"What was Lord Nobuo's answer?" he asked. His voice was low, but there was an extraordinary expectant light in his eyes.
Tsuda spoke first. "Lord Nobuo says that he understands your feelings very well and gives his consent for a meeting."
“What! He's agreed?"
“Not only that, but he was extremely pleased."
“Really?" Hideyoshi expanded his chest and let out a tremendous sigh. "Really? That's really what happened?" he repeated.
Hideyoshi's intentions in advancing along the Ise Road at this time had been based on a gamble from the very beginning. He had hoped for a diplomatic solution, but if that failed, he would strike at Kuwana, Nagashima, and Kiyosu. That would open Mount Komaki to attack from the rear.
Tsuda was related to the Oda clan and was a second cousin to Nobuo, to whom he explained the advantages and disadvantages of the situation, and from whom he finally elicited an answer.
“I'm not the kind of person who likes war at all," Nobuo replied. "If Hideyoshi thinks that much of me and wants to hold a peace conference, I would not be indisposed toward meeting him."
From the very first battle at Mount Komaki, Hideyoshi had seen that Ieyasu would be difficult to deal with. After that, he had studied the inner workings of the human heart and had manipulated the men around him from the shadows.
In the inner circles of the Tokugawa clan, Ishikawa Kazumasa was regarded with some suspicion, due to Hideyoshi's influence. Thus, when Niwa Nagahide moved toward arbitration, the men in Nobuo's inner circle who had former connections with him were quickly ostracized as a peace faction. Nobuo himself was uneasy about Ieyasu's true intentions, and the Tokugawa eyed Nobuo's army with vigilance. This state of affairs had evolved under specific orders from faraway Osaka.
It was an article of faith with Hideyoshi that no matter what kind of diplomatic scheme he used, the sacrifices involved were far preferable to those made in war. More than that, after having tried the alternatives—facing Ieyasu directly at Mount Komaki, engaging in some clever military plan, and even making a menacing bluff—Hideyoshi felt that making war on Ieyasu was having absolutely no effect and that he would have to try some other tack.
The meeting the following day with Nobuo was exactly the realization of such deliberation and forethought.
Hideyoshi got up early and, looking up at the sky, said, "The weather's just right."
In the sky the night before, the cloud movements of late autumn had given him some anxiety; and he feared that if by any chance it became windy and rainy, Nobuo's side might say it wanted to postpone the time or change the place, and it might then be suspected by the Tokugawa. Hideyoshi had gone to sleep concerned about how unsavory that might be, but this morning the clouds had blown away and the sky was bluer than usual for the time of year. Hideyoshi took it as a good omen and, wishing himself luck, mounted his horse and left the camp at Nawabu.
His attendants were only a few senior retainers and pages and the two former envoys, Tomita and Tsuda. When the group finally crossed the Machiya River, however, Hideyoshi had taken the precaution to hide a number of his soldiers among the reeds and farmhouses during the night before. Hideyoshi chatted amiably on horseback as though he didn't see them, and finally dismounted at the bank of the Yada River close to the western outskirts of Kuwana.
"Shall we wait here for Lord Nobuo to come?" he asked, and, sitting down on his camp stool, he looked out at the local scenery.
Not long thereafter, Nobuo, accompanied by a group of mounted retainers, arrived on time. Nobuo must have spotted the men waiting on the riverbank as well, and he immediately began conferring with the generals to his right and left as he focused his eyes on Hideyoshi. He brought his horse to a halt in the distance and dismounted, apparently still quite apprehensive.
The crowd of warriors that accompanied him opened up to the right and left. Placing himself at their center, Nobuo started toward Hideyoshi, his armor displaying all of his martial prestige.
Hideyoshi. Here was the man who, until just the other day, had been vilified to the nation as the worst kind of assassin and inhuman ingrate. Here was the enemy whose crimes had been enumerated by both himself and Ieyasu. Even though he had agreed to Hideyoshi's proposal and was meeting him here, Nobuo was unable to feel at ease. What were the man's true intentions?
As Hideyoshi caught sight of Nobuo standing in all his dignity, he left his stool behind him and, completely alone, went hurrying toward him.
"Ah, Lord Nobuo!" He was waving both hands, just as though this were some unplanned and unexpected meeting.
Nobuo was bewildered, but the retainers around him, who looked so imposing with their spears and armor, gaped in openmouthed surprise.
But this was not their only shock. Hideyoshi was now kneeling at Nobuo's feet, prostrating himself so that his face nearly touched Nobuo's straw sandals.
Then, taking the hand of the stunned Nobuo, he said, "My lord, there hasn't been a day this year that I haven't thought about wanting to meet you. Before anything else, I'm extremely pleased to see that you're in good health. What kind of evil spirit could have confused you, my lord, and brought us to fight one another? From this day forth you will be my lord, just as before."
"Hideyoshi, please get up. I'm speechless at your repentance. We were both at fault. But first please get up."
Nobuo pulled Hideyoshi up with the hand the latter had grasped.
The meeting of the two men on the eleventh day of the Eleventh Month went smoothly, and the peace accord was agreed upon. It goes without saying that the proper order of things would have been for Nobuo to have discussed the matter with Ieyasu and to have gotten his agreement before the fact. But he responded totally to this opportune blessing, and an independent peace was established.
The simple fact was that the beanbag that Ieyasu had thrown around and used for his own purposes was being snatched from the side by Hideyoshi. Essentially, Nobuo had been taken in.
One can only imagine the sweet words Hideyoshi used to gain Nobuo's favor. In fact, in all his years of service, Hideyoshi had rarely moved Nobuo's father, Nobunaga, to appeasing Nobuo must have been easy for him. But the conditions of the peace that had first been communicated by the two envoys were neither sweet nor easy:
Item: : Hideyoshi would adopt Nobuo's daughter.
Item: The four districts in northern Ise that Hideyoshi had occupied would be returned to Nobuo.
Item: Nobuo would send women and children from his clan as hostages.
Item: Three districts in Iga, seven districts in southern Ise, Inuyama Castle in Owari, and the fortress at Kawada would be given to Hideyoshi.
Item: All of the temporary fortifications belonging to both sides in the two provinces of Ise and Owari were to be destroyed.
Nobuo affixed his seal to the document. As gifts from Hideyoshi that day, Nobuo received twenty pieces of gold and a sword made by Fudo Kuniyuki. He was also presented with thirty-five thousand bales of rice as spoils of war from the Ise area.
Hideyoshi had bowed to Nobuo and shown him respect, and had given him gifts as proof of his goodwill. Treated in that way, Nobuo could not help but smile with satisfaction. It is certain, however, that Nobuo had not considered how his scheming was going to come back at him. In terms of the ebb and flow of the violent tides of the times, Nobuo could only be called an unpardonable fool. There would be no blame if Nobuo had remained on the sidelines. But he had come out at the very center, had been made a tool of war, and had caused a great number of men to die under his banners.
* * *
The one who was most surprised when the facts were out was Ieyasu, who had already moved from Okazaki to Kiyosu to gain a war footing and confront Hideyoshi. It was the morning of the twelfth.