provinces: Bizen, Harima, and Mimasaka. Though it was only a small castle near a mountain village, it occupied a very important strategic position.
If one ever wanted to enter the Sanin area, Kozuki was the barrier one would first have to control. It was natural that the Mori would give this serious consideration, and Hideyoshi was impressed with the enemy's astute grasp of the situation. But he did not have enough strength to divide his army in two.
Nobunaga was not so small-minded as to be unable to delegate important tasks to the men under his command. But the general rule was that everything had to be in his own hands. His guiding principle was that if someone threatened his control, that person was not to be trusted at all. Hideyoshi had learned this lesson well. Even though he had been given the responsibility of commander-in-chief of the campaign, he never took major decisions on his own.
Thus he would send inquiries by dispatch and always ask for Nobunaga's advice, even though it may have looked as though he were asking instructions from Azuchi for every single trifling matter. He sent trusted retainers as envoys to make detailed reports on the situation, so that Nobunaga could have a clear understanding of what was going on.
Having made up his mind in his usual fashion, Nobunaga immediately ordered preparations for his departure. The other generals, however, admonished him in chorus. Nobumori, Takigawa, Hachiya, Mitsuhide—all were of the same opinion.
'Harima is a place of difficult peaks and pathways, a battlefield of mountains and hills. Shouldn't you first send reinforcements and then wait to see what the enemy does?'
Another general continued the argument, 'And if His Lordship's campaign in the west drags on unexpectedly, the Honganji may cut us off from the rear and threaten our men from both land and sea.'
Nobunaga was persuaded by their arguments and postponed his departure. But one must not overlook the emotions of the generals toward Hideyoshi each time a war council was called. Without actually saying so, they seemed to be asking why Hideyoshi had been made commander-in-chief, implying that the responsibility was too much for him. And as these insinuations circulated, there was one more at the bottom of them all: if Nobunaga went himself, it would still be Hideyoshi who took all the credit.
Leading reinforcements of about twenty thousand men, Nobumori, Takigawa, Niwa, and Mitsuhide left the capital and reached Harima at the beginning of the Fifth Month. Nobunaga later sent his son, Nobutada, to join them.
In the meantime, having increased his main army with the advance party of reinforcements led by Araki Murashige, Hideyoshi moved the entire force, now east of Kozuki Castle, to Mount Takakura. Reviewing the position of Kozuki Castle from this vantage point, he could see that it would be extremely difficult to establish contact with the men trapped inside.
Both the main stream and the tributaries of the Ichi River flowed around the mountain upon which the castle stood. Moreover, the castle was closed to both the northwest and southwest by the inaccessible crags of Mount Okami and Mount Taihei. There was simply no way open to approach it.
There was only a road, and it was blockaded by the Mori. Beyond that, the enemy fortifications and banners appeared at every river, valley, and mountain. A castle with such natural defenses could be held, but the very nature of its position made it extremely difficult for reinforcements to reach it.
'There's nothing we can do,' Hideyoshi lamented. It was as though he were confessing that, as a general, he had not the first idea for a strategy.
Finally, when night fell, he ordered his men to make bonfires. And to make them big. Soon, huge flames could be seen from Mount Takakura to the neighborhood of Mount Mikazuki, rising over the peaks and valleys. During the day, innumerable banners and flags were hung between the trees on the high ground, which at least showed the enemy that Hideyoshi's army was present and also encouraged the tiny force inside the castle. This went on until the Fifth Month and the arrival of twenty thousand reinforcement under Nobumori, Niwa, Takigawa, and Mitsuhide.
Everyone's spirits were raised, but the actual results did not justify such elation. The reason was that there were now too many illustrious generals present in one place. With all of them shoulder to shoulder with Hideyoshi, there was not one who wanted to be put into a subordinate position. Niwa and Nobumori were both Hideyoshi's seniors, while Mitsuhide and Takigawa were his equals in terms of popularity and intelligence.
They themselves engendered an atmosphere of doubt concerning who the commander- in-chief really was. Orders cannot come down even two roads, and now they were being issued by several generals. The enemy was able to sniff out such internal difficulties. The Mori forces were awake enough to see through the inefficiency of the situation. One night the troops of Kobayakawa skirted the rear of Mount Takakura and made a surprise attack on the Oda camp.
Hideyoshi's men sustained a number of casualties. Next, the troops of Kikkawa moved quickly from the plains to the rear up to the area of Shikama and made a surprise attack on the Oda supply corps, burning its ships and generally doing their best to cause disruption.
One morning, as Hideyoshi looked in the direction of Kozuki, he saw that the castle's watchtower had been completely destroyed overnight. Inquiring into the matter, he was informed that the Mori army possessed one of the Southern Barbarians' cannons and had probably pulverized the tower by making a direct hit with a huge ball. Impressed by this show of force, Hideyoshi left for the capital.
* * *
When Hideyoshi arrived in Kyoto, he went straight to Nijo Palace, his clothes still dusty from the road, his face covered with stubble.
'Hideyoshi?' Nobunaga had to look twice at Hideyoshi just to make sure it was him. He certainly looked different from the man who had marched off at the head of his troops; his eyes had a hollow look, and a sparse, reddish beard surrounded his mouth like a scrubbing brush.
'Hideyoshi, why have you come here looking so pressed?'
'I haven't had a moment to spare, my lord.'
'If that's so, why are you here?'
'I've come to ask for instructions.'
'What a troublesome general you are! I made you commander-in-chief, didn't I? If you keep asking my opinion about everything, there'll be no time to put your tactics into action. Why are you so reserved on this particular occasion? Can't you act on your own?'
'Your irritation is entirely reasonable, my lord, but your orders have to come through single channel.'
'When I put the baton of command in your hand, I gave you authority in every situation. If you understand what I want, then your instructions are my instructions. What is there to be confused about?'
'With all due respect, that's exactly the point I'm having some difficulty with. I don't want to let one single soldier die in vain.'
'What are you trying to say?'
'If the present situation persists, we cannot win.'
'Why do you say that this is a lost battle?'
'Unworthy as I am, now that I am in command, I do not intend to lead my men into a pitiful rout. But defeat is inevitable. In terms of fighting spirit, equipment, and geographical advantage, we're hardly a match for the Mori right now.'
'The first thing to remember,' Nobunaga countered, 'is that if the commander-in-chief anticipates defeat, there's no reason for him to win.'
'But if we miscalculate, thinking that we can win, our defeat might be disastrous. If your troops are stained with one defeat in the west, the enemies who are waiting here and elsewhere, and, of course, the Honganji, will think that the lord of the Oda has stumbled, and that now is the time for his downfall. They'll beat their gongs and scream their incantations, and even the north and east will rise up against you.'
'I'm aware of that.'
'But shouldn't we take into consideration that the invasion of the western provinces, which is so important, might be fatal for the Oda clan?'
'I have that in mind, of course.'
'Then why didn't you come to the western provinces yourself, after I had made somany requests to you? Time is of the essence. If we miss this opportunity, we'll have no chance in the real battle. It's almost foolish to
