"I'm sorry." Mitsuhide bowed as though Nobunaga had somehow struck him deep inside. "If you will give me your order, I will draw you a map and submit it for you observation."

"Well then, I'll give you a formal order. The maps I have at hand are rather crude, and there seem to be places where they might be totally incorrect. Check them with the maps you have, correct them, and give them back to me."

In Mitsuhide's possession were finely detailed maps with which Nobunaga's could not compare. Mitsuhide withdrew and then returned with his own maps, which he presented to Nobunaga.

"I think you should look over the lay of the land. And I think I'd better make you an officer on my field staff." After that, Nobunaga would not let Mitsuhide stray far fron headquarters.

Tezutsugamine, the castle defended by Hitta Ukon, soon surrendered. But the castle at Kanegasaki was not so quick to fall. In this latter castle, Asakura Kagetsune, a twenty-six-year-old general, stood his ground. When he had been a monk in his youth, there were those who said it would be a pity for a warrior of his physique and disposition to enter holy orders. Thus he was forced back into secular life and quickly put in charge of a castle, distinguishing himself even within the Asakura clan. Surrounded by more than forty thousand troops commanded by such veteran generals as Sakuma Nobumori, Ikeda Shonyu, and Mori Yoshinari, Kagetsune looked down from the castle watchtower with an unperturbed expression, and broke into a smile.

"How ostentatious."

Yoshinari, Nobumori, and Shonyu staged a general attack, staining the walls with blood and holding fast like ants for the entire day. When they counted the bodies at the end of the day, the enemy had lost over three hundred men, but the corpses of their own forces exceeded eight hundred. That night, however, the castle at Kanegasaki stood majestic and indomitable under a huge summer moon.

"This castle is not going to fall. And even if it does, it will not be a victory for us,” Hideyoshi told Nobunaga that evening.

Nobunaga looked a bit impatient. "Why won't it be a victory for us if the castle falls?” There was, on such occasions, no reason for Nobunaga to be in a good mood.

"With the fall of this one castle, Echizen will not necessarily be overthrown. With the capture of this one castle, my lord, your military power will not necessarily increase."

Nobunaga interrupted him, asking, "But how can we advance without overcoming Kanegasaki?"

Hideyoshi suddenly turned to the side. Ieyasu had come in and was just standing there. Seeing Ieyasu, Hideyoshi hurriedly withdrew with a bow. He then brought in some matting and offered the lord of Mikawa a seat next to Nobunaga.

“Am I intruding?" Ieyasu asked, and then sat down on the seat Hideyoshi had provided. To Hideyoshi, however, he gave not the slightest recognition. "It seems as though you were in the middle of some discussion."

"No." Motioning toward Hideyoshi with his chin and softening his mood a bit, Nobunaga explained to Ieyasu exactly what they had been discussing.

Ieyasu nodded and stared fixedly at Hideyoshi. Ieyasu was eight years younger than Nobunaga, but to Hideyoshi it seemed the other way around. As Ieyasu looked at him, Hideyoshi could not imagine that his manner and expression were those of a man in his twenties.

"I agree with what Hideyoshi has said. To waste further time and injure more men with this one castle is not a sound policy."

"Do you think we should call off the attack and press on to the enemy's main stronghold?"

"First let's hear what Hideyoshi has to say. It seems he has something in mind."

"Hideyoshi."

"Yes, my lord."

"Tell us your plan."

"I don't have a plan."

"What?" Nobunaga was not the only one whose eyes showed surprise. The expression Ieyasu's face was a little perplexed, too.

"There are three thousand soldiers inside that castle, and its walls are hardened with their will to take on an army of ten thousand men and fight to the death. Even though it's small, there's no reason why the castle should fall easily. I doubt that it would be shaken even if we did have a plan. Those soldiers are men, too, so I imagine they must be susceptible to true human emotions and sincerity…."

"You're starting up again, eh?" Nobunaga said. He did not want Hideyoshi's tongue to wag any more than it had already. Ieyasu was his most powerful ally, and he treated him with extreme courtesy; but the man was, after all, lord of the two provinces of Mikawa and Totomi, and was not a member of the Oda clan's inner circle. More than that, Nobunaga was well enough attuned to Hideyoshi's mind that he didn't have to hear his thoughts in detail in order to trust him.

"Fine. That's fine," Nobunaga said. "I give you the authority for whatever you have in mind. Go ahead and carry it through."

"Thank you, my lord." Hideyoshi withdrew as though the matter were of no particular consequence. But that night he entered the enemy castle alone and met with its commander, Asakura Kagetsune. Hideyoshi opened his heart and spoke to the young master of this castle.

"You come from a samurai family, too, so you're probably looking at the end result of this battle. Further resistance will only result in the deaths of valuable soldiers. I, in particular, do not want to see you die a useless death. Rather than that, why don't you open up the castle and retreat properly, join forces with Lord Yoshikage, and meet us again, on a different battlefield? I will personally guarantee the security of all the treasures, weapons, and women and children inside the castle, and send them to you without trouble."

"Changing the field of battle and meeting you on another day would be interesting, Kagetsune replied, and went to prepare the retreat. With the full courtesy of a samurai, Hideyoshi allowed the retreating enemy all accommodations, and saw them off to a league beyond the castle.

It took a day and a half to settle the matter of Kanegasaki, but when Hideyoshi informed Nobunaga of what he had done, his lord's only response was, "Is that so?" and he added no great praise. The look on Nobunaga's face, however, indicated that he seemed to be thinking, You did too well—there is a limit to meritorious deeds. But Hideyoshi's great achievement could hardly be denied, regardless of who judged the matter.

If Nobunaga had praised him to the skies, however, it would have created a situation in which the generals Shonyu, Nobumori, and Yoshinari would have been too ashamed to face their lord again. After all, they had sent eight hundred soldiers to their deaths and had been unable to defeat the enemy even with an overwhelming number of men. Hideyoshi was even more sensitive to the feelings of these generals, and when he made his report, he did not credit his own idea as the source of his efforts. He simply said that he had been following Nobunaga's orders.

"It was my intention to carry out everything according to orders. I hope you'll over­look my unskillful performance and the suddenness and secrecy of it all." Thus apologiz­ing, he withdrew.

Ieyasu happened to be with the other generals at Nobunaga's side at this time. Grunt­ing to himself, he watched Hideyoshi depart. From this point on, he realized that there was a formidable man not much older than he who had been born into this period as well. Meanwhile, having abandoned Kanegasaki and now in full retreat, Asakura Kagetsune hurried along, thinking that he would join his forces with those at the main castle at Ichijogadani, and measure his strength against Nobunaga's army once again, at another place. Still on the way, he met the twenty thousand troops that Asakura Yoshikage had sent running to relieve Kanegasaki.

"Now I've done it!" Kagetsune said, regretting that he had followed the counsel of the enemy, but it was too late.