One after another, the generals brought the stories of their exploits into the camp that spread out under Ieyasu's golden fan.

"There are so few of them."

Ieyasu was troubled.

This great general rarely displayed his emotions, but he worried about the warriors who had gone out in pursuit of the defeated enemy. Many had not returned, even though the conch had been blown several times. Perhaps they had been carried away with their victory.

Ieyasu repeated himself two or three times.

“This is not a matter of adding victory on top of victory," he said. "It's not good to want to win still more after you've already won."

He did not mention Hideyoshi's name, but no doubt he had intuited that that natural-born strategist had already pointed a finger in this direction in reaction to the great defeat suffered by his army.

“A long pursuit is dangerous. Has Shiroza gone?"

“Yes. He hurried off some time ago with your orders."

Hearing Ii's answer, Ieyasu gave out another order. "You go too, Ii. Reprimand those have gotten carried away and order them to abandon the chase."

When the pursuing Tokugawa forces reached the Yada River, they found Naito Shirozaemon's squad lined up along the bank, each man holding out the shaft of his spear horizontally.

“Stop!"

“Halt!"

“The order has come from our lord's main camp not to make a long pursuit!"

“With those words from the men along the bank, the pursuers were halted.

Ii galloped up and nearly made himself hoarse, yelling at the men as he rode back and forth.

“Our lord has said that those men who become so proud of their victory that they get carried away and go after the enemy will be asking for a court-martial when they return to camp. Go back! Go on back!"

Finally their blind enthusiasm ebbed away, and the men all withdrew from the bank of the river.

It was just about the second half of the Hour of the Horse, and the sun was in the middle of the sky. It was the Fourth Month, and the shape of the clouds indicated that summer was near. Every soldier's face was smeared with earth, blood, and sweat, and appeared to be on fire.

At the Hour of the Ram Ieyasu went down from the encampment on Fujigane, crossed the Kanare River, and formally inspected the heads at the foot of Mount Gondoji.

The fight had lasted half a day, and all across the battlefield, the dead were counted.  Hideyoshi's side had lost more than two thousand five hundred men, while the casualties the Ieyasu's and Nobuo's armies amounted to five hundred ninety dead and several hundred wounded.

“This great victory is nothing we should be too proud of," a general cautioned. "The Ikeda were only a branch of Hideyoshi's army, but we took our entire force from Mount Komaki and used them here. At the same time, it would be fatal to our allies if we were suffer a collapse here for some reason. I think the best measure would be for us to withdraw to Obata Castle as quickly as possible."

Another general immediately countered, saying, "No, no. Once victory is in your grasp, you should take the initiative with daring. That's what war is all about. It's certain that when Hideyoshi hears about his great defeat, it's going to provoke him to anger. He'll probably assemble his forces and rush here. Shouldn't we wait for him, prepare ourselves as warriors, and then take Lord Monkey's head?"

In response to those two arguments Ieyasu said again, "We shouldn't try to add victory to victory." And then, "Our men are all tired. Hideyoshi is most likely raising the dust on his way here even now, but we shouldn't meet him today. It's too soon. Let's retire to Obata."

With that quick decision, they passed south of Hakusan Woods and entered Obata Castle while the sun was still high.

After bringing the entire army inside Obata Castle and closing the castle gates, Ieyasu savored the day's great victory for the first time. As he looked back on it, he felt satisfied that the half-day battle had been fought faultlessly. The soldiers' and officers' satisfaction was in such exploits as taking the first head or having the first spear out to the enemy, but the commander-in-chief's secret satisfaction lay in only one thing: the feeling that his own clear-sightedness had hit the mark.

But it takes a master to know one. Ieyasu's only concern now was Hideyoshi's subsequent movements. He strove to be flexible as he pondered this problem, and rested for a while in the main citadel at Obata, relaxing both body and mind.

After Shonyu and his son had departed on the morning of the ninth, Hideyoshi summoned Hosokawa Tadaoki to his camp at Gakuden and gave him, as well as several other generals, the command for an immediate attack on Mount Komaki. After they attacked he climbed the observation tower and watched the progress of the battle. Masuda Jinemon waited at his side, looking out into the distance.

"You know, as hot-blooded as Lord Tadaoki is, won't it be a problem if he penetrates too deeply into the enemy?"

Worrying about how close the Hosokawa forces had come to the enemy ramparts, Jinemon looked at the expression on Hideyoshi's brow.

"It'll be all right. Tadaoki may be young, but Takayama Ukon is a man of good sense. If he's there with him, it will be fine."

Hideyoshi's mind was far away. How had Shonyu fared? All he could think about was the good news that he hoped would come from that quarter.

At about noon, a number of mounted men rode up, having withdrawn from Nagakute. With wretched looks on their faces, they related the tragic news: the main army of Hidetsugu had been completely crushed, and it was unclear whether Hidetsugu was alive or dead.

"What! Hidetsugu?" Hideyoshi was plainly surprised. He was not someone who could look unperturbed at hearing something shocking. "Well, what an oversight!" He said this not so much to criticize the shortcomings of Hidetsugu and Shonyu as to admit his own failure and praise the insight of his enemy, Ieyasu.

"Jinemon," he called, "blow the conch shell for the men to assemble."

Hideyoshi immediately sent out yellow-hooded messengers to each of his divisions with emergency orders, and within an hour, twenty thousand soldiers had departed from Gakuden and hurried toward Nagakute.

That rapid shift did not go unnoticed at the Tokugawa headquarters on Mount Komaki. Ieyasu was already gone, and a small number of men had been left for its defense.

“It appears that Hideyoshi himself is at the head of his army."

When Sakai Tadatsugu, one of the generals left in charge of Mount Komaki, heard that news, he clapped his hands and said, "This is turning out just as we expected! While Hideyoshi is gone, we can burn his headquarters at Gakuden and the fortress at Kurose.  Now is the time to make the kill. Everyone follow me for a grand attack!"

But Ishikawa Kazumasa, another of the generals left in charge, opposed him directly.

“Why are you being so hasty, Lord Tadatsugu? Hideyoshi is almost divinely inspired in his military strategies. Do you think a man like that would leave an incapable general in charge of defending his headquarters, no matter how much of a hurry he was in to depart?”

“Any human being may not be up to his usual capacities when he's acting in haste.  Hideyoshi had the conch blown to assemble, and he departed in such a hurry one may suppose even he was confused at the news of the defeat at Nagakute. We shouldn't miss the chance now to set fire to Lord Monkey's tail."

“That's superficial thinking!" Ishikawa Kazumasa laughed out loud and resisted Tadatsugu all the more. "It would be Hideyoshi's style to leave behind a considerable military forrce to take advantage of the situation that would exist if we left our own fortificacations.  And it would be ridiculous for a small force like ours to sally out now."