Shogun_ A Novel of Japan Part 75

"Good. And remember he's worth twenty thousand times his own weight in raw silk and he's got more knowledge than you'll have in twenty lifetimes."

Naga held himself in check and nodded dutifully in agreement.

"Good. You'll be leading two of the battalions, Omi-san two, and one will be held in reserve under Buntaro."

"And the other four, Sire?"

"We haven't guns enough for them. That was a feint to put Yabu off the scent," Toranaga said, throwing his son a morsel.

"Sire?"

"That was just an excuse to bring another thousand men here. Don't they arrive tomorrow? With two thousand men I can hold Anjiro and escape, if need be. Neh?" Neh?"

"But Yabu-san can still-" Naga bit back the comment, knowing that once more he was sure to make a mistaken judgment. "Why is it I'm so stupid?" he asked bitterly. "Why can't I see things like you do? Or like Sudara-san? I want to help, to be of use. I don't want to provoke you all the time."

"Then learn patience, my son, and curb your temper. Your time will come soon enough."

"Sire?"

Toranaga was suddenly weary of being patient. He looked up at the sky. "I think I'll sleep for a while."

At once Naga took off the saddle and the horse blanket and laid them on the ground as a samurai bed. Toranaga thanked him and watched him place sentries. When he was sure that everything was correct and safe, he lay down and closed his eyes.

But he did not want to sleep, only to think. He knew it was an extremely bad sign that he had lost his temper. You're fortunate it was only in front of Naga, who doesn't know any better, he told himself. If that had happened near Omi, or Yabu, they'd have realized at once that you're almost frantic with worry. And such knowledge might easily inspire them to treachery. You were fortunate this time. Tetsu-ko put everything into proportion. But for her you might have let others see your rage and that would have been insanity.

What a beautiful flight! Learn from her: Naga's got to be treated like a falcon. Doesn't he scream and bate like the best of them? Naga's only problem is that he's being flown at the wrong game. His game is combat and sudden death, and he'll have that soon enough.

Toranaga's anxiety began to return. What's going on in Osaka? I miscalculated badly about the daimyos daimyos-who would accept and who would reject the summons. Why haven't I heard? Am I betrayed? So many dangers around me....

What about the Anjin-san? He's falcon too. But he isn't broken to the fist yet, as Yabu and Mariko claim. What's his prey? His prey is the Black s.h.i.+p and the Rodrigues-anjin and the ugly, arrogant little Captain-General who's not long for this earth, and all the Black Robe priests and all the Stinking Hairy priests, all Portuguese and all Spaniards and Turkmen, whoever they are, and Islamers, whoever they are, not forgetting Omi and Yabu and Buntaro and Is.h.i.+do and me.

Toranaga turned over to get more comfortable and smiled to himself. But the Anjin-san's not a long-winged falcon, a hawk of the lure, that you fly free above you to stoop at a particular quarry. He's more like a short-winged hawk, a hawk of the fist, that you fly direct from the fist to kill anything that moves, say a goshawk that'll take partridge or a hare three times her own weight, rats, cats, dogs, woodc.o.c.k, starlings, rooks, overtaking them with fantastic short bursts of speed to kill with a single crush of her talons; the hawk that detests the hood and won't accept it, just sits on your wrist, arrogant, dangerous, self-sufficient, pitiless, yellow-eyed, a fine friend and foul-tempered if the mood's on her.

Yes, the Anjin-san's a short-wing. Whom do I fly him at?

Omi? Not yet.

Yabu? Not yet.

Buntaro?

Why did the Anjin-san really go after Buntaro with pistols? Because of Mariko, of course. But have they pillowed? They've had plenty of opportunity. I think yes. "Lavish" she said that first day. Good. Nothing wrong in their pillowing-Buntaro was believed dead-providing it's a perpetual secret. But the Anjin-san was stupid to risk so much over another man's woman. Aren't there always a thousand other, free and unattached, equally pretty, equally small or big or fine or tight or highborn or whatever, without the hazard of belonging elsewhere? He acted like a stupid, jealous barbarian. Remember the Rodrigues-anjin? Didn't he duel and kill another barbarian according to their custom, just to take a low-cla.s.s merchant's daughter that he then married in Nagasaki? Didn't the Taik let this murder go unavenged, against my advice, because it was only a barbarian death and not one of ours? Stupid to have two laws, one for us, one for them. There should be only one. There must be only one law.

No, I won't fly the Anjin-san at Buntaro, I need that fool. But whether those two pillowed or not, I hope the thought never occurs to Buntaro. Then I would have to kill Buntaro quickly, for no force on earth would stop him from killing the Anjin-san and Mariko-san and I need them more than Buntaro. Should I eliminate Buntaro now?

The moment Buntaro had sobered up, Toranaga had sent for him. "How dare you put your interest in front of mine! How long will Mariko-san be unable to interpret?"

"The doctor said a few days, Sire. I apologize for all the trouble!"

"I made it very clear I needed her services for another twenty days. Don't you remember?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

"If she'd displeased you, a few slaps on the b.u.t.tocks would've been more than enough. All women need that from time to time, but more is loutish. You've selfishly jeopardized the training and acted like a bovine peasant. Without her I can't talk to the Anjin-san!"

"Yes. I know, Lord, I'm sorry. It's the first time I've hit her. It's just-sometimes she drives me insane, so much that-that I can't seem to see."

"Why don't you divorce her then? Or send her away? Or kill her, or order her to cut her throat when I've no further use for her?"

"I can't. I can't, Lord," Buntaro had said. "She's-I've wanted her from the first moment I saw her. When we were married, the first time, she was everything a man could want. I thought I was blessed-you remember how every daimyo daimyo in the realm wanted her! Then ... then I sent her away to protect her after the filthy a.s.sa.s.sination, pretending to be disgusted with her for her safety, and then, when the Taik told me to bring her back years later, she excited me even more. The truth is I expected her to be grateful, and took her as a man will, and didn't care about the little things a woman wants, like poems and flowers. But she'd changed. She was as faithful as ever, but just ice, always asking for death, for me to kill her." Buntaro was frantic. "I can't kill her or allow her to kill herself. She's tainted my son and makes me detest other women but I can't rid myself of her. I've ... I've tried being kind but always the ice is there and it drives me mad. When I came back from Korea and heard she'd converted to this nonsense Christian religion I was amused, for what does any stupid religion matter? I was going to tease her about it but before I knew what was happening, I had my knife at her throat and swore I'd cut her if she didn't renounce it. Of course she wouldn't renounce it, what samurai would under such a threat, in the realm wanted her! Then ... then I sent her away to protect her after the filthy a.s.sa.s.sination, pretending to be disgusted with her for her safety, and then, when the Taik told me to bring her back years later, she excited me even more. The truth is I expected her to be grateful, and took her as a man will, and didn't care about the little things a woman wants, like poems and flowers. But she'd changed. She was as faithful as ever, but just ice, always asking for death, for me to kill her." Buntaro was frantic. "I can't kill her or allow her to kill herself. She's tainted my son and makes me detest other women but I can't rid myself of her. I've ... I've tried being kind but always the ice is there and it drives me mad. When I came back from Korea and heard she'd converted to this nonsense Christian religion I was amused, for what does any stupid religion matter? I was going to tease her about it but before I knew what was happening, I had my knife at her throat and swore I'd cut her if she didn't renounce it. Of course she wouldn't renounce it, what samurai would under such a threat, neh? neh? She just looked up at me with those eyes of hers and told me to go on. 'Please cut me, Lord,' she said. 'Here, let me hold my head back for you. I pray G.o.d I'll bleed to death,' she said. I didn't cut her, Sire. I took her. But I did cut off the hair and ears of some of her ladies who had encouraged her to become Christian and turned them out of the castle. And I did the same to her foster mother, and cut off her nose as well, vile-tempered old hag! And then Mariko said, because ... because I'd punished her ladies, the next time I came to her bed uninvited she'd commit seppuku, in any way she could, at once ... in spite of her duty to you, in spite of her duty to the family, even in spite of the-the commandments of her Christian G.o.d!" Tears of rage were running down his cheeks unheeded. "I can't kill her, much as I want to. I can't kill Akechi Jinsai's daughter, much as she deserves it...." She just looked up at me with those eyes of hers and told me to go on. 'Please cut me, Lord,' she said. 'Here, let me hold my head back for you. I pray G.o.d I'll bleed to death,' she said. I didn't cut her, Sire. I took her. But I did cut off the hair and ears of some of her ladies who had encouraged her to become Christian and turned them out of the castle. And I did the same to her foster mother, and cut off her nose as well, vile-tempered old hag! And then Mariko said, because ... because I'd punished her ladies, the next time I came to her bed uninvited she'd commit seppuku, in any way she could, at once ... in spite of her duty to you, in spite of her duty to the family, even in spite of the-the commandments of her Christian G.o.d!" Tears of rage were running down his cheeks unheeded. "I can't kill her, much as I want to. I can't kill Akechi Jinsai's daughter, much as she deserves it...."

Toranaga had let Buntaro rant on until he was spent, then dismissed him, ordering him to stay totally away from Mariko until he considered what was to be done. He dispatched his own doctor to examine her. The report was favorable: bruises but no internal damage.

For his own safety, because he expected treachery and the sand of time was running out, Toranaga decided to increase the pressure on all of them. He ordered Mariko into Omi's house with instructions to rest, to stay within the confines of the house and completely out of the Anjin-san's way. Next he had summoned the Anjin-san and pretended irritation when it was clear they could hardly converse at all, dismissing him peremptorily. All training was intensified. Cadres were sent on forced marches. Naga was ordered to take the Anjin-san along and walk him into the ground. But Naga didn't walk the Anjin-san into the ground.

So he tried himself. He led a battalion eleven hours over the hills. The Anjin-san kept up, not with the front rank, but still he kept up. Back again at Anjiro, the Anjin-san said in his almost incomprehensible gibberish, hardly able to stand, "Toranaga-sama, I walk can. I guns training can. So sorry, no possibles two at same timings, neh?" neh?"

Toranaga smiled now, lying under the overcast waiting for the rain, warmed by the game of breaking Blackthorne to the fist. He's a short-wing all right. Mariko's equally tough, equally intelligent, but more brilliant, and she's got a ruthlessness that he'll never have. She's like a peregrine, like Tetsu-ko. The best. Why is it the female hawk, the falcon, is always bigger and faster and stronger than the male, always better than the male?

They're all hawks-she, Buntaro, Yabu, Omi, Fujiko, Ochiba, Naga and all my sons and my daughters and women and va.s.sals, and all my enemies-all hawks, or prey for hawks.

I must get Naga into position high over his quarry and let him stoop. Who should it be? Omi or Yabu?

What Naga had said about Yabu was true.

"So, Yabu-san, what have you decided?" he had asked, the second day.

"I'm not going to Osaka until you go, Sire. I've ordered all Izu mobilized."

"Is.h.i.+do will impeach you."

"He'll impeach you first, Sire, and if the Kwanto falls, Izu falls. I made a solemn bargain with you. I'm on your side. The Kasigi honor their bargains."

"I'm equally honored to have you as an ally," he had lied, pleased that Yabu had once more done what he had planned for him to do. The next day Yabu had a.s.sembled a host and asked him to review it and then, in front of all his men, knelt formally and offered himself as va.s.sal.

"You acknowledge me your feudal lord?" Toranaga had said.

"Yes. And all the men of Izu. And Lord, please accept this gift as a token of filial duty." Still on his knees, Yabu had offered his Murasama sword. "This is the sword that murdered your grandfather."

"That's not possible!"

Yabu had told him the history of the sword, how it had come down to him over the years and how, only recently, he had learned of its true ident.i.ty. He summoned Suwo. The old man told what he had witnessed when he himself was little more than a boy.

"It's true, Lord," Suwo had said proudly. "No man saw Obata's father break the sword or cast it into the sea. And I swear by my hope of samurai rebirth that I served your grandfather, Lord Chikitada. I served him faithfully until that day he died. I was there, I swear it."

Toranaga had accepted the sword. It seemed to quiver with malevolence in his hand. He had always scoffed at the legend that certain swords possessed a killing urge of their own, that some swords needed to leap out of the scabbard to drink blood, but now Toranaga believed it.

He shuddered, remembering that day. Why do Murasama blades hate us? One killed my grandfather. Another almost cut off my arm when I was six, an unexplained accident, no one near but still my sword arm was slashed and I nearly bled to death. A third decapitated my first-born son.

"Sire," Yabu had said, "such a befouled blade shouldn't be allowed to live, neh? neh? Let me take it out to sea and drown it so that this sword at least can never threaten you or your descendants." Let me take it out to sea and drown it so that this sword at least can never threaten you or your descendants."

"Yes-yes," he had muttered, thankful that Yabu had made the suggestion. "Do it now!" And only when the sword had sunk out of sight, into the very deep, witnessed by his own men, had his heart begun to pump normally. He had thanked Yabu, ordered taxes to be stabilized at sixty parts for peasants, forty for their lords, and had given him Izu as his fief. So everything was as before, except that now all power in Izu belonged to Toranaga, if he wished to take it back.

Toranaga turned over to ease the ache in his sword arm and settled again more comfortably, enjoying the nearness of the earth, gaining strength from it as always.

That blade's gone, never to return. Good, but remember what the old Chinese soothsayer foretold, he thought that you would die by the sword. But whose sword and is it to be by my own hand or another's?

I'll know when I know, he told himself without fear.

Now sleep. Karma Karma is is karma karma. Be thou of Zen. Remember, in tranquillity, that the Absolute, the Tao, is within thee, that no priest or cult or dogma or book or saying or teaching or teacher stands between Thou and It. Know that Good and Evil are irrelevant, I and Thou irrelevant, Inside and Outside irrelevant as are Life and Death. Enter into the Sphere where there is no fear of death nor hope of afterlife, where thou art free of the impediments of life or the needs of salvation. Thou art thyself the Tao. Be thou, now now, a rock against which the waves of life rush in vain....

The faint shout brought Toranaga out of his meditation and he leaped to his feet. Naga was excitedly pointing westward. All eyes followed his point.

The carrier pigeon was flying in a direct line for Anjiro from the west. She fluttered into a distant tree to rest for a moment, then took off once more as rain began to fall.

Far to the west, in her wake, was Osaka.

CHAPTER 37.

The handler at the pigeon coop held the bird gently but firmly as Toranaga stripped off his sodden clothes. He had galloped back through the downpour. Naga and other samurai anxiously crowded the small doorway, careless of the warm rain which still fell in torrents, drumming on the tiled roof.

Carefully Toranaga dried his hands. The man offered the pigeon. Two tiny, beaten-silver cylinders were attached to each of her legs. One would have been usual. Toranaga had to work hard to keep the nervous tremble out of his fingers. He untied the cylinders and took them over to the light of the window opening to examine the minute seals. He recognized Kiri's secret cipher. Naga and the others were watching tensely. His face revealed nothing.

Toranaga did not break the seals at once, much as he wanted to. Patiently he waited until a dry kimono was brought. A servant held a large oiled-paper umbrella for him and he walked to his own quarters in the fortress. Soup and cha were waiting. He sipped them and listened to the rain. When he felt calm, he posted guards and went into an inner room. In privacy he broke the seals. The paper of the four scrolls was very thin, the characters tiny, the message long and in code. Decoding was laborious. When it was completed, he read the message and then reread it twice. Then he let his mind range.

Night came. The rain stopped. Oh, Buddha, let the harvest be good, he prayed. This was the season when the paddy fields were being flooded and, throughout the land, the pale green rice seedlings were being planted into the weedless, almost liquid fields to be harvested in four or five months, depending on the weather. And, throughout the land, the poor and the rich, eta eta and emperor, servant and samurai, all prayed that just the right amount of rain and sun and humidity came correctly in its season. And every man, woman, and child counted the days to harvest. and emperor, servant and samurai, all prayed that just the right amount of rain and sun and humidity came correctly in its season. And every man, woman, and child counted the days to harvest.

We'll need a great harvest this year, thought Toranaga.

"Naga! Naga-san!"

His son came running. "Yes, Father?"

"At the first hour after dawn fetch Yabu-san and his chief advisers to the plateau. Also Buntaro and our three senior captains. And Mariko-san. Bring them all to the plateau at dawn. Mariko-san can serve cha. Yes. And I want the Anjin-san standing by at the camp. Guards to ring us at two hundred paces."

"Yes, Father." Naga turned to obey. Unable to contain himself he blurted out, "Is it war? Is it?"

Because Toranaga needed a harbinger of optimism throughout the fortress, he did not berate his son for the ill-disciplined impertinence.

"Yes," he said. "Yes-but on my terms."

Naga closed the shoji and rushed off. Toranaga knew that, although Naga's face and manner would now be outwardly composed, nothing would disguise the excitement in his walk or the fire behind his eyes. So rumor and counterrumor would rush through Anjiro to spread quickly throughout Izu and beyond, if the fires were fed properly.

"I'm committed now," he said aloud to the flowers that stood serenely in the takonama takonama, shadows flickering in the pleasant candlelight.

Kiri had written: "Sire, I pray Buddha you are well and safe. This is our last carrier pigeon so I also pray Buddha guides her to you-traitors killed all the others last night by firing the coop and this one escaped only because she's been sick and I was nursing her privately.

"Yesterday morning Lord Sugiyama suddenly resigned, exactly as planned. But before he could make good his escape, he was trapped on the outskirts of Osaka by Is.h.i.+do's ronin ronin. Unhappily some of Sugiyama's family were also caught with him-I heard he was betrayed by one of his people. Rumor has it that Is.h.i.+do offered him a compromise: that if Lord Sugiyama delayed his resignation until after the Council of Regents convened (tomorrow), so that you could be legally impeached, in return Is.h.i.+do guaranteed that the Council would formally give Sugiyama the whole of the Kwanto and, as a measure of good faith, Is.h.i.+do would release him and his family at once. Sugiyama refused to betray you. Immediately Is.h.i.+do ordered eta eta to convince him. They tortured Sugiyama's children, then his consort, in front of him, but he still would hot abandon you. They were all given bad deaths. His, the final one, was very bad. to convince him. They tortured Sugiyama's children, then his consort, in front of him, but he still would hot abandon you. They were all given bad deaths. His, the final one, was very bad.

"Of course, there were no witnesses to this treachery and it's all hearsay but I believe it. Of course Is.h.i.+do disclaimed any knowledge of the murders or partic.i.p.ation in them, vowing that he'll hunt down the 'murderers.' At first Is.h.i.+do claimed that Sugiyama had never actually resigned, therefore, in his opinion, the Council could still meet. I sent copies of Sugiyama's resignation to the other Regents, Kiyama, Ito, and Onos.h.i.+, and sent another openly to Is.h.i.+do and circulated four more copies among the daimyos daimyos. (How clever of you, Tora-chan, to have known that extra copies would be necessary.) So, from yesterday, exactly as you planned with Sugiyama, the Council is legally no more-in this you've succeeded completely.

"Good news: Lord Mogami safely turned back outside the city with all his family and samurai. Now he's openly your ally, so your far-northern flank is secure. The Lords Maeda, Kukus.h.i.+ma, Asano, Ikeda, and Okudiara all quietly slipped out of Osaka last night to safety-also the Christian Lord Oda.

"Bad news is that the families of Maeda, Ikeda, and Oda and a dozen other important daimyos daimyos did not escape and are now hostage here, as are those of fifty or sixty lesser uncommitted lords. did not escape and are now hostage here, as are those of fifty or sixty lesser uncommitted lords.

"Bad news is that yesterday your half brother, Zataki, Lord of s.h.i.+nano, publicly declared for the Heir, Yaemon, against you, accusing you of plotting with Sugiyama to overthrow the Council of Regents by creating chaos, so now your northeastern border is breached and Zataki and his fifty thousand fanatics will oppose you.

"Bad news is that almost every daimyo daimyo accepted the Emperor's 'invitation.' accepted the Emperor's 'invitation.'

"Bad news is that not a few of your friends and allies here are incensed that you did not give them prior knowledge of your strategy so they could prepare a line of retreat. Your old friend, the great Lord s.h.i.+mazu, is one. I heard this afternoon that he's openly demanded that all lords should be ordered by the Emperor to kneel before the boy, Yaemon, now.

"Bad news is that that Lady Ochiba is brilliantly spinning her web, promising fiefs and tides and court rank to the uncommitted. Tora-chan, it's a great pity she's not on your side, she's a worthy enemy. The Lady Yodoko alone advocates prayer and calm but no one listens, and the Lady Ochiba wants to precipitate war now while she feels you're weak and isolated. So sorry, my Lord, but you're isolated and, I think, betrayed.

"Worst of all is that now the Christian Regents, Kiyama and Onos.h.i.+, are openly together and violently opposed to you. They issued a joint statement this morning deploring Sugiyama's 'defection,' saying that his action has put the realm into confusion, that 'we must all be strong for the sake of the Empire. The Regents have supreme responsibility. We must be ready to stamp out, together, any lord or group of lords who wish to overthrow the Taik's will, or the legal succession.' (Does this mean they plan to meet as a Council of four Regents?) One of our Christian spies in the Black Robes' headquarters here whispered that the priest Tsukku-san secretly left Osaka five days ago, but we don't know if he went to Yedo or to Nagasaki, where the Black s.h.i.+p is expected. Did you know it will be very early this season? Perhaps within twenty or thirty days?

"Sire: I've always hesitated about giving quick opinions based on hearsay, rumors, spies, or a woman's intuition (there, you see, Tora-chan, I have learned from you!) but time is short and I may not be able to speak to you again: First, too many families are trapped here. Is.h.i.+do will never let them go (as he will never let us go). These hostages are an immense danger to you. Few lords have Sugiyama's sense of duty or fort.i.tude. Very many, I think, will now go with Is.h.i.+do, however reluctantly, because of these hostages. Next, I think that Maeda will betray you, also probably Asano. I tally of all two hundred and sixty-four daimyos daimyos in our land, only twenty-four who are certain to follow you, another fifty possibly. That's not nearly enough. Kiyama and Onos.h.i.+ will sway all or most of the Christian in our land, only twenty-four who are certain to follow you, another fifty possibly. That's not nearly enough. Kiyama and Onos.h.i.+ will sway all or most of the Christian daimyos daimyos and I believe they will not join you now. Lord Mori, the richest and greatest of all, is against you personally, as always, and he'll pull Asano, Kobayakawa, and perhaps Oda into his net. With your half brother Lord Zataki against you, your position is terribly precarious. I counsel you to declare Crimson Sky at once and rush for Kyoto. It's your only hope. and I believe they will not join you now. Lord Mori, the richest and greatest of all, is against you personally, as always, and he'll pull Asano, Kobayakawa, and perhaps Oda into his net. With your half brother Lord Zataki against you, your position is terribly precarious. I counsel you to declare Crimson Sky at once and rush for Kyoto. It's your only hope.

"As to the Lady Sazuko and myself, we're well and content. The child quickens nicely and if it's the child's karma karma to be born, thus will it happen. We're safe in our corner of the castle, the door tightly locked, the portcullis down. Our samurai are filled with devotion to you and to your cause and if it is our to be born, thus will it happen. We're safe in our corner of the castle, the door tightly locked, the portcullis down. Our samurai are filled with devotion to you and to your cause and if it is our karma to karma to depart this life then we will depart serenely. Your Lady misses you greatly, very greatly. For myself, Tora-chan, I long to see you, to laugh with you, and to see your smile. My only regret in death would be that I could no longer do these things, and watch over you. If there is an afterlife and G.o.d or Buddha or depart this life then we will depart serenely. Your Lady misses you greatly, very greatly. For myself, Tora-chan, I long to see you, to laugh with you, and to see your smile. My only regret in death would be that I could no longer do these things, and watch over you. If there is an afterlife and G.o.d or Buddha or kami kami exist, I promise I will somehow bend them all to your side ... though first I may beseech them to make me slender and young and fruitful for you, yet leave me my enjoyment of food. Ah, that would indeed be heaven, to be able to eat and eat and yet be perpetually young and thin! exist, I promise I will somehow bend them all to your side ... though first I may beseech them to make me slender and young and fruitful for you, yet leave me my enjoyment of food. Ah, that would indeed be heaven, to be able to eat and eat and yet be perpetually young and thin!

"I send you my laughter. May Buddha bless thee and thine."

Toranaga read them the message, except the private part about Kiri and the Lady Sazuko. When he had finished they looked at him and each other incredulously, not only because of what the message said but also because he was so openly taking them all into his confidence.

They were seated on mats set in a semicircle around him in the center of the plateau, without guards, safe from eavesdroppers. Buntaro, Yabu, Iguras.h.i.+, Omi, Naga, the captains, and Mariko. Guards were posted two hundred paces away.

"I want some advice," Toranaga said. "My counselors are in Yedo. This matter is urgent and I want all of you to act in their place. What's going to happen and what I should do. Yabu-san?"

Yabu was in turmoil. Every path seemed to lead to disaster. "First, Sire, just exactly what is 'Crimson Sky'?"

"It's the code name for my final battle plan, a single violent rush at Kyoto with all my legions, relying on mobility and surprise, to take possession of the capital from the evil forces that now surround it, to wrest the person of the Emperor from the filthy grasp of those who've duped him, led by Is.h.i.+do. Once the Son of Heaven's safely released from their clutches, then to pet.i.tion him to revoke the mandate granted the present Council, who are clearly traitorous, or dominated by traitors, and grant me his mandate to form a new Council which would put the interests of the realm and the Heir before personal ambition. I would lead eighty to one hundred thousand men, leaving my lands unprotected, my flanks unguarded, and a retreat unsecured." Toranaga saw them staring at him flabbergasted. He did not mention the cadres of elite samurai who had been so furtively planted in many of the important castles and provinces over the years, and who were to explode simultaneously into revolt to create the chaos essential to the plan.

Yabu burst out, "But you'd have to fight every pace of the way. Ikawa Jikkyu strangles the Tokaid for a hundred ri. Then more Is.h.i.+do strongholds straddle the rest!"

"Yes. But I plan to rush northwest along the Koshu-kaid, then stab down on Kyoto and stay away from the coast lands."

At once many shook their heads and began to speak but Yabu overrode them. "But, Sire, the message said your kinsman Zataki-san's already gone over to the enemy! Now your road north is blocked too. His province is athwart the Koshu-kaid. You'll have to fight through all s.h.i.+nano-that's mountainous and very hard, and his men are fanatically loyal. You'll be carved to pieces in those mountains."

"That's the only way, the only way I have a chance. I agree there are too many hostiles on the coastal road."

Yabu glanced at Omi, wis.h.i.+ng he could consult with him, loathing the message and the whole Osaka mess, hating being first to speak, and utterly detesting the va.s.sal status he had accepted at Omi's pleading.

"It's your only chance, Yabu-sama," Omi had urged. "The only way you'll avoid Toranaga's trap and leave yourself room to maneuver-"