Chapter 89: These Turbulent Times, it’s starting again!
Rain couldn’t fall forever, otherwise the Japanese people would have gone extinct long ago.
After Yuan Ye saw the sun appear for three consecutive days, he knew that this plum rain season should be ending. This was nearly a week shorter than he expected, indicating that the climate had changed significantly over five hundred years, even shortening the plum rain season by nearly 15%.
As the sun began its normal work, the daytime temperature also rose. The rainwater accumulated during the plum rain season began to evaporate rapidly, and the Guanzhong region of Japan officially entered the hot and humid, unbearable peak of summer.
This was a bit of a killer. Yuan Ye was from the north and was naturally somewhat afraid of heat; humid heat was even more unbearable.
He looked up at the scorching sun and mentally calculated the homework assigned to him by A Qing. He didn’t slack off or hide, but continued to wield his eight-edged iron staff on the spot—the moves were designed by A Qing for him, emphasizing only height and strength without disadvantage. They were very simple to practice: just sweeping, slashing, and smashing, combined with corresponding footwork and power-generating techniques, and that was it.
This was completely different from the martial arts he had imagined; it was utterly devoid of aesthetic appeal. But A Qing insisted he train this way, so he could only listen to the expert. A Man, the chatterbox, did offer a few more explanations, saying that with his long legs, long arms, and great strength, mastering these three moves and wrapping himself in iron sheets would be enough for him on the battlefield, at least enough to be an Ashigaru leader.
Anyway, as long as he swung hard, most regular soldiers, and even most low-ranking samurai, would have trouble getting close before his strength ran out. Even if he encountered a skilled opponent, they would have to dodge slightly if they didn’t want to die with him. And with that little bit of time, it would be enough for A Qing to stab the enemy twice.
Since they spoke so confidently, Yuan Ye decided to believe them for now, treating it as mere physical training. He diligently finished his homework, wiped off his sweat, and quickly retreated into the “air-conditioned room” to cool off—a makeshift air conditioner.
He hired a well digger, who, along with his family retainers and followers, dug two wells tens of meters deep in the backyard. Then he designed a set of animal-powered winch devices to lift water. This water, ice-cold from the deep wells which maintained a constant temperature year-round, between 4-10 degrees Celsius, was pumped into a water tank. From the tank, it continuously flowed through several ceramic pipes. These pipes ran through the roof, walls, and floor to cool the room. The ice-cold well water in these ceramic pipes, after completing its cooling mission, was not wasted. It served as a form of “running water” for all members of the household for daily washing and bathing, or for livestock to drink. Any excess was diverted back underground.
Overall, this “makeshift air conditioner” was very rudimentary, but it had the advantage of low cost. Apart from the initial investment, all it required was two oxen constantly turning to provide power, perhaps with a cowherd. In the long run, there were no significant expenses.
Of course, this was a very basic version. In the future, he could refit all the rooms, and the ceramic pipes could be replaced with copper pipes, and the mud plaster with threaded connections. There were still many areas for upgrades. However, he had previously discovered that an annual income of 5,000 kan was simply not enough to cover everything, so the plan to completely renovate the house was temporarily shelved. He could only manage to do two rooms for now, just to get through this summer.
One of these two air-conditioned rooms was for Meng Ziqi, to prevent him from getting heat rash from lying around all day. The other was for his own use. But A Man, being a wild child who didn’t respect hierarchy and always took advantage of any benefit, immediately became thick-skinned and refused to leave once she discovered how cool his room was—outside it was thirty-five to thirty-six degrees Celsius, but inside his room it was twenty-seven to twenty-eight degrees, a completely different feel.
She set a bad precedent, and others began to follow suit, crowding into his room whenever they had nothing else to do. Within a few days, his room had become the daily leisure spot for the Yuan Ye Family.
This time was no exception. He entered his air-conditioned room, sweating profusely, and found Nene, Yayoi, and A Qing all enjoying the cool air. A Qing and Yayoi were checking inventory and accounts, while Nene was doing her homework nearby.
Seeing him arrive, Nene’s eyes immediately lit up. She dropped her homework and, before Yayoi could, pulled a rope. The bamboo tube at the end of the rope immediately lowered, instantly releasing a spray of cool well water that splashed into a long stone trough—Yuan Ye couldn’t yet manually operate a faucet, so it was a bit clumsy, but he had to make do for now.
When Nene let go, the bamboo tube automatically rose and stopped the water flow. She then picked up a cotton cloth, soaked it in the cool well water, wrung it out, and respectfully handed it to Yuan Ye, saying with filial piety, “Master, you’ve worked hard. Please use this!”
After this period of interaction, she had also realized that Yuan Ye seemed to have no romantic intentions towards her. At the time, she couldn’t tell if she should be happy or disappointed, nor could she understand what Yuan Ye was thinking. She was somewhat wary, thinking he had some cunning scheme. But she soon found that Yuan Ye seemed to genuinely treat her as a disciple, teaching her very diligently and answering all her questions. This made her heart flutter again. She was merely precocious and intelligent, not born with knowledge. Reading could broaden one’s horizons, expand one’s perspective, and strengthen one’s mind; the benefits were endless. She understood this, but good books were hard to find, and a wise teacher was even harder to find.
Now she saw Yuan Ye as a wise teacher. Whether it was astronomy and geography, poetry and songs, various crafts and techniques, or mathematics and business, whatever she asked him, he could explain it thoroughly and clarify the cause and effect. He might not have been a scholar of heaven and earth, but at least he could be called knowledgeable.
Most importantly, Yuan Ye was willing to teach her and did not look down on her because she was a woman. This made her particularly happy. In this era, it was too difficult to learn anything, especially for a woman. Any teacher would not spend too much time and energy on a woman; it simply wasn’t worth it.
Therefore, she felt this was her opportunity. If she could achieve something, it would not be a problem to revitalize her family’s business in the future. After more than ten lessons, she genuinely wanted to be his little disciple, feeling that it would be worth it even if she had to pay a price for it later.
As her mindset changed, her actions also changed. She began to look forward to class time and became increasingly obedient, truly serving Yuan Ye as her master. She even vied to do small tasks like wringing out towels, and she did them happily.
Yuan Ye was also happy to receive the towel and wipe his face. After all, a towel wrung out by the “Great Minister of Women” was something ordinary people couldn’t enjoy; it had to be worth more.
After wiping his face, he casually praised Nene, then went to his low table and sat down cross-legged. He then pondered what other makeshift methods he could use to obtain a high-purity reducing agent solution without incurring too high a cost.
Previously, he had been confined to the laboratory every day, and through various lucky accidents, he had managed to experiment with several dye formulas. However, the coloring was still unstable, and the colors often appeared muddy. This was likely due to the purity of the compounds, causing impurities to participate in different chemical reactions during different processes, thus preventing large-scale application.
He estimated he would need to spend some more time experimenting and devise some makeshift methods to purify the impurities in the reducing agent. Then he should be able to proceed to the next step and dye a large batch of cloth to test.
If successful, the income from the dye workshop should far exceed that of the soy sauce workshop. After all, the cloth market in this era was much larger than the seasoning market. If the colors were good enough, he might even be able to engage in foreign trade and earn money from the Portuguese.
Once enough capital was accumulated, he might be able to find a way to develop an iron mine, gather or train a group of blacksmiths, and attempt to transition into an arms dealer.
He was happily contemplating this, about to imagine building large ships and training an ocean navy, when A Man, sweating profusely, rushed in. As soon as she entered, she began to complain, full of displeasure, “This damned weather is like a steamer; it’s going to cook me alive!”
After complaining, she ordered Yayoi to get her some sour plum soup, iced with well water. She then rushed to the well water trough and splashed water on her face. The sour plum soup had nothing to do with Yuan Ye; it existed in this era. Yayoi had bought a lot of plums during the plum rain season, preparing to make plum sauce according to custom for winter consumption. Some of these were used to make sour plum soup.
After A Man finished her fuss and finally cooled down a bit, she sat down next to Yuan Ye and reported the outside developments. Her first words were bad news: “It’s likely going to war again!”
Yuan Ye wasn’t surprised. He was somewhat accustomed to the rhythm of this era. As long as the conditions were right, samurai were either on their way to fight for territory or already engaged in battle. Now that the plum rain season was over, the weather was hot, the muddy pits had dried up, and the late rice had been planted. The samurai, with nothing else to do, would surely stir things up and fight each other.
He put down his brush, briefly reminisced about the peaceful life of the past month, and sighed, “Who is it this time?”
“It’s the Imagawa Family,” A Man said, having obtained firsthand information from Nagoya Castle. “I heard the Imagawa Family is mobilizing provisions and troops towards the Shirakawa Entrance line, with particular activity in the Shimane area. It seems they plan to attack Shigehara Castle.”
“This is good. We know as soon as the Imagawa Family makes a move!” Yuan Ye said, looking for a map, feeling very relieved. This time, they could prepare before the enemy acted. Oda Nobunaga had indeed grown; he was no longer like the previous two times when he only started preparing to counterattack after the enemy had already acted, or even after the enemy had been fighting for a while and he still hadn’t reached a consensus with his vassals on a strategy, leaving the front lines to suffer for days.
“It’s probably because of Shinshu Maru. The Kyōdan-shū he formed seems to have some capable individuals,” A Man said, not daring to interact with people related to the Kyōdan-shū. She was somewhat afraid of Shinshu Maru and didn’t want to cause misunderstandings and be killed for no reason, so she could only guess, “They should have already started infiltrating Mikawa Province. At least monitoring the situation along the Shirakawa Entrance line should be fine.”
Yuan Ye felt the same way. The plum rain season was actually perfect for Oda Nobunaga’s Kyōdan-shū to operate. He guessed that even if the Imagawa Family didn’t attack Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobunaga was planning to seek revenge against the Imagawa Family.
With this thought, he flipped open the map and found Shigehara Castle. Shigehara Castle was also located at the base of the Chita Peninsula. If Oda Danjō no Chū’s family, after Yamaguchi Noritsugu’s rebellion, lost Nagoya Castle and then lost Shigehara Castle, they would likely no longer be able to subdue the local powerful families of the Chita Peninsula. The Chita District would inevitably change hands.
A Man also pointed to the map and added information, “Shigehara Castle was built by the Yamaoka Family. The head of the family is Yamaoka Yasuhira, whose strength is comparable to the Aragiko Maeda Family. They can mobilize about ten samurai, over a hundred followers, and five to six hundred rookie and ashigaru soldiers. They alone cannot stop the Imagawa Family.”
“Then what does Lord Kazusa-no-suke plan to do?” Yuan Ye corrected himself, as Nene was present and he didn’t want to call Oda Nobunaga by his given name.
“There’s no news on that yet, but I guess they’ll likely engage them. The Danjō no Chū family cannot afford to lose Shigehara Castle again; the loss would be too great.”
Yuan Ye nodded, sighed, and softly instructed, “Then let’s start preparing. We probably can’t avoid it either; ninety-nine percent chance we’ll have to go.”
This tumultuous autumn is starting again. This battle will likely last until the autumn harvest. I just don’t know if Oda Nobunaga can step up this time, deliver a crushing blow to the Imagawa Family, and defend the Chita District.
It should be fine, right? After all, he’s already fought two major battles. He should be a mature general by now.
