Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 117 XP is so strange!

"Is there any news out there recently?"

After everything in the territory was back on track, Yuanye had nothing to do for a short period of time except going to the blacksmith's workshop to instruct the craftsmen in drilling gun barrels. So recently, whenever he was free, he would start to inquire about what was happening outside and start to shift his attention to the outside world.

A-man was happily stroking a large-caliber, short-handled iron cannon with her small hands. This was a prototype that Yuanye had drilled the barrel for in the blacksmith's workshop. It was only one and a half feet long and fired "iron sand shotgun shells" with a very short range. It was considered a special firearm to be equipped to the "ninja" troops and the internal security troops in the future. She gave it to her, the supervisor of the East Factory, to try it out first, so that she wouldn't have to keep asking about when the iron cannon would be returned to her - the inferior iron cannon that Oda Nobunaga gave her. She had carried it for Yuanye so many times that it became her own. After losing it in the battle of Takeuchi-sho, she had always wanted another one, and now her wish had come true.

She caressed this expensive "new toy" lovingly, feeling the smoothness of the barrel, the hardness of the buttstock, the flexible and ingenious linkage of the trigger and the snake-shaped rod. It felt much better than the last cannon. There was also a hand-carved inscription on the side of the buttstock, which seemed to be the name of the cannon: Abe-Kiri.

She was a wild child without rules. She turned a deaf ear to Yuanye's questions and minded her own business. She repeatedly touched the strange inscription "Abe-kiri" and asked curiously, "Why is it called this name? What is the relationship between this iron cannon and the Abe family?"

"It has nothing to do with it. I just picked a random name." This was indeed a random name that Yuanye came up with out of boredom. The main reason was that this iron cannon was very suitable for close-range assassinations. After he made it, he inexplicably thought of the No. 1 male gun in the Japanese server, and he carved it casually on a whim. It was just an occasional spontaneous act to commemorate modern life.

He didn't take this seriously, and still wanted to hear the news outside, so he repeated again: "Don't worry about the name. If you don't like it, just erase it later. Let's talk about whether there is anything new outside first."

"Nothing new, it's been a peaceful time."

Aman said perfunctorily, his claws still touching the strange inscription "Abe cut". He actually had a strange premonition that he might use this cannon to do something big in the future. However, this premonition was more like an illusion and disappeared in a flash.

She refocused her attention on intelligence work, thought for a moment and changed her words: "Nothing big happened, but there is one small thing. I heard that Oda Nobunaga has been going to Iwakura Castle recently, and he goes there every three to five days. There is really nothing special else."

Iwakura Castle? The residence of the head of the Oda clan in the upper four counties of Owari?

The lord of the castle seemed to be called Oda Nobuyasu (commonly known as Ise-no-kami). Back then, the "Tiger of Owari" Oda Nobuhide seemed to have married his sister to this man. The Ise-no-kami family and the Danjo-tada family were very close relatives, so peace had been maintained between the upper four counties and the lower four counties of Owari over the years.

It has been nearly a year and a half since Yuanye was stranded in Owari. He is already familiar with the place names and people, so there is no need for Aman to supplement him with "common sense". He just said thoughtfully: "Is Oda Nobunaga going to join forces with his uncle to attack someone? The target is the Kiyosu Oda clan in the lower four counties?"

He felt that this speculation was more reasonable. After all, in terms of the in-law relationships within the Owari Oda family, the Iwakura Oda family in the upper four counties and the Danjou-tada family were related by in-laws, but the Kiyosu Oda family in the lower four counties had a deep hatred for the Danjou-tada family. The first wife of "The Tiger of Owari" Oda Nobuhide was the daughter of the Kiyosu Oda family in the lower four counties. As a result, after taking advantage of her, he drove her back to her parents' home, and the two families became enemies from then on.

Previously, the Kiyosu Oda clan took advantage of Oda Nobuhide's death and sent troops to try to get a share of the Shimazu-Atsuta trade line. It is estimated that a large part of the reason was revenge. However, they were almost stabbed to death by Oda Nobunaga's super-long spear, and the castle town was burned down, so they failed.

Now that the strength of the Kiyosu Oda family has been greatly weakened, it is natural for Oda Nobunaga to take the opportunity to swallow them up and completely occupy the four counties under Owari. Moreover, it seems that Oda Nobunaga did capture Kiyosu Castle in history and used it as his residence for a long time.

Yuanye nodded silently, feeling that this should be the case, and it seemed the most reasonable.

"No, he should be looking for a woman!"

Ah Man was still playing with her new cannon. She wanted to go out and shoot at targets to test its power. She was not interested in chatting at all. She said casually, "It seems that he has not visited his uncle and aunt very often. He is hooking up with a widow from a village outside Iwakura Castle... That's probably it. I just heard it casually when I went to the castle town of Furuno Castle. I didn't ask in detail."

"Looking for a woman?" Yuan Ye was reasoning logically and was still thinking about how he would respond if a war broke out. Was it good or bad for him to have Oda Nobunaga move to Kiyosu Castle? Unexpectedly, a widow suddenly appeared. What the hell was this widow?

"That's it!" Aman clenched his left hand into a fist again, wanting to poke it with his right index finger.

Yuan Ye quickly held her down, "I know what it means to look for a woman. You don't have to explain this to me. I understand! I just wonder why he would look for... a lover?"

Shouldn't Oda Nobunaga have worked hard to develop industry and commerce, quickly accumulate strength, and use spears and cannons to unify Owari as soon as possible? How come he was wandering around again after less than half a year of hard work?
Is it that old habits die hard and enthusiasm only lasts for a short time?
Ah Man nodded sympathetically and sighed, "It's strange that he would go so far to find a woman, and his taste is quite unique. He actually found a widow, and she's his cousin's mother. This is really weird. I may never understand what people like you are thinking."

Yuanye was confused again. He didn't expect that in Aman's heart, he and Oda Nobunaga were the same kind of people. But this was not important. What was important was what the hell was this cousin's mother?

His mind was almost stuck, and he hesitated and said, "The widow he found...the lover, is she his cousin's mother?"

"Yes, she was Nobunaga's former cousin!" Ah Man also loved gossip. Even though she hadn't inquired carefully and didn't know how Oda Nobunaga got together with the widow, she knew all about this bloody thing involving ethics. "The widow was quite old, about twenty-five or twenty-six, and she used to marry into the Tsuchida family, which was Nobunaga Oda's mother's family. Her husband should be considered the cousin of Nobunaga Oda's mother, so she was naturally Nobunaga Oda's cousin. Later, her husband died, and she returned to her parents' home to remarry as she had no children. I don't know how she got to know Nobunaga Oda, and the two of them got together. Nobunaga Oda seemed to be fascinated by her and would go there every three to five days."

"Wait, are you obsessed?" Yuan Ye seemed to remember something and asked hesitantly, "What's the name of that widow?"

He suspected that this widow was Ikoma Yoshino, Oda Nobunaga's future concubine, or the kind of concubine who was almost his wife, not subject to the constraints of the mistress, living alone in a city, and all the sons she gave birth to were legitimate sons - it seemed that all of Oda Nobunaga's legitimate sons were born to her. Oda Nobunaga's legitimate wife, "Viper Woman" Saito Kicho, seemed to be disliked by Oda Nobunaga and had no children in her life.

Ah Man really didn't care about the widow's name. After all, in her opinion, this kind of bloody gossip can only be used as a topic of conversation, and has no other value. After trying to recall for a while, she said uncertainly: "It seems that she is the daughter of the Ikoma family. The Ikoma family is quite powerful in Niwa County. They raise many horses and can breed famous horses. They are quite rich, but they don't have a castle. They can only be regarded as local samurai with average strength."

Yuanye nodded silently. It was really her. I was wondering why Oda Nobunaga would go so far to find a widow and be obsessed with her. This must be true love...

Ikoma Yoshino should be considered as Oda Nobunaga's true love, otherwise she would not have been treated so well. But I didn't expect that Ikoma Yoshino was so much older than Oda Nobunaga, they were actually two generations apart.

Or is it that Oda Nobunaga's XP is just so peculiar?

He seemed to care about his wet nurse a lot. He fell out with his biological parents because of her... and sudden death. He made a scene at his biological father's funeral and captured his biological mother and imprisoned her in Guye City. In the end, the true love he found was a very old woman. We can only say that his XP is indeed quite peculiar.

Of course, it is also possible that he just likes older but gentle women. Eighteen or nineteen is not much different from twenty-five or twenty-six or twenty-seven. It just looks strange in this era.

Yuanye was bored and wanted to find out what was going on outside. Unexpectedly, he came across a big piece of news about Oda Nobunaga and accidentally found out his XP. This cannot be said to be useless. At least it is clear that nothing big is likely to happen in the four counties of Owari in the near future - Oda Nobunaga is the biggest destabilizing factor in the four counties of Owari, and he is busy looking for true love, so it is unlikely that there will be a war for a long time.

This year it was not bad. There was only a small fight at the beginning, unlike last year when it lasted for half a year.

He was thinking in a scattered way without saying a word, which made Ah Man feel strange. "Is there something wrong? Do you want me to ask around about the Ikoma family and their daughter?"

Yuanye came back to his senses and quickly waved his hands: "No, this has nothing to do with us. At most, we can just pay attention to the Ikoma family in the future."

"Okay!" Ah Man didn't think it was important, so he just let it go. He just moved his eyes to his lower body and said thoughtfully, "Do you want me to help you find a widow?"

She meant well. Harano was two or three years older than Oda Nobunaga, but now he was still alone in his empty room. She was worried that Harano would suffocate to death after a long time. Also, Harano was a lot like Oda Nobunaga. He was weird all the time and didn't seem to like young women. He still hadn't captured Yayoi to relieve his sexual desire. It was also possible that XP was weird and just liked old widows in their twenties.

If this is true, as an important figure in the Nohara family and the new head of the East Factory, she feels obligated to find a widow for Yuanye. It's not difficult anyway. There are wars every few months these days, and a lot of people die every time. There are widows everywhere. As long as Yuanye can tell her the height, weight and appearance requirements, she guarantees to find him a suitable one within three days.

You wild child, you are becoming more and more outrageous...

Yuan Ye was speechless. Even if he wanted to be Yuan Bei Yuan Xuande, he couldn't do it. He said unhappily, "Why do I need a widow? My business...my private affairs, don't meddle in them."

Ah Man was still worried about him: "But you have to have a son. If you don't have a son and you die tomorrow, wouldn't all the family property you worked so hard to build be lost to outsiders?"

"Get lost!" Yuan Ye didn't want to discuss personal matters with her, and after listening to the news, he started to chase her away. He was only 21 years old, and there was no rush to get married. He hadn't even decided whether to get married in Japan. The main reason was that this era was too bad. All women over 14 years old who were not mentally ill were married, and all the singles were widows, and there was no way for them to get married.

Seeing that he was stubborn, Aman was too lazy to talk to him any more. He felt that he was still the same, never willing to listen to "unpleasant but honest advice", and still lacked the "appearance of a wise leader". He left while complaining about him in his heart.

Wanjin was very short of management personnel at the moment, so she was naturally very busy. After returning, she did not have time to test the power of the new cannon before she set off with a transport team. While secretly selling saltpeter and gathering information on the market, she also had to act as a guard.

She rode on horseback with her companions, shouting at the laborers to speed up, saying that they would be kicked in the butt if they were late. As they were hurrying on their way, there was a sharp sound of wind, and a heavy stone came straight at her head.

(End of this chapter)