What do you think of this plan?" Hideyoshi asked. "I want to hear everyone's frank opinions."

For a while no one said a word. Everyone appeared to be sunk in thought.

Finally one of the generals said, "I think it's an exquisite plan."

Half of the men were in favor, but the other half were opposed, saying, "A clever plan is a risky gamble."

The conference was deadlocked.

Hideyoshi simply listened with a smile. The subject was so momentous that a council resolution was not going to be settled upon easily.

"We'll have to leave it to your own wise decision, my lord."

The generals returned to their own camps at nightfall.

The truth was that Hideyoshi had already made up his mind on the return trip frorr Inuyama. He had called a conference not because he could not make up his own mind. In fact, he had invited his generals to a brief conference because he had already made his decision. Again it was a matter of psychological leadership. His generals returned to their camps with the impression that he would probably not put the plan into use.

But in his own mind Hideyoshi had already settled on action. If he did not accept Shonyu's suggestion, his and Nagayoshi's positions as warriors would become onerous. Moreover, it was certain that if their obstinate temperaments were repressed, they would somehow be manifested at a later time.

It was a dangerous situation in terms of military command. More than that, Hideyoshi feared that if Shonyu became discontented, Ieyasu would certainly try to tempt him to change sides.

Ikeda Shonyu is my subordinate now. If he imagines himself to be the b.u.t.t of dishonorable rumors, his haste is not unreasonable, Hideyoshi thought.

The present situation was deadlocked, and a positive move to invite some sort of change would have to be played.

"That's it," Hideyoshi said aloud. "Rather than wait for Shonyu to come here tomorrow morning, I'll send a messenger to him tonight."

Upon receiving the urgent letter, Shonyu flew off toward Hideyoshi's camp. It was the fourth watch, and the night was still dark.

"I have decided, Shonyu."

"Good! Are you going to favor me with the command to make a surprise attack on Okazaki?"

The two men finished all the preliminaries before dawn. Shonyu joined Hideyoshi for breakfast and then returned to Inuyama.

On the following day, the battlefield outwardly appeared to be in the doldrums, but there were subtle signs of delicate movement.

Resounding in the thinly clouded afternoon sky, both enemy and ally gunfire could be heard coming from the direction of Onawate. From the Udatsu Road, sand and dust could be seen far off, at the place where two or three thousand soldiers of the westerr army were beginning to attack enemy fortifications.

"The general attack is starting!"

As they looked out into the distance, the generals felt a wild surging excitement. This was, indeed, a turning point in history. Whichever man won, the age would belong tc him.

Ieyasu knew that Hideyoshi had feared and respected n.o.bunaga more than anyone else. Now there was no one he feared or respected more than Ieyasu. Not a single banner in the entire camp on Mount Komaki moved that morning. It was almost as though strict orders had been given not to react to the small attacking sorties from the western army that would be testing the eastern army's resolve.

Evening arrived. A corps of the western army that had withdrawn from the fighting delivered a sheaf of propaganda handbills they had picked up along the road to Hideyoshi's main camp.

When Hideyoshi read one of them, he became enraged.

hideyoshi caused the suicide of Lord n.o.butaka, the son of his former lord, n.o.bunaga, to whom he owed so much. He has now rebelled against Lord n.o.buo. He has instantly caused turmoil within the warrior cla.s.s, has brought disasters to the common people, and has been the chief instigator of the present conflict, using every means to achieve his own ambitions.

The flyer went on to claim that Ieyasu had risen up with a true justification for war and that he led the army of moral duty.

An expression of rage-rare for Hideyoshi-contorted his face. "Which one of the enemy wrote this tract?" he demanded.

"Ishikawa Kazumasa," a retainer replied.

"Secretary!" Hideyoshi yelled, looking over his shoulder. "Have placards raised everywhere with the same message: The man who takes Ishikawa Kazumasa's head will receive a reward of ten thousand bushels."

Even with that command, Hideyoshi's anger did not subside, and calling for the generals who happened to be present, he gave the order for a sortie himself.

So this is how that d.a.m.ned Kazumasa behaves!" he fumed. "I want you to take a reserve corps and help our men in front of Kazumasa's lines. Attack him throughout the night. Attack him tomorrow morning. Attack him tomorrow night. Follow one attack with another, and don't give Kazumasa the chance to take a breath."

Finally he called out for rice and pressed for his evening meal to be brought in right away. Hideyoshi never forgot to eat. Even as he was eating, however, messengers continued to go back and forth between Gakuden and Inuyama.

Then the final messenger arrived with a report from Shonyu. Mumbling to himself, Hideyoshi leisurely drank the soup from the bottom of his bowl. That evening, the sound of musket fire could be heard far behind the main camp. The firing had been echoing here and there on the front lines since dawn and continued until the following day. Even now this was considered to be the opening action of a general attack by Hideyoshi's western army.

The first blow of the day before, however, had been a feint by Hideyoshi, while the real movement had been the preparations at Inuyama for Shonyu's surprise attack on Okazaki.

The strategy was to divert Ieyasu's attention, while Shonyu's troops took back roads and struck at Ieyasu's main castle.

Shonyu's army consisted of four corps: First Corps: Ikeda Shonyu's six thousand men.

Second Corps: Mori Nagayoshi's three thousand men.

Third Corps: Hori Kyutaro's three thousand men.

Fourth Corps: Miyoshi Hidetsugu's eight thousand men.

The vanguard First and Second Corps naturally const.i.tuted the main strength of these forces-warriors who were ready for victory or death.

It was now the sixth day of the Fourth Month. Waiting until the dead of night, Shonyu's twenty thousand troops finally departed Inuyama in the utmost secrecy. The banners were lowered, the horses' hooves muted. Riding through the night, they met the dawn at Monoguruizaka.

The soldiers ate their provisions and had a short rest, then went on and made camp at the village of Kamijo, from which a reconnaissance party was sent out to Oteme Castle.

Earlier, the commander of the Blue Herons, Sanzo, had been sent by Shonyu to Morikawa Gonemon, the commander of castle, who had promised to betray Ieyasu. But now, just to make sure, Sanzo was sent out again.

Shonyu was now deep inside enemy territory. The army advanced, step by step, hourly approaching Ieyasu's main castle. Ieyasu, of course, was absent, as were all of his generals and soldiers, who had gone to the front lines at Mount Komaki. It was toward this vacant house, the empty coc.o.o.n that the core of the Tokugawa clan's home province had become, that Shonyu would aim his lethal blow.

The commander of Oteme Castle, who had been aligned with the Tokugawa, but tempted by Shonyu, had already accepted his pledge from Hideyoshi for a domain of fifty thousand bushels.

The castle gate was open, and its commander came out to greet the invaders himself, showing them the way. The samurai cla.s.s under the old shogunate did not have a monopoly of immorality and degradation. Under Ieyasu's rule, both lord and retainer had eaten cold rice and gruel; they had fought battles; they had taken up the hoe, worked in the fields, and done piecework to survive. Finally they had overcome every hardship and had become strong enough to stand against Hideyoshi. Still, even here, there existed such samurai as Morikawa Gonemon.

"Well, General Gonemon," Shonyu said, his face aglow with happiness. "I'm grateful that you haven't gone back on your promise and have come out to greet us today. If everything turns out as planned, I'll send that proposal for fifty thousand bushels directly to Lord Hideyoshi."

"No, I already received Lord Hideyoshi's pledge last night."

With Gonemon's reply, Shonyu was once again surprised at Hideyoshi's vigilance and reliability.

The army now divided into three columns and started out for the plain of Nagakute. It pa.s.sed another fortress, Iwasaki Castle, which was defended by only two hundred thirty soldiers.

"Leave it alone. A little castle like that hardly merits taking. Let's not play along the way."

Looking askance at the castle, both Shonyu and Nagayoshi rode by as though it was Not even dust in their eyes. But just as they were pa.s.sing by, they were showered with gunfire from inside the castle, and one of the bullets grazed the flank of Shonyu's horse, horse reared, nearly throwing Shonyu from the saddle.

"What impudence!" Raising his whip, Shonyu shouted at the soldiers of the First Corps. "Finish off that little castle now!"

The troops' first fighting action had been approved. All of their pent-up energy was released. Two commanders each led about a thousand men and charged the castle. Even a much stronger fortress would not have been able to withstand warriors with their kind of spirit, and this castle was defended by a small force of men.

In the twinkling of an eye, its stone walls were scaled, its moat was filled, fires were set, and the sun was blotted out with black smoke. At that point, the castle's commanding ral came out fighting and was killed in battle. The castle's soldiers were all killed with the exception of one man, who escaped and raced to Mount Komaki to inform Ieyasu of the emergency. During the short battle, Nagayoshi's Second Corps had put a good distance between itself and the First Corps. The men now rested and ate their provisions.

As the soldiers ate their meal, they looked up and wondered what the reason for the rising smoke might be. Very soon, however, a runner from the front lines informed them of the fall of Iwasaki Castle. The horses nipped at the gra.s.s while laughter reverberated across the plain.

Upon learning the same information, the Third Corps naturally stopped and rested both men and horses at Kanahagiwara. At the very rear, the Fourth Corps also reined in the horses and waited for the corps in front to start advancing again.

Spring was departing in the mountains and summer was near. The azure of the sky beautifully clear, deeper even than the sea. Shortly after stopping, the horses became drowsy, and the high-pitched songs of the skylark and bulbul could be heard in the barley fields and forests.

Two days before this, during the evening of the sixth day of the Fourth Month, two farmers from the village of Shinoki had crawled through the fields and run from tree to tree, avoiding the lookouts of the western army.

"We have something to tell Lord Ieyasu! It's very important!" the two men yelled as they ran into the main camp at Mount Komaki.

Ii Hyobu led them to Ieyasu's headquarters. A few moments before Ieyasu had been talking with n.o.buo, but after n.o.buo had left, Ieyasu had taken the copy of the a.n.a.lects of Confucius from the top of his armor chest and began to read silently, ignoring the sounds pf distant gunfire.

Five years younger than Hideyoshi, he was forty-two years old this year, a general in his prime. His appearance was so mild and good-natured-and he had such such soft and pale skin-that an observer might have doubted that he had been through every extremity, and had fought battles in which he had rallied his troops with nothing more than the look in his eye.

"Who is it? Naomasa? Come in, come in."

Closing the a.n.a.lects, Ieyasu pulled his stool around.

The two farmers reported that on that very evening, some units of Hideyoshi's army had left Inuyama and were heading in the direction of Mikawa.

"You've done well," Ieyasu said. "You'll be rewarded!"

Ieyasu's brow tightened. If Okazaki was attacked, nothing could be done. Even he hadn't thought that the enemy would leave Mount Komaki and strike out for his home province of Mikawa.

"Summon Sakai, Honda, and Ishikawa immediately," he said calmly.

He ordered the three generals to guard Mount Komaki in his absence. He would lead the bulk of his forces himself and go in pursuit of Shonyu's army.

At about that time, a country samurai had come to report to n.o.buo's camp. By the time n.o.buo brought the man to speak with Ieyasu, Ieyasu had already summoned a conference of his field staff.

"You come too, Lord n.o.buo! I think we can say that this pursuit is going to finish with an impressive battle, and if you're not present, it's going to lack significance."

Ieyasu's forces were to be divided into two corps, and would total fifteen thousand nine hundred men. Mizuno Tadashige's four thousand troops would act as the army's vanguard.

By the night of the eighth day of the month, the main corps under Ieyasu and n.o.buo had left Mount Komaki. Finally they crossed over the Shonai River. The units under Nagayoshi and Kyutaro were bivouacking only two leagues away in the village of Kamijo.

The dim white light on the water-covered rice fields and little streams showed that the dawn was near, but black shadows lay all around, and dark clouds hung low to the earth.

"Hey! There they are!"

"Get down! Lie down!"

In the rice paddies, in the clumps of bushes, in the shadows of the trees, in the hollows of the ground, the figures of the men in the pursuing army all bent down quickly. Straining their ears, they could hear the western army moving in a long black line along the single road that disappeared into a forest in the distance.

The pursuing troops divided into two corps and secretly trailed behind the tail end of the enemy, which was composed of the Fourth Corps of the western army led by Mikoshi Hidetsugu.

That was the shape of the fate of both armies on the morning of the ninth day of the month. Moreover, the commander selected by Hideyoshi for this important undertaking-his own nephew Hidetsugu-was still unaware of the situation as dawn began to break.

While Hideyoshi had appointed the steady Hori Kyutaro as the leader of the invasion of Mikawa, it was Hidetsugu whom he designated as commander-in-chief. Hidetsugu, however, was still only a sixteen-year-old boy, so Hideyoshi had selected two senior generals and ordered them to watch over the young commander.

The troops were still tired as the sun peacefully announced the dawn of the ninth day of the month. Knowing that the men must be hungry, Hidetsugu gave the order to stop. At the command to eat their provisions, the generals and soldiers sat down and ate their morning meal.

The place was Hakusan Woods, so-called because Hakusan Shrine stood at the top of a small hill there. Hidetsugu set up his stool on the hill.

"Don't you have any water?" the young man asked a retainer. "There's none left in my canteen, and my throat is really dry."

Taking the canteen, he gulped down every last drop of water.

"It's not good to drink too much when we're on the move. Be a little patient, my lord, a retainer reproved him.

But Hidetsugu did not even turn to look at him. The men whom Hideyoshi had sent to watch him were eyesores to the young man. He was sixteen years old, a commanding general, and naturally in a fighting mood.

"Who's that running in this direction?"

"It's Hotomi."

"What's Hotomi doing here?" Hidetsugu narrowed his eyes and stretched up to see. The commander of the spear corps, Hotomi, approached him and knelt. He was out of breath.

"Lord Hidetsugu, we have an emergency!"

"Really."

"Please climb a little farther up to the top of the hill."

"There." Hotomi pointed out a cloud of dust. "It's still far away, but it's moving from the shelter of those mountains toward the plain."

"It's not a whirlwind, is it? It's bunched up in front, with a crowd following to the rear. It's an army, that's for sure."

"You have to make a decision, my lord."

"Is it the enemy?"

" I don't think it could be anyone else."

"Wait, I wonder if it really is the enemy."

Hidetsugu was still acting with indifference. He seemed to think that it just could not be true.