Crab Clan Letter - #21

Ryojiro-san,

I have dispatched the necessary men and materials from Shiro Kaiu. They will be reporting to you within a day or two at the most after you receive this letter. Praise Kisada for the stamina of the Hiruma runners who carry these missives, for without them our logistics would prove far more difficult than they already are. The very thought makes my head ache.

I know you have reservations about your duty. In your place, I would feel the same. Signing the order for these forces made my hand quake, and I spent much of the night in the shrine to my ancestors, praying for forgiveness. To destroy something so magnificent, something so sacred. . . it is unthinkable. And yet Lord Kuon has ordered it, and we must obey.

The Tower of Fear cannot be destroyed, yet we cannot allow it to remain part of the Great Carpenter Wall. You must sever it from the Wall like Tainted flesh, Ryojiro. You must cut it away as a Kuni might remove a diseased finger. If the Wall is to be saved, then it must be destroyed, if only in part.

We will rebuild around it, focus our siege weapons upon it. Kuroda wishes this Tower to be an example? So be it. It will stand as an example that the Taint has no place to hide.

I know you will do your duty. May the Fortunes have mercy upon you.

Kaiu Umasu
Daimyo of the Kaiu

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