CHAPTER 233: CHAPTER 165: SAVE GRANDPA!

The next morning, Ah Man hurried back to New Wanjin by boat, preparing to report the detailed situation in Minoh to Harano, and as soon as she set foot on the wharf, she saw large groups of laborers methodically loading supplies onto ships.

The Wanjin Army was on the move too. Several Wanjin Army officers were in one corner of the dock discussing with members of the Wanjin Navy, apparently planning transport capacity and preparing for action.

Ah Man glanced over from a distance, sensing that the Wanjin Army was becoming more and more professional—every little task had someone assigned to it, and there was already a standardized operating system in place. Perhaps this was what Harano always called a "template," and striving for "the sparrow may be small, but it has all its vital organs."

She didn’t disturb these officers and just asked the dock manager for Harano’s whereabouts. Once she confirmed his location, she went straight to find him. Harano was currently in the Wanjin military camp, having just finished a meeting with his officers, and was studying the Minoh map with the rest of the group.

Seeing her arrive, Harano ended the discussion and brought her into the office. But before he could ask about the specifics in Minoh, Ah Man was already concerned and asked, "You’ve already decided to send out troops?"

Harano poured her a glass of water and replied offhandedly, "Yeah, using the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family’s trade routes comes at a cost. It wouldn’t look good for us to refuse a request for military assistance. Plus, we’re short on manpower right now. Going out for an expedition will do us no harm—maybe we can bring back some population while we’re at it."

Ah Man nodded, not at all surprised. Even stationed at Atsuta port collecting intelligence, she knew Harano had been fretting lately over the lack of workforce. She took the water, gulped it down, and started detailing the situation in Minoh: "The news is confirmed—Saito Dosan really did lose Inaba Castle, and he fled into the mountains of Minoh. I heard he’s in the area around Turtle Mountain Castle now."

Know your enemy and yourself, and you’ll never lose a battle. Besides, Saito Dosan was a famous schemer during Japan’s Warring States period, and Harano was really curious how he’d ended up being bitten by his own son. He asked with interest, "What exactly happened?"

This was an official report, so Ah Man became serious, pulled out a small notebook from her sleeve, licked her finger and fanned through the pages, saying, "We lack understanding of Minoh, and almost all our information comes indirectly from the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family, so it can only be used for reference."

She started with a disclaimer, then examined the summarized notes before continuing, "Saito Dosan rose up through gekokujo, but his rule over Minoh has been anything but smooth—pretty much like the former ’Tiger of Owari,’ Oda Nobuhide. He was always stirring up trouble among the local noble clans under him, doing everything possible to check their development. These past few years, the Minoh magnates have had a lot of complaints and have consistently opposed him."

"So early last year, not long after those two little brats Ah Asa and Ah Yu came looking for me, Saito Dosan—trying to placate the collective resistance from the Minoh magnates—announced his retirement. He gave the Saito family headship, Minoh’s protectorate, and the castle lordship of Inaba Castle to his eldest illegitimate son Saito Yoshitada. But, in reality, he was still the man in charge behind the scenes. The Saito family still listened to him."

Having covered the lead-up, Ah Man turned the page. "Saito Dosan must have had some private motive, but we don’t have the means right now to figure it out. Then, toward the end of last year, Saito Yoshitada suddenly fell ill and could only handle affairs off and on."

"A few days ago, he pretended to be on his deathbed and used the excuse to summon Saito Dosan and his two younger brothers, Sun Shilang and Kihachi, supposedly to hear his last words. But Saito Dosan didn’t go himself—he sent only his legitimate son Sun Shilang and Kihachi with some men."

"Then the assassination happened. One of the main retainers and the head family elders, Nagai Michiaki, had secretly sided with Saito Yoshitada. He found an excuse to separate Sun Shilang, Kihachi, and their household retainers and Lang faction, so the two of them were killed on the spot without even a chance to resist."

"Then they wanted to go after Saito Dosan too, but Dosan managed to escape in time and got away from them. In the end, they only managed to take Inaba Castle."

Ah Man summarized everything in one go, then closed the notebook and added, "That’s how it went. Judging by the situation, Saito Yoshitada is cunning—he feigned illness for nearly half a year and secretly won over the key family elders. He also colluded with almost all the noble clans in Minoh. By preliminary estimates, he can muster more than ten thousand troops. The battle will be tough—if we’re really going to Minoh, we better prepare thoroughly."

Harano was shocked for a moment and asked, "All the Minoh magnates support Saito Yoshitada? Even the Minoh Three?"

The Minoh Three are Inaba Kazutetsu, Ando Shouji, and Ujiie Bokuken.

These three were also top generals of the Minoh faction in Taiko 2, and simultaneously the three most powerful noble families in Minoh—Harano remembered that much. Especially Inaba Kazutetsu (Liang Tong): in later eras, he’s not very famous, seemingly a small figure, but back in the Nongwei region of this era, his reputation is enormous. Nicknamed "the Iron Unbeaten," he was skilled in both civil and military affairs, always victorious, had never lost a battle, and even as an Owari outsider, Harano had heard of his name.

He hadn’t expected even these three to betray Dosan—Saito Dosan’s prospects look grim...

Ah Man didn’t care much. The noble clans—they sway to this side today and the other tomorrow. She said bluntly, "Including the three of them. Nobody knows what terms Saito Yoshitada promised the Minoh clans, but based on current intel, almost none of the Minoh noble families support Dosan. Right now, all he has is part of his own direct force and a batch of forcibly gathered Ashigaru: all told, about three thousand men."

"What about Oda Nobunaga?" Harano pressed. "How many men is Oda Nobunaga sending as reinforcements?"

Ah Man flipped her notebook again and said, "He’s gathering manpower as we speak. Looks like he’ll have at least five thousand men to send as reinforcements, of which over two thousand are his own direct troops, including his five hundred-strong Iron Cannon Team."

Harano nodded slowly. This is going to be a tough battle—at least on his side, it’s going to be tough!

The main thing is that right now, he’s only a nominal "small Daimyo"—in reality, just a powerful local clan—he can only field a few hundred men. In a battle on this scale, with over ten thousand on each side, he’s barely a small splash—a few hundred professional soldiers at best. If he really went all out and forcibly mobilized everyone, he might manage over a thousand able-bodied support soldiers. But this is just to help an ally; there’s no need to go all in. The average strongman should just stay home and work honestly!

With updated intel, he felt more confident—at least he wouldn’t get duped by the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family now. He pondered for a while before speaking directly, "Got it. We definitely need to be cautious. Don’t worry about things on my end, but I’ll leave things at home to you. Make sure everything stays stable—just make sure nothing goes wrong... and keep an eye on the navy. If needed, I might have to send them upriver with small boats to retrieve some people. Help them plan out the route and draft up some contingency plans."

People he could fully trust were few. Since he had to lead the team far afield himself, he could only have Ah Man watch over the home front. But Ah Man disagreed and immediately argued, "No way, I can’t stay—I have to go too!"

Harano was stunned for a second, puzzled: "It’s just going to battle, nothing glorious. There’ll be plenty of suffering and hardship. Why are you so eager to leap into the mess? Isn’t it good to stay home?"

"For my old man, of course—my old man is still in Minoh!" Ah Man’s bean-shaped brows drooped, pressing a hand to her chest, looking annoyed, "Honestly, even if you didn’t go, I’d have to make a trip myself. For a while now, I’ve felt restless and stifled. Now that Minoh is a total mess, I just have this bad feeling something’s happened to the old man. He might’ve had the crap beaten out of him for all I know, so I need to go find him, see whether he’s dead or not."

"Right, your grandfather’s still in Minoh..." Only then did Harano remember—Ah Man and Ah Qing’s grandfather, Izumi Hichiji, had been working for the Saito family all this time, and since Ah Man’s little rebellion last year, he’d fallen silent. He hadn’t come storming into Owari with fire and thunder to ’quell the rebellion.’ Thinking about it, the old man might well have gotten tangled up in the Saito family’s father-son feud. Whether he’s alive or not is truly hard to say.

It was even possible that when the old man wanted Ah Man and Ah Qing back, it had something to do with the Saito family chaos. Maybe Saito Dosan really tried to screw over his son, but Saito Yoshitada turned out even craftier, turning the tables right back on his old man.

In that case, going to save Grandpa was the proper thing to do. If he didn’t let Ah Man go herself and something tragic happened, Harano would never forgive himself. He started to reconsider who to leave behind to guard the home.

......

The next day around this time, Harano was already out at sea, heading from New Wanjin to Old Wanjin with 400 Wanjin Army troops and fifty support soldiers to fulfill the alliance—helping his brother-in-law rescue his father-in-law. The logistics team was a bit small, but there was no way to spare more people. They’d just have to borrow some foot soldiers from Oda Nobunaga once they got to Qingzhou City.

"You really need to hurry up and have a son!" Ah Man followed at Harano’s side. With nothing to do and worrying about her old man, she started nagging to distract herself, prying into Harano’s personal business: "There’s just the three of us at home. Anytime we need to leave, we don’t have anyone to look after the place. You not having a son just doesn’t work anymore!"

Harano didn’t reply. As if having a son was so easy—his newlywed wife was just for show, couldn’t have kids. Still, he was starting to understand why people in the old days were so obsessed with having children—at this time, numbers meant real strength. Blood relations meant more trust than outsiders. If you had enough ’sons,’ you could watch every patch of land and outsiders wouldn’t have a way in.

Like right now—he was headed out for at least one or two months. Ah Man and Ah Qing had to go too (and leaving Ah Qing behind was pointless; she didn’t like talking to people, had no opinions, and couldn’t handle the house). That meant the household would be left basically uncontrolled. He could only order Endo Chiyoda, Maeshima Shichiro, and the other civil officers and remaining military officers and military police to form a caretaker committee and vote on everything. It all felt a little shaky and did not inspire much confidence.

Of course, understanding is one thing—thinking sons could solve such problems is another. The big Daimyos and clansmen were always trying to have more sons, but that just led to succession disputes, and before long, they were at each other’s throats. The Saito family is a perfect example.

Plenty of families lost everything in succession battles, ended up dead or wiped out entirely.

Harano’s mind drifted again—how to actually solve this problem; how to establish a new system. As a modern man, relying on blood to hold a regime together seemed unreliable to him—he put his faith in institutions. He didn’t really have the expertise, but he started pondering solutions based on ideas he’d picked up in the modern world.

Ah Man couldn’t understand this, so she kept yammering on the side, already giving Harano an agenda—have ten fat sons within five years, then have each of those sons father more in the next fifteen, so that in thirty years, the Harano family could have two hundred people. Only then would it be a proper big family.

Harano still couldn’t be bothered with her, preoccupied with how to build the Wanjin polity. Amid Ah Man’s endless chatter, they sailed to Old Wanjin, landed, formed up, and began the march to Qingzhou City, preparing for the first Minoh campaign.

And, as a side quest, to save Ah Man’s grandfather...

Assuming he’s still alive!