"So, where can I buy medicinal herbs around here? They need to be of a complete variety!" Originally, it was just a question, but after chatting with A-man, who liked to gossip, for quite some time, I still hadn't found out where to get the herbs, and Orihara was starting to feel a bit exasperated.
"Buying medicinal herbs is not something I've noticed before. Generally, people don't buy them; they just pick some raw herbs themselves to make do," A-man said while eating his meal. Even though he thought Orihara was an idiot, he was genuinely diligent as he scratched his head and recalled for a moment before saying, "It's probably not possible around here; you might have to go to Shimazu to buy them."
Shimazu?
Orihara remembered this place. A-man, the wild child, had mentioned it before and marked it on a map. But after careful research and secretly comparing it with the map on his phone, he found that in later generations this port no longer existed. He didn't know if it was due to natural sediment accumulation or if modern Japan had reclaimed the land and filled it in. Anyway, the natural small bay was gone, and he'd always thought it was just a small place, never paying much attention to it.
He immediately asked, "Is it very prosperous there?"
"Of course, it's very prosperous!" A-man replied without hesitation, "It was the place that let the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family establish itself. If it wasn't for Shimazu, relying only on the small Shoban Castle, how could the minor Intermediate Magistrate family head Oda Nobuhide have dominated Owari for so many years!"
"Oh?" Hearing about the Oda family, Orihara became interested, quickly poured her a cup of tea, and handed it over, "Here, tell me more details."
A-man raised her eyebrows. She liked this aspect of Orihara, especially respecting her as a "talent," which made her feel very comfortable.
She happily took the tea bowl, took a sip of tea, smacked her lips, and said leisurely, "Alright, since you want to hear it, I'll tell you, but it's a long story!"
Oda Nobuhide's father was called Oda Sanmaru Hideyoshi, and his residence was at Shoban Castle in the Kaisei District of Owari Province.
According to my grandfather, at that time, the strength of the Shoban Oda family wasn't much, only slightly stronger than the current Hosokawa Family, probably just over ten thousand koku of strength, living entirely under the shadow of the Qingzhou City main family. But Oda Sanmaru Hideyoshi was very capable. My grandfather said he could be considered a great person of his generation."
She sipped the tea again, breathed in, and her expression became a bit more serious, "About forty years ago, er, I'm not sure, I wasn't born then, I only heard it from my grandfather, who used to babble nonsense when drunk...
Forty or so years ago, old man Oda Sanmaru Hideyoshi uniquely recognized Shimazu next to Shoban Castle, and also realized the court was hollow and feeble. Taking advantage of an internal conflict over succession in the Qingzhou main family, he bribed and enticed local influential clans and some rangers, river bandits in Shimazu, initiated a riot there, drove away the Magistrate appointed by the court... er, possibly even killed them directly; anyway, the result was the same. Then, under the pretext of quelling the unrest, he suddenly rushed over and swallowed up Shimazu while everyone was unprepared!
Such things were common back then, as the world was becoming increasingly chaotic, and everyone began fighting, but Oda Sanmaru Hideyoshi was particularly skilled in management.
According to my grandfather, he established laws in Shimazu, requiring all merchants to trade equally, forbidding the strong from bullying the weak, prohibiting forced buying and selling, banning mutual killings in the town, and even slaughtered nearby wrongdoers, rangers, mountain bandits, and river bandits, restraining villagers and fishermen from robbing traders and merchant ships. To open a sea route to Omiso and Sangming, he sent his wife to a temple as an old nun, then spent heavily to marry a new wife, eventually managing Shimazu into one of the leading trade ports in Ise Bay, only slightly inferior to Kaido Town."
It turned out that a small port, already disappeared in modern times, had such a story. Orihara asked further, "What happened later?"
"Later, old man Oda Sanmaru Hideyoshi just kicked the bucket." A-man had a gift for language and, after hanging out with Orihara these few days, his accent was increasingly similar to Orihara's, learning many new words.
"He died?" Orihara was surprised and asked, "How did he die?"
"It's said he died of illness, but actually..." A-man raised an eyebrow and gave a "you know what I mean" look, "Warrior clans, you know, they're reluctant to divide the land, yet love a prospering family, having a bunch of kids, there's always a succession problem. That old man had a new wife and a new legitimate son, who was reportedly very favored, so he suddenly kicked the bucket along with the legitimate youngest son.
His legitimate eldest son, at the time sixteen or seventeen-year-old Oda Nobuhide, didn't even hold his funeral before taking power, which led to a fight with the main house in Qingzhou City.
It seemed the main house said he took power illegitimately and wanted to depose him according to his father's will. He accused the main house of interfering in branch succession without good intentions, aiming for annexation. Ultimately, after more than a year of conflict, the main Qingzhou Oda family conceded, marrying a daughter to him, considered as surrendering and reconciling."
Orihara nodded slowly, but A-man wasn't finished and eagerly added, "This is also why Oda Nobuhide shamelessly almost sold his rear end to attack Nagano Castle... No, he might have actually done that, otherwise Imagawa Shitoyama couldn't have favored him so much, pretending to be sick to let him bring a large number of household retainers into the castle.
Hmm, in any case, that's why he had to attack Nagano Castle."
After finishing, she looked at Orihara expectantly, hoping he would invite her to explain more, but to her surprise, Orihara, after a brief thought, realized, "It's for the Atsuta Port south of Nagano Castle? He wants to connect Atsuta and Shimazu on land?"