Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 121 This will destroy the Nohara family’s long-standing foundation!
Yuanye did not go to see them off. He did not like the atmosphere of parting. He was sighing with regret in his bedroom, wondering where to find someone to fill the hole left by Aman and Aqing. Unexpectedly, the two of them came back. After receiving the notification, he hurried back to the office. As soon as he entered the room, he saw them sitting there with their backs straight and upright, with serious expressions on their faces.

Except for A-man, she couldn't look serious. When she frowned, her small eyebrows would squeeze together, and at first glance she looked like a Shiba Inu that had become a spirit.

Ah Man had very sharp ears. When he heard the noise, he turned his head to look at him, then moved his body to face him, bowed down and saluted, and called out seriously, "My Lord!"

A-qing silently followed her and turned around. He folded his hands on the floor, leaned forward to perform a great salute, and lightly touched her forehead with his. Yuanye was slightly surprised, but he immediately understood that A-man and A-qing were expressing their intention to officially change their identities from "friends and guests" to members of the "Nohara family", and become something like a retainer, otherwise there was no need to call him that.

He didn't know what had happened to make Aman and Aqing make such a decision. They used to love freedom very much. But he quickly stepped forward to help them up, shook his head and said, "There's no need for us to do this. Let's just keep everything as it is!"

"A snake cannot survive without a head. There must always be a distinction between the upper and lower. Since I want to follow you, I can't be disrespectful." Aman is too familiar with him. They used to be friends and buddies who could tell jokes together. He was too embarrassed to express his intention to surrender directly, so he could only use "Greetings, my lord" to express his feelings. Seeing that Yuanye understood immediately, he was relieved and said seriously, "Besides, if I don't call you my lord, you won't be able to give us an annual salary, and we can't work for nothing!"

"The annual salary is easy to talk about..." Yuanye didn't care about this salary. A 17 or 18-year-old rough man like Maeda Toshiie could have an annual salary of 150 kan - he had fought bravely on the night of the coup and made military achievements, so his salary was increased by 100 kan - Aman was much more useful than Maeda Toshiie, and it didn't matter if he was given a few hundred kilograms of copper a year. It's just that he didn't like the "system of supporting relatives and children" and was wary of the "dual system of power". He didn't want to have many factions under his command in the future, and each retainer would have a group of independent retainers who didn't care about him at all.

Every modern person knows the importance of centralization. If in the future a retainer under a certain important official does something like "My lord, it's cold, so put on a yellow robe", it would be really funny. He didn't want to go astray from the beginning, so he never recruited retainers. But if it were Aman and Aqing now...

It seems that there is no need to worry about this. Aqing's personality makes it impossible for her to rebel. Although Aman is wild and a good candidate for rebellion, she is a woman. In this era, there is no possibility for her to establish herself as a king. It is no big deal if they want to be "retainers", and most people will not regard them as serious retainers. At most, they will regard them as female warriors like Aba, Ahe, and Tianfang. It is unlikely that they will compare with her and thus lead to a bad atmosphere.

Yuanye thought about it and felt that there seemed to be no negative impact on A-man and A-qing wanting to be retainers. He really couldn't bear to part with them, so he said, "Okay, it's just a title. You don't have to take it too seriously. Let's get along as before."

"Yes, my lord." Aman and Aqing once again performed great gifts, which was regarded as officially joining the Nohara family and expanding the Nohara family to a group of three. Finally, Nohara was no longer the only one - the brothers Yayoi and Momoi and other members of the Nohara family were equivalent to servants. In this era, they were not considered human beings. They could not even sit at the table for meals and were not considered family members.

Generally speaking, only retainers are formal family members. They are both family members and subjects, and they must be both filial and loyal.

Yuanye quickly helped them up again. According to the "adoptive parents and adoptive children system", he should now be considered as Aman and Aqing's "adoptive father". He looked at the two "adoptive daughters" with a lot of affection. He held their hands and said according to tradition: "From now on, I will leave the family affairs to you."

Ah Man immediately said confidently: "My Lord, rest assured, you just need to enjoy your life in peace and quiet from now on. I will take care of all the family matters."

Yuan Ye was speechless for a moment. This is not in line with the routine. Shouldn't you be more modest? Why does it sound like something Cao Cao would say? Are you, wild child, planning to turn me into Emperor Xian of Han?
But it didn't matter. Ah Man couldn't make a scene, so he didn't care about it. He asked with concern, "Why didn't you go back suddenly? What happened?"

"I suddenly realized that there is no need to listen to the old man on everything. Although he raised me, he is old and can't keep up with the times. What he says may not be right. He doesn't know the situation here but insists on asking us to go back. I think it's better for him to listen to me and live here. I will use my annual salary to support him then."

Aman did not hide anything from Yuanye and spoke directly, "And I remember your analysis before, the world will become more and more chaotic, the samurai will become stronger and stronger, there will be powerful daimyo who occupy several countries, and they will continue to fight until the world is unified. I think what you said makes sense, when the time comes, Koga, a broken place less than 200 miles away from Kyoto, will definitely not be able to hide, and will definitely be punished, so hiding is hopeless, it is better to come to your place, and fight for a way out together."

I see. This is because A-man has grown up and has become more experienced. His ideas are different from those of the older generation. He wants to fight with them for the right to speak and to be the master of his own house.

This is normal, as children grow up this day will come!
Yuanye nodded gently, and asked with concern: "Then old...is your grandfather willing to come?"

"I will convince him!" Aman was very confident. She had often quarreled with her grandfather in the past, so it didn't matter if she quarreled a few more times.

Yuanye also loved Aman's grandfather very much. It could be seen from Aman and Aqing that he must be a powerful old man. It would be very nutritious for him to eat him. He immediately affirmed: "Persuade him well, and then we can discuss everything. Even if he is worried about his hometown people and wants to move all the people out, this can be discussed. When our territory is bigger in the future, he can pick a piece of land to settle them, anywhere will be fine!" He didn't care about such a small matter at all. At that time, he could stop collecting taxes from them and let them build a "ninja village" with trained "ninjas" as annual tribute. Anyway, the Koga people have always had the tradition of going out to work as mercenaries, so they probably won't care too much.

"Don't worry, there will be no problem. He can't win an argument with me!" Aman has decided to "overthrow the superiors" and push her grandfather aside. From now on, she will just take care of him in his old age and she will be the one to carry on the survival business.

After she finished speaking, she hesitated for a moment, then pulled the leather bag that Yuan Ye had given her from the side, "This is... the farewell gift you gave us before. Now that we're not leaving, you can take back the money!"

"Okay!" Yuanye stretched out his hand to take it, but he pulled the leather bag twice without moving it. A'man held the leather bag tightly and refused to let go. The expression on her little face was painful and conflicted, until A'qing knelt down silently and pried her fingers open. Only then did she sigh and let go. Her expression was still very uncomfortable - if she had known this would happen, she would have pretended to be generous and not taken it. It was really painful to put it in her mouth and then spit it out.

Yuanye didn't care about her. It was a huge sum of money, a bag full of silver coins, with a "silver note" hidden underneath. He had squeezed out the money out of gratitude for their risking their lives to save him when they were about to part. Now they were not leaving, and it was useless to have such a large sum of money. It would be better to invest it in production.

What's more, Aman has a criminal record. If he uses the money to gamble, it will all be wasted. He must get it back.

Nohara took back the thank-you gift, and the matter was over. Not only did Aman and Aqing not leave, but they officially became members of the Nohara family. They even planned to move their living group to Wanjin and live here from now on. This could be considered a blessing in disguise.

He personally cooked a table of delicious meals at noon, and had a good meal with Aman and Aqing to celebrate the new members joining the group. Then after the meal, everything went back to normal. They were still doing what they did before, and it felt like not much had changed. At most, there would be an old man in the future. But it was different for Aman. She had a different mentality now. She was a proper retainer of the Nohara family and an important part of the family.

She pondered for a while about what proper name to give herself. She was a little hesitant about whether to use Harano's family name. Then she thought about changing the common name "Aman" to something like Manchiyo or Mannomaru. Then she thought about her own "name". According to the "Eboshi-kin" principle, she should pick a character from Harano's "name" to use. But she didn't know which of the two characters "Jiayuan" was better, and they both felt ordinary.

Or it would be nice to use Wanjin as the family name, for example, Wanjin Manchiyo... No, Wanjin already has an Endo Chiyo, calling him Manchiyo is not good, it would be better to call him Wanjin Man-no-maru...

She thought about it for a while but couldn't figure it out. She could only continue to call him Aman and discuss it carefully with others later. After all, naming is a big deal and she should seek the old man's opinion. She couldn't just treat the old man as a non-human being because she was in charge. His opinion was still very important.

She put this matter aside for the first time, then looked around the Wanjin territory which still looked rather simple, and slowly the little eyebrows gathered together.

In the past, she was just a guest, and would give some "unpleasant advice" from time to time, just to do her best to be a friend. Everything in Wanjin seemed normal to her, and she even felt that things were developing very well. In one month, she could achieve what an average wealthy family would achieve in a year. But now, she finds that there are many problems.

These servants seemed to walk a little slowly, without any sense of urgency, which made people feel uncomfortable. And the donkey also looked a little unhappy. It kept eating grass and didn't work. The more you looked at it, the more it looked like a useless donkey.

Thinking about it carefully, Yuanye seems to have a big problem too. He is old, almost an old man, but he still refuses to get married. He is not good at this or that. He even refuses to have a son. Does he care about the family inheritance?

This is a rebellion, it is going to destroy the Nohara family's long-standing foundation!

There’s not much trouble in giving birth to a son. Once the light is turned off, every woman is the same. It’s just that he himself has too many problems!
Aman walked around aimlessly. He thought that the territory that he used to think was prosperous, from the head of the family to the servants, all had problems. No one was doing their job. They had to be rectified and they had to be whipped with a small whip. At least not everyone could walk so slowly. At least the speed had to be enough to move two rooms in every breath to be considered acceptable.

She has to do this, after all, this will be her home from now on, a place where her life depends!
(End of this chapter)