CHAPTER 313: CHAPTER 223: GUARANTEE TO MAKE THE HOUJOU FAMILY HOWL_2

"There’s really nothing we can do. Out with the old, in with the new. Let’s just burn it down and move on!" Harano was also kinda heartbroken—nowadays, the purity of raw materials and the quality of processing are just outrageously bad. He somehow managed to make rockets at the price of guided missiles, and even if he was willing to splurge, production capacity just wouldn’t go up. Every time one of these things is fired, it’s gone for good. If you say you’re not pained by it, you’re lying to yourself.

He and Ah Man sat on the boat, mourning their wallets, while Hundred Heads City was also feeling the pain—not just over money, but their lives too.

Even if Harano triple-checked the casings, the rockets he made still had a questionable pass rate. About half of them would just fly around like headless chickens after launch. The main targets were the water stockade and facilities near the coast, but the rockets didn’t cooperate—they exploded wherever they wanted. Plus, since they were going after wooden boats, all the warheads were incendiaries. Before long, several spots in Hundred Heads City and the water stockade were blazing, with smoke black as ink shooting straight up to the sky.

The Flamboyant cannons on the boats weren’t much better; their indirect fire sucked, and the Wanjin Navy’s gunnery was, let’s be honest, pretty mid. They just spammed shots at the edge of their range, hoping for a lucky hit—like "blind cat catching a dead rat." If they scored one, it counted. The downside: a ton of ’innocent’ targets were getting shredded.

After seven or eight rounds of this nonsense, gunfire finally slowed, rockets stopped launching, and all weapons needed some cooldown time.

At this point, Hundred Heads City couldn’t sit still any longer. They were ready to defend against a Wanjin Army landing and had faith they could hold until the Satomi family came to the rescue. But who could have guessed the Wanjin Army wouldn’t even try to land? They just locked down the port and launched incendiary rockets as if they wanted to roast the whole city off the map.

Of course, with the firepower the Wanjin Navy had, no way could they actually level Hundred Heads City. But it was the first time they’d been hit with something like this and had no clue how much ammo Wanjin really had. The attack felt way more like a show of force, trying to make them bend the knee, or maybe a warm-up for a larger invasion. So as soon as the Wanjin Navy’s barrage paused, they sent out envoys to try and negotiate some terms—hoping Harano wouldn’t just wipe them out.

The envoy boarded the "Chita" and wanted to greet their captured Family Head, Mizuno Shichiro, but was refused and taken straight to Harano. Harano wasn’t one for small talk and laid out four demands right away:

First: Wanjin merchants must have freedom to travel throughout these waters. The Mizuno family must guarantee their personal safety and property, and make sure the water thieves around the Boso Peninsula honor the same deal.

Second: Open up Edo Bay—or, as Hundred Heads City calls it, the ports in the Musashi Bay area under Satomi control—for free use by Wanjin merchants.

Third: Hand over the water thief who insulted the Wanjin envoy on the first meeting between the two sides.

Fourth: Pay compensation to cover the damage the Mizuno family inflicted on the Wanjin Navy.

Straightforward terms—pretty much Wanjin’s bottom line. After all, Harano couldn’t really pose a bigger threat to the Mizuno or Satomi family—any further would mean landing and storming the city across hundreds of miles, which Harano really didn’t fancy. Way too expensive, and the payoff would be lame.

The Mizuno family had just gotten their butts handed to them, their Family Head was captured and hanging by his heels, and the enemy was right outside, torching their city with weird new weapons. The envoy actually found Harano’s four demands fairly reasonable: at least he didn’t ask for the Mizuno family to flat-out surrender and pledge allegiance to Wanjin—which honestly wasn’t far off, but at least they could report it to the Satomi family with somewhat less embarrassment.

If the Mizuno family actually joined Wanjin, with Hundred Heads City’s geographical position, their only option would be to fight to the death.

The envoy figured these conditions were doable, but he couldn’t decide alone. He said he had to go back and let the Family Elders make the call. At the same time, he gingerly asked about "ransoming" Mizuno Shichiro, but of course Harano turned him down flat.

Even putting aside Mizuno Shichiro’s mountain of crimes and how he grossed everyone out, the fact was, as the current (soon-to-be ex) Family Head of the Mizuno clan, he was a pretty sweet political wildcard. Keeping him alive made it way easier to mess around in the area later. Unless Harano went totally nuts, he’d never let him go.

Plus, Ah Man had gone all out in her rage and didn’t give Mizuno Shichiro even a shred of face. The guy probably hated Wanjin to the bone by now, so no way Harano would let him walk out alive.

The envoy tried to argue further, at least hoping Mizuno Shichiro could get some dignity as, after all, he was a big shot Samurai. But Harano couldn’t care less—if you’ve got the guts, hit him up in Chita. He simply ordered the envoy kicked out.

He couldn’t be bothered to say more. Even if the Mizuno family didn’t accept, whatever. Worst case: give it another six months and he’d show up with even more ships. One way or another, Satomi’s navy—this thorn in his side—was getting yanked for good.

War’s a money pit. Armies aren’t cheap, either. With no way to expand his territory, Harano could only make cash via sea trade. If anyone tried to block his hustle, he was absolutely going to bludgeon them into the ground.

After kicking out the envoy, Harano didn’t give a damn how Hundred Heads City discussed things—no intention of stopping the attack. He carefully surveyed the damage to the water stockade and shoreline, then immediately ordered the second round of fire. The plan: keep trashing Hundred Heads City’s military potential until they posed no threat for years to come.

It was also meant as an example. Next time any water thief mob thought about messing with Wanjin, they’d better think hard about surviving the navy’s payback.

In no time, the sea was again roaring with guns and rockets whizzing over Hundred Heads City, even hitting nearby paddies. Some always went astray and blew craters where no one cared.

The Mizuno family’s Senior Households split into pro-peace and pro-war camps, arguing like mad, but another salvo left them dumbfounded. Everyone flew into a rage—and then, after being furious for a minute... honestly, they just calmed down again. Inner peace achieved.

Even if Wanjin Navy didn’t dare storm the harbor or make landings, just coming by every month or two to set things ablaze was more than Hundred Heads City could take. The navy’s random shelling from outside the port didn’t hurt the water thieves too much, but their ships had nowhere to hide. Of the few dozen small boats that’d made it back, over twenty were sunk in just two waves. At this rate, the Mizuno family could forget being water thief bosses—they wouldn’t even have the right boats.

When the second round of fire ended, with the Wanjin Navy cruising along the coast looking for new targets, the Mizuno envoy chased after them in a dinghy, gave up all pretense, and agreed to every demand. They didn’t even want their Family Head back—might as well let him become a hostage in the Nozawa family and fend for himself.

With things where they were, Harano didn’t have the heart to keep spamming rockets and switched to formal negotiations. Both sides hammered out an agreement: friendship from now on, mutual trade, and a shared shot at prosperity.

Harano gained a new ally—though this new friend was pretty salty about it. Every Samurai sent to sign off had a thundercloud face.

But Harano was a big-hearted guy and didn’t care. He even enthusiastically sent them a batch of sample weapons.

As long as they were willing to buy, he guaranteed they’d have the Houjou family screaming for mommy in no time.