CHAPTER 272: CHAPTER 199: WANT TO GO TO THE SEA!

"Lord, aren’t you planning to change your name yet?"

On the boat to Old Wanjin, Ah Man was bored. While eating giant shrimp, she started nagging again about something she thought was important. "With our current strength, it’s really not appropriate for you to keep being called Saburo, is it?

Even that guy Maeda Toshie has changed his name to Matsudaira Takeshi, while you’re still using your childhood name. It just feels like you’re a whole head shorter than him. Why not take this opportunity in Qingzhou, have Oda Nobunaga help you petition the court for a better title? Something like Chidomomoru sounds pretty impressive too."

Harano was also casually peeling shrimp, but he didn’t eat himself. After peeling them, he put them straight into Ah Qing’s bowl and said absent-mindedly, "No need. A name is just a name—you can call me whatever. Whether it’s impressive or not really doesn’t matter."

"But still, using Saburo as your public name— that really doesn’t fit a provincial lord at all!" Ah Man had tried to persuade him several times before, and she was at it again, mumbling through a mouthful of shrimp. "It’s not like it costs a fortune either; I heard the emperor’s so broke these days he’s secretly selling paintings for cash. Next time, just have Oda Nobunaga put in a word for you and slip him a few hundred kan, and he’ll definitely be happy to oblige."

"I said it’s unnecessary. Even spending a single wen on this is too much."

Harano had no desire to take an official post in the Japan Court, even a nominal one. Plus, he found Ah Man really got in the way here—he and Ah Qing were sneakily dipping shrimp in soy sauce together, peeling for each other, sharing a cozy little moment. Then Ah Man barged in, sat down, and started eating, totally killing the vibe and ruining all their subtle flirting.

Hmm, after careful study and analysis, Harano determined that Ah Qing ought to be almost sixteen now. She’d grown again, getting even better looking. He felt like truly becoming a couple wasn’t far off for him, so he was taking every little chance these days to build their relationship.

He really wanted to kick Ah Man out and tell her to stop being such a third wheel. He cut her off directly: "Alright, alright, I’m not changing it. Stop meddling! If you have so much free time, use it for something actually important. This time when we go to Qingzhou City, be careful—we might get ambushed."

It wasn’t that he was wary of Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga was actually someone who cared a lot about the big picture, and Wanjin was the Oda Family’s "arms supplier." Even if their relations were cold now, since Oda Nobunaga was the one taking the initiative to invite him, the chance of any assassination was incredibly slim.

The ones he was really wary of were the great clans of Owari. Previously, he’d seized all the lands of the Chita clans and killed several who dared resist. Given the complex web of marriages among the Owari nobles, it was no exaggeration to say he now had enemies everywhere in Owari. So, on this trip to Qingzhou, he was much more guarded against the nobles than Oda Nobunaga.

In short, if he didn’t also want to smooth things over with Oda Nobunaga, he shouldn’t have taken this trip at all, so he had to put extra care into his safety.

Ah Man wasn’t going anywhere—boat rides were just too boring, and she wanted someone to chat with. She sat there unmoving, shrugging it off: "Relax. Maybe I wouldn’t say this elsewhere, but as long as we’re in Owari, if anything suspicious comes up, we’ll be the first to know. Nobody can ambush you. Just relax!"

"Still, better go over everything again with your people!"

"You don’t trust me? Seriously, you don’t need to worry! I’ve finished making all my arrangements along the way, all our inside lines are activated. I guarantee it with my head—nothing’s going to happen."

Harano was speechless. This poor kid just had no sense of atmosphere. With her here, Ah Qing wouldn’t even say much. Besides, he’d prepared these shrimp especially for Ah Qing—to help her grow taller—and here was this shorty stuffing herself and wasting all the nutrition...

But it would be awkward to tell Ah Man to get lost straight out. So he picked the best-looking shrimp and put them into Ah Qing’s bowl first, to stop Ah Man from scarfing them all, then got down to actual business, sighing: "Alright, any word from that way in Tōtōmi and Jumogawa? How do they feel about the Matsudaira Family turning to the Oda Family? Any signs of military movement?"

He hadn’t completely given up on the idea of taking land in western Sanhe. As soon as he heard Matsudaira Mototaka planned to ally with Oda Nobunaga, he had ordered Ah Man to send people on fast boats to Jumogawa to spread rumors, throw out wild gossip, hoping the Imagawa family would deal with Matsudaira Mototaka, or use other pressure to make the Matsudaira Family give up on leaning toward the Oda Family.

"No solid news yet. Our resources around Jumogawa are still lacking; you haven’t approved much budget for me these past two years, so it’s hard to get inside info on the Imagawa family lately." Ah Man started off by complaining that Harano had become stingier over the past two years, diverting lots of "Life-saving Group" funds to disaster relief—a pure waste, in her opinion.

She finished venting and got back to the point. "But judging by the scattered reports, it doesn’t look like the Imagawa family is mobilizing at all. That Imagawa Shizuma (current head of the Imagawa family—he goes by Kamitsuke-no-suke for his common name, but his is an official title, unlike Oda Nobunaga who’s just faking it) doesn’t seem up to the job. He’s great at poetry and kickball, but he’s nowhere near Imagawa Yoshimoto when it comes to real business. I doubt he’ll try to fix Matsudaira Mototaka."

"And that stupid stunt he pulled before already pissed off all the great clans in East Sanhe. They hate his guts now. Even if he wanted to attack Matsudaira Mototaka, with East Sanhe in the way, he has no way of getting at him anytime soon."

Harano sighed. The news wasn’t exactly surprising; from the past two years alone, Imagawa Shizuma, the new head of the family, really had shown himself to be a bit of a fool.

But maybe "fool" was the wrong word. As one of the heirs of "East Mountain Culture," he had seriously deep Confucian learning, was skilled in poetry and song, and was an expert in the Asukai school. Just for his kickball skills, he might not crack the top three in Japan, but top five for sure. You could definitely call him one of Japan’s "national players" in soccer.

Someone like that—you couldn’t really say he was stupid. But he just wasn’t much of a leader.

When Matsudaira Mototaka declared himself independent in West Sanhe, Imagawa Shizuma actually believed that, with Mototaka’s wife and kids—(Lady Sena married Mototaka at twelve, and by this time had a son, Takechiyo, and a daughter, Princess Kame)—still in his hands, he could still control Mototaka. So instead of mustering troops, he tried to tighten his grip on East Sanhe by making the local nobles hand over hostages again.

But most of the patriarchs among the East Sanhe clans had died in the Battle of Okehazama thanks to Imagawa Yoshimoto, and things were still in chaos internally. Very few actually handed over hostages, which left Imagawa Shizuma publicly embarrassed, feeling that his authority as the new Family Head was being challenged. Without informing any Family Elders or senior retainers, he ordered the attendant retainer Kohara Shinsuke to execute all the hostages the East Sanhe nobles had sent before—more than a dozen in total.

That was practically political suicide. With loved ones being murdered for no reason, the Sanhe nobles now had fresh and old hatred to stew over together. Even though they still feared the "Three Kingdoms Alliance," and worried that the Takeda and Houjou would step in, making them too scared to attack Jumogawa in retaliation, there was no way they’d keep helping the Imagawa family try to contain the Matsudaira—no way at all.

Some clans even clashed violently with the Imagawa’s local agents, the Osakabe Family. The Osakabe, worried about stoking public outrage and looking to cover for Imagawa Shizuma, didn’t even dare fight back—now they’re holed up in their castle, trying to smooth things over and equally in no position to move against Matsudaira Mototaka.

Harano had already learned all this before, and had only sent Ah Man to Jumogawa out of a faint hope—which was to spread rumors and get Matsudaira Mototaka into trouble, in hopes of making Imagawa Shizuma treat the threat more seriously. But it turned out Imagawa Shizuma was a hopeless case and wouldn’t move against Matsudaira Mototaka at all.

If they missed this window, there was no way for the Imagawa family to try anything against Mototaka again—Oda Nobunaga would definitely help at that point, and Imagawa would have no chance of winning.

So judging from all this, it would be extremely difficult to stop the Oda Family and Matsudaira Family from forming an alliance. Being locked into the Chita Peninsula was inevitable—unless he assassinated Matsudaira Mototaka...

But that was almost impossible too. Mototaka wasn’t some lone wolf like Monkey—he had plenty of fiercely loyal hereditary household retainers. Killing him wouldn’t be easy. And Oda Nobunaga’s Ninja Squad were no joke either. Killing Matsudaira Mototaka in Owari without leaving a trace was impossible—it would almost certainly infuriate Oda Nobunaga completely. If he decided not to go north to Minoh, but came south to Chita instead, the Dagao River defense line would have to take severe punishment, and the cost would be enormous.

Harano frowned, turning the problem over and over in his mind—felt he might not be able to avoid going to sea after all, which meant many of his plans would have to change, and the next task should shift to navy construction.

Now he’d lost all mood for a nice date with Ah Qing, and after mulling it over for ages, finally turned to Ah Man and asked, "Did you get anywhere with Okabe Iyayama I sent you to contact earlier?"

Okabe Iyayama was the designer of the Dobao Pagoda at Hosokawa Guanyin Temple, and later, the designer and Chief Engineer of Azuchi Castle. He was also in charge of the periodic grand rebuilding ceremony at Atsuta Shrine—a Shinto ritual where, at this particular shrine, a complete reconstruction is done every twenty years to keep the place holy, pure, and full of spiritual power.

The Okabe family had long had responsibility for the ceremonial rebuilds at Atsuta Shrine, and it was still the case in Okabe Iyayama’s generation. Plus, this guy wasn’t just an architect—he also knew shipbuilding inside out, though few knew that at this point.

He’d only get discovered when Oda Nobunaga reached Lake Biwa and desperately needed a fleet there. Then Okabe’s talents would come to light.

In short, Okabe Iyayama was destined to be the Oda Family’s Chief Engineer. Harano had always wanted a shipbuilding expert to develop shipyards in Chita, but such experts were extremely hard to find—let alone someone who wasn’t a samurai but could still serve as Chief Engineer, which was all but impossible. After extensive inquiries and racking his brains for historical details, Harano finally thought of Okabe Iyayama—he wasn’t a samurai, and even though he was a master builder and chief engineer, his official role in the Oda Family was "Master Carpenter," ranked between a clerk and a senior member of the Lang Faction—hardly a high status.

In these times, artisans weren’t highly regarded and were considered low-class people. Okabe Iyayama was already doing quite well for himself.

Harano had actually invited him twice the previous year, having raised the annual salary offer from five hundred to a thousand kan, but Okabe Iyayama turned him down. Okabe refused to leave the Oda Family unless Harano made him a samurai and joined the Atsuta Shrine as a believer.

Neither of these things was doable for Harano, so he had Ah Man try to befriend Okabe Iyayama, hoping emotional leverage might lure him to New Wanjin.

Ah Man went anyway—she loved making friends—but immediately threw up her hands and nearly fumed. "No progress! The guy’s stubborn as a mule—nothing gets through to him! He’s dead set on being a samurai, and nothing will make him leave the Oda Family. I say, why not just kidnap him!"

"Kidnapping... Let’s hold off on that for now." Okabe Iyayama wasn’t without connections, and forcibly kidnapping him would have serious consequences. Even if they dragged him over, he might not work properly. That was a last resort. Harano sighed, "I’ll think of something else later!"

This whole going-to-sea plan wasn’t going to be easy. At the very least, building large ships immediately was proving impossible.

Harano had finished step one of his plan, but step two was stuck again. He started mulling over how on earth he was going to get a big ship built when, before he knew it, their boat arrived at Old Wanjin, where someone was already waiting on the dock.