Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 125 Born to be rebellious
After Oda Nobunaga forcibly captured Anshoku Shinganji Temple, his troops were exhausted and had lost a lot of gunpowder and arrows. It was difficult for them to fight again. They could only reluctantly set a fire and burned the castle town of Kiyosu Castle, and temporarily withdrew their troops.

Having failed to achieve his goal of destroying the Oda clan in Kiyosu, Oda Nobunaga was in a very bad mood. After returning to Kuno Castle, a large number of people were beheaded, but Hara no was not able to escape either. He was scolded again and ordered to return to Wanjin immediately and increase the production of gunpowder with all his strength. The task had to be completed ahead of schedule, otherwise it would not be as simple as being scolded.

So, after two months of fighting, Yuanye was finally able to go home, but he got nothing except the "Soldier Training Manual" - this time as a field doctor, Oda Nobunaga didn't even pay him, as if he deserved to work for free just because he had a territory in Owari.

Yuanye did not argue with him, mainly because he could not afford to offend him at the moment. He took Aqing and the others and rode all the way back to Wanjin. From afar, he saw the smoke rising from the cooking fires in Wanwan, a peaceful and harmonious scene. He felt relieved.

It's okay, the village is still there, it hasn't turned into ruins, and people seem to be alive. Those guys only wrote letters to report good news and not bad news.

When he rode closer on horseback, he found that during his absence, everyone had not been idle. Wanjin seemed to have expanded again, and the buildings had become more neat. Walls were being built around the perimeter, and it was evolving from a village to a farm. In addition, a very tall horse seal was erected in his house, with a huge golden gourd on top of the thick pole. It was extremely conspicuous, as if marking the target for the artillery.

This was not his order. It was most likely Aman's own decision. She had always liked these flashy things. Now that she was a warrior, she considered herself a respectable person. She probably valued these junk more and had to make them look presentable.

But Yuanye doesn't care. As long as it is not a matter of principle, with his personality, he will not force others to do everything in accordance with his wishes. It's okay to mess around occasionally.

He slowed down his horse and strolled towards his home, carefully observing the various changes in Wanjin along the way. His return from the expedition as the lord of Wanjin quickly caused a sensation, and his retainers and small leaders all gathered around him, expressing their relief at his safe return.

Yuanye was also very happy. Returning to Wanjin, his territory, he felt a sense of relief from the bottom of his heart, which was a hundred times better than staying in Guye City.

In that Gunye City, he always had a feeling of being suppressed. Perhaps he was born not to like being with strong people. Even if this strong person had no intention of hurting him and at most just scolded him a few words, he still didn't like being with such a person. He always had an indescribable sense of insecurity.

It is a psychological state that is difficult to describe. I guess I need to study psychology to interpret it. Or maybe he is born with a rebellious mind and doesn't like to be inferior to others or be controlled by others?
Isn't it the born big-eared Liu, but the born Wei Yan?
While Yuanye thanked his men for their concern with a smile, he could not help but let his thoughts wander. He raised his hand and touched the back of his head, trying to find out if he had any "rebellious bones". However, he did not feel anything special. The back of his head was very round and smooth, with no concave or convex parts, so he could not feel whether he had any "rebellious bones" at all.

"Sir, this is what you instructed me to do before, and most of it has been..." Endo Chiyo also rushed over. She did not intend to just say hello, but brought a summary of official documents. She wanted to let Yuanye know what she had done during this period of time and commend her for her achievements. However, before she finished her words, the documents in her hand were snatched away by Aman.

Ah Man not only snatched her things, but also drove everyone away like chickens, "Alright, alright, the master just came back and he hasn't even caught his breath yet. What are you all doing huddling here? Get back to work!"

Endo Chiyo immediately glared at Aman, and seemed to regret why she didn't strangle her to death when she pulled her out of the river.

When Yuanye was around, if there were occasional small mistakes, Yuanye would not scold them. Instead, he would carefully ask about the difficulties and help find solutions. As long as the same mistakes were not made again, the matter would be over, and people would feel refreshed and not feel a bit aggrieved. But A'man was completely different from Yuanye. No matter what the reasons were or what difficulties they had, as long as the work was not completed smoothly as planned, she would point at people's noses and start scolding them, and even tried to deduct their annual salary as a punishment. However, Yuanye did not give her the authority to do so, and no one agreed with her at the collective meeting, so she couldn't do it.

Anyway, in the past two months, Aman has found faults of all sizes for everyone in the territory and has offended everyone in the territory. If Yuanye had come back a month later, the territory might have rioted and Aman would have been tied up with stones and thrown into the sea.

Yuanye had received many cryptic "complaint letters" before, but Aman was the "Dongchang Factory Director" and it was normal for him to be disliked by the "civil officials". It was also good to have such a person to scold people in the territory. After all, one cannot be always kind and honest. There must be some pressure when doing work to achieve results.

To be honest, without A-man at home to look after him, he has been away for two months, and I am really worried.

He quickly came out to smooth things over and appease everyone: "Alright, alright, there's no rush to talk. Let's have dinner together tonight and we'll talk about it in detail then. Let's go about our business first!"

"Yes, my lord!"

As the first generation boss who pays everyone's salary, Haraye's words are still effective. Endo Chiyo, Maejima Juichiro and others dispersed in several groups and went back to do their own work. Haraye also gave holiday to Qing, Yoriki Bushi and the senior Lang party who followed him, allowing them to rest for two days.

After sending everyone away, he didn't rush to rest. He wandered around Wanjin while listening to Ah Man's "slander". But after a while, he found that it was all trivial matters, such as who was flattering whom, who was close to whom, and who delayed the progress of the plan. It was completely irrelevant. After all, if there was something important, Ah Man should have told him a letter every three days. There was no problem with the workshop. It was the source of income. Ah Man kept a close eye on it. In addition to completing the [Daily Tasks] for Yuan Ye and beating up the twelve female caregivers of his stupid son and giving them massages, she also kept a close eye on the workshop. She counted the output every day. If it was less than the previous day, she would get to the bottom of it and pull out the bad apples and scold them in public. As a result, she did this for two months and the output actually increased slightly. It was just that there was a lot of resentment in the workshop. Yuan Ye might have to give her a bonus to clean up her mess later.

The wharf in the small bay was also built as planned. Three more boats, one large and two small, were purchased, and more than twenty people were added to form a small fleet. However, Yu Da had led everyone out to sea for short-distance sailing training. Currently, neither the people nor the boats were there, but the wharf was not empty either. There were several shabby small boats parked there, and some half-naked fishermen were bargaining with several women, hoping to exchange their catch for more grains, cloth and ironware.

Yuanye was about to get closer to take a look and chat with them, but Aman grabbed him and stopped him, saying, "Don't go over there, my lord. Those poor guys are afraid of being caught. You are so big, and once you go over there, they will run to the boat. It will take a lot of time to go back and forth."

Yuanye nodded, not forcing him, but said with relief: "These are the islanders in Ise Bay, right? They are finally willing to come to us to trade?"

"It was those poor bastards. A group of them came here not long ago with the guts to exchange some rotten fish, rotten shrimps, and dried seaweed for other things. We exchanged them at a loss as you instructed, and lost another seven or eight strings of cash. And then it's been like this. Every day, a few small ragtag boats come here, exchange some things, and then run away. They will run away if you scare them."

"No one wants to settle here? As free citizens, they can enjoy tax exemption and exemption from military service for the first three years. Have you told them all this?"

"I told them, but still no one wanted to come."

Yuanye was a little disappointed. He wanted to be a good person, to make sure these people had enough food and clothing, and he was willing to pay them according to their work. However, despite his good intentions, these people did not appreciate his kindness at all and did not give him any trust. It had been almost half a year, and only so many people came every day. But it was okay, at least it was a good start. As they got used to the low prices here and their personal safety was guaranteed, more and more people would come.

He looked at the "future subjects" for a while, then turned around and walked back, asking Aman, "How much has the population increased during this period?"

"There are only 121 more people, but one person accidentally fell to his death on the construction site, so it can only be counted as 120 more!" Ah Man also knew that this was the issue that Yuan Ye was focusing on, but she was already scolding Maejima Juichiro for not working hard, which made Maejima Juichiro almost depressed. However, the efficiency of collecting population was still decreasing. "It is becoming more and more difficult to buy people, and we have been buying them all the time. Now the price has risen sharply, and it is a big loss if we buy them."

Yuanye shook his head. This was a life-threatening labor shortage. Without labor, nothing could be done happily. Now it was hard to even hire people by spending money. He could only go out and rob…

No, we must not forget to occupy the moral high ground. We cannot rob it, but we should rescue the common people who are brutally enslaved by the enemy and let them live a happy life.

Yuanye changed his mind again, turned around and walked towards the workshop area, and asked Aman: "How are you preparing for what I mentioned in my previous letter? Is it feasible?"

"It should be feasible." Ah Man also turned around and said, holding the handle of the knife, "Those guys have been eating well for half a year. They are no longer like they are dying when they are touched. I think it's okay to send them to the war. They are indeed much more honest and well-behaved than when they were first bought. I picked them out and found about 140 of them."

"Only one hundred and four?"

"We only have more than 500 people. It's good enough to pick out 140 of them." Ah Man has done his best and explained the dangers in advance. "Moreover, these people are the best workers. If we take them out, the workshop's output will drop significantly. It will probably take half a year to recover."

"Then we have to pull people out. This is an initial investment and we can't save on it." Yuanye had made up his mind before, and he would not hesitate now. Even though it was a bit stupid to send the best "industrial workers" to the battlefield, it was wartime now and war was the main theme. Of course, the best talents had to serve in the army. There was nothing he could do about it.

If the manpower is not good enough and we lose the war, we will suffer even greater losses. So this is the only way for the time being. Whoever is more honest and obedient, and whoever is more diligent, will have to fight hard.

After all, we are all honest people, so of course we have to serve as the "skeleton of the organization", shoulder greater responsibilities, and contribute more!

This will never change throughout the ages!

(End of this chapter)