CHAPTER 240: CHAPTER 172: BEATEN AGAIN

Izumi Hichiji felt that he had discovered some sort of plan—or "conspiracy"—of Harano’s, a faint suspicion that Harano held a deep malice toward the Court, the Shogunate, or even the entire Samurai class, but he couldn’t be sure; he wondered if it was merely a coincidence, since he couldn’t figure out why Harano would do such a thing.

On top of that, he himself was the type who dreamed of establishing autonomous villages, and was somewhat inclined against the Court and the Shogunate. Plus, in this era, "nationalism" had yet to arise—people didn’t even have a clear notion of "nation"—so he said nothing, didn’t try to figure out the truth, and quietly settled down in New Wanjin.

Harano hadn’t expected this old man to be so sharp, with such a vivid imagination. He remained blissfully ignorant, and instead, together with his new bride Princess Dog, hosted a family feast to warmly welcome Izumi Hichiji, Asae, and Ayu. It could be said he’d done his duty as host.

After that, he arranged for the three of them to focus on recuperating, while he shifted his attention back to work.

There was no problem accommodating the new Minoh immigrants. After all, New Wanjin was already a fresh city populated by migrants, so everyone took newcomers in stride, maintaining a welcoming and tolerant attitude. With over a thousand-strong boost to the local workforce, New Wanjin’s civil administration finally established its first agriculture-oriented village.

This pleased everyone—except for the Oya Family, since the village was built on their land. It was a thorn in their side, but faced with the Wanjin Army’s wolfish glare, they weren’t about to smash eggs on a boulder. Silent endurance was all they could do, as they prayed for Harano’s early demise.

Life was calm and still for a while. Harano steadily amassed strength, continuing to secretly drill the Wanjin people and advance his "evil plan," until a messenger from the Oda Danjo Chonosuke household crossed the sea once more, bringing a new request from Oda Nobunaga—word had come that Saito Yoshitada was making moves, gathering troops to march south, and he hoped the Wanjin Army could rendezvous at Qingzhou City to assist the Danjo Chonosuke family in repelling the Saito family’s invasion.

According to the alliance treaty, as long as Oda Nobunaga was getting beaten up—unless the beating came from the Imagawa or Matsudaira families—Harano was obliged to help. He had no choice. For now, he still depended on the Danjo Chonosuke family’s trade routes, so he mustered his troops again, ordered Ah Man to stay home, and set out for war once again to Qingzhou City amid Princess Dog’s bent-back wishes of "may you prevail in battle."

Once he arrived on site, he attended the war council, and only after reconnecting with Maeda Toshie did he finally figure out what was actually going on.

Saito Dosan had, in the "National Inheritance Document," given all of Minoh to Nobunaga as Princess Nongji’s dowry, and Nobunaga had immediately announced this to the world. This act utterly enraged Saito Yoshitada—he publicly denied Saito Dosan was his biological father, began going by the name of the Ichikoshi clan (rumor had it his mother was of Ichikoshi descent), and immediately organized an army of more than ten thousand to punish the "illegitimate feudal lord" Oda Nobunaga.

Of course, that was how it was framed officially. In reality, he just wanted more land. Saito Yoshitada most likely wanted to regain a foothold south of the Kisogawa River, enabling him to prepare for invading Owari. Before the Oda Danjo Chonosuke and Saito families were linked by a marriage alliance, the two sides had battled for control around the Kisogawa and Changliang Rivers repeatedly—even Moyu Castle had been built by the Saito family. This was simply a replay of old grievances after the treaty collapsed.

After hearing the details from Maeda Toshie, Harano was at a loss for words. Looking back, he rather wished he’d just thrown that "National Inheritance Document" down the privy. But after handing it to Nobunaga, the man couldn’t sit on it—he’d made it public straightaway. Now Harano was wasting so much time because of it. —These battles did him no good. If he fought in Owari territory, he obviously couldn’t forcibly relocate Oda’s own people; it was plain attrition for him.

He heaved a silent sigh, then asked Maeda Toshie in surprise, "Saito Yoshitada came running over in such a rush—he’s already sorted out Minoh internally?"

He had originally thought that Saito Yoshitada would need at least a year or two to consolidate his rule; it’d never occurred to him things would escalate this quickly.

"Seems like he has." As a member of the Oda Danjo Chonosuke household, Maeda Toshie was even more invested in Minoh’s affairs than Harano, and answered right away, "Word is, Saito Yoshitada drafted a huge number of landed nobles into the Saito family, appointing the six major clans—Ando, Hinoe, Takenoshi, and the like—as Family Elders. Whenever a major decision comes up, these six Elders lead the Household Retainers and nobles to jointly deliberate and vote on a response. If they vote against something, not even Saito Yoshitada, the Patriarch, can have his way. Rumor has it that, as a result, everyone in Minoh’s walking in lockstep, praising Saito Yoshitada as a peerless genius."

"Oh, a Household Retainer Council system, is it?" Harano listened, deep in thought. He hadn’t expected Saito Yoshitada to really delegate power and set up such a thing. It was outside his expectations—whether it was the old school overlords like Oda Nobuhide and Saito Dosan or the new generation like Nobunaga and Imagawa Yoshimoto, they all had nothing but headaches when it came to the local nobility: always dreaming of purging them and centralizing power. Now, Saito Yoshitada seemed to be quite the outlier.

Still, who knew if this might plant seeds of disaster...

Maeda Toshie mulled over the phrase "Household Retainer Council system" and couldn’t help nodding, "Yeah, that’s about right. It’s a Retainer Council system."

Harano glanced up at him and asked with a laugh, "So what does Owari think? Are there any here who see him as a genius, too?"

"Of course there are! Who else but those guys?" Maeda Toshie, being close to Harano, held nothing back in private chat and burst out laughing, "Just yesterday, someone brought it up in front of his Lordship, and got thoroughly chewed out. His Lordship told him if he disliked Owari so much, he should just move to Minoh already."

Harano also couldn’t help laughing; if he were an Owari noble, he’d probably fancy a "Retainer Council system" too—he might even cast a crucial vote at the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family’s meetings and auction his ballot off, who knows.

They chatted idly for a while, before Oda Nobunaga finally appeared. Faced with Saito Yoshitada’s challenge, Nobunaga was utterly unafraid, eyes even glowing red with excitement. He pounded the table, first launching a tirade against Saito Yoshitada as a father-slaying brute lower than a pig or dog, an animal in human form, and then rallied the Household Retainers and allied nobles, exhorting their spirits. Without regard to the enemy’s superior numbers, he insisted they not yield an inch of land, gave the order to counterattack, and swore to stop Saito Yoshitada north of the Kisogawa River.

The Oda Danjo Chonosuke family certainly didn’t practice a "Household Retainer Council system." Anyone who’d dared to cross Nobunaga in recent years had been ground into submission. Whatever he said, went. Roles were assigned rapidly, orders to mobilize were given, and troops were dispatched north immediately to set up the defensive line. As an "ally," Harano had a smidgeon of human dignity; Nobunaga spoke to him a bit more politely, but when work needed to be done, it still had to be done.

After wrapping up strategy at Qingzhou City, one squad after another—Samurai, Lang Faction, and Ashigaru alike—began departing northward, racing to Kisogawa River ahead of time, waiting for Saito Yoshitada to come and try his luck. The Oda Danjo Chonosuke family was defending from inside their home turf, and there were lords in Minoh secretly favoring Danjo Chonosuke as well. News of Saito Yoshitada’s mobilization had reached them before his army even departed, so they could ready themselves thoroughly.

The joint Oda–Wanjin army, numbering over six thousand, waited at Kisogawa River for days before they finally saw Saito Yoshitada’s ten-thousand-strong army amble into view, detouring from afar and slowly crossing the Changliang River. It entered the land "between the rivers"—the area between Changliang and Kisogawa—and then began, at a slow pace, setting up camp. Not a hint of urgency could be seen; it genuinely felt like a school trip.

Everyone found it odd. Nobunaga kept sending scouts to search the flanks, suspecting some feint and thinking the enemy would cross somewhere unexpectedly, but no matter how they searched, not a soul was found—the Saito army was just calmly building fortifications.

It took ages for the Saito army to finish their camps, and even then, they showed no sign of launching an attack. It was as though they had come just to duel the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family in a contest of "who’s got more rations." It seemed they’d just sit tight and wait for their enemy to run out of food and withdraw on their own.

Harano was forced into a stalemate, left no choice but to glare across the river at his opponents, until suddenly urgent news arrived from the rear—Oda Nobunaga’s illegitimate elder brother, Oda Nobuhiro, had launched a rebellion, inciting chaos in Qingzhou City.

Yet upon hearing this, Harano felt nothing at all, not a hint of surprise; he was even a bit relieved—after all, it wasn’t the first time Nobunaga’s brothers had staged a coup. Totally normal.

Maybe, he was finally starting to adapt to this era, and wouldn’t be so easily startled anymore.