CHAPTER 286: CHAPTER 209 ONLY PRINCE NOZAWA IS THE SAVIOR!_3

But this works for now, Uozumi Hikoshiro has done a pretty decent job.

Harano thought for a moment and said, "Let’s go with this approach. Later, have Uozumi Hikoshiro put on some more plays. If they want to do a tour around the Chita Peninsula, we can subsidize them. Hm, they can also perform at the Wanjin Army base—tell him to report the price, we won’t let him lose out."

"Talk to Endo about these things. As long as I can answer to the old man, that’s enough for me." Ah Man was only helping out the Koka immigrants for Izumi Hichiji’s sake, and saying a few good words for them was her limit. There’s no way she was going to get personally involved—she didn’t have that kind of free time.

Harano nodded absentmindedly, he did care, but then asked curiously, "The extra content you mentioned... where exactly did they add it? In the first half of the play?"

Ah Man insisted on dragging him to the new play, all the while hyping up this so-called "added material." He thought maybe there’d be something scandalous, like a striptease or something—if that were the case, he’d have Uozumi Hikoshiro strung up and beaten, and on top of that, launch a full-scale anti-vice purge in the theater.

If Ah Man was involved—even if only giving random advice or just turning a blind eye—she’d get chewed out too. Never mind Uozumi Hikoshiro.

His tolerance for prostitution, gambling, and drugs was zero. Sure, women in the old days might struggle with hard physical labor, but in jobs that require less muscle, they could even outperform men—they’re an important part of the workforce. So if anyone dared compete with him for labor, or poison public morals, he’d have no problem chopping off their heads. Prostitution brings a string of problems: gambling, human trafficking, gangs, disease—any of which could destabilize society. Production needed stability and order above all, so if that kind of thing dared to show up in Wanjin, he really would kill people for it—catch one, kill one, no mercy whatsoever.

Ah Man hadn’t thought that far, she just said bluntly, "Didn’t you notice? There are jokes about the Emperor in there! The Emperor’s rule isn’t legitimate, right? I heard from the old man, even the Imperial Family is a mess. There was this Empress who took her people out to fight—disappeared for years—when she came back her belly was huge, and no one dared say whose kid it was..."

To be honest, she never really understood what Harano was up to, and had her suspicions that he wanted to be Emperor himself. Sure, with Wanjin’s current clout it was basically impossible to take the realm, but that didn’t stop her from stirring up some trouble for the fun of it. That’s why she secretly ordered Uozumi Hikoshiro to add those "Emperor jokes"—maybe they’d come in handy someday.

If not, whatever. She just found it funny. To her, the Emperor wasn’t worth much anyway.

Harano honestly hadn’t noticed there were jokes like that. His mind wasn’t on the play back then—he was busy wondering if it was time to push out things like the "Equality Order" and "Property Protection Act."

But having those jokes didn’t matter. How many divisions does the Emperor even have? He didn’t want to be Emperor anyway, so tarnishing the Emperor’s reputation meant nothing to him.

"Oh, that’s what you meant? Not bad, the jokes are pretty funny."

Harano didn’t take it to heart, just nodded dismissively, said something perfunctory, and went back to pondering new laws. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like this was exactly the right moment.

The only two Daimyo who could threaten him—Oda Nobunaga and Matsudaira Mototaka—were busy brawling: one tangled up with Minoh, the other with the Imagawa family. Even if he stirred up a storm on the peninsula, neither would spare the time to care.

And this was a pretty important step anyway—Wanjin ought to start acting like an actual country, not just his personal giant private company. The sooner, the better.