CHAPTER 316: CHAPTER 226: THE ERA OF HAPPINESS

Ezo refers to what later generations call the Ainu people.

The Ainu were originally spread throughout the islands of Japan, real indigenous people, but not anymore, of course. They’d already been driven all the way from Kyushu Island into Ezo by the "Wajin," and the "Expedition Against the Barbarians" part of the top Japanese Samurai title—General of Expedition—was all about campaigning against the unlucky "barbarians," the Ainu.

Now, the Ainu have all retreated into this icy, snowy Ezo Island, but the Wajin aren’t letting them off. They’ve already started building settlements and "trading posts" on Ezo, though since the Japanese aren’t used to the snow and ice and tech is still so backward, all those villages and outposts are crammed into the southwest corner Matsushima region. No one’s managed to push deeper inland yet.

The Anton Family counts as the ruler of this place for now, but only nominally—the real power is the Lizi Family, former Ezo Magistrates for the Anton Family, basically semi-independent these days. It’ll be almost twenty more years before, when the Monkey launches the Oshu land survey, the Lizi Family officially shakes off the magistrate’s collar.

Later, because the Lizi Family crossed all of Japan and actively joined the Monkey’s campaign to invade Korea, they earned his favor, finally got the "Master of Ainu Island" certificate stamped in vermillion, and formally gained the right to rule Ezo.

By the Tokugawa Shogunate era, the Lizi Family even became the only lord without a rice yield rating.

After being blocked by the Southern Navy from heading to the north side of Honshu Island, Harano turned his fleet east, taking a whole day to cross the strait and reach Ezo.

Once ashore, Harano had no intention of dealing with the Lizi Family. He found some wild land to land on, and using the manpower and supplies from the Wanjin merchant ships, started building a small landing post.

People watched, but no one stopped him. Ezo Island is full of unclaimed land right now; anyone can show up—the trick is just being able to communicate with the Ainu. Or, to be more accurate, communicate with the various island tribes—"Ainu" is a modern label for them; they didn’t even have a common name for their people at the time, still stuck in a tribal system. The very word "Ainu" in their own language just means "human."

If you really translate "Ainu" into Chinese, it’s like "people people". Which, if you say it out loud, sounds like the name of some unlucky video site.

To trade with the Ainu and rope them in en masse, you need to make friends. And among the Wanjin, nobody makes friends better than Ah Man.

After the tiny and very basic landing post was finished, Harano went ashore himself for a lap, then turned back to Ah Man and said, "It’s all yours now."

Ah Man obviously didn’t want to take this unlucky job. It was barely fall and the place already felt freezing. She was sure she’d hate the weather, but Harano earnestly begged her, said it was really important, and only she could do it. So she just grumbled at the scruffy little camp and muttered, "Fine, but just so we’re clear: as soon as I make contact with those savages, I’m heading back to New Wanjin. I’m a big shot now; can’t just sit around this dung hill that even beetles wouldn’t live in—there isn’t even a theater here, I’ll die of boredom!"

"You also need to learn about their culture and beliefs, pick up their language," Harano ignored her grousing and reminded her seriously, "And be friendly to them, try to make nice. Take any chance you get to follow locals further inland, and find other Ainu tribes—especially the ones barely scraping by."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Don’t worry, I’ll figure things out soon. And I’ll try to trick them over to New Wanjin when I can," Ah Man knew Harano was after Ainu population. She waved him off, too lazy to listen any more, and pushed him. "Leave it to me. Go on, back you go!"

She might gripe, but she honestly didn’t find it hard. What, just learn a new language and make friends with some wild folk? She was sure she’d be fine—making friends was her specialty, after all.

Harano didn’t stay any longer. Besides the ten-some Life-saving Group Ah Man brought, he left her half a squad of Inner Guard, and a stash of iron cannons, union tubes, ironware, cloth, and a bit of gold as her pioneering resources, then set sail with his fleet.

Ezo is much too far from Wanjin—half of Japan away—so he can’t send an army over any time soon. For now, the hundred-some people with Ah Man are on their own.

They’ll have to build the camp, handle trade, talk with the Ainu, and see the job through—all by themselves.

In modern times Ezo is famous for farmland, livestock, even tourism—but right now it’s nothing but untamed wilderness, complete with wolf packs roaming all over.

According to sources (well, guesses—the records are sparse), after the Ainu tribes trickled into Ezo, their population didn’t go up for ages, but dropped. Mostly because the natural conditions were so grim: snow up to your knees, and bears, wolves, wild boars leaping out all the time. Not fun for hunter-gatherer-fishing villages—there was a long period when food was really scarce.

During that time, lots of tribes couldn’t adapt and just disappeared for good.

So, Harano figured if the Ainu had such a hard time surviving on Ezo, they might as well move. The Japanese don’t want them, but the Wanjin do. Once the Wanjin lands expand, these Ainu tribes could move to Wanjin’s territory, and he’d grant them Wanjin citizenship too.

This way, they wouldn’t fade away entirely in history, plus they could help him build a new country.

Here’s hoping it all goes smoothly!

......

The "trade expedition" wrapped up perfectly. As long as Wanjin merchant ships traveled in small convoys with light arms and watched out for minor Water Thieves, they could sail freely along the south of Honshu Island. Harano didn’t even wait to get back to New Wanjin Port to dissolve the fleet, letting the Wanjin masters and all the newly-minted traders split up and do business on their own.

The Wanjin Navy, led by the "Chita," took the better part of a month drifting back to Thousand Bird Island—the little island across from New Wanjin Port, base of the Wanjin Navy, and homeport of the "Chita"—collecting hydrological records along the way at a leisurely pace.

Of course, a victorious return demands a huge welcome. Endo Chiyoda, Maeshima Shichiro, Izumi Hichiji and the others had long since made preparations. After a day’s rest, Harano and the Wanjin Navy formally transferred to a customs ship and entered the harbor.

That day, New Wanjin was deserted—every last person crowded the docks, cheering the ships in and lifting everyone’s spirits. Folks were on cloud nine.

This trade expedition was a win for everyone. For over three months, every workshop in Wanjin ran flat out, the production wave reached new heights, there were more jobs than workers, and all the new markets brought fat profits. Raises became commonplace.

The number of workshops exploded too. With the economic forecast looking great, even the most cautious people took the plunge, launching workshops based on some skill or knack, hoping for a wealthy life. There was a real rush—nobody wanted to be left behind and miss out on the good days.

In just over three months—one hundred plus days—registered private workshops in New Wanjin blew up from three hundred-odd to over eleven hundred, still climbing. With limited city land and rising labor costs, many people left this biggest city on Chita Peninsula to head south to other towns instead.

Land was cheaper there; labor and raw materials cost less too. Sure, the ports, roads, and infrastructure didn’t compare to New Wanjin City, but that could be built—just a few years ago, New Wanjin was all weeds anyway. Most Wanjin folks had worked on labor teams, building stuff, digging ditches, putting up houses—a few new big towns would be no sweat.

With industry bustling, even farm workers were better off. Loads of adult men got talked into trying the workshops for a salary, and just raw material prices shooting up finally let drought-hit farm families catch their breath. At least now they didn’t need Harano’s aid rations or subsidies—they could buy some stuff for the house on their own.

Cash brings happiness. If you could put a number on it, you’d see Wanjin folk had a happiness boost of at least 33%, with no sign of slowing down—the commercial boom’s effect is still rolling out.

When you’re sure you can always sell what you make, that’s true happiness.

Wanjin has entered the age of happiness now.

The Wanjin people partied and packed out the port district and docks for... half a day before drifting home—these days New Wanjin is in a huge expansion drive, with so many new orders and clients clamoring. If it weren’t for Harano’s overwhelming first-generation prestige, there’s no way so many people would ditch work to welcome him back.

When the crowd finally left, Harano still didn’t get to go home for a good rest. First, he had to attend a commendation meeting at the parliament building, formally giving awards to the key personnel in the expedition, and was then invited by Speaker Izumi Hichiji to check out proposals from the parliament members.

Most proposals wanted parliament to push the Wanjin civil administration to fund expanded shipyards, and called on Harano to grow the Wanjin Navy.

This was a lovely misunderstanding. During the Battle of Izu Sea, tons of Wanjin civilians joined in; when they hurried back to haul cargo, they bragged that "Lord Yehua, to cover the merchant ships, served as bait, fighting solo, bravely holding the line, encircled by enemies, and it was us Wanjin volunteers who slammed into the fray, cut him out, routed the enemy, and chased them for over 300 li."

This story floored the Wanjin people at the time. Everyone was terrified—what if Harano died, what would happen to Wanjin? Within two days, all sorts of wild proposals came in. Countless people begged Endo Chiyoda and the others to back more shipyards, boost the navy, and never let this happen again—they thought Harano was brave, sure, but saw no point in risking his life. It was better for him to just stay alive.

At the same time, Wanjin recruitment skyrocketed as disaster refugees—grateful for past help—heard rumors Harano nearly got beat up at sea, so they all volunteered for the navy, whether or not they could actually help save him. Joining up was a good job in Wanjin anyway—a double win.

Harano finished reading the proposals and felt pretty gratified.

Now every Wanjin legislator is backed by regular folks from all trades and walks of life. Hearing rumors that Harano was in danger got them all panicked—not just afraid of losing their own good times or Wanjin falling apart, but genuinely touched.

In some sense, that’s what you call the will of the people!

This is exactly what he hoped for—this place is already growing different from everywhere else.

More different with each passing day.