Swallow Return

Igawa Asahi hesitated for a moment before advising, "You've only recently joined the Oda clan. Although you're valued, your foundation isn't deep. If you get into trouble because of the investigation, it might not be good. Perhaps you should be more tolerant for now, and only deal with these kinds of things after you've gained status and influence. That way, you can benefit more people... Sometimes, to achieve greater justice, you have to compromise with evil temporarily."

Liu Yun shook his head and asked in return, "Is this what you always thought, which is why you turned a blind eye to the corruption and depravity of Buddhism?"

Ikawa Asagi was extremely embarrassed and speechless.

Chapter Sixty-Three: Solving the Case at the Fastest Speed

Liu Yun entrusted the unconscious Xiao Zi to the care of Jinghe Ashaji, and immediately went to the Mitaya, a grain shop in the castle town.

The most direct approach is to go find that round-faced man with the mustache, Tadahiro Mizuno. If you can get him to confess honestly, everything will become clear.

However, since absorbing the red jade, Liu Yun naturally gained a comprehensive understanding of the "power of bewitching." This thing's ability to manipulate people's minds seems powerful, but in reality, it is subject to many limitations.

Simply put, the stronger the opponent, the more determined their mind, and the more vigilant they are, the less effective the "bewitching power" will be.

When used on ordinary people, it's tantamount to complete mind control. But when used on more powerful individuals, it only slightly increases their level of friendliness.

Alternatively, if the opponent possesses other counter-magical artifacts or supernatural abilities, the "bewitching power" may become ineffective. For example, it couldn't be used within the barrier of Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei in the past.

That round-faced man with a small mustache, Mizuno Tadahiro, seemed to be quite skilled in martial arts, and was also cunning and shrewd; he was not someone who could be easily controlled.

Comparatively speaking, the merchants of Mitaya are definitely easier to deal with.

Moreover, the most suspicious part of the matter lies with the businessman.

Based on what we know so far, the little purple girl took the large silver coin to buy rice, and probably didn't interact with anyone else along the way, only the merchant from the Mita-ya shop.

She was then quickly arrested by the magistrate of the castle town.

He didn't even have time to go back and see his brother.

That's a ridiculously quick response! The staff at the administrative office don't seem that dedicated.

Suppressing her anger and confusion, Liu Yun maintained a calm demeanor and easily obtained the address of the rice shop, Mitaya, from a passerby.

Then I found the right spot and went through the door.

This "Mita-ya" is indeed a shop specializing in the grain business. Perhaps because it's early winter now, right after the farmers harvest their rice, the shop is quite busy.

In the shop, which was about three zhang wide, a man who looked like an employee was haggling with a group of farmers who had come to the city, while a well-dressed old woman was asking something.

A cart piled high with grain was parked at the entrance, and two burly men were unloading it.

Liu Yun was dressed in respectable Wu clothing and carried a sword, making him particularly conspicuous in the shop.

Instantly, a seemingly senior employee, a short, stout middle-aged man with a smiling face, ran over and respectfully asked, "Greetings, sir! I am the manager of Mitaya, named Yashichiro. May I ask what brings you to the shop? Are you here to sell or buy grain?"

Liu Yun glanced at the man and sensed that he was clearly not very strong and his mind was not very firm. So he said in a commanding tone, "Yesterday I sent my retainer here to buy grain, but something went wrong. I need to talk to your shop about it. Who was in charge of the shop yesterday?"

The short, stout middle-aged man who called himself Mi Shichiro replied with a smile, "You've come to the right place. I was in the shop all day yesterday! May I ask which business your retainer was involved in?"

Liu Yun glanced around the shop, giving the whispering shop assistants and customers a look of disgust, and frowned, saying, "Could we find a quiet place to discuss this?"

The short, stout middle-aged man nodded and gestured for the man to come inside.

Following the directions, Liu Yun arrived at the reception room deep inside the shop.

The reception room wasn't large, only about the size of six tatami mats. But it was quite clean and elegant, decorated with some tasteful calligraphy and paintings and tea sets, though it was unclear whether it also served as a tea room. There were also writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones on display.

At the same time, the short, stout middle-aged man ordered his subordinate to quickly bring over an account book, and presented it with a smile, saying, "Yesterday's trading records are all here. Which one do you want to ask about?"

After the bystanders left, Liu Yun quickly got up, closed the doors and windows, and then, before the short, stout middle-aged man could react, grabbed his arm, activated his "bewitching power," and questioned him: "Yesterday, a young girl came to buy rice with a large silver coin, but was arrested as a thief. Do you know what happened?"

The short, stout middle-aged man seemed to lack any special mental resistance. His eyes instantly went unfocused, and he honestly replied, "I know. I know a little about that girl's background. The magistrate of the castle town had previously made an agreement with me that anyone with no background who could afford to buy things should be reported immediately as a thief. If they were caught, I could get 20% of the confiscated money. So when I held that girl back, I immediately notified them to arrest her."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yun felt indignant and asked, "The magistrate of the administrative office must have told more than just you about this, right?"

The short, stout middle-aged man nodded and answered truthfully: "As far as I know, Meiji from the Itoya branch and Xiong Bing from the Maeya main store have also done this kind of thing."

After a moment's thought, Liu Yun continued, "How many times have you done this?"

The short, stout middle-aged man said, "About ten times this year? I can't quite remember."

Liu Yun then gave the order: "There is paper and pen here. Write down everything you can remember, sign your name and put your fingerprint on it!"

The short, stout middle-aged man remained unrestrained, obediently following orders, picking up the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and began to write diligently.

About fifteen minutes later, Liu Yun successfully obtained what he wanted.

Next, find the "Meiji from the Itoya branch and Xiong Bing from the Maeya main store" mentioned by the short, stout middle-aged man, and make them write down "evidence of their crimes" in the same way.

Then Liu Yun strode towards Hengshan City.

Now that we have some evidence and our own persuasive power, the first choice is naturally to try official channels.

Extrajudicial sanctions are a last resort when official channels are blocked, and they have many side effects.

Just then, he vaguely heard a commotion in the streets of the castle town. People who looked like both samurai and onmyoji were holding bells and compasses-like magical implements and shouting, "There seemed to be traces of someone using evil magic to manipulate people's minds over there! Quickly, send a few people over to investigate!"

Liu Yun thought that this might be the chaos he had caused, but he had no time to deal with it.

He moved with lightning speed, arriving at the citadel in an instant.

As soon as he said "I request an audience" to the guards in the palace, the guards replied, "The city lord specifically instructed that you do not need to announce your arrival and can go straight in."

Liu Yun did not refuse and pushed open the door to enter.

It wasn't even noon yet. Kinoshita Tokichiro seemed to be dealing with official documents. Upon seeing Ryuyun, he smiled and put down his work, asking, "Brother Ryuyun, weren't you arranging those five hundred women? How's it going? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Liu Yun replied simply, "That matter is progressing. I came today for another matter."

Kinoshita Tokichiro's expression turned a little serious, and he nodded, saying, "Please speak."

Liu Yun handed over the three "accusations" he had just received, and then briefly recounted what had happened in the past two days.

Kinoshita Tokichiro's expression shifted slightly upon hearing this. He frowned and muttered to himself, "They really have some nerve, doing something like this?" He then pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said in a reflective tone, "A year ago, when I took office here, I issued an order stipulating that if the stolen money confiscated during the capture of thieves was not returned to its rightful owner within fifteen days, it would be a reward to the person who caught the thief. I originally thought this would encourage my subordinates, but I never expected..."

Liu Yun advised, "It's not too late to make amends now."

Kinoshita Tokichiro nodded and said, "Thank you for reminding me, brother. I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly. Those responsible will be punished accordingly! As for Mizuno Tadahiro... well, I can't worry about that now!"

Liu Yun keenly sensed the apprehension in the other party's words and asked directly, "Is Mizuno Tadahiro a troublesome person to deal with?"

Kinoshita Tokichiro hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth, before finally seeming to make up his mind. He said seriously, "If someone else asked, I would say that the Mizuno family is a powerful clan in Owari. Although Mizuno Tadahiro is just an insignificant member of a collateral branch, he has many powerful relatives, so he is not easy to deal with."

Liu Yun immediately realized, "In other words, this is just an excuse."

Kinoshita Tokichiro, abandoning his usual frivolous and carefree demeanor, solemnly said, "Yes. The Mizuno family is indeed a large clan, but they are not united at all. I am not afraid of offending them. The real problem is that Mizuno Tadahiro is not actually my retainer, but rather a subordinate sent to me by Lord Danjo (Oda Nobunaga). He is actually somewhat of a supervisor."

"I see." Liu Yun suddenly realized, then said calmly, "Then, even if you don't deal with this person, I can understand."

That being said, Liu Yun's true thoughts were clearly not like that.

Upon hearing this, Kinoshita Tokichiro laughed heartily and said boldly, "Brother Ryuun, you underestimate me! Since I've brought this up with you, I've already made up my mind to deal with this bastard! Even if Lord Danjo (Oda Nobunaga) gets really angry and curses me harshly, it doesn't matter!"

Hearing this, Liu Yun was somewhat impressed and bowed sincerely, saying, "Thank you for your hard work!"

Kinoshita Tokichiro shook his head and said, "There's no need for that. I have my reasons. After all, I used to be an ordinary person without any status, and I was bullied a lot by muddle-headed officials and scoundrels in various places! Not to mention, this isn't something just anyone would ask me to do. Whether in terms of ability or character, Brother Ryuun is a great hero worth befriending. Since you've brought it up, I'll do my best to get it done. Otherwise, how can I face you as 'brother' in the future?"

Liu Yun felt a little better after hearing this.

If I used to have only a slight respect for Kinoshita Tokichiro because I knew the "original history," now it has increased to at least four or five points.

Since merging with the red jade, Liu Yun has become exceptionally sensitive to the subtleties of human nature, thus enabling her to discern the truthfulness of others' words.

Judging from Kinoshita Tokichiro's behavior today, firstly, he still retains some conscience and is not completely oblivious to right and wrong. Secondly, he very frankly expressed his admiration and desire to win him over, unlike typical hypocrites.

Although his image is still inevitably too down-to-earth, or even crude, he possesses a unique personal charm.

Chapter Sixty-Four: Dealing with Corrupt Officials

Kinoshita Tokichiro has always been a very efficient person.

He promised Ryuun that he would resolve the matter, and quickly summoned Takenaka Shigeharu and Hachisuka Masakatsu to investigate the case, which had some doubts.

It took only one day to confirm that Mizuno Tadahiro, the governor of Yokoyama Castle town, had intentionally framed innocent civilians as thieves at least eight times during his ten and a half months in office, resulting in five deaths. During this period, he profited one tael of gold, four taels of silver, and three strings and four hundred and forty wen of Yongle coins, which is equivalent to about twenty strings of copper coins.

This includes the arrest of the girl named Xiao Zi.

Meanwhile, several accomplices profited between three hundred and eight hundred coins.

Kinoshita Tokichiro immediately arrested Mizuno Tadahiro.

After some interrogation, they also revealed that this guy had committed other crimes, including accepting bribes of more than 20 strings of cash and embezzling more than 10 strings of public funds.

The total amount of illegal gains found in this "criminal group" was sixty or seventy strings of cash.

It is roughly equivalent to the annual tribute of a medium-sized village.

Or the annual income of a mid-level samurai with a skill level of 300 koku.

As an aside, after learning this amount, Liu Yun realized that the one hundred taels of silver he obtained after infiltrating Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei and breaking the barrier—which was roughly equivalent to one hundred kan of copper coins or two hundred shi of grain—was an extremely large sum, and the reward was not low.

After careful consideration, Kinoshita Tokichiro's final decision on the matter was: to confiscate Mizuno Tadahiro's certificate and expel him from the house, and to have the other accomplices serve three years of hard labor as punishment.

Of course, since Mizuno Tadahiro was Nobunaga's "reliable envoy," he needed to report to higher authorities before implementing the plan.

Kinoshita Tokichiro stated, "According to Lord Danjo (Oda Nobunaga)'s habit, although he would be angry about it, he would not overturn the decision."

At first glance, this approach seems a bit strange.

The principal offender was merely dismissed, while the accomplices were subjected to hard labor.

However, the principle of "rites do not apply to commoners and punishments do not apply to high officials" is a common rule in class societies. Public opinion would think that being dismissed from a samurai is worse than death, while it is not a big deal for soldiers and civilians to perform hard labor.

Considering the characteristics of the era, Liu Yun felt it was acceptable.

Samurai are a profession that involves risking one's life and doesn't care much about life itself. Killing Mizuno Tadahiro with one blow might leave behind a story of "dying in the line of duty." It's better to dismiss him now, which would cause a greater blow.

Ryuun expressed his deep gratitude for Kinoshita Tokichiro's assistance.

As for potential troubles, Liu Yun's attitude is to deal with them as they come.

Having already conquered the so-called sacred Buddhist site of Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, what trouble could we possibly be afraid of?

……

There was no one kept in the dark about the whole process.

therefore--

The newly appointed retainer, Sasaki Ryuun, gathered evidence to accuse Mizuno Tadahiro, who was in charge of the family, leading to the latter's conviction—this news quickly spread throughout Yokoyama Castle.

It probably also spread to other territories of the Oda clan at the same time, who knows?

Although Sasaki Ryuun was only a newly appointed outer guard, he was exceptionally capable and highly valued by Kinoshita Tokichiro. He received a reward of 1,000 koku of rice after only a few months in office, making him a rising star.

Mizuno Tadahiro was no ordinary man either. Although his official salary was only 260 koku, he was one of the ten elite warriors specially sent by Oda Nobunaga, making his status and position quite delicate.