currently handling that. The Kashima Transportation company seems to have allotted their carriages for us today."
"I bribed Gin with wine, he's a simple guy with simple wishes."
These are the times when I feel thankful that I have a friend that I can depend on using something that I readily have.
"Now that I think about it, how can that guy glug down alcohol even though he's younger than me?"
"I… have no answer for that, Shachou."
Perhaps some questions are best left unanswered.
"Anyways, it's already about lunch. What's our current holdings and net worth in the Stock exchange?"
"Umm… 21% local holdings and 52.7 million Kan."
"In Yen, please."
"Ah! Y-yes…"
Minori spoke sharply as the accountant spoke about our net worth in the old coinage.
"With the exchange rate… 52.7 million multiplied by 4.58… 241.37 million Yen, sir!"
"Hah. We hit it big when it's just the first half of the first day."
"It's because our reports to the exchange is quicker than the enemy. We have a radioman inside the office so we can constantly report our additions."
"And that means?"
"We're more continual in reporting while the other side only reports every once in a while. We rise in a slope while they rise in spikes. That's a sign of our technical superiority."
I looked at the board in front of the room after our analyst drew up a chart and crossed out the people and businesses that we already secured under us.
"If this continues, we'll be able to hit the 60% mark sooner than expected."
"Yeah. If we get there, we will automatically win. But we still can't sit pretty in here."
I spoke as I looked at the bar chart that has our 21% local holdings and our opponents' 41% local holdings.
"So that's what you were worried at, Shachou?"
"Yeah, this is why I didn't pull any stops in this. We own more businesses than them, but they are small businesses and are miniscule in the grand scale of the city. Our enemies own large corporations that make up entire fives in the charts."
"It is regrettable, yes."
I sighed and twirled around my swivel chair again to calm myself down.
"Well, isn't this the exact reason why I brought all of these people together?"
After hearing my question, some of the workers chuckled and spoke.
"Alright, boss. Stop being so sentimental."
"You're starting to sound creepy, Shachou. Shut it for a second."
"Oh, come on, can't a boss care for his people? Haven't you ever tried to imagine having a dad younger than you?"
"""As if!"""
They all laughed at my joke and their response, and the atmosphere lightened up in the room.
"Minori."
"Yes, sir?"
"Execute order number two."
"…As you wish."
Keep your men in high spirits while wrecking the enemy's morale. It is something that I don't regret doing even in these kinds of situations.
創作者的想法 
Ephraim_Chronia
Ephraim_Chronia How to force the author to write ahead of schedule: Cut his internet so he gets bored enough to do it.
Patented by: Editor KEY.
(P.S: I got scolded for doing this.)
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