The simple fact was that the beanbag that Ieyasu had thrown around and used for his own purposes was being s.n.a.t.c.hed from the side by Hideyoshi. Essentially, n.o.buo had been taken in.

One can only imagine the sweet words Hideyoshi used to gain n.o.buo's favor. In fact, in all his years of service, Hideyoshi had rarely moved n.o.buo's father, n.o.bunaga, to appeasing n.o.buo must have been easy for him. But the conditions of the peace that had first been communicated by the two envoys were neither sweet nor easy: Item: : Hideyoshi would adopt n.o.buo's daughter.

Item: The four districts in northern Ise that Hideyoshi had occupied would be returned to n.o.buo.

Item: n.o.buo would send women and children from his clan as hostages.

Item: Three districts in Iga, seven districts in southern Ise, Inuyama Castle in Owari, and the fortress at Kawada would be given to Hideyoshi.

Item: All of the temporary fortifications belonging to both sides in the two provinces of Ise and Owari were to be destroyed.

n.o.buo affixed his seal to the doc.u.ment. As gifts from Hideyoshi that day, n.o.buo received twenty pieces of gold and a sword made by Fudo Kuniyuki. He was also presented with thirty-five thousand bales of rice as spoils of war from the Ise area.

Hideyoshi had bowed to n.o.buo and shown him respect, and had given him gifts as proof of his goodwill. Treated in that way, n.o.buo could not help but smile with satisfaction. It is certain, however, that n.o.buo had not considered how his scheming was going to come back at him. In terms of the ebb and flow of the violent tides of the times, n.o.buo could only be called an unpardonable fool. There would be no blame if n.o.buo had remained on the sidelines. But he had come out at the very center, had been made a tool of war, and had caused a great number of men to die under his banners.

The one who was most surprised when the facts were out was Ieyasu, who had already moved from Okazaki to Kiyosu to gain a war footing and confront Hideyoshi. It was the morning of the twelfth.

SakaiTadatsugu suddenly whipped his horse to the castle, having traveled overnight from Kuwana.

It was unusual for a commander at the front lines to leave his battle position and Kiyosu unannounced. Moreover, Tadatsugu was a sixty-year-old veteran. Why had this old man traveled all night with only a few attendants?

It was before breakfast, but Ieyasu came out of his bedroom, sat down in the audience chamber, and asked, "What is it, Tadatsugu?"

"Lord n.o.buo met with Hideyoshi yesterday. The rumor is that they made peace without consulting you, my lord."

Tadatsugu could see the repressed emotion on Ieyasu's face, and, unexpectedly, it lmade Tadatsugu's own lips twitch. He could hardly hold his feelings back. He wanted to shout that n.o.buo was a great fool. Perhaps that is what Ieyasu was holding down in his heart. Should he be angry? Should he laugh? No doubt he was repressing all those things inside of himself at once, almost as though he could not accept the violent emotions raging inside him.

Ieyasu appeared to be dazed. He was dumbfounded. That was all his expression said. The two men sat in that way for some time. Finally, Ieyasu blinked two or three times. Then he pinched his large earlobe with his left hand and rubbed the side of his face. He was puzzled. His round back began to move a little from side to side. His left hand dropped back to his knee.

"Tadatsugu, are you sure?" he asked.

"I wouldn't come to report such a thing lightly. But dispatches will arrive later with more detailed information."

"You still haven't heard anything from Lord n.o.buo?"

"We heard the report that he had left Nagashima, pa.s.sed through Kuwana, and stopped at Yadagawara, but I thought he was just looking over the defenses and the disposition of his troops. Even when he returned to his castle, we had no idea of what his intentions had been."

Subsequent reports confirmed the rumors of n.o.buo's separate peace agreement, but no word came from n.o.buo himself throughout the entire day. The truth was soon known generally among the Tokugawa clan's retainers. Each time they met, their excited voices rose as they confirmed together what they could hardly believe. Gathering at Kiyosu, they accused n.o.buo of lacking integrity and wondered aloud how the Tokugawa could face the nation with dignity after the predicament in which they had been placed.

"If this is the truth, we're not going to let him be, even if he is Lord n.o.buo," the hot-blooded Honda said.

"First we should take Lord n.o.buo out of Nagashima and investigate this crime," Ii added with a furious glare. "After that we should fight a decisive battle with Hideyoshi."

"I agree!"

"Isn't it because of Lord n.o.buo that we mobilized in the first place?"

"We advocated the upholding of duty and rose up only because Lord n.o.buo came begging for Lord Ieyasu's help and crying that Lord n.o.bunaga's descendants would perish because of Hideyoshi's ambitions! Now the banner of that war of duty-the embodiment of justice-has tumbled over to the enemy's side. The stupidity of that man is beyond words!"

"As the situation is now, it's an affront to His Lordship's dignity, and we've become a laughingstock. It's also an insult to the spirits of our comrades who died at Mount Komaki and Nagakute."

"They were made to die tragically meaningless deaths, and there's no reason why the living should have to bear such painful thoughts. What kind of decision can our lord have made by now?"

"He stayed in his living quarters all morning. He called a meeting of the senior retainers, and it seems that they've been deliberating all day."

"How about someone here delivering our opinion to the senior retainers?"

"That's right. Who would be good?"

They all looked around at one another.

"What about you, Ii? And Honda, you should go too." Honda and Ii were just about to leave the room as representatives for the others when a messenger came in with specific information.

"Two envoys from Lord n.o.buo have just arrived."

"What! Envoys from Nagashima?"

The news made the men's indignation boil up again.

As the envoys had already been taken into the large audience chamber, however, it was very likely that they were already face to face with Ieyasu. Calmly rea.s.suring each other that their lord's intentions would now be made clear, the men decided to wait for the result of the meeting.

n.o.buo's envoys were his uncle, Oda n.o.buteru, and Ikoma Hachiemon. As might be imagined, it was extremely awkward for those men to face Ieyasu, let alone try to explain n.o.buo's thoughts, and they waited in the room, withering at the mere thought of the meeting.

Soon enough, Ieyasu appeared with a page. He was dressed in a kimono, without armor, and seemed to be in a good mood.

He sat down on a cushion and said, "I've heard that Lord n.o.buo has made peace with Hideyoshi."

The two messengers responded in the affirmative as they prostrated themselves, unable even to raise their heads.

n.o.buteru said, "The sudden peace talks with Lord Hideyoshi were surely both unexpected and mortifying to your clan, and we can only respectfully appreciate what your thoughts must be, but in fact, His Lordship put much deep thought into the situation before him, and-"

"I understand," Ieyasu replied. "You don't need to give me some long explanation."

"The details are fully explained in this letter, so, ah, if you would read it-"

"I'll take a look at it later on."

"The only thing that pains His Lordship is the thought that you may be angry," Hachiemon said.

"Now, now. That's not worth his consideration. From the very beginning, these hostilities had nothing to do with my own desires or plans."

"We understand completely."

"That being so, the hope I entertain for Lord n.o.buo's well-being is unchanged."

"His Lordship will be relieved to hear it."

"I've had a meal prepared for you in another room. That this war has been terminated so quickly is the greatest blessing of all. Have a leisurely lunch before you go."

Ieyasu went back into the interior of the castle. The messengers from Nagashima were entertained with food and drink in another room, but they ate hurriedly and soon left.

When Ieyasu's retainers heard about this, they were outraged.

"His Lordship must have some deeper thoughts. Otherwise, how could he so easily approve of this monstrous alliance of Lord n.o.buo and Hideyoshi?"

During this time, Ii and Honda went off to the senior retainers to inform them of the young retainers' opinion.

"Secretary!" Ieyasu called out.

After meeting with n.o.buo's envoys in the audience chamber he had returned to his own quarters and sat quietly alone for a while. Now his voice rang out.

The secretary brought out an inkstone and waited for his lord's dictation.

I want to sent congratulatory letters to both Lord n.o.buo and Lord Hideyoshi."

As he dictated the letters, Ieyasu looked off obliquely and closed his eyes. Indeed, as he polished the sentences to be written down, he seemed first to absorb thoughts in his breast that must have been like draughts of molten iron.

When the two letters were finished, Ieyasu gave an order to a page to summon Ishikawa Kazumasa.

The secretary left the two letters in front of Ieyasu, bowed, and withdrew. As he left, a personal attendant came in carrying a candle and quietly lit two lamps.

At some point the sun had set. Looking at the lamps, Ieyasu felt that somehow the day had been a short one. He wondered if that was why-even with all the pressure of work-he was still feeling an emptiness in his heart.

As though from far away, he could hear the sound of the sliding door opening softly.

Kazumasa, dressed in civilian clothes like his lord, was bowing in the doorway. Almost none of the warriors of the clan had yet untied their armor. Nevertheless, Kazumasa realized that Ieyasu had been dressed in plain clothes since the morning and had quickly changed into a kimono.

"Ah, Kazumasa? You're too far away over there. Come a little closer."

The man who had not changed at all here was Ieyasu. As Kazumasa came before him, however, he seemed almost to have been disarmed.

"Kazumasa, I'd like you to be my envoy tomorrow morning to Lord Hideyoshi's camp and Lord n.o.buo's headquarters at Kuwana."

"Certainly."

"Letters of congratulation are right here."

"Congratulations for the peace accords?"

"That's right."

"I think I understand what's in your mind, my lord. You won't be showing your dissatisfaction, but when he sees such magnanimity, even Lord n.o.buo will probably be embarra.s.sed."

"What are you saying, Kazumasa? It would be cowardly of me to embarra.s.s Lord n.o.buo, and a declaration to continue fighting from a sense of duty would look a little strange. Whether it's a false peace or whatever it is, I have no reason to voice dissatisfaction about peace. You are to explain earnestly and even happily that I think it is splendid from the bottom of my heart, and that I rejoice together with all the subjects of the Empire."

Kazumasa was someone who knew his lord's heart well, and now Ieyasu had given him careful instructions concerning his mission. But for Kazumasa, there was yet one more pain he had to bear. That was the misunderstanding the other retainers had had about him from the very beginning-that he and Hideyoshi had some intimate connection. The year before, after Hideyoshi's victory at Yanagase, Kazumasa had been selected as Ieyasu's envoy to Hideyoshi.

At that time Hideyoshi's joy had been extraordinary. He had invited the various lords to a tea ceremony at Osaka Castle, which was still under construction.

After that, whenever there was occasion for some communication with the Tokugawa clan, Hideyoshi would inevitably ask for news of Kazumasa, and would always talk about Kazumasa to the lords who had friendly relations with the Tokugawa clan.

That Kazumasa was quite popular with Lord Hideyoshi was deeply carved into the mindss of the Tokugawa warriors. During the standoff at Mount Komaki, and again during Niwa's attempt at reconciliation, the eyes of his allies would be scrutinizing Kazumasa's actions, regardless of the situation.

As might be expected, Ieyasu was not affected by that at all.

"Well, it's pretty noisy out there, isn't it?"

Animated voices were coming from the hall, which was a number of rooms away from where Ieyasu and Kazumasa were sitting. It seemed that the retainers who were dissatisfied with the peace accords were expressing their doubts and indignation at Kazumasa's being called before their lord.

Ii and Honda, who were acting as representatives, and some of the others had surrounded Tadatsugu a while before.

Didn't you lead the vanguard and stay in the castle town of Kuwana? Aren't you abashed at not having known that Lord n.o.buo and Hideyoshi were able to meet at Yadagawra? And what about the fact that Hideyoshi's messengers came right into Kuwana Castle? What's happened now that you've found out about their illicit peace treaty and have come running here?"

They grilled Tadatsugu. First of all, it was Hideyoshi, a man who was little likely to make a plan that would leak out ahead of time. For Tadatsugu, that was justification enough. In the face of the concentrated dissatisfaction, however, he could only receive indignation and abuse with resignation and apologize to them with the forbearance becoming an old general.

But it was the purpose of neither Ii nor Honda to persecute the old man. Rather, they wanted to deliver their own opinions to their lord and to repudiate the peace accords. And they wanted to tell the world that the Tokugawa clan had nothing to do with n.o.buo's peace talks.

"Would you please intercede for us? You're a respected elder."

"No, that would be a serious breach of etiquette," Tadatsugu answered.

But Honda insisted. "These men have not loosened their armor and are dressed for the battlefield. Everyday etiquette does not apply in this situation."

"There's no time for that," Ii said. "We're burning up with the fear that something may happen before he talks to us. If you won't be our intermediary, then it can't be helped. We'll have to appeal directly through his personal attendants and meet him in his quarters."

"No! He's in the middle of a conversation with Lord Kazumasa right now. You must not intrude on him."

"What! Kazumasa?"

The fact that Kazumasa was alone with their lord at this time only added to their uneasiness and discomfort. From the beginning of the campaign at Mount Komaki, they had viewed Kazumasa as a man playing a double game. And when Niwa Nagahide initiated a reconciliation, it was Kazumasa who had been involved in the negotiations. They suspected that Kazumasa was somehow in the shadows of the most recent maneuvers, too.

When those feelings suddenly broke into a noisy commotion, it reached Ieyasu's ears, even though he was some distance away. A page now hurried down the corridor toward the retainers.

"You're being summoned!" the page announced.

Taken by surprise, they looked around at each other in awe. But the expression on the faces of the obstinate Honda and Ii revealed that a summons was just what they wanted. Urging on Sakai Tadatsugu and the others, they filed into the audience chamber.

Ieyasu's room was soon filled to overflowing with samurai in full armor.

Everyone's attention was focused on Ieyasu. Next to him sat Kazumasa. Sakai Tadatsugu was next, and behind them the very backbone of the Tokugawa clan was represented.

Ieyasu started to speak but, suddenly turning toward the lowest seats, he said, "The men in the lowest seats are a little too far away. My voice isn't very loud, so come up a little closer."

The men all packed in more closely together, and those in the lowest seats all gathered around Ieyasu as he began to speak.

"Yesterday Lord n.o.buo made peace with Hideyoshi. I am thinking of sending out an official notice of this to the entire clan tomorrow morning, but apparently you've all heard the news and it's worried you considerably. Please forgive me. I was not trying to keep the facts from you."