Shogun (The Asian Saga Chronology) (94 page)

"Of course, there were no witnesses to this treachery and it's all hearsay but I believe it.  Of course Ishido disclaimed any knowledge of the murders or participation in them, vowing that he'll hunt down the 'murderers.'  At first Ishido 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 Onoshi, and sent another openly to Ishido and circulated four more copies among the
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, Kukushima, 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
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 Shinano, 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
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 Shimazu, 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 Lady Ochiba is brilliantly spinning her web, promising fiefs and titles 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 Onoshi, 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 Taikō'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 Ship 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.  Ishido 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 fortitude.  Very many, I think, will now go with Ishido, 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
in our land, only twenty-four who are certain to follow you, another fifty possibly.  That's not nearly enough.  Kiyama and Onoshi will sway all or most of the Christian
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.

"As to the Lady Sazuko and myself, we're well and content.  The child quickens nicely and if it's the child's
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
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 God or Buddha or
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!

"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, Igurashi, 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 Ishido.  Once the Son of Heaven's safely released from their clutches, then to petition 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 Tokaidō for a hundred
ri.
  Then more Ishido strongholds straddle the rest!"

"Yes.  But I plan to rush northwest along the Koshu-kaidō, 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-kaidō.  You'll have to fight through all Shinano—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, wishing he could consult with him, loathing the message and the whole Osaka mess, hating being first to speak, and utterly detesting the vassal 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—"

Igurashi had interrupted furiously.  "Better to fall on Toranaga today while he's got few men here!  Better to kill him and take his head to Ishido while there's time."

"Better to wait, better to be patient—"

"What happens if Toranaga orders our Master to give up Izu?" Igurashi had shouted.  "As liege lord to vassal, Toranaga has that right!"

"He'll never do it.  He needs our Master more than ever now.  Izu guards his southern door.  He can't have Izu hostile!  He must have our Master on his—"

"
What if he orders Lord Yabu out?
"

"We rebel!  We kill Toranaga if he's here or fight any army he sends against us.  But he'll never do that, don't you see?  As his vassal, Toranaga must protect–"

Yabu had let them argue and then at length he had seen Omi's wisdom.  "Very well.  I agree!  And offering him my Murasama sword to fix the bargain's genius, Omi-san," he had gloated, taken whole heartedly by the cunning of the plan.  "Yes.  Genius.  His Yoshitomo blade more than takes its place.  And of course, I'm more valuable to Toranaga now than ever before.  Omi's right, Igurashi.  I've no choice.  I'm committed to Toranaga from now on.  A vassal!"

"Until war comes," Omi had said deliberately.

"Of course.  Of course only until war comes!  Then I can change sides—or do a dozen things.  You're right, Omi-san, again!"

Omi's the best counselor I've ever had, he told himself.  But the most dangerous.  Omi's clever enough to take Izu if I die.  But what does that matter.  We're all dead.

"You're blocked completely," he told Toranaga.  "You're isolated."

"Is there any alternative?" Toranaga asked.

"Excuse me, Sire," Omi said, "but how long would it take to ready this attack?"

"It's ready now."

"Izu's ready too, Sire," Yabu said.  "Your hundred and my sixteen thousand and the Musket Regiment—is that enough?"

"No.  Crimson Sky's a desperation plan—everything risked on one attack."

"You have to risk it, as soon as the rains cease and we can war," Yabu insisted.  "What choice have you got?  Ishido will form a new Council at once, they still have the mandate.  So you'll be impeached, today or tomorrow or the next day.  Why wait to be eaten up?  Listen, maybe the Regiment could blast a way through the mountains!  Let it be Crimson Sky!  All men thrown into one great attack.  It's the Way of the Warrior—it's worthy of samurai, Toranaga-sama.  The guns, our guns, will blow Zataki out of our way and if you succeed or fail, what does it matter?  The try will live forever!"

Naga said, "Yes.  But we'll win—we will!"  A few of the captains nodded their agreement, relieved that war had come.  Omi said nothing.

Toranaga was looking at Buntaro.  "Well?"

"Lord, I beg you to excuse me from giving an opinion.  I and my men do whatever you decide.  That's my only duty.  My opinion is no value to you because I do what you alone decide."

"Normally I'd accept that but not today!"

"War then.  What Yabu-san says is right.  Let's go to Kyoto.  Today, tomorrow, or when the rains stop.  Crimson Sky!  I'm tired of waiting."

"Omi-san?" Toranaga asked.

"Yabu-sama is correct, Sire.  Ishido will bend the Taikō's will to appoint a new Council very soon.  The new Council will have the Emperor's mandate.  Your enemies will applaud and most of your friends will hesitate and so betray you.  The new Council will impeach you at once.  Then—"

"Then it's Crimson Sky?" Yabu interrupted.

"If Lord Toranaga orders it, then it is.  But I don't think the impeachment order has any value at all.  You can forget it!"

"Why?" Toranaga asked, as all attention went to Omi.

"I agree with you, Sire.  Ishido's evil,
neh?
  Any
daimyos
who agree to serve him are equally evil.  True men know Ishido for what he is, and also know that the Emperor's been duped again."  Omi was prudently treading through the quicksands that he knew could swallow him.  "I think he made a lasting mistake murdering Lord Sugiyama.  Because of those foul murders, I think now all
daimyos
will suspect treachery from Ishido, and very few outside of Ishido's immediate grasp will bow to the orders of his 'Council.'  You're safe.  For a time."

"For how much time?"

"The rains are with us for two months, about.  When the rains cease Ishido will plan to send Ikawa Jikkyu and Lord Zataki against you simultaneously, to catch you in a pincer, and Ishido's main army will support them over the Tokaidō Road.  Meanwhile, until the rains stop, every
daimyo
who bears a grudge against any other
daimyo
will only pay Ishido lip service until he makes the first move, then I think they'll forget him and they'll all take revenge or grab territory at their whim.  The Empire will be torn as it was before the Taikō.  But you, Sire, between Yabu-sama and yourself, jointly, with luck you have enough strength to hold the passes to the Kwanto and to Izu against the first wave and beat it off.  I don't think Ishido could mount another attack—not a great one.  When Ishido and the others have expended their energies, together you and Lord Yabu can cautiously come from behind our mountains and gradually take the Empire into your own hands."

"When will that be?"

"In the time of your children, Sire."

"You say fight a defensive battle?" Yabu asked scornfully.

"I think jointly you're both safe behind the mountains.  You wait, Toranaga-sama.  You wait until you have more allies.  You hold the passes.  This can be done!  General Ishido's evil, but not stupid enough to commit all his force to one battle.  He'll stay skulking inside Osaka.  So for the time being, we mustn't use our regiment.  We must tighten security and keep them as a secret weapon, poised and ever ready, until you come from behind your mountains— but now I don't think I will ever see them used."  Omi was conscious of the eyes watching him.  He bowed to Toranaga.  "Please excuse me for talking at length, Sire."