The Fuse at Okehazama

May 24th, dawn.

Kanematsu Masayoshi yawned and dragged his exhausted body up from the tatami.

He went to the kitchen, lifted the pot lid, grabbed two rice balls, and stuffed them into his mouth.

"Matashiro, are you up?"

"I'm heading out to fish!"

Before he had even changed clothes, his playmate's shout rang out from beyond the door.

"Not going!" Kanematsu Masayoshi replied without even looking up.

"What a bore! You never come when I call you. I caught several huge carp yesterday!"

"My mother's ill. Someone has to stay home. You go ahead." Kanematsu Masayoshi scooped up a ladle of water and began washing the pot.

This iron pot from the Ming dynasty had cost him five kan. Kanematsu Masayoshi treasured it even more than the tachi his father had left behind.

Iron pots made by the Ming dynasty were hard currency welcomed all over the world at this time—their quality was rock-solid!

"Then I'm off. If I catch any fish, I'll give you two. Make some fish soup for your mother."

"Thanks!"

Kanematsu Masayoshi finished the rice balls left from the night before as he washed the pot, then began brewing medicinal herbs.

After his father, Kanematsu Kiyohide, died, he had left him only four tan of paddy fields and five tan of dry fields. His stipend lands had gone to Oda Nobunaga of Kiyosu Castle, and he had heard they had been bestowed upon a samurai named Iio Omi no Kami.

Kiyosu Castle had sent people several times to recruit Kanematsu Masayoshi, hoping he would move to Kiyosu Castle and join Oda Nobunaga's Foot Soldier Corps, but Kanematsu Masayoshi had refused every time.

"When one's parents are alive, one does not travel far!"

"Not only do I still have my old mother at home, I can't bear to leave those persimmon trees by the gate either." Kanematsu Masayoshi muttered with his head lowered.

The persimmon trees outside the Kanematsu Family home had just flowered. In another three or four months, their fruit would ripen.

Kanematsu Masayoshi went beneath the persimmon trees and lay down. The earthenware jar in the kitchen was bubbling away. Only eighteen years old, Kanematsu Masayoshi kicked up his legs and leisurely closed his eyes to rest.

"Now this is what you call enjoying life!" Kanematsu Masayoshi shifted his backside and settled back down in the most comfortable position he could find.

He had barely dozed off when frantic shouting erupted from the gate.

"Matashiro, hurry to the village entrance! Someone's stealing your melons!"

"What?!" Kanematsu Masayoshi sprang up like a kite flipping through the air, snatched up the spear from the corner of the wall, and charged outside. "Stealing my sweet melons? They're courting death!"

But after taking only two steps, Kanematsu Masayoshi stopped again.

"Forget it. Let him take a little and leave."

"The medicine's brewing in the pot. I have to watch it."

After sending the neighbor away, Kanematsu Masayoshi simply shut the door and ducked back into the kitchen to tend the medicine jar.

The healer had said the medicine needed to simmer slowly over a low flame. Kanematsu Masayoshi lay on the floor, watching the fire at all times and adding a little firewood now and then.

"Matashiro!"

"Matashiro, come out!"

Kanematsu Masayoshi helplessly pushed open the courtyard gate. Once he saw who had come, he smiled. "Didn't you go fishing? Oh? You came back empty-handed?"

"What fishing? Don't even mention it!"

"The Kiso River's under lockdown. The people of Matsubara Estate have sealed off the entire riverbank!"

"Hm?" Kanematsu Masayoshi was sharply startled. "Did the men of Mino attack?"

"Not that."

"I heard that these past few days, a gang of river pirates called the Ogawa Band has blocked off the Kiso River and started charging tolls. Every village is in complete chaos now."

Bang!

"Outrageous!"

"Where the hell did this Ogawa Band crawl out from? They dare shit on the head of me, Oda Nobukiyo? Have they eaten bear hearts and leopard gallbladders?!"

Inside the palace at Inuyama Castle, Oda Nobukiyo was so furious he nearly blew the roof off.

Over the past two days, Inuyama Castle had received less and less toll revenue. At first, he had not thought much of it, assuming floods had broken out upstream on the Kiso River.

That was nothing unusual. Whenever heavy rains fell, Ena District upstream was bound to suffer flooding.

But before long, the town magistrate outside Inuyama Castle came to report that merchant ships arriving from downstream were no longer paying tolls to Inuyama Castle either. That was when Oda Nobukiyo could no longer sit still.

Oda Nobukiyo sent men everywhere to gather intelligence, and the answer they eventually brought back made his fury boil over.

A gang called the Ogawa Band had intercepted the Kiso River both upstream and down, snatching away all the tolls that should have been paid to him.

"My lord, please do not be angry. Anger harms the body." Inuyama-dono stepped forward, trying to soothe Oda Nobukiyo's temper.

Oda Nobukiyo shoved his wife aside and demanded, "Stop putting on that act. Tell me—is this another one of Oda Nobunaga's fine deeds?"

"But didn't the merchants say the Ogawa Band acted under the name of Jodo Shinshu?"

"Don't give me that!" Oda Nobukiyo wore the expression of someone who had seen through everything. "Where would Owari get an Ikkō uprising? Other than that wonderful younger brother of yours, who else here would have the nerve?"

At those words, Inuyama-dono was immediately speechless. Deep down, she even found herself agreeing strongly with Oda Nobukiyo.

It could not be helped. The five words "Owari's Great Fool" were known by every mouth in Owari. This truly did sound like something her younger brother, Oda Nobunaga, might do.

"Should I write him a letter and ask?" Inuyama-dono asked tentatively.

Oda Nobukiyo tossed his brush onto the table. "Write it. You must write it!"

"I still haven't settled the score with him over the lands of the Iwakura Oda clan. This time, I'll demand a clear answer for both!"

Kiyosu Castle.

After receiving the letter from Inuyama Castle, Oda Nobunaga was just as baffled as a ten-foot monk who could not touch his own head.

"The Ogawa Band?"

"Since when did our house have people like that?"

After setting down the letter, Oda Nobunaga immediately summoned Hayashi Hidesada and Murai Sadakatsu.

The former was the Oda clan's chief retainer, while the latter was Kiyosu Castle's magistrate. No matter how great or small a household matter was, one of those two would surely know about it.

"My lord, Lord Ohashi of Tsushima sent someone to report this matter, but Lord Ohashi himself has been unable to determine the identity of this Ogawa Band," Hayashi Hidesada answered.

The man Hayashi Hidesada referred to was Ohashi Shigenaga. Originally one of Tsushima's local warriors, he had married Oda Nobuhide's daughter and been absorbed into the Oda clan as a retainer.

After Hirate Masahide's death, Oda Nobunaga had basically entrusted all affairs at Tsushima Harbor to his brother-in-law, Ohashi Shigenaga.

"I have heard that this Ogawa Band seems to have close ties with Nagashima Gansho-ji," Murai Sadakatsu added.

"It is said that Jodo Shinshu banners fly from the Ogawa Band's ships."

At the mention of Nagashima Gansho-ji, Oda Nobunaga frowned. "Men of Jodo Shinshu?"

"The Hattori League in Kaisei District was Nagashima Gansho-ji's work behind the scenes, and now they've set their sights on the upper reaches of the Kiso River too?"

"Those damned bald monks of Jodo Shinshu! Sooner or later, I'll burn their temples to the ground!" Oda Nobunaga cursed as he sat down.

Seeing that Oda Nobunaga seemed to have nothing further to say, Murai Sadakatsu and Hayashi Hidesada were deeply puzzled. This was unlike Oda Nobunaga's usual style.

"My lord, are we simply letting this go?" Hayashi Hidesada asked carefully.

Oda Nobunaga tossed the letter from Inuyama Castle to the floor. "The Ogawa Band is collecting tolls, not plundering ships on the Kiso River. Why should I care?"

"Tell me—have this Ogawa Band been collecting money within our territory?"

"I have heard no such thing."

"Then there you have it. Oda Nobukiyo can't collect his money. What does that have to do with me, Oda Nobunaga?"

"They are merely an Ogawa Band, at most a few boats. If even Oda Nobukiyo cannot deal with them, then there is even less reason to divide the lands of Haguri District and Niwa District to him."

Without waiting for either man to answer, Oda Nobunaga abruptly changed the subject. "Have the forts around Odaka Castle and Narumi Castle been repaired?"

After all, it was Oda Nobukiyo who was suffering losses. Compared with this Ogawa Band that had appeared from who knew where, Oda Nobunaga was plainly more concerned with reclaiming the lost lands in eastern Owari.

Hayashi Hidesada immediately replied, "My lord, Tange Fort, Zenshoji Fort, Nakajima Fort, Marune Fort, Washizu Fort, and the other forts have been completed. Odaka Castle and Narumi Castle are currently under blockade."

"Excellent!" Oda Nobunaga smiled. "Notify Iio Sadamune and Sakuma Morishige. Tighten the siege around Narumi Castle and Odaka Castle."

"We must retake those two castles before Imagawa Yoshimoto frees his hands!" Oda Nobunaga said, clenching his fist with an excited look on his face.

"Ha!"

Not long after the two had left, Kawajiri Hidetaka entered.

"My lord, Maeda Toshiie requests an audience. He says—"

Before Kawajiri Hidetaka could finish, a tea whisk came flying at him.

"Tell him to get lost!"

"The farther he rolls, the better!"