CHAPTER 254: CHAPTER 185: DID MAEDA TOSHIE KILL ODA NOBUNAGA’S BROTHER?

After returning to New Wanjin, Nozawa discovered that everything in New Wanjin was currently normal.

The printing and dyeing industry, along with the salt industry, had gradually become the industrial pillars of New Wanjin. The beautiful, cheap, and colorfast patterned cloths had already crushed the traditional dyeing workshops of Kyoto, Kantou, and the North Land. This not only provided New Wanjin with a massive number of jobs, but also brought in a great deal of wealth. Production capacity was still being actively expanded.

The situation with New Wanjin’s salt industry was much the same—after securing an abundant supply of labor, the volcanic ash cement salt fields could produce large quantities of crude salt, and by applying brine purification technology, salt flower irrigation techniques, and strict process management, large volumes of high-quality, low-priced refined salt began to hit the markets once covered by Atsuta Port and Shimazu Port, essentially toppling those scattered salt-boiling families and mudflat salt producers—the refined salt produced in New Wanjin was even cheaper than their crude salt, leaving them powerless to resist, doomed to bankruptcy.

Apart from these two labor-intensive industries, New Wanjin’s production of iron cannon, swords, arrows, and armor was also extremely popular. Even though these items had not undergone modern technological improvements, the organized operations and rigorous process management of New Wanjin ensured that the quality of their products was still superior to what most other places could offer, leading to abundant buyers.

Moreover, saltpeter was still in short supply all across Japan, maintaining an exorbitant profit margin, so New Wanjin’s finances were exceedingly healthy, with no signs whatsoever of a deficit.

And in this world, having money always made things easier. As long as the funds were sufficient, infrastructure was never a problem. New Wanjin’s pier and town district were more prosperous than ever, with many new structures of various functions, and its villages were already spreading southward—fortified with defensive rock fortresses, they were about to swallow up the entire territory of the Oya Family.

The only slight flaw was that New Wanjin still could not achieve self-sufficiency in grain. Even with the use of crude fertilizer, the gap remained, largely because the workshops demanded too many raw materials. New Wanjin had planted vast amounts of cotton and hemp, as well as dyestuffs like indigo and blackthorn; further largescale grain cultivation was proving too much, and the population of New Wanjin was still rising rapidly. Thanks in part to Nozawa’s endless scheming and coercion outside—abductions, raids, purchases—New Wanjin’s population now approached seventeen thousand, more than double the Hosokawa Family, and mouths to feed were simply too many. No matter how quickly new fields were opened, they could not keep up with the need.

There was nothing to be done— even with guano fertilizer, fertilizer could not magically turn into grain overnight. There had to be a process.

Still, in the Middle Ages, Japan practiced a "grain-based standard." Rice could often serve as a general equivalent. As long as there was no widespread natural disaster, collecting grain was fairly simple; after all, commoners in Japan hardly ever ate real grain—some eighty percent of production was claimed by the Daimyo, powerful families, and Samurai. Much of this grain ended up on the market, and a share of it became New Wanjin’s grain reserves—on this front, Nozawa never let up. New Wanjin always stockpiled enough to keep fighting for six months even if all production faltered, in case of disaster or war.

Of course, true self-sufficiency would be best, but now that there were enough people, land was once again lacking. To open more fields would mean expanding into Oya Castle, but the time was not ripe. For now, priorities had to be weighed: Nozawa had to guarantee a sufficient stock of workshop workers to serve as the army’s core.

Nozawa made a circuit around New Wanjin and found nothing amiss. New Wanjin was still a small place, easily maintaining good governance, clear administration, and harmonious society. Public security was absurdly fine—finding lost items on the road, leaving doors and windows open at night, all of it was routine.

What happens when the territory grows, no one knows. But for now, New Wanjin did indeed seem something like a utopia.

Izumi Hichiji was also very satisfied with New Wanjin. He felt that moving the villagers here had been an incomparably correct decision. Here there was no harsh taxation, no arbitrary exactions; life was peaceful and harmonious, almost a dreamland. The only issue was that Koka people seemed born with some itch for mischief—many had perfectly good land, but couldn’t sit still and farm, still preferring to wander about.

For example, many of the young people from Jiangnan Village had put together a "circus," roaming the lands of New Wanjin giving performances. They felt this was more profitable and far easier than farming, and were even planning to save up to build a grand theatre in the city. Petitions poured in to Izumi Hichiji, begging him to plead with Ah Man, so that Ah Man would, pulling face, go ask Nozawa for a prime plot of land for their project. Most urban residents in New Wanjin were workshop laborers with strong spending power, but since New Wanjin’s location had historically prioritized military factors, both the pier and city had grown crowded. Now, some merchants were even forced to build upwards, and getting new land was anything but simple—just passing Endo Chiyoda’s gate was a headache in itself.

Indeed, Endo Chiyoda was currently obsessed with the form of buying cheap raw materials and selling high-priced finished products, wanting to reserve all remaining land for future workshops, or at the very least for commercial tenants that could pay high market taxes. As for any "grand theatre"... Just the idea of it sounded like a frivolous waste—out of the way, please!

When passing by Jiangnan Village, Izumi Hichiji did, rather tactfully, mention it. Even though he also disapproved of the "idle" youth, he still lent a hand. Nozawa, for his part, found it interesting, planning to discuss things with Endo Chiyoda and others to see if a bit of land could be squeezed out for them.

He was actually thinking of officially incorporating this talented lot, forming a propaganda troupe, composing plays and performing everywhere, and smearing some mud on the faces of the Samurai... Actually, blackening their name wasn’t even needed; just recounting the deeds of the Samurai as they were was more than enough. No matter how gloriously they were depicted in period dramas, Japanese Samurai simply weren’t decent human beings. That was an intractable reality.

And this would also serve his ultimate plan. He intended to give it some serious thought and make proper plans.

......

Nozawa spent two days wandering around New Wanjin, warmly shaking the hands of every level of internal affairs official in thanks. If only his acting were better—had he been able to squeeze out a few red-eyed words such as, "Fortunate am I, for with you all my work is untroubled," it would have been perfect. As it was, somewhat regretfully, he turned and dove back into the Wanjin Army.

New Wanjin had always encouraged commerce and industry, pushing development, so the Wanjin Army could not afford to stand still. Once labor issues had eased somewhat, recruitment resumed. This time, most recruits were of "good family stock," no longer the bachelor vagrants Nozawa had bought; most were men with families and dependents. After all, being a soldier in New Wanjin was now a plum job: earning over three times the ordinary wage, with generous active duty, retirement, and family benefits—it truly was "one serves, all eat their fill." Competition was fierce; any slight defect and one would be sent straight back to the workshop. The Wanjin Army simply would not take them.

Currently, the Wanjin Army had expanded to over 1,200 field soldiers, with an attached logistics unit of over 600 (including transport, wood and earth engineering, etc.), and a military police contingent of over 200.

In addition, every village trained peasant-soldiers, ensuring basic local defense; when needed, they could be assembled to serve as auxiliary combat or garrison troops.

These troops were all secretly stashed away by Nozawa, meant for grabbing as much land as possible at the Battle of Okehazama; the ranks were filled with new recruits, but under his draconian discipline, he figured they would fight well enough. Now, only the right moment was awaited.

This army nearly devoured all of New Wanjin’s financial surplus, and all the loot Nozawa had scraped together over more than a year’s adventures outside. He only hoped it would prove a worthwhile investment and not a total waste of his immense expenditure.

......

Nozawa personally oversaw the Wanjin Army, and in addition to supervising daily training, ordered Ah Man to collect terrain intelligence on the root of the north end of the Chita Peninsula and to look out for movements of the Imagawa family, all in active preparation for the coming great war.

Nearly two months of peace passed swiftly. Just as Nozawa was pondering when the Imagawa family would begin their eastward push, Mura Hachiro—the very first Lang Faction member recruited by Maeda Toshie, and now his trusted retainer—suddenly arrived at New Wanjin in a small boat, rushed up to Nozawa, and at once fell to his knees, knocking his head furiously: "Lord Nozawa, please save my Lord’s life! I beg you, my lord, save my Lord’s life! Now, you are our only hope!"

Nozawa was taken aback. He had received no word of any disturbance in the Oda Family. Quickly, he helped Mura Hachiro to his feet and asked with concern, "What happened? Don’t worry. Just take your time and explain!"

Mura Hachiro would not get up, his face twisted with worry and fear. He wanted to keep kowtowing but dared not ignore this precious lifeline’s wishes, so ended up standing there in an awkward pose, though his tongue was urgent: "My Lord killed someone—word is that the Lord of Upper General is about to order my Lord to... to commit seppuku as atonement!"

"Ordered to commit seppuku? When did this happen?" Nozawa was utterly confused, yanking him up again, his brow tightly knotted. "What on earth happened to Lord Maeda?"

Mura Hachiro froze for a moment, swallowed hard, took a breath, and seemed to collect himself at last. He said, "It happened this morning. The day before yesterday, my Lord and a member of the Fellowship, Toriami, from the Lord of Upper General, got into... some dispute, there was shouting. Then the Lord of Upper General learned of it and punished both men. My Lord was furious. This morning, meeting Toriami again, Toriami spoke insultingly, and my Lord lost his temper and... and killed him..."

"And then, the Lord of Upper General got angry as well and ordered my Lord locked up. I heard they will command him to commit public seppuku in penance."

Once Mura Hachiro finished speaking, his face again tightened with agitation. He clutched Nozawa’s sleeve pleadingly: "My lord, it really was a moment’s rashness! You are my Lord’s friend, and you have the ear of the Lord of Upper General—please, you must save him! You are our only hope now!"

Nozawa was silent for a moment, then patted his hand reassuringly: "I understand. I’ll go to Qingzhou City at once."

Though the details were unclear, they could be learned in time. Maeda Toshie was worth saving—he had rendered Nozawa several favors, after all.

"Thank you, thank you so much! Our Maeda Family will never, ever forget your great kindness!" Mura Hachiro dropped to his knees again, banging his head, and this time, Nozawa could not stop him.

Nozawa quickly had him helped up again and sent him to the pier, arranging for them to travel together by boat to Qingzhou City. At the same time, he beckoned to Ah Man to ask, "What exactly happened?"

Ah Man was there delivering intelligence—the Life-saving Group’s information had arrived in New Wanjin almost as fast as Mura Hachiro’s, just to different recipients. Ah Man handed the dossier directly to Nozawa and said, "It’s much as he said, but that Toriami wasn’t just anybody. Plus, Maeda Toshie blundered right in front of Oda Nobunaga—when Toriami was chopped down with a single stroke, Oda Nobunaga was standing on the city wall watching."

Nozawa unrolled the report, raised an eyebrow in surprise, and murmured, "So Toriami was Oda Nobunaga’s elder brother?"

Maeda Toshie actually killed Oda Nobunaga’s brother?

This was serious trouble indeed...