Chapter 225 - 158: Even in Ancient Times, a Bride Price Was Required!

Words : 2096 Updated : Oct 1st, 2025

"Ten bolts of silk, ten bolts of brocade, a hundred bolts of printed cotton, a hundred bolts of fine linen; ten barrels of sake, ten barrels of fruit wine; one set of Crescent Moon armor currently in vogue, one robe of blue gauze embroidered with silver, one embroidered Mother’s Robe in bright colors, two printed shoulder capes, two short-barreled gilt iron cannons, one gold-inlaid peach-patterned quiver and thirty long-feathered war arrows..." Endo Chiyoda, Maeshima Shichiro, and Ah Man were all sitting upright on their knees, and after Endo Chiyoda had read out a list over a foot long for three or four minutes, she respectfully asked Harano, "My lord, what do you think? Is there anything that needs adding or subtracting?" Harano was at a loss for words for a moment. He hadn’t expected that even after falling on hard times and arriving in ancient times, he’d still have to pay a "bride price" to get married. It really gave him a strange feeling of deja vu, as if he’d returned to the modern world. But at least, people in ancient times were more down-to-earth. The "bride price" here was mainly food and drink, clothing and materials, calligraphy and everyday items, and weapons and armor. At least they didn’t ask for cash directly—which, compared to modern times, was an improvement. His mind wandered for a brief moment, then snapped back, and he asked, concerned, "Does this comply with the customs and meet the Oda Family’s requirements?" Endo Chiyoda and Maeshima Shichiro replied in unison, "My lord, we’ve weighed everything carefully, and we’ve already discussed it with the Oda Family." "Then let’s go with this. No need to add or remove anything further." Harano had no expertise in this area and agreed straight away. He then asked with concern, "You’ve both worked hard—did you run into any trouble negotiating with the Oda Family?" Endo Chiyoda and Maeshima Shichiro exchanged a glance, and Maeshima Shichiro, who was in charge of handling the wedding negotiations with the Oda Family, hesitated before answering, "We didn’t run into any real trouble; the Oda Family showed a great deal of sincerity in forming this marriage alliance. It’s just... a few of the Oda Family’s household retainers spoke in a rather sardonic, backhanded way, dragging their feet when it came to discussing things. Aside from that, nothing much." "Were they all the older retainers?" "That’s right, my lord." Harano gave a slight nod. Looked like it was the old-school retainer faction that had some misgivings about the marriage, or maybe it was people close to Lin Xiuzhen using this as a pretense to vent their grievances. But these people didn’t really matter—Oda Nobunaga didn’t like them either. By now, those old-school retainers had either been sidelined or were about to be. In the future’s historical stage, they weren’t anybody to worry about. He said directly, "Next time you negotiate something, there’s no need to be polite with them. We Wanjin people are no longer in a position where we have to bow and scrape for others. If they want to be snide and slow things down, just call them out directly. If that doesn’t work, go straight to Lord Niwa and let him handle it. We need the Oda Family, but they need us too. No need to think of ourselves as beneath them." Maeshima Shichiro was a gentle-natured sort, not much good at arguing or causing a stir. After a moment’s hesitation, he finally lowered his head and said, "Yes, my lord, I understand." Harano also knew he was honest and not given to being forceful, and figured Endo Chiyoda wasn’t suitable for arguments either, so he turned to Ah Man and said, "If you’re free, you can drop by and take a look too." Ah Man, with her brash personality and natural gift for gossip, was perfect for quarreling and giving people a rough time. She didn’t care one way or another, just nodded carelessly. The household was busy with construction and she couldn’t help much there; these days she was mostly out expanding the intelligence network. Occasionally helping Maeshima Shichiro with a few disputes didn’t make any difference to her. The matter of the bride price was thus decided, and after Harano talked over the following "presentation of gifts" and "setting the wedding date" with Endo Chiyoda and Maeshima Shichiro, the two took their leave to keep busy—after months of fussing, the marriage arrangements were finally nearly complete. Well, it couldn’t be helped. Getting married is a hassle in both modern and ancient times. Preparing for a few months is actually considered quick. The Oda Danjo Chonosuke household, even if not well-known just now and looked down on as a rural bumpkin out in Owari, still controlled half a province—a "quasi-sengoku daimyo," you could say. They had to keep up appearances. You couldn’t just plop a princess in an ox cart and ship her over; proper ceremony had to be observed. Or maybe you could blame Confucian ritual? Japan in this period was also big on Confucian ideas. The wedding process was a heavily revised version of the "Six Rites"—all kinds of back-and-forth negotiation, endless things to prepare, loads of people to help out, plus a ceremony to get the clan’s guardian deity’s approval. Super repetitive and nitpicky. Still, it was finally almost done. Good enough, I suppose! After Endo Chiyoda and Maeshima Shichiro left, Ah Man picked up the bride price list and looked it over again. Her stingy nature acting up, she abruptly felt a surge of animosity toward the never-before-seen Princess Dog and muttered irritably, "Just a little girl, and marrying her off takes so much stuff..." All this stuff, when you add it up, must be six or seven hundred kan—enough to buy a hundred or two Yayoi. And that’s not even counting the house they specially built for the wedding. She felt it was a raw deal. Harano didn’t care though, and said casually, "No worries, what needs to be spent, ought to be spent. With our trade routes, we’ll earn it back soon enough. And besides, the Oda Family will give a dowry too—it’s not like we’re handing things over for nothing." In this era, the bride’s family really did pay dowries, not just toss over two bedrolls and call it a day. It’s just that the dowry would only be given after the "setting of the date"—that is, after they decided the wedding date. Only then would they get the dowry list, and on the day itself, the dowry would arrive. Harano was always a big spender; he didn’t care about the bride price, nor about the dowry. As long as he got what he wanted, it was fine. Mentioning it was just to calm Ah Man down. He then asked her, "Why’d you come over—was there something special?" Ah Man had nothing to do with the wedding prep; she’d just happened to run into Endo and Maeshima. But she really had come back with news. At his words, she tossed the bride price list aside and said with feeling, "Oda Nobuaki died last night!" Harano stared, taken aback by how sudden this was. Oda Nobunaga’s own third uncle, the former lord of Shoushan City and current lord of Nagano Castle, Oda Nobuaki—how could he be dead? It wasn’t even half a year since he’d sabotaged the Qingzhou branch of the Oda Family, right? He quickly asked, "What happened? How did he die?" "They say he was stabbed to death on orders from his family elder, Sakai Daisen, who’s already fled to the Imagawa family." Ah Man had only just gotten the news and wasn’t totally sure about the details. "Apparently the assassin snuck into his chambers, shouted ’Perjurers will be executed on the spot!’ and stabbed him through the chest with one thrust. He died then and there. They say the assassin was later identified as Sakai Sunbajiro, a famous sword master back when the Qingzhou Oda branch was still around." "What about him?" "Word is he got away—no news of him now." Harano was silent for a moment. Oda Nobuaki, as Oda Nobunaga’s third uncle, was his strongest supporter—a real heavyweight in the Oda clan of Owari. And yet on his own turf, he just got assassinated? And the assassin even got away? Isn’t that just too ridiculous? Not even the tiniest bit of logic? Harano mulled it over for a while, then asked Ah Man, "How’s Nagano Castle... doing now?" "Oda Nobuaki’s son is still a kid, not even done with his coming-of-age ceremony. There’s really no one in charge, so of course it’s a mess." Ah Man replied bluntly. "As for any further details, I’m not sure. Since Oda Nobunaga moved to Qingzhou City, almost all our informants we had in Nagano Castle were taken away—and the new ones we’ve inserted haven’t been there long, so there isn’t much intel we can get at the moment." "Just keep an eye on it and try to find out what really happened." Harano wasn’t worried—things were nothing like before. In the past, any disturbance in Owari could have put him in personal danger, and unless he got to the truth quickly, he wouldn’t be able to rest easy. But now he was clear of the Oda Danjo Chonosuke power base; whatever turmoil happened within the Oda Family, it didn’t really affect him much. All he really needed to know was that Oda Nobuaki was dead. Now, trying to figure out the truth was just out of plain curiosity—the whole thing was so odd. "Don’t worry, I’ve left some people over there—should get word back soon." Ah Man was an old hand at gathering intel; Harano didn’t need to worry about this side of things. She immediately shifted to another topic, "There’s something else. Our people got wind, from merchants at Atsuta Port, that the Imagawa military advisor Taiyuan Xuezhai is gravely ill and can’t manage the administration. There’s some unrest within the Imagawa clan. But since we have no agents in Jumogawa or Enshu, we can’t say if it’s true." Harano nodded slowly, thinking the rumor probably was true. As he remembered, the "pillar of stability" for the Imagawa—the advisor Taiyuan Xuezhai—was supposed to pass away around this time. He couldn’t remember the exact date—maybe the end of this year, maybe the start of next year. After that, Imagawa Yoshimoto would formally take charge of the clan. Or, to put it better, no one would be able to restrain him anymore. Once in charge, he’d take swift and firm actions—much like Oda Nobunaga, actually. He resented having so many powerful vassals doing whatever they wanted, and tried to push for "centralization," forcibly revoking the "protected status" that let the great clans and temples manage their own affairs. He launched massive land surveys, recalculated annual tributes and army service, and that sparked plenty of unrest—real fighting broke out more than once. Once he’d finished subduing all those mighty vassals, he left his eldest son to watch over his home base and personally led the troops in a march to Shangluo—but he’d only gotten as far as West Owari when disaster struck. Strictly speaking, Imagawa Yoshimoto wasn’t actually stupid. Otherwise, how would he have succeeded in subduing all those powerful vassals and temples, and completed his land surveys? His fondness for waka poetry and Han poetry, for blackening his teeth and shaving his eyebrows to imitate the aristocrats—all of that was just political theater, a performance to win support on his way to Shangluo. It’s just that this world only judges by who wins and loses: after losing one-on-one to Oda Nobunaga, he was written off as a hapless fool who’d lost the martial spirit of the samurai. After thinking about it, Harano realized this news was actually pretty useful, at least enough for him to be sure he’d have plenty of time to develop. For the time being, the Imagawa family would be preoccupied with internal struggles, fighting among themselves, and wouldn’t have the bandwidth to deal with him. The next time they’d meet, it would probably be when the Imagawa advanced west to Shangluo and collided head-on with the Oda Danjo Chonosuke household. He told Ah Man not to waste time chasing after that rumor. The Imagawa’s internal power struggles were none of their concern. Over the next few days, he’d just keep himself busy and wait for his first wedding, while keeping an eye on the news about Oda Nobuaki—waiting for updates from that front.

Chapter 225 - 158: Even in Ancient Times, a Bride Price Was Required!

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