Taiko. Part 115

After midnight the moon rose to the middle of the sky and helped the Sak.u.ma forces along their path of retreat. Its light, however, was also a blessing for Hideyoshi's pursuit of them.

The two armies were no more than three hours apart. Hideyoshi had sent an overwhelmingly large army into this one battle, and his warriors' morale was high. The probable outcome was clear before the fighting began.

The sun was high. It was almost the Hour of the Dragon. There had been fighting on the sh.o.r.e of Lake Yogo, but the Shibata had fled once again, collecting themselves in the area of Moyama and the Sokkai Pa.s.s.

Here, Maeda Inuchiyo and his son were camped, their banners flying peacefully. Very peacefully. Seated on his camp stool, Inuchiyo no doubt had coolly observed the gunfire and sparks that had been spreading over Shizugatake, Oiwa, and Shimizudani since dawn.

He commanded a wing of Katsuie's army, which put him in a truly delicate position, for his personal feelings and his duty to Katsuie were in conflict. One mistake and his province and entire family would perish. The situation was very clear. If he opposed Katsuie, he would be destroyed. If he abandoned his long friendship with Hideyoshi, however, he would be betraying his emotions.

Katsuie... Hideyoshi...

Comparing the two men, Inuchiyo very likely would not make a mistake in choosing between them. When he had left his castle at Fuchu for the battlefield, his wife had been worried about her husband's intentions and had questioned him closely.

"If you don't fight Lord Hideyoshi, you won't be fulfilling your duty as a warrior," she said.

"Do you think so?"

"But I don't think that you need to honor your word to Lord Katsuie."

"Don't be foolish. Do you think I'm capable of betraying my word as a warrior once I've given it?"

"Well then, which one are you going to support?"

"I'm leaving it up to heaven. I don't know what else I can do. Man's wisdom is too limited for something like this."

The b.l.o.o.d.y, screaming Sak.u.ma forces were fleeing toward the Maeda positions. "Don't panic! Don't act disgracefully!" Genba, who was also fleeing in that direction accompanied by a group of mounted men, leapt from his crimson saddle and rebuked his troops with hoa.r.s.e shrieks. "What's the matter with you? Are you going to run, after so little fighting?"

Reproaching his warriors, Genba was trying to encourage himself at the same time. As he sat down heavily on one of the rocks, his shoulders heaved and he seemed almost to be breathing fire. A bitter taste filled his mouth. The effort he had made not to lose his dignity as a general in the middle of this confusion and disaster was extraordinary, considering his youth.

It was only now that he was told that his younger brother had been killed. With open disbelief he listened to the reports informing him that many of his commanders had died.

"What about my other brothers?"

In response to that abrupt question, a retainer pointed them out behind him. "Two of your brothers are over there, my lord."

Genba, with bloodshot eyes, spotted the two men. Yasumasa had stretched out on the ground and was staring absentmindedly up to the sky. The youngest brother slept with head dangling off to the side, while blood from a wound filled his lap.

Genba felt affection for his brothers and was relived that they were still alive, but the sight of those same brothers-his own flesh and blood-also seemed to enrage him.

"Stand up, Yasumasa!" he yelled. "And pull yourself together, Shichiroemon! It's too early for you to be lying on the ground. What are you doing!"

Mustering his courage, Genba stood up with some difficulty. He, too, seemed to have sustained a wound.

"Where's Lord Inuchiyo's camp? On the top of that hill?" He started to walk away, dragging one of his feet, but turned back and looked at his younger brothers, who seemed coming behind him. "You don't have to come. You two should collect some men and prepare for the enemy. Hideyoshi is not going to waste time."

Genba sat on the commander's stool within the enclosure and waited. Inuchiyo soon appeared.

"I was sorry to hear what happened," he sympathized.

"Don't be." Genba managed to force a bitter smile. "With such mediocre thinking, I was bound to lose."

It was such an unexpectedly tame answer that Inuchiyo looked again at Genba. It seemed that Genba was taking the blame for his defeat entirely upon himself. Genba did not complain about Inuchiyo not sending his troops into battle.

"For the present, would you give us your a.s.sistance by holding off the attacking Hideyoshi forces with your fresh troops?"

"Of course. But do you want the spear corps or the firearm corps?"

"I would like the gunners' corps to lie in wait a good bit out in front. They could shoot into the confusion of the advancing enemy, and we could then act as a second force, brandishing our own b.l.o.o.d.y spears and fighting like we're ready to die. Go quickly! I beg of you!"

On any other day, Genba would not have begged Inuchiyo for anything. Even Inuchiyo could not help feeling pity for the man. He understood that Genba's humility was most likely due to the weakness he felt because of his defeat. But it also might have been because Genba already understood Inuchiyo's real intentions.

"The enemy seems to be approaching," Genba said, not relaxing even for a moment. As he muttered these words, he stood up. "Well then," he said, "I'll see you later." He lifted the curtain and went out, but then turned to Inuchiyo, who was coming out from behind to see him off. "We may not meet again on this earth, but I do not plan on dying ignominiously."

Inuchiyo escorted him as far as the place where he had been lingering a little while before. Genba bade him good-bye and descended the slope with quick steps. The scene below that filled his field of vision had changed completely from what it had been only minutes before.

The Sak.u.ma forces had numbered eight thousand men, but it appeared that only about one-third of them remained. The others were either dead or wounded or had deserted. Those who did remain were either routed soldiers or distracted commanders, and their yells of confusion made the situation seem even worse than it was.

It was clear that Genba's younger brothers were incapable of organizing the chaos. Most of the senior officers were dead. The various corps had no leaders, and the soldiers were unsure of who would be next in command, while Hideyoshi's army was already visible in the distance. Even if the Sak.u.ma brothers had been able to stop the rout at that point, little could have been done about the army's wavering.

But the gunners of the Maeda army ran as quietly as water through all the screaming and, quickly spreading out at some distance outside the camp, lay down. Observing that action, Genba yelled out a command in a penetrating voice, and finally the confusion abated a little.

The knowledge that fresh troops from the Maeda had entered the field became an extraordinary source of strength for Genba's soldiers, as well as for Genba and his remaining officers.

"Don't retreat a step until we see that d.a.m.ned monkey's head at the end of one of our spears! Don't let the Maeda laugh at us! Don't shame yourselves!"

Spurring them on, Genba moved around through his officers and men. As might be expected, the soldiers who had followed him that far were alive to the feeling of honor.

Blood and gore, dried by a sun that had been shining brightly since the early hours of the day, stained the armor and spears of many. Dirt and bits of gra.s.s were mixed in with the filth.

Every man's face showed that he craved a drink of water, even if just a mouthful. But was no time for that. Great clouds of yellow dust and the sounds of the enemy's horses were already approaching from the distance.

But Hideyoshi, who had advanced thus far from Shizugatake with a force that had swept over everything, pulled back just before Moyama.

"This camp is under the command of Maeda Inuchiyo and his son, Toshinaga," Hideyoshi announced.

With that observation, he suddenly brought the rushing advance of his vanguard to a halt. He then reorganized his his battle array and brought his men into formation.

At that point the two armies were out of firing range. Genba continued to command the Maeda gunners to take up a position in the path of the enemy's advance, but the dust covered Hideyoshi's army, which refused to advance into firing range.

After he had parted from Genba, Inuchiyo lingered at the edge of the mountain and watched the situation from afar. His intentions were a puzzle even to the generals around him. Two of his samurai, however, led out his horse.

Well, now he's determined to go out and fight. In their hearts, that is what his soldiers seemed to hope. But as Inuchiyo was stepping into the stirrups, he was whispering with a messengenger who had just returned with an answer from Toshinaga's encampment. Inumounted his horse but did not seem ready to move.

There was a noisy outburst in the direction of the foot of the mountain. When Inuchiyo and everyone else looked down that way, they could see that a frightened horse the rear of their formation had broken its tether and was running wild through the camp.

That would not have been a difficult situation in normal times, but at that juncture, confusion created more confusion and resulted in an uproar.

Inuchiyo looked back at the two samurai and signaled to them with his eyes.

"Carry on, everyone," he said to the retainers around him, and hastened his horse forward.

At the same moment, rattling musket fire echoed across the plain. That would have come from their own gunners' corps, and Hideyoshi's forces must have opened their a.s.sault simultaneously. With those thoughts, Inuchiyo charged down the slope, looking at clouds of dust and gunpowder smoke off to the side.

"Now! Now!" he muttered, and struck his saddle incessantly.

Gongs and large war drums were being beaten in one section of the encampment at Moyama, adding to the confusion. It seemed that Hideyoshi's irresistible forces had stepped over their own casualties on the gunners' line of defense and were already breaking deeply into the heart of the Sak.u.ma and Maeda corps. And, as easily as they hadthrown the central army into confusion, they were now coming with such fury that nothing could stop them.

Observing the violent fighting, Inuchiyo avoided the road, joined forces with his son, Toshinaga, and quickly started to withdraw.

Some of his officers were both angry and suspicious, but for Inuchiyo it was nothing more than the action he had decided upon earlier. In his heart of hearts, Inuchiyo had always been independent, and his wish had been for neutrality. Because of the position of his province, he had been sought after by Katsuie and had been compelled to join that man's side. But now, because of his friendship with Hideyoshi, he quietly retreated.

But Hideyoshi's advancing troops tore relentlessly into the Maeda army, and some of the rear guard were cut down.

In the meantime, Inuchiyo and his son led their almost completely uninjured troops out of camp; from Shiotsu they took a roundabout route through Hikida and Imajo and finally withdrew into Fuchu Castle. During the violent battle, which lasted two days, the Maeda encampment was like a solitary forest standing peacefully in the midst of the clouds of chaos.

What had conditions been in Katsuie's camp since the night before?

Katsuie had sent six different messengers to Genba, and each messenger had returned in complete failure. Katsuie then lamented that nothing more could be done and went to sleep with bitter resignation. In fact, he should not have been able to sleep at all: he was reaping what he himself had sown-his favoritism toward Genba had yielded the poison of blind love. He had made a grave mistake in being led by his emotions into confounding the flesh-and-blood bond of an uncle and his nephew with the solemn ties between a commander and his subordinate.

Now Katsuie fully understood. Genba had also been the cause of the rebellion of Katsuie's foster son, Katsutoyo, at Nagahama. And he had heard of Genba's unpleasant haughty behavior toward Maeda Inuchiyo, of all people, on the battlefield in Noto.

Even recognizing such flaws in the man, Katsuie was still sure that Genba's fiber was far above the average.

"Ah, but now those very qualities may prove to have been fatal," he mumbled, turning over in his sleep.

At the moment when the lamps were beginning to flicker, a number of warriors came running down the corridor. In the next room and the room next to that, Menju Shosuke and others started up from their sleep.

Hearing voices in response to those footsteps, the men who had been guarding Katsuie's quarters quickly ran out into the corridor.

"What's happened?"

The bearing of the warrior who had rushed in as a spokesman was not normal. He spoke so quickly that his words jumbled together.

"The sky over Kinomoto has been red for some time. Our scouts have just returned from Mount Higashino-"

"Don't be so long-winded! Just give us the essentials!" Menju abruptly admonished the man.

"Hideyoshi has arrived from Ogaki. His army is making a great uproar in the vicinity of Kinomoto," the warrior said in one breath.

"What? Hideyoshi?"

The agitated men had come as quickly as they could to report the situation at Katsui's sleeping quarters, but Katsuie had already heard what had been said and came out to the corridor himself.

"Did you hear what they were saying just now, my lord?"

"I heard," Katsuie replied. His face looked even more ashen than it had earlier in the venening. "As for that, Hideyoshi did the same thing during the campaign in the western provinces."

As might be expected, Katsuie remained calm and tried to quiet those around him, but he could not conceal his own residual emotions. He had warned Genba, and from way he was speaking now, it seemed almost as though he were proud that that warning had hit the mark. But this was also the voice of that brave general who had once been called Jar-Bursting Shibata or Demon Shibata. Those who heard it now could only feel pity.

"I can no longer rely on Genba. From here on I'll have to take my own stand, so we can fight to our hearts' content. Don't waver and don't be alarmed. We should be happy that Hideyoshi has finally come."

Gathering his generals, Katsuie sat down on his camp stool and issued the orders for troop dispositions. He behaved with the vigor of a young man. He had antic.i.p.ated Hideyoshi's coming as only a slight possibility; as soon as the possibility became a real threat, np was thrown into confusion. Not a few men left their posts of duty with the excuse of illness, others disobeyed orders, and many soldiers deserted in confusion and panic. It was a sad state of affairs: of seven thousand soldiers, not even three thousand now remained.

This was the army that had departed from Echizen with a will firmly set to fight Hideyoshi. Those men should not have been ready to run away at the first actual threat from him.

What had led them to that point-an army of over seven thousand men? It had been one thing only: the lack of an authoritative command. Also, Hideyoshi's actions had been unexpectedly swift, and that only dumbfounded them all the more. Rumors and false reports ran rampant, and thus cowardice was encouraged.

When Katsuie observed his troops' ugly confusion, he was not merely disheartened, but enraged. Gnashing his teeth, he seemed unable to keep from spitting out his indignation to the officers around him. First sitting, then standing, then walking around, the warriors around Katsuie had been unable to calm themselves down at all. His orders had been relayed two or three times, but the answers had been unclear.

"Why are you all so fl.u.s.tered?" he asked, rebuking those around him. "Calm down! Leaving posts of duty and spreading rumors and gossip only causes our men to become more confused. Anyone committing such acts will be severely punished," he said, adding one rebuke to another.

A number of his subordinates dashed out a second time, announcing his strict orders. But even after that, Katsuie could be heard shouting in a high-pitched voice, "Don't get excited! Don't get confused!" But his intentions to suppress the turmoil only resulted in adding one more voice to the wild commotion.

Dawn had almost come.

The war cries and musket fire that had moved from the area of Shizugatake to the western bank of Lake Yogo echoed across the water.

"The way things are going, Hideyoshi should be getting here soon!"

"At least by noon."

"What! You think they're going to wait until then?"

Cowardice engendered more cowardice, and finally fear enveloped the entire camp.

"There must be ten thousand of the enemy!"

"No, I think there must be twenty thousand!"

"What? With that kind of power, there must be thirty thousand of them!"

The soldiers were caught up in their own fears, and no one felt comfortable without the agreement of his companions. Then a rumor that sounded like the truth started to circulate.

"Maeda Inuchiyo has gone over to Hideyoshi!"

At that point, the Shibata officers were no longer able to control their troops. Katsuie finally mounted his horse. Riding around the area of Kitsunezaka, he personally berated the soldiers in the separate encampments. Apparently he had come to the conclusion that it would be ineffective to let his own generals pa.s.s on the strict orders coming from headquarters.

"Anyone leaving camp for no reason will be cut down immediately," he screamed. Chase down and shoot any cowardly deserters! Anyone spreading rumors or dampening the martial spirit of the men is to be killed on the spot!"

But the situation had advanced too far, and the revival of Katsuie's severe martial spirit was in vain. Over half of his seven thousand troops had already deserted, and the remaining men hardly had their feet on the ground. In addition, they had already lost confidence in their own commander-in-chief. Reduced as he was to a position lacking in respect, even Demon Shibata's orders sounded hollow.

He rode back into his main camp, which was already under attack.

Ah, he thought, the end has come for me, too.... Seeing his dispirited army, Katsuie realized the futility of the situation. His fierce spirit, however, pushed him on relentlessly toward his own desperate death. As dawn began to break, horses and men were scattered thinly over his spa.r.s.e camp.

"My lord, this way. Over here for just a moment." Two warriors held on to either side of Katsuie's armor as though they were supporting his large body. "It's not like you to be this quick-tempered." Leading him forcibly through the maelstrom of horses and men and out of the temple gate, they shouted desperately at the others, "Hurry up and bring his horse! Where is our lord's horse!"