Chapter 25 – Salt and Blood

Chapter 25 – Salt and Blood

Arrival of reinforcements helped the loyalists to clear the capital of all rebels and criminals who decided to join the party. All those who remained alive or were wounded were driven to the square in front of the palace cordoned off by the guards, perfect place executioners and judges to work at. Ordinary cannon fodder was chained up and sent in packs to mines and other penal labour places. But the commanders, officials and aristocrats immediately went to the palace dungeons. But enemy shinobi forces were given to us and expected execution as their actions caused some reputational loss to Konoha. All the interrogations were conducted by Yamanaka, they calmly shredded their brains and fished out a lot of information about caches, criminal and foreign contacts, hidden paths through the border, dishonest officials. If they found something related to the coup, they called one of Naotoro's people and interrogated them together.

While the interrogations and investigations were going on, I was busy guarding the daimyo at the request of Naotoro, after the betrayal of some of the guards, he trusted only my squad and his bodyguards, so he asked me to stay close to the daimyo and protect him until everything came back to normal.

During these days I learned a lot about our daimyo, he turned out to be quite a progressive leader and supporter of innovation, but at the same time he was not experienced enough and showed gentleness when it was unnecessary and this resulted in the betrayal by his own brother. Another interesting fact was that he did not have his own full-fledged team of assistants and other advisers. Only Naotoro could be called a loyal and competent associate of the daimyo, the rest of his retinue showed themselves to be cowardly and useless sidekicks. Some were even ready to betray him and mingled with the rebels, according to the testimony of the daimyo's brother. The daimyo, who had lost faith in them, sent away his entire retinue and now only communicated with me and Naotoro.

At first we had a normal small talk, he asked questions about my life of shinobi and my clan. Gradually, he began to ask what I would do in his place, what to do with my brother, what punishment the rebels deserve, and so on.

- If I were you, I would execute him. And also executed his supporters and sent their families into exile, depriving them of their property and titles.

- But why such cruelty, taking monastic vows and a fine would be enough.

- The punishment is equal to his crime. He discarded all family

and blood ties and was ready to take the throne even if it would name him a fratricide (Cain). He would not spare you or your children. And taking the vows will only give you a short break before another mutiny or an assassination attempt on you. As long as he is alive, all the people dissatisfied with your rule will gather around him and wait for an opportunity to strike. They will start gathering forces even if it will take them years, fines will not be a problem for them, they will just have to wait a couple of years longer. Therefore, it is necessary to get rid of any sources of treason and betrayal. You should be merciful not to them, but to your children, because you will leave all your unresolved problems to them. Showing ruthlessness to the rebels, you show kindness to your children, they will not have to live in fear of betrayal and treason, only then they will be able to have a decent life.

My long speech made daimyo think and we spent the rest of the walk in silence. Such conversations continued for several more days, every day daimyo kept arguing why such cruelty was necessary. I had to sort out and explain the consequences of every possible decision.

Executing the heads of the rebel families, but letting them keep their wealth, then you will be safe until a new generation of rebels raised on the idea of revenge grows up. Taking wealth while sparing from execution, is an even more stupid idea, they will still be able to earn money or borrow from someone else, and there will be a new rebellion in a couple of years. No, only a complete and merciless punishment will save the country and daimyo from rebellion or, even worse, from civil war. Finally, I managed to make daimyo understand that and he accepted my arguments about the necessity for such severe punishment.

The next day, he gathered all the ministers and announced that there would be no leniency for rebels. They will not be allowed to preserve their honour through seppuku and will be executed as ordinary criminals and traitors. Their bodies will be buried in mass graves, which will be sprinkled with salt so that nothing will rise at their final resting place.

This caused a shock among the ministers and only Naotoro grinned and nodded to me. After the meeting, the daimyo's decree was announced to the public, which caused approval from ordinary citizens and opponents of the daimyo's brother among the aristocracy. At the same time, there were petitioners who begged the daimyo for mercy or at least the possibility of saving the honour of the noblemen. But Naotoro initiated such purge and investigation that all petitioners stopped besieging the daimyo in fear that they might add to the list of future guests of torturers.

Finally, all investigations and interrogations were completed, the guilt of each noble rebel was proved and the judges announced punishment to each of them. The only difference was in the method of execution. The executioner's rope was waiting for ordinary ones, but the top of the rebels were waiting for a much more cruel fate. Most of them were first flogged, after which they were all boiled in salt water. The screams of the executed could be heard for a very long time, and I was just waiting for the main guest of this bloody carnival, smoking one cigarette after another. At the end it was time for rebellious brother.

He kept himself stiff to the very end and did not believe that he would be executed, most likely expected that he would be pardoned or sent into exile. But when the executioners forced him to kneel and bend his head, he began to yell and cry, he begged his brother to forgive him.

What a disgusting sight, the daimyo gave you his last mercy, to die without pain and save a little honour you left, and yet you are acting like in such disgraceful manner. This behaviour made all the noble spectators grimace, they began to despise him even more for his inability to accept death with dignity. I think the daimyo even regretted that he allowed him to die by beheading, because such behaviour, even of a convicted rebel, casts a shadow on the reputation of daimyo and his dynasty.

In gratitude for an easy death, he could have died without hysteria, but now there will be whispers that there are problems with decent upbringing in the dynasty, which will not make the daimyo's rule easier, although after such a bloody purge, I doubt that apart from whispers, daimyo will face anything else. But still this piece of a shit managed to cause some pain in a neck to us.

A nod from Naotoro and the executioner waves his sword, a moment and then the long-awaited silence comes. All the corpses except for the daimyo's brother begin to be loaded into carts and driven towards a ravine dug outside the city. And the daimyo decided to prepare the corpse of his brother for burial himself. I had to follow the daimyo, but I didn't even lay a finger on this carrion, so daimyo had to do everything by himself. He carried the body to a small grave next to the family sepulchre, after burying the body, he began to pour salt over the grave. It reminded me of the fate of Carthage captured by the Romans, end of ambitions and subsequent oblivion.

Daimyo was very depressed, I shared a cigarette with him. We stood there smoking, looking at the now unmarked grave.

- You know, I remember him as a naughty boy. He always said that he would achieve greatness and be remembered..

- And he did it, even if not in the way he wanted.

- True. I still dont know why my father appoint me as his successor. After all, I never wanted to be a daimyo, the post of any minister would have been enough for me.

- Maybe that's why he chose you, because you understand the burden of responsibility that the title of daimyo carries.

The daimyo just paused and nodded at me. Then he offered his hand.

- In private, you can call Takahiro. And I am very grateful for your help in understanding what a worthy daimyo should be like and making first step on this path.

- The journey of a thousand li begins with the first step. And you have already taken your first step, so it remains only to keep walking. - I shook his hand.

- Thank you for everything. – he said and we went back to the palace.

Next morning, groups of convicts and families of executed rebels flocked from the capital. The first expected to work until they die in whatever quarry or bottomhole they end up, and the second faced the danger of an unknown future. If they ask me which of the two of them suffered the most, I will say that the second. They are the former elites that have become nothing, they can be killed, robbed, raped and even sold into slavery. I'm even sure that most of them will not last more than 5 years. But that's the price of betrayal. And now let's talk about the winners.

The treasury of the daimyo, thanks to the confiscations, was able to pay good money to all Konoha's shinobi. And the empty houses were distributed to the most loyal people of the Daimyo, although it would be more honest to say that they were received by the people of Naotoro. Naotoro heavily rewarded my clan, we received a lot of money, but the most important thing was that we also received, as a special thanks for the help with rebels, a lot of land in the south that used to belong to Yukawa. What an irony, he came for our lands, but left with nothing not keeping even his life.

Land and money are good, of course, but I consider the most valuable reward to be the good connections that we have acquired, especially good relations with daimyo and Naotoro, who will soon become first minister.

Eh, here I can finally go back home, all those games of thrones are pretty boring and tiring for me. Yeah ,it's time to go home.