"Ah, so you want to give our lord's army in Nagakute enough time to be fully prepared and waiting for Hideyoshi."
"That's right," Honda nodded, striking his horse's saddle. "To buy time for our alliesin Nagakute, we should do our best to get a firm grip on Hideyoshi's feet and slow down his attack—even if just a little—with our own deaths. Act with that in mind, Tadatsugu."
"Good. I understand."
Kazumasa and Honda turned their horses' heads to the side.
"Divide your gunners into three groups. As they hurry along the road, each group can alternately kneel and fire at the enemy on the opposite bank."
The enemy moved quickly along the opposite bank, seeming almost to keep pace with the quick-running current. Honda's men had to do everything with the same rhythm but in double-time and constantly on the run—whether it was an attack or the reorganization of their units.
Because they were close to the water, the musket fire echoed far more loudly than it ordinarily would have, and the gunpowder smoke spread over the river like a vast curtain. As one unit leaped in front and fired, the next unit readied its muskets. Then that unit jumped forward, taking the place of the first unit, and immediately fired toward the opposite bank.
A number of Hideyoshi's troops were seen to tumble over in rapid succession. Very quickly, the line of marching men started to waver.
"Who in the world can that be, challenging us with such a tiny force?"
Hideyoshi was surprised. With a look of shock on his face, he unconsciously stopped his horse.
The generals riding around him and the men close by all shaded their eyes with their hands and looked at the opposite bank, but no one could give a quick answer to Hideyoshi's question.
"To act so bravely toward an army of this size with a little force of less than a thousand men, that must be a daring commander! Does anybody recognize him?"
Hideyoshi asked the question repeatedly, looking around at the men in front and behind him.
Then someone at the head of the line said, "I know who that is."
The man who spoke was Inaba Ittetsu, the commander of Sone Castle in Mino. In spite of his venerable age, he had joined this great battle for Hideyoshi's sake and had been at his side as a guide from the very beginning of the campaign.
"Ah, Ittetsu. Do you recognize the enemy general on the other side of the river?"
"Well, from the antlers on his helmet and the white braid on his armor, I'm sure it nust be Ieyasu's right-hand man, Honda Heihachiro. I remember him clearly from the battle at Ane River years ago."
When Hideyoshi heard this, he looked as though he were about to shed tears. "Ah, what a brave man! With one small force he strikes at twenty thousand. If that is Honda, he must be a stalwart fellow. How touching that he would try to help Ieyasu escape by nomentarily obstructing us here and by dying himself," he muttered. And then, "He's to be sympathized with. Our men are not to shoot a single arrow or bullet in his direction, no matter how much of an attack the man might make. If there is some karmic relation between us, I'll make him one of my own retainers one day. He's a man to be loved. Don't shoot; just let him go."
During that time, of course, the three groups of gunners on the other bank busilycontinued to load their muskets and shoot relentlessly. One or two bullets even came close to Hideyoshi. Just then, the armored warrior upon whom Hideyoshi had beenstraining his eyes—Honda, the man wearing the helmet adorned with deer antlers—went down to the water's edge, dismounted, and washed his horse's muzzle with water from the river.
Separated from him by the width of the river, Hideyoshi looked at the man, while Honda gazed steadily at the group of generals—one of whom was clearly Hideyoshi—who had stopped their horses.
Hideyoshi's gunners' corps began to open fire in response, but Hideyoshi once again reproved his entire army. "Don't shoot! Just hurry on! Hurry on ahead!" With that, he urged his horse on with all the more speed.
When Honda observed that action on the other bank, he yelled out, "Don't let them go!" and doubled his speed. Moving ahead on the road, he once again made a fierce musket attack on Hideyoshi's troops, but Hideyoshi would not take up the challenge and soon took up a position on a hill close to the plain of Nagakute.
As soon as they arrived at their destination, Hideyoshi gave orders to three of his generals to take the same number of light cavalry units and ride out quickly. "Do what you can with the Tokugawa forces that are withdrawing from Nagakute to Obata."
He made his headquarters on the hill, while his twenty thousand fresh troops spread out beneath the red evening sun, demonstrating their intention to take revenge upon Ieyasu.
Hideyoshi assigned two men as chiefs of a scouting unit, and they went off secretly toward Obata Castle. After that, Hideyoshi quickly worked out the military operations for his entire army. But before the orders could be sent out, an urgent report arrived:
"Ieyasu is no longer on the battlefield."
"That can't be!" the generals all said together. As Hideyoshi sat silently, the three commanders he had previously sent out toward Nagakute came hurrying back.
"Ieyasu and his main force have already withdrawn to Obata. We encountered a few scattered groups of the enemy that were late in retreating toward the castle, but the others seem to have been about an hour ahead of us," they reported.
Of the three hundred Tokugawa soldiers they had killed, not one had been a general of note.
"We were too late." Hideyoshi had no way to dispel his anger, and it clearly burned in the color of his face.
The scouts' reports were all the same: the castle at Obata had closed its gates and appeared to be quiet, proof that Ieyasu had already withdrawn into the castle and was calmly savoring today's military victory as he rested.
In the midst of his complicated emotions, Hideyoshi unconsciously clapped his hands and congratulated Ieyasu. "That's Ieyasu for you! He has remarkable speed. He retreats into a castle and closes up the gates without any boasting. This is one bird we're not going to catch with either birdlime or a net. But you watch, I'll make Ieyasu behave a littie more properly after a few years and have him bow in front of me."
It was already twilight, and a night attack on a castle was considered something to avoid. Moreover, the army had come from Gakuden without rest, so further actiontonight was temporarily postponed. The orders were changed. The men were to eat their provisions. Clouds of campfire smoke climbed into the evening sky. The scouts who had gone from Obata quickly returned. Ieyasu had been sleeping but got up to hear the report. Apprised of the situation, he announced that everyone would immediately be returning to Mount Komaki. His generals argued emphatically for a midnight attack on Hideyoshi, but Ieyasu just laughed and left for Mount Komaki by a circuitous route.
Taiko
Having no other recourse, Hideyoshi turned his army around and withdrew to the fortified camp at Gakuden. He could not deny that the defeat at Nagakute had been a serious blow, even though it had been caused by the overzealousness of Shonyu. But it was also a fact that, on this particular occasion, Hideyoshi had been slow in starting.
It was not because Hideyoshi was measuring himself against Ieyasu on the battlefield for the first time. He had know Ieyasu long before engaging him in battle. Rather, because it was a standoff of master against master—a match between two champions—Hideyoshi was being especially circumspect.
"Don't pay any attention to small castles on the way. Don't waste time," Hideyoshi had warned, but Shonyu had been challenged by the garrison of Iwasaki and had stopped to crush it.
The abilities of Ieyasu and Hideyoshi would determine the outcome of the battle. When Hideyoshi heard of the defeat at Nagakute, he was convinced that his opportunity had come. The deaths of Shonyu and Nagayoshi would surely be the bait for taking Ieyasu alive.