Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 92 - 56: Family Dog-Blood Drama, Still at 8 PM_2

Chapter 92: Chapter 56: Family Dog-Blood Drama, Still at 8 PM_2

This isn’t the place to talk. Seeing he understood, Maeda Toshimasa didn’t say anything more; he patted his shoulder, left him a quiet "Be careful," and walked away. Harano lowered his head in thought for a moment and also returned to his temporary lodging.

He waited several more hours before Ah Man finally staggered back in, drunk as a skunk.

Her little face was flushed red from booze, totally smashed, and with her cute eyebrows and silly hair buns, she looked even more ridiculous. She burst into the tent with a loud drunken burp that nearly gassed Harano right out of there.

Harano had no choice but to pour her some water, but she snatched the kettle and chugged down half of it in one go, her round little eyes shining with excitement: "I’ve got news! There’s no way you’ll ever guess what really happened!"

"Come on, just spit it out!" Harano was grossed out by her burp, too impatient for her teasing, and started treating her with no respect at all.

"Alright!" Ah Man honestly couldn’t wait, she’d been dying to share this gossip with Harano the whole time. She scooted up next to him all tipsy, whispering conspiratorially, as if they were plotting rebellion together: "Remember how I told you the Big Fool became Lord of Nagano Castle when he was two? Do you remember that?"

"Yeah, I remember. What’s up?"

"He was too young back then, so there was a wet nurse to take care of him... hiccup... Ikegami Katsuyoshi’s wife. After Ikegami Katsuyoshi died, her kid was still little, and she’d lost her support, so Oda Nobuhide named her as the Big Fool’s wet nurse. Hic!"

Harano was amazed at how much this wild girl had drunk!

He quickly pushed Ah Man back a bit, since she was already half-buried in his lap, head-butting him nonstop. He dampened a cotton towel to wipe her face and kept asking, "Then what?"

"Then, huh!" After getting her face wiped, Ah Man got even more excited. She made a fist with her left hand and started poking it repeatedly with her right index finger, looking super secretive, whispering, "So Oda Nobuhide lost a battle—that time he got his ass kicked at Kozuzaka by the Imagawa family and the Matsudaira family. He came back defeated and stayed at Nagano Castle for a bit. Got drunk, got horny, and then he... you know what I mean?"

At the end, she jabbed her little fist a few more times, giving Harano a weird look, as if questioning if he really understood, or if he was clueless about this kind of common knowledge.

Harano paused, caught off guard by this twist, but he immediately smacked her paw away, forbidding her to make those lewd gestures, and asked, "And then?"

"Then she disappeared." Ah Man grumbled as she rubbed her hand, but quickly shrugged it off, voice turning even more mysterious, "I got a bunch of people drunk and heard all sorts of stories. Some say Oda Nobuhide strangled her to death on the spot. Another guy claims she was made his concubine and kept hidden in Oda Nobuhide’s house. Yet another says she was brought back home, but that Tsuchida woman thought it’d be an embarrassment for Oda Nobuhide to mess with his retainer’s widow and even make her a concubine, so she just had her thrown down a well."

She let loose another burp, the world spinning a bit. Harano’s face seemed to be moving in and out of focus. She fumbled for her cotton towel, missed, so she wiped her face with his sleeve instead, adding, "Anyway, I went around in circles, grilled a lot of people, and nobody from Mosen Castle has seen her lately. Odds are she’s dead, most likely on Tsuchida’s orders!"

So that’s how it was. No wonder Oda Nobunaga wouldn’t even burn a stick of incense for his dad—not even when Hirata Masahide forced him, not even with everyone watching. In the end, he stuck the incense in upside down.

Harano lowered his head, deep in thought, his imagination running wild with all sorts of scenes not fit for children. Like Oda Nobunaga’s wet nurse being dragged inside by Oda Nobuhide, clothes torn, sobbing desperately, fighting back but totally powerless—while Oda Nobunaga himself was pinned outside in the pouring rain by loyal retainers, begging him to endure it. He bit his colorless lips so hard they bled, swearing that one day he’d...

Well, maybe not—this was getting too soap opera–crazy, like one of those trashy family dramas. But even if Oda Nobunaga later agreed to let his wet nurse go with Oda Nobuhide, he must’ve been furious, full of contempt for the father he once looked up to. Maybe he’d only just learned about the wet nurse’s death in Mosen Castle and was now ready to blow...

Can’t be sure—so many details are still unclear. At the very least, it’s impossible to tell exactly when the wet nurse died, but odds are this is how it went down.

Otherwise, how else do you explain why Oda Nobunaga didn’t rush to send for him, the Mongolian Divine Doctor, even when his dad was seriously ill?

Otherwise, how do you explain why Oda Nobunaga turned the incense upside down in front of all the Samurai from the Lower Four Provinces of Owari, openly cursing his own father?

Harano was churning through all the bloody drama in his head, so much that Ah Man thought he hadn’t understood. Forcing herself to stay awake, she explained again: "You still don’t get it? You’re hopeless! You know what a wet nurse means, right?

The Emperor was raised by a wet nurse—so were the court nobles. Samurai followed their example, every kid with a wet nurse. Plus, the Big Fool became Lord of Nagano Castle at two, far from his parents, so he was really raised by his wet nurse. Compared to Tsuchida, the wet nurse was more of a real mom to him—their bond must be really deep!

If Tsuchida really did kill his wet nurse, really did have her thrown in a well, it’s no wonder she can’t stand him, and insisted on swapping in another son for the ceremony today. She probably knows that, with Big Fool’s personality, he’ll make sure to avenge his wet nurse someday—there’s no good future for her!"

Ugh, she was going off in the wrong direction. She didn’t actually care why Oda Nobunaga suddenly went crazy, or the fate of an innocent woman—she’d seen plenty of things like this. She just figured Harano cared about the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family succession crisis, so she focused on Lady Tsuchida’s strange behavior and why she was boosting another son.

Harano nodded—he mostly knew this stuff. The wet nurse didn’t just provide milk; she was also responsible for teaching manners, character, all kinds of maternal care. In Japanese history, some wet nurses wielded huge political power; they were closer than anyone else to the kids they raised.

From that angle, maybe Ah Man was right—Tsuchida really might not want Oda Nobunaga to inherit, which is why she put forward her own son for the contest.

Ah Man saw he’d finally figured it out. Satisfied, she felt she’d done her job and hadn’t wasted his booze; at last, too drunk to resist, she toppled over and started snoring, muttering, "So filthy, your Samurai households are so filthy... really filthy..."

Harano pulled out a blanket and tucked her in, even stuffing her arms and legs into it, then sat beside her cross-legged, gazing deeply into thought.

His curiosity was satisfied—he’d untangled a historical mystery. But it seemed like things were getting worse.

The plan would probably have to change again; with this going down, internal strife in the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family seemed unavoidable. It was only a matter of time. Not a good moment to go renovating or rebuilding—better to focus on staying alive, so he wouldn’t be randomly hacked up when chaos broke out.

So, let the monks bleed him dry if they wanted—now wasn’t the time to haggle over that. He’d better find a way to scrape together some cash for emergencies!