Part 13

Author Note:

This is after the fight

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Ichibe thought back to about 5 years. Back then he took his first bigger break from everything and wandered around a bit.

He had turned 20 a few months prior and wanted to visit some places again. Similar to the way he did when he was on his way to Kamar-Taj.

The first thing he did was to have a look at the Gotei 13 he had created 5 years ago.

So he travelled to Nanjing and he was surprised, to say the least. The changes his third division accomplished were enormous.

Crime had dropped to pretty much zero in the city. Officials were doing their jobs correctly and those that didn't were kicked out of office.

The business was controlled by the Gotei 13 and it was booming. It seemed that after they started taking down the businesses that Ichibe forbid, they used the money and information they gathered to buy other businesses.

That was also the entry ticked to other cities. And they did something very smart. They invested a lot of money in a business that specialized in boats and water travel.

Then they linked that with their trading business and the success just had to be waited for.

Because through Nanjing flows the Yangtze River. What an opportunity to expand over the waterway. And they did.

First, they went southwest to Wuhu. There they were able to trade lots of things as they had a lot of stuff to offer.

After settling in, in Wuhu a few months later, they bought some houses and storage places to store the things that they dealt with.

After Wuhu was somewhat in the process of settling in, the next direction was east to Zhenjiang.

The way they worked was so different from any other company. They were disciplined and focused on success. But they never tried to make problems or force their way.

They took their time and went under the radar. This way they were able to appear unassuming and could bite chunks out of other businesses.

This alone was not the way it would have worked, however. They had a secret weapon. And that weapon was information.

As soon as they got to Wuhu, for example, they sent out their spies to spy on officials, gangs, police and more. This way they could gather dirt on those that mattered and they could eliminate enemy gangs.

The police would be avoided until the whole criminal part of the city had been claimed under the Gotei 13.

It was simply beautiful how this worked out.

But they did not only have successes on the way. It was a tactic that was not expected from such unassuming people. But using information, they got to cheat their way into very critical strategic positions.

On land, they used similar ways. They sent out families first. Those families got the chance to relocate to another city and take over a shop there. That way the spies had places to stay when they came to that city.

Because after the family had been checked by the police and rivalling gangs, and then seem genuine, that's when the spies come and begin their infestation.

They were like a disease that could not be stopped unless you eliminate the whole city. And that was not happening.

When Ichibe went to check on them 5 years ago, they had expanded to Wuhu, Yangzhou and Zhenjiang successfully. That meant that the entire cities and districts were under the control of the third division.

They had begun to make their way into Taizhou and Changzhou, as well as Bengbu, Hefei and Anquing. To Wuxi, a family had just been sent recently and they were in the process of settling in.

Ichibe was very happy with that. The cities got very peaceful and they were very successful financially.

Information databases had to be installed because it was getting too much to write down.

On Ichibe's suggestion, another division had been created. The sixth division. They would be responsible for wealth and money in general. They would start to buy stocks and land and other things that would further improve their cities.

The third division would focus on gathering information.

And another division was created. The second division. That was because it was getting harder to act unnoticed. With four cities under their belt, someone was going to notice.

The Hand and others would want to get their hands on such land. They would think of it like prepared meat and want to bite. But Ichibe did not just create the Gotei 13 to get information.

He also wanted to create a more peaceful environment for those that followed him.

At first, when he created the Gotei 13 he did not think much of it. But when he saw their devotion and success, he wanted to make this a real deal.

He was going to create the Gotei 13 for real now. And he would start by giving the leaders of the divisions, the division captains if you want, their own Zanpakuto. Because he had realized something that he hadn't told the Ancient One.

It seemed he also had the knowledge and abilities of Oetsu Nimaiya. But more on that later.

Apart from that he would train some of them a bit and begin to write some protection Kanji for the most important locations.

And now after 5 more years of development, it was time to do what he said. He had created three Asauchi and was going to grant them to the captains of the divisions.

Ichibe called arrived in Nanjing and went to the 3rd division headquarters. There he met Píng'ān 's lieutenant and told him to call for a meeting of all the captains.

They would have to come here as soon as they could.

3 days later all three captains stood before Ichibe and waited for his instructions. He had elected the captains due to their characters and not their strength.

That would come later with time and training.

Captain of squad 2. This was a woman that Ichibe had saved when he first came to Nanjing. He had saved her from multiple men that were going to do whatever with her.

She was a beauty and her name said so. She was called: Yán Yǎ.

Captain of squad 3. This was Píng'ān.

And the captain of squad 6 was Lè Yáng, a strong Chinese man. He was someone whom Ichibe could see had many good traits. But he was about to fall into despair when criminals burned down his house and shop. His shop was all he had left and by burning it down, they killed him.

So Ichibe helped him and had him trained. And then five years ago, he was elected captain of squad 6.