Zigong Redeems a Slave

The next morning. Ming Jing woke up early, washed up, and then, along with Qing Yan and Shang, headed to the Daimyo's Mansion to pay his respects to the Daimyo. The Daimyo of the Land of Fire did not keep Ming Jing waiting long; about the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn, he had someone invite Ming Jing in.

"Good morning, Mr. Ming Jing! Oh, have you had breakfast yet? Would you like some?" The Daimyo, seated inside the room with several small dishes on the low table before him, asked Ming Jing with a smile.

"Thank you, Daimyo, I have already eaten," Ming Jing replied, cupping his hands in greeting, neither humble nor arrogant.

"Oh, oh, oh, I almost forgot, the Kurama Clan is the family most skilled in cuisine. Alright then! Please have a seat for a moment, Mr. Ming Jing, I'll be done shortly." With that, the Daimyo picked up his bowl and swallowed the porridge in a few gulps, then beckoned to a maid to clear away his breakfast.

"Phew... it's quite difficult to eat so much in one go! Oh ho ho ho..." The Daimyo fanned himself, chuckling.

"Mm... let's get straight to the point! How large is the budget for disaster relief, Daimyo?" Ming Jing sighed and asked directly.

"There is no budget!" the Daimyo said earnestly. "After all, there's no surplus money left in the national treasury."

Ming Jing frowned. Without a budget, what was the point of disaster relief? Did the Daimyo think grain just fell from the sky? He couldn't help but ask, "Could we perhaps reallocate funds from other projects to be used for disaster relief first?"

"No, we cannot!" the Daimyo shook his head. "Because that money is meant for Konohagakure!"

Ming Jing stared at the Daimyo. Seeing no evasion in his expression, Ming Jing felt a sense of helplessness. He came from Konohagakure; theoretically, Konohagakure was his backing. How could he dismantle his own support system right after taking office?

Therefore, Ming Jing thought for a moment and said, "In that case, please allow me to raise funds for disaster relief myself!"

"Oh? Raise funds yourself... Alright then! But the situation in the disaster-stricken areas is not optimistic. I can only give you three days to raise the funds, Mr. Ming Jing!" The Daimyo narrowed his eyes, intending to stir up trouble between Ming Jing and Konohagakure. He hadn't expected the other party to fall for it, but it didn't matter; there was still enough time!

"Three days is more than enough, thank you, Daimyo!" Ming Jing bowed slightly and continued, "The situation in the disaster areas requires a troop to maintain order. Do you have a suitable unit here, Daimyo?"

"A troop? Why would we need a troop when we have Konohagakure?" the Daimyo retorted.

"I recall there are teams for maintaining public order within the country! Please dispatch some of them to me, Daimyo!" Ming Jing said.

"Oh, you mean the patrols! That's no problem, but there aren't many patrols in the Land of Fire to begin with, so I'm afraid I can't dispatch too many!" The Daimyo seemed troubled.

"Not too many are needed, four hundred men will suffice," Ming Jing said confidently.

Upon hearing this, the Daimyo clapped his hands with joy. "That's no problem. I'll gather the numbers within three days, and we can depart together then."

"That would be for the best," Ming Jing nodded, feeling that this trip was not in vain.

On the way back to their lodging, Ming Jing said to Shang, "Little Shang, I have a task for you. Before noon, gather a list of merchants in the Royal Capital who have trade dealings with the Land of Grass, Land of Rain, Land of Rivers, and Land of Wind. I need to know their main business, net worth, age, and personality."

"Yes, Young Master!" Shang nodded vigorously and then quickly departed. Shang and the other three were talents cultivated by the clan as shinobi; collecting this kind of simple information was well within their capabilities.

Next, Ming Jing instructed Qing Yan behind him, "After we return, prepare invitations. We will host a banquet for these individuals tomorrow evening. Also, contact the Royal Capital's newspaper agencies; we're going to make big news tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Qing Yan asked with some concern. "Young Master, the Daimyo only gave us three days. If we arrange the banquet for tomorrow, we won't have any room to negotiate with those merchants."

"We never had any room to negotiate from the start," Ming Jing shook his head. If necessary, he wouldn't hesitate to use Illusion Techniques to persuade them.

When they returned to their lodging, Asuma walked over to inquire about the situation. Ming Jing sighed and told him about his experiences and plans.

Asuma frowned and said, "The disaster victims are in dire straits. You should temporarily divert the funds allocated to Konoha for disaster relief. The Third Hokage should understand!"

"Konohagakure doesn't belong to just the Third Hokage; it belongs to villagers like you and me. Not everyone might possess such broad-mindedness and compassion," Ming Jing explained. "Besides, diverting Konoha's funds would lead to endless arguments. Persuading merchants to donate will also involve arguments. I'd rather argue with merchants than be branded a traitor to Konoha by those with ulterior motives."

"Hey, hey, hey, Ming Jing, isn't that a bit much? Are there people like that in Konohagakure?" Asuma asked, sounding displeased.

"Then, Captain, how do you plan to explain Uzumaki Naruto's situation to me?" Ming Jing smiled slightly and turned to leave after saying that.

After lunch, Shang entered with a scroll of documents and handed it to Ming Jing, saying, "Young Master, there are a total of thirty-seven merchants in the Royal Capital who have trade dealings with the Land of Grass, Land of Rain, Land of Rivers, and Land of Wind. Among them, two have a net worth exceeding one hundred million, eleven have a net worth of ten million, and the rest have a net worth of one million."

"Thank you for your hard work, you may rest now!" Ming Jing took the documents and began to read them. The two individuals with net worths exceeding one hundred million were named Masao Kosaka and Kō Fukuda. Masao Kosaka was involved in the mining industry and owned several mines in the Land of Wind. Kō Fukuda was in the transportation industry and owned his own port in the Land of Rivers.

"Mining, transportation – this is heaven-sent!" Ming Jing breathed a sigh of relief. These two would be the main targets for his attention tomorrow. The smaller fish couldn't be let off the hook either; he would extort as much as he could.

"Yuexi, what's the current price of grain outside?" Ming Jing asked, putting down the documents in his hand.

"Today, the price of one jin of rice is 1.5 qian, an increase of 0.1 qian from yesterday," Yuexi replied.

Assuming fifty thousand people affected by the disaster, one adult's monthly ration is about eighteen jin. For the disaster areas to endure some hardship, let's say fifteen jin per month. The cost for fifty thousand people's monthly rations would be 1,125,000 qian. However, Ming Jing's plan could not be completed within a month; he conservatively estimated it would take at least five months. This means that just for rations, it would cost at least 5,620,000 qian, and that's without considering shipping costs. If we add cooking oil, salt, vegetables, meat, medicine, temporary tents, and so on, a conservative estimate would require 60,000,000 qian! And that's assuming the price of grain doesn't increase.

Some young men from Konohagakure might scoff, saying that the cost of clothes Ming Jing prepared for Hinata alone was about one-fifth of this amount. Now, for disaster relief, the Kurama Clan is being so stingy, it's simply cold-blooded.

In reality, the Kurama Clan's financial resources were not insufficient to bear this cost. However, Ming Jing had his reasons for not doing so. People are inherently lazy. If the Kurama Clan takes full responsibility this time, what about next time? The destruction caused by that great tree in the later stages of Shippuden would be beyond even ten times the wealth of the Kurama Clan to compensate!

Moreover, in China, there is an essay called "Zigong Redeems a Slave," from the "Lüshi Chunqiu - Xianshi Lan - Chawei Pian."

It states that there was a law in the State of Lu: if a person from Lu became a slave abroad, anyone who redeemed them could have the ransom reimbursed from the national treasury. Once, Zigong (Duanmu Ci), a disciple of Confucius, redeemed a man from Lu abroad and refused to accept the state's reimbursement upon his return. When Confucius learned of this, he said, "Zigong was wrong. From now on, people from Lu will not redeem slaves from other countries."

The sage's meaning was simple: a person did a good deed using their own money, and they should have been held up as a moral exemplar. However, the mistake was that this person raised the standard of morality, which everyone could have reached, to a height that most people could not achieve. This caused many to shy away from charity. Such morality, which goes against common sense and human nature, is the most wicked thing in the world.

Therefore, approaching the problem from different perspectives leads to different solutions. That is the principle.