Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 68: Is that old beast Aman already dead?

Oda Nobunaga made a very serious mistake by letting Aman into the Kuno Castle. Aman was worthy of being the only successor of the life-saving Ryuyang technique. In just seven or eight days, he became friends with the servants and maids in the city. He was able to find out any information he wanted in a roundabout way, and even pieced together "military secrets".

Yuanye also played a crucial role in this. Oda Nobunaga gave him a "waidai" of 100 kan, and he asked Aman to take it to the city to sell it. He immediately became well-off again, and directly approved 20 kan of "activity funds" for Aman, which greatly increased her ability to move around, and she made more and more friends who loved drinking and eating.

Of course, the twenty strings of cash were not given to her directly. She was addicted to eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. Yuanye would not dare to put the money in her hands as long as he had any brains. So the money was given to A-qing, so that A-man could find her to explain the reasons when something happened, sign and seal, keep accounts, report actual expenses, distinguish between public and private affairs, and prevent corruption. A-qing was a stubborn person. She would not help A-man to commit fraud for funds, and she knew her very well and would not be easily deceived by her. She was the ideal candidate for supervision.

Aman was of course very dissatisfied with this. She thought Yuanye did not trust her at all and it broke her heart. She protested to Yuanye for several days in a row and even tried to go on a hunger strike to prove that she would never embezzle money, let alone gamble with it. However, she could not stand being hungry for half a meal and the matter ended up in nothing.

In short, Aman had only been in Kuno Castle for seven or eight days, but he already had a group of drinking buddies, including men, women, young and old. He even knew a group of gambling buddies. He was well-informed and could report the latest news about Oda Danjotada's family to Yuanye just by going out for a walk.

Oda Nobutomo (also known as Hikogoro) of Kiyosu launched a sudden attack under the banner of Owari guardian Sasaki Yoshitsugu (also known as Mue-kō), occupied the two castles of Matsuba and Fukada, and began to build forts in Matsubaguchi and Sanbongi. It seemed that he intended to get a share of the trade route from Shimazu to Atsuta, and also taste the fat meat that he had not tasted during the "Tiger of Owari" era.

Oda Nobunaga certainly could not tolerate this. Once forts were built in these two places and they were used as a base to move south, they could cut off the Danjotada family from the east and west at any time. This was a serious threat to his heart and the situation was much more serious than the harassment from the Matsudaira family. So he immediately asked the local powerful families to mobilize and launch a powerful counterattack as quickly as possible.

But... all the local wealthy families, without exception, began to complain, saying that it was now the spring plowing season and mobilization was really difficult. If they had to force mobilization, not only would the common people have to flee, but most of the Lang gangs would also run away, and they really had no strength to fight.

Of course, they didn't say anything definite. They kept emphasizing that it was not that they would not fight, but that they were temporarily unable to fight. They hoped to wait a few months until the spring plowing was over before deciding.

Anyway, they just had to delay it and wait and see how the situation developed. After all, Oda Nobunaga had just suffered a great defeat and seemed unreliable no matter how you looked at him, and they didn't want to go and die.

It is said that after receiving the news, Oda Nobunaga's face turned darker than a dung beetle. He used extremely vulgar country slang to curse the local powerful families one by one, and even smashed the table with a candlestick. He was extremely angry.

"Wait, is this news reliable? This 'it is said' sounds a bit like your tone of voice. You didn't make it up, did you?" Yuanye felt something was wrong as he listened. Even the dung beetles came out. It sounded very familiar.

"It's reliable, definitely reliable! I heard it from Ah Chun. Her mother worked as a maid in the house of the big fool. When delivering wine and food, she heard the big fool smashing things and cursing. For this news, I even gave Ah Chun several boiled eggs. It can't be wrong!" Ah Man quickly said that the money was not wasted. Even without Ah Qing's supervision, she could still put the intelligence funds to good use. Then she added, "I just processed it a little bit to make it sound more interesting."

"Alright!" Yuan Ye didn't bother with her too much, as long as the information was accurate, he pondered and said, "So, this means we can't fight for the time being?"

Aman shook his head. "That's not necessarily true. The local nobles are not obedient. Oda Nobunaga is still stubborn and plans to attack only with the power of Furuno Castle. However, his two family elders disagree. Now the two sides are still arguing. I don't know who will convince whom in the end."

"Oh? Hirate Masahide and Hayashi Hidetada don't want to fight either? What about Matsuba and Fukada?"

"They all wanted to resolve the issue through negotiation. I heard they wanted to send a princess over, just like when Oda Nobuhide married the daughter of the Kiyosu Oda family, so that the two families could become relatives again and restore peace, and they could also exchange Fukada Castle back. But Oda Nobunaga disagreed and was determined not to send his sister over. He still wanted to resolve the issue by force."

"What about Matsuba Castle and Matsubaguchi?"

"I guess she won't come back. The Oda Danjo family is in such a state now. It's not certain whether we can use the princess to exchange for Fukada Castle. Don't even think about Matsuba Castle anymore."

Yuanye nodded gently, speechless for a moment, but felt that he should practice horse riding again. Given Oda Nobunaga's middle school personality, it was absolutely impossible for him to use his sister to seek peace. Even if he only brought his own men to attack, even if he had just suffered a great defeat, he had to fight with the Kiyosu Oda family.

…………

A new round of war was indeed unavoidable. Aman went out for a stroll and brought back new news: Oda Nobunaga somehow convinced Hirate Masahide and overwhelmed Hayashi Hidetada with a 2:1 advantage. He decided to fight. Even if the powerful families were unwilling to contribute and the forces of Oda Danmasatada's family could not be fully mobilized, they had to fight with only the power of Furuno Castle!

This time it was a large-scale mobilization. On that day, a large number of miscellaneous soldiers and foot soldiers began to gather towards the Furuno Castle. There was even an unexpected team - the lord of Moriyama Castle, Oda Nobunaga's third uncle, Oda Nobumitsu (Sun Saburo), who came without saying a word and led his retainers and gangs.

Oda Nobunaga gave orders one after another, and in the end only Oda Nobumitsu responded to him, which made him favor his uncle more. He even felt ashamed for having set fire to his stable when he was a child. He quickly set a banquet to entertain him. After the troops were ready, Oda Nobunaga moved swiftly. At dawn the next day, he did not even gather his foot soldiers to boost morale. He led his horsemen and his retainers out of the Kuno Castle and led the way upstream along the Odaai River.

The rest of the troops followed in batches, and Yuanye had no way to escape and was forced to set off with the army. After all, he was still the "Medical Magistrate" and could not resign for the time being, otherwise he would not be able to live in Takeuchi Manor in the future. He had to come even if he didn't want to - Oda Nobunaga had been organizing a group fight for a long time, and only his uncle came to help. He was already very aggrieved. If he said he wanted to go home at this time, Oda Nobunaga would probably eat him alive without even dipping him in soy sauce.

So it’s better not to touch that bad luck, just follow along and try your luck!

He was still commanding his thirty foot soldiers and a string of ox carts to join the battle, and he walked slowly along the Odai River. He was just thinking about whether to stop by Hibitsu Village for a look, when a retainer of fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing exquisite torso armor, a sun and moon hat on his head, and a "Yongle Money Flag" on his back, came on horseback, shouting from a distance: "His Highness Kazusuke has ordered everyone to speed up and set up camp in Inaba." He ran closer and saw the "Green Jade Gourd Flag", but he didn't continue to shout loudly. After a slight hesitation, he slowed down his horse, nodded gently to Nohara, and said politely: "Lord Nohara, His Highness Kazusuke has arrived at Inaba and ordered the follow-up team to speed up. Please hurry up too!"

"I see. Thank you for reminding me, sir." Yuan Ye saw that he looked unfamiliar and delicate, so he asked curiously, "May I know who you are, sir..."

"Excuse me, I am Niwa Goro Sasadai Nagahide, Lord Nohara, you can just call me Mansenyo." He clasped his hands together politely on horseback, with a very good demeanor, but after hesitating for a moment, he gently pulled the reins and smiled shyly, "Lord Nohara, I have military orders to attend to, so I really can't... I'll take my leave first."

"Of course, Niwa-sama, please do it!"

Niwa Nagahide nodded to Yuanye again, smiled at Maejima Juichiro beside him, then continued to gallop on his horse and urged other teams.

Yuanye watched him leave and couldn't help but murmur in surprise, "How can he be so young?", feeling very strange for a moment.

He knew Niwa Nagahide. When Monkey changed his family name for the second time, it was changed to "Hashiba Hideyoshi", and the "羽" seemed to come from this person. Moreover, this person was doing well under Oda Nobunaga, and later became a senior family official and one of several legion commanders. In the portrait of him in "Taikou 2", he looked older than Shibata Katsuie, with a very long beard, which led him to think that Niwa Nagahide and Shibata Katsuie were of the same age, at least in his thirties. Unexpectedly, he was only fifteen or sixteen, and it seemed that he had just started to be a nickname for Oda Nobunaga.

Ah Man loves to join in the fun. When he noticed that Yuan Ye was staring at Niwa Nagahide's back, he couldn't help but ride his mare over to look around. He didn't find anything strange, so he couldn't help but ask him, "What's wrong with this guy? Is there any problem?"

"No, he just looks nice." Yuanye looked away and asked casually, "Do you know him? Niwa Goro, Sadano Nagahide."

"I know!" Ah Man, a professional indeed, answered immediately, "You can tell from his family name. He was born in Niwa County. His family is a powerful noble family in Niwa County. Their overall strength is much stronger than that of the Maeda family. It's just that it's been so long, and the strength is scattered. There are seven or eight branches. He is considered the main branch, the third or fifth son of the Tamako Niwa family? Anyway, he has no right of inheritance.

As for him, he is the son-in-law of the fool's eldest half brother, Oda Nobuhiro, the son-in-law of the one who was captured alive by the Imagawa family in Mikawa Ansho Castle. It seems that they got married last year, so he can be considered the nephew-in-law of the fool. I just don't know if the fool recognizes him - the fool has always looked down on his eldest half brother. "

After listening to this, Yuanye touched his chin and felt that Oda Nobunaga was not recruiting the young men randomly. The young men seemed to be sons of local powerful families who had no inheritance rights. There must be some deep meaning behind it.

He thought to himself and told Ah Man, "Please keep an eye on him for me in the future. Let me know if anything happens."

Niwa Nagahide has a good future development, and he feels that he can also serve as a role model. By hanging out with him and Maeda Toshiie in the future, he should be able to avoid many pitfalls.

"Why?" Aman did not obey the order immediately, but became curious.

"You should pay attention to me if I tell you to. Why are you talking so much?" Yuan Ye complained first, then made up an excuse, "I think he's a talented guy. He will definitely achieve great things in the future. It's always a good idea to pay attention to him in advance."

Ah Man looked at him, then glanced at the direction where Niwa Nagahide left, suspecting that Yuan Ye was going crazy again, and couldn't help but said, "Really? I don't think he has much meat! Ah Qing can kill three of his kind at a time, so he must be a nobody!"

"Okay, stop talking nonsense!" Yuanye didn't want to talk nonsense with her. Talking nonsense with a chatterbox would only bring humiliation to himself, so he said directly, "Anyway, it's definitely a good idea for you to pay more attention to this person in the future. Now that you have nothing to do, go and urge them to speed up. We need to get to the rice field as soon as possible... By the way, where is the rice field?"

"Inabadi is about 16 or 17 miles northwest of Huangzi City. Haven't you been to Huangzi City before? Going up the river from Huangzi City for more than 10 miles is Inabadi City. Going west of Inabadi City for another 4 or 5 miles is Inabadi."

A-man answered and rode away, waving his whip wildly as he ran. He immediately changed roles from a ninja to a family elder and cursed loudly, "Hurry up, you bastards! Even dung beetles can walk faster than you! Don't dawdle, start pushing the carts. If I don't see Inaba Castle within an hour, none of you will have any food to eat today!"

She was born with a savage temperament, and she had beaten up a few lazy foot soldiers in the past, so these middle-aged and elderly soldiers and foot soldiers all obeyed her. They started pushing the ox carts without saying a word, and none of them looked unhappy - in Japan, as long as you have a low status, it is normal to be scolded, and it is not worth caring about at all.

Aman rode his horse back and forth to urge them on, and the convoy's speed immediately increased by 35%. It suddenly sped up and headed straight for the rice field. As the convoy went far away, a little head popped up from the bushes far away on the side of the road. The little head had a pretty face and charming fox eyes, but was dressed like a little boy, and the little bun on his head kept shaking.

She looked in the direction the convoy left for a while, then listened carefully. She reached out her hand to brush away the weeds and leaves above her head, and said curiously, "Why does it sound like the voice of that old bastard A-Man... A-Yu, quickly stick your head out and take a look. Is it that old bastard?"

A head popped up next to her. It looked and dressed exactly like her. After staring at her for a while, he shook his head and said jokingly, "It shouldn't be. The domaru costs dozens of strings of coins, the cannon costs nearly a hundred strings of coins, and the horse also costs more than ten strings of coins. A-Man can't possibly have so much money. You must have heard it wrong, A-Qian."

"That's true. I must have heard it wrong." Ah Qian nodded. He watched from afar the petite figure in fine domaru, with a peach-shaped hat on her head and a small flag on her back disappear. He felt that poor Ah Man could not possibly be so extravagant. But he couldn't help but lower his head and ponder, "Where did that old beast go? Why didn't he come to join us? Is he dead?"

(End of this chapter)