Uchiha's personal opinion

The Hyuga clan leader had already learned through intelligence channels about the Shogunate merchants' rhetoric when promoting their so-called "affordable luxury" products. Moreover, the Shogunate merchants used "handmade by high-ranking Hyuga ninjas" as their biggest selling point to attract nouveau riche, yet now they were putting on a show of innocence in front of him. This was truly...

"You're too modest, too modest~"

Uchiha Tokumitsu waved his hands repeatedly and said modestly, "The Uchiha clan has always been tolerant of others and provides strong support to its allies. Moreover, the Hyuga clan's high-end products are famous throughout the ninja world. If we can cooperate, it will surely be a great story in the ninja world!"

"I appreciate Lord Deguang's kind offer, and I will make a decision after discussing it with the family elders!"

The Hyuga clan chief quickly said.

……

As evening approached, Uchiha Tokumitsu finally received the crucial intelligence he had been waiting for.

Incited by the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Earth, Iwagakure officially launched an invasion of the Land of Wind under the banner of "upholding justice and restoring orthodoxy," defeating Sunagakure's border forces in one fell swoop and capturing Sunagakure's fortress in the northern part of the Land of Wind!

Not to be outdone, Sunagakure immediately dispatched Rasa to Konoha again in secret to meet with Uchiha Tokumitsu and propose to purchase a batch of weapons as soon as possible.

In recognition of the large amount of gold dust offered by Rasa, Uchiha Tokumitsu allocated a large amount of military supplies to Rasa and thoughtfully gave him a newly compiled basic price list for Uchiha arms trade.

The Uchiha clan absolutely supports Sunagakure's resistance against Iwagakure's invasion, which is not at all in conflict with the current situation where Konoha and Iwagakure are dividing and occupying the southern region of the Land of Lightning!

Uchiha Tokumitsu even stated that if necessary, he could even issue black market missions on behalf of others, summoning ninjas in the black market to fight for Sunagakure.

Although Rasa was very tempted, he still reluctantly declined Uchiha Tokumitsu's "kind offer".

Because most of the so-called "black markets" are secretly supported by nobles behind the scenes, if the Sand Village ninja who launched the coup and promoted the "turning villages into countries" were to get involved with them, they might be betrayed and killed at some crucial moment.

After seeing off Rasa, who was equally excited and had returned with a full load of good news, Uchiha Tokumitsu returned to the secret room and drew a circle on the map of the ninja world hanging on the wall, marking the locations of Iwagakure and Sunagakure respectively.

This also signifies that, within a short period of time, two of the four major ninja villages outside of Konoha have just fallen into a state of war.

In addition to Iwagakure and Sunagakure, Kirigakure in the northern part of the Land of Lightning also increased its expeditionary ninja forces and launched a continuous attack on the defending Kumogakure.

After their defeat in the previous decisive battle, the Hidden Cloud Village has been in a state of strategic defense and counterattack. Encouraged by the Third Raikage, although the Hidden Cloud Village has lost its tailed beasts and many ninja, it still maintains high morale and continues to fight to the death with the Hidden Mist Village.

Uchiha Tokumitsu naturally strongly supported all legitimate "commercial needs" of both sides in the war.

Even when the other side sent envoys to request that the shogunate stop selling military supplies to the opposing side, Uchiha Tokumitsu simply gave a perfunctory reply and continued to sell military supplies more and more successfully.

If it weren't for his reluctance to reveal his true intentions too early, Uchiha Tokumitsu would have personally paid to send Amegakure's mercenaries to fill trenches on the northern battlefield of the Land of Lightning.

"We've finally waited for this moment..."

After quickly arranging the subsequent material support for Sunagakure, Uchiha Tokumitsu swiftly returned to the Tokumitsu Shogunate in the Land of Whirlpools to await the opportune moment.

……

"Lord Mizukage, according to reliable intelligence, the Tokugawa Shogunate has indeed provided a large amount of military supplies to Sunagakure and Kumogakure through joint ventures and other channels. At the same time, a large number of Shogunate merchants within the Land of Water are also purchasing large quantities of various seafood products..."

Inside the main military tent of Kirigakure in the Land of Lightning, Juzo Biwa, who was in charge of diplomatic affairs with the shogunate, reported to the Third Mizukage seated above him.

"Has Uchiha Tokumitsu been in Konoha lately?"

The Third Mizukage flipped through the intelligence reports expressionlessly and asked a question seemingly casually.

"That's right. According to intelligence, Rasa, an elite Jonin from Sunagakure, has also secretly traveled to Konoha on several occasions, each time to meet and discuss matters with Uchiha Tokumitsu..."

Biwa Juzo quickly added, "Moreover, judging from the amount of military equipment that the Tokugawa Shogunate has recently sold to foreign countries, it has already gained enormous profits by instigating war!"

"Ha ha……"

The Third Mizukage sneered, "The Uchiha clan actually produced such a thing... How interesting!"

"Furthermore, why can't the intelligence determine why the shogunate's merchants left the daimyo's territory? And why did the shogunate's merchants place such large orders with ship owners in various places before leaving?"

"...It is said that the honorary genin status of merchants requires annual review, so they are returning in groups."

Pipa Juzo's forehead began to sweat.

He knew there were flaws in the information he had about this matter, but he couldn't verify its accuracy in a short time, so his report was rather vague. However, he didn't expect the Third Mizukage to see through his little trick so quickly.

"...This must not be repeated!"

The Third Mizukage snorted coldly, then flipped to the Shogunate's recent ninja army activities and began to study them carefully.

"Thank you for your forgiveness, Lord Mizukage!"

Pipa Juzo breathed a sigh of relief.

"...The time for the decisive battle may have arrived!"

The Third Mizukage slammed the intelligence book onto the table with a loud "bang!" "The Shogunate's ninja army has not yet assembled, and Konoha is at its wits' end. Now is the day to annihilate Kumogakure in one fell swoop!"

The Third Mizukage stood up. "Summon all the Jonin in charge of their respective units for a pre-battle meeting. I will destroy Kumogakure within a month! And wipe out the Land of Lightning within two months and return to the village in triumph!"

"I obey your command!"

The hidden members of the Mist Shadows inside the tent immediately obeyed and left.

Chapter 267 Bank Run

"Immediately send someone to the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Water to exchange for 10 billion taels of gold!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu secretly returned to Fubo Castle, and his first order was to start a run on the Land of Water's paper money.

"In addition, small-scale, decentralized redemptions will be made in various prefectures and cities throughout the Land of Water! The total amount is 5 billion taels."

"As ordered!"

The leaders of the three tribes in charge of handling this matter agreed in unison.

Although they did not fully understand the true purpose of Uchiha Tokumitsu's actions, their long-standing reverence for their lord was enough to enable them to complete all tasks without compromise.

"Within half a month, we will dump goods at maximum intensity and recall the Shogunate gold yuan and the Land of Water paper money, creating a cash shortage while simultaneously causing a run on the banks!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu then spoke to Hyuga Shuhiro, who was in charge of taxation affairs in the southern islands.

"I obey your command!"

After a quick mental calculation, Hyuga Shuhiro figured that half a month would be enough to process the barter trade orders he had made with the shipowners from the Land of Water, and he immediately agreed.

"Therefore, the first financial and economic war in the ninja world shall be officially launched by you all!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu gave the order with satisfaction.

……

After nearly a month of silence, the Land of Water once again attracted a group of shogunate merchants who waved orders and pulled "noble admission tickets" to barter with ship owners and other wealthy merchants.

The water lords and nobles who had initially had some doubts, as well as the intelligence agents from Kirigakure, were now relieved.

"What? So it really was just a qualification check for honorary genin..."

After a brief investigation, the intelligence officer from the Hidden Mist Village responsible for following up on the matter hastily wrote a report to get by.

In his view, this was just a minor matter, and he didn't know why the village's higher-ups would specifically order him to pay attention to it. But now that the "truth" had come to light, the right thing to do was to quickly resolve the matter. After all, he was in a hurry to exchange the "luxury products" he had already ordered with a familiar shogunate merchant!

The daimyo and nobles of the Land of Water have also noticed the recent activities of the shogunate's merchants. What has attracted the most attention from the nobles is that as the shogunate's trading volume has become much more active, the circulation scope and areas of the gold yuan are gradually expanding. Moreover, the shogunate's sudden push to dump goods has also begun to affect local merchants in the Land of Water.

Most importantly, the merchants, large and small, in the Land of Water are all backed by noble families. If the merchants are affected, it means that the nobles' profits will shrink.

Especially after the fall of the southern islands, most of the local nobles who originally guarded the south were forced to accept the support of the daimyo. In order to make up for their losses, these nobles who lost their territories used the little power they had finally regained to the extreme, and all kinds of extortion and tyranny made the nobles in the vicinity of the daimyo shake their heads. As a result, the business environment of the Land of Water deteriorated day by day.

It wasn't that there weren't any relatively morally upright nobles who had lost their land in the north, but their integrity wasn't enough to maintain the decent life they needed. So when they saw their fellow nobles, now reduced to minor officials under the daimyo, getting rich one by one, they too, whether willingly or unwillingly, joined the ranks of those accumulating wealth.

The daimyo knew that the actions of the displaced nobles were actually short-sighted and destructive, but he could not allocate enough fiefdoms to settle them, nor could he abandon these impoverished families with complicated blood ties. So he could only reluctantly grant each of these displaced nobles a minor, insignificant official position to prevent them from falling into a state of destitution and losing their dignity.

Meanwhile, in order to make these landless nobles who served as minor officials behave themselves, the daimyo constantly issued various laws in an attempt to restrain them. However, no matter what, the landless nobles always managed to find loopholes to continue to levy exorbitant taxes and seize wealth in order to maintain their so-called respectable aristocratic lives.

While the daimyo and the nobles who had lost their lands were engaged in a battle of wits, the shogunate merchants, escorted by ironclad warships, headed north with goods brimming with cargo.

Moreover, neither the laws of the daimyo nor the money-making methods of the displaced nobles worked against the merchants of the shogunate.

Because the merchants under the shogunate were genuinely backed by powerful military force, and the shogunate would actually send warships north to "uphold justice" for a single merchant.

Furthermore, since the merchants of the Tokugawa Shogunate all spent money to buy the title of "honorable genin" or "gentleman of the peace," they were classified as ninjas or low-ranking officials of the Shogunate. Therefore, according to the ceasefire agreement signed between the Tokugawa Shogunate and the daimyo of the Land of Water, they could freely travel and do business within the Land of Water without any restrictions, and they did not have to pay taxes.

Therefore, the targets of the plundering by the landless nobles could only be small merchants and workshop owners within their own country.

The large-scale bankruptcies of small merchants and workshop owners further disrupted the production and distribution of goods within the Land of Water, allowing shogunate merchants to easily gain a larger market share.

Of course, a vicious cycle is not insurmountable.

For example, if the behavior of the nobles who lost their lands was controlled, the goods sold by the shogunate merchants were secretly obstructed, and taxes or subsidies were reduced for local workshops, it would not be impossible to stop the expansion of the shogunate merchants.

However, when faced with this situation, the nobles who lost their lands not only did not stop, but intensified their efforts to amass wealth, fearing that their fellow sufferers would eat more than they had. Under such brutal persecution, the small merchants of the Land of Water finally fell into the desperate situation of collective bankruptcy.

The reason why the Tokugawa Shogunate targeted ship owners in the Land of Water to promote "affordable luxury" was because there were no suitable "middle class" members in the Land of Water at that time.

Against this backdrop, the shogunate merchants who were originally going to recall the southern islands returned after more than a month, escorted by the shogunate's ironclad warships!

This time, the shogunate merchants brought an even greater quantity and lower prices of goods. Against the backdrop of the collective bankruptcy of small merchants in the Land of Water, the shogunate's goods swept through the country, directly seizing the supply and sales market for all low- and mid-range goods in the Land of Water!

Meanwhile, as three ironclad warships slowly arrived at the port of the Daimyo Prefecture, under the vigilance of the stationed Kirigakure ninja, Hyuga Osamu, the representative of the Tokugawa Shogunate, proudly led a group of ninjas carrying huge containers ashore at the port and demanded payment from the state-run gold shop of the Land of Water.

"What! A 10 billion dollar judgment?!"

The daimyo in the Takaza-den Palace was already terrified by the arrival of the shogunate's fleet and quickly sent people to inquire about the shogunate's intentions.

Just as the daimyo was secretly vowing to revitalize the Land of Water's coastal defenses, the guardian ninja who went to the main hall brought back a shocking piece of news.

"Why...why are they paying out so many gold coins now? Where did that brat Deguang get so much money?!"

The lords and nobles were all somewhat flustered.

It's not that we don't have 10 billion gold coins; the gold bank's reserves are indeed insufficient. However, the national treasury of the Land of Water and the daimyo's private treasury still have enough gold as reserves. But what if we were to redeem it all at once?

Wouldn't that mean that half of the gold in the Land of Water would be gone immediately?

Besides, the gold in the national treasury and the daimyo's private treasury was something the daimyo nobles had painstakingly accumulated again after the war!

There's no reason why the Tokukō Shogunate should so easily seize the wealth we've worked so hard to accumulate!

"My lords... the Shogunate's ironclad warships in the port are all at full combat readiness..."

The guardian ninja swallowed hard and said with difficulty, "Furthermore, I also saw that the torpedo launchers on the warship have been loaded and are ready to fire..."

"Huff... huff huff..."

Daimyo's breathing became heavier and heavier, and his nostrils flared constantly.

The assembled officials were so frightened that they dared not even breathe loudly.

"Your Highness..."

Just as the nobles, their eyes closed and minds closed in the oppressive atmosphere, remained motionless, a stumbling nobleman rushed into the hall, knelt down, and reported: "The ninjas of the Tokugawa Shogunate demand payment of 10 billion taels of gold within three days..."