Chapter 163 - 109: Guano and Mature Guano

Ah Man set out for Atsuta, and was gone for over ten days. Then, on a warm afternoon, she sailed straight back to Wanjin. When Harano received the news, he rushed to the shore to greet her. From a distance, he saw her jumping up and down in the knee-deep sea, loudly ordering the Lang Faction and three strangers to carry a large amount of sun-dried kelp and seaweed to the beach. Apparently, to open up new avenues, she’d done a little business on the island, bartering for some raw materials needed by the soy sauce workshop. Wanjin’s wharf and piers weren’t built yet, so they could only move things this way—it was inefficient. Harano quickly waved, bringing along several Lang Faction followers to help, while sizing up the three unfamiliar faces. One of the three looked quite old—over fifty, just over 1.5 meters in height, wearing a faded gray-blue hitoe and short hakama, with a sheathless short knife stuck loosely at his waist. His skin was very dark, and his back a bit hunched, but he was strong and muscular, his chest and arms bulging. Moving cargo through the waves, he was steady as a rock, hardly swaying no matter how the surf hit him. The other two seemed to be a mother and her son. The woman looked a bit over thirty, not quite 1.5 meters tall, with a proper and decent appearance—she must have been quite a beauty when younger—dressed in the common work outfit for women of this era: kosode and wide hakama. But she clearly wasn’t used to moving about in seawater. Even when she tried to help, she wasn’t much help—instead, the little boy by her side had to support her from time to time. Soon, all the goods were transferred to the beach. Ah Man waved at the boat, shouting loudly, "Get lost, you dung beetles!" The sailors on the boat burst into laughter, raised anchor, and sailed off toward Atsuta—probably her new friends from this voyage. She sent off the boat she’d hired without a second thought for the sea products, then dragged those three people over to Harano, introducing them all: "This is Old Yu, his wife Ah Ju, and their son Catfish Ball. And this is the patriarch of the Nozawa family, Lord Nozawa Saburo." Old Yu could tell Harano was a "samurai," but hadn’t expected him to be the local lord in person, let alone see a lord wading through the sea to carry cargo himself. He froze for a moment but quickly recovered, kneeling to bow—not very willing, hesitating as he did so. Harano didn’t care about empty formalities, and being in his Yuan Bei Yuan Xuande frame of mind, he hurried to help Old Yu up, saying warmly, "You’re the elder here, that’s not necessary." Old Yu found his feet, gave Harano a brief look, and said in a gravelly voice—like someone who hadn’t drunk water for days—"Then pardon my rudeness, Lord Nozawa." "Let’s go to the village for a rest!" Harano wasn’t adept with small talk. Glancing at Ah Ju and seeing her looking pale and exhausted, he immediately suggested they go rest up first. Old Yu didn’t seem to be talkative, and the seaside wind really wasn’t a place for conversation, so he helped his wife, led his son, and followed Harano to the village. Once there, Harano arranged a room for them, asked them to wash up and rest. Then he took Ah Man aside to get her report. "Of course he’s reliable!" Ah Man answered firmly and directly. "I went to several big islands and asked around for people like you wanted. This one is the most respected and knowledgeable, and he’s got a wife and kid, plus a group of relatives on Shenjian Island, so he’s easier to control. I brought him back first." She paused, then gave more details: "He used to be a water thief in the Seto Inland Sea, and also worked a while as a junior manager on a merchant ship—apparently he was fairly well-known. Six or seven years ago, something happened, and he couldn’t stay in the Seto area, so he went back to his hometown with his wife. But Shenjian Island is too poor, the environment is terrible, and his wife’s health kept getting worse. I finally persuaded him to bring his whole family over—otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easy." "He was a water thief before?" Harano was mildly surprised; he’d been here a while and hadn’t seen anyone from that line of work—this was eye-opening. "Of course he was. On the islands, anyone with any skills has done that job. This one’s the best of the bunch; at least he doesn’t rob any more, and just fishes for a living." Ah Man misunderstood—thinking Harano was being biased against the profession—so she explained, "If you’re looking for ones who never robbed, that’s impossible. And those people aren’t any better—many only abstain because they can’t pull off a robbery, not because they’re good-natured." "That’s not what I meant... Forget it. Did he have any other requests?" "He’s happy with the pay; you offered a good price, worth risking his life for. I just promised you’d help treat his wife’s illness, and if he works hard, you’ll give him a piece of good paddy land in the future. That’s all." Harano nodded, indifferent to all the random, minor conditions Ah Man agreed to on the fly —as long as Old Yu passed his assessment later, was capable and genuinely useful, and willing to work for him, Harano wouldn’t be stingy. Loyalty always takes cultivation, after all, and he was willing to invest time and money in that. He smoothly switched topics to another concern: "Did you get to deal with any local bigwigs? Anyone want to move here?" "No way. A few kilos of rice won’t trick them. They don’t trust me, why would they just come with me? But I spoke to them—they can exchange fish and seaweed here for salt, cloth, ironware, and pills in the future. As for trading, they’re very happy—they’re eager to trade with me, so I swapped some goods for them. I lost a few dozen kan on the deal, and the sailors laughed that I’m a sucker." Ah Man wasn’t happy about being mocked—she was very proud and competitive, after all, and losing a few dozen kan made her heart ache. Those junky sea products could be bought in any coastal fishing village—often even cheaper than here. Samurai could mobilize villagers to catch seafood for free, then sell it—so there was no real cost. As long as you’re willing to buy long-term, they’ll happily go along; prices are very negotiable. "No big deal—pride doesn’t pay the bills, and losing a little money is fine, as long as they’re willing to come." Harano didn’t care about looking like a sucker—as long as it benefitted him, he didn’t mind. He was very satisfied with Ah Man’s performance this time—she’d perfectly fulfilled all his expectations. No wonder she was his most capable right-hand; what a treasure! He praised Ah Man heavily, then took her along to invite Old Yu’s family to a meal, planning to get a better sense of Old Yu’s abilities. The banquet was lavish, but with Harano present, Old Yu’s wife was very restrained—after all, in these days, women didn’t usually eat at the table in formal settings, and inviting the whole family to eat together like this was almost unheard of. She couldn’t help feeling nervous. Old Yu, on the other hand, had more experience with the world. His mood was steady; he was relaxed, and seemed very pleased by how much Harano valued his family. He calmly answered all sorts of maritime questions: how to use the stars for navigation, how to read currents and hidden flows, how to predict weather and avoid storms, and how to safely steer clear of reefs—all explained in detail. Harano listened patiently. He didn’t know how to sail, so he had to judge Old Yu’s confidence level from his tone and expression. When Old Yu finished describing how he led fishermen with harpoons to kill a whale, the main topic finally came up—he hoarsely asked where exactly Harano wanted to go. Harano wasn’t going anywhere himself; the ocean was too dangerous for him, especially to open a new trade route. Even traveling just to the uninhabited outlying isles of the Japanese archipelago was a major risk in this era. He wouldn’t get on the ship—he’d provide everything needed for the expedition and have Old Yu lead a team to dig a shipload of guano or fresh bird droppings for him. Yes, he wanted them to collect bird droppings and guano. So-called guano meant the huge quantities of bird excrement mixed with undigested fish bones and food scraps, accumulating over the years and under the action of bacteria forming solid lumps. Generally, guano contained minerals like limestone, calcite, gypsum, chlorite, and dolomite. Depending on geography, its composition varied; sometimes there was even a lot of natural nitrate in the guano mines. After all, bird poop is still poop—its nature isn’t much different from human or animal feces. Now, Harano needed nitrate to acquire a base for free action, but didn’t want to popularize saltpeter-field technology in Japan’s Middle Ages—Europe already had it, and before South America’s vast salpetre mines were discovered, the huge quantities of nitrate needed for Europe’s booming firearm industry were all made from manure in saltpeter fields. This technology hadn’t reached Japan yet, and unless absolutely necessary, Harano didn’t plan to reveal such easily copied methods—it would seriously undercut his profits and personal value. So, he’d just mine bird guano and guano stones that wouldn’t be exploited in Japan for another three or four centuries—letting him monopolize this highly profitable business for a long time. Even if the route was exposed, guano stones couldn’t be used as nitrate straight away—they required a series of chemical processes. And his main goal was the fresh, undecomposed guano on the surface, which was easier to process into saltpeter. Yes, if he didn’t collect it now, it’d just be mined by the Japanese in modern times. In fact, the reason Japan invaded the Ryukyu Islands and seized them was largely to obtain guano stone mines for making gunpowder and explosives. The islets attached to the Ryukyu chain have phosphate-rich guano stones—a great raw material for explosives. When Old Yu asked, Harano didn’t hide his goals—these rocks and bird droppings were useless to others. He took out his hand-drawn map, pointed to the southwest of Ise Bay, and said, "I need you to go here. There are many coral-ringed atolls, and the rocks and earth there are exactly what I need. Bring back as much as possible, and record the route in detail." Old Yu said nothing—didn’t even ask what the rocks and earth were for. He silently gauged the distance, considered the risks, and, after a long glance at his wife and child, nodded slowly: "I’ll need a good ship—and fifteen people."