There is a way that there are no eternal enemies and no eternal friends in the world, and there are only eternal interests. The combination of forces stems from common interests.

In my opinion, as long as I convince Sorin, Otomo to become my supporter, I will be invincible in Kitakyushu. As for vassals like Ono Jishen, in this vast and chaotic world, it is really the ruler who lives when he thinks of him, and dies when he thinks of him, and there is no room and strength for resistance at all.

For those in power, what they need is not a superficial peace – and I mean, of course, troubled times – they need benefits, practical benefits! It is a practical benefit that can provide itself with resources for survival, and a strong collaborator who can provide it.

As the manager of the business association, Ono actually lost his proper function many years ago. His original intention and principle of action was not to strengthen the business association of Hakata, but to prosper those who follow me and perish those who oppose me, so that he can become a leader and a dominant family.

However, this does not meet the needs of the Otomo family. They have been thinking about the question of replacements as well. Otomo Sorin's once wanted to support the current second and third directors, but after observation, if a character like them goes to the position of Ono Jishen, he is actually the same as him, and he will definitely not do better than Ono Jishen.

In addition, his brother-in-law Tahara Qinxian also has dirty in the middle, so although Tachibana Michiyuki and Takahashi Shaoyun have reminded themselves many times, Otomo Sorin has never made up his mind to reform or abolish the original business association, but let it hang on like that.

But when I appeared in front of him, Otomo Sorin, suddenly felt that he had found the person he wanted.

First of all, I have the same interests as him fundamentally - everyone in the circle knows that I have been committed to the fight against Hideyoshi Hashiba, and although the reasons seem a little thin, the objective fact is that I have wrestled with him in various fields, and the results have been quite good.

Hideyoshi Hashiba has always sided with Shimazu Yoshihisa in his struggle with Otomo Sorin. Although Shimazu Yoshihisa's current attitude is very ambiguous under my influence, it does not prevent Hideyoshi Hashiba from still being very unfriendly with Otomo Sorin.

In fact, Toei has shown a trend of unification in recent years, and that key point is Oda Nobunaga. After Oda Nobunaga's death, Hideyoshi Hashiba became his perfect replacement.

Those who hope for peace see in him the hope of continued unity, but the big boss of every independent power will never want such a thing to happen - after all, when you are used to power, used to being high, who would be willing to give up these and become a vassal of others?

In this respect, Otomo Sorin, Shimazu Yoshihisa, and even each daimyo are the same, the only difference is that they have previously adopted a policy of appeasement, dependence, or hostility towards the powerful Hashiba Hideyoshi. That's all.

However, when they saw my thoughts, my actions, and my sword, they chose to cooperate with me. The reason is simple – the enemy of your enemy is your friend, isn't it?

Secondly, my business philosophy was a reality that he had to accept – that I was not very happy with the state in which I helped both him and Shimazu Yoshihisa. But I'm a businessman, and a businessman is all about maximizing profits, and my principle is to help both sides, or it can be seen as not helping each other, because what I provide to them is the necessities of the opposing sides.

With my support, both the Shimazu family and the Otomo family have changed from having flaws to being more perfect, making up for their own shortcomings, and in fact there was a balance of power before, and it is still a balance of power. He can't stop me from helping Shimazu Yoshihisa, but he can enlist my support for him as well, at least it won't change the status quo, right?

Thirdly, I can bring him practical benefits. In recent years, under the encouragement of Ono Jishen, the development of Hakata Port has not been good, the trade volume has shrunk year by year, and some excellent chambers of commerce cannot enter and stay, but a community of interests has been formed internally, and they are half-dead and snuggled up to each other.

From the perspective of taxation, in recent years, the tax revenue of Hakata Port has been negative year-on-year, and there has even been a cliff-like decline - mainly because some of the original port pillar industries and excellent chambers of commerce were expelled because of discord with Ono Jishen and their refusal to go along with them, resulting in a serious shortfall in tax revenue that month. In the long run, it will be extremely detrimental to the country.

Otomo Sorin's beating Ono Jishen a few times, but this guy is still the same, and nothing has changed. So despite the protection of his eldest brother, he still made Otomo Zonglin deeply dissatisfied.

Of course, it is not to return taxes directly to the people, but to increase tax revenues and strengthen the Otomo's ability to regulate and control and spend on the economy, civil affairs, and military construction, so as to enhance the competitiveness of the Otomo family again.

Of course, the above are all ideas, and my method is also very simple, that is, official guidance, survival of the fittest, and use the law of the forest to solve practical problems! Squeeze out those chambers of commerce that survive by nepotism, and let the chambers of commerce with value, potential, and energy come in!

Method 1: Tax reduction. Lower the tax rate, release water to raise fish, attract outside chambers of commerce to come in, make the existing chambers of commerce more at ease, and support them to become bigger and stronger.

Method 2: Competition. Cancel the original Ono Jishen's and thin mud tactics, what kind of "resource allocation" does he pay attention to, I just encourage market competition, let them eliminate naturally, leave the good ones, and eliminate the bad ones.

Means 3: Subsidies. We subsidize what the state needs. For example, if the Otomo family needs an iron cannon, then subsidize the iron cannon. From the aspects of labor, materials, transportation, storage, etc., the chamber of commerce in related fields is given direct subsidies, or the situation of tax refund, attracting the urgently needed chamber of commerce to Hakata for development.

Method 4: Sharing. Led by Blade Sea, a trade exchange platform will be established, and the Chamber of Commerce will join in a purely voluntary manner, providing the platform with its own business information - such as regional price fluctuations, fashion trend changes, etc., in exchange for corresponding points. With their points, they can see and grasp the insider information that others provide that they need.

With this platform, the chamber of commerce that joins is like having clairvoyance and ears, being able to see six ways and listen to all directions; The chamber of commerce outside the platform will become more and more deaf and blind, and become the meat of other people's dishes and knives.

And through this way to strengthen yourself, you will inevitably absorb the nutrients of the surroundings, which must include the Yushiba Hideyoshi family, which is beneficial to the Otomo family!

After listening to my thoughts, Otomo Sorin's decision was made on the spot, and he expressed his understanding and apologies for the verbal friction I had with him before.

As for Otomo Shigetomi, Tachibana Michiyuki and Takahashi Shaoyun proposed that they hope to establish a closer military cooperation relationship with our Blade Sea Chamber of Commerce - they have two things in mind - my naval army and my tactics.

But of course I refused. I said early on that I would be a person standing in the middle in the Sengoku period. I will not join any faction, I can cooperate, but I will not become a vassal of anyone.

Many people don't understand, why? Wouldn't it be more intimate to have the status of a vassal? People with this view are generally inexperienced in society. Like a young man and a woman, when they look at each other from a distance, they may find each other very attracted to each other. But when they really come together and face each other day and night, they often find that each other has a lot of shortcomings, which is simply unbearable.

This is especially true of allegiance, the cooperation between friends and partners is equal, but the cooperation between the lord and the subordinates is divided between the upper and lower, and the person who has his own thoughts does not want to be subservient to others in his heart and humanity!

Like me.

So I rejected their offer to "kidnap" me and tie me to the Otomo's chariot, and instead chose pure business cooperation. Of course, I am not cooperating for free, and my demands are: on the one hand, the port of Otomo is open to me, and the tax is reduced by 30%; Second, based on this year's tax revenue, I will use 5 percent of the tax increment in the coming year as labor expenses.

Otomo Sorin, without hesitation, agreed to my request because it was fair. So there was the scene at the joint meeting just now.

As I said before, in this troubled world, as long as you have the support of the rulers, it is simply overwhelming to deal with these civil organizations! That's a slap to the end without hindrance!

Of course, strategically we despise the enemy, and tactically we also need to pay attention to the enemy - Tachibana Michiyuki has always wanted to bring down Ono Jishen, so it is not necessary to search for him everywhere. As soon as we hit it off, he pointed out a few chambers of commerce that could be used.

Those nurseries were all recommended by him, and they all have grievances with Ono Jishen, and they all have actual development potential. When we promised them that we would provide them with a better business environment in the future, they did not hesitate to cooperate.

The Genicuchi Wei, who married his daughter to Jishin Ono as the tenth aunt, stumbled but said the reason why he chose to cooperate with us.

On the one hand, they believe in the credibility of Tachibana Michiyuki.

On the other hand, they can't avoid the fear and concern of my cruel methods, if not cooperative...... The next step is unpredictable.

I expected this, but Tachibana Michiyuki looked at me deeply.

As for why the housekeeper of the Ono family betrayed Ono Jishen, in fact, this is not difficult to understand at all - when his own life and the life of his whole family are in the hands of others, if he cooperates with him, he can live, and even get a good job; And if you refuse, you don't have to wait until tomorrow, and your family will become a ration for wild dogs, is it difficult to choose?

And so it all fell into place. There may have been some sporadic noises at the meeting, and I replied very officially, or the same sentence, whether to join or not to join, it is all voluntary, and I will never force it.

At first, some people didn't believe it—mainly Ono Jishen's cronies—but then they found out that I had really done what I had promised, to come and go freely, and then I was relieved to choose to be content with the status quo and not join the free trade alliance.

On the way back to the city to return to Otomo Zonglin, Tachibana Michiyuki endured it for a long time, and still asked me strangely: "Commander Sun, why do you want to give those hostile chambers of commerce a way out?" Why don't you ......" He reached out and made a downward slashing motion, his eyes revealing a fierce light.

It can be seen that this loyal minister of the Otomo family hated these moths of the business world and wanted to uproot them immediately.

However, I smiled and asked, "Dao Xue Palace, do you think these chambers of commerce will survive under our commercial offensive?" ”

Tachibana Michiyuki shook his head and said, "Naturally, it can't!" That's why I wondered, why don't you cut through the mess quickly? ”

I smiled and looked into the distance and said: "Two reasons, on the one hand, we are a business alliance, so naturally we must have the appearance of a business alliance, and completely rely on the coercion from above to solve the problem, which is the biggest damage to the business environment!" ”

Tachibana Michiyuki nodded, turned her head and continued to look at me.

"On the other hand!" I looked at Tachibana Michiyuki and smiled lightly, and said, "Birds and hens lay eggs, and there are egg yolks inside and egg whites outside, and the same goes for insects and fish, do you know why?" ”

Tachibana Michiyuki shook her head, not knowing what I was going to say.

I looked into the distance and said, "Because these mothers who lay eggs have to leave enough nutrients for their children, and only by absorbing these nutrients can chickens, birds, insects, and fish be conjured from the egg yolk!" And these chambers of commerce that I left behind with a 'soft heart' but are actually going to die, are the nourishment that I left for the future to prepare to vigorously cultivate the big chamber of commerce! ”

After saying that, I smiled slightly, sandwiched the belly of the black horse between my legs, and rode away. Only Tachibana Michiyuki was left looking at my back, speechless for a long time.