Chapter 198 - 137: Basically Died in Vain!

Words : 1123 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

Nakajou Heichiro and Marubashi Five Gates stood by the ship’s railing, staring in shock at the long stretch of pitch-black mudflats and the distant wasteland. They were completely stunned. The two of them had been invited onto the ship, set out to sea, and only then were they informed that the castle construction site had been changed. The Nozawa family would be moving to the Chita Peninsula to live and would no longer remain in Wanjin. They found it hard to believe at first, deeply suspected that A Qing delivered the message wrong, but now they had arrived, and there was even a makeshift dock here for temporary unloading. Clearly, Harano had planned this long in advance, sending in small teams early on to make preparations for a rapid landing. It was definitely not some spur-of-the-moment whim. They simply had no choice but to believe it now. But... isn’t this bordering on rebellion? Moving one’s fiefdom without the Daimyo’s written approval, building a castle in another place on one’s own initiative, plotting to escape control—by any measure, this counts as rebellion. At least, in their understanding, Oda Nobunaga would never accept such a thing, would never agree to let Harano move the "saltpeter factory" outside of Oda Danjo Chonosuke’s sphere of influence. But if you really called it rebellion, it didn’t quite fit either. Harano was not a household retainer of the Danjo Chonosuke family. He had a high degree of autonomy on his own and, if he truly left, it’d be hard to accuse him of betrayal right away. But hadn’t all that work gone into building up Wanjin? Was he really just going to abandon it? They felt bewildered and befuddled, unable to figure out what Harano was really planning, why he’d leave behind a perfectly good life only to stir up trouble here. Still, they also knew for sure that Harano was up to no good; otherwise, why take such precautions against the two of them, shipping them off here at the very first moment? Clearly, he was worried they would run off to Nagano Castle to leak the news and cause some unexpected trouble for him. After watching the landing point for a while, they glanced at each other, faces turning bitter. After all, Harano wasn’t wrong to be wary: their real job was to report on the situation in Wanjin at any moment. The first time Harano made plans to build a castle there, they had immediately informed Nagano Castle. Now, Harano had sent them here, so there was no way to send any message—even for the short term, it was impossible. Before boarding the ship, they’d already heard that Wanjin was now under total military control: anyone without authorization who stepped outside the designated zone would be shot instantly. When the next transport fleet arrived, they’d probably see their own subordinates disembark as well. If they wanted to send a warning now, it was completely impossible. In fact, they had to start worrying about their own lives. If something small went wrong and Harano turned hostile, he might just kill them and throw their bodies into the sea—perfectly normal in these circumstances. Their faces were filled with bitterness, and not far from them, Endo Chiyoda, Maeshima Shichiro, and the rest of the civil administration foremen didn’t look much better; all were equally bewildered. They were only slightly ahead of Nakajou Heichiro and Marubashi Five Gates in hearing about the plan to build a castle on the Chita Peninsula, and they were just as confused about why Harano was doing this. They couldn’t figure out why he refused to simply settle down as a local squire under Danjo Chonosuke’s banner. After all, a few thousand pounds of saltpeter a year was barely ten thousand kan in profit—it was nothing to him, and it’s not like he couldn’t afford it. As for the worry that the profits from saltpeter would arouse envy—hadn’t there been five or six hundred Lang Faction members already? More than enough to protect Wanjin; no ordinary force could take it by storm. But things had already come to this. There was nothing they could do. All of them had been shipped off by Harano to... this godforsaken place that didn’t even have a name yet. All they could do was their own jobs as best as they could. Endo Chiyoda was the first to react. She picked up the meeting notes from earlier, flipped through them, then turned around with a sigh, "Everyone, once the troops have all landed, let’s disembark and get to work! Stick to the plan—three more piers must go up in the next two days, establish a camp, and then gather manpower. Each person, go to your assigned task!" "Uh... Yes, Lady Chiyoda." Maeshima Shichiro and the other civil officials responded, their voices faint and scattered. It wasn’t that they felt uncertain: preparations for castle-building had gone on for months, supplies were ample, blueprints were complete, and every stage had been discussed repeatedly—everyone knew what to do. It’s just... the change in location was so sudden, they hadn’t yet adjusted. Endo Chiyoda hadn’t forgotten about the two young Yoriki Warriors, Nakajou Heichiro and Marubashi Five Gates. She turned and spoke to them again, "Lord Nakajou, Lord Marubashi, we’re short on hands right now—please lend a hand as well!" After the meeting on the ship, she had carefully probed Harano’s intentions; even with the new territory secured, Harano had no intention of breaking with Danjo Chonosuke’s family—so these two could still be used. In fact, if she could improve their mood a bit, it would prevent them from overthinking, getting worked up, and risking a wild, solitary hundred-ri crossing through enemy lines and the Bai Chuan Pass to deliver a warning. If they died along the way, that debt would almost certainly be blamed on the Nozawa family. So better keep them busy with something. Nakajou Heichiro and Marubashi Five Gates, for their part, weren’t so diehard as to risk their lives to complete the mission. After all, Harano coming to build a castle on enemy land did no actual harm to Danjo Chonosuke’s family. There was no need for a drastic reaction—leave it for the future to sort out. They exchanged a glance, then nodded in unison, moving to stand beside Endo Chiyoda and following her assignments, shedding their roles as military supervisors and getting down to the work of Yoriki Warriors. ...... The civil administration officials were all bewildered, at a total loss for the moment—which was only natural. Harano didn’t mind; as long as they carried out the plan, there was no need for them to think too much. Whether they were confused or not didn’t matter at all.

Chapter 198 - 137: Basically Died in Vain!

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