CHAPTER 319: CHAPTER 229: FACE ASHEN

Matsudaira Mototaka is still the same as ever, looking dutiful, honest and clumsy. He first paid a private visit to Oda Nobunaga, then formally came to visit Harano, as if tacitly accepting that he is the third among the alliance, nevermind that on paper the Matsudaira family outclasses Wanjin by seven or eight times.

He didn’t even mention Harano’s overseas trade, which provided the Imagawa family with vast amounts of military supplies. At first glance, he seemed unresponsive, or perhaps, just used to swallowing grievances, too timid to anger his allies face-to-face.

Knowing what Matsudaira Mototaka would do in the future, this sort of behavior was somewhat unsettling. At the very least, seeing how low-profile and forbearing he was made Harano secretly uneasy.

Keep a low profile in public, act quietly in the shadows—that must be the kind of person he is?

Matsudaira Mototaka is not only forbearing; he is also quite adept at dealing with others, skilled at conversation, not saying much but always hitting the mark. Truly, growing up in Shimizu has had its effect; he can effortlessly reference classics, speak elegantly, and is well-versed in Sinology, making those around feel at home while actually saying something meaningful. No wonder, even as a hostage back then, he was held in high regard by Imagawa Yoshimoto and Taiyuan Xuezhai, who treated him with genuine affection.

Even after Harano interacted with him privately for most of the day—even though Mototaka was extremely stingy for meaningful content and the visit was mainly out of formality, with little of actual substance, at most expressing the Matsudaira family’s intention to increase arms purchases from Wanjin to continue attacks on the Imagawa family—he couldn’t help but feel an affinity toward him.

After Mototaka left, Harano gazed at the backs of their group for a long time in contemplation, feeling as though he had ultimately missed the opportunity—this was a great threat, a turtle and serpent in one, deeply worrying, but now, there was no way he could make a move on the Matsudaira family.

If it had been right after the Battle of Okehazama, when Mototaka was yet to firmly establish himself at Okazaki Castle, Wanjin could have rushed out of the Chita Peninsula and crushed Matsudaira Mototaka in one fell swoop.

But now, it’s already impossible. Matsudaira Mototaka has unified Sanhe. His true strength at the moment is almost on par with Oda Nobunaga, only lacking the foundation—he doesn’t have the accumulated advantage of three generations, the Seto Inland Sea shipping routes, nor the wealth from robbing Monks or the prosperity from letting merchant and artisan guilds thrive that Nobunaga enjoys.

Yes, while Oda Nobunaga was busy dealing with the treacherous Inuyama Castle at the Owari border and the Saito family of Minoh, and while Wanjin was busy with disaster relief and clearing out the Chita Peninsula, Mototaka had already led the Sanhe Samurai and wiped out the Imagawa family’s last "stronghold" in Sanhe—Upper Country Castle. The Osakabe Family, close relatives of the Imagawa family, was destroyed; Tiden Nagamoto, who had fled after the Battle of Okehazama, died on the spot, and both his sons, Shicho and Shiji, along with their families, were captured.

Unknowingly, the Matsudaira family now also owned a whole province—an actual Daimyo in this realm—while at this time, Oda Nobunaga only held Owari, and even an eighth of that had been preemptively claimed by Harano.

In terms of territory, it’s actually Mototaka who’s bigger now. Yet he’s still willing to act as the lowly third, putting on that submissive front.

Back then, I really should have recklessly rushed into Sanhe and kicked him out of Okazaki Castle...

But then again, if I had disregarded the famine and attacked Sanhe directly back then, Wanjin would have suffered irreparable damage. There wouldn’t be today’s unity and harmony. Oda Nobunaga wouldn’t have just watched north of the Dagao River, either; had things gone south, Wanjin would have ended up beset by both Oda and Matsudaira.

Harano sighed inwardly. It feels like after toiling for almost ten years, nothing has been achieved. Despite searching day and night in the Ise Mountains, the passage back to the modern era remains unfound. History hasn’t really changed: Tokugawa Ieyasu still rises; the Monkey died, only for a "Monkey No.2"—Mi Jiulang—to appear. Aside from a change of name, it’s all the same as before.

Time travel really is too hard. There’s always this overwhelming feeling that the tide of fate cannot be stopped...

But in life, one must forge ahead. Doing something is always better than doing nothing—even if it’s wrong, it’s still better than doing nothing!

Harano stood in the open wilderness for a long while. If it were the past, Ah Man would have already started grumbling impatiently; but now, Ah Man wasn’t here, and A Qing, as usual, was taciturn. If Harano wanted to stand here in the cold wind, A Qing had no objections, just waited quietly behind him.

After struggling with remorse for a while and barely cobbling together his own resolve, Harano turned and asked A Qing, "Any news yet? What did he say when he went to see Oda Nobunaga?"

"There’s news." A Qing was now also in charge of the Life-saving Group, with the Oda Family being a priority target for their surveillance. They’d bribed many informants, and by now had figured out the general picture of the meeting, "It was a very normal meeting, most of the time they discussed Sanhe and Totomi affairs. The only unusual part was that they’re planning a marriage alliance."

"A marriage alliance between the Oda Family and the Matsudaira family? Who?"

"Takechiyo and Lady Gotoku; it’ll probably be set soon."

"Takechiyo" is the hereditary courtesy name for the heir of the Matsudaira family, just like "Saburo" in Nobunaga’s branch. So this refers to Matsudaira Mototaka’s legitimate eldest son and Oda Nobunaga’s adopted second daughter—Lady Gotoku. She was nominally the second daughter, but in fact, Oda Nobunaga regarded her as his legitimate eldest, valued above even Aichi.

Harano vaguely remembered this matter; Lady Gotoku did indeed marry into the Tokugawa (Matsudaira) family. He hadn’t expected the engagement to be arranged so early, and hadn’t felt anything odd before. But now, being in this era himself, he sensed something amiss—after all, the Tiger of Owari, Oda Nobuhide, had lived a life of drunken debauchery, fathering a horde of children out of boredom. Nobunaga over the years had used them freely for politics, marrying and wedding them all over the place; so why send "his true love’s" eldest daughter away as a political bride?