CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER 200: RENEWING THE ALLIANCE

Old Wanjin was Harano’s original home base, but after Harano forcefully landed on the Chita Peninsula, this place was taken back by Oda Nobunaga.

Later, Harano played an important role in the Owari Unification War by providing both men and effort, so this place was gifted to him again by Oda Nobunaga as a garrison. However, after the Battle of Okehazama, it was reclaimed once more by Oda Nobunaga as a warning—this place was too close to Atsuta Port, and Oda Nobunaga would not allow him to station troops here, much less have his army land here again.

So, this was the first time in two years that Harano returned here, stepping onto the pier to find that Old Wanjin was now thoroughly desolate—the soil was poor, agriculture didn’t work, and with commerce and industry gone, the place was now broken and dilapidated.

At the Old Wanjin dock, a bunch of people were already waiting for him—two familiar faces, and one stranger at the head of the group.

The familiar faces were Niwa Nagahide and Maeda Toshie; the stranger was Mi Jiulang, also known as "Second Generation Monkey."

This was a formal meeting—Niwa Nagahide had come on behalf of the Oda Family to welcome him, strictly observing the etiquette, immediately stepping forward and bowing slightly, greeting, "Lord Saburo, you have endured much."

Harano also bowed in return, "Lord Gorozaemon, thank you for waiting so long."

Yes—along with his rising status and renown, Niwa Nagahide had changed his common name, along with Maeda Toshie. His new common name was Gorozaemon, and Maeda Toshie’s was now Matsudaira Takeshi.

Once the formal greetings were exchanged, Harano’s gaze immediately shifted to Mi Jiulang, pretending not to know and inquired, "And this gentleman is...?"

Niwa Nagahide quickly introduced, "This is Lord Nakamura Yajiro. Our Lord has ordered the three of us to escort you to Qingzhou City."

Mi Jiulang looked Harano up and down, his curiosity evident regarding this ally of the Oda Family and Nobunaga’s brother-in-law, but he knew his place, taking just one look before bowing his head and greeting respectfully, "Lord Yehua, please take care of me in the future."

A gentle smile appeared on Harano’s face as he nodded, "Thank you for your efforts, Lord Mi Jiulang."

Although the past two years had left him overwhelmed by various natural disasters, he had kept his eye on this "Second Generation Monkey." This man had performed incredible feats at the Battle of Okehazama, being promoted to Samurai in one go. Afterward, Oda Nobunaga arranged a marriage for him, making him the heir and adopted son-in-law of the Nakamura Family.

The situation of the Nakamura Family was similar to that of the Kinoshita family, both being fallen houses retaining only the Samurai title. Oda Nobunaga originally considered marrying Ningning to him, making him Kinoshita Mijiro, but in the end did not—Ningning had stayed behind to help Harano manage the shops in Qingzhou City and Nagano Castle, having already been ’tainted’ by Harano. Oda Nobunaga seemed unwilling to tie Mi Jiulang and Harano together as relatives, so in the end chose the Nakamura Family, which was on the verge of extinction, and married off the widowed daughter who had returned to her natal house to Mi Jiulang.

This prevented Mi Jiulang from gaining the Asano Family’s support as he did historically, so his personal strength didn’t rise as much as in history, but this didn’t affect the bigger picture. Oda Nobunaga’s personal support for him remained extremely high. Mi Jiulang now worked in the "Kawamata Group," operating in the Kisogawa River and Changliang River areas, frequently leading the Kawamata Group to raid Minoh and accumulating a fair amount of military merit.

Once he developed further, Oda Nobunaga could use him as a counterbalance against the Owari magnates, just as history recorded.

Now Harano had finally formally met the "Second Generation Monkey," but didn’t chat with him for long. After exchanging greetings and a few polite words with Niwa Nagahide, the three of them led a team to escort him to Qingzhou City—Oda Nobunaga was probably well aware that Harano was now hated by the Owari locals and worried he’d be ambushed by the magnates, so he deliberately sent close confidants as a precaution to keep things from turning ugly.

Harano rode on horseback, surrounded by bodyguards, and soon Maeda Toshie slipped over to him.

Harano motioned for the bodyguards to make room and joked, "Long time no see, Lord of the Spear Matsudaira Takeshi! I haven’t congratulated you yet on your return to the Oda Family."

"Lord of the Spear Matsudaira Takeshi" was Maeda Toshie’s new nickname.

Last year, during the battle at the Minoh Forest’s edge, he fought as a Ranger following Katsuyori Shibata and killed Minoh’s famed Swordsmanship master, Adachi Rokubei—known as "Neck-Taker Adachi." He broke through the enemy lines first and killed two of the Saito family’s Ashigaru Leaders as well, achieving great merit. With Katsuyori Shibata pleading for him, Oda Nobunaga finally "forgave" him, took him back under his banner, and even bumped his annual stipend up to 450 kan.

Outsiders saw it as Maeda Toshie finally escaping hardship, but the real story was only known to Oda Nobunaga and a select few—Maeda Toshie had completed his mission. Over the past two years, he’d become Katsuyori Shibata’s confidant, calling him "dear papa." Now Maeda Toshie had returned to Nobunaga’s side, but Katsuyori Shibata must be quite happy to have a trusted man by Nobunaga’s side.

So, Maeda Toshie was actually now a double agent.

Maeda Toshie, hearing Harano mention his feats and his reinstatement, couldn’t help but let out a boisterous laugh, still as straightforward and open as ever, exclaiming, "It’s all thanks to the Lord’s grace! All the Lord’s grace!"

Harano smiled along, "Next time, don’t be so reckless. If you get kicked out again, there’s no coming back!"

"Never, never again... won’t happen again."

Maeda Toshie also seemed to have lingering fear—these two or three years wandering as a Ranger had acquainted him with the chills of society. After a few outwardly hearty replies, he dropped his voice, "Thank you, Saburo."

When he fell into trouble and wandered, even his wife Asatsu had to be left with Katsuyori Shibata, but Harano still remembered Asatsu—often sending money and goods, and even writing letters to ask Ningning to teach her some business. Ningning helped Asatsu set up a "textile shop," buying cloth and reselling it to Ningning in Qingzhou City, as well as selling high-quality dyed fabrics from New Wanjin. Over these two years, she’d made quite a profit, becoming a little rich woman and never truly suffering.

Maeda Toshie only found out about all this after taking Asatsu back to Qingzhou City, and felt Harano was a solid friend.

"With our friendship, there’s no need to say all that." Harano just did what he could, mainly pitying how badly Asatsu got burned, but he quickly looked at Maeda Toshie and asked, "Ningning wrote me a letter—as for that matter... is it true?"

Maeda Toshie’s expression immediately grew awkward, and he coughed—"Well... I’ve already taken care of it."

"You rascal..."

Harano was speechless. He’d thought it was just a rumor—after all, Maeda Toshie and Asatsu’s love story was often hailed as an ideal in Taiga Dramas, a model of steadfast love. But then...

Maeda Toshie had cheated during marriage—while living as a guest at the Matsuo Family, he got involved with Matsugao Susumu’s widowed sister, Otohiko, and even got her pregnant.

Right, that was about two years ago, and by now the child had already been born, named Kuchidai.

Maeda Toshie had tried to keep it a secret, but nothing stays hidden—the widow giving birth would spread no matter what. In no time, the news traveled from Atsuta to Qingzhou City, and eventually made its way to Kasugai County. Rumor had it, Asatsu cried her eyes out, while Ningning, as a good friend, tore into Maeda Toshie in her letter to Harano, basically putting Maeda Toshie on the same level as a dog.

Maeda Toshie looked even more embarrassed and sighed, "It’s true, I did wrong by Asatsu, but... anyway, I’ve already confessed to her, the child is taken care of—now adopted by Lord Matsuo. Asatsu also sent money for the child, so... it’s over."

"Fine, that’s between you and Asatsu."

Harano didn’t press the issue any further. In his eyes, the child probably served as a "token of loyalty" from Maeda Toshie. Getting involved with Otohiko was likely part of the mission—if he didn’t sell himself and offer up a hostage to the elite families, why would the Owari magnates accept him as one of their own? Why should they trust him?

Being a spy isn’t easy—Maeda Toshie had certainly toiled for Oda Nobunaga.

Harano didn’t touch upon the couple’s soap opera anymore and turned to ask, "I heard the Lord of Upper General plans to move the castle to Komasan?"

Maeda Toshie also didn’t care to talk more about his illegitimate child, eagerly replying, "That’s right. Inuyama Castle has rebelled and formed a wedge with Minoh. The Lord plans to move the base forward to the area around Hirano Komasan to avoid being caught off guard. There was a lot of opposition at first, but when the Lord proposed to move next to Inuyama Castle, to Ninomiya Mountain, many more supported Komasan, so it was decided to build a castle on Komasan. The Lord probably hopes you can help."

"Helping is no problem, but avoid being caught off guard?" Harano was very interested and immediately asked, "Is the pressure so great from the Inuyama Castle front?"

Maeda Toshie didn’t hold back—he was sent here in part to give Harano advance notice on behalf of Oda Nobunaga. "The pressure isn’t huge, but it’s troublesome. If we directly invade Minoh, once we cross the Kisogawa River, our rear will be exposed to Inuyama Castle, so the Lord intends to deal with Inuyama Castle first."

Harano nodded slowly—no wonder Oda Nobunaga wasn’t mad at him anymore and had started to ease the relationship. Since Oda Nobuaki and Saito Ryuko joined hands, Oda Nobunaga was getting headaches and wanted help from his brother-in-law in this brawl.

This was all within expectation, after all!

Harano also wanted to ease things with Oda Nobunaga. Otherwise, with Oda Nobunaga massing troops along the Dagao River, there was a lot of pressure on his side too.

He then asked in detail about recent battles between the Oda Army, Nobuaki’s Army, and the Saito Army, as well as the attitudes of the Owari magnates toward participation. Just as they were talking, Niwa Nagahide came over and, following the conversation, said that the task of building the castle at Komasan was now entrusted to Harano, hoping he could provide manpower and cement to quickly finish Komasan Castle and related outworks.

Best would be to get it done in one or two months—Oda Nobunaga was eager to deal with Oda Nobuaki, but to do so, he’d face raids from behind in Minoh, so these frontline fortifications needed to be finished rapidly.

Well, making volcanic ash cement wasn’t complicated—it was a pre-Christian era technology anyway—but how to make concrete, and how to use it for castles, that took some real technical skill. And from Niwa Nagahide’s tone, it sounded like Wanjin would also need to send troops to help guard the place, ensuring Oda Nobunaga could focus on attacking Inuyama Castle.

This was likely Oda Nobunaga’s requirement, but Niwa Nagahide approached it first as a test, to avoid Harano refusing outright and making things awkward.

Harano understood all this well and immediately started discussing the details with Niwa Nagahide and bargaining back and forth.

In a sense, this could also be seen as the Oda and Harano families renewing their alliance.