But before the messenger was able to leave, a retainer announced, "Lord Hideyoshi has just now arrived."
"What? Hideyoshi?" Nobunaga's expression remained the same, but for an instant it seemed that his anger had softened.
Soon Hideyoshi's voice could be heard, and it rang out as cheerfully as usual. As soon as Nobunaga heard Hideyoshi, he had to make an effort to maintain his angry expression. His anger melted in his breast the way ice melts under the sun, and there was nothing he could do about it.
With a casual greeting to the generals who were present, Hideyoshi entered the en-dosure. He passed through the assembled generals and knelt courteously before Nobunaga, then looked up at his lord.
Nobunaga said nothing. He was trying hard to show his anger. There were not many commanders who could do anything other than prostrate themselves in fear when they encountered Nobunaga's silence.
In fact, there was no one even in Nobunaga's family who could withstand this treatment. If veteran generals like Katsuie and Nobumori came under Nobunaga's angry eye, they would turn absolutely pale. Seasoned men like Niwa and Takigawa would become confused and mumble excuses. With all his wisdom, Akechi Mitsuhide had no way of dealing with it, and even all of Nobunaga's affection was no help at all to Ranmaru. But Hideyoshi's handling of such situations was quite different. When Nobunaga was angry and would scowl and glare at him, Hideyoshi would manifest no reaction at all. It was not that he took his lord lightly. On the contrary, he was, more than most men, awed by Nobunaga. Generally, he would look up placidly as though gazing at a threatening sky and desist from speaking except in the most commonplace way.
His Lordship is a little angry again, Hideyoshi was now thinking. This composure seemed to be part of Hideyoshi's own special nature, and certainly no one was able to imitate him. If Katsuie or Mitsuhide had copied Hideyoshi's behavior, they would have been throwing oil on a fire, and Nobunaga would have exploded into a fit of anger. Nobunaga appeared to be losing the game of patience. Finally he spoke.
"Hideyoshi, why did you come here?"
"I came to receive your reprimand," Hideyoshi answered with deep respect.
He always has a good answer, Nobunaga thought. It was growing more and more difficult to stay angry. He was going to have to speak deliberately, as though he had chewed the words up and were spitting them out. "What do you mean, you've come to be reprimanded? Did you think this matter was going to be finished with an apology? You made a great error that affects not only me but the entire army."
"You've already read the letter I sent to you?"
"I have!"
"Sending Kanbei as an intermediary clearly ended in failure. In this connection—
"Is that an excuse?"
"No, but to serve as an apology, I galloped through enemy lines to offer a plan that might turn this disaster into good fortune. I would like to ask you either to order the a cleared of everyone here or to move elsewhere. After that, if there is to be some puniment for my crime, I will respectfully accept it."
Nobunaga thought for a moment, then granted his request and ordered everyone to leave. The other generals were dumbstruck by Hideyoshi's audacity, but, looking back and forth at each other, they could only withdraw. There were some who accused him of impudence even in the face of his crime. Others clicked their tongues and called him self-seeking. Hideyoshi looked as though he were paying no attention, and waited until he and Nobunaga were the only ones left in the enclosure. When everyone had gone, Nobunaga's appearance softened somewhat.
"So what kind of suggestion do you have that made you ride all the way here from Harima?"
"I have a way to attack Itami. At this point, the only thing left to do is to strike Araki Murashige resolutely."
"That's been true from the beginning. Not that Itami is so important, but if the Honganji and Murashige act in concert with the Mori, there could be considerable trouble.”
"Not that much, I think. If we move too fast, our troops could suffer considerably; and if there is even the slightest failure among our allies, the embankment you have built up so carefully until now could crumble all at once."
"So what would you do?"
"I had no plan of my own, but Takenaka Hanbei, who has been in the capital convalescing, was able to see through the present situation." Hideyoshi then related the plan to Nobunaga exactly as he had heard it from Hanbei. Essentially, the plan against Itami Castle called for allowing as little damage to their own troops as possible. Taking whatever time was required, they would first put all of their strength into isolating Murashige by clipping his wings.
Nobunaga accepted the plan without the least hesitation. It was, more or less, what he had been thinking of doing himself. The plan was set, and Nobunaga completely forgot about reprimanding Hideyoshi. There were still a number of things to ask Hideyoshi about in regard to their later strategies.
"Since we've dealt with the most urgent business, perhaps I should start off for Harima today," Hideyoshi said, looking up at the evening sky. Nobunaga, however, told him that the roads were so dangerous that he should return by ship that night. And since he was going by ship and there would be enough time, his lord was not going to let him go without a drink.
Hideyoshi sat a little straighter and asked, "Are you going to let me go without being punished?"
Nobunaga forced a smile. "Well, what should I do?" he joked.
"When you forgive me but still don't say anything, somehow the sake I receive from you doesn't go down my throat very well."
Nobunaga broke out laughing happily for the first time.
"That's good, that's good."
"In that case," Hideyoshi said, as though he had been waiting for the right moment, “Kanbei shares no blame either, does he? And the messenger with the command to cut off his son's head has already left, I believe."
"No, you can't be the guarantor for what is in Kanbei's mind. How can you say he's without blame? I'm not going to withdraw my order to have his son's head sent to Itami Castle. It's a matter of military discipline, and it won't do any good to intervene." Thus Nobunaga highhandedly sealed his retainer's mouth.
Hideyoshi returned to Harima that night, but upon his return, secretly had a messenger take a letter to Hanbei in the capital. What was in the letter will be understood later on, but essentially it concerned his private agony over the son of his friend and adviser, Kuroda Kanbei.
Nobunaga's messenger also hurried to Kyoto. On his way back, he stopped for a short time at the Church of the Ascension. When he returned to Nobunaga's main camp on Mount Amano, he was accompanied by the Italian Jesuit, Father Gnecchi, a missionary who had been in Japan for many years. There were many Christian missionaries in Sakai, Azuchi, and Kyoto, but among them, Father Gnecchi was the foreigner whom Nobunaga most favored. Nobunaga did not dislike Christians. And, even though he had fought the Buddhists and burned their strongholds, he did not dislike Buddhism either, for he recognized the intrinsic value of religion.
Not just Father Gnecchi, but all of the many Catholic missionaries who were invited to Azuchi from time to time went to great pains to try to convert Nobunaga to Christianity. But grasping Nobunaga's heart was the same as trying to ladle the reflection of the moon out of a bucket of water.
One of the Catholic fathers had given Nobunaga a black slave he had brought with him from across the sea, because Nobunaga had looked upon the man with considerable curiosity. Whenever Nobunaga left the castle, even when he went to Kyoto, he included the black slave in his entourage. The missionaries were a little jealous and once asked Nobunaga, "You seem so interested in your black slave, my lord. Exactly what is it that you find so pleasing in him?"