Chapter 356: Chapter 356

Tobacco originated in America. As early as 1000 BC, indigenous peoples in places like Mexico were already cultivating tobacco, and had even invented smoking tools like the "pipe" and the "cigarette holder."

Then, in 1492, after Columbus discovered the New Continent, tobacco was brought back to Europe, and soon after, Europeans spread it throughout Asia.

As for China, tobacco was probably introduced around the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, and in Japan, there are written records about tobacco only around 1590, which is the late stage of the Japan Warring States Period.

But now, Ah Man is a step ahead of her times, puffing on a "pipe." Nozawa snatched it from her in a flash, observed it closely, sniffed the pungent burnt smell, and frowned, asking, "This thing... where did you get it?"

Ah Man didn’t understand, and replied strangely, "I grabbed it! A dumb Ranger got tricked by the Lizi Family to pioneer land on Yakushima Island, got caught by the Ainu, and I found this on him. I heard it’s some kind of medicinal herb. Try it, it’s a bit weird at first, but once you get used to it, it’s pretty..."

"Ranger? From where? Where is he now?" Nozawa interrupted, pressing her for details.

Ah Man thought for a moment, hesitantly: "Of course he’s still on Yakushima Island, doing hard labor—I don’t even know if he’s dead! I think he’s from Kansai, probably a second son of some minor clan; his whole family died, so he fled to the Northeast, got tricked by the Lizi Family, and ended up on Yakushima."

After answering, she grew even more confused, and asked, "Is this thing a problem?"

"Uh, nothing wrong... I just... never seen it before." Nozawa brushed it off, but more or less understood what was going on.

Historically, when a new species entered a country or region, it rarely happened only once.

Take corn, for instance, another exotic crop from America—when it entered China, there were records of imports along the southwest coast, Southeast Asia, southeast coast, northwest, and the Bohai region.

Which is to say, corn entered China several or even a dozen times, with the timeframes uncertain, sometimes nearly a century apart, which is why corn didn’t have a unified Chinese name for a long time—whether called "Yu rice," or "Bao rice," "Gu rice," north and south each had its own version.

Actually, watermelon was the same, with various varieties repeatedly imported since the Liao-Song period, on and off until modern times, only stabilizing once the flesh turned red.

So, tobacco probably had a similar situation—before it was ever officially recorded, it had likely already landed in different parts of Japan, just hadn’t spread widely or been written into books yet.

Now, this Kansai Ranger carrying tobacco could’ve picked it up from a "Southern Barbarian ship" crew, or maybe received it as a gift from a "Southern Barbarian missionary," or perhaps brought it from Kyushu by a Kyushu merchant ship trading in Kansai—who knows.

But that doesn’t matter—tobacco is an absolute money maker! Every transmigrator loves it; it’s just he’d never had contacts with the Southern Barbarians, or he’d have already gotten crafty ideas.

Tobacco that costs three to five cents can sell for three to five silver pieces, even thirty to fifty! That’s ten, or even a hundred times the profit...

That’s the army funds settled! At least enough to raise the army limit by 30%. Latest content publıshed on NovєlFіre.net

Of course, they’d have to actually plant tobacco too. Tobacco likes damp and warm climates—Japan’s weather should be perfect. That shouldn’t be hard, but filters and rolling machines...

You never know how tough running a household is till you run one. Ever since Nozawa became "Lord of Wanjin," he can’t stand even hearing the word "money"—he gets a racing heart, red eyes, loses his sense, just wants to make cash.

Right now, his moral index took another nosedive, and he started plotting to promote cigarettes in Japan.

Hundred-fold profits—who wouldn’t lose their head over that?!

He was so excited he forgot about the construction works, and immediately ordered Ah Man: "You’re not needed here. Get back to Yakushima, even if you have to string that Ranger up and beat him, find out how he got this stuff—make sure you get the seeds! If you can’t find them, go to Kansai, or Kyushu, but whatever it takes, bring seeds back to Wanjin!"

"Huh? I just got back and now I have to go again?" Ah Man had run her boat crew half to death just to get back, and her butt wasn’t even warm yet—she really didn’t want to go again.

Besides, with the way things are, there’s bound to be a big battle between Wanjin and the Hokitate Family—to do with the Nozawa family’s future! She really wasn’t comfortable leaving now.

She hurriedly said, "It’s just looking for something, right? Can’t be THAT hard, I don’t need to go myself—I’ll send someone else, okay?"

"Works—but you have to get them!"

"You got it!" Ah Man didn’t think it was hard. She wasn’t sure if Nozawa would get results, but as long as there were seeds anywhere in Japan, she’d get them. After all, the Life-saving Group had been built up for years, not for nothing.

But now she got interested in tobacco. After all, she’d once brought Nozawa a huge chunk of Dog Head Gold, and he got over it in five minutes and tossed it aside—meanwhile, he was so intense about a handful of grass scrap! Clearly these leaves weren’t so simple!

She took out her small leather pouch and sifted through the tobacco—still looked like some dried herb, nothing special. "Is this stuff really that valuable?" she asked in disbelief.

"Very valuable," Nozawa replied with certainty.

"Why is it valuable?"

"Find the seeds and you’ll know," he said.

Nozawa couldn’t explain just now, but Ah Man was used to that and didn’t press. Still, she raised her brows, her dark eyes spinning, grinning: "So, doesn’t that count as a big contribution? Super valuable stuff found by me, personally presented to you—that’s gotta be a huge merit, right?"

She felt a bit ripped off and wanted a bonus.

Nozawa paused—she wasn’t wrong. She probably did all this out of boredom on Yakushima, but she’d also opened a new source of income for Wanjin.

He hesitated, then said: "Alright, I’ll call it a merit for you. When this business gets going, you get five percent... uh, half a percent... er, a tenth of a percent... Actually, let’s just say 50 kan as a bonus."

"Eh, just 50 kan? You giving me beggar’s money?" Ah Man complained. She might have been a beggar once, but not anymore. "At least 500 kan! Or else, I want 50 kan dividends every year from this business!"

"Deal, no problem! Once we start up, you get 500 kan straight off, and 50 kan every year after!" Nozawa agreed instantly—tobacco monopoly profits made a few hundred pounds of copper change look ridiculous.

Ah Man sucked in a cold breath, thumbed through her pouch’s leaves again. This stuff was actually worth more than Dog Head Gold! She quickly stuck a deal: "It’s settled then! No going back on your word!"

"Hand it over!" Nozawa grabbed the pouch. "Don’t worry, I always keep my word. But this stuff belongs to me now, and you’re not allowed to smoke anymore—if you do, no dividends for you."

Smoking cuts your expected lifespan by 25%. Making money is one thing, but Ah Man is his friend; he didn’t want her dying young, so this was his way of making her quit.

Ah Man actually didn’t care—she’d only grabbed some tobacco scraps out of boredom on Yakushima, used them to pass the time. No smoking? Fine, real silver is way better anyway.

And about that dividend—she and Nozawa had already agreed the dividend goes straight to her, not via Ah Qing. She got right to work, sailing straight back to New Wanjin Port to send men to bring the unlucky Ranger back double-time, even if they had to string him to a windmill and beat it out of him—he HAD to hand over the seeds.

Besides, as Nozawa’s right hand and founding lieutenant of Wanjin, with core-level prestige second only to Nozawa, she could hold down the fort on Chita Peninsula and keep an eye on those two opportunists, Oda Nobunaga and Matsudaira Ieyasu.

Nozawa, meanwhile, kept watch at Ise’s unnamed beach, with waves of men, horses, food and supplies arriving nonstop, while also urging the Wanjin Army to dig trenches and build fortifications—planning to settle down in Ise Province for good.

Now it all depended on whether the Hokitate Family had the guts—and ability—to risk it all and kick him back to the sea.

"So, what’s the Nozawa family’s stance?"

Inside the temporary Shogunate camp, the Hokitate family’s Household Retainers sat crowded on stools. Yasuda Katsushi from Daheicheng also attended this war council.

The landing point Nozawa chose was right on the border between Shikalin County and Lower Curve County—northwest meant a threat to Daheicheng’s satellite castles, southwest threatened Anong City—very dangerous.

Earlier, Yasuda Katsushi’s team had been heading to Upper Water County to suppress local "Iki-zu" uprisings. Halfway, they got an urgent report, had to drop the original mission, and hurried here with their backs to Nongzhen City—one of Anong’s outposts—to set up camp and tighten defenses.

Honestly, Nozawa came a bit too suddenly—the Hokitate side really couldn’t figure out what his plan was, or rather, they had some suspicions but held on to hope it wasn’t true.

So, clinging to that hope, they tried diplomacy first, sending an emissary to ask what Nozawa wanted. If it was nothing too serious... well, they didn’t want to fight Wanjin either, maybe just throw some provisions his way and hope he’d scram.

Basically, they were treating him like any other Water Thief, hoping to pay him off.

The emissary had an easy run—not troubled, came back intact, but reported gloomily, "My lord, I didn’t see Nozawa Saburo, or anyone in charge... I didn’t even see a Samurai! I had no clue who to ask."

"Hiding and refusing to meet us?"

"What else is there to say? This is the Oda Family coming at us!"

"Any news from the Kobe Family up north?"

The Samurai all started shouting over each other. It was obvious—Nozawa’s intentions were no good. Some believed this couldn’t be just Wanjin’s solo move; it had to be Oda Nobunaga’s plan—attacking Ise from two sides. Oda Nobunaga would strike north Ise’s eight counties, send his vassal Nozawa’s clan blatantly across the sea to land in Ise’s south, to distract and split the Hokitate forces.

Honestly, Nozawa wasn’t famous outside his area. Oda Nobunaga shocked the world with bucket ambushes; Asai Nagamasa defeated the Rokkaku family against the odds—Nozawa never pulled off feats like that. At best, he’d fought Imagawa’s side force six or seven years ago, or skirmished with the Satomi Navy in Kantou or the Northeast.

Those battles weren’t enough to make him a legend. At least, Ise’s Samurai weren’t impressed—it’s not like anyone hasn’t survived a tough brawl in these times!

Samurai were fighting all the time! By comparison, Nozawa was practically a pacifist—sometimes vanishing for a couple of years with zero news, or just tagging along for Oda Nobunaga, hardly menacing anyone.

Crucially, Nozawa wasn’t a Daimyo like Oda Nobunaga or Asai Nagamasa, didn’t even have an official post at Court, still called "Saburo," and only held one county’s worth of power. Where did he get the guts to attack a whole thirteen-county province?

He even crossed the sea to do it! If he lost, the whole army would be doomed; running away would be nearly impossible.

So, for the moment, the lower- and mid-level Samurai of the Hokitate family all figured this must be a prelude to Owari’s full-scale invasion of Ise. They insisted they shouldn’t wait—"hit them while they’re only halfway across"—before Oda Nobunaga arrived, wipe out Wanjin once and for all!

The crowd of mid-level Samurai were all fired up, but the Hokitate Advanced Warriors had dark looks. Even if they were bold, even if they were ready to attack and kick the Wanjin Army into the sea...

Their manpower just wasn’t enough. The Hokitate troops were scattered everywhere, tied up quelling "Iki-zu" rebels. There was no way to bring them together in time.

Only a handful of outpost garrisons and troops from Daheicheng could be mustered—a single county’s worth at best. The outcome with Wanjin was anybody’s guess.

This was a real dilemma. Just their bad luck—plagued by insect swarms, so the Wanjin Army came in for the kill, at a moment they were down and out.

The question now: do they fight, or not?