The next morning, when the merchants presented themselves to pay their respects, they were told that Tokichiro had gone off to the mountain before daybreak. They set off after him. When they caught up with him, he was supervising a group of foot soldiers and local farmers and woodsmen. Each man had a bundle of ropes cut to about a meter in length. They tied one length of rope to every tree. Knowing that they had started out with a given number of ropes, when they finished and did their calculations, they could count the total number of trees. Checking the number of trees against the figures in the ledger, Tokichiro suspected there had been an overcharge of almost one-third.
He seated himself on a tree stump. "Call the suppliers over here," he told one of his men.
The fuel dealers prostrated themselves before him, their hearts racing at the prospect of what was to come. No matter how many surveys of the mountains were conducted, the number of standing trees was not a fact that could be easily determined by an amateur, and, in fact, the overseers of fuel supplies had always taken the amount recorded in the ledger at face value—swallowed it whole, so to speak. Now the suppliers were faced with an official who was not going to be taken in.
"Isn't there a large discrepancy between the number in this ledger and the actual number of trees?"
They answered yes, but hesitantly and full of apprehension.
"What do you mean, 'yes’? What's the reason for this? You're forgetting the many years you've reaped His Lordship's patronage. Aren't you being ungrateful, deceitful, and complacent, and isn't your sole interest in making a profit? It seems you've put your lies in writing and you've been greedy."
"Isn't that a bit too strong, your honor?"
"The numbers are different. I'm asking why. Judging from the records, only sixty or seventy bushels out of a hundred ordered—that's only six or seven hundred out of a thousand— are actually delivered to the warehouses."
"No, well, er, with that sort of reasoning—"
"Silence! There's no excuse for men who've been supplying fuel from these mountains to have engaged in this kind of huge deception year after year. If I am right, you're guilty of deceiving officials and defrauding the provincial treasury."
"We-we hardly know what to say."
"You could be convicted for what you've done and have all your possessions confiscated. However, former officials have also been guilty of neglect. I'll let it pass just this once… but on the following condition: you must correctly state the number of trees. The figures you submit in writing had better correspond exactly with the facts. Is that clear?
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"There's one other condition."
"Your Excellency?"
"There is an old saying, 'if you cut one tree, you should plant ten.' From what I have seen on these mountains since yesterday, trees are felled every year, but virtually none are being planted. If this continues, there'll be floods and the paddies and other field at the foot of the mountains will be devastated. The province will be weakened, and when the province declines, you will be the ones to suffer. If you want to make real profits, if you hope for true wealth for your families and desire happiness for your descendants, shouldn't you first make your province strong?"
"Yes," they agreed.
"As a tax and a punishment for your greed, from this time forth, every time you cut down a thousand trees, you are, without fail, to plant five thousand seedlings. This is a strict order. Do you agree?"
"We're very grateful. If you will let us off on those terms, we swear the seedlings will be planted."
"I suppose, then, I should increase the delivery fee by five percent."
Later in the day, he informed the farmers who had helped him that he had ordered the reforestation. How much they would be paid for planting a hundred seedlings was yet to be decided, but he told them the expenses would most likely be borne by the castle. With that, he said, "Well, let's go back now."
Encouraged by Tokichiro's attitude, the suppliers were relieved. As they descended the mountain, they whispered among themselves, "What a shock! With this fellow around, you can't leave a moment unguarded."
"He's smart."
"It's not going to be easy income like before, but we won't lose out, either. We’ll make up for it, slowly but surely."
Once back in the foothills, the suppliers were eager to be on their way, but Tokichiro wanted to repay them for the previous night's entertainment. "We've finished our business. Join me for the evening, relax and enjoy yourselves," he insisted.
At a local inn, he treated them to a banquet, he himself getting pleasantly tipsy.
* * *
Tokichiro was happy. All alone, but happy.
"Monkey!" Nobunaga said—he still sometimes called him that—"you've been economical in the kitchen ever since you were put in charge of it. But sticking a man there is a waste. I'm promoting you to the stables."
Along with the new assignment came a stipend of thirty kan and a house in the quarter of the castle town set aside for samurai. This new favor brought a lingering grin to
Tokichiro's face. Almost the first thing he did was visit his former workmate Ganmaku.
"Are you free now?" he said.
"Why?"
"I want to go into town and treat you to some sake.
"Well, I don't know."
"What's the matter?"
"You're a kitchen official now. I'm still nothing but a sandal bearer. You don't want to be seen out drinking with me."
"Don't take such a warped view. If I thought that way, I would never have come to ask you. Being in charge of the kitchen was above my status, but the fact is, I've been ordered to the stables at a stipend of thirty kan."
"Well!"
"I came here because you're a true and loyal servant of His Lordship, even though you're only a sandal bearer. I want you to share this happiness with me."
"This is a matter for congratulations, surely. But, Tokichiro, you're more honest than I am.
"Huh?"
"You're open with me, concealing nothing, while I've kept a good bit hidden from you. To tell the truth, I sometimes do special services, like that time you know about. For these I receive large bonuses directly from the hand of His Lordship. I send the money seretly to my house."
"You have a house?"
"If you go to Tsugemura in Omi, you'll see I have a family and about twenty servants."
"Ah, you do?"
"So it's not an honorable thing for me to be entertained by you. Anyway, if we both rise in the world, one with the other, we'll both treat and be treated."
"I didn't know."
"Our fates lie ahead of us—that's the way I look at it."