Chapter 911: The West Shakya Company
Within the Western Holy Court hierarchy, a chief bishop roughly corresponded to a fifth-rank Daoist priest. Above him were the Archbishop and Metropolitan, equivalent to a fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master and a third-rank Youyi Daoist master, respectively. Further up was the Council of Cardinals, similar to the Golden Tower Council. Cardinal Deacons were equivalent to ordinary Sages, while Cardinal Priests were to Omniscient Sages, Cardinal Bishops to Virtuous Great Sages, Patriarchs to the Deputy Grand Masters, and the Pope to the Grand Master.
By this measure, Metropolitan White’s status was about the same as Qi Xuansu’s, while the man behind him, Cardinal Deacon Brown, was on par with a second-rank Taiyi Daoist master.
The West Shakya Company had a long-standing history, formally established the year before the fall of the Wei Dynasty.
It was formed by a group of influential merchants, who, in the year 1600 of the Western calendar, were granted a 15-year monopoly charter for trade in Western Shakya by the Lune royal family.
The company had 125 shareholders, with an initial capital of 80,000 Gold Crowns.
Although Shakya was the birthplace of Buddhism, the Buddhist influence there had long waned, and the land lacked a unified government. Fragmented and divided, it became an easy target for the West Shakya Company to establish a strong foothold.
In the century that followed, the West Shakya Company grew rapidly, transforming from a trading company into a regional power, something resembling a nation. Its shareholder makeup also grew more complex. The original group of merchants was mostly pushed out, replaced by wealthy magnates, nobles, large guild masters, some local Western Shakya rulers, and clerical members from the Holy Court.
Soon enough, the clergy and nobles allied and took complete control of the West Shakya Company. Under their direction, the company even acquired governing and military authority.
They trained mercenary armies that nominally belonged to local Western Shakya rulers. But since these rulers were under the “protection” of the company or members of it themselves, these forces were in truth the company’s private army, playing a decisive role in consolidating its control over the region.
In the following decades, what the West Shakya Company engaged in was less trade and more outright plunder. Like bandits, they showed no morality. Incomplete records suggest that treasures worth over 15 million Gold Crowns were seized by the company.
Soon, the company’s shareholders turned their gaze eastward, intending to repeat their methods in Eastern Shakya. Ideally, they hoped to remove the word “West” from their name and simply become the Shakya Company.
Faced with the aggressive advance of the West Shakya Company, the states of Eastern Shakya pleaded for aid from the Daoist Order. The fourth-generation Grand Master ordered the Borneo Daoist Mansion to assist the Eastern Shakya states in their war against the Westerners. A month later, he gave another order, instructing the Spirit Guard Office to dispatch flying ships into the conflict.