CHAPTER 152: CHAPTER 100: IT’S REALLY TOUGH BEING THE HEAD OF THE ODA NOBUNAGA FAMILY!

After Oda Nobunaga achieved a great victory over Katsuyori Shibata and Lin Xiuzhen near Shinoki Castle, it was not long before his entire army continued to advance and began to approach Mosen Castle, at the same time dispatching envoys to urge surrender.

Two days later, with only miscellaneous soldiers and ashigaru left to defend Mosen Castle, the gates were opened, and Oda Shinsei and Katsuyori Shibata knelt at the gate, expressing submission.

Oda Nobunaga acted with great magnanimity, letting bygones be bygones: he still recognized Oda Shinsei as his brother and still acknowledged Katsuyori Shibata’s position as a family elder. However, all the relatives of the two, as well as Oda Nobunaga’s own mother, Lady Tsuchida, and his sisters, were all bundled together and sent back with the army to Nagano Castle. By the time their party returned to Nagano Castle, Lin Xiuzhen had already been reinstated as a family elder of the Oda Danjo Chonosuke household—only no longer entrusted with the most important tasks.

Ah Qing could not accept it, clenching her fists tightly, unable to understand how the culprits who caused so many deaths could be forgiven. She asked Harano, "Why?"

Harano, for his part, had long expected it, gently pried open her fist, and sighed, "Because they are great magnates of Owari. The relationships among the powerful families of Owari are intricate and deeply rooted. Killing the two of them is easy, but that would mean Oda Nobunaga would never forgive the rebellion of the Owari clans, and the fighting would have to continue until one side was utterly destroyed.

But the current situation in Owari can no longer bear greater chaos. Outside, there’s the main Oda house at Qingzhou, the Imagawa family, the Matsudaira family, and many other external enemies eyeing hungrily—so they have reached a new compromise."

Ah Qing did not understand what politics was, stood in a daze for a while, and said blankly, "Then what about Sister Ah Man’s revenge..."

"Ah Man’s revenge is, of course, for us to take. You can’t rely on outsiders for such things." Harano spoke softly. "Don’t be anxious. We can take our time. Lin Xiuzhen won’t die anytime soon."

Ah Qing slowly quieted down, gently squeezing Harano’s hand to show her trust. At that moment, from outside came Yayoi’s excited voice: "Lord Saburō, Lord Maeda Sonshiro (Toshie) is here, and he’s brought Tao Liulang and the others back!"

Harano was startled for a moment, then hurried to go out and greet them. Maeda Toshie’s arrow wound on his face had not yet healed; half his head was bandaged, and behind him followed a dozen battered and wounded Lang Faction men, including the Momoi brothers. Upon seeing Harano, they immediately burst into tears, showing they’d suffered much during this time.

Harano quickly stepped forward and consoled them with a few words, then looked to Maeda Toshie, who explained: "His Lordship scolded Lin Xiuzhen severely and ordered him to hand over all the captives. These are your people—just...these are all that’s left."

"Thank you."

"It’s nothing; Lin Xiuzhen also captured many of His Lordship’s men, so it’s similar." Maeda Toshie thought for a while and added, "Also, some of the money and livestock you lost have been surrendered by Lin Xiuzhen as well. Those were given to Lord Niwa to distribute among the harmed houses and widows... You should go and see him. Still, how much you’ll get back, that’s hard to say."

"I understand. Please thank His Lordship for me." Harano didn’t care much about property; it was already good that Oda Nobunaga remembered to help him recover his people.

"Well, then, I’ll take my leave!" Maeda Toshie, having finished his errand, did not even sit before taking his leave.

Harano saw him out and, as he accompanied him, asked, "How is Lord Sawaki Tenguhachi recovering from his wounds?"

This time, both sides of the Hosokawa Family had lost heavily: the second son died, the fifth, Sawaki Ryoji, had his right forearm severed. In these times, even though Harano had done his best to help, he could not guarantee the hand would be as flexible as before; there was a high chance he would never wield a blade again.

Maeda Toshie sighed, troubled, and said, "Much as you said before, I fear he may never see battle again..."

Harano sighed with him and reminded him to have Sawaki Ryoji come again for examination, then stopped and watched him walk away.

When he returned to his temporary quarters, he found Ah Qing questioning the Momoi brothers about what happened after they parted that night. Tao Liulang, in a mournful voice, was saying, "...Ah Man told us to run first. We split up and ran along the river bend, but I hadn’t gotten far before I was caught. Then...I saw from afar that Ah Man was shot dead."

This was only to be expected—in that situation, survival was truly unlikely. But foreseeing it was one thing; hearing the terrible news was another. Harano still felt a wrench of pain in his heart, scarcely less than the "as if cut with a blade" spoken of in legends. Still, he managed to steady himself, went and gently embraced Ah Qing’s trembling body to keep her from being provoked into running out right now to seek Lin Xiuzhen for vengeance.

He kept calm, holding Ah Qing to keep her still, and then asked Tao Liulang, "What about Ah Man’s... body?"

"I don’t know. I only caught a distant glimpse before being dragged away."

Ah Qing wiped her tears, calmed down a little, and said to Harano, "I will go to the river bend to look for... sister."

"Go, then!" Seeing she was calm, Harano did not stop her, and kept questioning Tao Liulang, "So you two were locked up by the Lin family all this time?"

Tao Liulang and Jing Qilang nodded together, then Tao Liulang stammered, "The Lin family kept asking about the soy sauce workshop. We... They beat us when we said nothing, but...we didn’t say a word. Uh, then they just locked us up."

They had only ever been responsible for cooking and carrying supplies and had no idea what Harano had added, even if they wished to speak they could not, so they were beaten for nothing several times.

But saying that wouldn’t sound brave, for being captured is no glorious thing, so it was best to phrase it heroically.

Harano understood, but he didn’t mind, and immediately asked, "Only the Lin family questioned you—no one else?"

"Uh...we don’t know." The Momoi brothers exchanged glances and shook their heads. They had been too dazed from the beatings and were not familiar with the Lin family members, so could not tell if any outsiders were present.

"Anyone bald?" Harano added, struck by suspicion, half-thinking the Hosokawa Guanyin Temple and the Lin family might have a deal. If so, he’d have to add another to his list of enemies.

The Momoi brothers looked at each other, recollected for a moment, and shook their heads in unison: "Doesn’t seem like it."

Harano nodded lightly: for now, it appeared the monks weren’t involved—only the Lin family, driven by greed, crazily chased after him that night insisting on a life-or-death struggle. Five thousand kan a year truly is not a small sum, equal to the output of seven or eight villages. The Lin family’s attempts to seize it made sense.

He had long feared something like this; fearful the local magnates or temple families would seize it by force. He’d lived in hiding at Takeshige Manor, never standing out, but still had not managed to escape in the end.

He made another mental note against the Lin family, only to find, as he pondered, that the Momoi brothers looked frightened. He quickly spoke kindly to comfort them, telling them to rest and heal, assuring them that all their past contributions and risks were remembered, and that as long as the Nozawa family survived, they would never be let down.

He then ordered them carried away for treatment and bandaging, personally went to comfort the ten-odd surviving Lang Faction men, promising that the rewards and promises Ah Man made before dying would be honored. He would, in time, fulfill them all, and would not let them risk their lives in vain.

He attended to these miscellaneous matters, then after thinking a bit, took out a ledger and went to see his temporary superior, Niwa Nagahide. Niwa, upon seeing him, was very happy—Harano had been a great help to him during this time; without him, many troubles would not have been so easily resolved.

At that moment, Niwa was not too busy and in good spirits. He ordered someone to serve Harano a cup of tea, then smiled and asked: "Lord Saburō, you’re here about the lost property, aren’t you?"

In these days of constant interaction, both men—gentle and polite by nature—were now familiar enough to use personal names. Yet, as Harano was much older, Niwa still added a polite honorific.

Harano nodded and smiled, "I heard from Lord Maeda, so I came to take a look."

Niwa Nagahide, knowing he’d suffered heavy losses, had already prepared for him. He went to the table, fetched a list, and handed it to him. "There’s little to go around, but...we have to look after our own first. You take a look at these!"

Harano glanced at it—the list was long, with all sorts of odds and ends: rice, buckwheat, oxen, horses, donkeys, copper coins, and more. Altogether, it was worth two or three hundred kan at most.

Such compensation was far from enough to make up his losses, but even though Lin Xiuzhen had surrendered and disgorged much of his loot, it was insufficient to recompense all harmed samurai and widows. This was more a token of political settlement; getting even this much owed to Niwa looking after him.

Of course, if he pressed, Niwa would probably give him more, but there was no need.

He glanced at the list and put it away, smiling at Niwa Nagahide, "Thank you very much."

"Not at all. These are all His Lordship’s orders." Niwa Nagahide would not claim any credit. Only Nobunaga would do such a singular thing—virtually humiliating Lin Xiuzhen by ordering him to compensate the victims. Otherwise, by custom, there’d be no such compensation: if your house was looted in war, that was just bad luck.

"Then I thank Lord of Upper General." Harano said, following his words, producing the account book as he did so—raising a work topic, "These are the quantities of saltpeter collected during these days—do you think it’s enough?"

Niwa Nagahide cared about this greatly, immediately took the account book and thumbed through it carefully, checked the tally, and said, disappointed, "Is this all there is?"

"For now, this is it." Harano asked calmly, "Is the shortfall still large?"

"It’s far too little. Not even a third of His Lordship’s demand." Niwa Nagahide was disappointed, again reading through the account book in detail, finding Harano had already considered every source he could think of. He could not imagine where else to dig for saltpeter and hesitantly asked, "Is there really no other way?"

"For the time being, no." Harano remained unhurried; rushing things would resolve nothing, and the request he intended to make would be hard for others to accept. He needed everyone to become frantic and desperate, then there would be less resistance.

That would not be difficult; Oda Nobunaga was especially skilled at making his household retainers frantic. All Harano had to do now was wait.

Niwa Nagahide was finally beginning to understand the feelings Hirata Masahide must have had back in the day. Being a manager for Oda Nobunaga was truly too hard, and he could not help but sigh, "This is going to be troublesome!"