Necessary Corruption 19

Necessary Corruption
Chapter 19

-VB-

A noble did not just get married. No, higher in the hierarchy and caste system that one was a part of, the longer the marriage process was. Taking in a lower caste as my first wife was already controversial, so I couldn’t ignore the other norms of society lest I wanted to be seen as mocking traditions and laws that guided us all.

Frankly, I did want to spit on those laws because most of them helped no one but the top few, but as much as I now believed myself to be a significant power, I was nowhere near strong enough to withstand both internal and external threats all at once that angering the entire Elemental Nations’ nobilities would undoubtedly cause me.

No, marriage would come within a month, but in the meantime, Tsunami and I continued to refer to each other as wife and husband.

It made me happy.

What didn’t make me happy was the overtures and prodding my neighboring nobles of Rivers, Fire, and Wind have been up to.

My visit to the Land of Wave and the subsequent reformations that have swept across that nation had reached many ears, and none were too happy as those next to me.

They feared, rightfully so, that I would cause similar reformations, and they would find confirmation for their fears in what happened to my lands, because chief among my own reforms for my personal fiefdom had been something none of the nobles quite liked.

Land reforms.

Land was, from even before the records eras, the path to power. Those who owned land possessed power. Land was everything from food production, living space, and natural defense to prestige, history and potential. Without land, nobles were nothing and the nobles themselves knew this.

And there were plenty of nobles within my provinces who weren’t completely happy with what I did.

As “unified” as my territory and clan was, a single clan didn’t run an entire province let around half a dozen. My clan wasn’t even that numerous in number. Hiring administrators only went so far because of lack of trust, talent, and literacy. Sure, I could probably assign some of my new retinues to act as administrators, but most didn’t have the education for it or even the ability to sit for any time longer than an hour, nevermind the countless hours they would need to spend on their rear to write reports.

Nobles, however, did have two of three: literacy and talent.

Trust, unfortunately, was hard to come by.

So to curb the influence of these nobles, I covertly passed one reform after another. I decreased tax for the small and middle-sized farmers. I also decreased tax for merchants below a certain wealth size.

And I increased tax on the nobles and extremely wealthy merchants.

That said, I wasn’t above introducing loopholes - and making them known - to those who were loyal to me. They kept their power, wealth, and land, and those who weren't loyal - those who I knew plotted with my neighbors and beyond - slowly lost what they did hold. Merchants and their ilk who sold me and my people inferior goods not worth their price also found themselves slowly but surely losing money from the heavy taxes if not fines levied upon them for “mercantile misconduct.”

“Is it necessary to impose so many laws?”

It was a good question from Tsunami, one that she had asked while I helped with her education.

“Since my provinces aren’t all my lands but I hold sway over the laws of the provinces, I actually do have to rely on the laws,” I replied.

“But if people are disloyal to you, can’t you tell them to leave?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because if there is enough cause, then those ‘displaced’ nobles can ask help from their neighbors, family, and other connections. If a single case reached the ears of the Rivers Daimyo, who does not like me, then there is a high chance that all of the work I put into securing my lands would be for naught because the Rivers Daimyo can - and probably will - demand that I return the lands and titles of those that he sees as wrongfully apprehended. Daimyos, as the lord of the Land of Rivers, have the right to settle disputes between nobles, though of course, he can’t upset me too much… unless he already intends to move against me.”

She looked frustrated. “So you’re stuck having to use convoluted methods?”

“Pretty much,” I shrugged with a muddled smile laced with my own frustration. “The daimyo already allied with most of the northern noble lords of the Land of Rivers, who are all corrupt rulers extorting their people. They are worse, if you can believe it, than the lord I helped remove back in the Land of Waves.”

She frowned.

“But I am making moves to ensure they will not be trouble for me soon.”

Because my narcotics were no longer just trickling into their territories but pouring into them and to very specific locations: noble clans. I intentionally ordered my smugglers and dealers to do that, raising prices elsewhere so that the peasants, artisans, and merchants couldn’t afford them and lowering the price for the nobles so that they would certainly try it out.

And once you tried it out without knowing exactly what you were getting into…

“The same method can’t be used in my provinces, but these laws are just as effective at removing them because they go in hand with another program I have that I call ‘Bulk Land Sale Management.’”

“What does that do?”

“If nobles find that they can’t keep up with the demands of society, then I allow them to relocate to some other place. I buy their lands all at market price, which makes most of them happy, and then redistribute those lands to landless farmers. By doing this, I ensure that farmers are loyal to me and disloyal and smart nobles are out of the way.”

“So it helps the people.”

I sighed. She was still thinking too small.

“Yes, it helps the people but more importantly, it stabilizes the areas where those nobles used to be. Those nobles are no longer mistreating the people, if only to get back at me, and I could trust someone else to collect taxes and manage the people and land… which are all power. This is, in effect, me concentrating all available power within these provinces under my control into my hands.”

“But … right, you said that it only looks like you have that much power from the outside.”

“And that is what everyone in power also thinks because that’s their own situation: decentralized power structure. Only now, this isn’t the case for me.”

“... So it’s a lot of power?”

“Take all that Land of Waves can do and multiply it by ten and then some. That’s how much power I now possess.”

But other nobles and powermongers outside of the Land of Rivers have taken wind of my schemes.

And they feared me.

Because I now truly possessed all of the powers to be wielded on the spot.

Without the nobles taking chunks of the taxes they collected, my income had doubled. My expenditure remained the same. My retinues?

They only grew in number and in silence in my shadows.

That was the other part of this scheme, by the way. By focusing the eyes of my enemies to be on my financial and administrative schemes, I was pulling their eyes away from my military.

And oh how my armies had grown…

Her shoulders sagged. “And I have to be aware of this and all of the small changes that happens every day?”

“More or less.”

“I am starting to doubt why I love you.”

“Aw, come on, don’t be like that, honey!”

-VB-

Commissioned by Kejmur