Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 115 - 71: Run, hurry up and run, run far away!_2

Chapter 115: Chapter 71: Run, hurry up and run, run far away!_2

"You want all of them?"

"How much?" Nozawa was in a bad mood, not in the mood for chit-chat.

"Hold on!" Ah Man snapped out of it. Nozawa must have lost his mind again, about to do something dumb. She quickly tugged at him and asked, "A bunch of old, weak, sick and disabled people—what do you want to buy them for? Just got a bit of money and it’s already burning a hole in your pocket?"

"We need people to make soy sauce." Nozawa came up with a reason off the cuff. "If it’s just us working, Yayoi and the others can’t handle it and if we go on like this, something bad is bound to happen."

"That still doesn’t mean you should buy this bunch!" Ah Man was still not convinced. "These guys couldn’t even run away when they had the chance—they’re probably a useless lot when it comes to work too. You’d be better off buying some captured Ashigaru from the Qingzhou army. They’d work way better than this bunch."

Nozawa sighed and shook his head, "I just happened to see them, so let’s take them."

Ah Man squinted at the group of "old, weak, sick and crippled," trying to persuade him again: "Really, it’s not worth it. Only maybe 10-20% of them can do hard labor. It’s not a good deal."

"It’ll do. These will have to do!"

Nozawa had made up his mind and refused to listen any further. He turned to the old peasant Ashigaru and asked again, "How much?"

The old peasant Ashigaru hesitated a little, sneaking a peek at Nozawa’s face, then glanced back at his fellow villagers, and gave a price: "Since my lord wants them... there are eighty-nine of them in total. The kids, you can have for free, just give us eighty kan coins, how about that?"

Less than a kan each? That’s the price of half a donkey?

Nozawa found slave-trading distasteful and was willing to pay a little to soothe his conscience, but he wasn’t looking to be a sucker either. He did the math in his head and remembered Ah Man bullshitting before at home that even Yayoi was only worth four kan coins. Taking that as a reference...

He was still counting in his head when Ah Man was already getting annoyed. Nozawa, this spendthrift, always comes up with these harebrained ideas and never listens to her "good advice." Now he wanted to buy this inferior stock? No way she could feel good about this—even worse, she’d lost all her money gambling earlier, so she was already pissed off and now even angrier.

The little hair bun on her head jiggled as she took charge of the haggling to cut further losses. Smiling, she beckoned to the old peasant Ashigaru, "Come over, come over... closer, a bit more, that’s right..."

The old peasant Ashigaru, confused, cluelessly leaned his head over. Ah Man flicked her beanlike eyebrow, her dogface twisting as her smile vanished. Then she slapped him hard across the face and cursed, "Eighty kan for these useless old crocks? You dung beetle, you must’ve eaten shit until you lost your mind!"

She couldn’t control Nozawa’s wastefulness, so she took all her anger out on the old peasant Ashigaru who’d dared ask such a ridiculous price. The slap rang out sharp and heavy, spinning the old guy in place and puffing his face up. His head was buzzing, and the Ashigaru by the fire behind him got restless, with a bunch of foot soldiers standing up, looking both shocked and scared.

Ah Man, undaunted, whipped out her small axe and pointed at them, yelling, "What, got a problem? Want me to come over and chop you all up right now?"

After cursing them out, she smacked the old peasant Ashigaru with the back of her axe. Her fringe drooped, casting shadows over her eyes as she growled menacingly, "Eighty kan, you must be dreaming! Thirty kan! Thirty, and that’s generous—more than a kan for each of you, be grateful. Don’t take us for idiots!"

She changed face faster than the weather, without warning, unexpectedly overbearing and fierce. The old peasant Ashigaru was completely stunned by the blow, but looking at the tall, stony-faced Nozawa who also seemed in a foul mood, then at the gleam in Ah Man’s eyes and her sharp little axe, he gulped, shrank a bit, hesitated just a moment, and caved in: "Alright, thirty kan!"

They might’ve been able to fetch a higher price if they took the people back to Nagano Castle, but who knows—if something else came up, the Ashigaru Leader in charge might order the townsfolk killed or dumped as dead weight, and then all their effort would be for nothing or worse. Really, they’d have preferred to just loot, but hadn’t been assigned to that detail and ended up dragging these people back instead, just to not come home from the fight empty-handed.

The other Ashigaru units had it better—they went straight to looting, not making it nearly this much hassle.

This batch of Ashigaru caved, and Ah Man was satisfied. She put away her little axe and looked at Nozawa. Once he gave a slight nod, she gave the old peasant a kick: "Lucky for you dung-rollers. Round up your people and come with me; you get your money at the destination."

These Ashigaru seemed somehow to enjoy a little abuse; even after being hit and kicked by Ah Man, they managed to put on a smile, obediently herding the captured townsfolk along with Ah Man and Nozawa.

True to his word, Nozawa paid them thirty kan copper coins when they got back and sent them on their way. Then he instructed the bewildered Maeshima Heiichiro to temporarily house these unlucky townsfolk, give them something to eat, and also offhandedly warned them: "Don’t run away tonight."

That was about all he could do for now. He went back to his little tent, intending to bury his head in sleep to avoid thinking about this mess any further, but inside he found Ah Man quietly complaining to Akiyo and Yayoi about him, saying he’d gotten donkey-kicked in the head again and was wasting money.

He didn’t argue—just called Akiyo over to tattle, "Your sister went gambling again today. She’s probably embezzled funds. You better check into it."

Akiyo froze, her little face flushing red, feeling guilty for neglecting her duty, then whirled around to confront Ah Man.

Nozawa didn’t care what she was planning to do, flopped down and went straight to sleep.

......

Early the next morning, Oda Nobunaga ordered the retreat to Nagano Castle, but he must have drunk too much the night before since he didn’t leave right away, just lounged in camp without making a move.

Nozawa didn’t mind. After the army started heading out in waves, he supervised his men as they loaded wounded soldiers onto ox-carts, slowly dragging themselves toward Nagano Castle.

As for the unlucky townsfolk, Nozawa just had them walk at the rear of the column, each handed a rice ball and a bamboo tube full of water for the journey.

Ah Man was a bit worried. Even while supervising the Ashigaru at work, she kept wanting to check on the townsfolk, afraid they’d run off—after all, they were now Nozawa family property, averaged out to about 0.15 donkeys per head. If ten ran off she’d have lost a donkey and a half—not something she was willing to stomach.

But Nozawa wouldn’t let her, insisting she take a forward scouting assignment instead, ostensibly to watch out for ambushes. Even when she gave him a ’you’re an idiot’ look, he wouldn’t budge.

That was all he could really do. He didn’t even know if it was the right thing or what anyone else would do in this situation. There was so much of this going on, he couldn’t possibly take it all on, but if he did nothing, it’d weigh on him. So, this was all he could manage.

Guess you could say: spend a little money to buy a little peace of mind!

So—run. Go on, run far away.

He didn’t even look back as he went—just waiting for the townsfolk to make their escape. After following along the Odai River for a while, Ah Man, who’d gone scouting, rode back on horseback and shouted from a distance, "Hey! Up ahead, Maeda Toshimasa—the old geezer—is kneeling in the road. What do we do?"