The villagers told him that the battle had begun at dawn and was completely unexpected. Just as they had seen the flames from Mount Oiwa, they had heard war cries like the sound of tidal waves. Then, warriors from the Sakuma forces, perhaps a reconnoitering party, had whipped their horses through the village from the direction of Yogo. Rumor had it that Nakagawa Sebei's forces defended the fortress but were cut down to the last man.
When asked if they knew anything about Kuwayama's men in the area of Shizugatake, the villagers answered that just moments ago, Lord Kuwayama Shigeharu had led all of his forces from the fortress at Shizugatake and was now hurrying along the mountain road in the direction of Kinomoto.
This information left Niwa in openmouthed surprise. He had come with reinforcements, ready to entrench himself here with his allies, but the Nakagawa forces had been annihilated and the Kuwayama forces had abandoned their posts and were fleeing as fast as they could. What disgraceful conduct! What had they been thinking? Niwa pitied Kuwayama's confusion.
"And this happened just now?" he asked the villagers.
"They couldn't be much farther than half a league away," the farmer replied.
"Inosuke!" he called out to a retainer. "Run after the Kuwayama corps and talk with Lord Shigeharu. Tell him that I've come and that we'll defend Shizugatake together. Tell him to turn back immediately!"
"Yes, my lord!"
The man whipped his horse and hurried off in the direction of Kinomoto.
Kuwayama had tried two or three times that morning to persuade Nakagawa to retreat, but had offered him no help at all and had completely lost his head at the onslaught of the Sakuma forces. As soon as he heard of the destruction of the Nakagawa corps, he wavered all the more. Then, in the face of the rout of the central camp of his allies, he abandoned Shizugatake without firing a single bullet or wielding a spear in resistance, fleeing with a pace that left every man for himself.
His intentions were to join up with their allies at Kinomoto and then wait for Hidenaga's orders. But now, en route, here was a man from the Niwa clan informing him of
Niwa’s reinforcements. Suddenly gaining courage, he reorganized his troops, made a turnaround, and went back to Shizugatake.
In the meantime Niwa had reassured the villagers. Ascending Shizugatake, he was finall united with Kuwayama Shigeharu.
He wrote a letter at once, sending it by dispatch to Hideyoshi's camp in Mino, informing him of the urgency of the situation.
The Sakuma forces at Mount Oiwa made a provisional camp there and, secure in their feeling of triumph, rested quietly for more than two hours from about the Hour of the Hrse. The warriors were weary after the intense battle and the long march that had started the night before. After eating their provisions, however, they took pride in their blood-soaked hands and feet; lighthearted talk arose here and there, and their fatigue was forgotten.
Orders were given, and the officers were told to relay them from corps to corps.
“Sleep! Sleep! Close your eyes for a while. No one knows what's going to happen tonight!"
The clouds overhead looked like the clouds of summer, and the cries of the season's first cicadas could be heard in the trees. The wind wafted pleasantly over the mountains from lake to lake, and the soldiers—who had now satisfied their empty stomachs—finally felt themselves becoming drowsy. Still holding their firearms and spears, they sat down.
In the shade of the trees, the horses closed their eyes as well, and even the group commanders leaned against the trunks and fell asleep.
Everything was quiet, but it was the kind of silence that comes after an intense fight. The camp of their enemies—who had been wrapped in dreams until just before dawn—had been turned to ashes, and all of its soldiers become corpses left to the clusters of grass. It was now fully day, but death was in the air. Except for the alertness of the sentries everything was subdued, even the atmosphere in the staff headquarters was hushed,
The loud snores of the commander-in-chief, Genba, leaked happily through the curtains. Suddenly, five or six horses came to a halt somewhere, and a group of men in helmets and armor ran in the direction of the field staff headquarters. The members of the staff, who had sat sleeping around Genba, quickly looked outside.
“What's up?" they yelled.
“It's Matsumura Tomojuro, Kobayashi Zusho, and the other scouts."
“Come on in."
The man who invited them in was Genba. Awakened unexpectedly, his eyes were wide with surprise and still red from a lack of sleep. It appeared that just before taking a nap, he had gulped down a good deal of sake. A large red sake cup lay empty next to his seat
Matsumura knelt in a corner of the curtained enclosure and then reported what they had observed.
“There's no longer even a single enemy soldier at Mount Iwasaki. We thought there was a chance that they had hidden their banners and were planning to lie in wait for us, so we looked around to make sure. But the commanding general, Takayama Ukon, and everyone under his command have gone to Mount Tagami."
Genba clapped his hands.
"They ran away?" He laughed out loud and looked around at his staff officers. "He says Ukon ran away! He's a fast one, isn't he!" He laughed again, sending his entire body into convulsions of glee.
It seemed he had not yet sobered up from the drunken state he had fallen into after the victory sake. Genba could not stop laughing.
Just then, the messenger who had been sent to Katsuie's main camp to report on the war situation returned with Katsuie's instructions.
"Are there no enemy movements in the area of Kitsunezaka?" Genba asked.
"Nothing in particular. Lord Katsuie seems to be in very fine spirits."
"I imagine he was quite pleased."
"Yes, he was." The messenger continued to answer Genba's repeated questions without even the chance to wipe the sweat from his brow. "When I described the details of this morning's battle to him, he said, 'Is that so? Well, that's just like that nephew of mine.
"Well, what about Sebei's head?"
"He examined it immediately and said that it was definitely Sebei's. Looking around at the men who were with him, he declared it to be a good omen, and his mood seemed to improve even more."
Genba was in a very good mood himself. Hearing of Katsuie's happiness, he exulted in his own triumph and burned with the desire to surprise his uncle with even greater joy.
"I suppose that the lord of Kitanosho still doesn't know that the fortress at Mount Iwasaki has also fallen into my hands," he laughed. "He gets satisfied just a little too quickly."
"No, the capture of Iwasaki was reported to him at about the time I was taking my leave."
"Well then, there's no need to send another dispatch, is there?"
"If that were the only thing."
"At any rate, by tomorrow morning Shizugatake is going to be mine."
"Well, as for that…"
"What do you mean?"
"Lord Katsuie said you might get carried away with this victory and start viewing the enemy as being too easy to deal with, and this might begin to put you off guard."
"You're talking foolishness," Genba said, laughing. "I'm not going to get drunk on this one victory."
"But just before you left, Lord Katsuie gave you that one warning in particular, telling you to make a clean retreat when you've entered deep into the enemy's territory. It's dangerous to stay here very long. Today again, he told me to tell you to return right away."
"He said to withdraw immediately?"
"His words were that you should withdraw quickly and unite forces with our allies to the rear."