Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 79 Where is the Monkey?
Before traveling through time, Yuanye would play Japanese games like "Nobuo no Taiko 2", "Persona", and "Tokimeki Memories" on a daily basis, and would also read comics and TV series like "Dragon Ball" and "One Piece". When he had free time, he would even read domestically produced Japanese novels.

He thinks it's nothing. After all, it's not time for China to close its doors to the outside world. It's normal to open its eyes and see the world. Moreover, China and Japan are neighboring countries, and economic and cultural exchanges are unavoidable. On this basis, there's nothing wrong with taking the initiative to understand each other. If you don't take the initiative to understand other people's behavioral logic, national characteristics, and past history, are you waiting to be cheated in future dealings?
As for Japanese-backed novels, there is no problem at all. There is a game company called Koei in Japan, which has released 20 to 30 games in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series alone. Anime and comics like "The Cooking Master Boy", "Ranma" and "Dragon Ball" basically use China as the background. We can't just allow the Japanese to use Chinese history and culture as the background and elements, but not allow the Chinese to use Japan's history and culture as the background and elements, right?

Isn't this discrimination?

Or are they afraid that the Chinese will take advantage of Japan?
Therefore, Yuanye feels that he is not a person with a very extreme personality and generally will not do extreme things, but monkeys are another matter.

In a sense, this guy, because of his personal madness, changed the history of the entire East Asia and had an extremely bad impact on future generations. Yuanye felt that since he happened to have fallen into the Warring States Period in Japan, he had a certain responsibility to find him and help him change his fate.

Even from an idealistic point of view, this could be the significance of his accidental travel to Japan's Warring States Period.

Now there is only one question, how to find the monkey?

Yuanye began to walk around the desk again. He remembered that Monkey became a samurai at the beginning of "Taikou 2", that is, after the Battle of Okehazama. At that time, he was given the name "Kinoshita Tokichiro" by Oda Nobunaga, but it was still many years before Okehazama. Before that, he had no idea what his name was or where he lived.

Ah Man happened to be running back from the workshop to eat lunch. Seeing Yuan Ye circling like a donkey pulling a millstone, he asked Ah Qing in surprise, "What is he doing?"

Ah Qing shook her head and continued to write her own words. Anyway, as long as Yuan Ye was not hacked to death, she would have nothing to do with it. When Yuan Ye saw the "person-finding expert" coming, his eyes lit up. He quickly waved her over and asked, "If a person doesn't know his name and specific address, can you find him?"

"A warrior?"

"That's not the case. He should be a... commoner, right?" Yuanye couldn't be sure about this, but later generations said that Kinoshita Tokichiro came from a grassroots background, so he was most likely a commoner, right?
"Common people, that's too broad a scope. There must be something else!" Amandoudou frowned, feeling that Yuanye was going crazy again.

Yuanye hesitated for a moment. The information at hand was really limited. He said hesitantly: "He should be from Owari, a man. It's hard to say which county he is from, most likely from Kaito or Aichi. He looks... like a monkey. He is about 15 or 16 years old. He can read and do arithmetic. He may know some martial arts. There is a certain possibility that he is related to Maeda... Well, let's not count this one for now. Are the previous ones enough?"

He couldn't say for sure when Monkey and Maeda Toshiie became friends, or whether they knew each other as teenagers, so he removed this information for now to avoid misleading Aman.

Ah Man nodded reluctantly, thinking that these conditions were not bad enough, but he immediately questioned: "He is a commoner, not very old, how come he can read and do arithmetic and martial arts? Isn't this better than me? I was carefully taught by my old man, but I don't have such good conditions!"

Hey, you know what, it does seem a bit unreasonable... The monkey was most likely educated, otherwise he would not have been valued by Oda Nobunaga with his mediocre martial arts, illiteracy and arithmetic skills. But how did a boy from a farming family have the money to go to school?
Could it be that this guy was not a grassroots commoner as later generations said?
So what is his background?
Yuanye was a little unsure, and after thinking for a while he said directly: "You can try looking according to these conditions first!" He planned to go back and recall it carefully, and also ask Maeda Toshiie. Maybe he could find him through Maeda Toshiie - this was a two-pronged approach, and there should be no problem in finding the person.

"Okay!" Ah Man felt that this was a bad job, but Yuan Ye had given her too much, so she had to take it. She just wanted to take precautions first. "I can go find someone, but you can't blame me if I can't find him. You don't even know what he looks like."

Yuanye was not an unreasonable person, so he agreed directly, "As long as you try your best, I won't blame you if we can't find it."

Ah Man was satisfied, and then she remembered the main purpose of coming here, and pulled his sleeve hard: "You are free anyway, go teach Yayoi how to fry chicken. The ones she fried are soft and a little black, not tasty."

Ah Qing also looked up when she heard this, her eyes slightly shining. She also liked the new dishes "invented" by Yuan Ye. People in this era were short of oil and water, and their desire for oil was much greater than that of later generations, especially since she was a martial artist, she was even more eager.

…………After a hearty meal, Yuanye was planning to write a letter to Maeda Toshiie, asking him to get together someday to ask about the monkey. Unexpectedly, when he had written half of the letter, Maeda Toshiie came by himself, bringing with him Niwa Nagahide and an unfamiliar young samurai.

He hurried out to greet them, invited them into the house, and served them tea. His eyes fell on the unfamiliar young samurai. He had a vague impression of him. It seemed that this young samurai was also present when Maeda Toshiharu begged for mercy, and he also helped Maeda Toshiharu leave in the end. He might be the fifth son of the Maeda family, Sawaki Yoshiyuki.

Sure enough, Maeda Toshiie noticed his gaze and immediately introduced him, "This is my younger brother, Sawaki Touhachiro Yoshiyuki. You can just call him Touhachiro."

Sawaki Tohachiro looks similar to Maeda Toshiie, and is relatively tall, with broad shoulders and a strong body. He looks strong and powerful, but he should not be a "strange person". He has a katana on his waist, a bun on his head, and his clothes are very formal. He is not as carefree as his fourth brother Maeda Toshiie. On the contrary, he is very polite. He greeted Yuanye in a serious manner, and said "excuse me" several times to apologize for his intrusion.

Yuanye had no choice but to exchange pleasantries with him, and then greeted Niwa Nagahide, whom he had only met once, and said a lot of polite words again - there was no other way, the ancient times were so troublesome, and it was no wonder that there were so many "strange people" in ancient Japan. Now Yuanye even wanted to become a "crazy person", after all, the Japanese did learn all the bad things of Confucianism.

After finally completing the meeting procedure, Yuan Ye was a little surprised at how these three people got together, but he just happened to have something to ask Maeda Toshiie, so he didn't care what the three of them were doing and asked about his own affairs first: "By the way, Mr. Maeda, last time I met someone who said he was your friend. This person looked a bit like a monkey. I wonder if you have any impression of him?"

Maeda Toshiie was stunned for a moment, then asked directly, "Does he look like a monkey? How can I have such an ugly friend!" After saying that, he turned around and asked Sawaki Touhachiro for confirmation, "Do you remember? Who around me looks like a monkey?"

Sawaki Touhachiro pondered for a moment and shook his head slightly.

Yuanye said quickly, "Maybe that guy is just bragging, but he doesn't look like a samurai. He's about 16 or 17 years old and has some knowledge. Master Maeda, think about it again. Do any of your friends have facial hair, arms that are longer than their knees, or people who walk with a limp?"

This time, not only Maeda Toshiie felt strange, but Niwa and the other two also began to feel strange, but Hara pretended not to see it.

Maeda Toshiie thought about it again and said hesitantly, "Sago does have facial hair, but he is almost thirty years old..." He thought for a while but couldn't remember anything. He felt it was fresh for a moment. He was a wonderful person who dared to pretend to be his friend. He wanted to make friends with him, so he asked Yuanye with great interest, "Where is that person? I'll go meet him!"

It turns out that during this period of time, the "dog and the monkey" had not yet gotten together. They probably became close friends when they followed Oda Nobunaga together.

Yuanye was slightly disappointed, but he remained calm. He thought he could just look for him slowly. It was not a big deal. He quickly said, "We just met once. I am also looking for him. Please help me keep an eye on him in the future, Master Maeda."

After saying that, he quickly changed the subject, glanced around, and asked with interest: "Why are you three here this time..."

Niwa Nagahide said a little embarrassedly, "I have something to ask of Lord Nohara, but I didn't dare to come to your house without authorization, so I asked Lord Maeda to introduce me."

"What is that?"

Niwa Nagahide had two things to ask him. Before coming, he had asked Maeda Toshiie about Hara no Yamada's personality and temperament. Knowing that Hara no Yamada was also a "strange person", he said directly, "I heard that Lord No Yamada has settled in Owari. Do you need a retainer to serve you?"

(End of this chapter)