Chapter 154: Lord Yuan Ye
Niwa Nagahide and Maeda Toshiie, carrying Oda Nobunaga’s earnest instructions, immediately set out. They separately procured gifts, then each led their vassals to Wanjin to rendezvous. After a brief inspection and arrangements were made there, they boarded a Kan-sen ship from the pier and sailed south along the coastline, searching for Yuan Ye.
The sea voyage was boring, and the two had nothing to do, so they sat idly in the general armory. Maeda Toshiie still hadn’t come to terms with it; Yuan Ye, who had arrived with nothing and shamelessly stayed at villagers’ homes to run a “black clinic,” had, in less than three years, managed to marry a princess. From now on, if people were polite, they could call him “Lord Yuan Ye.”
This was simply a meteoric rise in status, worthy of being incorporated into Zaju Opera stories and sung for a hundred years.
He pondered this for a while, unable to understand, and asked Niwa Nagahide, who was sitting with his eyes closed in meditation, “Lord Niwa, what is going on? Why has Lord… why has Lord suddenly decided to marry Princess Inu to Lord Saburo?”
If it were possible, he too would like to marry an Oda princess, as the Oda princesses were quite beautiful.
Niwa Nagahide was already having a headache, unsure if he could complete the mission. He opened his eyes and sighed, “It’s all because of gunpowder!”
His main work was in internal affairs and logistics. Unlike Maeda Toshiie, who was primarily responsible for fighting, he was well aware of the inside story. Yuan Ye had initially leased that plot of land in Wanjin, agreeing to pay over two thousand jin of saltpeter annually. Within a few months, he had delivered several hundred jin of saltpeter to Nagoya Castle. Oda Nobunaga found it too troublesome to only receive saltpeter and, with a wave of his hand, changed the annual tribute from Wanjin to three thousand jin of gunpowder per year.
If the gunpowder was not delivered, he would reclaim the territory. These were his own words, and they could have been a joke, or they might not have been.
Once the gunpowder supply was sufficient, with no worries about the rear, Oda Nobunaga continued to train the matchlock ashigaru and expand the “Oda Matchlock Corps.” Whenever gunpowder was scarce, such as after the Battle of Anjishin Ganji when gunpowder was depleted, he would immediately demand that Niwa Nagahide replenish it. Niwa Nagahide could only continue to search everywhere, routinely sending people to scrape manure pits, find saltpeter earth in the mountains, send people to Sakai to look for “imported smuggled saltpeter,” begging wealthy merchants to sell some, and sending magistrates to purchase from Wanjin. Wanjin was, after all, within their own territory. Under the banner of Oda Nobunaga, they had no choice but to sell, making them much easier to deal with than the snobbish wealthy merchants in Sakai, and the prices were also considerably cheaper.
Therefore, Wanjin had effectively become an important gunpowder supply base for the Oda Danjō no Chū family, providing over sixty percent of the Oda Danjō no Chū family’s annual gunpowder needs.
However, this also consumed a large amount of the Oda Danjō no Chū family’s accumulated wealth, as saltpeter was extremely expensive during this period. Oda Nobunaga’s endless wars were like burning money. Niwa Nagahide strongly suspected that if Yuan Ye hadn’t fled, Oda Nobunaga would have found a reason to take his saltpeter production technology sooner or later, so that the Oda Danjō no Chū family could achieve self-sufficiency in saltpeter, saving a huge sum of money each year.
Of course, given Oda Nobunaga’s generous nature, he likely wouldn’t have mistreated Yuan Ye. Perhaps he would have still married a sister to him, making him a family member of the Oda Danjō no Chū family, to compensate for his losses.
It’s just that Yuan Ye fled so decisively, all of this is now irrelevant.
Furthermore, besides the gunpowder supply, there was another reason.
Yuan Ye’s sudden surge in power, to the point where even the Imagawa family couldn’t defeat him, must have exceeded Oda Nobunaga’s expectations. If Yuan Ye could cross the sea from Aichi District to attack Chita District and forcefully establish a foothold today, could he counterattack from Chita District to Aichi District tomorrow and also establish a foothold?
No one could say for sure, and no one dared to guarantee it!
Especially since he had reached an armistice with the Imagawa family, the specific terms of which were unknown. What if he became the vanguard for the Imagawa family’s surprise attack on the Oda Danjō no Chū family, capable of holding firm deep within the Oda Danjō no Chū family’s territory at any time, or even backstabbing the Shirakawa Entrance defense line? Then the problem would be more than just a lack of gunpowder; the Danjō no Chū family would be at risk of annihilation at any moment.
From this perspective, even Niwa Nagahide agreed with marrying a princess to Yuan Ye. After all, princesses kept at home were just a drain on finances; it was time they served a practical purpose.
Maeda Toshiie didn’t understand these things. He was only eighteen or nineteen, an age where in the Modern Era he would be considered a “baby.” He also lacked experience and his mind was relatively simple, never having considered such matters. Niwa Nagahide therefore explained his own speculations, choosing what he could tell him. He only mentioned Yuan Ye’s supply of large quantities of gunpowder, stating that the Danjō no Chū family did not want to lose such an “excellent arms supplier.” He said that without Yuan Ye, the Danjō no Chū family would have to spend an extra ten to twenty thousand kan annually on purchasing gunpowder.
Even with that much money, they couldn’t buy enough gunpowder. This was because the major wealthy merchants in Sakai who could communicate overseas were backed by various temples. For example, the largest wealthy merchants had intricate connections with Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple. Oda Nobunaga was currently implementing the “Rakuza” policy and would soon further advance it in Kiyosu Castle by implementing the “Rakuko Rakuza” policy, gradually abolishing the commercial privileges of temple families in the Lower Four Districts of Owari.
This aroused general vigilance and resentment among the monks. Those wealthy merchants, relying on the exclusive rights granted by temple families, naturally would not show Oda Nobunaga any goodwill. If they wanted to purchase large quantities of gunpowder, they either had to pay a high premium or bow their heads first.
Historically, Oda Nobunaga did indeed bow his head. In order to realize his idea of forming a matchlock ashigaru corps, he accepted an official position in Kyoto and grudgingly went to Sakai, taking a wealthy merchant as his Tea Ceremony teacher. He also halted the promotion of the “Rakuko Rakuza” policy for a considerable period, only resuming it after burning down the sacred site of Mount Hiei and beginning to attack Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple, delaying it for over a decade.
But now, with Yuan Ye’s involvement, the situation had changed somewhat. Oda Nobunaga was very strong-willed and had no intention of bowing his head from the start. Forcing him to personally visit and pay respects was out of the question. Now, he would rather marry off a sister for an alliance than seek favor from the wealthy merchants again. He was only angry with Yuan Ye, not hateful. Compared to the temple families and wealthy merchants who mocked him from afar, calling him a country bumpkin and trying to force him to stop the “Rakuza” policy, he hated those monks and wealthy merchants more, vowing to deal with them sooner or later.
“So that’s how it is!” Maeda Toshiie finally understood. So Yuan Ye’s departure would cause the Oda Danjō no Chū family to lose a significant amount of money, and it also concerned his Lord’s expansion of power and personal dignity.
He now also felt that the princess should be married. Ten to twenty thousand kan was nearly three times the annual income of the Aragiko Maeda Family. It was entirely worth it to use a princess to recover such a loss. Princesses were not rare in the Japanese Warring States period. At the beginning of the Warring States period, there were approximately over three thousand five hundred and eighty princesses. Even if one were publicly auctioned, it might not fetch ten thousand kan Eiraku coins.
Niwa Nagahide sighed softly, still worried whether Yuan Ye would be willing to marry. After all, Yuan Ye seemed to be of the same ilk as Oda Nobunaga; both had somewhat eccentric minds, acted in unpredictable ways, and were autocratic, acting on whims. Whether they would be willing to form a marital alliance was truly uncertain.
He closed his eyes again, casting aside his worries and anxieties, and began to rest.
The main reason was that he was a bit seasick. He was still too young and had traveled too little, not yet accustomed to sea travel. The more troubled he felt, the more he wanted to vomit.
…
Yuan Ye was unaware that Oda Nobunaga intended to become his brother-in-law. He was still worried that Oda Nobunaga might go mad and seek him out for retribution. After all, in his mind, Oda Nobunaga was similar to A Man, someone who acted on whims, and it wouldn’t be strange for him to do anything.
In the ten days since the Imagawa family’s withdrawal, he had reorganized his troops, prepared for small-scale naval raids, and personally led men to collect the remains of the fallen. He built a public cemetery on North Mountain, with A Man personally acting as a “little monk” to conduct a grand burial ceremony. He also publicly announced generous compensation conditions to appease the people. A Man was skilled in the “Life Preservation Style Sun Technique” and could impersonate Buddhist roles like “Komusō Monk.” Currently, she was the only one in the territory who could chant the 《 Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s Sutra for the Deceased 》. Without her, the funeral could not have been held.
Afterward, Yuan Ye personally led the way, setting an example. He engaged in all sorts of digging and tree-cutting, and began to diligently build his new territory, hoping to quickly recover his strength. Now he believed the legend that Mōri Motonari ate only half a bowl of bean rice a day and personally worked in the fields. He probably had been beaten quite badly at the time and had to lead by example to boost morale, just like him now.
Incidentally, he named this unnamed wilderness “Xin Wanjin,” meaning “New Home for the People of Wanjin.”
His naming ability was a bit poor, but he was the first generation of the territory, and no one dared to oppose him. Apart from A Man muttering a couple of times, the name was officially decided.
In Xin Wanjin, everything had to start from scratch. Currently, apart from defensive fortifications, there wasn’t even a proper house. But Yuan Ye had no regrets. He diligently managed everything and worked hard, from building houses to reclaiming fields, willing to do anything.
His villagers were also very cooperative. Perhaps laborers have strong endurance. As long as they could still eat, even if it was just enough to survive, they wouldn’t think of rebelling or overthrowing their superiors. They completely disregarded Yuan Ye’s unilateral decisions that had put them in such a predicament.
On the contrary, because Yuan Ye had owed a lot of debts （ starting from Takeuchi Manor ）, and this time in the “Battle of Xin Wanjin” he had promised many rewards for military achievements, coupled with the fact that this territory now truly belonged to him, and he had the right to allocate the houses built and fields reclaimed, he was likely to fulfill his debts and rewards, allowing the land to fall into the hands of the villagers. Among these were even a large portion of prime fields that were exempt from tenant fees and labor for many years. Thus, a great enthusiasm for construction erupted collectively.
After all, in this era, nothing was more reassuring than land. Even if workshop workers ate in the mess hall every day and never went hungry, they still hoped to have their own land to farm. What they grew didn’t matter; as long as they had land at home, it was best. That way, the men could continue working in the workshops to earn money, and the elderly, women, and children at home could grow grain and vegetables. This was what they considered the most perfect and secure situation.
Yuan Ye indeed intended to compensate the villagers and soldiers for their efforts, as they had proven their loyalty. Loyalty should always be rewarded.
During these ten days, Yuan Ye was also preoccupied with this matter. He worked with his men during the day and planned personally at night. He wasn’t much more relaxed than when he was fighting, and he had lost a bit more weight, developing dark circles under his eyes. At first glance, he looked like a panda person who had mistakenly entered the wrong portal and inexplicably appeared on the Japanese Archipelago.
The only good news was that despite being tired, he wasn’t anxious anymore. The psychological pressure was not as great, and he wasn’t losing hair in large clumps. He probably wouldn’t face the most tragic outcome of becoming bald and strong at a young age.
Being able to keep his hair put him in a good mood, until he heard news from the port that a Kan-sen ship flying a “five-petal mallow flag” was circling at the mouth of the bay.
