Session 35. (28/9/12)

It is mid-spring of the Year of the Serpent (1485). Hidasue and his fledgling law keepers have settled into their new life in Utsunomiya, capital of Shimotsuke province where Hidasue is now Jito (Land Steward). One day the daimyo calls Hidasue to see him. When he returns, Hidasue tells his charges, "The daimyo tells me there is a problem with peasants not paying tax, and he wants me to go and sort it out. It seems my reputation has preceded me. It seems that a priest of the Ikko-ikki sect is inciting them to withhold their taxes. I think we should go to Kanuma and arrest him, take the taxes from the peasants and throw them off the land."

The more bellicose of the ex-Ainu agree. "Throw them off the land! And if the won't leave, we kill them! More budo!"

Ever the thoughtful one, Emishi disagrees. "If we throw them off the land, won't they just become bandits?"

"Hmmm... If we throw them off the land then the land will go to waste and we still won't get taxes," muses Sahpo.

Onuma mediates. "We should talk to this priest."

Hidasue interrupts, "If you're going to talk, then you must summon him here. We can't be seen to be bowing t his demands."

Sahpo writes a letter and sends it with a messenger to Kanuma. The messenger returns the following day. "He says he has business to finish, but will be here the day after tomorrow." The lawmen accept this without complaint.

Two days later, Asano the priest arrives in Utsunomiya and reports to Hidasue's office in the castle. Hidasue summons his six enforcers and leaves them to deal with the priest. Sahpo gets straight to the point.

"Explain yourself!"

"Explain what, sirs?"

"Where are all those taxes?" asks Emishi, jumping in.

"I'm no tax collector."

Sahpo is getting annoyed, but keeps his tamper. "It's your responsibility to make the peasants respect the natural order," he says, but with a hint of "did I just say that?" as he finished his speech.

"But the peasants are unduly oppressed and live very hard lives."

"In what way?"

"The taxes are too high, the infrastructure in the province is poor, market prices change every year, making it hard to maintain sufficient income, they have no say in the running of the province, they ill-treated by the noble classes their men are pressed into the army for the ongoing skirmishes between the Yuki and the Satake and the daimyo does nothing to stop raids by bandits," explains the priest in one breath

"Well the last of those isn't true. Only last week we captured some bandits and they were executed."

Ishan Ashte butts in in a quiet voice, "We don't know they were executed. We only handed them over..." Sahpo shushes him.

"We'll deal with the bandits, but the taxes must be paid."

"I'll tell them that, but the peasants won't be happy if that is all you can do."

"That is the way of this society," concludes Sahpo with finality.

"What has happened in other provinces?" asks Onuma. "What have your people done?"

"In some places the peasants have taken up arms. It is regrettable, but what can we do?"

The priest is dismissed and the law keepers discuss their options.

"We should station ourselves in Kanuma and kill bandits," offers Onuma.

"And maybe the show of force will convince the peasants to comply," adds Emishi

"We could go and reassess their taxes," suggests Tomtare. Emishi agrees.

"Well it's our job to make sure they pay. And we can't do that sitting here. Let's go to Kanuma," concludes Sahpo.

The following day they travel to Kanuma. They find a large village of a few hundred peasants, overseen by the village headman, an area of communal farmland around the village tended by two-thirds of the villages, and three private farms run by three ji-zamurai and supporting the rest of the village. Hidasue has already researched Kanuma and his notes show that the ji-zamurai have paid 50%, 20% and none at all of their taxes respectively.

"That's not good enough," says Onuma.

"No," agrees Emishi. "let's go to see the ji-zamurai."

First they visit the farm that has paid no tax. "How can I help you?" he asks, barely polite enough.

Yoshi Yeesu zeroes his pump-action abacus. "Tax collectors - pay up!" he growls.

The ji-zamurai sits down, looking ashen. The tax collectors look around his house, trying to assess whether he is rich or poor. Unfortunately, three think he seems rich, the other three poor. Onuma takes the initiative, casting Pinocchio Effect.

"Why haven't you paid your taxes?"

"I can't get the peasants to pay without revolting." Onuma's spell reveals a partial untruth. Onuma signals to the others that something has grown by three inches. She presses on.

"Why haven't you paid your own taxes?"

"Err... err... err... it didn't seem right when none of the peasants were paying." Onuma indicates that the three inches has shrunk back.

"So you wilfully didn't pay your taxes?" queries Sahpo menacingly.

"You seem to be well-off. This place should sell quite well," hints Yoshi Yeesu. "How much is your tax bill?" Sahpo and Ishan Ashte mentally come up with a figure of 37 silver pieces. Yoshi Yeesu has some trouble with his abacus.

"Hmmm... you seem to be due a rebate."

Tomtare steps in. "It's 37 silver and you have a week to pay."

"I've got... let's see... 24 silver here you can have now. As for the rest, I'll have to sell something," sniffs the ji-zamurai, looking at the artworks on his walls.

The tax collectors head off to the next farm, where only 20% of the ji-zamurai's tax has been paid. The farm house seems reasonably comfortable to the ex-Ainu, though two think it is rather mean. Tomtare takes the lead.

"Why have you only paid 4 silver out of the 20 that you owe," he demands of the second ji-zamurai.

"I paid what I could afford."

Onuma doesn't beat around the bush. "You have a week to pay up or we come back with big fines - or big swords."

Emishi changes the subject, to the cowering ex-samurai's relief. "Is there a problem with bandits in this area?"

"We occasionally get raids, but it's not such a problem. They just take food from the peasants."

Onuma comes back to the subject of taxes. "Why are your peasants not paying their taxes?"

"They're all slackers who don't work hard enough." Onuma nods - she's getting a picture of the ji-zamurai as a hard taskmaster.

On the way out of the farm, Ishan Ashte nudges Emishi. "You know about farming - does this farm look well-run?"

Emishi critically fails his farming knowledge. "No, they should move it up onto those steep, forested slopes away from the river."

Emishi announces their presence at the last ji-zamurai's house. "Tax collectors!" he bellows.

The six squeeze into the main room of his small house. They think it looks like he's destitute, though actually it is not quite as bad as that. Yoshi Yeesu whispers to the others, "He's been honourable and paid what he can afford - we should be lenient with him."

Emishi skips the matter of his personal taxes. "Why are your neighbours affluent and not paying tax while you are poor and pay?"

"My neighbours don't respect their workers. They work them to death and make money from their poor lives."

No-one has anything else to ask or add, so they leave and visit the village Headman's house. They ask him how the village works.

"Peasant families work the land around the village, land the families have always worked, not exactly owned, but always in their care."

Sahpo asks the question that has been troubling him. "When did the priest arrive?"

"Last year."

"We understand the peasants aren't paying taxes," interjects Onuma. "Why?"

"I'm afraid they refuse. They work very hard for the little they have."

"Has anything changed?" probes Onuma. "Did they pay last year?"

"Of course, we all paid last year."

"We have ways of checking," says Emishi suspiciously.

"...I think," adds the Headman.

"What changed?" repeats Onuma.

Sahpo says superciliously, "Obviously, the priest."

"We've got a new priest," offers the Headman. "He's very supportive of the peasants."

"Huh - see!" snorts Sahpo. "They're oppressed, but that just the way of Wajin society."

They leave the Headman and look around the village. It is quite poor, but has had some recent repairs. Sahpo decides to have a heart-to-heart with the priest.

"I'm a gakusho from up north," he begins, careful not to mention how far up north, "and our ways are slightly different. All you'll do in cause conflict and strife. These people have always had a hard life - nothing will change. They'll only come down hard on them. Why don't you go to..." Sahpo searches his memory for the name of one of the bickering clans he heard about earlier, "...the Satake clan."

The priest looks half convinced. "And if you don't," continues Sahpo, "we might have to kill you."

The priest nods glumly. "All right, I'll go. But I hate to leave these people." The priest thinks for a minute. "But if I go, how will that help these people?" suddenly unconvinced.

"Well, it will stop them fighting and taking men from this village. But you can't expect to change the world."

"Will you look after this village?" asks the priest, running out of objections.

"Of course we will," purrs Sahpo, sincerity dripping from his words. (Eavesdropping, Emishi also purrs, "Of course we'll 'take care' of the villagers," and grins evilly.)

The priest packs his belongings and Sahpo escorts him from the village. "Well that was easier that I imagined," comments Sahpo when he returns to the others.

The six set up a temporary home in the village and practice martial arts, impressing on the villagers their commitment to protect them from bandits and what might happen to the villagers if they don't get their taxes paid. They also build a new shrine ("Not another shrine to Inari!" exclaims Yoshi Yeesu. "It's a wonder this country isn't knee-deep in foxes!") and treat the villagers' illnesses. Before the week is up five armed horsemen ride into the village and enter the Headman's house, swords drawn, unaware of the six tax collectors following them in. Inside, the bandits punch the Headman and threaten him with their swords. The law keepers don't need to threaten, they just talk with their swords - all except Tomtare who talks with his tetsubo and Sahpo who starts vocalising a spell. Emishi strikes at the first bandit and severely wounds him. Tomtare clubs the second and nearly knocks him out. Ishan Ashte attacks a third and kills him with one blow. Yoshi Yeesu scores a perfect strike on another and kills him also. And Onuma gets a critical hit and slices the final bandit in two. Sahpo is almost ready with his spell but Emishi and Tomtare get their second attacks in first. Emishi punches his opponent, hoping to knock him out, but the punch is too strong and the bandit dies of his wounds. Tomtare connects again with his tetsubo but overdoes it and the final bandit dies; Sahpo's spell dies on his lips. Feeling the need to make some contribution he turns to the Headman and says, "Sorry about the mess."

The law bringers leave the Headman's house and examine the horses. The saddles are simple, not the sort of thing paid ronin would use, so Ishan Ashte concludes they are genuine bandits. He asks the Headman if he knows any of the corpses; the Headman replies that he has seen some of them before, and several other bandits have been to demand food. Emishi suggests that they track the bandits back to their camp. Tomtare and Ishan Ashte quickly pick up the horses' tracks and follow them into the hills. It's not long before they see a large shack in amongst the trees on a hillside. A lookout post is next to it, a tripod of tall tree trunks with a perch on the top.

"I'll handle this," says Ishan Ashte and uses his recently improved shinobijutsu to sneak closer.

"No, an arrow is too obvious. I'll handle this," overrules Sahpo and fires three Arrows of Wood at the lookout. The magical bolts strike home and overwhelm his system in seconds. Limp as wet grass, he slumps in his perch and falls 30 feet to the ground where he lies still, having only enough strength to move his eyes. Emishi looks at the shack and plans the attack.

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