And how were things going at the construction site? Nobunaga thought with bitter regret that it was the evening of the third day since Tokichiro had taken over as construction overseer. If he did not finish by dawn, he would be forced to commit seppuku, no matter how much Nobunaga regretted the matter. He's a stubborn man, too—Nobunaga said to himself—blurting out absurdities right in front of everybody.

Retainers like Inuchiyo and Tokichiro were in lowly positions and were young, but he knew well that among the retainers left from his father's time, there were few men with their talents. These two were rare men, he thought with some conceit, not only in his own small clan but in the world at large. What a loss! But he could not show his concern and hid it from his pages and older retainers.

That night he crawled into the mosquito net early. But just as he was going to sleep, a retainer crouched in the entrance of his bedroom. "My lord, it's an emergency! The Yamabuchi of Narumi have unfurled the flag of revolt and are making a show of their defense preparations."

"Narumi?" Nobunaga came out from under the net and, still in his white silk night clothes, went into the adjoining room and sat down.

"Genba?"

"My lord?"

"Come in."

Sakuma Genba came to the edge of the next room and prostrated himself. Nobunaga was fanning himself. In the evening one could already feel the cool of the early fall, but there were still swarms of mosquitoes in the castle grounds with its thick stands of trees.

"This is not really so unexpected," Nobunaga said at last, almost as if he had chewed the words and spat them out. "If the Yamabuchi are rebelling, then the boil that had been healing is festering a little again. We'll wait until it bursts by itself."

“Will you be going in person, my lord?"

"That won't be necessary."

"Your troops…"

"I don't think this will require a salve." He laughed and went on, "I doubt if they have the courage to attack Kiyosu, even if they are making military preparations. Samanosuke panicked when his son got injured. It would be better to watch them stew for a while from a distance."

Shortly after that Nobunaga went to bed again, but he got up the next morning earlier than usual. Or perhaps he couldn't sleep and was waiting for the dawn. He may have been far more worried in the back of his mind about the fate of Tokichiro than about the incident at Narumi. As soon as he got up, Nobunaga went with several attendants to in­spect the construction site.

The morning sun was rising. And in place of the previous day's battlefield, not one piece of lumber, not one stone, not one clod of earth or speck of sawdust had been left behind. The ground had been swept clean. With the dawn, the construction site was no longer a construction site. This exceeded Nobunaga's expectations. He rarely experienced surprise, and if he did so now just a little, he did not show it. But Tokichiro had com­pleted the job in three days, and, beyond that, anticipating Nobunaga's inspection, had had the remaining lumber and stones hauled out of the castle and the site swept clean.

Without thinking, Nobunaga's face glowed with joy and surprise. "He did it! Look at that! Look at what Monkey did!" Turning to his attendants, he spoke as though it were his own achievement. "Where is he? Call Tokichiro here."

"That seems to be Master Kinoshita coming across the Karabashi Bridge,"an atten­dant said.

The bridge was directly in front of them. And there was Tokichiro, running across the bridge toward them.

The logs for the scaffolding, as well as the leftover lumber and stones, the tools and the straw mats, were piled up into a mountain beside the moat. The artisans and laborers, who had spent three days and nights working without rest, were sleeping soundly, like so many cocooned caterpillars. Even the foremen, who had worked together with the work­ers, had lain on the ground and fallen asleep as soon as the construction was finished.

Nobunaga observed this scene from a distance. Once again he realized how he had undervalued Tokichiro's abilities. That Monkey! He knows how to make men work! If he has the ability to get laborers to work themselves to death, I should put him in charge of trained soldiers, and he might make quite a commander. It wouldn't be a mistake to send him into battle at the head of two or three hundred men. Nobunaga suddenly recalled a verse from Sun Tzu's Art of War.

The most important principle

For victory in war

Is having your soldiers

Die gladly.

Nobunaga repeated this over and over, but he doubted that he himself had that abil­ity, which certainly had nothing to do with strategy, tactics, or authority.

"You're certainly up early this morning, my lord. You can see what we have done to the castle wall."

Nobunaga looked down at his feet and there was Tokichiro, already kneeling with both hands pressed to the ground.

"Monkey?" Nobunaga burst out laughing. He had just now seen Tokichiro's face, which, after three days and nights without sleep, looked as if it were covered with a

half-dried, rough plaster coat. His eyes were bloodshot and his clothes were smeared with mud.

Nobunaga laughed again, but quickly felt sorry for the man and said seriously, "You've done well. You must be sleepy. You'd better sleep for an entire day."

"Thank you very much." Tokichiro basked in the praise. To be told that he could sleep all day to his heart's content, when the province itself did not have a day of rest, the greatest praise of all, Tokichiro thought as tears soaked his drooping eyelids. Even as he felt such satisfaction, however, he added, "I have a request, my lord."

"What is it?"

"A reward," Tokichiro said clearly, startling the attendants. Wouldn't this alter Nobunaga's rare good mood? They were concerned for Tokichiro.

"What do you want?"

"Money."

"A lot?"

"No, just a little."

"Is it for you?"

"No." Tokichiro pointed in the direction of the moat. "I'm not the one who did the construction. I would like just enough to divide among the workers over there, who are so tired they've fallen asleep."

"Speak to the keeper of the accounts and take as much as you need. But I should do something to reward you, too. How much is your stipend now?"

"I receive thirty kan"

"Is that all?"

"It's more than I deserve, my lord."

"I'll raise it to one hundred kan, move you to the spearmen's regiment, and put you in charge of thirty foot soldiers."

Tokichiro remained silent. Strictly in terms of the office, the positions of overseeing charcoal and firewood and overseer of building works were reserved for high-rank samurai. But the blood of youth ran through Tokichiro's veins, and it had naturally been his hope for a number of years to see active service with the archers' regiment or the musketeers. Being in charge of thirty foot soldiers was the lowest rank of troop leader among the commanders. But it was a job that pleased him far more than being in charge of stables or the kitchen.

He was so happy that he forgot discretion for the moment, and spoke thoughtlessly with the same mouth that had been so courteous before. "While I was working on the construction, there was something I was constantiy thinking about. The water supply in this castle is poor, no matter how you look at it. If the castle were besieged, drinking water would be lacking, and in a short while the moat would dry up. If something were to happen, the castle would only be good for making a sortie. But in the case of an attack by army that had no chance of victory in the field…"

Looking off to the side, Nobunaga pretended not to hear. But Tokichiro was not going to stop halfway. "I've always thought that Mount Komaki was far superior to Kjyosu both in terms of water supply and in terms of attack and defense. I would like suggest strongly that you move from Kiyosu to Mount Komaki, my lord."