The next morning, Dongfang Mao climbed out of bed, feeling refreshed as he stretched leisurely.
Just then, Tsunade stirred awake. The moment she opened her eyes, she shot Dongfang Mao a reproachful look.
Dongfang Mao saw it and gave an awkward smile.
"Tsunade, you can't blame me. I told you yesterday I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation."
At that, Tsunade flushed with embarrassment and indignation. She rubbed her swollen lips, her brows drawing together.
She had already rinsed her mouth several times, but she could still taste something strange. She glared furiously at Dongfang Mao.
"You little rascal! Don't ever ask me to do that for you again!"
Dongfang Mao couldn't help grumbling to himself. If you weren't willing, could I have forced your mouth open? How did this suddenly become all my fault?
Of course, he didn't dare say that to Tsunade while she was still worked up.
He didn't answer her, either. After all, this was the first taste of pleasure he'd had in either lifetime. How could he swear it off just like that?
He wasn't about to agree to Tsunade's unreasonable demand.
"Ahem, Tsunade, I'm heading to the main hall for a meeting."
With that, he jumped off the bed, grabbed his shoes, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
"You little rascal!"
Watching Dongfang Mao disappear, Tsunade gritted her teeth again.
But as her emotions gradually settled, the embarrassing scenes from the previous night came back to her. A flush crept up her snow-white neck and spread to the tips of her ears.
She lowered her gaze to her ample breasts and hefted them with one hand. Then she murmured through gritted teeth,
"Are they really that fun to touch? You clutched them all night without letting go..."
Dongfang Mao strolled down the corridor, breathing in the fragrant scent of flowers and plants drifting through the courtyard. His steps were light, and a contented smile played on his lips.
But when he reached the corner and saw Yasuke and Kyuzo approaching side by side, his smile froze.
Yasuke wore a green headscarf and a blue-green robe, with a fake beard of uncertain origin hanging from his cheeks.
Kyuzo also wore a black headscarf and a loose, dark gray robe. A fake beard was stuck to his face, and he strode along with an imposing gait.
The two oddly dressed men spotted Dongfang Mao and immediately brightened. They hurried over to him.
With a thud, they dropped to one knee, clasped their hands, and cried out together,
"Yasuke!"
"Kyuzo!"
"Greetings, my lord!"
Dongfang Mao's eye twitched.
"Get up. What are you two..."
The pair sprang up smartly, chests out and heads held high.
"Heh heh, I'm playing the part of the Sage of War!"
"And I'm playing the Marquis of Heng!"
Watching the two fools, Dongfang Mao felt his temples throb.
"Enough. You're playing the Sage of War and the Marquis of Heng now?"
Dongfang Mao waved a hand in exasperation.
"If you've got time to dress up, you've got time to get out there and seize those estates. How are things going with the families?"
"Governor, we've finished seizing them all. The accountants have already taken inventory."
As he spoke, Yasuke pulled a dark blue ledger from his robe.
"Oh? That fast?"
Dongfang Mao raised an eyebrow, took the ledger, and flipped through it.
He saw that the three families, along with thirteen small and medium-sized clans closely connected to them, had been stripped of a total of 740 million taels in cash.
There were about 2,890 tons of grain, worth roughly 100 million taels.
There were also 981 bows and crossbows.
4,781 swords and spears.
931 suits of armor.
And countless goods, including cloth, tea, iron, copper, ore, and salt, with an estimated value of around 1.3 billion taels.
Seeing this, Dongfang Mao marveled at the families' wealth. He also felt relieved that they had slipped into the city and struck without warning, taking the families down in one fell swoop. If he'd given them time to react, seizing Tsukimiura might have been much harder.
His face flushed with excitement, and then he burst out laughing.
"Excellent! You two, take the soldiers from your battalions to the storehouse later and draw equipment. I want every one of them armed with a sword and wearing armor."
"Yes, sir!"
Yasuke and Kyuzo were thrilled. Before, only one in ten of their men had armor, and only half had swords or spears.
Plenty had been left empty-handed.
Even so, they'd managed to take Tsukimiura.
How formidable would they be once every man was armed and armored?
The two men began to let their imaginations run wild.
Then Dongfang Mao seemed to think of something. He glanced at their outfits and said,
"You two, go to the Ministry of Works later and have Zhengxiong forge a Green Dragon Crescent Blade and a Zhangba Snake Spear for you."
The two exchanged a look, then grinned.
"Thank you, my lord!"
After the two fools had left, Dongfang Mao hurried straight to the Ministry of Finance.
He immediately met with Luzhen. With this vast supply of money and grain, they could make their plans more detailed and put them into effect more smoothly.
For the next while, Dongfang Mao was so busy he barely had time to stop and breathe.
He didn't even go back to his bedroom, simply sleeping in his office instead.
Even Tsunade, who had vowed not to let Dongfang Mao fool around with her again, couldn't help coming by to casually ask when he planned to return and get some rest.
Dongfang Mao could only smile wryly. Of course he wanted to go back and fool around with Tsunade again.
But in those few days, as the policies he'd discussed with Luzhen officially rolled out, all of Tsukimiura erupted.
It was no longer a matter of undercurrents stirring. Almost every day, people rioted and staged armed protests throughout the city.
Many also gathered outside the Governor's Mansion, shouting abuse.
Some of the more fanatical ones even drew their knives and committed seppuku in full view of the public, crying out "For the Daimyo!" with their dying breaths.
This left Dongfang Mao furious and overwhelmed. Fortunately, the New Martial Army had now been fully armed, and its fighting strength had risen another notch.
Those causing trouble were thrown into prison for minor offenses, while anyone who dared to stage an armed revolt was brutally put down.
The worst were the ones who committed seppuku.
They posed the greatest threat to Dongfang Mao's rule and were treated as thorns in his side.
There was no need to say more. If they liked committing seppuku, then their entire clans could go join them.
In this world, entire clans were wiped out from time to time. But when one person offended the authorities and all nine branches of his family were hunted down and exterminated, it was practically unheard of.
During that period, heads fell every day at the execution ground by the marketplace. The executioners' blades grew dull, one after another.
Wails rang out there every day. Blood stained the streets red, and the thick stench of it hung over Tsukimiura, refusing to disperse.
Everyone in Tsukimiura lived in fear. Whenever the Night Patrol Bureau's agents, dressed in black, came out, people were terrified out of their wits.
Hearing the anguished cries of those dragged from their homes, one person after another trembled in fear.
After this series of bloody purges, the city finally began to settle down.
Even the hardliners no longer dared to stir up trouble. They could only lock themselves inside and endure the Governor's Mansion's harsh policies, grumbling bitterly.
Others, however, finally began to break through their inner barriers, drawn by Dongfang Mao's ruthless force and the benefits offered by his policies, and started making contact with the Governor's Mansion.
There still weren't many of them, but Dongfang Mao was heartened all the same. He felt that the many people he'd beheaded hadn't died in vain.
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