Chapter 102: Three Hundred Living Ancestors
Saltpeter is a type of saltpeter obtained from soil, with its main component being potassium nitrate （KNO）.
This is a natural mineral that forms through a series of complex physical and chemical processes in nature. Generally, in places where organic matter has decomposed for a long time and the environment is relatively dry, such as latrines, manure pits, or old corners of walls, nitrification bacteria act on the decomposition of nitrogen-containing organic matter to produce nitric acid. This nitric acid then reacts with potassium salts in the soil, potentially forming saltpeter.
Overall, this mineral is not very remarkable and can be seen in daily life, but its applications are very broad.
It is an excellent potassium fertilizer and also a traditional Chinese medicine that can clear heat, reduce fire, promote urination, and detoxify. It can also be used to make daily snacks. For example, in the Song Dynasty of China, street vendors in Bianjing used saltpeter to cool and make ice, selling refreshing drinks to customers in summer to relieve heat.
It can even be used to make jellied donkey meat, a raw material for a famous dish in a certain region of China.
However, in the Medieval Period of Japan, saltpeter had almost only one purpose: to crystallize and purify it into saltpeter, which was then used to prepare black powder.
The black powder formula of this era was already close to the classic recipe: one part saltpeter, two parts sulfur, and three parts charcoal. Saltpeter accounted for over 70% of the mixture, making it the absolute majority of black powder raw materials. The issue was that in the Medieval Period of Japan, there were no saltpeter soil mines.
Or rather, the few saltpeter soil mines in Japan had not been discovered by the sixteenth century. They would only begin to be mined around the eighteenth century, and their reserves were extremely low, running out after a short period of use.
Therefore, Japan was extremely lacking in saltpeter during this era. They primarily relied on scraping latrines and walls, or occasionally finding some natural saltpeter in caves. However, these methods yielded saltpeter very slowly and unstably.
As for imports, the country with the highest production of saltpeter in Asia during this era was Great Ming. However, saltpeter was a strictly controlled commodity in Great Ming, with private sales strictly prohibited, let alone exports. Even Joseon, which had always been very submissive, would be refused nine out of ten times when trying to purchase it. With Sino-Japanese trade nearly severed, Japan’s attempt to procure it through normal channels was essentially a pipe dream, relying only on small-scale smuggling, making acquisition extremely unstable.
Consequently, during the Warring States period of Japan, saltpeter was extremely expensive. How expensive was it?
One *koku* of saltpeter sold for seven hundred *kanmon*, and one *kin* of saltpeter averaged three *kanmon*, enough for a farming household to consume for a year. This was during a low-price period; at high prices, it had reached one thousand *kanmon* per *koku*, enough to make ordinary people dizzy just looking at the price.
In the Medieval Period of Japan, “one *ryō* of gold sand for one *ryō* of saltpeter” was not a joke; it was truly that expensive.
But this was not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying aspect was that matchlock guns had only just begun to emerge, and overseas saltpeter imports had not yet caught up. For most of the time, even if you had the money and wanted to buy saltpeter at a high price, there was nowhere to buy it.
Niwa Nagahide was currently facing this problem. His Lord, Oda Nobunaga, had just formed Owari Province’s first matchlock ashigaru unit, equipped with three hundred large-caliber matchlock guns, which had played a crucial role in combat. As the head of internal affairs, he needed to ensure these matchlock guns wouldn’t become useless and could fire normally.
In other words, he needed to obtain a large quantity of saltpeter, despite it being expensive and difficult to acquire, to prepare enough gunpowder.
For the three hundred matchlock ashigaru, calculating one *kin* of gunpowder per person per combat engagement—this was already compressed to the limit. In this era, to launch a bullet, the propellant needed to be roughly equal in weight to the bullet （Black powder was still relatively primitive at this time, and it would later reach a propellant efficiency of 1:2）. With each shot using approximately 30-40 grams of old-fashioned black powder for a bullet of about 37 grams （containing small pellets）, one *kin* of gunpowder would only be enough for a dozen shots, providing about three to four minutes of ranged firepower. Whether this number of shots could complete a battle was uncertain, so it was indeed the minimum consumption.
Therefore, even with the minimum consumption calculated, each combat engagement would require at least two hundred *kin* of saltpeter, not to mention the large amount of saltpeter needed for priming powder and making matchcords.
This was for a low-intensity combat. If a war were to drag on, with three to five or even ten to fifteen engagements without a clear victor, or if the enemy refused to come out of their castle, or if their own forces were trapped in a city and needed to fire guns and cannons daily for an extended period… this could not be calculated, and perhaps even two to three thousand *kin* would not suffice.
Furthermore, there was daily consumption. The matchlock ashigaru could not just repeatedly practice loading and aiming. They would need to fire a few shots to practice every so often, and this accumulated over time would not be a small amount.
Even more terrifying was that Oda Nobunaga was not satisfied with the scale of three hundred matchlock guns; he intended to continue expanding the matchlock ashigaru force, which would double the consumption.
Taken together, the Oda Danjō no Chū family’s demand for saltpeter was truly immense…
Niwa Nagahide had been struggling for three days and was exhausted. He felt that these were not three hundred matchlock guns, but three hundred living ancestors. They had already consumed some saltpeter soil in previous battles. He had continuously ordered the latrines and walls in the Lower Four Districts of Owari to be scraped again, and combined with the saltpeter soil collected by Yuan Ye through his channels, they finally refined five to six hundred *kin* of saltpeter. This was nowhere near enough to fulfill Oda Nobunaga’s order for him to stockpile at least three thousand *kin* of gunpowder.
Three thousand *kin* of gunpowder would be insignificant in the Modern Era, but in the Medieval Period of Japan, it was a life-threatening amount. After all, when Kato Kiyomasa was later ordered to invade Joseon, he scoured everywhere and, even with gritted teeth, could only gather ten thousand *kin* of gunpowder. Going back thirty years, for the small territory of the Lower Four Districts of Owari to produce three thousand *kin* was truly difficult.
However, with Oda Nobunaga’s stubborn personality, he never cared about such troubles. He treated his attendant vassals extremely generously, so as long as he gave an order, his attendant vassals would find ways to complete it. If they failed, he would not hesitate to turn on them and become ill-tempered.
As a result, Niwa Nagahide went to deliver his report for three days and was scolded six times. He was forced to summon all the mid-level magistrates to brainstorm, but everyone was helpless, feeling that their future was bleak. They couldn’t buy much, and it was extremely expensive. Latrines were not magical artifacts that produced saltpeter overnight. They genuinely couldn’t figure out how to complete the task.
After several attempts, Oda Nobunaga could no longer sit still. The inventory and production of saltpeter were directly related to the safety of the Oda Danjō no Chū family, and more importantly, to his vision of forming a larger matchlock force in the future. It could not be taken lightly. He decided to personally oversee the matter, summoning all the mid-level magistrates and forcing them to come up with a viable solution.
The assembled officials responded with silence, each sitting in their seats staring at the floor, fearing they would be made scapegoats.
Yuan Ye was also among them, seated quite close to Oda Nobunaga. He too was looking at the floor, carefully examining the grain of the wooden planks, and remained silent.
Oda Nobunaga leaned back in his seat at the head of the table, waited for a long time, tapping his palm with his fan, each tap heavier than the last, his expression growing increasingly impatient. Finally, he slammed his fan down on the low table, unable to bear it any longer: “Speak up! Are you waiting here to be fed?!”
Niwa Nagahide flinched, sighed inwardly, and hesitantly shifted a few steps forward, saying in a low voice, “My Lord, there is truly no way. We can only collect this much at present. Perhaps… we could wait a while longer?”
Oda Nobunaga leaned forward and struck him on the head with his fan, scolding, “Idiot! If the enemy comes tomorrow, will you tell them to wait a while longer?!”
Niwa Nagahide dared not dodge and could only take the fan’s impact on his head, saying with difficulty, “There is truly no way, my Lord. Sakai and Shimazu do not have large quantities of saltpeter either. We have asked all the wealthy merchants, and we can only wait for next year’s new ships.”
He paused and added, “The people at Chaya have also guaranteed that they will consider purchasing more saltpeter from overseas in the future.”
“Can you not find any saltpeter soil in Owari?” Oda Nobunaga did not want his lifeline to be controlled by others and preferred to produce it himself. Not having taken geography, he did not believe Owari would have no saltpeter soil. He tapped Niwa Nagahide on the head again, “Bastard, did you really search thoroughly?”
“We truly searched thoroughly, my Lord. All the saltpeter soil that could be collected has been collected.” Niwa Nagahide prostrated himself on the ground, having no recourse after being hit. “Your subordinate has failed in his duty, please punish me, my Lord.”
Oda Nobunaga was still somewhat reasonable at this point. Seeing that Niwa Nagahide was prepared to accept punishment, he knew that he had indeed done his best and was truly out of options. However, he was extremely unwilling. The small amount of saltpeter they had obtained now would not even be enough for a major battle in a year, let alone his desire to expand the matchlock force further.
He then looked at each of the magistrates present one by one. His gaze finally fell on Yuan Ye, who was like “a crane in a flock of chickens.” The more he looked at him, the more displeased he became. He raised his hand, intending to give him a couple of slaps to vent his frustration. However, he suddenly remembered that Yuan Ye was there to help, not a page boy to be casually beaten and scolded. He said irritably, “You! Yes, you! The one who doesn’t even dare to drink alcohol! You’re always coming up with new tricks, aren’t you? Haven’t you thought of any good ideas?”
“No, Your Highness. I have no immediate solutions,” Yuan Ye replied directly, but he emphasized the word “immediate.”
“No immediate solutions?” Oda Nobunaga was taken aback. “Do you have a solution if given more time? How much time?”
“About a year! If I have a year, I might be able to try!” Yuan Ye said calmly. Seeing that he was about to get angry again, he quickly added, “Not waiting for next year’s new ships, but producing saltpeter in Owari.”
Oda Nobunaga was stunned again. But as long as the problem could be solved, his attitude immediately improved, and he put away his fan. However, he still scolded, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? Didn’t I already pay you your wages?”
Yuan Ye glanced at Niwa Nagahide, not wanting to antagonize him, and explained, “I can only try, and I’m not sure if I can succeed, so… it’s hard to say.”
Oda Nobunaga became interested and asked seriously, “How do you plan to try?”
“It’s just a rough idea. Perhaps Owari does have saltpeter soil, but it’s mixed with other rocks and soil. Maybe I can try to separate them.” Yuan Ye did not intend to honestly reveal the technology for cultivating saltpeter, and he was also unsure if cultivation was feasible at the moment, so he left a lot of room for interpretation. “Of course, this idea is somewhat… too novel, with no precedent at all. It might just be me overthinking, so I cannot guarantee anything. It’s indeed hard to say.”
“Novelty is not an issue.” Oda Nobunaga was not an old-fashioned person and didn’t care about precedents. Moreover, he was wealthy and generous. After a moment’s thought, he agreed, “Go ahead and try. It’s just a matter of money. Have Manchiyo （Niwa） disburse it to you.”
“It won’t require much money,” Yuan Ye did not intend to swindle him, but he wanted something in return. He said directly, “If I am to attempt this, I will need a piece of land, a very large piece of land, at least several hundred *chō*, and preferably with some manpower.”
“Land? Several hundred *chō*? Manpower?”
All the magistrates present instantly looked up, their gazes cautious, suspicious, and subtle. Oda Nobunaga also hesitated, losing his earlier boldness.
Yuan Ye was not his vassal and had not pledged loyalty to him. Appointing him as a village head or magistrate would be inappropriate, as it was a lucrative position, equivalent to a local lord, and of great importance.
Giving it to him directly was even more out of the question. His attendant vassals were all receiving annual salaries and none possessed granted territories. If Yuan Ye were to receive one first, without any significant achievements, it would be impossible to gain the respect of others and would lead to many troubles.
The room fell silent, and the atmosphere became awkward. Yuan Ye was not surprised. “Living by one’s wits,” land was not easily obtained, and he was mentally prepared, waiting for Oda Nobunaga’s vassals to start arguing with him.
