Chapter 269: The Great Leader Only Takes a 90% Tax
These merchants, as civilians, although they only undergo a simple chakra check when entering the country and are allowed to pass after it is confirmed that they are not ninjas, the Land of Fire merchants who had received the news in advance did not seem to welcome these outsiders very much.
The merchants, led by Gato, who had come to Konoha to invest back when the Land of Fire moved its capital, could be said to have reaped all the benefits of the new capital's construction and development these past few years. Although 70% of the money they earned needed to be paid in taxes or used by them to feed back into the economy of the Land of Fire, after the cake was made bigger, the money they could earn was much more than before. The big merchant from the Land of Lightning, who had previously grumbled about Uchiha Douhuan because of the taxes, had also, after tasting the sweetness these past two years, shifted the center of his industry to the Land of Fire.
Moreover, after Uchiha Douhuan had led Konoha to a great victory in the special military operation against the Land of Lightning, these earliest merchants to come to Konoha all felt a full sense of security.
After all, in the ninja world, doing business was actually quite dangerous. The ninjas of the great ninja villages would still abide by the rules, but rogue ninjas and wandering ninjas would from time to time go to their industries to "reap the autumn harvest" (i.e., extort). However, ever since Uchiha Douhuan had severely wounded the Cloud in one battle, when they hired Konoha ninjas to protect their caravans, they didn't even need to make a move; the Konoha forehead protector was enough to deter many of the petty villains in the ninja world.
Now, facing the merchants who had transferred over with cash from the Land of Lightning, they spontaneously banded together, wanting to prevent the influx of this capital.
After all, although the cake in the Land of Fire was large, who would be willing to have others come and share the cake that was already in their mouths?
But they also knew that in front of Uchiha Douhuan, this Hokage and Grand Minister whose power was almost unlimited, their opinions were worthless. So, they could only send a representative to request that Uchiha Douhuan not let these people in.
Soon, Gato was pushed forward by this group of people and came to Uchiha Douhuan's office.
"Lord Hokage, this is the Snow Mountain Rock Tea from the Land of Snow that the president of the Kinoshita Zaibatsu, Kinoshita Kōji, asked me to deliver to you. After the geothermal devices in the Land of Snow were activated these past two years, the production of this tea has become less and less. This year, this is all the output there is. That fellow spent a fortune to win it at an auction and asked me to deliver it to you," as soon as Gato entered the office, he placed large and small bags of things at the door, and then took out a few exquisite gifts from them. "And then there's this. This is a new tea variety that I had people try to cultivate on an island I contracted around the Land of Water. However, the specific taste of this tea, and how to improve it in the future, will still need your guidance after you've tasted it."
"Leave the new tea you cultivated. Take the rest back with you later. The price of that Snow Mountain Rock Tea is almost 3.5 million ryō per liang, right? If others find out that I'm drinking this kind of tea, it will be bad for my image," Uchiha Douhuan said, while signaling for Gato to sit down on the sofa.
After Gato sat down on the sofa, he consciously helped Uchiha Douhuan light the stove, put on water to boil, and then said, "What is Lord Hokage saying? Don't I know what kind of person that Kinoshita Kōji is? Just a nouveau riche who got rich from the spring breeze of our Land of Fire's reform. In your hands, this tea is called tasting. In his hands, it's a complete waste of good things. As the grandmaster of the tea ceremony in our Land of Fire, you certainly can't bear to see such a good thing be wasted, right? So, please accept it."
"I really can't do anything with you. This is the last time," Uchiha Douhuan said, shaking his head with some helplessness.
To be honest, although Uchiha Douhuan loved to drink tea, he had only learned a little about the tea ceremony when he was just starting out. Afterwards, it was all his own exploration. But even so, the high-level officials in the Land of Fire were now all saying that he, Uchiha Douhuan, was the current grandmaster of the tea ceremony with the highest attainment in the Land of Fire.
Uchiha Douhuan sorted out the tea brought by Gato, brewed it, and took a sip.
"How is it? Lord Hokage, is the tea I had people cultivate to your taste?" Gato asked with an expectant look on his face.
You must know, this kind of tea was specially cultivated by him after having people select the tea variety. This kind of tea required a lot of sunshine and rain. Gato had even spent a huge sum of money to buy an isolated island in the south of the Land of Water, and then had specialists take care of it. Wasn't all this just for Uchiha Douhuan's satisfaction?
"Hmm, not bad. You've been very thoughtful," Uchiha Douhuan nodded towards the other party.
"Heh heh, as long as you are satisfied," a smile also appeared on Gato's face after seeing that Uchiha Douhuan was satisfied.
"Tell me, what's the matter, coming here with such fanfare?" Uchiha Douhuan put down his teacup and then asked.
"It's like this. Thanks to Lord Hokage's care, am I not now the president of the Land of Fire's Business Federation?" Having worked under Uchiha Douhuan for these years, Gato also knew that Uchiha Douhuan was not the type to waste time on unnecessary things, so he also started to talk about business at this point. "We've heard that recently, due to the influence of the high-pressure policy over at the Land of Lightning, many merchants have entered the territory of the Land of Fire with their funds. I wonder how Lord Hokage plans to arrange for them?"
"I've also heard about this matter," Uchiha Douhuan said. "However, as you probably know, I'm not very knowledgeable about business. I'd like to hear your opinion on this matter."
"What is Lord Hokage saying? You are just too modest sometimes. With your understanding of finance and business, if you hadn't become a ninja, there would be no problem for you to sit on the throne of the richest man in the ninja world," Gato first flattered Uchiha Douhuan, then continued. "However, according to the idea of the Land of Fire's Business Federation, everyone is not very keen on letting these people join in. They have pushed me out to come to your office to express their wishes to you. However, I personally still feel that this kind of matter can only be decided by you, Lord Hokage."
"Is that so?" Uchiha Douhuan said with a half-smile. "Then, what if I say I plan to let this batch of merchants from the Land of Lightning in?"
"Then we will naturally follow your will. I will go and appease the people in the business association for you. If there are any individual reactions that are particularly fierce, I will also help you deal with them," Gato said hurriedly.
"Can you tell me why you don't want them to enter our Land of Fire's territory?" After hearing Gato's statement of loyalty, Uchiha Douhuan first nodded with satisfaction, and then asked.
"It's like this, Lord Hokage. You also know that although the development of Konoha and the Land of Fire these past few years has relied more on your leadership, the people in the business federation also consider themselves to have contributed to the construction of the Land of Fire. And now, these people who disliked the high taxes of the Land of Fire when Konoha had not yet developed and were unwilling to enter, now want to come in and share the cake with everyone because of some external reasons. Everyone will naturally be dissatisfied," Gato said.
"Don't worry. After they come in, they won't be able to share your cake in a short period of time," Uchiha Douhuan got up and patted Gato's shoulder. "These past two years, the contributions your business federation has made to our Land of Fire, I have seen it all. So, I will not forget the contributions you all have made for the country."
"However, the Land of Lightning has now forced these people to abandon their fixed assets and can only come here with cash. Out of humanitarianism, we can't just shut the door on them. So, in order to protect your interests, I have decided that if they want to enter our Land of Fire's territory to do business, the tax on their business for the first 10 years will be 90 percent," Uchiha Douhuan said with a laugh. "Under such a tax rate, if they want to make money, they can only find ways to open up new tracks, instead of trying to squeeze into the industries you have been cultivating for many years to compete with you for a piece of the pie."
"Huh? Ninety percent? Will they come?" Gato was also startled upon hearing Uchiha Douhuan's words. They were currently paying a 70% tax, which could probably guarantee their industries to grow at a rate of about 30% per year. For Uchiha Douhuan to suddenly raise the tax rate to ninety percent, wouldn't this really scare them away?
"Who knows? The policy is there. Whether they come or not is their own decision. And if they are scared away by this tax rate, doesn't that just fit your idea?" Uchiha Douhuan said with a smile.
"Alright, then I'll go back and tell the people in the business federation just that?" Gato asked.
"Go ahead!" Uchiha Douhuan waved his hand, signaling that Gato could leave.
As soon as Uchiha Douhuan's policy came out, the people in the business federation all breathed a sigh of relief. According to their thinking, this ninety percent tax was just an excuse to keep this group of people out. Lord Hokage still remembered their contributions!
However, what they hadn't expected was that facing this ninety percent tax rate, eighty percent of these merchants who had fled from the Land of Lightning actually gritted their teeth and accepted it, and began to set up industries within the Land of Fire.
This was not beyond Uchiha Douhuan's expectations either. After all, the merchants in the business federation were not clear about the specific intelligence within the Land of Lightning. They didn't know why this group of people would flee in such a panic.
The Land of Lightning, which was already on a mad dash down the road of militarism, was directly robbing these people's industries. After robbing them, they forcibly converted their factories into military factories for the production of ninja tools and other war equipment.
At the beginning, they naturally would not sit by and wait to be killed. They had been deeply cultivating in the Land of Lightning for many years and naturally had some official influence to help. But after waiting for two days, they discovered that the current Land of Lightning was already a one-man show of the Raikage and Grand Minister.
Those who took the lead in using official influence to try and stop the Raikage from robbing their industries were directly killed along with their entire families. The Cloud Village's ninjas even directly hung the bodies of these people's entire families at the entrance of the Land of Lightning's business federation. This directly scared the wits out of this group of merchants. Otherwise, they wouldn't have fled overnight with the cash they had on hand.
You must know, before this, these merchants from the Land of Lightning had laughed at the suckers from the Land of Fire for actually honestly paying a 70% tax.
But now it seemed that compared to the Raikage, Uchiha Douhuan was simply too good. Although his taxes were high, at least he was reasonable.
So, at this moment, facing the ninety percent tax condition offered by the Land of Fire, everyone gritted their teeth and accepted it. After all, the Great Leader Uchiha Douhuan was only going to take a ninety percent tax, but the Raikage in the rear was going to kill their entire families!
As for other countries, the Land of Water was not a suitable place for investment right now. The market in the south was so small and had already been basically carved up by the Konoha-affiliated merchants. As for the north, who in the entire ninja world didn't know that the general of the north, Terumi Mei, was the most determined partner of the Land of Lightning? Going to the north was simply seeking death!
And on the Land of Earth's side, let's put it this way, if there were a credit system in the ninja world, the credit of Onoki and A would be about the same. They were both the type who, in Uchiha Douhuan's previous life, would have to pay a 99-ryō deposit just to borrow a lighter at the village entrance. Having just escaped from the tiger's mouth, how would they dare to bet on whether the Land of Earth was the next wolf's den?
So, in fact, the current Konoha was already their only choice. At least Uchiha Douhuan's current attitude towards merchants who were willing to make money properly under the rules he had set was already the most generous among all the great nations in the ninja world. And, didn't this tax only have to be paid for ten years? After ten years, they might not be without a chance to make a comeback.
After these merchants entered Konoha, they also began to invest in the Land of Fire with their funds. Some of the poorer places in the Land of Fire also developed as a result.
After handling these matters, news also came from Jiraiya's side. After a trip to the Tailed Beast Protection Area, Naruto had also embarked on his journey again. And Sasuke, in these few days, had also learned Snake Sage Mode and returned to Konoha.
And Neji, while he was alone, had also completed the special assessment set for him by Uchiha Douhuan and had become a Jonin of the village.
On the second day after Neji became a Jonin, Uchiha Douhuan called Hyuga Hiashi to the Hokage's office.
"Lord Hokage, I wonder what your instructions are?" After Hyuga Hiashi entered the office and greeted Uchiha Douhuan, he then asked.
"It's like this. The Land of Lightning's movements have been significant recently. To guard against them, I plan to add another unit between the garrisons on the border of the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fields to link the border garrisons of the two countries," Uchiha Douhuan said. "And I've thought it over and over. In the village now, the only one who has the ability and qualification to lead this unit seems to be you, Clan Head Hiashi."
"Since it is Lord Hokage's order, then I will certainly not fail Lord Hokage's great trust," Hyuga Hiashi said.
"It's good that Clan Head Hiashi has this awareness," Uchiha Douhuan said with a smile. "However, once you go to the border, Clan Head Hiashi, what will happen to the clan's affairs? The Hyuga, after all, are different from the Inuzuka and Aburame. They are the largest clan in the village, second only to our Uchiha clan, with numerous daily affairs. This is also the reason for my hesitation. After all, I can't let you neglect your Hyuga clan's family affairs for the sake of national affairs."
As soon as Hyuga Hiashi heard these words, he also understood why Uchiha Douhuan had called him here today. Now that Neji had grown up, it was time for him, the old fellow, to step aside.
(End of chapter)
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you