Chapter 60: Then I’m Sorry
Yuan Ye became a “tin man,” his courage grew, and he slept more soundly than ever, waking up refreshed and in an even better mood the next day. He then went to see his newly purchased mount—a three-flower mare.
This “three-flower” wasn’t referring to the “three-flower” of a calico cat, but rather a popular Tang Dynasty style of grooming a horse’s mane into fluffy curls. It was the kind of horse mentioned in Li Bai’s poem, “a five-flower horse, a thousand-gold fur coat.” Japan also adopted this style to adorn their horses, as a way to increase their selling price, similar to waxing a car in modern times.
The three-flower mare Yuan Ye had just bought had its mane styled into three fluffy curls, rolling like waves on its neck. The horse’s coat was brown-black, with a large white patch on its face. Its eyes were large, its eyelashes long, and its temperament very gentle. It was currently stretching its tongue to eat hay from A Qing’s hand, only occasionally snorting.
However…
Despite all these good points, the horse was otherwise quite ordinary.
Its shoulder height was only a little over 120 centimeters, which by later standards would be considered a pony. Especially its sturdy build, short and thick legs, and its neck didn’t arch high like other horses, remaining low, making it appear even shorter. However, its hooves were large and round, and wearing straw boots made them look even bigger and more…
As Yuan Ye watched, he realized something was wrong and quickly looked again—why was this horse wearing straw boots?
He had rushed to Atsuta to shop yesterday, worried about trouble at home. Moreover, as someone from the modern era, he understood neither ancient armor nor the quality of horses. The quality of goods was entirely checked by A Man, the “know-it-all,” while he only handled the bargaining. It was only now that he discovered this horse was so peculiar!
The more he looked, the stranger it became. He couldn’t help but squat down and pull aside the straw boots to inspect the horse’s hooves. After a moment, he was speechless. This three-flower horse had no shoes, no horseshoes.
What was going on?
Was the horse dealer trying to save even this small amount of money?
A Qing was nearby, soothing the three-flower mare. Seeing him squat down and not get up, she couldn’t help but ask softly, “What’s wrong? Is it injured?”
She naturally loved small animals and had a good relationship with Yuan Ye’s second-hand donkey. Now that they had a new mare, she liked it very much too. She had finished eating early and came to feed the horse. Seeing Yuan Ye suddenly inspecting its hooves, she was a little worried that their new friend was hurt or sick.
“It has no horseshoes, so the horse dealer just put two pairs of straw boots on it and sold it to us!” Yuan Ye checked them one by one and found none. He couldn’t help but curse his bad luck, but there was nothing he could do. He could only start thinking about who to find to shoe the horse. What bad luck, he had wanted to teach himself horsemanship today, but his time was inexplicably delayed.
Perhaps he should blame A Man. She didn’t check properly either. He’d go scold her later.
“Horseshoes?” A Qing tilted her head, thinking about the strange word. She probably guessed its meaning and said softly, “Is it iron nailed to the horse’s hooves? I think I’ve heard of it, but there’s no need to nail iron on it; no one does.”
“No need for horseshoes? You don’t use horseshoes? Won’t the hooves get injured like this?” Yuan Ye was pondering how to criticize A Man when he suddenly heard A Qing say this, and he raised an eyebrow, becoming curious. In transmigration novels, horseshoes were a “world-shattering invention.” Anyone who transmigrated to the Han Dynasty or earlier would use this to show off and gain an official position. How come for him, horses no longer needed horseshoes?
Had horseshoes not yet been introduced to Japan?
A Qing was very familiar with horses. Although she couldn’t afford a horse, she had briefly befriended many. She was the type who hadn’t eaten pork but had seen pigs walk. Recalling carefully again, she confidently said, “Yes, you only need to trim the hooves regularly, then harden the hooves with fire, and let the horse wear straw boots. The horse won’t get injured, so no one nails iron on them.”
“This works?” Yuan Ye was half-believing, half-doubting. This was contrary to modern common sense. But looking at the horse again, and considering Japan’s mountainous terrain, he seemed to understand a little.
Over the thousand years since horses were introduced to Japan, they must have evolved into a type of mountain horse, with short necks, thick legs, and large hooves, constantly walking on mountain paths and through forests. They developed tough soles, and perhaps truly didn’t need horseshoes.
That was probably the case, otherwise, there was no other explanation. And recalling Maeda Toshiie’s horse, its hooves seemed to be wrapped in straw.
Good, after transmigrating, he learned new knowledge. It turned out ancient Japanese horses wore straw shoes. Before transmigrating, he never imagined such a bizarre thing existed in the world. Looking at it this way, ancient Japan was truly strange, increasingly strange. Even horses wore straw shoes. Would warfare also be very strange?
Yuan Ye stopped bringing up the topic, lest he appear to lack common sense and be different from others. Anyway, as long as the horse could be ridden, whether it had horseshoes or not was unimportant. While thinking randomly in his mind, he began to fumble with the saddle, preparing to teach himself horsemanship.
There was no other way. He had no one to find for horsemanship lessons at this time. A Man, a poor beggar girl, had never ridden a horse. He could only teach himself. He would have to learn sooner or later. A horse’s speed is generally nine seconds per hundred meters, and it can maintain it for a long time, which is much better than a person. Therefore, horsemanship is a very important survival skill, basically like learning to drive in modern times.
Since he had to learn sooner or later, it was definitely better to learn earlier. It’s just that Japanese horses were indeed not very good, too short. This stereotype from later online discussions wasn’t wrong. Him, at 1.8 meters tall, sitting on it might turn him into an ape riding a donkey, which would be very comical. The Japanese themselves were less of an issue; they were naturally short, around 1.45 meters, so riding a 1.2-1.3 meter horse would be quite coordinated and look normal.
A Qing watched for a while, understood what he meant, and lent a hand to help him put on the saddle. She also asked softly, “Are you going out?”
“No, I want to learn to ride a horse,” Yuan Ye said truthfully. Seeing A Qing seemed quite skilled at putting on the saddle, he had an idea. “Can you ride?”
A Qing shook her head, but after thinking, she said seriously, “I haven’t ridden before, but I’ve seen many people ride. Maybe I can help you.”
Yuan Ye had been teaching her to read before, and she was willing to reciprocate. At least she could watch by his side and help him calm the horse, so he wouldn’t be thrown off and break his neck. She was quite confident in this regard; all spirited animals got along well with her.
“Alright, let’s learn together!” Yuan Ye thought learning together was good. After all, he would definitely provide horses for everyone in the future, so it would be useful sooner or later.
Yes, with armor and the ability to gallop on horseback, they would be even more secure. Everyone could live well!
…
Yuan Ye’s self-taught horsemanship turned out to be a stroke of luck. The three-flower mare he bought was very suitable for beginners. Its temperament was very gentle; it wouldn’t buck. A light nudge of his leg made it run, and pulling the reins made it stop. It had no temper of its own and never intended to throw him off. After a few days, without much help from A Qing, Yuan Ye could already ride steadily, trot, and occasionally even lean forward and gallop.
Of course, he was still far behind A Man and A Qing. They were lighter, more agile, and quicker to react, learning to ride much faster. A Man could even perform circus acts, jumping off and running alongside the horse, then jumping back on, riding forwards, backwards, sideways, and even daring to control the horse to jump over fences, very wild.
As for A Qing, she didn’t show off much, but it was likely she was even better than A Man. The three-flower mare clearly liked her more, perhaps they were almost one with each other.
It could only be said that practicing martial arts since childhood had some use. At the very least, they were brave, not afraid of falling, and not afraid of death. This was much, much better than Yuan Ye.
Their group hid at home, diligently preparing armor, sharpening weapons, and practicing horsemanship, all with great enthusiasm. After all, this was the correct way to survive in turbulent times—foreseeing the direction of the wind, making thorough preparations, and designing seventeen or eighteen contingency plans to ensure they could handle any unexpected situation. They absolutely shouldn’t wait until the enemy’s swords were already at their throats before roaring with red eyes and engaging in a desperate struggle.
That might be passionate and exciting, but even if they didn’t die, they would end up scarred and bloody, which was simply foolish.
Yuan Ye didn’t want to be a fool, so he stayed at home practicing horsemanship, getting used to the weight of the armor, and asking A Qing to teach him some combat skills. He only sent A Man out daily to scout for news and see when the fighting would start. However, after waiting for another four or five days, there was still no movement from Oda Nobuyuki at Suemori Castle. It seemed he was content with the inheritance he had received and guarding Suemori Castle, with no intention of gathering forces to attack Nagoya Castle and kill Oda Nobunaga.
“No movement at all?” Yuan Ye was also puzzled. Was the struggle for succession just going to be dropped? Would the brothers live peacefully like this? Wasn’t he worried at all that Oda Nobunaga would make the first move?
“No movement at all! Yesterday, that old woman Tsuchida even organized a flower-viewing party!” A Man said, and couldn’t help but offer her hindsight again. “See, I told you not to buy all the family’s money on armor and weapons. You wouldn’t listen to me, and now you regret it, right? I said we should use this money to continue making money, but now it’s like throwing it into the water. I don’t even know how much we’ve lost!”
“Let’s wait a bit longer. Maybe no one is ready yet!” Yuan Ye was also unsure now. If the brothers didn’t fight soon, he would feel like a fool after being nervous for more than twenty days.
“That won’t do. With the remaining money, let’s go to the castle town of Nagoya and buy some bean cakes. Let’s quickly brew another batch of soy sauce and sell it to the old monk to recoup some losses!” A Man felt that just waiting was too foolish and started to suggest actively, wanting to quickly make back money. She wanted to guard the treasury and relive the feeling of sleeping on a pile of money.
Yuan Ye pondered slightly. For a moment, he felt it was too early to resume production, and for a moment, he felt perhaps he was being too suspicious and just unnecessarily nervous. Just as he was undecided, a dull bell suddenly rang, and a moment later, a conch shell trumpet also sounded.
This time he had experience and knew it was the Oda Family summoning their followers. He wasn’t as surprised as last time, but this time it seemed different. The bell rang more urgently with each peal, and the conch shell trumpet sounded in a continuous line, indicating an emergency assembly. Clearly, something had happened, and the enemy might even be close to attacking!
He listened for a moment, and his mind was already contemplating which of the ABCDEFGHIJK contingency plans to activate. At the same time, he said irritably, “Didn’t you say there was no movement? What’s going on now?”
Scouting out every day, what good did it do? They were already having an emergency assembly here, and fighting had probably already broken out in the distance!
A Man looked surprised and uncertain, but instinctively retorted, “It’s definitely not Suemori Castle. There’s been no movement there; they haven’t mobilized at all!”
After saying that, she lacked confidence, fearing that Suemori Castle might be launching a surprise sneak attack. That would ruin her professional reputation. So, after retorting once, she didn’t dare to say more. She got up to go out and see, hoping to redeem herself. But as soon as she opened the door, Yayoi stumbled in and reported lying on the ground, “Lord Saburo, a follower wishes to see you.”
Yuan Ye also wanted to quickly determine which contingency plan to activate and hurried out. The follower was quite calm, but his tone was a bit hurried: “Lord Yuan Ye, thank you for your hard work. Lord Okuruku Kiyobee requests your presence.”
Yuan Ye didn’t immediately agree. He first quickly asked, “Why the sudden assembly? What happened?” If thousands of people were attacking, he would have to make his apologies and leave first.
The follower didn’t hide anything. After all, Yuan Ye’s residence was here, and they were definitely on the same side. He directly said, “The Matsudaira Family is attacking the forts of Dongjin and Dongmu. Lord Okuruku has been ordered to gather at Nagoya Castle to prepare for battle!”
Yuan Ye was slightly stunned. What happened to the promised brotherly conflict? Why did the Matsudaira Family show up? What were they doing here, trying to take advantage of the chaos?
