CHAPTER 235: CHAPTER 167: MOYU CASTLE IS A GREAT PLACE!

Harano took up the role of Oda Nobunaga’s vanguard on the mission to rescue his father-in-law, leading a team of over five hundred men straight north along the main road. After camping for a night at Upper Songkou, they soon entered the territory controlled by Owari’s Upper Four Provinces.

Currently, the master of the Owari Upper Four Provinces was Oda Nobuyasu, Nobunaga’s own uncle by marriage and an allied relative of the Oda Danjo Chonosuke Family. Along the way, the checkpoints were only appropriately vigilant but did not obstruct them. Naturally, Harano’s party had no intention of causing trouble, choosing to stick to the main road and skirt around any castles, completely uninterested in provoking side issues.

This was Harano’s first time entering the Upper Four Provinces of Owari, so he couldn’t help but look around curiously as they marched.

Seeing Harano’s curiosity, Maeda Toshie, with nothing better to do, immediately switched jobs to "tour guide," describing each "scenic spot" along the way. He was especially familiar with the area near Iwakura Castle—even knew exactly where the best sake could be found, and what animals could be hunted where.

Along with learning all this, Harano grew more and more puzzled and couldn’t help asking, "How come you know this place so well?"

Maeda Toshie pointed off toward the northwest corner of Iwakura Castle, smirking. "Of course I know it well—I’m there all the time, I’ve wandered all over nearby."

Harano looked toward where he was pointing. It seemed to be a village, but he didn’t make the connection and asked curiously, "That village? Is there something special about it?"

Maeda Toshie didn’t answer directly, just waggled his eyebrows and grinned. "Of course it’s special—that’s Ko-Ori village."

Harano stared blankly for a moment, then remembered what kind of infamous place Ko-Ori village was—in short, it was Oda Nobunaga’s holy land of true love. The older widow he was crazy about—the future mother of his legitimate son and daughter, Ikoma Yoshino—lived in Ko-Ori village.

No wonder Maeda Toshie was so familiar with the area near Iwakura Castle; he’d obviously been following Nobunaga to chase women here, wandering around and having fun in the process.

Harano grew even more curious and asked Maeda Toshie, "That lady... where is she now?"

"Of course, she’s at the Ikoma Family home!" Maeda Toshie pointed again at Ko-Ori village, "If she’s not there, where else would she be?"

Harano couldn’t help but wonder, "His Lordship didn’t bring her to Qingzhou City?"

Maeda Toshie immediately shook his head, "Nope, her status... uh, it’s not so convenient for her to go to Qingzhou City."

Then Harano recalled—she kind of counted as Nobunaga’s step-aunt, and Oda Nobunaga’s mother was still alive. Even if Oda wanted to bring Ikoma Yoshino home, she probably would refuse.

Most likely, the two of them would have to wait until Nobunaga moved his residence again before they could finally be together!

Harano’s mind wandered, his inner archaeologist awakening—he really wanted to catch a glimpse of this "Madam Yoshino" who had Nobunaga, a notorious troublemaker, wrapped around her finger. But now obviously wasn’t the time. He just shot another look at Ko-Ori village, skirted around Iwakura Castle, and kept heading north.

He’d find another chance in the future. After all, he was always interested in historical celebrities, especially famous women—even if that wasn’t "business," what modern person wouldn’t want to take a peek?

As night was falling, the scouting party ahead had already picked a well-sheltered campsite by the water. Their little team spent another night there before setting out again early the next day.

Maeda Toshie had now been following for a day and a half, cautiously observing Harano’s "Lang Faction" as if tasked with assessing Harano’s strength. But he didn’t bring it up, just continued to hang out by Harano’s side, chatting and joking the whole day.

After marching for another half day along the main road, Harano spotted a strange "little city" up ahead. The city itself wasn’t large, but its castle town sprawled much bigger than Iwakura’s—several times bigger, in fact.

Maeda Toshie knew Harano was unfamiliar with these Upper Four Provinces—often knowing only the names but not the actual places—so he quickly explained, "Lord Saburou, that’s Zhengde Temple up ahead."

Harano suddenly understood; so this was the "Guanyin Temple" of Owari’s Upper Four Provinces—or, to put it plainly, its Bureau of Commerce and Industry. No wonder the castle town was so big; by the looks of it, business here was booming!

This place, too, was clearly familiar to Maeda Toshie, and he sighed a bit nostalgically, "Back when His Lordship first became Family Head, he came here for a special meeting with Lord Dosan! Looking at it now, it feels like a whole lifetime has passed."

Harano nodded lightly. He’d heard some stories about this—the rumor was that during the Zhengde Temple meeting, Oda Nobunaga so impressed Saito Dosan that Dosan exclaimed, "Alas! My son is fit only to serve as a stableboy for Lord Kamitsuke!" and acknowledged Nobunaga as his true heir, pushing aside his own sons, determined to entrust Minoh to Nobunaga to set his mind at ease.

Harano asked Maeda Toshie with interest whether this was true, but Maeda stared at him in astonishment, "There’s really such a legend? Actually it was pretty simple—after the former Lord passed away, His Lordship came to renew the alliance, that’s all."

"So just a rumor, then," Harano said, unsurprised. Most likely some later "official historian" wanted to glorify Oda Nobunaga and made Saito Dosan the stepping stone—a typical trick in Japanese biographies. Nothing new.

He asked for some details about the actual meeting and found it was nothing special—pretty much like his own negotiations with the Imagawa. Both sides were worried the other might suddenly try to kill them, most of their energy went into watching each other, the meeting itself was short, and after renewing their alliance they went right home. Nothing particularly dramatic.

Harano lost interest in "historical anecdotes" like that and turned his gaze to Zhengde Temple, watching people come and go in the bustling "castle town." His eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help sighing, "There sure are a lot of people here!"

Zhengde Temple looked wonderful—if only it were on the Chita Peninsula, right next door to him! If he could swallow up all of Zhengde Temple, he figured he wouldn’t have staffing problems for a year or two.

Maeda Toshie, who’d never needed to manage anything on his own, had no real concept of manpower shortages—he simply agreed, "There are over seven hundred shops here, of course there are a lot of people."

Over seven hundred shops—just imagine how many workshops that means, and how many craftsmen are needed behind them?

Harano fell into a mild daydream, feeling truly envious. Meanwhile, Maeda Toshie just assumed Harano was dazzled by Zhengde Temple’s famous name but too busy with military duties to enjoy it, so he described the temple’s liveliness and prosperity in detail, even mentioning Zhengde Temple’s background—it was a branch of the Japanese True Pure Land Sect, with the head temple in Settsu Province at Ishiyama Honganji Temple (modern Osaka City in Kansai region).

Up to this point, Harano had been listening without much attention, taking it as background "common knowledge" of the era. But when he heard the name Ishiyama Honganji Temple he perked up, exclaiming, "So Zhengde Temple is a branch of Ishiyama Honganji?"

Maeda Toshie didn’t know why that was surprising, but scratched his face and replied, "Yeah, I’ve heard about Zhengde Temple for seventy or eighty years—built by Renyo, the fifth direct grandson of Master Shinran, so originally it was called Lianhua Temple. Later, a Shogun’s younger brother named Ashikaga Something or other became a monk here, and since his household was called Zhengde Courtyard, the temple was renamed. The name’s only been around for twenty or thirty years, really—not that long."

Harano nodded slowly. He knew about Master Shinran—the founder of the Japanese Buddhist True Pure Land Sect, honored as "Master Kenshin." Even more important, Shinran’s family name before he entered Mount Hiei for training was Fujiwara—the genuine Fujiwara, not a faked lineage, and his family was extremely influential within temple circles.

A temple built personally by Shinran’s fifth direct grandson—in the True Pure Land Sect, that was pretty much as purebred as it got. Harano hadn’t expected Ishiyama Honganji’s influence to have already spread to Owari, but no wonder Honganji and Kaido Town’s wealthy merchants kept butting heads with Oda Nobunaga—it was clear their interests had already started to clash.

In fact, things were about to get even messier. Zhengde Temple’s forces were entrenched here in Owari, and given Nobunaga’s temperament and current economic reforms, it was just a matter of time before he came knocking with a few kicks. No surprise that Ishiyama Honganji later kept causing trouble for the Oda Family, fighting them off and on for over a decade, to the point that Kaido Town was besieged by Nobunaga—and it was probably all closely tied to Nobunaga raiding Zhengde Temple.

Er, he wasn’t clear on this part of history—did Nobunaga really raid the Zhengde Temple branch? He figured odds were good; it was exactly the sort of thing Nobunaga would do.

History really was strange. Who would have thought that the seeds of a war that killed tens of thousands and affected millions more, more than a decade later, were already being sown now?

Harano reflected, staring at Zhengde Temple, but no longer coveting it. He led his troops around it instead. The temple, with its classic white walls and green tiles, bells tolling gently, didn’t seem bothered or on guard—clearly confident, since a force of five or six hundred men wasn’t enough to make them nervous.

That night, Harano and his men camped again not far from Zhengde Temple. If you were generous with boundaries, the temple’s location was already on the border of Oin; otherwise, Nobunaga and Saito Dosan, as in-laws, wouldn’t have chosen it for their alliance talks. In this era, national boundaries weren’t clearly defined—there were no border markers, power was tangled, and local clans often straddled two "countries"; nobody could say for sure exactly where the border ran.

After another night’s rest, Harano, together with the Wanjin Army and Maeda Toshie, officially entered Minoh—or more precisely, entered the zone that had changed hands between Minoh and Owari for decades. Their first destination was the area around Moyu Castle.

Moyu Castle sat on the south bank of the Kisogawa River, once serving as Minoh’s bridgehead for attacking Owari. Now, with peace between the two, this castle—or rather, this huge rock fortress—had fallen into abandonment. The moats, unmaintained for years, were almost naturally filled in, the wooden walls rotten and collapsed in many places, and it had basically lost any defensive value.

Still, Harano led his men to inspect the place in person—not because he wanted a bit of "archaeology," but because the geography here was just too advantageous. Minoh Province had three major rivers: Feidao River, Changliang River, and Kisogawa River, all running north to south.

Feidao River could be skipped—it started in Rushan Mountain in Echizen, mainly running through northern Minoh, which wasn’t his concern. But Changliang River and Kisogawa met here at Moyu, their many branches interweaving before heading south again through Owari into Ise Bay.

In other words, north of Moyu Castle was a dense waterway network, and behind that lay Inaba Castle. Following Kisogawa northwest would take you to Ogaki Castle. Attacking Inaba directly from Owari was near impossible, since in this era, crossing two major rivers and a dozen smaller ones to assault a fortress was just asking to be slaughtered. The only chance was to head west, cross Kisogawa, and attack up the land between the two rivers.

But that wasn’t important now—Harano wasn’t planning any surprise assault on Inaba Castle this time. What caught his eye was the water network interlinking Minoh and Owari here.

He could build a bridgehead here and use the waterways to transfer people to the Chita Peninsula!

Moyu Castle was a great spot—he’d claim it for now!