Chapter 7:
Yukinaga settled onto the floor of his apartment in the castle of Jiang Ye but grimaced at the lack of a proper cushion or dais to sit on. Across from him sat Kuroda Nagamasa, one of the other three high generals who had lead the landing in Wu's territory initially.
In between them sat a table that had been brought from Japan, so it was decently at the knee level on the Japanese men, and a teapot. Both men were relaxed and dressed in the male version of a kimono, but they both had their swords close at hand.
The two men were Christians though, and that was a rarity for two Christians to be placed at such high levels, but Hideyoshi truly trusted these two men.
"How did your units fair in the battle with these Chinese?" Nagamasa asked as Yukinaga poured his guest tea.
Yukinaga grimaced at the question, "They faired well, up until we attempted to cut off the fleeing rabble. And then something odd happened and we were unable to continue pursuit."
Nagamasa did not react visibly, but he did pause before taking a sip of the tea just poured for him, "I see," was all he said.
"Do you think this war is wise, Simeon?" Yukinaga asked using Nagamasa's Christian name.
"Whether or not it is wise, it is the wish of our Lord, John," Nagamasa said, using Yukinaga's Christian name, "But enough of such sad talk, what poetry do you have for me?"
Yukinaga brightened as he pulled one from his mind.
"The home is empty
why? I wish that I did know
Oh! Check out that Tree!"
Nagamasa blinked, "I don't understand it," he said flatly.
Yukinaga straightened, "What do you mean you don't understand it? It's really a simple poem!"
"Well you start out alright, but then you go completely off topic!" Nagamasa said.
"That's what you do in every Haiku!"
"Not really," Nagamasa said calmly as he sipped his tea.
"Alright then Simeon, you do one."
Nagamasa looked up at the ceiling for a moment and then said,
"The sky stands still
The water is grey today
Away, a bird cries out."
"See you just did it!"
"I did not!"
"Away, a bird calls out? You were talking about the water and the sky, what does a bird have to do with it?"
Nagamasa's eyes blazed up, "It completes the picture."
"What picture? You still changed the topic!"
Nagamasa waved an arm, "Alright alright! Enough poetry. What have we learned about the rabble that populates these lands?"
Yukinaga closed his mouth with a retort on his tongue, "Alright, fine. We have learned only the basics about this country, which we should have learned before we started this invasion…"
Nagamasa waved him along, and Yukinaga said, "Where's Kato? I don't want to repeat this later…"
Nagamasa shrugged, "Hunting tigers."
Yukinaga groaned, "Again? Doesn't he realize that there are no tigers anywhere near this district?"
Nagamasa laughed, "I'll bet you that he'll take the heads off of more soldiers then tigers, but anyway go on. Tell me what you have learned."
"Well just like the rest of China, this place is as different from Japan as a man is from a woman. They are divided into only three kingdoms, instead of the tens and hundreds that our country was divided into until recently."
"Only three?" Nagamasa said choking on his tea, "How did they manage that? I mean, we're only what? A fraction of their size and we only became one country recently? This could create problems…"
"What do you…" he was interrupted by a rapping sound near the entrance of the room and Yukinaga got up to examine the door.
How does this confounded contraption work again? He wondered to himself, and he reached under the door as though to wrench it open. He heard Nagamasa clear his throat behind him.
"John, you see that brass knob there? I think you twist it," Nagamasa said, "And then pull on it."
Yukinaga nodded his thanks, "Thank you, Simeon-san," he said.
Pulling open the door, why couldn't the Chinese have something sensible like walls made out of paper? He would have to see that that was changed later.
Behind the door stood the figure of Ieysau Tokugawa who bowed to Yukinaga, "Pardon me Yukinaga-san, but I had something I wished to discuss with you."
Yukinaga bowed in return and let him into the room. Attempting to close the door, Yukinaga nearly jumped in surprise when it slammed loudly.
After pleasantries and tea were poured for the famous strategist, they got down to the reason for Ieysau's visit.
"As you know, I am not in command of the forces here because I did not bring a large enough number of my own arms men here. I have done a little bit of my own research around the city and I have come to these conclusions," Ieyasu said.
"One, the Chinese have been fighting for almost continuous wars for the past century, and are use to warfare. Two, although we caught them by surprise each of the three kingdoms here have large standing armies and fierce warriors, making this war one that will be hard fought to win. Three, our initial plans for invading this country were based on the assumption that this land was divided like we were once, but we need to strike a lethal blow at the other two kingdoms fast rather then wait. If we do that, they will overwhelm us."
Nagamasa was nodding, "I too have come to similar conclusions. But why don't you tell our Lord this?"
Ieyasu shrugged, "He's out in the city."
Yukinaga frowned, "Doing what?'
"Collecting ears."
"Ah."
"I tell you this because we need to be ready to move quickly, we need to get across that river to the north and strike a decisive blow to the kingdom named Wei."
Yukinaga leaned forward, "And how do you purpose getting our thousands and thousands of warriors across that large river to the north? Part the waters?"
Ieyasu shook his head, "We build a bridge."
Yukinaga and Nagamasa looked truly startled, "What? How?" both said at once.
Ieyasu smiled, "Julius Caesar did the same thing over the Rhine you know, so we can do it too."
"…who's Julius Caesar?"
Ieyasu's smile slipped, "Uh, never mind. Anyway, we should build this bridge; it's the best way to get across the river."
Nagamasa nodded, "Alright, makes sense. I'll talk to my engineers tomorrow."
"Good, now if you excuse me I must go." Ieyasu said abruptly and walked across the room so swiftly, he forgot to open the door. The resounding smack that followed forced the famous Daimyo to bounce off of the door by about four paces, and fall to the floor.
Getting quickly to his feet, he turned to them, "We can make the bridge out of these cursed doors." He quickly opened the door and walked out.
The two friends exchanged looks, "I agree with Ieyasu," Yukinaga said, and Nagamasa smiled.
