“What about the messenger?" Shogen asked.
The page replied that the man had left immediately upon delivering the letter.
The same anxious look darkened the faces of the three men. No matter how brave they were, they could not feel at ease, knowing that their treachery might have been exposed.
“How could it have leaked out?" Ogane asked.
Even their mumbling sounded like complaints. Now that the plot had been exposed, the tea ceremony was forgotten, and their thoughts turned to making good their own escape. Both Ogane and Kinoshita appeared as though they could hardly bear to stay there a moment longer.
“There's nothing we can do after this." As that lament escaped Shogen's lips, the other two men felt as though they had been struck in the chest. Shogen, however, glared at them as if he were telling them to keep their heads.
“The two of you should take your men and go as quickly as possible to Ikenohara. Wait there near the big pine tree. I'm going to send a letter to Nagahama. Then I'll follow you right away,"
“To Nagahama? What sort of letter?"
“My mother, wife, and children are still in the castle. I can escape, but my mother and the others will certainly be held hostage if we wait too long."
“I suspect you're too late. Do you really think there's still time?"
“What am I going to do? Just abandon them there? Ogane, pass me that inkstone there.
Shogen began to run his brush rapidly over the sheet of paper. Just then, one of his retainers came in to report that Nomura Shojiro had disappeared.
Shogen threw down his brush in disgust. "It was him, then. I've been negligent about that fool for some time. He'll pay for this."
He glared as though he were giving someone the evil eye, and the hand that held the letter addressed to his wife began to shake.
“Ippeita!" he shrieked.
The man quickly appeared.
“Take a horse and hurry to Nagahama. Find my family and put them on a boat. Don’t even think about saving their possessions; just scull across the lake to Lord Katsuie's camp. I’m relying on you. Go immediately, and don't waste a single moment," he ordered.
Almost before he finished speaking, Shogen had fastened the bindings on his armor. Holding a long spear, he ran out of the building. Ogane and Kinoshita both quickly gathered their men and went down the mountain.
At about that time the dawn was turning white, and Hayato had sent out his forces. When the men led by Ogane and Kinoshita reached the foot of the mountain, they were ambushed by Osaki. Those who survived the attack tried to flee to the big pine tree in Ikenohara where they would wait for Shogen. But Hayato's men had gone around the northern end of Mount Dangi and cut off their escape by that road. Encircled this time, almost all of them were annihilated.
Shogen was only one step behind them. He, too, fled in that direction with a few men. He wore his helmet with deer antlers and his black leather armor and carried his long spear under his arm as he rode. He truly looked like a warrior ready to cut through the wind and the bravest of Katsutoyo's retainers, but he had already strayed from the Way of the Samurai, and the sounds of righteousness and lofty ideals were lacking in the galloping of his horse's hooves.
Suddenly he was surrounded by Hayato's troops.
"Don't let the traitor get away!"
They heaped abuse on Shogen, but he fought as though he was not afraid to die. Carving out a road of blood as he passed, he finally escaped from the iron cage. Whipping his horse at full speed for about two leagues, he soon joined up with Yasumasa's army, which had been waiting since the night before. Had the assassination of Hayato been a success, the two fortresses on Motoyama would have been attacked and taken at the appearance of Shogen's signal fires. But the plan had not gone as expected, and Shogen had barely escaped with his life.
As he listened to the way events had turned out from his brother Yasumasa, Genba looked disgusted. "What? You mean that Hayato got the first move on them because the plot was exposed this morning?" he said. "Well, Shogen's plan must have been poorly conceived. Tell all three men to come here."
Until then Genba had done everything to induce Shogen to betray his lord, but now that the scheme had fallen short of his expectations, he talked about him as though he were nothing but trouble.
Shogen and the two others were expecting to be well received, but they were to be greatly disappointed by Genba's attitude. Shogen asked to meet Katsuie and report some highly secret information to him in order to make up for his failure.
"That sounds hopeful, doesn't it?" Genba's mood showed a little improvement, but to Ogane and Kinoshita he was just as brusque as before. "The two of you stay here. Only Shogen will be going with me to the main camp."
With that, they left immediately for Mount Nakao.
The incident that morning, with all of its complications, had been reported in detail to Katsuie.
When, not long thereafter, Genba accompanied Shogen to Katsuie's camp, the latter sat waiting for them on his general's stool with a haughty look. Katsuie always looked dignified no matter what the situation. Shogen was quickly granted an audience.
"You failed this time, Shogen," Katsuie said.
The expression on his face as he spat out his real feelings was a complex one. It was commonly said that the Shibata uncle and nephew both had calculating, self-interested natures, and now both Katsuie and Genba waited with cold expressions for Shogen to speak.
The oversight was mine," Shogen said, aware that he could do nothing more than apologize. At that point he must have repented his decision bitterly, but now there was no way of going back. Bearing shame on top of shame and stifling his anger, he could only bow his head to the ground in front of that arrogant and selfish lord.
All he could do was beg for Katsuie's mercy. He did, however, have another plan with which he might curry favor with Katsuie, and it had to do with the question of Hideyoshi’s whereabouts. Both Katsuie and Genba had a deep interest in that question, and when Shogen mentioned the subject, they listened eagerly.
“Where is Hideyoshi now?"
“Hideyoshi's whereabouts are kept secret even from his own men," Shogen explained. “Though he was seen during the construction of the fortresses, he hasn't been in camp here for some time. But he's probably in Nagahama, and he might make preparations for attacking from Gifu, while watching the situation here at the same time. He may be putting himself in a position to react to conditions in either place."
Katsuie nodded gravely, exchanging glances with Genba. "That's it. That must be it. He must be in Nagahama."
“But what kind of proof do you have?"
“I have no real proof," Shogen replied. "But if you'll give me a few days I'll verify the details of Hideyoshi's whereabouts. There were several men in Nagahama who took a kind interest in me, and I'm sure that when they know that I'm supporting you, my lord, they’ll slip out of Nagahama and inquire about me here. Also, the reports from the spies I sent out should be coming in soon. Beyond that, I would like to offer a strategy that will defeat Hideyoshi," he concluded, with a look that hinted at the extent of his faith in his scheme
“You should be very, very careful, don't you think? But let's hear what you have to say.”
At dawn on the nineteenth day of the month, Shogen and Genba visited Katsuie's headquarters a second time. What Shogen carried with him that morning was certainly valuable. Genba had already heard Shogen's information, but as Katsuie now heard it for the first time, his eyes widened like saucers, and the hairs all over his body stood on end.
Shogen spoke with great excitement. "For the past few days Hideyoshi has been at Nagahama. Two days ago, on the seventeenth, he suddenly led a force of twenty thousand men out of the castle there and force-marched to Ogaki, where he set up camp. It goes without saying that by crushing Lord Nobutaka in Gifu with a single blow, he would cut off any anxiety about being attacked from the rear. We can surmise, then, that he is resolved to raise his entire force, turn in that direction, and make a move for a decisive, all-or-nothing battle. It is said that before leaving Nagahama," Shogen continued, "Hideyoshi had all the hostages from Lord Nobutaka's family killed, so you can understand the resolve with which the bastard moved on Gifu. And there's more. Yesterday his vanguard set fires in various places and is preparing for a siege of Gifu Castle."
The day we've been waiting for is coming, Katsuie thought, almost licking his lips.
Genba was of the same mind. He burned with the same thoughts, but even more so.Here was an opportunity—a matchless opportunity. But how could they make full use of it?
Little opportunities here, little opportunities there during hostilities came in waves of tens of thousands, but a truly great opportunity on which hung a man's rise or fall in a single blow came only once. Now Katsuie was at the point of grasping or of failing to grasp that kind of opportunity. Katsuie nearly drooled as he thought the possibilities through, and Genba's face was flushed.
"Shogen," Katsuie finally began, "if you have some sort of strategy to offer, please speak frankly."
"My own humble opinion is that we should not miss this opportunity, but should attack the two enemy fortresses at Mount Iwasaki and Mount Oiwa. We could act in concert with Lord Nobutaka, even though Gifu is far away, and act just as quickly as Hideyoshi. Your allies could, at the same time, attack and destroy Hideyoshi's fortresses."
"Ah, that is exacdy what I'd like to do, but such things are more easily said than done, Shogen. The enemy is also not without men, and they're building fortresses too, aren't they?"
"When you look at Hideyoshi's battle formation from within, there is one very large opening," Shogen replied. "Consider this. The two enemy fortresses at Iwasaki and Oiwa are far from your camp, but you still consider them to be central strongholds. The fact is, however, that the construction of both of those fortresses is much flimsier and rougher than that of any of the others. Add to this that both the commanders and the soldiers protecting these places are under the impression that the enemy would never attack them. To all appearances, they have been extremely negligent in their preparations. If we mount a surprise attack, it must be there. Moreover, once we destroy the enemy's very core, how much more easily the other castles would fall!"