Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 15 The chicken is really delicious
Yuanye's request was very strange. Aman was surprised and said, "The first year of Tenmon? Twenty years ago? You don't know anything about Owari?"

"My home is far away from here. I've only been in Owari for two or three days." Yuanye replied.

"Hmm... your accent is weird. You're definitely not from Dongshan Road or Donghai Road. It doesn't sound like Kinki, or Sanyin Road or Sanyang Road either." Ah Man became curious and glanced at the sleeping Meng Ziqi. "Where are you from? Are you from Nanhai Road?"

Nankaido is the Shikoku Islands (Tosa, Iyo, Awa, and Sanuki), plus Awaji Island and the Kii Peninsula.

Yuan Ye answered her casually, "We still have to go west."

Further west is the Saikaido, which is the Kyushu Island area in later generations. This is too far away for Aman, and it is like being at the horizon in that era.

She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Then why did you come to Tōkaidō? Were you exiled?"

"Now I'm asking you!" Yuan Ye regretted a little that he had spared her so early. She dared to talk more than him, the interrogator. He should let her be a prisoner for another day and torture her well.

A-Man was thoughtful. He felt that Yuanye seemed to be a little averse to others asking about his origins. Maybe he was exiled because he failed in the fight for the inheritance, so he hid his identity and went far away. However, looking at his delicate appearance, he might have been a direct descendant of a big family...

Yuanye's nearly 1.80-meter height, neat white teeth, and healthy complexion really have advantages. As long as they see these things, everyone instinctively thinks that he has an extraordinary background and is a noble and upper-class person. Even a "primitive ninja" like Aman is no exception, and he has already imagined his tragic experience in his mind.

But it didn't matter. Yuan Ye was not her relative. Whether he was the young master of a big family or a beggar, he was the same in her eyes. But she was not the kind of person who would suffer a loss. She was very wild. When she saw Yuan Ye asking her for help, her dark eyes rolled around and she said, "I'm hungry."

Yuanye looked at her speechlessly for a while, then stood up to greet Yayoi.

What else could he do? This little brat looked only a little older than Yayoi, and was still a child in his eyes. He could have beaten him up in the dark, but now that the misunderstanding had been resolved, it would not be appropriate to beat or scold him again.

Besides, he had already prepared a meal for her. After all, not everyone would run four hours to save him for six cents. For this kindness, he had to be polite and treat her with courtesy.

Well, he was actually wrong. He just donated six coins (six coins are the ferry fee for Sanzu River in Japanese mythology), and Aman regarded it as God's will. She felt that he was not destined to die, and he made this trip out of justice. However, Yuanye did not get the mythological plot of the Warring States Period, and was unaware of it. He just thought that Aman was kind-hearted, chivalrous, and grateful, and he could not help but look up to her. In fact, it was not the case at all.

I can only say that this is the fate between people!

Yayoi was very good at serving people. She first carefully helped Aman sit up and leaned against the straw mat, then moved the small wooden table and placed it in front of her, brought water and a kapok towel to wipe her hands and face, and also re-tied her hair. Finally, she brought a clay pot, bowls and chopsticks, and a small bucket of rice.

After wiping his face clean, A-man's little face was quite pretty. He had a small round face and a pair of big eyes with distinct black and white. He had a common hairstyle for little boys of that era, with neat bangs and a small bun on the top of his head. His black hair was very shiny. At first glance, he looked quite cute and not wild at all.

The only shortcoming is probably that her eyebrows are not pretty - she has a pair of thick and short eyebrows like broad beans, which are not delicate at all and are trembling. The eyebrow color is very thick and conspicuous, which immediately makes her appearance change from cute to funny.

But overall, she is still prettier than Yayoi. Yayoi has an ordinary appearance, at most she can be described as pretty, and her little face is blue, her hair is dry and yellow, and it is obvious that she is malnourished, like a little refugee fleeing famine.

A-man looked much better than her, at least his skin and hair color were much better than hers, and he seemed to have more energy than her.

Ah Man didn't care how Yuan Ye looked at her. Her mouth was watering. She picked up the bamboo chopsticks and put them into the pottery pot to stir it. She said in surprise, "No wonder it smells so good. It's really stewed chicken! Both legs are there. It's a whole chicken stewed with radish. There's more chicken than radish, and there's also mushrooms!"

Then she looked at the white rice in the rice bucket. It was all cooked fine rice, as white as jade, with almost no other colors.

She had originally hoped for a mixed bowl of black bean rice with mixed grains, and at most two pickled radish strips, but she had not expected it to be such a sumptuous meal.

She eats meat. People who practice martial arts will urinate blood if they don't eat meat, but she would occasionally catch a field mouse, shoot a bird or catch a fish and grill it. She almost never eats meat with white rice. After all, if she can buy a chicken and eat refined rice these days, why not switch to whole grains and eat more meals?
She couldn't help but sigh in surprise and joy: "You are such a loser, no wonder you were exiled!"

"If you don't want to eat, you don't have to!" Yuanye was speechless.

He also had good intentions. Although Ah-man had been bragging, she was actually seriously injured, so he specially bought a chicken to make chicken soup for her to nourish her body. He had never killed anyone before, although it was very likely that it would be inevitable in troubled times and he was mentally prepared, but he did not want the first person he killed to be a child. He was not a Taiwanese.

Of course, the silly son also had a portion of chicken soup, as he had already been fed it.

Aman stopped talking, fearing that Yuanye would snatch the food from her. She picked up the chicken and started stuffing it into her mouth, not caring whether it was hot or not. Her face was puffed up like a hamster, and she was so hot that tears were about to come out. Her frowning eyebrows kept rising and falling.

Everything in Japan in that era was shrunk, people shrunk, chickens shrunk too, not even half the size of chickens in later generations, and after plucked their feathers they looked like quails, pitifully small. Yuanye was too lazy to even look at them, and waited for Yayoi to bring his meal and then ate his own - he also sent the Momoi brothers to buy fresh fish, mushrooms and dried bamboo shoots. Anyway, he had enough money now, so of course he had to ensure his quality of life.

Only with quality of life can you have a good body, and only with a good body will you not die from minor injuries and illnesses. You know, the average life expectancy in this era is only 29.6 years old, and he doesn't want to continue to lower the average.

As for what to do after spending the ten-plus strings of money...

He had never worried about money since the first day of his time travel. As a 21st century college student who had received a complete basic education, he could not even earn enough money to eat after getting familiar with the situation in the 16th century. He might as well commit suicide instead of living a shameful life. Ah Man gobbled up the chicken in a can, ate up all the carrots and mushrooms, and even bit open the chicken bones to suck the juice. He also ate two bowls of rice. He lay down on the ground when he could not swallow any more. He patted his belly and touched the warm quilt, and sighed: "Is this the life of you high-ranking warriors? It's great. I have no regrets even if I die now."

Yuanye had finished eating long ago and was reading the Barefoot Doctor's Manual he had copied last night, preparing to cure or kill the working people of medieval Japan. Hearing the voice, he glanced at her and said calmly, "No one wants you to die."

Ah Man snorted twice, and finally remembered the business. He stood up and said seriously, "You want to know about Owari, right? Don't worry, I will tell you everything after I eat your meal. Although I was not born in the first year of Tenbun, my grandfather often farted for us... Uh, where should I start?"

"Let's start with the Maeda family!" Yuanye said immediately. After all, they were now on the Maeda family's territory, so it would be a good idea to ask about the Maeda family first.

He also spread out a piece of Mino paper and prepared to write down the key points.

"The Maeda family, I know that!" Ah Man stared at the roof and thought for a while, "My grandfather told me that they migrated from Kuniyasu County in Mino Province along the Oda River, and settled in Kaito County in Owari Province about 60 to 70 years ago, or even longer, 70 to 80 years. Anyway, the ancestors of the Maeda family have been reclaiming wasteland.

They separated about ten years ago, and it was only in the past ten years that Huangzi City, Dongqi City, and Xiayi Se City began to build their cities, and they have not yet completed the construction."

After a pause, she talked about the present again, "Now... the head of Arashi City is Maeda Kurano Toshiharu, who has a good reputation and is said to be a good man, but his health seems to be not very good, and he is a sickly man. The head of Toki City is Maeda Saburo Shiro Pingli, a pervert, who has a lot of maids and often has affairs outside, and is a frequent visitor to whale houses in various places.

Well, there is another one. The head of the Lower Isshiki Castle is Maeda Yojuro Tanetoshi. I heard that he is a very rigid person and sticks to his own opinions. He is mediocre in other aspects. His martial arts skills are average, his talents are average, and there is nothing special to note.

Then, the Araki Maeda family is the direct line, with a strength of more than 2,000 guanwen. The Dongqi Maeda family and the Xiayi Maeda family are branch families. They are called city lords, but in fact they are the heads of a small village, with a strength of several hundred guanwen... Well, of course, this is the surface strength, in fact it is much higher. The three families together, if they fight for their lives, can mobilize 600 to 700 people to fight, and there are also hundreds of retainers and companions who dare to fight and fight, which is considered a powerful local noble family in Haidong County."

She ate the chicken and white rice, and it was not in vain. She worked hard. While talking, she took a few steps holding the quilt, snatched the brush from Yuanye's hand, and drew a pattern for him on paper - this is a compulsory course for "intelligence dealers". You have to know which army it belongs to by looking at the family crest, objects, flags, and horse prints from a distance, so as not to get too close and be shot to death.

"The Maeda family all have plum patterns. The one with a solid center and five hollow circles around it is the Arako Maeda family. The one with a hollow center and solid circles around it is the Xiayi Seki Maeda family. The one with all hollow circles is the Toki Maeda family."

A-man explained while drawing, and Yuanye finally solved a mystery. It turned out that the "five circles surrounding one circle" drawn on the short haori of Jubei and Jikuro referred to plum blossoms (actually they were Shenyao flowers, but they were called plum patterns because they looked like plum blossoms). It was a really simple drawing, and he would never have thought of it before, even if you beat him to death.

"Can you draw a map? Mark the location of their city." He moved to make room for A-man, changed the paper, and motioned for A-man to draw a map.

Ah Man had no objection, because the chicken was really delicious. He held the brush and thought for a while, then drew a zigzag line from northeast to southwest, and then drew three small circles next to the line. "The source of the Odai River is in the mountains of Mino, and the three castles of the Maeda family are on both sides of the lower reaches of the river. That's about it."

After finishing the drawing, she fiddled with the paper, hesitated for a moment, and then wrote the Chinese character "North" crookedly at the top of the paper. She also drew a horizontal line in the middle of the paper and wrote the three words "Minong Province" next to it to determine the direction.

Yuan Ye was a little surprised: "You can also write?"

Ah Man was also very proud of being able to master this "advanced skill", but he pretended to be calm and said: "You will naturally learn it if you watch it more. It's not difficult."

After that, she wrote some common Chinese characters such as "rice", "wine", "rice" and "chicken" on the paper to prove that she was not lying. However, the characters were ugly. The right half of the character "chicken" looked more like a bird and was difficult to recognize. Fortunately, she did not show off too much and continued to sell information to Yuanye.

"There is nothing much to say about the Maeda family in the lower part and the Maeda family in the east. They have a small population, a small territory, and relatively weak strength. They always act according to the instructions of their direct descendants. The front of the Maeda family is the Arako Maeda family. You already know the current head of the family, Maeda Kurando Toshiharu. This old guy is very fertile and lucky, with eight surviving children.

Let me think, the eldest is the heir, his name seems to be Shinichiro Toshihisa, the second is Uchinosuke Toshigen, the third is Yosaburo Yasukatsu, the fourth is Magoshiro Toshiie, the fifth was sent to the Sawaki family as an adopted son, and his name was changed to Fujihachiro Yoshiyuki, the sixth is too young and I haven't heard much about him, he should not have come of age yet, his name seems to be Rokuro Hidetsugu.

Then there are two daughters. The eldest one is about ten years old and her name is Jinchun, and the younger one is six or seven years old and her name is Jinshi. I heard that they are both little beauties and many families are already eyeing them.

By the way, in addition to these eight, old man Lichun also has three adopted daughters.

One is called Alu, the illegitimate daughter of Maeda Saburo and Shiro, who was fostered by him; one is called Ason, the daughter of Toshiharu's sister-in-law, who left her to his wife after her sister-in-law remarried; the last one is called Youdai, the daughter of Maeda and Juro, who was abandoned to Araki Castle after he remarried.

Yuanye wanted to say hello to Yayoi and stew a chicken for Aman. The information was so detailed that it made his scalp tingle. The local police in later Chinese generations were no more than this. It was as if they had seen the household registration book of Araki Maeda's family.

He couldn't help but ask, "How do you know so much?"

Ah Man waved her hand, raised her eyebrows, and said nonchalantly: "This is not a secret. You can find out if you ask people from Huangzi City! Those stupid farmers are just like your two stupid followers. If you give them saliva to drink, they will be eager to tell you about their ancestors so as not to appear ignorant and inferior.

Now that we know all of this, let's write it down. Maybe someday another idiot will want to know, and we can make a little money along the way, right?"

Yuanye nodded silently, admitting that what she said made sense, but the chicken didn't need to be stewed. The foul-mouthed brat could just eat dried radishes for the next meal.

(End of this chapter)