CHAPTER 141: CHAPTER 91: MUSIC MARKET ORDER

After Hirata Masahide died, Oda Nobunaga kept a low profile for a while, not showing himself until after the autumn harvest. But when he finally did appear, there was none of that "prodigal son turns over a new leaf" that everyone had been hoping for—forget about him becoming all warm and courteous; in the end, he was still the same as before, and immediately reiterated the very first order he gave after becoming Family Head: build roads.

Still, Hirata Masahide’s death did change him a bit. He seemed steadier, not forcing everyone to get moving across the entire Lower Four Provinces, but instead came up with a plan: first, widen and reinforce the roads between a few major castles. The standards were loosened too—the first step only required the roads to be at least two rooms wide, and they shouldn’t turn to mud pits when it rained.

This time, way fewer of the local gentry were affected, so the opposition wasn’t nearly as fierce as before. Plus, Nobunaga kept sending people door to door to scold and threaten, so eventually those gentry begrudgingly started working, even though the grumbling never stopped in private and the construction crawled along at a snail’s pace.

Oda Nobunaga totally didn’t care about this, not bothered by the complaints at all. He’d just occasionally send someone to threaten them a bit to pick up the pace, then disappear again himself.

When he finally reappeared at the end of autumn, he didn’t consult with anyone and went straight ahead to issue a "Free Market Edict," inviting craftspeople and free merchants to settle in the Castle Town of Nagano Castle. As long as someone was willing to come, there’d be a reward—like exemption from labor taxes, interest-free loans, free residential land, official guarantees for personal and property safety, and a bunch of other perks, instantly setting off...

This time it didn’t trigger an uproar, since it didn’t have much to do with the local gentry. But the monks in the temples started to panic.

The "guild system"—called "za"—was basically a feudal trade association. You could only run a certain business if you joined the guild and became a Seat Actor. This was how commerce in Japan worked since way back; it was basically a monopoly system. And right now, this monopoly power was totally in the hands of the temple houses (the monks), who made their money by collecting the "Seat Actors’ dues" and by outright monopolizing sales of high-profit goods.

Like when Harano wanted to produce and sell soy sauce before—he counted as an up-and-coming craftsperson or free merchant, but since he wasn’t part of a guild, under current law, he had no right to make and sell condiments at all. So, he had to either go to the Guanyin Temple network in the Lower Four Prefectures or the Zhengde Temple network in the Upper Four Provinces. Once he got a permit from the Seat Head and paid his dues to the temple, only then could he start operating legally.

He at least had Samurai status, and still got stuck like this—not to mention all the small-time craftspeople and merchants who just switched over from the townsfolk class—those folks simply got worked over by the monks however they wanted. If you didn’t listen, if you didn’t let the monks get their cut, they’d actually show up to chop you up. The monk soldiers they kept weren’t just for show.

These up-and-coming craftspeople and free merchants really had no way out, so they just had to swallow it. But now, Oda Nobunaga suddenly jumped out and issued the Free Market Edict—"free" here means freedom; Free Market is all about encouraging open trade and free professions. It doesn’t matter if you’re part of a guild, do whatever job you want, sell whatever you want, forget about the guild dues—he’ll provide protection, and you just pay commercial tax to him in the future.

This was basically snatching rice right out of the monks’ mouths—they couldn’t accept it. Within days, envoys from temples all over gathered in Nagano Castle, either lobbying some household retainer to go plead on their behalf, or just showing up shirtless for a face-to-face debate with Oda Nobunaga.

Bottom line, they all wanted the same thing: for Oda Nobunaga to take back the Free Market Edict.

Just like that, Nagano Castle became the eye of the storm once again—buzzing with excitement.

This had Ah Man absolutely thrilled—like a raccoon in a melon patch, he was so excited he ran over to the Castle Town every day, sniffing here and snooping there, then came home full of gossip to share with Harano, constantly marveling at how Oda Nobunaga was always causing a ruckus. Every month there was some huge headline. Truly, as the top Oddity of Owari Province, he lived up to the title. The Oda Danjo Chonosuke family must have had the worst luck over eight generations to end up with him!

Harano was interested too. With his pathetic knowledge of Japan’s Middle Ages and his idiot-level insight from playing Taiko 2, he obviously knew about the famous "Guild-Free Free Market" policy. But he hadn’t expected the policy to be implemented in stages—in his mind, "Guild-Free Free Market" was a package deal: wipe out the za system, unleash free trade, and take control of commerce and industry back from the monks. Instead, Oda Nobunaga only did half the job—he turned a blind eye to the guilds’ existence, just got rid of the guild restrictions in Nagano Castle’s Castle Town.

But thinking about it, Harano could see why—the monks weren’t to be messed with. Taking things step by step like this might look nuts or impulsive, but on some level, it could help ease tensions.

This farce went on for almost a month. The monks’ protests didn’t accomplish squat, and as for the household retainers’ attempts at persuasion, Oda Nobunaga treated them like background noise—not even worth a second of attention. If Hirata Masahide were still alive, maybe there’d be some hope of dragging him back, but with Hirata Masahide gone, there wasn’t a soul who could rein him in.

So, the monks had to leave with their tails between their legs.

They didn’t have any cards to play—Oda Nobuhide had built too strong a foundation. Even though the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family was starting to look a bit divided, and the new Family Head, Oda Nobunaga, had already been beaten up three times and looked worse for wear, when it came down to it, he still had overwhelming power over all the other forces in Owari Province. If real fighting broke out, at the very least he could drag the whole Guanyin Temple or Zhengde Temple network down to hell with him.

Oda Nobunaga might’ve had a screw loose, but the monks weren’t crazy—they were still pretty comfortable and didn’t have any reason to risk it all.

So, they put up with it for now—after all, it was just the Castle Town of Nagano Castle, and their own seat actors weren’t being kicked out, just that some "unlicensed" shopkeepers and workshops were joining in. They could just about tolerate that.

They went back home cursing Oda Nobunaga, and at last, Nagano Castle calmed down. Not long after the monks left, Harano got an invitation delivered—Oda Nobunaga had someone send him a plot of land and wanted him to open a soy sauce shop in the Castle Town of Nagano Castle, to set an example for newcomers and prove that Oda Nobunaga sticks to his word—not just using the new craftspeople and free merchants as cannon fodder.

This suited Harano just fine. He didn’t think much of the monks anyway—if you’re already a monk and still chasing money, what’s the point?—and he didn’t want to be milked by them anymore. So, he immediately answered Oda Nobunaga’s call, sending Maeshima Shichiro to find craftspeople to build the shop, and sorting through the "old, weak, sick, and disabled" household staff he’d bought to pick out the adult women for sales training, ready to send them to the Castle Town as sales clerks.

If nothing unexpected happened, probably by the start of next year (lunar calendar), his first shop in Owari would be open for business.

At this point, he had to admit he might actually be inferior to the ancients in some ways—at least, he just didn’t have that brand of craziness in his own personality, the guts to go head-to-head with everyone else.

If it were up to him, he’d probably still be weighing every option, thinking about how to pull off "free trade" without clashing with the temple houses. He would never be like Oda Nobunaga—no matter how bad things looked, no matter what possible disaster could come, or whether the timing was right: just do it first and worry later!

Maybe, in all times and all places, you have to be a bit mad to achieve great things!

Harano gave himself a little self-reflection about his own shortcomings—he’s just not the go-ballistic-until-pushed-into-a-corner type. Only when he’s really desperate would he go all out. He felt like, in this area, he came up a little short compared to Oda Nobunaga—but, whatever, he wasn’t that competitive; he just wanted to keep living his own steady, peaceful life.

Soon enough, winter arrived, and all of Owari Province hunkered down for the cold months again. Oda Nobunaga wasn’t stirring up any mischief this time.

Harano did some calendar math—didn’t have it quite right, but he figured they’d passed the Gregorian New Year by now. Maybe he’d already been in Middle Ages Japan for a full year.

Even though that year was pretty pathetic—awkward and bumpy—he’d still managed to survive with his dumb son, made some new friends, found some helping hands, moved into a nice big house, and every meal was tasty and filling.

For him, that was already pretty good—he didn’t have any bigger dreams than that.

He just didn’t know what next year—the lunar new year—would bring, whether he’d find a way home, or if he’d be able to keep hanging on.

Hopefully, from here on out, things could keep being this safe and stable!

Volume 2: The Death of the Tiger of Owari—End

Volume 3: Hello, My Territory—to be continued