Chapter 94: The Second Shoe Finally Drops!
Yuan Ye stood at the gate, observing. A Qing and A Man quickly arrived beside him, and they immediately climbed onto the rooftop to gaze in the direction of the commotion. A moment later, A Man called out from above, “The warehouse is on fire… No, it doesn’t look like a fire, it looks like a riot!”
It was nighttime, and the moonlight wasn’t very bright. Even with her excellent eyesight, she couldn’t clearly see what was happening in the distance. However, by the light of the fires that had just started, she could vaguely sense that the area was chaotic, and there seemed to be glints of weapons, which didn’t look like an ordinary fire.
A riot?
Yuan Ye was puzzled. Why would Takeuchi Manor be rioting? Apart from him, everyone in the manor was from the Oda family. Who would riot?
Theoretically, he should be the only one who would riot!
Although he was puzzled, he didn’t dare to be careless. He immediately turned and ordered the newly arrived Yayoi, Momoi brothers, and others, “Wake everyone up, and have the followers put on armor!”
A Man and A Qing jumped down from the rooftop. A Man didn’t hesitate either, and ran out, shouting as she went, “I’ll go take a look nearby, wait for my news!”
This was truly a disgrace. She wandered around outside every day, yet she hadn’t heard any rumors of a riot. It was inexcusable.
Yuan Ye ignored her and turned back into the house to put on his armor completely, and reloaded his crossbow.
By the time he was fully armored, A Qing had also armed herself. Her expression was cold, her head tied with a white headband, wearing a dōmaru, a long sword at her waist, and holding a naginata transformed from her bronze hoop staff. She arrived beside him and casually took his eight-edged iron staff.
By this time, over thirty followers had also assembled in the courtyard, fully armored.
It was hard to say how effective these people were after training for a few months, but they were fed every day and constantly drilled by A Qing and kicked by A Man. Their physical condition and discipline were quite good. Now, all of them were wearing dōmaru and holding one-handed spears, and they looked quite imposing standing together.
Yuan Ye looked at them and felt that the past year hadn’t been in vain. He had some confidence now. But just as he felt a bit of confidence, the alarm bell of Takeuchi Manor suddenly rang, its sound very urgent. At the same time, the sounds of commotion from afar grew louder, gradually turning into shouts of combat.
He glanced at the sky, which was already red in the distance, and felt that the situation there was clearly out of control. No one was even trying to put out the fires. He decided to prepare for the worst. He ordered the Momoi brothers to take a few men to the nearby soy sauce workshop to bring over the “elderly, weak, sick, and disabled.” He also instructed Yayoi to take the little maidservants to pack some gold, silver, and provisions, and to prepare a stretcher for Meng Ziqi, ready to carry him away at any moment.
He appeared very calm, and everyone else didn’t panic. They all acted according to his orders. At this moment, A Man also ran back, panting. From a distance, she shouted, “Something’s happened, it’s not a riot, the manor gate has been breached!”
“Slow down, what exactly happened?” Yuan Ye grabbed her, and at the same time, called A Qing to help her put on armor and prepare for combat.
“I don’t know the specific details!” A Man didn’t dare to get too close in the dark, and there wasn’t enough time. She just ran closer, climbed onto the rooftop to take a few glances, and then ran back. “But the manor gate is broken, and many enemies are pouring in. I don’t know how many, but there are definitely six or seven hundred! Some of them are clearing out the people in the warehouse, and a large group is heading towards Okuruku Kiyobee’s residence.”
Damn it, the riot has turned into an invasion by an external enemy?
Things happened too suddenly, and Yuan Ye found it hard to believe, even feeling it was very strange.
Most of the samurai and followers responsible for guarding Takeuchi Manor were concentrated in the warehouse area. Okuruku Kiyobee was the village head and magistrate, and his residence was the “command center” of Takeuchi Manor. The enemy was clearly very familiar with the terrain of Takeuchi Manor, their targets were very clear, and they attacked the vital point without the slightest hesitation. This was not normal.
And how did these people break through the manor gate?
Although Takeuchi Manor was called a manor, these were turbulent times. Takeuchi Manor had stockade walls and watchtowers, and moats and traps were dug. It was like a small fortress, with defensive capabilities not much inferior to Aragiko Castle. Okuruku Kiyobee was a meticulous and rigid person, and his daily defenses were never relaxed. How could they have crossed the moat and opened the manor gate without any prior warning?
Also, who would attack Takeuchi Manor? This was the heartland of the Oda Danjō no Chū family, with over a dozen cities and fortresses of various sizes on the periphery. Who would be crazy enough to attack here?
Weren’t they afraid of being surrounded within the manor at dawn and annihilated?
Yuan Ye’s mind raced, and his thoughts scattered in all directions. He couldn’t figure out what was happening, and he couldn’t even identify the enemy. But after a brief pause, he snapped back to reality, reined in his thoughts, and cast these doubts aside. He felt an unexpected sense of calm and peace—the kind of peace that comes after waiting all night for the inevitable to finally happen.
He had known for a long time that this day would come, that he would be inexplicably drawn into a chaotic battle. For this, he had been cooped up like a turtle for a year. Now that this day had finally arrived, he felt nothing to fear.
Even though he had always felt safe hiding in the manor, and never imagined it would be breached, it didn’t matter. The situation was essentially the same.
He calmly gave the order, “If the enemy is at least six or seven hundred strong, we can’t stay here. Let’s go! Head to the South Gate first, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Takeuchi Manor had more than one gate. The main gate to the north was close to the main road leading to Nagoya Castle and was used more often and was larger. To the south, there was a smaller gate leading to the lagoon, which the manor residents used for cutting reeds and fishing.
The enemy situation was unclear, and their approach was fierce, clearly not to be trifled with. He felt that with his current force of less than forty, rushing to Kiyobee’s residence wouldn’t achieve much. If they ran headfirst into the enemy’s main force in the dark, it would be suicidal. It was better to secure the South Gate first and leave a way out for everyone.
If Kiyobee could organize a counterattack and hold the enemy, he could act as a reserve force and attack from the south. If Kiyobee crumbled instantly and was killed, he would leave directly through the South Gate.
At his command, no one objected. Everyone immediately set off, heading straight for the South Gate while no one was paying attention to them. They only carried Meng Ziqi on a stretcher and some fast horses and donkeys to carry provisions and valuables.
Besides that, heavy items like copper coins, cattle, cloth, and rice, as well as livestock, were left behind for now.
As long as they could survive, money was never the problem!
After their group left their residence, they soon encountered the “elderly, weak, sick, and disabled” from the soy sauce workshop. Maeshima Shichiro was among them. He was quite dedicated and had stayed at the workshop that night. When the Momoi brothers found him, he was confused and didn’t know what to do. Upon hearing Yuan Ye’s orders, he followed along. However, he had never been to battle, and his face was already pale with fear due to the sudden turn of events.
Yuan Ye didn’t pay much attention. He waved them to follow behind the group and continued to advance. Although not much time had passed, the manor was already filled with shouts of combat everywhere. It seemed the enemy was moving very swiftly, and the Oda family’s samurai and followers had no time to gather, forced to fight individually within the manor.
At the same time, the fires within the manor also increased. Four or five more houses caught fire and burned more fiercely, as if lighting several large torches for Takeuchi Manor.
They hurried along by the light, directly turning onto the main road. As they were walking, suddenly, from a dark corner, a bowstring twanged, and three arrows shot towards them. The target was Yuan Ye, who was walking on the outer side of the group, wearing “modern armor” that gleamed slightly in the dim firelight as he urged everyone to run at a brisk pace. It seemed they believed his head was of high value, and killing him would earn a greater reward.
But they didn’t succeed. A Qing’s eyes flashed, and with a few swift movements of her naginata, she deflected all three arrows. Yuan Ye was even more unfazed, not even blinking.
Ordinary arrows couldn’t penetrate his full set of iron armor. A hundred kan of copper coins weighed several hundred pounds; this money was not spent in vain.
A Man’s reaction was also quick. With a loud shout, she charged into the darkness with over a dozen followers. Soon after, the sound of clashing weapons could be heard from a distance, along with the grating sound of swords hitting dōmaru and consecutive screams. It seemed that this small group of scouts who wanted to “cleverly take the enemy general’s life” not only failed to earn any reward money but also lost several lives.
The advancing group only stirred slightly and was not significantly affected. Even though the elderly, weak, women, and children were very scared, they ran silently, following closely behind the group, afraid of being left behind.
Yuan Ye waited for a moment. A Man returned with her men, wiped some bloodstains from her small face, and handed him a small identifying flag with a troubled expression. “An ‘Uchi-Mitsu-Ina’ crest flag. It’s from the Hayashi family.”
Yuan Ye took the flag and looked at it in the dim firelight. He saw three ears of rice intertwined to form a circle. Counting the number of grains on the ears of rice, he immediately raised his eyebrows. “Lin Hidesada’s men?”
He had studied under A Man, so his knowledge of family crests was somewhat rudimentary. At least within Owari, he could recognize people without much problem. He had studied the ‘Uchi-Mitsu-Ina’ crest, and it seemed to be used by this branch of Lin Hidesada.
“In Owari, who else could mobilize so many people, and from a branch of the Inaba family, if not him?” A Man said with disbelief, her Dou Dou eyebrows almost furrowed together. “How could it be him? Has he rebelled? What is he trying to achieve?!”
Before, even though the enemy had breached the manor gate, she still couldn’t figure out what was happening, feeling deeply insulted to her professional dignity. She had been wondering who would be crazy enough to attack Oda Nobunaga’s manor, but in the end, she couldn’t even think of a suspect. She felt that no one could bypass so many cities on the periphery and suddenly appear in the heartland of Oda Danjō no Chū.
After thinking for a long time, she realized she had been thinking in vain. It wasn’t an external invasion at all; it was Oda Nobunaga’s chief senior retainer who had rebelled!
But if the chief senior retainer rebelled, she understood even less. What was the point? He was already in a position of being second only to one person and above ten thousand others!
Yuan Ye was silent for a moment. He couldn’t say what was going on. He hadn’t suspected Lin Hidesada before, not at all. Historically, Lin Hidesada lived a good life. It was only after failing to capture Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple that he was banished by Oda Nobunaga. In the early and middle stages, he should have been fine and a staunch supporter of Oda Nobunaga!
This made no sense!
However, it didn’t matter who the enemy was at this moment. He casually threw the small flag away and ordered the group to continue their brisk pace towards the South Gate. Just as they were about to reach the South Gate, a group of about sixty or seventy people, fully armed with sabers, spears, and armor, suddenly emerged from a small alley behind them. Seeing them ahead, they shouted and quickly pursued them.
Yuan Ye looked back and cursed. To prevent the group from being scattered, he immediately ordered his followers to turn around, form a line, and meet them, intending to quickly defeat this group!
Living in turbulent times, it turns out you can’t avoid it no matter how hard you try. Then all you can do is fight with all your might.
