CHAPTER 274: CHAPTER 201: ALLIANCE OF 3

Oda Nobunaga didn’t invite Nozawa into the Oda residence inside Qingzhou Castle for hospitality, but instead set up a hunting event, holding the alliance meeting at Qing Mountain on the southwest side of Qingzhou Castle—which, despite the name, is just a big hill, with an elevation barely above twenty-eight meters.

This was probably to show some goodwill, since these days, letting Nozawa back into Qingzhou Castle, even he’s hesitant to do it.

And at the hunting camp, Nozawa saw Matsudaira Mototaka—a big shot in history—for the first time in person.

Contrary to what he’d imagined, Matsudaira Mototaka was a bit on the short side—Nozawa guessed he was only around 1.55 meters tall—but dressed in a teal-blue hitatare, with his hair wrapped in a small eboshi cap, and at about twenty years old, he looked refined, had a good presence, and was actually kind of handsome, not at all like the legendary old turtle.

Maybe it was because he had been a hostage in the Imagawa family since childhood and soaked in East Mountain Culture, so he had more of a scholarly air than a samurai one; he just looked gentle and cultured, with zero sense of threat.

Probably also because he’d been a hostage since childhood, his personality seemed pretty conservative—he was extremely respectful to Oda Nobunaga, always mindful of his manners, never really talked back, and was equally polite to Nozawa, this newly-acquainted quasi-ally, always yielding and keeping his posture very low.

Even though Nozawa’s overt strength was way less than his, Mototaka still acted the same, keeping incredibly low-key.

Yeah, at the moment, if you only looked at the surface, the strongest of the three was Oda Nobunaga, controlling seven counties; next was Matsudaira Mototaka, with two or three counties under his thumb; and last of all was Nozawa, with only one county—Chita County.

As for Oda Nobunaga, he was still the same as always, all kinds of annoyed, snarking at Nozawa—the so-called guest he’d invited—but the guy is basically a very goal-driven type. Now that he needed Nozawa for dealing with Oda Nobuaki and Saito Ryuko, even with all the snark, he wasn’t actually pushing him hard to the wall—pretty much tacitly admitting Nozawa as "lord of Chita."

After all, Nozawa really hadn’t broken the alliance; he’d just been first to snatch up the territory the Imagawa family abandoned when their army collapsed. Even if Oda wanted to chew him out, he couldn’t find a good reason.

Of course, that was pretty much the extent of Nobunaga’s "magnanimity." He didn’t say it outright, but between the lines was a clear warning: if Nozawa ever dared cross the Dagao River, or move a little closer to Atsuta Port, the alliance between the Oda and Nozawa families would be null and void. When that happened, don’t blame him for being ruthless—he’d send in the army at once, and even if it meant cutting a deal with the Saito family, he’d show Nozawa what’s what first.

At the same time, he didn’t care whether Nozawa liked it or not—he strong-armed Matsudaira family into the protection system too, saying the Nozawa and Matsudaira families should also get along, and Nozawa wasn’t allowed to cross the current border to encroach on Sanhe land. Otherwise, the hammer would come down the same way, in a punitive attack.

Right now, since Oda Nobunaga was the strongest, of course he led the alliance talks. He set the tone without debate; the others had no room to object.

Nozawa couldn’t do anything about it either—natural disasters had already blown up all his expansion plans. Unless he wanted to go all-out with Oda and Matsudaira now, he basically had no other options.

So just like that, the framework of the "Three Kingdoms Alliance" got settled. Oda Nobunaga got the biggest windfall; the threats on his east and south were basically removed, so he could take his time pulling troops to hit Inuyama Castle, then move north to Minoh. Matsudaira Mototaka didn’t do badly either—his west and southwest were secure, so he could focus on crushing the Ikko-Ikki uprising and make a push at East Sanhe. With any luck, he could unify Sanhe and become a full-fledged lord.

Nozawa was basically starting jail time—the routes for expanding his territory were all blocked. The only upside was that his current holdings got publicly recognized by Oda Nobunaga.

Despite being mentally prepared, he was still distinctly unhappy about this. Since he had a long history of stirring up trouble, after Oda Nobunaga got what he wanted out of the talks, he didn’t dare actually provoke Nozawa—wouldn’t want Nozawa holding a grudge and reigniting warfare along the Dagao River. So on a bunch of other points, Nobunaga and Matsudaira Mototaka both made significant concessions.

These included, but weren’t limited to: restoring Nozawa’s rights to the trade routes, opening up Owari and Sanhe markets, raising the procurement price for military supplies, giving Wanjin’s caravans free-passage and tax exemption, and, what’s more, supporting Nozawa in building his navy and opening up seaborne trade routes, plus allowing the Wanjin Navy to freely dock and resupply in their territories—since neither Oda Nobunaga nor Matotaka cared much for naval matters, and a functional navy from Nozawa could actually work in their favor militarily. As they saw it, it was a win-win for both houses.

At that point, Nozawa’s mood finally improved a bit. After all, once he had a navy, he effectively had territory, and could keep developing his power, maybe even expand—he didn’t have to go play chicken with Matsudaira Mototaka in West Sanhe.

You can’t have everything in life; you win some, you lose some. Guess it’ll have to do!

Oda Nobunaga, Matsudaira Mototaka, and Nozawa each got something they wanted out of it, so now the "Three Kingdoms Alliance" was officially formed. From here on, the three families would hug together for warmth: jointly resisting Takeda, Imagawa, and Houjou—the "Three-Kingdom Coalition"—in the east; fighting Saito and Rokkaku, those two weaselly buddies, in the north; and fending off Asakura and Aizai, perennial bosom buddies, in the west. If the ship went down, they were all going down together.

The alliance set, Oda Nobunaga had scored big and instantly got excited, quick to strut his stuff and really start putting on the hunting event. Matsudaira Mototaka had zero objections, obediently following Nobunaga around, looking at a glance like he was back in Oda’s house as a hostage all over again.

Nozawa had zero interest in hunting activities or flaunting the Nozawa family’s prowess—didn’t care one bit about rankings. He just sent Ah Man to compete for him and spent much more of his time hanging out with Ah Qing eating barbecue.

Oda Nobunaga just thought Nozawa was moping about not getting much out of the alliance, so he left Niwa Nagahide to keep him company and let him be. After all, by strength Nozawa was only the third wheel. As the big boss, Nobunaga was already doing him a favor bringing him along, and wasn’t about to go warm up to a cold fish.

Nozawa didn’t care—as always—and was already scheming how to put together a navy and use it for expansion. But the moment he had some downtime, he noticed something strange.

He smeared some oil on the barbecue, sprinkled some spices, and then turned to ask Niwa Nagahide, "Is the Lord of Upper General on good terms with Lady Nongji again?"

Nongji, Saito Dosan’s legitimate daughter, Oda Nobunaga’s official wife—by the time Nozawa transmigrated, the two were already married, but rumor was that Nobunaga seriously disliked his young widow of a wife, always kept her locked up at home and ignored her, and after so many years in Owari, Nozawa hadn’t even caught a single glimpse of her.

Now, though, things seemed to have changed. For this alliance, Oda Nobunaga had actually brought Nongji along, taking her everywhere and even dining with Nozawa and Matsudaira Mototaka, sometimes making a show of bringing her where everyone could see—a picture-perfect couple.

That wasn’t normal; his real love was supposed to be Ikoma Yoshino—they’d even had a son in secret!

Niwa Nagahide also looked over at Nongji, who was waiting at the camp gate to welcome Oda Nobunaga home, swallowed his words a little, and then said a bit awkwardly, "These days, Lord has been rather fond of Lady Nongji..."

"Really made up? Didn’t people say before..." Nozawa was skeptical.

By then, Niwa Nagahide had his face under control and answered sincerely, "That was just rumors. Lord has always... cared deeply for Lady Nongji. He never disrespected her in any way."

Nozawa didn’t buy it. That kind of lie might fool people outside the Oda family, but not him—someone who knew all their inside stories.

He’d been around with Maeda Toshie, Niwa Nagahide, Sawaki Ryoji and the rest—all retainers who’d risen through the ranks as Oda Nobunaga’s personal attendants—and none of them had ever shown much respect for Nongji. At the very least, they never took her seriously, treating her as invisible. And Nobunaga had locked his wife up with his most hated mother, while his true love was stashed away on the side. No way he actually cared much about his wife.

And now, suddenly, his whole attitude had changed...

Nozawa asked directly, "It’s for the Minoh campaign, isn’t it?"

Niwa Nagahide hesitated, then sighed and said nothing—after all, Nozawa had kicked around the Oda family for so long, he really did know too much, and there was no way to fool him.

Nozawa got it. Oda Nobunaga’s set his sights on swallowing Minoh. To guarantee his "legitimacy," he’s now trotting Nongji out for displays of "affection," to ensure the "National Inheritance Document" that Saito Dosan left him will have its full effect and he’ll be widely accepted as the "son-in-law of Minoh."

Or maybe, by "doting on" Nongji, he’s currying favor with the Minoh landowners, hoping they’ll put up less of a fight when the time comes?

Oda Nobunaga’s become a utilitarian now, huh. Maybe that’s what growing up is.

Nozawa hadn’t expected Oda Nobunaga to change so much with age—even his methods were different now. He never used to care about the big picture this much, or bother with this kind of playacting.

And while he was munching barbecue watching Oda Nobunaga’s wife, Nobunaga himself strode back in. Nongji ran over to greet her triumphant husband.

Oda Nobunaga handed her the game he’d personally hunted. He didn’t shower her with laughs or sweet words, but his attitude wasn’t as casual as it used to be—there was a faint trace of respect.

Nozawa watched the couple’s performance with great interest, but soon noticed a few unfamiliar retainers at Nobunaga’s side who bowed to Nongji and offered her prey, prompting Nozawa to ask, "Who are those guys?"

Niwa Nagahide glanced over and said, "That’s Lord Mori, Lord Horita, and Lord Inoko."

Horita, Inoko... Nozawa couldn’t recall them; his historical knowledge wasn’t good enough to remember such nobodies. But the name Mori rang a bell—after all, Mori Ranmaru was the most famous page by Oda Nobunaga’s side, with plenty of doujin made about him. Mori Katsunari was Mori Ranmaru’s brother, if Nozawa remembered right.

He asked a quick follow-up: "That’s Mori Katsunari, right?"

"That’s right. It’s Mori Zuo’emon."

Nozawa nodded slowly. Got it. These were Saito Dosan’s men leftover from Minoh! Now that these guys couldn’t make a living in Minoh, they’d come running to join up with Oda Nobunaga. With their help, conquering Minoh would be at least 30% easier!

No wonder Oda Nobunaga could trot his wife out for public display—partly to win over his father-in-law’s old crew.

This guy has really changed!

Though really, that’s probably a good thing, right? The more mature he got, the less likely he’d go off the rails, and he’d be that much more committed to the Wanjin alliance. All in all, it should count as good news.

Nozawa handed the finished meat skewer to Ah Qing and finally relaxed a little.

The previous golden window had been totally wrecked by natural disasters, but hey, it’s not too late now. If Oda Nobunaga was this wrapped up in swallowing Minoh, he should have no time to mess with Nozawa, so Nozawa just might have the perfect opportunity to set sail!

Oughta be fine!