Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 226: Go do a side quest
After staying in the Ota Port area of ​​the Satake family for nearly ten days, the Wanjin fleet continued along the coastline, but by then its course had gradually shifted northeastward.

Next stop: Soma's house.

The Soma family's territory was quite small, or rather, in the sparsely populated Tohoku region of Japan, the territory controlled by the Soma family seemed rather small, its actual area being roughly the same size as Owari, but this place became quite famous in later generations.

In later generations, this place was near Futaba District, Fukushima Prefecture, the very place where Japan had been discharging nuclear wastewater, disgusting the world for a long time.

Of course, there couldn't have been nuclear power plants in medieval Japan, so this place was still safe. It was impossible for fish to suddenly walk onto the ship and greet the fields, or for Godzilla to be raised and blow up the Wanjin fleet with a single shot.

After sailing for several days, Haruno led the Wanjin fleet to Konahama Port, which was controlled by the Soma family.

Onahama Port is located at the mouth of the Abukuma River, not far behind which lies Odaka Castle, the residence of the Soma family. Because the Soma family's neighbors were all stronger than them, and their own territory was relatively small, the Soma family placed greater emphasis on trade than their neighbors in order to acquire more resources for survival.

Therefore, they welcomed the approaching Wanjin fleet with great force and offered them preferential treatment, even though the area was relatively barren and its resources were mediocre, with only pig iron, timber, and sea salt being particularly famous.

Yes, this area has a relatively gentle coastline with abundant mudflats, making it easy to build salt pans. The climate is also very suitable for salt production, making it one of the main salt-producing areas in medieval Japan. At the same time, the Japanese have only officially migrated here for a little over four hundred years, and the level of development is relatively low, resulting in extremely rich forest resources, with century-old timber everywhere. In addition, there are large rivers originating between the mountains that flow through the area, making it possible to develop iron ore fields, and the iron sand is of excellent quality.

To be honest, the products of the Soma family overlap somewhat with those of Wanjin, making them hidden competitors. However, the craftsmanship of Wanjin is far superior to that here, so in the future, we can use this place as a source of raw materials to transport pig iron and timber back for processing.

The owners of Wanjinfang inspected the place, but they were not disappointed despite not selling many goods. Instead, they placed high hopes on the place and actively signed some contracts.

The main purchase contracts were barter contracts. The Mutsu region was short of cloth and food. The region's food production capacity was actually not bad, but the Soma family had been constantly attacked by the Date family and was in a defensive state for a long time, resulting in a large consumption of food. Therefore, some of the lords of Wanzu, especially newly promoted traders, were tempted to purchase food and coarse cloth from the Nobi Plain and transport them here to exchange for various raw materials.

It was definitely not worthwhile before. Wanjin found an iron mine and kept developing iron fields, resulting in a temporary oversupply of iron and prices almost collapsing. However, with the development of so many new markets, orders for workshops everywhere have been fully booked again, and the prices of various raw materials in Wanjin have risen again.

In particular, iron prices have recovered to about 70% of normal levels, and are likely to rise even higher in the future. These contracts are more of a trial run, a precautionary measure.

If orders are fully booked and the price of iron ore skyrockets again, many workshop owners will suffer financially again, so we must be prepared.

Moreover, the unit cost of sea freight is very low. The cost of a 1000-mile sea route is not as high as that of a 100-mile land route. As long as the raw materials are not robbed by sea pirates, the transportation cost can be ignored. This was also the case in later generations, or even more exaggerated. The unit transportation cost of a 10000-kilometer sea container was only slightly higher than that of a car transporting 100 kilometers.

For example, Argentine beef, when transported across the Pacific Ocean to China, can cause Chinese beef prices to plummet, demonstrating that its price is not much different from that in its home country.

Yuanye also took action, assigning people from the "state-owned factory" to actively contact suppliers and purchase high-quality timber, preparing to haul it back to Xinwanjin Port for shipbuilding. At the same time, he also purchased coarse salt, intending to transport it back to be leached into refined salt in order to increase production, overtake other regions' salt markets, and monopolize this lucrative business.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to achieve this with just a few salt-producing plants in the central part of the Chita Peninsula. Moreover, cost is not an issue. Salt prices in the Mutsu region are very cheap, and the region has a long history of exporting salt. In fact, the Soma family relies on selling salt for 30% of their income. Buying large quantities of salt from Wanzu and taking it back for further processing would cost almost the same as the cost of producing salt themselves.

In ancient times, the Oku region would have been considered a treasure trove. Apart from its underdeveloped state, it was better than the Chita Peninsula in every other way. It even had gold mines. Haruno was really disappointed. He traveled eastward and found that every household had either a gold mine or a silver mine. However, the Chita Peninsula didn't have a single gold mine. The only thing worth mentioning was iron ore.

This is truly infuriating to compare oneself to others.

He also liked the gold from the Soma family and tried hard to sell them arquebuses for a while. He even held a live-fire exercise for these bumpkins to observe, and tried his best to persuade them to use the arquebuses to bombard the Date family. This can be considered as another great contribution to the early popularization of matchlock guns in medieval Japan.

Selling weapons was still quite profitable these days. Haruno made another fortune and reluctantly set sail, continuing northeast along the coastline. After passing the Soma clan, they would reach the Date clan, but at this time, the Date clan's center of power hadn't yet shifted to the vicinity of Sendai. Sendai Castle and Sendai Port were not yet the Date clan's capitals.

The Date clan didn't have much of value; their specialties were armor and rice, which were unnecessary for Wanjin. However, the Date clan's samurai stationed at Sendai Port were very interested in Wanjin's excellent arquebuses, believing that the head of the clan would like them. They purchased a small batch, and Harano didn't promote them extensively, lest the Soma clan be suddenly killed or crippled by the Date clan—for example, Onahama Port was later swallowed up by the Date clan.

He still hoped the coastal areas would be a bit chaotic, and in the Satake, Date, and Soma areas, he had already decided to support the weakest Soma family.

At the very least, we can't let this whole area become the territory of the Date family, and while we're at it, we can't let them take all the gold that the Soma family has been mining for generations.

He didn't stay in Sendai for long; after resting, he set off immediately. Next was the Osaki family, but the Osaki family only had a small territory by the sea, which was still barren land without even a proper port. Haruno just left a few "survivors" near the fishing village as observers and left, so it was temporarily impossible to conduct large-scale transactions with the Osaki family.

After the Battle of Orihara, it seems that the Osaki family was also swallowed up by the Date family. Harano wanted to support the Osaki family so that they could live a little longer, but unfortunately, he didn't have the means.

After the Osaki family came the Kasai family, which was later annexed by the Date family. Harano also sold a batch of goods here and contacted the Ashina family inland through the Kasai family. They signed a contract and agreed to provide gunpowder and arquebuses at a low price, earning less money, as a contribution to the "anti-Date hegemony".

You won't know until you come, and you'll be shocked when you do. Most people who read about the Japanese Sengoku period focus on Oda Nobunaga and the monkey, but the Date clan was also quite formidable. They single-handedly beat up all their neighbors, leaving them unable to lift their heads. This was not good; their dominance was affecting Wanjin's business. Haruno had to help them out.

After dealing with the Kasai family's affairs, Haruno led the fleet on another voyage. This time, the sailing direction was close to due north, and they soon arrived at the Nanbu family's territory, also known as "Seahorse Head".

This is the easternmost and northernmost point of Honshu Island, Japan. The southern part is also a vast territory but sparsely populated. It is also at odds with the Date family and is currently vying with the Date family for control of the Ou region.

At the same time, the Southern clan also had a fairly strong naval force to maintain trade with Korea and Ezo (Hokkaido).

Haruno traveled very slowly, spending most of his time stopping to wait for the Wanjin merchant ships to complete their transactions. By this time, news of the Battle of Izu had reached the Nanbu region. Although the Nanbu navy did not welcome this outsider trying to get a share of the spoils, they were ten times more cautious than the Satomi navy and showed no intention of engaging the Wanjin navy in a direct confrontation.

However, the southern navy still firmly controls the Tsugaru Strait, refusing to allow the Wanjin navy to enter this vital choke point on a large scale.

After observing the strength of the Southern Navy for a while, Yuan Ye discovered that they could mobilize at least two or three hundred ships. The islands in the strait were also full of Southern Navy personnel. At the same time, the hydrology and terrain in the strait were extremely complex, and the Wanjin Navy could not find out for a while. He did not get carried away and forcibly take cannons to bombard the Southern family's door.

He has too few ships now, so he'll be at a disadvantage in a fight. There's no need to rush; it's not too late to go over later.

Haruno stopped at the Nanbu residence, not planning to cross the strait to check out the northern part of Honshu Island for the time being. That was the territory of Ishiyama Honganji Temple, which was much stronger, at least two or three times stronger than the Satomi Navy. With the current strength of the Wanjin Navy, they might not be able to gain any advantage there.

This "sales expedition" has come to an end. The results have been great. We have gained many new markets, secured a large number of new orders, and even obtained access to raw material production areas, which is enough for Taiwan to continue its development for a while.

So, with a command, he began to carry out the side mission, and led the fleet eastward again toward Ezo Island.

Ezo Island is the future Hokkaido; it has the people he needs.

(End of this chapter)