Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 61 Jade Gourd
"The Matsudaira family comes here every year."

After discovering that the enemy was the Matsudaira clan, Aman immediately relaxed and began to confidently point out the situation. "A few years ago, Oda Nobuhide was defeated in Mikawa Province and fled faster than a dung beetle rolling a dung ball. The important town of Anxiang in western Mikawa was lost, and his eldest son was captured alive. The Matsudaira clan and the Imagawa clan directly counterattacked into Owari territory and occupied several cities in Niwa County and Kasugai County. Then, the Matsudaira clan came to Aichi County several times every year along the Kasugaga River, captured some common people, burned a few villages, affected the spring plowing and autumn harvest of the Dan Masatada clan, and robbed a few caravans going to Atsuta to make a fortune. It's nothing unusual."

Yuan Ye was taking her to the house of Oru Kiyohei. He was now living in Takeuchi-sho. The "shojo deputie" called him, so he had to go there to check the situation. Now that she heard Aman's advice, she felt relieved - it turned out that it was all revenge for the shit that "Tiger of Owari" Oda Nobuhide had pulled in the past, but now that Oda Nobuhide was dead, the shit was smeared on the face of the new head of the family, Oda Nobunaga.

He thought that if it was like this, there probably wouldn't be a big fight, so he asked, "So, it's just harassment?"

"Nine out of ten, it's been like this for the past few years anyway." Aman didn't say anything definite, "The Matsudaira family is now a vassal of the Imagawa family. They should be acting on orders, or even forced to do so. It's impossible for them to spend all their money to fight a tough battle. They will probably just go back after grabbing a few pieces of loot."

Yuanye nodded slightly, thinking that the behavior of the Imagawa family was similar to that of Oda Nobuhide who often dragged local powerful families to fight in wars - it not only consumed the strength of the western enemy Oda Danmasatada's family, but also made it impossible for the vassal Matsudaira family to develop peacefully and always remain sluggish. It was a good deal.

The two of them were talking and chatting about some old stories of the Matsudaira family - for example, Aman believed that the life or death of Oda Nobuhide's eldest illegitimate son was not important at all, and Oda Nobuhide should not have used the Matsudaira family's hostage, that is, the Matsudaira family's heir Takechiyo, to exchange his son back. As a result, the Matsudaira family is now unscrupulous and has no scruples at all. They come to cause trouble every year and suffer a lot.

If she were Oda Nobuhide, she would have ordered her captured son to commit seppuku two hundred years ago. There is no way she would have suffered such a loss!

The two of them chatted and soon arrived at Oru Seibei's residence.

The situation here was still the same as last time, with soldiers in a panic. Two or three hundred Oda clan members gathered here to receive food, long weapons and various flags. And unlike the last time when they were sent out for deterrence, this time it seemed that some foot soldiers, that is, some miscellaneous soldiers and civilians were recruited to follow the army. It was estimated that they were going to fight a serious war.

Oruki Kiyobei was assigning troops to form a team, but when he saw Harano coming, he didn't let him wait any longer. He gave him a few more instructions and invited him over. Then he took out a letter and gave it to him, "This is a letter from Lord Kazusa-no-no."

"His Highness Kazusa-no-Mori?" Yuanye reached out to take the letter, but he was confused for a moment and didn't know who this person was.

Oruki Kiyobei, the old-fashioned middle-aged samurai, was silent for a while, then sighed in a low voice with a somewhat ugly expression: "It is His Highness Oda Saburo, His Highness... now he is called Kamitsu-no-kami."

Oh, it turns out that Oda Nobunaga changed his common name.

Yuanye reacted and thought that this was normal. After all, Oda Nobunaga was no longer the heir without much real power, but a real local tyrant. His common name should indeed be changed to his official title.

Seeing that his face was normal, Oruki Kiyobei looked a little better. He waited for him to finish reading the letter and asked directly without asking his opinion, "According to the order of His Highness Kazusa-no-no-sama, you can use the reserves in the manor. I will also give you 30 foot soldiers. Do you need anything else?"

"Well..." Yuan Ye had just finished reading the letter and hadn't decided whether to agree or not. He didn't expect him to be so decisive and directly assume that he would go. He could only quickly think about the pros and cons, and after a moment he nodded and said, "These should be enough."

"Very good. Thank you very much for your hard work, Lord Nohara. Please follow us and head to the Furuno Castle as soon as possible!" After saying this, Oru Seibei called over a low-level magistrate and ordered him to be responsible for recruiting foot soldiers for Nohara and obtaining supplies. Then he got up and went to do his own thing.

…………

"What does that big fool want you to do?" Aman followed Yuanye back home. On the way, he was itching to get back home and asked curiously.

Yuan Ye showed her the letter directly. He was still thinking about the pros and cons of this matter, and said casually: "He asked me to help treat the wounded. He will pay me for every person I cure, and I can decide whether to go or not. If I am willing to go, he will appoint me as a medical practitioner, and I have the final say on how to treat them."

He didn't expect that more than a month had passed, and Oda Nobunaga had experienced a series of major events such as the death of his father, the feud between his mother and brother, the scene at the funeral, the succession to the throne, the instability of the powerful families, etc., but he still hadn't forgotten him. Even when he was about to go to war, he still wrote a letter to take him over - probably it was the bald Jubei's fault. Oda Nobunaga probably sent people to keep an eye on the old guy, and it turned out that the old guy was not dead, and he probably recovered well, proving that he, the "Mongolian miracle doctor", could even save the "blood gourd". Oda Nobunaga then planned to make him a "field doctor".

Ah Man quickly finished reading the letter and asked about a few unfamiliar words before curiously asking, "Are we really going there, or should we go home and pack up and run away?"

"Let's go, it shouldn't be a problem." Yuanye had already weighed the pros and cons and felt that he should make the trip, mainly because the benefits of this matter outweighed the disadvantages.

He is now in the Warring States Period of Japan. It is already the "Warring States Period". You can guess that the whole of Japan will sooner or later be in chaos. Even if he escapes to other places, it is difficult to avoid being involved in the war. Moreover, if he wants to grow and accumulate wealth, it is most cost-effective to live in Oda Nobunaga's territory. It is better not to run away. For example, he dared to sell a wave of soy sauce every seven or eight days and made a lot of money. He was not afraid that the shameless monks of Arashi Kannon Temple would miss his "secret recipe" because he lived in Takeuchi Village.

Even if the Japanese monks living here became greedy and wanted to rob his workshop and torture him to extract his "secret recipe", they would have no way to do so. They would need to seize Oda Nobunaga's manor first. And Oda Nobunaga was a crazy and insane person who was not easy to mess with. Unless the profits were large enough, the monks would not dare to do so even if they were greedy. Once the profits were large enough, he would definitely have many distributors and even more subordinates. If the monks really wanted to rob his workshop, they would just have a big fight!
As for development, it is mainly difficult in the early stages. Living in Oda Nobunaga's territory will make it a lot easier.

Therefore, as long as it did not involve issues of principle, such as personal insults, leakage of modern science and technology, and if it was simply working for Oda Nobunaga, he felt that there was nothing unacceptable.

Moreover, Oda Nobunaga only paid him to be the "director of the field hospital", which meant he would stay in the rear, and he was not asked to risk his life in a rain of arrows. He had made all the preparations, with a full set of armor, Aman and Aqing who were fully armed, and a fast horse. Even if the front line collapsed, he would have time to retreat in the rear, and the possibility of a sudden death was very small.

What's more, this can also reflect his unique value. In this feudal era without human rights, people who lack value will be trampled into the mud and sent to be cannon fodder, so they must possess unique value in order to preserve their autonomy.

So, just go when you should, there is no need to refuse.

He made the decision, and Aman didn't care. She didn't say anything or express any brilliant ideas - if Yuanye didn't want to join the war, she would run away with him; if Yuanye went to join the war, she would just follow him to make a cameo appearance.

It’s all right, she doesn’t care!
Compared with Yuanye, who was born in a peaceful era, she was born in a time of war, was accustomed to fighting, and was a person who lived one day at a time and had a very casual temperament.

…………

When Yuanye returned home, he ordered everyone to prepare their weapons and pack their luggage, preparing to take the whole family to take up the post. He also planned to take his stupid son with him, and was going to go back to get an ox cart and a mobile bed for him - wars in ancient times seemed to be very slow, and no one knew how long it would take to return. He was worried about leaving Meng Ziqi and Yayoi in Takeuchi Manor, so he simply took them together.

Ah Man felt that Meng Ziqi was a complete burden, lying still all day and holding Yuan Ye back. Yuan Ye was nervous all day because of him, fearing that he would be killed by mistake. She wanted to suggest that Yuan Ye just bury him. But she could also feel that Meng Ziqi seemed very important to Yuan Ye. He was not just a friend, but more like a family member. She had a very deep relationship with him, so she held back and didn't say it out loud - if her grandfather became like this, she probably wouldn't bury her grandfather, but would drag him to beg for food together, and let him live as long as possible.

So she said nothing, and planned to ask Aqing to keep a closer eye on her to prevent any accidents.

When Harano had almost finished dealing with the affairs at home, the foot soldiers assigned to him by Oruki Seibei were organized and gathered in front of his house. The magistrate who was ordered to assist him also came to him to ask what to do next and what supplies to take to the Furuno Castle.

Nohara was not polite to Oda Nobunaga. He was originally a retainer of his, and after asking for a lot of ox carts, cloth, food, fodder and copper coins, he wrote a document and signed a seal to let the magistrate named Maejima Juichiro Hideshige go to enter the inventory. Maejima Juichiro was about to leave, but he remembered something and turned back, respectfully asking: "Lord Nohara, do you want to prepare together with me if I know the objects and flags?"

"Do you want to identify objects and flags?" Yuanye thought about it and felt that he should have it. This thing is a sign of friend and foe. If he went out naked like this, he would be mistaken for a sneak attack by friendly forces, and they would attack him head-on. That would be very bad. So he said, "Then let's prepare together, but will we have enough time?"

"If there's still time, and the quantity is not too large, the lacquer woodcut can be printed in half an hour, which is just the right time to load the goods." Maejima Juichiro answered and then asked, "I wonder what Nohara-sama's family crest is..."

Upon hearing this, Aman came over immediately. She had always been curious about Yuanye's origins, and she was proficient in family crests. Just by looking at the family crests, she could trace the clues and find out who Yuanye's ancestor was. However, Yuanye didn't have such a thing as a family crest. She wanted to ask if she could use Oru Kiyohei's, but she had no affiliation with him. If she wanted to draw one randomly, she might join another family by accident, which would be a troublesome thing.

He pondered for a while, then pulled out a piece of paper and drew a slightly crooked stick gourd, marked the color as blue, and handed it to Maejima Juichiro, "Use this!"

Maejima Juichiro immediately took the order and went to work, while A-Man raised his eyebrows beside him and said thoughtfully: "Diao Wen, it turns out that your ancestors were nobles in the Heian period. Your family status is really very high!"

It would be easy to deal with the problem once she knew the gourd pattern. She only needed to go back and ask which family in Saikaido used the gourd pattern, or which family's ancestors were nobles in the Heian period. Then she could probably identify Hara no Madoka's main family. Then, she could basically figure out how he was driven to Tokaido by his family.

Yuanye glanced at her, somewhat puzzled. He just couldn't think of a family crest for the moment, and thought that he was a doctor now, and doctors in ancient times all had to hang gourds. He also didn't want to cause any trouble for no reason and impersonate other families' family crests, so he picked a gourd from the "Thousand Gourds" of the monkey Hashiba Hideyoshi and used it first - the monkey was of commoner origin, and he dared to use the gourd as a "horse emblem", so the gourd would definitely not cause any big trouble, but how did it become a "gourd pattern"?

He didn't understand family crest studies at all, and there weren't many modern Japanese who dared to say they really understood it, let alone a foreigner like him. It was basically just nonsense, but things had come to this point, so he could only pretend he didn't hear it.

In short, just use the gourd for this period of time, and if it doesn’t work, you can change it in the future!
(End of this chapter)