Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 74: Legendary Creatures: Sucker
Yamaguchi Kyotsugu was instigated by the Imagawa family to rebel, which had a great impact on the Oda Danjotada family. After all, whether it was the Matsudaira family that came to harass or the Kiyosu Oda family that came to take advantage, they were all foreign enemies that attacked - this was very common in the Japanese Warring States Period, and except for Harano, a modern man, everyone else had long been accustomed to it.

But the nature of the rebellion by important family members like Yamaguchi Kyotsugu was different. It was a family strife, representing that many people in the Danjo Tadana family had completely lost confidence in Oda Nobunaga, believing that they would have no future by following him, and that it would even be difficult to preserve their own small family. It was time for them to find a way to survive.

Oda Nobunaga seemed to be keenly aware of this. He did not fly into a rage and shout for war as he did before. Instead, he sent an envoy to try to persuade Yamaguchi Kyotsugu to come back. After the envoy was killed, he even brought his followers and the young people to the Tenshiro River in person, wanting to have a talk with Yamaguchi Kyotsugu.

In the end, the negotiation failed. Yamaguchi Kyotsugu was repairing fortifications along the Tenshiro River and was determined to follow the Imagawa family. A small conflict broke out between the two sides, and each side lost twenty to thirty lives. Oda Nobunaga retreated first, and when the Imagawa family heard that a fight had started, a large group of mounted warriors rushed over immediately. If they continued to fight him, they would suffer a great loss.

However, after Oda Nobunaga returned, he still had no intention of sending out a large-scale army. He showed a rare calmness and only sent some of his retainers to build forts along the Tenshiro River to strengthen the local defense. This was considered as his tacit approval of the Yamaguchi family's rebellion. From then on, the border between the Masatada family and the Imagawa family was redrawn to the Tenshiro River area.

With someone setting a good example, many local powerful families in Chita County began to waver and started to side with the Imagawa family, either openly or secretly. After all, one of the gates to the Chita Peninsula was controlled by the Imagawa family, and the reputation of "Owari Big Fool" was really bad. Even though the record was currently 1:1, these people were unsure and began to look for ways to retreat, wanting to quickly stand with the strong.

At the very least, you have to bet on both sides. Otherwise, in this unfortunate world, the more loyal you are, the faster you will die!
Then, a strange scene appeared. Before the Imagawa family officially fought with the Oda Danjotada family, the entire Chita Peninsula had already shown signs of a complete change of flag.

For a while, Dan Zhengzhong's family was in a precarious situation again, and it seemed that the territory under actual control was going to be reduced by 25%.

At this time, Lady Tsuchida, the widow of the "Tiger of Owari" Oda Nobuhide and the mother of Oda Nobunaga, accompanied by Shibata Katsuie, led thousands of elite troops to Nakuruno Castle. After a deep conversation with Oda Nobunaga, she made a public appearance again, showing her readiness to join forces with Oda Nobunaga to attack the next rebel at any time. Only then did she barely control the unrest in people's hearts.

"So, the two brothers Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobuyuki have reconciled again?" Yuanye was still waiting to go on another expedition, but he didn't expect that it would turn out like this in the end. The Matsudaira family, the Kiyosu main family, and the Imagawa family took turns to beat Oda Nobunaga. When the rule of the Masatada family was on the verge of crumbling, the two brothers who were originally going to fight for the family heir actually shook hands and made peace, and decided to unite against the outside world first.

It's a bit magical, at the beginning everyone thought that the two brothers were going to fight, and they were all looking forward to the result, but in the end they didn't fight, but they did have a lot of messy battles.

Ah Man scratched his face and said hesitantly, "That should be the case. Otherwise, if they fight again, both will be defeated, and the Tansho Tadashi family will be completely finished. Besides, if Oda Nobuyuki were to take down Oda Nobunaga now, he probably wouldn't be sure of that. After all, Oda Nobunaga easily defeated the Kiyosu army, so he still has some strength. It would be better to let Oda Nobunaga take on the Imagawa family first."

"That's right!" Yuanye nodded slightly, thinking that this was probably the case. Even if Oda Nobuyuki could defeat Oda Nobunaga and successfully seize the throne of the family head, the Imagawa family would most likely pick the peach. It would be better to let Oda Nobunaga and the Imagawa family consume each other first, and he would accumulate strength in Suemori Castle.

In this case……

It seems to be quite good. The power of the Danzhengtada family has been reunited, and the "Tiger of Owari" has been resurrected by 70% to 80%. The deterrent effect is still there. At least the local powerful families dare not jump easily again, for fear of being killed to scare the monkeys.

The Imagawa family also became wary, and now that they had already gained the upper hand, they were unlikely to continue launching large-scale attacks, lest they end up making things worse and instead making the Dan Zhengzhong family more united, or even causing the Dan Zhengzhong family to fight to the death with them, allowing others to take advantage.

Yuanye pondered for a while, and then asked Aman curiously, "What did Oda Nobunaga and his mother talk about? Was there any other agreement?"

"I only know that old woman Tsuchida cursed Oda Nobunaga loudly. Her voice was so sharp that the dogs on the other floor were trembling with fear. Also, Oda Nobunaga looked very unhappy when he came out, and he smashed a lot of things when he returned."

Ah Man could only give a general idea. She practiced Yang Shu, which was about collecting intelligence in an open and aboveboard manner. She was not good at eavesdropping, and she was incapable of such confidential conversations. "I don't know anything else. Most people wouldn't dare to approach and listen to such things. If they are not careful, their whole family will die. They will definitely hide as far away as possible. I can't get any details."

Yuanye was a little disappointed that he didn't get to gossip, mainly because the ancient times were so boring, without even any entertainment activities. So he really wanted to watch the bloody ethical drama at 8 o'clock in the evening about Oda Nobunaga's family, but it didn't matter if he couldn't watch it. It wasn't a big deal, as long as peace could be restored in Owari.

Even if it is only a temporary peace, sooner or later the Oda and Nobunaga brothers will have a fight over who will be the head of the family, but being able to temporarily restore peace is already quite good!

…………

Since there would be no more fighting, Yuanye just focused on his role as a "medical practitioner". He spent more than ten days stabilizing the conditions of the wounded, which was considered at least a good result. This time there were seriously injured soldiers, more than twenty of whom died, three of whom were warriors. He was still scratching his head, thinking about how to prove that he had tried his best and how to explain to the families of the wounded. In the end, no one pursued the matter and the bodies were sent away.

On the contrary, his reputation as a "miracle doctor" became even more famous. Everyone agreed that his medical skills were very superb. He could cure nine out of ten patients alive, which was simply a miracle. Even many uninjured middle and lower-level warriors came to him for treatment, or brought gifts to ask him to see a doctor for their family members.

Yuan Ye had nothing to do, so he did help. After treating the patient, he asked about the "secret medicine for wounds" in the warriors' homes with great interest. In the end, he was surprised to find that he was really a "miracle doctor" and the word "Mongolian" could be removed - most warriors were reluctant to reveal their family secrets, but there were a few who were more generous and willing to tell him, which directly opened his eyes. The most normal prescription among these prescriptions was to grind ginger and wormwood leaves into powder and apply it to the wound to stop bleeding - this prescription was more or less useful, at least it was harmless.

The next most normal way is to mix egg white with plaster and apply it to the wound to stop the bleeding - this is harder to say, as there are a lot of bacteria in the egg white, which may cause wound infection. In fact, it is not as good as wood ash.

The next thing that is not normal is the horse dung soup and reed hair soup, which are made by cooking soup with horse dung, black horse hair and white horse hair. Horse dung soup is taken internally to treat internal injuries, while reed hair soup is used to clean wounds and treat external injuries. Aman has this secret recipe, and if you wash and drink it, you will most likely die.

The most abnormal thing is to use women's menstrual cloth soaked in coarse salt to bandage the wound - don't even think about it, you're doomed.

After asking around, Yuanye decisively changed his job from "Mongolian miracle doctor" to "real miracle doctor". After all, looking at these unfortunate secret recipes, if he wasn't a miracle doctor, who would be? He finally understood why Oda Nobunaga spent money to hire him to be the "medical magistrate". Without him, at least two-thirds of the injured would have died, but he only killed more than twenty people. It was indeed a miracle.

Of course, he treated these middle and lower-level samurai not simply to learn about the "Japanese medieval medical secrets", but out of curiosity. He was more looking for sources of goods. After all, the relationships between the Owari samurai were complicated, and anyone could get in touch with the local nobles who had their own territory. Through them, it was easy to get cheap bean cakes, sulfur and alkali, which was also a new channel for purchasing raw materials, which could lay a good foundation for the subsequent expansion of soy sauce production.

After finishing all these chores, he directly handed a letter to Oda Nobunaga. Even though he had killed more than 20 people, he still confidently asked for payment and asked to go home. However, Oda Nobunaga seemed to be in a bad mood and did not invite him to drink, eat or chat. He only sent someone to give him a "replacement" and did not ask him for change. He considered that his mission was completed and he could go back to Takeuchi Manor on his own.

Yuanye was finally freed. Fearing that he would cause trouble if he stayed any longer, he packed up his things and fled with his family that day. However, as they hurriedly walked out of the castle town of Kuno Castle, Aman slapped his head and shouted to him from a distance: "Wait, those guys are still in the town!"

Yuan Ye looked back at her, not understanding what she said, and asked curiously, "What are those guys?"

"Have you forgotten? Those are the eighty-nine old, weak, sick and disabled people you wasted your money on!" Ah Man originally had a lot of complaints about that group of people, thinking that the "quality of the goods" was really too bad. Now Yuan Ye actually dared to forget about it, which was too much. He couldn't help but start complaining, "If I hadn't asked Maejima Jiro to send a few bags of beans and buckwheat, they would have starved to death! Sometimes I really don't have to say anything bad about you, but you really don't care about anything else. If it weren't for me, these thirty strings of money would have been thrown into the water in vain. I don't know whether this is your home or mine, and I still have to worry about you..."

She kept on nagging, and Yuanye had nothing to say, and couldn't say anything back. He had been so busy during this period that he had really forgotten about these people. He waited until she stopped talking before hesitantly asking, "Are they still here?"

"Of course they are here. The day before yesterday... uh, it seemed like the day before yesterday. I took a look when I passed by. There were eighty-nine of them, not one missing."

"They didn't run away?" Yuan Ye couldn't understand. He didn't send anyone to watch them. Logically, they should have dispersed more than ten days ago. Why didn't they run away? Did he have to tell them clearly and hold a farewell party before they would leave?
"Of course not!" Ah Man was a little surprised at his reaction, but he was used to it. After all, he was always weird, so he said directly, "And why would they run away? You are their master now!"

"Am I their... master?" Yuan Ye thought about it and it seemed to be true. He began to feel troubled and said hesitantly, "Have they never thought about going home?"

"Their house has been burned down, and they have nothing to eat when they go back. Without you, they will starve to death. At least most of them will not be able to survive this winter." Ah Man looked at him with increasingly strange eyes, "What on earth are you thinking about? Take them back quickly!"

Yuanye was speechless. He felt that it was so damn difficult to do good things these days - he was just kind-hearted and didn't want these innocent civilians to die or be sold as prostitutes, but in the end these people ended up rotting in his hands.

Does he have to be responsible for helping these people get married and start a career before he can be considered to have sent the Buddha to heaven?

But now that things have come to this, he can't just say, "Just leave them in Gunye City to fend for themselves." That would be too inhumane. Besides, there's no reason to do good things halfway. He could only hold his anger and wave to Aman, Aqing, and Taojing brothers, signaling them to take the people with them and go back first.

What a miserable world this is. The worse the world gets, the harder it is to do good things. It doesn’t make sense at all!

It should be the other way around!

He kept complaining there, and soon the group was brought over by Aman and his team. Aman was very responsible and carefully counted the heads, confirming that none of the eighty-nine were missing, worth thirty strings of cash, which could be exchanged for fifteen donkeys, and that the "goods" of seven and a half Yayoi were not lost, so he was slightly relieved.

Yuanye also looked at this group of people with panic on their faces who didn't even dare to look him in the eye, shook his head, and ordered them to follow the ox cart. Then he turned his horse around and went home first. However, the more he walked, the bigger he felt his head was getting, as if he had become a legendary creature - a sucker!

(End of this chapter)