Chapter 144 - 93: The Second Shoe Finally Dropped!

Nozawa stood at the door, watching. Qing and Ah Man quickly arrived at his side, and both of them immediately climbed onto the roof, gazing far off in the direction of the commotion. After a short while, Ah Man called down from above: "There’s a fire by the warehouse... No, wait, it’s not just a fire, it looks like a riot!" It was night, the moonlight not particularly bright. Even with her excellent eyesight, she couldn’t see what was happening in the distance. But by the light of the flames just ignited, she could vaguely sense chaos over there, as if there were blades flashing—definitely not an ordinary fire. A riot? Nozawa was puzzled. How could there be a riot in Takeshige Manor? Other than himself, everyone in the manor belonged to the Oda Family—who could possibly riot? Theoretically, the only one who would possibly riot should be him! Though full of doubt, he dared not be careless. He turned and directly shouted orders at the just arrived Yayoi, the Momoi brothers, and others: "Wake everyone up, the Lang Faction arm up!" Ah Man and Qing leapt down from the roof. Ah Man didn’t hesitate, took off running outside and shouted as she ran: "I’m going to take a closer look, you guys wait for my word!" What a disgrace—she wandered outside every day only to catch no wind of a riot at all. That really was just inexcusable. Nozawa ignored her, turned back into the house to arm himself fully, and re-strung his pulley bow. By the time he was fully equipped, Qing had also finished arming herself—her face cold, a white headband tying up her hair, clad in armor with a long saber at her waist, a Static Form Glaive transformed from a Copper Ring Stick in hand—and had come to his side, conveniently also picking up his Eight-sided Iron Rod. At this point, over thirty Lang Faction members had also assembled armored in the courtyard. This group had trained for months. It was hard to say how their combat would fare, but at least they were always well fed, constantly drilled by Qing and kicked about by Ah Man—their constitution and discipline weren’t bad. Now all wearing armor, each holding a One-Room Spear, they at least looked imposing standing together. Nozawa glanced them over, feeling that the past year’s hard work hadn’t been in vain, and that he now had a little confidence. But just as he was feeling a little emboldened, the alarm bell of Takeshige Manor suddenly rang out, very urgently. At the same time, the noise in the distance grew even louder, turning clearly into shouts of killing. He glanced at the sky, already glowing red from the fire in the distance, sensing that things there were obviously out of control now—no one was even fighting the fire. He prepared for the worst, ordering the Momoi brothers to take some people to the nearby soy sauce workshop to gather the "elderly, weak, sick, and disabled", and told Yayoi to take the maids to gather up gold, silver, valuables, and rations, and to put Meng Ziqi on a stretcher, preparing to carry him away at any moment. He appeared very calm, so no one panicked—instead, they all followed his orders without fuss. At this moment, Ah Man came running back, panting, and called out from afar: "It’s happened! Not a riot—the manor gates have been breached!" "Slow down—what exactly happened?" Nozawa steadied her with one hand and signaled Qing to help her armor up and get ready for battle. "I don’t know the specifics!" Ah Man, in the pitch dark, hadn’t dared get too close, nor did she have the time. She’d only climbed onto a rooftop nearby for a look before running back. "But the manor gate’s already broken. Lots of enemies are pouring in—I don’t know how many, but six to seven hundred for sure! Right now, some are clearing out the people by the warehouses, while another big group is heading for Okurakiyebi’s residence." Damn it, has a riot turned into an outside invasion? Things had happened so suddenly that Nozawa found it hard to believe, and even felt something was very off. The samurai and Lang Faction usually responsible for guarding Takeshige Manor were mostly concentrated in the warehouse area. Okurakiyebi, as the Manor Chief, had his residence as the "command center." The enemy clearly knew the manor’s layout well, striking at key spots without a hint of hesitation—this wasn’t normal. And how did this group even break the gates? Takeshige Manor, despite being called a ’manor’, was built like a small fortress in these chaotic times—with stockade walls, watchtowers, moats, and traps. In terms of defense, it wasn’t much weaker than Hosokawa Castle. Okurakiyebi was a meticulous and rigid man, never slack on daily defenses. How could someone have gotten past the moats and opened the gates without making a sound? Moreover, who would attack Takeshige Manor? This was deep in Oda Danjo Chonosuke’s domain, surrounded by a dozen strongholds and castles—who would be reckless enough to attack here? Weren’t they afraid of being surrounded from all sides and wiped out at dawn? Nozawa’s mind spun rapidly, but he simply couldn’t make sense of what was happening or even who the enemy was. After a brief daze, he snapped back, pushing doubts aside, unexpectedly calm—like the peace that comes after the other shoe finally drops in a tense night. He’d always known this day would come—that he’d be swept into chaos without warning. That’s why he’d hunkered down all year like a turtle. Now that day had indeed arrived, he actually didn’t find it all that scary anymore. Even though he’d always thought hiding in the manor was safe, never considering it could be breached, it didn’t matter—the principle was the same. He calmly gave orders: "If the enemy has at least six to seven hundred people, we can’t stay here. We move! Head for the south gate and assess from there." Takeshige Manor had more than one gate. The northern gate was the larger main entrance leading to the road to Nagano Castle. The south gate was smaller, leading to the lagoon—commonly used by villagers for reed cutting and fishing. The enemy’s numbers weren’t clear, but they came aggressively, obviously not just here for show. With less than forty fighters on hand, rushing to Okurakiyebi’s residence would do little good, and if they stumbled into a main force in the dark, it’d be suicide. Better to secure the south gate first and leave everyone a way out. If Okurakiyebi could organize a defense and hold the enemy, Nozawa could support from the south as a reserve force; if Okurakiyebi crumbled immediately, Nozawa could slip out through the south gate. At his order, no one objected. All set off at once, taking advantage of the current confusion to make for the south gate, carrying Meng Ziqi on a stretcher and some fast horses and donkeys for transporting rations and valuables. As for heavy things like copper coins, cattle, cloth, and rice—they left those behind for now. As long as they survived, money would never be a problem! After leaving the residence, it didn’t take long to encounter the soy sauce workshop’s "elderly, weak, sick, and disabled"—with Maeshima Shichiro among them. He was quite dedicated, having stayed overnight at the workshop. When the Momoi brothers found him, he was at a loss, but as soon as he heard Nozawa’s orders, he tagged along. He had never been in battle before, and now, faced with chaos, his face was as white as a sheet. Nozawa didn’t mind and waved them to the back of the group, pressing on. Even though little time had passed, the manor was already echoing everywhere with shouts of battle. The enemy was clearly moving quickly—Oda’s samurai and Lang Faction couldn’t muster in time and were forced to fight scattered throughout the manor. In addition, new fires were breaking out, with four or five houses now blazing and the flames spreading fast, as if someone had set giant torches ablaze all across Takeshige Manor. By the light of the burning, they hurried along the road. Suddenly, from the darkness came the twang of bowstrings—three arrows shot toward their group, targeting Nozawa himself, who was striding at the outer edge of the group, armored head-to-toe in modern armor, his lacquered armor gleaming in the flames as he urged everyone to jog on. Clearly, the attackers thought his head was valuable—a worthy kill for a fat reward. But they failed. With a flash in her eyes, Qing flicked her glaive, knocking all three arrows away; Nozawa didn’t even blink. Ordinary arrows stood no chance of piercing his full iron armor—a hundred strings of copper coins weighing hundreds of pounds, and it wasn’t money thrown away for nothing. Ah Man reacted quickly too, giving a shout as she led over a dozen Lang Faction members into the darkness. Not long after, the sounds of clashing blades and sabers striking armor rang out in the distance, mingled with screams. Looked like this scouting party, hoping for a quick payday by assassinating their leader, was going to lose more than just their wages. The main group barely flinched, those old, weak, women, and children just clung tight to the others, running ahead in silence, terrified of being left behind. Nozawa waited briefly until Ah Man came back, wiping blood from her face and handing him a small identifier flag with an ugly look: "The Inner Three Rice Ears crest—it’s Lin Family men." Nozawa took the flag and, in the flickering firelight, saw three bundles of rice stalks coiled together in a circle. Counting the grains on the stalks, he immediately raised his brows. "Lin Xiuzhen’s men?" He’d learned some clan badge study from Ah Man—enough to recognize people within Owari. He’d studied the Inner Three Rice Crests, which, as he recalled, were used by Lin Xiuzhen’s branch. "Only he in Owari could field so many, and the Inaba family branch too. No one else fits." Ah Man seemed incredulous, her brows bunched together. "Why would it be him? Has he rebelled? For what?!" Even after the enemy breached the gate, she couldn’t figure out who would be crazy enough to attack Oda Nobunaga’s manor. She’d gone over every possible suspect in her mind—who could get past all those outlying strongholds and just appear in Oda Danjo Chonosuke’s own heartland? Turns out she wasted all that thinking—it wasn’t foreign enemies, but Oda Nobunaga’s own Head of the Family elder leading a revolt! But that made even less sense—what could he possibly want? That was a position second only to the lord himself! Nozawa was silent for a while. He couldn’t figure it out either. He’d never even suspected Lin Xiuzhen—not at all. In history, Lin Xiuzhen had always done well enough and had only been exiled by Oda Nobunaga for inefficiency against Ishiyama Honganji Temple. At this time, he should have been entirely loyal! This made no sense! But now it didn’t matter who the enemy was. Tossing the flag aside, he commanded the group to keep jogging for the south gate. Just as they neared it, a group of sixty or seventy men, armed and armored, suddenly darted out of a side street behind them, calling out as they rushed in pursuit. Nozawa glanced back, cursed under his breath, and quickly ordered the Lang Faction to turn and form battle lines—this group had to be routed, fast! In times like these, there’s no hiding from chaos—so you can only fight for your life.