Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 44: Owari National Artillery Academician

Yuanye had no choice. The situation was stronger than the person. It was difficult for him, a man in distress, to fight against the heir of the local lord. He could only tell him stories. He had imagined various situations of encountering Oda Nobunaga before. Considering that Aman said that he was a "senior eccentric" and had been under control for a long time, he thought his personality would be very rebellious. It would be useless to show weakness. The only way was to arouse his interest. So he started to talk along with Tiepao.

Now it seems that the effect is quite good. Oda Nobunaga really likes these new things. I think it won’t be too difficult for him in the future.

After he slowly finished talking about "how the teppo was introduced to Japan", "why the teppo is called teppo", and "how to sacrifice a daughter to obtain the technology to make teppo", he started to talk about the old things again, finding faults with Oda Nobunaga's beloved teppo and coming up with some useful information as a way out - in case Oda Nobunaga's favorability was still not enough and he still wanted to kill him, he could use this as an excuse to make a better teppo for Oda Nobunaga and buy time to escape, as a double preparation.

He pondered in his mind, pointed at the iron cannon and said, "On the other hand, this iron cannon is indeed a big problem in its imitation. It is not perfect. Look, this iron cannon is short and thick. The prototype is obviously specially made for the convenience of use on ships. Since the current users are on land, it is completely unnecessary to imitate it like this. It can be said to be a failure. It is entirely possible to consider lengthening the barrel and reducing the caliber to pursue a longer range and stronger power."

Then he pointed to the fire pan and said, "We should also install a cover here to prevent the primer from being blown away by the wind or getting wet by rain and being unable to fire."

After saying that, he even held the barrel upright and looked inside, then checked the barrel base and pointed out the problem again, "The barrel is not airtight either. Although a sighting device was added during the replica, it is totally unusable. If you put your face close to it to aim, you will most likely get burned."

Oda Nobunaga's face twitched. This cannon would indeed emit hot air from the tail when it fired. His cannon master, Hashimoto Ikba, told him that this was normal and that cannons were like that. The shooting technique he was taught was to hold it horizontally in front of his chest and he could only aim by feeling.

Aqing, Maeda Toshiie, and Ikeda Terumasa looked at Yuanye in a daze. They did not expect that the "miracle doctor" suddenly became a "gunpowder master", and Aman was even more unbearable, with her mouth wide open like a little toad. She did not expect that Yuanye, whom she had already understood thoroughly, had such a skill. It was really beyond her expectation - the gunpowder was introduced to Kinki only five or six years ago, and to Owari only more than a year ago. It was still a new high-end weapon. Yuanye was considered an expert for being able to find fault with it. In the future, he would definitely become an "Owari National Gunnery Academician".

"Owari National Artillery Academician" Yuanye hadn't finished speaking yet. He pointed at the rag pocket on Oda Nobunaga's body and continued to find faults. "There is also an obvious problem with loading. Pour gunpowder directly from the pocket into the barrel, then use a cleaning rod to stuff the lead bullet into the barrel, and then pour primer into the fire pan. There are too many steps, which wastes time and is difficult to control the amount of gunpowder. It is easy to cause inconsistent ranges and even explosions. It is far worse than using an early-closing bottle. There is a lot of room for improvement."

Oda Nobunaga's face twitched again. He originally wanted to take Harano back to be a servant and make him responsible for treating his retainers. Unexpectedly, Harano started to teach him. His posture and tone were three points similar to his teacher Hirate Masahide, which made him instinctively feel his scalp tingling.

However, he was indeed very interested in the new weapon, the iron cannon, and asked with a dry cough, "What is the Zaohe bottle..."

Yuanye didn't care about casually pointing out the shortcomings of the iron cannon. In five or six years, Japanese iron cannon craftsmen would solve these problems, and the matchlock guns they made would be qualified, and would not involve the bottom line of the principle of leaking modern technology. Not to mention the early bottle, even if the Shimazu family had not yet made it, they should be soon, and it would only take three to five years for it to be passed on to Owari, so it would not have much impact.

He said directly: "Put a certain amount of gunpowder and lead bullets into several small bamboo bottles, and pour them directly into the gun barrel when using them. Compacting them can ensure a uniform amount of gunpowder and a uniform range of the iron cannon, which can extend the service life of the iron cannon and save a lot of time, hence the name Zaoheping."

Oda Nobunaga was not stupid, he could even be said to be very smart. He understood after a brief thought and nodded slightly, but soon his face turned gloomy again and he asked, "Have iron cannons already been used in large quantities in the western country?"

"The Shimazu family started using it three or four years ago, so they should have quite some experience by now." Yuanye couldn't remember much about this, but he remembered that the Shimazu family had a very early history of using arquebuses. They were the first daimyo in the Warring States Period of Japan to use arquebuses in large-scale combat. Most of the arquebus skills in "Taikoku 2", such as "early attack", "arquebus volley", "fishing ambush", "two-stage attack", "arquebus straddle fire", and "sniping", were developed by the Shimazu family. If you need arquebus talents, you can definitely poach them from the Shimazu family.

"Really?" Oda Nobunaga had now sat up straight, squinted his eyes and replied faintly, then gently hit his thigh, lowered his head and thought for a while, his expression became increasingly uglier, as if some of his dreams had been shattered.

Yuan Ye felt that he had finished chatting with Oda Nobunaga, and that he had left a good impression on him, so he had a way out. He was just about to get to the point and ask him what he was doing there, but Oda Nobunaga raised his head and spoke again, "You should follow me from now on. The annual salary... 100 kan will be enough for now!"

He was indeed very generous, worthy of the title of the third generation of wealth. He also thought highly of Yuanye and gave him an annual salary that was twice that of Maeda Toshiie, enough to support fifty ordinary men. However, he did not follow the etiquette at all and had no respect at all. He made the decision casually, more like a bad boy in later generations who casually recruited younger brothers.

Yuanye waved his hand quickly. Oda Nobunaga didn't like red tape, so he said simply: "Thank you for your appreciation, but I have no plans to become an official. I can only live up to your kindness."

Oda Nobunaga was stunned for a moment, his thick eyebrows twisted together instantly, his eyes were quite sharp. After all, he had been the lord of the city since he was two years old. Except for his teacher Hirate Masahide, no one dared to mess with him. The long-term sense of oppression was very strong, but Yuanye was very calm and thought it was not a big deal. After getting to know him, he felt that Oda Nobunaga was not like the manic patient described by Aman. He was not a born killer, and he could still talk some reason. In addition, for the sake of Maeda Toshiie's face, he also improved his favorability and prepared a retreat. It was very likely that he would not be killed for refusing.

As long as he doesn't get killed, it will be easy. If not, he can just get out, escape to live somewhere else, and start over.

Now that he has a certain understanding of this era, it will not be too difficult to start over again and he can afford the losses.

Sure enough, Oda Nobunaga stared at him for a moment, without drawing his sword or rushing over to chop him down. He didn't even yell at him for being ungrateful, but just asked with a stern look, "What's the reason?"

"I don't want to perform grand formalities for others, and I don't want to find a master for myself, so... forget about joining the government!" Yuanye thought it was pointless to talk about other things with Oda Nobunaga, so he just told the truth. He was unwilling to do it. Oda Nobunaga, a bad boy who was second only to the Lord, was very proud, and he would not be so shameless as to accept him as his younger brother.

Ikeda Terumasa was stunned, Maeda Toshiie also opened his mouth wide, looking a little dumbfounded, they didn't expect Yuan Ye to be so weird. Oda Nobunaga also didn't expect this reason, he wanted to scold Yuan Ye but couldn't think of words, after being stunned for a moment, he actually laughed, laughed and felt something was wrong, nodded and said "interesting", then stood up and left directly, just looking at his expression, he really looked a bit crazy.

"This, the iron cannon..." Yuanye stood up in surprise to see him off. He didn't expect that he could pass the test so easily. At the same time, he indicated that the iron cannon was still in his hand and he forgot to take it.

"Here you go." Oda Nobunaga didn't even turn his head. The cannon was of poor quality and Yuanye found a lot of problems with it, so he didn't want it anymore.

Maeda Toshiie and Ikeda Terumasa were stunned for a while before they reacted. They hurriedly took a few steps forward, hurriedly put on their shoes, and went to lift the door curtain for him.

Oda Nobunaga just left like that, said hello when he got out of the door, rode his horse and rushed towards the Furuno Castle. He didn't even practice with the cannon - there was no way to practice it anyway, he had thrown away the cannon, he needed to buy a better one, and by the way, he also had to settle accounts with his cannon master Hashimoto Ikba.

Maeda Toshiie carefully pulled the reins and approached him, tentatively asking, "My lord, what are you doing..."

Oda Nobunaga was an excellent rider, letting his horse run freely. He stroked his chin and said, "He is a bit like me."

"Ah, what do you mean?" Maeda Toshiie was confused and scratched his face, "Are you angry or not?"

If he was angry, he had to persuade him. He originally wanted to take Yuanye to eat and drink well, but it turned out that Yuanye was a weirdo. He was willing to be a wandering warrior. It was really unexpected - the opportunity to become an official was so rare, he couldn't understand it!

"You idiot, what I mean is that I'm not angry! People like him are real Bashara (crazy people), a bit like me." Oda Nobunaga said thoughtfully, "Some of the things he does are very interesting, and what he says is also very interesting. He is also very talented. It doesn't matter if such a person does not obey me for a while. After all, this is interesting. He deserves my patience."

He already admired Yuanye for being willing to treat common people at a low price, and felt that he was different from the retainers of the wealthy families like Maeda Toshiie. Now that he found that Yuanye seemed to be of the same kind as him, and that he had some problems in his head in the eyes of others, and would have frequent ecstasy, he admired him even more, and felt that Yuanye might understand some of his ideas, so he didn't get angry when he was rejected, and he didn't insist on hanging Yuanye up and beating him.

Well, if Yuanye had just agreed, accepted the high salary, and bowed down, he might not have valued him as much as he does now, and thought he was interesting. It can only be said that it is not without reason that Oda Nobunaga was nicknamed "the big fool of the Oda family". His brain circuit is indeed a bit abnormal, and it is difficult for ordinary people to understand.

"So that's how it is, my lord is wise!" Maeda Toshiie didn't understand, but that didn't stop him from suddenly realizing it and feeling relieved.

"Aquan, come a little closer!" Oda Nobunaga didn't care whether he understood or not. He stretched out his hand to signal him to come closer, whispered instructions, and assigned him a task.

Take it slow. He is sure that he can win over Yuanye and make him willingly become his retainer. Then he will put aside his past grudges and readily agree to sleep with Yuanye at night, talk with him by candlelight and completely win him over.

This is very interesting!
…………

Even after Oda Nobunaga left, Aman still couldn't believe it. He ran to the door and watched for a long time, hoping that Oda Nobunaga would make a surprise attack and burn them all to death in the house. However, after watching for a long time, no one came to set fire to the house.

"He just left like that?" She was more and more confused. In theory, Oda Nobunaga should have gone berserk and rushed over to bite Yuanye to death, but this was the end?

But it's okay this way. It's always good to stay away from crazy people. Maybe he just didn't have a seizure today!

She quickly shifted her gaze to the iron cannon, revealing a coveted look. This was the treasure she had been dreaming of. With it, she could successfully practice the "Equality Cannon for All Beings", and A-Qing would no longer be her opponent. She could become the strongest person in the survival flow.

She rubbed her hands together and came close to Yuanye. She coughed dryly and suggested actively: "The cannon is quite heavy, right? I will help you carry it in the future. Don't tire yourself out. You are the backbone of our team and everyone is counting on you!"

"Then you carry it!" Yuanye gave it to her without thinking. It was a low-quality iron cannon with a very slow firing speed, a very short range, and it was impossible to aim. It could easily burn him. It was at most a gray equipment. Anyone who used it would be an idiot. He didn't want it. While saying this, he was still thinking about Oda Nobunaga in his heart, but he didn't think about it for long before giving up.

Well, don’t think too much, this is good enough, you passed it easily, you have worshipped all the Buddhas, big and small, and you can live a stable life in the future!
(End of this chapter)