Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 108 Baleen
The next day, Endo Chiyo was preparing to go out to a newly built private house in Wanjin.

Today is her first day "at work", so she got up early in the morning, washed her face and combed her makeup carefully, tied up her waist-length hair a little bit at the bottom into a "wiped tail" hairstyle, and wore small sleeves on her upper body and hakama on her lower body to facilitate quick walking.

At first glance, this looks a bit like the kendo girls in Japanese high schools in the future.

After repeatedly confirming that her mental state and clothing were fine, she stepped out of the house and reported to Yuanye's home.

Naturally, Kotaro had to follow her and continue to act as her bodyguard. The two of them hurried along and soon saw Yuanye.

She had just taken office, so Yuanye naturally had to guide her and explain to her the work she would be responsible for. When he saw her coming, he immediately greeted her politely, asked someone to pour her tea, and then spread a huge drawing in front of her.

Endo Chiyo's attention was immediately attracted by this large and strange drawing.

This map-like drawing was different from all the pictures she had seen before. The ink lines were smooth and neat, with varying thicknesses, horizontal and vertical lines, interweaving and combining with each other, outlining a space with clear layers and exquisite proportions, and perfectly presenting the spatial relationship between the buildings. It had a kind of precise and simple beauty, and was completely unlike the maps of this era, which were casually drawn with rough ink and sometimes had scenery such as trees and mountains painted on them.

Even though she could guess what it was, she still couldn't help but ask, "This is..."

"Wanjin in one year." Yuanye was also admiring his masterpiece, and said with bright eyes, "In one year, this blueprint will become a reality."

Endo Chiyo lowered her head again to look at the drawing carefully. Even though it was her first time using this method of drawing, she quickly found the location of her new home, and then she imagined a small town in her mind.

Yuanye also pointed at the blueprint and explained to her: "Of course, we still need to work hard to make it a reality. Look here, this workshop area is a priority construction area. There are also corresponding blueprints for the building and road specifications. You can take a closer look later. And pay special attention here. The walls and trenches here exceed the standard..."

As he explained in detail, the town in Endo Chiyo's mind became clearer and clearer. She even had the illusion of looking down at the town from a bird's eye view. She had already seen a beautiful territory with extremely strict planning and a constant flow of people. After the blueprint was explained, she had an idea of the future plan. Yuanye took a large thread-bound book and told her, "This is the current work and rest schedule and various management reward and punishment regulations. However, it is still on trial, and various problems will definitely be encountered in the future. You can use it first, modify it while using it, and report to me regularly after the correction."

"This is the account book and inventory. You can allocate the funds and materials on it according to the actual situation, but you must keep a good record. At the same time, you must report it to Yayoi, who will also keep a record."

"This is a list of the people in charge of the current project. If there is a troublemaker, you can suspend him first, then report him to me and I will handle it."

"This is a list of special projects and a list of pending projects. Prioritize them..."

“This is the project acceptance standard…”

"This is Wanjin's current household registration. Remember to add to it at any time and don't miss anyone."

Real life is not a game, a base cannot just pop up by clicking the mouse, and being lazy is human nature. There are many guys who don't want to do any work but eat a lot. So if you really want to build Wanjin and build it to your satisfaction, there will be more trouble than most people imagine.

Yuanye had been entangled in these trivial matters before. He had to do planning, and also had to take care of workshop production and process improvements. He wished he could split himself in half, and for a while he couldn't even start the plan to find saltpeter. But now, all these trivial matters, which would not affect the overall situation even if they were messed up, can be taken care of by Endo Chiyo - if she is really as smart as the folk legend says, then after adapting for a period of time, I think she will at least not cause a big mess.

Yuanye finally waved his hand and called over three maids. He smiled at her and said, "These three are your assistants. They know seven or eight hundred common Chinese characters and can help you find documents and run errands. When you are free, continue to teach them literacy and arithmetic."

These three maids were taught by Yayoi in her free time last year. It’s just that they have only been learning for a short time and are too young, so they can’t be of much use yet. But there is no rush. She can continue to train them. Maybe some of them will become talented in the future, and at least they should be able to be secretaries.

Endo Chiyo didn't expect that there would be so many things to do, to build a territory from scratch, but after all, she had been a householder for a few years, and Yuanye had laid the foundation and made the plans for her, so she was not afraid at all. Instead, she felt a deep trust - she really didn't expect that Yuanye would entrust such an important task to her, which was obviously something only men could do.

She took a deep breath and nodded seriously, "I understand, Lord Nohara, just leave these tasks to me."

Good, very motivated!

Yuanye raised his hand and wanted to pat her shoulder to show encouragement, but as soon as he raised his hand, he realized that this was inappropriate and could easily cause scandals. So he nodded and smiled, "Just go for it boldly. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes. We can solve them together later."

"Yes!" Endo Chiyo responded immediately, feeling that the head of the Nohara family had a really good personality and seemed very generous.

"That's it, if you have any questions, just ask them first, and then come to me if you can't get it." Yuanye shook off the general affairs and prepared to think about the ship and the sailors - he needed to go out to sea to find saltpeter, and if he couldn't find it, he would have to pile up manure to make saltpeter quickly, otherwise, if the time came and there was no result, Oda Nobunaga would definitely not let him go.

Now he can't afford to offend Oda Nobunaga, so as long as it is not a matter of principle, he still has to obey him. At the very least, he can't give him any reason to take the land back.

He patted his butt and left. Endo Chiyo stood up and watched him leave before sitting back down. She then called three young maids, who were about seven, eight or nine years old, over and asked their names in a friendly manner to build some relationships with them. Then she first opened the list of project leaders and asked them who these people were.

From now on, she will deal with them on minor issues, and only report major issues that they cannot handle to Yuanye, who will make the final decision. Anyway, she carefully considered Yuanye's words, and it was probably this meaning, no wonder she was appointed as "Wanjin Bugyo". She learned everything by herself, starting with personnel, getting to know her colleagues in detail one by one. After asking them all, she found that these people were either Yuanye's subordinates, senior Lang party members, or unaffiliated people. She couldn't help but ask curiously: "Where are Lord Nohara's retainers?"

The three maids shook their heads in unison: "My Lord, you have no retainers."

"No retainers? Why?" Endo Chiyo was surprised for a moment. After all, Hara was not short of money, and with the support of the Oda Danmasatada family, it would be easy for him to recruit retainers. There were wars all over the world, and there were plenty of wandering samurai. If they were given an annual salary of ten or twenty kan, those who would rush to work for them would be beaten to a pulp, so why not recruit them?
The three maids looked at each other and shook their heads again, indicating that they didn't know either.

Endo Chiyo pondered for a moment, then looked at the three little girls in front of her who were obviously from commoner families but had already mastered the basic literacy. She suspected that Yuanye was deliberately unwilling to recruit retainers, otherwise he would not have to patiently train these little girls who were only worth half a donkey, and could have found more and better candidates.

But this has nothing to do with her. It's just right that Yuanye has no retainers. If there were retainers, how could she be the "Wanjin Bugyo"?

She quickly put this little doubt behind her and continued to ask the three little maids how things worked here in the past. Finally, she picked up the large "Wanjin Planning Master Map" and looked at it again.

It was the first time for her to see a territory managed in this way. The planning was extremely detailed, with a kind of beauty that she could not describe. Moreover, one thing was linked to another, and everyone supervised and urged each other under the complex rules and regulations, and were forced to move in unison. No wonder the members of the Nohara family were so brisk, running around, and seemed like they could never stop.

But this was still too superficial. She felt that there was a lot of new knowledge in it. She immediately stood up and said to the three maids, "Take me to the workshop to have a look!"

In the past, that place was a restricted area for her and she was not allowed to get close at all, but now her identity is different, so she naturally wants to go and take a look immediately.

In fact, that was what she was most curious about the Nohara family. She used to disapprove of her father's way of running the village, especially after she secretly led people to dye coarse cloth and sold it to merchants to make her first money. She felt that there was no future in simply farming. However, even though her father loved her very much, he still reprimanded her severely for this and strictly ordered her not to do anything like this again.

As a result, Yuanye did it now, and did it in a big way, bringing back large quantities of bean cakes, cloth, and wooden barrels. Like magic, it didn't take long for barrels of soy sauce and dyed cloth to be transported away again.

She only needed to count the ox carts and horse carriages going in and out of the workshop every day, and she could feel a powerful force that was different from before, as if she heard the pulse of a new era beginning to beat from slow to fast, and then stronger and stronger.

She didn't know why, but she just had this inexplicable feeling that this would be the starting point of a new era, so she wanted to become a part of it and share the powerful strength. She even hoped that one day in the future, she could use this powerful strength to easily crush the Rokkaku family and avenge her parents!

…………

Yuanye shook off the chores on his shoulders and immediately felt much more energetic. He found a piece of mother's clothing that he had found unexpectedly and went to look for Aman.

Ah Man was lying on a bamboo lounge chair, dozing under a small quilt, but when she heard the noise, she opened one eye and took a look. Yuan Ye sat next to her and asked with concern, "How do you feel today?"

Ah Man pressed his chest and sighed weakly: "It's still the same, I always feel short of breath."

"Let me feel your pulse again."

“No, no, no.” Ah Man quickly pulled his hand back into the quilt, looking uncomfortable, “I know my body, I need to take care of it for at least three to five years… uh, at least a year or two, don’t waste your time. Well, I know you’re very busy, you don’t have to come to see me every day, I can handle it myself.”

Yuanye looked at her already very rosy little round face speechlessly. It seemed that she had been lying down and eating and drinking for more than a month, and she was almost gaining baby fat. He racked his brains, considered again and again, and treated her with the same care as he did to his silly son. He wrote a prescription, searched for precious medicinal materials, and spent a lot of money to nourish her. But it felt like everything was wasted. This guy was getting weaker and weaker, and she was less energetic every day. Just listening to her talk, it sounded like she was about to die.

It didn't matter before, after all, she had really fought for her life, and he didn't care if she wanted to lie down for a while longer, he just treated it as a long paid vacation for her. But now there is an important matter, and he can't stand letting her lie down like this any longer.

But she had done something great, and she was so thick-skinned that she pretended to be dead. She was able to move, but she still lay around all day, eating and drinking, and reading storybooks. She had a storybook that she had asked someone to buy from Atsuta Port, and she hid it when she heard he was coming. Yuanye couldn't expose her, so he could only ponder, "No, I'm worried if I don't visit you more often. But I'm really busy, and I have something very important to do. How about this, I'll let Qing come over to accompany you tomorrow, so I can rest assured, what do you think?"

"No, no, let A-Qing help you more. I'm fine!"

"No, you were injured for me, your health is the most important!"

Ah Man wavered. With Ah Qing's rigid personality, if he came to watch over her and stared at her all day without blinking, she would be like being in prison if she lay there. After hesitating for a moment, she patted her chest and sat up, mumbling, "It's better not to. I feel... like I can breathe again."

"Don't force it!" Yuanye still looked worried, not wanting to treat the hero harshly.

"Oh, I won't force myself!" Aman really sighed this time, but that was all. Her eyes started rolling around and she felt like it was time to get up and move around. After all, lying down all day had caused her appetite to decrease. She could only eat two chicken legs yesterday and couldn't eat anymore. It was a bit of a loss.

Yuan Ye saw that she had finally behaved herself, so he let bygones be bygones and did not humiliate her too much. He placed the mother's clothes in front of her, turned them over, pointed at the supporting object inside and asked, "Can you help me see if this is whalebone?"

(End of this chapter)