By the time the secret conference ended, it was the evening of the fourth. As the two generals walked back to their camp, they met a party of their own scouts. The officer in charge pointed excitedly into the darkness and said, "The Ukita have started to withdraw their troops."
Listening to the report, Kikkawa clicked his tongue. The opportunity had already passed. Kobayakawa read his older brother's thoughts. "Are you still feeling some regrets? he asked.
"Of course I am."
"Well, suppose we did take over the country," Kobayakawa continued, "do you think you'd be the man to rule?" There was a pause. "Judging from your silence, I suspect you don't think so. When someone without the proper ability rules the country, it lead certain chaos. It would not stop at the fall of the Mori clan."
"You don't have to say any more, I understand," Kikkawa said, turning away. Looking up sadly at the night sky over the western provinces, he fought to hold back the tears were rolling down his cheeks.
Requiem of Blood
The need for the Oda troops' immediate withdrawal had been the reason behind the peace treaty, and Hideyoshi's allies, the Ukita, began to retreat that very night. Not one soldier, however, was withdrawn from Hideyoshi's main camp. On the morning of the fifth, Hideyoshi had still not made a move. Although his mind was racing toward the capital, he gave no indication that he was planning to break camp.
"Hikoemon, how much has the water level gone down?"
"About three feet."
"Don't let it fall too quickly."
Hideyoshi went out into the temple garden. Although the dike had been cut and the water was beginning to go down little by little, Takamatsu Castle was still stranded in the middle of the water. One of Hideyoshi's retainers had already gone to the castle the night before to accept its capitulation. And now the defenders were being ferried out.
When evening came, Hideyoshi sent a man to spy on the Mori. He then consulted with Kanbei and his other generals and quickly made preparations to strike camp. "Have them breach the dike right away," he ordered Kanbei.
The dike was now breached in ten places. Almost at once, the water began to stir. Innumerable whirlpools appeared as the waters rushed through the openings with a roar that sounded like a tidal wave.
Which would be faster, the water or Hideyoshi, who now whipped his horse toward the east? The high ground surrounding the castle had been transformed almost instantly into a dry plain, while the lowlands were marshes crisscrossed with rivers; so even if the Mori had considered giving chase, they would not have been able to cross over for another two or three days.
On the seventh, Hideyoshi arrived at the Fukuoka River crossing and found the river
in flood. The soldiers made protective padding for the horses by lashing their packs together and then crossed over, forming a human chain by either linking hands or grasping the shaft of the spear carried by the man in front.
Hideyoshi had crossed first, and sat on his camp stool on the bank. "Don't panic! Take your time!" he shouted. He appeared to be completely untroubled by the wind and the rain. "If one man drowns, the enemy will say we lost five hundred; if you lose one piece of baggage, they'll say it was a hundred. Don't lose your life or your weapons here in vain."
The rear guard now caught up with the main army, and with the units trailing in one after another, both banks of the river were filled with soldiers. The commander of the rear guard came before Hideyoshi to report on the situation at Takamatsu. The retreat had been completed, and there was still no sign of the Mori. A look of relief spread over Hideyoshi's face. He looked as though he finally felt safe; now he could channel all his strength in one direction.
The army returned to Himeji on the morning of the eighth. Covered in mud, then drenched by the storm, the soldiers had covered twenty leagues in one day.
"The first thing I want to do," Hideyoshi said to his attendants, "is take a bath."
The governor of the castle prostrated himself before Hideyoshi. After congratulating him on his return, he informed him that two messengers had arrived, one from Nagahama with urgent news.
"I'll take care of it after having a bath. I'd like plenty of hot water. The rain soaked right through my armor and all the way to my underwear."
Hideyoshi sank into the hot water up to his shoulders. The morning sun was framed by the bathroom window; it poured down through the high latticework onto his face, suspended in the steam. As he sat there, the skin on his face seemed to boil to a darkish red, while large drops of sweat beaded on his forehead. Hundreds of tiny rainbows appeared in the steam.
Hideyoshi jumped out of the tub, making a noise like a waterfall. "Hey! Somebody come wash my back!" he called.
The two pages who were waiting outside ran in. Putting all of their strength into the task, they scrubbed him down from the back of his neck to his fingertips.
Hideyoshi suddenly laughed and said, "It comes off in a strange way!" Looking down around his feet, he saw that the dirt the pages had scraped off his body resembled bird droppings.
How could this man be possessed of such a dignified appearance on the battlefield? His naked body seemed a truly poor and meager thing. It was true that he had overworked himself during the five years of the western campaign, but there was altogether too little fat on his forty-six-year-old frame. Even now, traces of the poor, skinny farmboy from Nakamura lingered on. His body seemed like a withered pine growing out of the rock, or a dwarfed plum tree worn out by the wind and snow—strong, but showing signs of age.
It was not appropriate, however, to compare his age and physique with those of anordinary man. Both his skin and his frame were filled with vitality. When he was happy or angry, there were even times when he looked like a young man.
As Hideyoshi relaxed after his bath, wiping himself dry, he called a page and said, “This is to be posted immediately: At the first call of the conch, the entire army is to eat its rations; at the second, the supply corps is to start out; at the third, the whole army is to assemble in front of the castle."
Hideyoshi then summoned Hikoemon and the officials in charge of the treasury and the granary.
"How much do we have in the treasury?" Hideyoshi asked.
"About seven hundred fifty weights of silver, and more than eight hundred pieces of gold," an official replied.
Hideyoshi turned to Hikoemon and ordered, "Take it and distribute it to the men, each according to his pay." He then asked how much rice was left in the storehouses, observing, "We won't be besieged here, so we don't need to keep any rice. Pay the retainers five times their rice stipend."
He left the bathroom and went directly to where the messenger from Nagahama was waiting. He had left his mother and his wife at Nagahama, and he had been constantly anxious about them.
As soon as Hideyoshi saw the messenger kneeling before him, he asked, "Are they all right? Has something happened?"
"Both your honored mother and wife are quite well."
"Really? Well then, is the castle at Nagahama under attack?"
"I was dispatched from Nagahama on the morning of the fourth, when a small enemy force had started to attack."
"The Akechi?"
"No, they were Asai ronin allied to the Akechi. But according to a rumor I heard on the road, a large Akechi force is now heading for Nagahama."
"What were the men at Nagahama going to do?"
"There are not enough men to withstand a siege, so in case of an emergency, they plan to move your family to a hiding place in the mountains."
The messenger placed a letter in front of Hideyoshi. It was from Nene. As the lord's wife, it was her duty to take care of everything while her husband was away. Although she must have written the letter in the midst of a storm of confusion and doubt, her handwriting was composed. The contents, however, clearly indicated that this letter might be her very last: