Take 2 - Changing the Economic Landscape

[Junan]

He had arrived home, and in his travels he had seen and learned much. During his time as Raikage he'd kept a close eye on how it was that the village operated, what had happened during the time before his taking the title of Raikage, and after. How the economy had acted when the gates were on lockdown, versus how they acted now. And it concerned Akira just how things were.

It's not that things were bad. The economy had bounced back from the lockdown period well, under his rule there seemed to be a level of confidence in the village which helped merchants bring goods, and helped the economy in Kumogakure grow. However it was how narrow the economy was that concerned him. There were only a limited number of suppliers, and thus those suppliers were becoming wealthier and wealthier.

This was a problem which had developed over time, and with the full Thunder Mountains under his control as Daimyo it meant that the vast majority of the mines for Lightning Country were also under his title. There already existed taxes, but they were minor, and they could be circumvented. Old laws created long ago tended to have those kind of loopholes.

What Akira was about to propose would change how the village operated.

Calling on the council he waited for them to enter, he called on the Sennin as well, he would be interested to see who would show up. The council now consisted of the three original founding clans being represented, and then a selection of other politicians. It was done this way to try and maintain some semblance of Shinobi control at the political level, as the non-shinobi population grew larger, while the shinobi population kept the economy in check.

Once they had all arrived he began.

Thank you for coming together on such short notice. I have many things to report regarding my travels to Stone and Sand, but these will come in paper format for your attention at a later date.

I have gathered everyone here today because we have several massive economic problems in Cloud that are only getting worse. I will be putting some laws in place to improve this situation, but it will mean that certain clans will be hit financially.

First off I'm putting in place a limit on how much the Kumogakurean Government can import from a single supplier. Currently we have the Shinrya clan as the major supplier of our goods, and although they have been reliable I fear that there is a very real threat in this. For example during the periods when they were hit by poor weather and had smaller supplies. We were lucky that Cloud had a smaller population then, but we are growing as Shinobi become more universally accepted as normal. If the same thing hit them now we would struggle and would need to seek out other suppliers anyway.

The biggest change however will be that I will be claiming all the land of the Thunder Mountains under the title of Daimyo. They will all become the property of the Raikage title, the profit from any of the mines that have been built will go to this government.

As part of this I have arranged with the Shogun a loan enough to pay the owners of the mines currently the same amount that they paid for the mines in the first place. This wasn't a massive sum of money as according to the records they were able to obtain the lands fairly cheaply. I am also not paying the current going rate as they have reaped plenty of profit from the land, and in doing so the profit that we will get from the mines will be lessened.

However this will also create more jobs for our non-shinobi villagers and will provide the village with a much needed secondary income.

As you will all have been aware over the time you have been Councilers we have many expenditures in running this village, and limited income. Due to the nature of us being a military village we have received leniency on the behalf of the Shogun, however there is a limit to how much money he is willing to give us. Our population grows, but the need for shinobi has lessened. He is finding it harder and harder to justify the expense that we currently are for him. By taking the mines we are more capable of covering the expenditure that we currently have.

Chances would be pretty good that several members in the council would be associates of several people who currently owned the mines. He expected resistance, as much as they could give anyway.

 

[Junan]

It seemed to go better than he'd expected.

Though there was some debate but things seemed to be accepted eventually.

He then raised the taxes he was also going to place on clans who wanted to be associated with the village from external sources of income. This was less accepted by those who had ties to the clans which would be affected worse, but he was supported by both the Chigokai and Santaru clans, watching them closely he realised that much of their power loss before his arrival as Raikage was caused by their lack of external influence.

So once more that went through easily.

Thanking everyone who turned up he went to put it into law, and organise for everything to be put into place.

Messengers were sent to the current owners of any mines which existed through the massive stretch of mountains which made up his territory. They were paid for their mines, and so the Raikage Title now took ownership. All clans were informed of the new taxes they would need to pay, there were a couple of losses, but only of clans which only held minor affiliation with the village.

In the end the ones which mattered remained, and according to his finance advisors calculations the income of the village should double. They would be less of a drain on the Shogun's coffers, and they would be more independent.

Akira looked out across the village and smiled. Perhaps one day they would take advantage of what Akira had done for them and separate themselves from Lightning. This would always be his home, but it was once more time to hang his hat. He was old, weak, he'd been shown that and had done nothing to give himself the confidence that he needed to be able to run this village without feeling like at any moment someone wouldn't come for his head.

It wasn't out of fear for his own life that he cared about, it was fear for the chaos it could cause for the village.

So it was that Akira had made his decision. He had created a legacy. Now he could retire and know that the village would be the better because he had been Raikage for a time.

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