CHAPTER 280: CHAPTER 207: ADDED INGREDIENTS

The construction method of the Great Anzai Ship isn’t all that different from regular ships.

The keel is joined together with pine—this keel-splicing technique was already widely used in the Song Dynasty. For the ribs, they use old elm or locust, heated over a fierce fire until they bend into shape, joining them together to form the ship’s skeleton.

The planks are made from cedar, and the outer layer is stuck with a mixture of bamboo leaves and mashed honeycomb mud, using the natural wax to keep seawater from seeping in. Then, the whole thing’s smeared with chinaberry oil to ward off water damage.

They use hardwood to make massive oars, soft bamboo for the sails—whether it’s shaving, pressing, whatever—there are all kinds of methods, too many to count.

After Wanjin Shipyard was set up, Harano would pop in whenever he had time—not just to cheer on Okabe Iyayama, but also because he was genuinely curious about the old ways of shipbuilding.

It really opened his eyes. The materials used in ancient shipbuilding were all kinds of weird stuff. Just oils and waxes involved more than a dozen types, and even the leaves used for wrapping zongzi were thrown in—using the natural wax and flavonoids inside—seriously, these were the kind of oddball supplies he’d never have dreamed up in his previous life.

The wisdom of the ancients isn’t to be underestimated—even if they didn’t get the underlying principles, sometimes experience built up over centuries is actually more effective than modern methods.

At the same time, the sons, apprentices, and workers Okabe Iyayama brought with him were all hugely capable. If someone wasn’t a master of a particular craft, able to manhandle wood into bizarre shapes, then they were a pro at organizing production—in the shipyard, the whole crew gave off the aura of veteran technicians.

The value of these people isn’t much less than Okabe Iyayama himself. You might even say, like the fearless lang faction under a samurai, these people are Okabe Iyayama’s true capital for making a living.

Yeah, skilled workers never look flashy, but they’re absolutely key. If you don’t believe it, just look at the U.S. Moon Landing program.

The U.S. didn’t actually lose much documentation for the Moon Landing program. They even dug a brand new engine out of a warehouse, but still couldn’t replicate the thing—just because the technical worker generation had been lost.

For example, suppose some process needed welding, but nobody could operate that specific welding method anymore. Result? You could have all the technical files you wanted, but still no way to build it.

Same principle applies here, even in ancient times. Without a squad like this, even if Harano knew ships in theory, the odds of actually building one were slim. At the very least, it’s impossible in a short time—it takes more than a decade of training just to raise a team of expert woodworkers like these guys.

Some of this comes down to talent, too—so even if you’re willing to put in ten years’ training, there’s no guarantee you’ll ever be great at it.

After a few days at the shipyard, Harano realized where he’d been making mistakes. No hesitation—he stopped treating them as Okabe Iyayama’s tagalongs, and immediately bumped up their personal compensation, giving them their own "high stipend" on the side—though, by this era’s feudal morals, it wouldn’t be appropriate to bypass Okabe Iyayama to pay them outright.

While he was at it, he also asked Okabe Iyayama and his crew to bring along Wanjin’s helpers, and teach the locals some skills.

And with this squad of specialized craftsmen around, his mind was at ease. With these pros, there was no way shipbuilding would be a problem. At least, their skills had to be leagues ahead of water thieves, so odds were low there’d be a disaster like Kuuki Jialong’s infamous screwup—those six "Great Anzai Iron Ships" barely lasted two or three years, and two of them, apparently, even capsized right away because of balance faults when the whole crew boarded one side and the ship went straight down.

Okabe Iyayama and his hands were far more professional, and took work seriously, so once the ship was done, nothing like that should happen.

Harano could leave it completely to them. And just about then, Matsudaira Mototaka also made good on the alliance, sending support for building up a navy: over thirty carpenters of variable skill, plus word that he’d secured a batch of prime shipbuilding timber that would be sent up along the Dagao River—Harano could send his own people to collect it. He also sent Harano, his new ally, a commercial order sheet, and the guy was like a beggar: anything and everything, he wanted it all.

Gunpowder, salt, cloth, wine, oil, pottery, iron cannon, armor—if Wanjin had it, he wanted it. Some orders sounded suspicious too, as if the Matsudaira family was going to flip bulk goods for profit—buying up cheap, selling high up north in the Sanhe mountains.

Harano didn’t mind—as long as they paid up, who cared. He handed the order off to Endo Chiyoda, and then sent the Sanhe carpenters to Okabe Iyayama, so shipbuilding could proceed even faster.

After another month of busy chaos, the shipyard was running smoothly. Barring his usual job of nagging his staff to keep the place supplied and checking on the Okabe family’s living standards, Harano really didn’t have much to do. Pretty soon, his eyes drifted back to watching what the allies were up to.

"Eastern Depot Factory Director" Ah Man hurried over with the news, licked her fingers and flipped open her notebook to start the intelligence briefing: "Lord, no need to worry, nothing major lately. Oda Nobunaga’s staying pretty quiet, just sent Niwa Nagahide to build a castle on Mount Komaki as prep for taking on Oda Nobuaki. As for Qingzhou City, it’s doing small-scale mobilizations—looks like it’s just planning to sweep the Saito family vassals from the Kisogawa River area, so it’s got nothing to do with us."

Harano already knew most of this. Niwa Nagahide had sent someone over a few days back, asking for a construction crew. Harano had already deployed Maeshima Shichiro to join in.

After nodding, he asked, "Anything else? Any moves from the Matsudaira family?"

Ah Man didn’t even look up. After flipping a couple pages, she said, "Matsudaira Mototaka’s not up to any shenanigans. In fact, he’s pulled his lines back more than ten li on the border with us—looks like he really doesn’t want any trouble. But on his side? Battle’s been heating up."

"After allying with Oda Nobunaga and us, he went straight home and broke off with the Imagawa family, rallying all the powerful clans of East Sanhe and charging straight for the Osakabe Family in West Sanhe. Latest intel says he’s already surrounded Tiden Nagamoto’s seat, Upper Country Castle, so if I’m not mistaken, the Osakabe Family is probably finished."

When the Qingzhou Tri-Family Alliance was formed, Oda Nobunaga, Matsudaira Mototaka, and Harano set clear boundaries—Oda Nobunaga would expand north and west, Matsudaira Mototaka would expand east, and Harano earned free trade rights, passage privileges, and full open markets for both Owari and Sanhe at the cost of being "imprisoned" on the Chita Peninsula—blocked from land routes by the Oda and Matsudaira families, he was trapped on the peninsula.

Harano hadn’t expected Matsudaira Mototaka to move so fast. He couldn’t help but ask, "Are you sure? It’s only been a month or so since the Qingzhou Alliance—Osakabe’s already done for?"

"Matsudaira Mototaka must have been planning this all along. Before he even went to Qingzhou to see Oda Nobunaga, the move was in the works. Plus, the Imagawa family isn’t what it used to be. Imagawa Shizuma’s an idiot—he slaughtered all the hostages from the powerful clans in East Sanhe, so now that the Osakabe family’s on the chopping block, all those big clans are just sitting back and watching the show—nobody’s lifting a finger. So Matsudaira’s family fights one Osakabe, and it’s really ten-plus clans versus one."

Ah Man was clearly confident in her intel, rattling off a string of powerful Sanhe clans, then adding, "Besides, those bumpkin samurai of Matsudaira are actually pretty tough. Didn’t they charge my Rock Fortress with only five hundred men and nearly pull it off? The Osakabe family’s definitely not any stronger than me, so by now they’re toast. Matsudaira’s family will have Sanhe all wrapped up, trust me."

Harano nodded slowly. Fair enough—there’s logic here. And historically, Tiden Nagamoto was kind of a letdown: first trapped by the Oda family at Dagao City and nearly starved to death, then, after Imagawa Yoshimoto died, he fled without even putting up a fight. It’s no wonder he isn’t Matsudaira Mototaka’s match.

The Imagawa family is doomed, huh!

As for whether Imagawa Shizuma would fight back—

Harano vaguely remembered that he was eventually taken out by Matsudaira Mototaka and Takeda Shingen, the two dividing up the Imagawa family’s territory. Matsudaira—by then, Matsudaira Mototaka had changed his name. Should be Tokugawa family taking Tone Province, and Takeda Shingen taking Jumogawa Province, but as for which year, or exactly how it went, he couldn’t remember anymore.

But since Matsudaira Mototaka hasn’t even changed his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu yet, or even to Matsudaira Ieyasu—hasn’t tossed out the "Moto" character given by Imagawa Yoshimoto—then the end of the Imagawa family still has a few years to go.

Before that, Matsudaira Mototaka will have his hands full to the east, and has no reason to make trouble for Harano.

Same thing with Oda Nobunaga—until he deals with Oda Nobuaki and Saito Ryuko, his two little allies, he won’t have time to worry about the south either.

This really is prison time—nobody’s even paying attention anymore...

Harano drifted off in thought for a bit, realizing that with a stable environment, nobody was going to come after him. At the moment, he really didn’t have much to do, but he couldn’t just idle, so he decided to pay a visit to the navy training. With a wave of his hand, he signaled for Ah Man to get lost.

"Wait!" Ah Man wasn’t so easy to shake, and immediately grabbed his sleeve, digging a wrinkled, toilet-paper-looking invitation out of her pocket to hand over enthusiastically. "Uozumi asked me to give you this—he wants you to give him some face and show up."

Uozumi Hikoshiro was Izumi Hichiji’s student. After moving to the Chita Peninsula, he didn’t want to farm, so he started a "circus troupe" to make money performing everywhere. Thanks to his connection with Izumi Hichiji, he got in good with Harano, and even snagged a plot of land in New Wanjin City, where he built a full-blown theatre. These days he’s a well-known figure in New Wanjin’s arts and business worlds.

He’s also a big patron of the Wanjin Kakawa Sect, whose top boss happens to be—yes—Lady Ah Man herself. People like to stick together, after all, so all the Kakawa migrants turn to Ah Man for help.

Harano came to a stop, casually flicked through the invitation, and frowned, "Is it that ghost-god mumbo-jumbo romance nonsense from last time? If it is, give it to Ah Inu to go in my place. She could use a walk, too."

He’d been there for the theatre’s grand opening and, well, let’s just say it was a disaster of a show. No way was he sitting through a second one.

Ah Man instantly guaranteed, "Absolutely not the weird incomprehensible garbage from last time, I gave him a piece of my mind. This time the show’s put together just the way you wanted—you’ll love it!"

Thanks to Izumi Hichiji, Ah Man actually took care of the Kakawa folks. Maybe it was the two bottles of good wine that Uozumi Hikoshiro slipped her, but she wouldn’t let Harano go, trying to drag him in. "C’mon, there’s nothing much going on right now anyway, you might as well check it out. Haven’t you always said people should develop entertainment? Said that rest and fun are essentials for Wanjin? You can’t just talk the talk—time to show up and set an example!"

With Harano’s current status, only Ah Man dared to latch onto him like this—nobody else would dare drag him off to a play.

Harano gave in, glanced at the time on the invitation, and said, "Fine, I’ll drop by for a bit. Go let Ah Inu and Ah Qing know, and come with me when the time comes."

After a pause, he still couldn’t help but double check, "Seriously, not another one of those weird shows?"

"Absolutely not!"

Ah Man replied, full of confidence—she knew Harano best in this world, and she personally supervised this one. She’d spiced it up, guaranteed to get Harano’s blood pumping.