Chapter 113 - 70: The Mountain Whale Carrying the Iron Cannon

Chapter 113: Chapter 70: The Mountain Whale Carrying the Iron CannonOda Nobunaga relied on his +2 advantage with the long spear, decisively crushing the main force of the Qingzhou army in the field. After that, there was little suspense left in the ensuing battles. After pursuing the routed enemy for a while, he immediately regrouped his troops and, barely bothering to clean the battlefield, marched straight for Matsuba Castle. There, he linked up with the detachment sent to destroy the Songye Fort and launched a fierce attack at once. Matsuba Castle was just a small castle, much like Hosokawa Castle, its defensive capabilities so-so, and it didn’t hold out for long before being breached. The defending commanders, Akabayashi Sun-Qi and Tsuchizama Yisuke, were both killed on the spot. Afterward, Oda Nobunaga still didn’t stop. He joined forces with another detachment attacking Sanben Wood, and immediately shifted his focus to Shinkata Castle. But by then the troops were already quite exhausted, so instead of ordering a direct assault, he sent envoys to persuade a surrender. The defending commander in Shinkata’s army was also quite tactful. Seeing that resistance was futile, and reassured that his life would be spared, he simply opened the castle gates and yielded. At this point, the Oda family of Qingzhou’s "Eat the Fat Meat Plan" was completely shattered. Not only did they fail to squeeze any profit out of the Dan Zhengzhong family, they even lost their core assets; the household samurai and Lang Faction were slain all over the ground, and it would probably take three to five years at least to recover. Mm, all of this Harano only heard from Ah Man. He was very busy at the time—for after the "Battle of Haijin," he’d been occupied with his true work: organizing people to send the wounded back to the Inaba Land camp for emergency treatment. He didn’t get to participate in any of the subsequent mop-up battles at all. He’d been busy for a full day and night, finally settling most of the wounded with his subordinates, before he could close his eyes for a brief rest. But it felt like he’d barely slept before Ah Man woke him—Oda Nobunaga had returned. After recapturing Matsuba and Shinkata, Nobunaga wasn’t done yet. After resting the night on the spot, he also swung by Qingzhou City, set fire to the castle town, and took the chance to plunder a bit, too. Now that Oda Nobunaga was back, there definitely had to be a review of war achievements, as well as a victory celebration; all samurai were required to attend. Harano, this "fake samurai," was notified as well and had to go show his face. Harano had no choice but to wash his face, change clothes, and head off with Ah Man to the "Shogunate"—just a patch of ground cordoned off with fabric. Couldn’t exactly hold a victory banquet without a venue. When Harano arrived, he was given a little folding stool and told where to sit. In front of him was a little table, with a flask of wine and a few side dishes. Ah Man wasn’t allowed in; she was sent off to a patch of open ground to warm herself by the fire, hanging out with the entourage and Lang Faction of other samurai. Harano had wanted Ah Man to keep him company, to give him a nudge if something came up so he wouldn’t embarrass himself. He hadn’t expected attendants weren’t allowed, but there was nothing he could do. He told her to head back, but she seemed quite excited, insisting on waiting for him, so he let her have her way. As soon as Harano sat down, more and more people arrived in the shogunate grounds; in the blink of an eye, over a hundred people were seated on either side, everyone in high spirits, talking and laughing loudly. No one waited for Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobuaki, Lin Xiuzhen, and the other big shots to show up—they just started drinking. Some even approached Harano to make friendly conversation, griping that so-and-so in their family was always ailing, pains here and there, and asked if he could give them some medicine or something. Harano was happy to mingle; requests for medicine and such were easy, and in the process, he got on familiar terms with quite a few lower and middle-level samurai. The shogunate was noisy as a vegetable market for a while. Fortunately, not long after, Oda Nobunaga and company finally emerged, and quiet gradually returned. Many eyes gazed expectantly at Oda Nobunaga, as if he were some peerless beauty. But after washing away his previous humiliation, Oda Nobunaga didn’t show any excessive excitement. Instead, he carried himself with even more dignity. He first politely invited his uncle, Oda Nobuaki, to take a seat, then himself sat down with a deep formal bow, expressing his gratitude: "Gentlemen, with the blessing of the Atsuta Great Ming God, and your valiant efforts, we have achieved this great victory!" "All thanks to our lord’s (your highness’s) unrivaled martial fortune!" All the samurai present remained seated, hands on their thighs, bowing their heads in unison to return the salute. Harano was caught off guard, but luckily with everyone’s head down, no one noticed his slip. Oda Nobunaga straightened and gave an approving nod all around, obviously satisfied. Then he turned to Lin Xiuzhen and instructed: "Verify the heads." Lin Xiuzhen, apparently serving as military payroll officer this time, immediately pulled out a scroll, glanced at it, and began reading aloud, "Sakamoto Jinji." The words were swiftly relayed outside the shogunate. Moments later, a Lang Faction retainer brought in a small square table; in the table’s recess was a human head. The head seemed freshly washed, its hair neatly redone, face powdered pale and rosy, almost lifelike. The strange head was set before them. A young samurai, a little over twenty, quickly stepped forward, took the table, moved to the center, dropped to his knees, and presented it to Oda Nobunaga and Lin Xiuzhen, his voice hoarse with excitement: "The enemy’s deputy general Sakamoto Jinji’s head is here!" The samurai in the shogunate stirred, surprised that someone had caught such a big fish. Some in the back stood up to get a look, remarking that Sakamoto Jinji looked decent and had died peacefully, with the air of a samurai. Lin Xiuzhen, however, barely glanced—probably had already inspected it in advance—and simply reported to Oda Nobunaga, "This man was deputy general of the Qingzhou army, a family elder of the Oda family of Qingzhou." Oda Nobunaga reached out for the head, then wiped the powder from its face, studying its features carefully and giving a slow nod. "So it was him..." He vaguely remembered, perhaps having met the man a few times as a child. He soon lost interest, tossing the head back, then leaned over to give the samurai a firm slap on the shoulder in approval. "Well done!" Lin Xiuzhen glanced at the scroll, introducing on the side, "This is Shibata Gorojiro Katsushige, who, along with Nobuaki Sun Sanlang’s attendant, Akase Seiroku Heiji, together took down Sakamoto Jinji." Hearing the Shibata name, Oda Nobunaga’s eyelids twitched as he nodded to his uncle Oda Nobuaki in thanks, then asked around, "And the Akase master?" "Killed in action." "Hmm... He shall be generously compensated, and a loyalty certificate shall be issued; his merits will accrue to his son." Oda Nobunaga pondered a moment, issuing the order, then picked up a sword beside him and handed it to Shibata Katsushige, saying gravely, "You have rendered first merit in this battle. Press on, and never forget that a samurai’s life is ever on the line!" "Yes, your highness!" seaʀᴄh thё ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Shibata Katsushige joyfully accepted the sword, caressing it a few times before bowing deeply to Oda Nobunaga, then—amid the envious and jealous stares of many—returned to his seat, savoring his triumph. The other official certificates of gratitude and accumulated merit, as well as the accompanying job promotions, money, lands, and so on, would be distributed later—no need to claim them here and now. With the "first merit" awarded, Lin Xiuzhen glanced at the scroll again and called the next name. Soon another freshly washed, made-up head was delivered on the little table, and another excited samurai stepped forth to present it before Oda Nobunaga and Lin Xiuzhen, and boast of his feat. Harano hadn’t expected the war merit review in Japan’s Middle Ages to be so brutal and bloody—after watching for a while, he was left speechless. It really was a tad perverse: keeping track of merit by severed heads was one thing, even verifying enemy generals’ heads made sense, but washing the heads, combing their hair, putting makeup on them, and then having people quietly rate the dead men’s looks during the award ceremony—that was a little... psychologically disturbing. Fortunately, Harano had seen nearly a thousand dead bodies over this stretch and had mostly adjusted to this damned, bizarre era, so he could barely keep a straight face. When the people beside him tried to chat about which head was prepared better or wanted to exchange tips on "head makeup," he just pretended not to hear. Those experiences were really beyond his skill set, and he didn’t care to learn. But, it seemed this was normal for Japan’s Middle Ages. He vaguely remembered that Tokugawa Ieyasu had once indulged in a "refined pastime": supposedly the Monkey had a retainer called Mukai Shigehide, who, during the Osaka Summer Campaign, was beheaded, his head presented to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Mukai was young and handsome, his hair perpetually perfumed, and even after being washed, his head sent forth a lingering fragrance. Ieyasu was so taken, he couldn’t stop sniffing the head appreciatively, exclaiming: "Though it is already May, there is not the faintest stench; the hair breathes out fragrance. Truly a brave and refined samurai!" Thinking of it that way, Oda Nobunaga might actually come out ahead of Tokugawa Ieyasu in this respect—at least he didn’t go around crazily sniffing a severed head with a look of intoxication, so could still be considered somewhat normal. Harano, his mind wandering all over the place to distract himself, finally survived watching the entire review—only heads taken by samurai counted toward war merit and earned rich rewards; those taken by Lang Faction or Ashigaru would be verified in bulk by the military payroll officer and could only net a bit of cash or maybe exemption from some taxes or labor. Once the head check was done, the war merit review wasn’t over. Military payroll officer Lin Xiuzhen then proposed candidates for "first spear," "first blade," "first head," "first to scale," "group attack merit," "spear charge merit," "kills by spear merit," "enemy-rout merit," "diligence merit," and so on. These would all be affirmed and awarded by Oda Nobunaga—"first spear" and the like meant the first to break the enemy lines with spear or blade, the first to rout defenders and enter the castle, those who held back enemy counterattacks in intense fighting, assisted with spear-work to clinch the main victory, achieved the greatest sundries in pursuit, or were pivotal in moving supplies or building fieldworks. In short, any conduct contributing to victory would earn a certificate of loyalty, money, an official post, and the like. But awards were divided into "famed" and "lesser" classes. "Spear kills" and "diligence merit," those of the lower class, didn’t bring much direct benefit, usually just recorded for future promotions as accumulated merit. Of course, none of this had anything to do with Harano. His work had been treating the wounded, not fighting directly, and Lin Xiuzhen handed out awards by the book—there was no such thing as "first to heal," only a "rescue merit," and that was just for snatching gravely wounded comrades from the battlefield during heavy fighting so their heads wouldn’t be taken. Harano didn’t qualify for that either—and even if there were a "first to heal," he probably wouldn’t qualify. He wasn’t even a retainer of the Dan Zhengzhong line, so he shouldn’t be included in merit review anyway. Harano didn’t mind at all. He wasn’t keen on this kind of limelight; compared to immediate profit, he was more afraid of being forced to kowtow, breaking his bottom line, and having his standards collapse in a heap. So, when the merits were decided and many samurai joyfully received their awards and began drinking and cheering—some even stripping to get ready for celebratory sumo wrestling—he slipped away quietly along the wall. If he’d known it would be this way, he wouldn’t have come. It was just, Oda Nobunaga had summoned him; if Nobunaga happened to go off the rails and called him for a chat, and he’d gotten the notice but didn’t show, things could get awkward. So he showed up, only for Oda Nobunaga to ignore him completely—a wasted trip, didn’t even get dinner. No telling which damn busybody sent him the summons... He cursed a couple of times under his breath, planning to go back and eat his own meal. Leaving the shogunate, he went to find Ah Man, but after only a few steps he was left speechless again. Ah Man was squeezed in among a bunch of Lang Faction retainers, gambling—and she’d even gotten center spot! She was sweating buckets, slamming tiles down onto the table, and shouting, "The mountain whale’s hauling iron cannon—even the emperor can die! No sevens, no nines, let me get a fat old eight!"