Chapter 117: XP is Just So Peculiar!
“Are there any recent news from outside?”
With the territory running smoothly, Yuan Ye had nothing to do for a while except guide the craftsmen in the blacksmith workshop on drilling gun barrels. Therefore, whenever he was idle, he started inquiring about external affairs, shifting his attention outwards.
A Man was happily caressing a large-caliber short-barreled matchlock gun with her small hands. This was a trial product from Yuan Ye’s gun barrel drilling in the blacksmith workshop. It was only one and a half feet long and fired “iron sand shot,” with a very short range. It was a special firearm intended for future “ninja” troops and internal guard units. He was letting her, the Director of the Eastern Depot, test it out first, and also to stop her from constantly nagging about when she would get her matchlock gun back. The inferior matchlock gun gifted by Oda Nobunaga had, through her carrying it around, become hers. After it was lost in the battle of Takeuchi Manor, she had always wanted another one, and now her wish was fulfilled.
She lovingly stroked this expensive “new toy,” feeling the gun barrel was smooth and delicate, the gun stock was made of hard material, and the trigger and snake-shaped lever moved flexibly and ingeniously. She felt it was much better than the previous matchlock gun. Moreover, there was a hand-carved inscription on the side of the gun stock. Upon close inspection, it seemed to be the name of the matchlock gun: Abe no Sadamune.
She was an unruly wild child and ignored Yuan Ye’s question, attending to her own matters first. She repeatedly touched the strange inscription “Abe no Sadamune” on the gun, and asked with a curious expression, “Why is it called this name? What is the relationship between this matchlock gun and the Abe family?”
“There is no relationship at all, I just gave it a name casually.” This was indeed a name Yuan Ye had made up out of boredom. Mainly, this matchlock gun was very suitable for close-range assassination. After he made it, he inexplicably thought of the number one male gunner in the Japanese server and, on a whim, carved it on. It was a moment of artistic indulgence, commemorating his modern life.
He didn’t consider it a serious matter and still wanted to hear about outside news. He repeated, “You don’t need to worry about the name. If you don’t like it, you can erase it later. First, tell me if there’s any fresh news from outside.”
“There’s no fresh news, it’s been very peaceful lately.”
A Man casually replied, her claws still stroking the strange inscription “Abe no Sadamune.” She actually had a faint, peculiar premonition that she might do something big with this matchlock gun in the future, but this premonition felt more like an illusion and disappeared in a flash.
Her attention returned to intelligence work. After thinking for a moment, she changed her tune, “There are no big events, but there is one small matter. I heard that Oda Nobunaga has been going to Iwakura Castle frequently lately, visiting every three to five days. Other than that, there’s really nothing special.”
Iwakura Castle? The residence of the head of the Oda main family in the Upper Four Districts of Owari?
The castle lord seems to be Oda Nobuyasu, Tsūna Ise no Kami. Years ago, the “Tiger of Owari,” Oda Nobuhide, apparently married his sister to this person. The Ise no Kami family and the Danjō no Chū family are very close in-laws, which is why peace has been maintained between the Upper and Lower Four Districts of Owari all these years.
Yuan Ye has been in Owari for almost a year and a half since his misfortune. He is already familiar with the place names and people, so A Man doesn’t need to supplement his “common knowledge.” He just said thoughtfully, “Is Oda Nobunaga planning to join forces with his uncle-in-law to attack someone? Is the target the Kiyosu Oda main family in the Lower Four Districts?”
He felt this deduction was quite reasonable. After all, in terms of the internal marital relations of the Owari Oda family, the Iwakura Oda family of the Upper Four Districts and the Danjō no Chū family were in-laws. However, the Kiyosu Oda main family of the Lower Four Districts harbored a deep hatred for the Danjō no Chū family. Oda Nobuhide, the “Tiger of Owari,” had his first wife be the daughter of the Kiyosu Oda family of the Lower Four Districts. After using her, he directly sent her back to her maiden home, and the two families have been enemies ever since.
Previously, the Kiyosu Oda family took advantage of Oda Nobuhide’s recent death and sent troops to try and get a piece of the Shimazu Atsuta trade route. It is estimated that a large part of the reason was to seek revenge, but they were almost killed by Oda Nobunaga with his extremely long spear, and their castle town was burned down, so they failed.
Now that the Kiyosu Oda family’s strength has been greatly weakened, it is natural for Oda Nobunaga to try to absorb them and completely occupy the Lower Four Districts of Owari. Moreover, Oda Nobunaga historically did conquer Kiyosu Castle and made it his residence for a considerable period.
Yuan Ye nodded silently, feeling that this was the most logical explanation.
“No, he’s probably going to see a woman!”
A Man was still playing with her new matchlock gun, wanting to go out and test its power as soon as possible, her mind not on the conversation at all. She casually said, “He doesn’t seem to have visited his aunt and uncle much. He’s gotten involved with a widow from a village outside Iwakura Castle… I think that’s about it. I just overheard it casually when I went to the castle town of Nagoya Castle, I didn’t ask for details.”
“Looking for a woman?” Yuan Ye was making a well-reasoned deduction, contemplating how he should respond if a war broke out and whether Oda Nobunaga moving to Kiyosu Castle would be good or bad for him. He didn’t expect a widow to suddenly pop up. What was this widow all about?
“That’s it!” A Man started to make a fist with her left hand again, intending to poke with her right index finger.
Yuan Ye quickly stopped her, “I know what ‘looking for a woman’ means. You don’t need to explain this to me, I understand! I’m just curious why he would go looking for… a lover?”
Isn’t Oda Nobunaga supposed to be working hard to develop industry and commerce during this time, accumulating strength quickly, and using both spears and matchlock guns to unify Owari as soon as possible? Why, after less than half a year of effort, is he wandering around again?
Is it an ingrained habit, a three-minute passion?
A Man nodded in agreement, sighing, “He has to travel so far to find a woman, it’s quite strange. And his taste is quite unique, finding a widow, and his maternal uncle’s wife at that. This is really too strange. I may never understand what people like you are thinking.”
Yuan Ye was once again bewildered. He didn’t expect that in A Man’s eyes, he was the same type of person as Oda Nobunaga. But that wasn’t important. What was important was, what was this maternal uncle’s wife?
His brain was about to short-circuit. He hesitated, “The widow he’s looking for… that lover, is she his maternal uncle’s wife?”
“Yes, his former maternal uncle’s wife!” A Man was also very fond of gossip. Even if she hadn’t inquired carefully and didn’t know how Oda Nobunaga got involved with the widow, she was very clear about such sensational gossip involving ethics. “That widow is quite old, around twenty-five or twenty-six. She was married into the Tsuchida family, which is Oda Nobunaga’s mother’s maiden family. Her husband would be considered Oda Nobunaga’s mother’s cousin, so she would naturally be Oda Nobunaga’s maternal uncle’s wife.
Later, her husband died, and she had no children, so she returned to her maiden home to remarry. For some reason, she got acquainted with Oda Nobunaga, and they got involved. Oda Nobunaga seemed quite infatuated, and he has been going there every three to five days recently.”
“Wait, infatuated?” Yuan Ye seemed to recall something and asked hesitantly, “What’s the widow’s name?”
He suspected this widow was Ikoma Yoshino, Oda Nobunaga’s future concubine, and one who was almost like a legal wife, not constrained by the main wife, living alone in a castle, and her sons were all legitimate heirs. Oda Nobunaga’s legitimate sons were all apparently born to her. His official wife, “Viper Woman” Saito Kichō, apparently didn’t please Oda Nobunaga and had no children.
A Man hadn’t really paid attention to the widow’s name. After all, in her opinion, such sensational gossip was just for conversation and had no other value. After trying to recall for a while, she said uncertainly, “She seems to be the daughter of the Ikoma family. The Ikoma family has some strength in Niwa District, raising many horses and breeding famous horses. They are quite wealthy, but they don’t have castles, so they are just local warriors with very ordinary strength.”
Yuan Ye nodded silently. It really was her. He thought, how could Oda Nobunaga travel so far to find a widow and be so infatuated? He must have met his true love…
Ikoma Yoshino should be considered Oda Nobunaga’s true love. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have received such preferential treatment. It’s just that Ikoma Yoshino is so much older than Oda Nobunaga, by two generations.
Or, is Oda Nobunaga’s preference just that peculiar?
He seemed to care a lot about his wet nurse. He fell out with his biological parents over his wet nurse being… and dying tragically, even causing a scene at his biological father’s funeral and imprisoning his biological mother in Nagoya Castle. As a result, the true love he found was an older woman. It can only be said that his preferences are indeed quite peculiar.
Of course, it’s also possible that he just likes older women who are very gentle. Eighteen or nineteen and twenty-five or twenty-six aren’t that different, it just seems strange in this era.
Yuan Ye, bored and wanting to inquire about fresh news from outside, unexpectedly got a big scoop about Oda Nobunaga and accidentally figured out Oda Nobunaga’s preferences. This wasn’t useless either. At least it was clear that there wouldn’t be any major events in the Lower Four Districts of Owari recently. Oda Nobunaga was the biggest destabilizing factor in the Lower Four Districts of Owari. If he’s busy looking for his true love, then it’s unlikely there will be any wars for a long time to come.
This year is quite good, with only a small skirmish at the beginning, unlike last year when they fought for half a year.
While he was lost in thought, silent, A Man became curious. “Is something wrong with this? Do you want me to go and inquire more carefully about the Ikoma family and the Ikoma family’s daughter?”
Yuan Ye snapped back to attention and quickly waved his hand, “No need. This has nothing to do with us. At most, we can pay attention to the Ikoma family casually in the future.”
“Alright!” A Man didn’t think it was important either and let it go when he said so. However, her gaze shifted to his lower body, and she said thoughtfully, “Do you want me to find a widow for you too?”
She meant well. Yuan Ye was two or three years older than Oda Nobunaga, yet he was still living alone. Over time, she was worried that Yuan Ye would be sexually frustrated. Moreover, Yuan Ye was very similar to Oda Nobunaga, always acting strange and seeming to dislike young women. He hadn’t even taken Yayoi to vent his desires yet. It was possible his preferences were also strange, and he only liked older widows in their twenties.
If that were the case, as an important figure in the Yuan Ye Family and the new Director of the Eastern Depot, she felt obligated to find a widow for Yuan Ye. It wasn’t difficult anyway. Wars were fought every few months in this era, resulting in many deaths each time, and widows were everywhere. As long as Yuan Ye could state his height, weight, and appearance requirements, she guaranteed she would find him a suitable one within three days.
You wild child, you’re getting more and more presumptuous…
Yuan Ye was speechless. He couldn’t even be Yuan Bei Yuan Xuan De. He said irritably, “What do I need a widow for? My business… My personal affairs are none of your business.”
A Man was still worrying about him. “But you still need a son. If you die tomorrow without a son, won’t all this hard-earned family fortune go to outsiders?”
“Get lost!” Yuan Ye didn’t want to discuss these personal matters with her. After listening to the news report, he started to dismiss her. He was only twenty-one years old and wasn’t in a hurry to get married. In fact, he hadn’t even decided if he wanted to get married in Japan. The main reason was that this era was too messed up. Women over fourteen, as long as they had no issues, were all married. The only single women were widows, and it was impossible to get married.
Seeing his stubbornness, A Man didn’t bother arguing with him further. She felt he was still the same, never listening to “unpleasant but truthful advice,” and lacking the “mien of a wise ruler.” Muttering to herself, she left.
Currently, Wanjin was severely lacking in management personnel, so she was naturally very busy. Upon returning, she didn’t even have time to test the power of the new matchlock gun before departing with a transport team. While secretly selling saltpeter and gathering market intelligence, she also had to act as escort personnel.
She rode her horse with her followers, shouting at the laborers to speed up, warning them that she would kick their butts if they were late. As they were hurrying along, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came, and a heavy stone flew directly towards her head.
