Warring States Survival Guide-Chapter 209 - 145: All In, No Way Out! _2

Why didn’t Oda Nobunaga do this?

These two had really banged their heads against the city walls before; they knew these castles and rock fortresses were no decorative showpieces. Realizing this now, they began to recall what Harano said earlier, suspecting that the "Nozawa family" might indeed exist independently outside the Oda Danjo Chonosuke system, at least enjoying a great deal of autonomy—Oda Nobunaga couldn’t just order them around at will.

So, out of curiosity, Asahina Taisuke sent another envoy, asking Harano to swear he truly wasn’t a retainer of Oda Danjo Chonosuke’s household. Harano didn’t mind, and swore it right in front of the envoy. It happened to be lunchtime, so he even had the envoy take back two grilled fish, once again expressing willingness to coexist peacefully with the Imagawa family.

Asahina Taisuke was slightly swayed, but after discussing with Yakai Chiyomoto, still didn’t dare to fully trust it. After all, the Oda Family had just produced a guy who broke a sworn oath before the gods; for all he knew, the Oda people treated swearing like farting, not caring whether bad luck awaited them in the afterlife.

They didn’t bring up the matter again, just kept the line of communication open with Harano, and also sent an envoy with a return gift. Then they went back to worrying about how the enemy clearly didn’t fear earthworks, wondering what they could do now. After endless discussion, they still had no solution—so all they could do was grit their teeth and keep digging, betting on that faint chance of success, while waiting for reinforcements to try another assault.

......

Asahina Taisuke and Yakai Chiyomoto were suffering, and so was Harano on this end.

He had left a squad of military police and a team of laborers in Wanjin to handle transportation, but suddenly these men escaped by hitching a ride on islanders’ fishing boats—the moment Oda Nobunaga sent his men to take over Wanjin.

When he got word, he was helpless. He’d tried to be as cautious as possible, choosing a good moment before making his move. But luck wasn’t on his side; he hadn’t expected Oda Nobunaga to take Qingzhou City so easily. In the end, after only a little over a month of hiding, before they’d even moved everything out, Oda Nobunaga found them out.

He hurried to the harbor, first comforting the laborers and police who’d escaped packed like sardines, then asked the head of the squad, "Did you come under attack?" freewebnøvel_com

The squad leader was Qi Sanlang, who’d followed Harano in the battle of Takeshige Manor—he was used to rough seas and big storms. Even after a panicked escape, he remained calm. He replied at once, "No, sir! We spotted the Oda Family entering Wanjin Town early and, on lord Ah Man’s orders, withdrew at once. It’s just... there weren’t many cargo ships at the time, so we had to leave the goods behind to get everyone out."

"It’s fine as long as everyone’s safe. Losing a bit of stuff doesn’t matter, your judgement was spot on!" Harano praised him first, then asked for more details. But these cops had moved fast—before Oda Nobunaga’s men reached the little cove dock, they’d already gotten everyone aboard. They rowed away in a hurry, terrified of being caught, so there wasn’t much detailed info to provide.

Harano wasn’t disappointed. As long as there hadn’t been a fight, there was still room for things to calm down. Right now, he was already facing the Imagawa and Matsudaira families ahead and didn’t want to end up fighting the Oda Family in the rear—Oda Nobunaga did have a navy, stationed in Shimazu and Atsuta. Although their strength was average, maybe only seven or eight large customs ships, he figured it was best not to provoke them if possible.

If caught between enemies on both sides, just thinking about it made him cringe. And Oda Nobunaga was so unpredictable—no telling how he’d react.

Things were like this—Harano could only deal with it. He had Qi Sanlang and the others go eat and rest, then quickly called Endo Chiyoda, Maeshima Shichiro and the other civil officials to check the supplies and see how much they’d lost.

At the start, personnel, gunpowder, and volcanic-ash cement were all urgently needed—without them, you couldn’t build or hold the castle. So they’d gone on the top-priority shipping list, and by now, those basics were almost all shipped, only a few odds and ends left. Losing the rest wouldn’t affect the bigger picture.

But since shipping for the past month had been tied up moving those heavy essentials, grain—also high-priority because of space constraints and extra care needed in transit—had only had three months’ rations stockpiled before delivery slowed. Subsequently, it was always secondary to frontline needs, so even now, shipping still wasn’t finished. He figured about fifteen percent would be lost.

Lastly, there were valuables stockpiled previously—copper coins, cloth, leather, iron sand, charcoal, bird guano rock, refined nitrate soil. These items were given even less shipping allocation. Even though they took up less space, there was only ever room for them as fill-in cargo. Losses might reach thirty percent or more—some items maybe over fifty percent, possibly almost everything.

For example, much of the premium charcoal and stored guano rocks were still in the warehouse—their turn for shipping simply hadn’t come up.

After urgently tallying up the losses, Harano felt it was still more or less acceptable. All the crucial war supplies had already been rushed out—so losing some cash or whatnot... let it go!

Out with the old, in with the new. Worst-case, he’d go rob Lin Xiuzhen’s relatives someday, raid their homes to rebuild his losses—not a total disaster.

Of course, if only Oda Nobunaga had discovered them just a month later, all the valuables would’ve made it here. But Oda main house in Qingzhou fell apart at the first touch; he couldn’t build ships himself now, shipping capacity was so limited—this was already the best he could manage.

Ah Man, stationed at North Mountain Rock Fortress, received the news quickly and rushed over in a panic. Seeing how much family property was lost, she nearly choked from heartache, clutching her chest as if having a heart attack. Harano immediately had A Qing help her breathe and managed to rescue her.

While everything was still in chaos, a small boat rowed at top speed to the nameless cove dock, delivering a handwritten order from Oda Nobunaga, demanding they return to Wanjin immediately—at least Harano himself had to go, the rest could be negotiated for another time.

Harano, after reading the letter, didn’t flatly refuse.

He had no private grudge with Oda Nobunaga—they’d been in a win-win, mutually beneficial relationship. There was no need to flip the table. He figured he could stall for time, so he quickly wrote a reply, claiming he was locked in fierce combat with the Imagawa and Matsudaira families and couldn’t get away at the moment. He also listed the benefits of having settled on the Chita Peninsula, arguing that at least it siphoned off a lot of troops from the Imagawa family.

He then sent the two Yoriki warriors Nobunaga had assigned to him and the reply together on the small boat. Standing at the dockside, he watched them depart, and instructed Endo Chiyoda and the others to prepare contingency plans—have ships ready, and be prepared to sink them into the bay and block the channel at any moment.

He had no way out. For his own ambition, for his own freedom and dignity, he’d already bet everything. Whether it was worth it or not—he really didn’t know.