First appearance of Nobunaga in "Brothers in Arms" taiga drama!

I got to see the first subbed episodes of the currently airing Brothers in Arms (豊臣兄弟!, Toyotomi Kyōdai!) taiga drama∼ I gotta say that I find it quite enjoyable, but I'm just the old man type that enjoys historical drama whatsoever 😅

As I pray for more releases at a decent pace, I would love to talk with you about the INEVITABLE first appearance of Nobunaga, which I found quite entertaining!

Koichiro, soon-to-be Toyotomi Hidenaga, Hideyoshi's younger brother and most skilled retainer, is looking for legit works to sustain his family as his irresponsible older brother attempted to join Oda forces to gain a better position. Local priest Ryoun then suggest Koichiro to go to Kiyosu (that Koichiro hates, because his brother is there) as he heard that they were hiring.

Koichiro is then employed to build a road to help Oda's forces connect to the route to Kyoto.
During the tasks he couldn't help but to realize something:

"When the roads are so well-mantained, it also makes it easier for the enemies to invade. No matter how much the castle town prospers, it's all for nothing if we're destroyed by enemies. --Oda Nobunaga is, just as they say, a great fool!"

Asked about his opinion, this nobody of a coworker prompts this reaction--
Things would go rowdy if some incident didn't happen, thus Koichiro managed to show his skills as a problem solver, that would caught the gratitude of everyone and the attention of his rude coworker.

The day after, when Nobunaga is ready to depart, the obvious revelation: And the subsequent explanation!

"Indeed, the roads make it easier for the enemy to attack, but they also allow us to strike before they do."

This is not the first time that Nobunaga is portrayed as a commoner, or as someone who likes to mix with the general populace; most recent example, Nobunaga's appearance as a fisherman in Kirin ga kuru.
Writers seem to enjoy this idea of a warlord, at least during his younger days, that made sure to keep in touch with his people to know about his surroundings, so to get hold of the social and economic "reality" of his domain. An "image" of "micro politic" that Japanese people really seem to hold dear (well, like everyone on the conservative side, actually).

Personally speaking, I was amused to see this trope, and I was intrigued by the portrait of Nobunaga by Shun Oguri: he really stepped up his Nobunaga, here-- Or maybe he's just repeating tropes we're more used to.
Looking forward to next episodes. Next one is going to depict Okehazama's battle∼