Chapter VIII
"Tactical Dispositions"
"
The Art of War
"
~by Sun Tzu~
After the "War of the Wolf," as it came to be known, we returned to Shiro no Nokizaru and spent the rest of the year with Daimyo Daiki and his family while I trained with Grandfather. Shogun Li had been promoted to the Lordship of Toyama as a 'thank you' from Daiki for commanding such a successful attack and many of the mononofu from here had been sent to the now titled Kokujin Li, that is a Baron, in order to support his new post. Daiki had replaced those samurai with men from other villages under his control.
So there were a lot of new faces around the castle. Other than that things seemed to go on about the same as before. Ketsumempo had many questions for me. She had hoped to be included in the invasion at first and was very disappointed when she realized she wasn't going. I did my best to disillusion her without being too graphic.
The rest of the year passed by and we were closing in on the time when Grandfather and I
would have to move on to the next Daimyo. I prepared gifts for my friends and made sure to give them in private so it would be a more sincere goodbye. I had made kimono for the ladies. Akiko had given me a hug in return while Ketsumempo gave me a kiss on the cheek. I had located some scrolls while I was in Wajima and had saved them for Xai. He thanked me immensely.
Daiki is the one that surprised me the most. I had saved the daisho of the old samurai I killed near the end of the battle for him. The man had been the Wajima Kokujin's shugodai. A Kokujin is a lower level nobleman, like a Baron, while a shugodai represents a lord in his absence. When I presented it to Daiki, instead of refusing it, he just took it in both hands and looked at it for several moments.
"I am going to miss you, Hiro san."
"I am going to miss you as well, Daiki sama." He had an incredulous look on his face. "You still frighten me to death, but I will miss you."
"Ahhh, now I believe you." He smiled.
It was only a few days after that talk that Grandfather and I found ourselves moving on to
Daimyo Hiroki's land to the east. The trip to Fujibayashi Shiro took two days. We saw a small group of bandits but they seemed to find us unappetizing. They scattered as soon as they saw us. There was a small quake as well but it did little damage. Other than those two events the trip was perfect. I passed the time by making Sensei play dice with me.
The palace of the Fujibayashi family is on the beach of the Izu gulf. They are known as the merchants of our House and have many craftsmen in their family. I asked Sensei many questions about the Fujibayashi as we traveled. One of my favorites was,
"Why do we wish to visit this place?"
His answer changed every time I asked it. Ranging from, "Why not?" to "Because
your future depends on the secrets held in the cryptic vaults of the Fujibayashi." I tended not to believe this last answer because he said it like some kind of story teller.
"You learned much about Onmyoji from Xai, this will give you a different view of them. Also, you have met all of the other Daimyo. If we did not visit Fujibayashi, Hiroki would be insulted. Believe me." He looked at me. "He is not an enemy you can afford."
He finally got us to the gates of the town. They were open with a few samurai guarding them. The heimin were coming in for the evening after finishing their work in the rice fields that lay around the town's wall. Sensei walked up to the Gunso in charge of the gate.
"I am Sensei Nokizaru." He bowed and the Gunso quickly returned it.
"Yes, my Daimyo told me to expect you, Sensei sama."
He called a heimin over and had him take our new pony with our things. The heimin relieved me of the reins and quickly walked off with them.
The Gunso continued. "Do you wish to rest for a moment? We have tea to help refresh you from your journey."
"Domo arigato, Fujibayashi san." He addressed him as Fujibayashi because the man wore that crest over his heart. "But, no. It would be rude of us to keep our host waiting." The Gunso nodded; placed one of his men in charge of the gate, then escorted us to the castle. It was a nice castle, pretty red and gold lacquered wood with yellow tile roofs. It was standard for Giapan castles but certainly well done.
As we approached Sensei warned me about Hiroki's sense of humor. He said it could be very,
crude
. We were introduced in this castle in much the same way as we had been in Shiro no Nokizaru, except that when the Gunso finished, he left. Hiroki was of average height but stocky with wide shoulders. He was balding but kept a long ring of hair around the sides of his head and just like Daiki he wore the same long mustache.
"I see you two took your time getting here. What has it been Sensei san, two years since you left Goemon Toshi?"
He nodded to Hiroki. "Two and a half my lord. Domo arigato for remembering."
"Ha! Hardly a difficult feat, Sensei san. I try to remember things like
you
moving around,
unchaperoned." I noticed there were no women present in his court and that struck me as odd. "So this is the Hiro san I have heard so much about?" I bowed to him in recognition. "Everyone brags on how bright he is. Even cold hearted Daiki seems to have taken to him." I didn't know what to think of that. "Well, let me see if I can be the contrary one, as always. Hiro san, what is the most important thing you have learned in your travels?" I waited several moments before speaking.
"Do not tell anyone, anything. My lord."
He laughed at that. "Very good."
He soon excused us to our quarters to rest. He had set aside a large suite in the castle for us. The main room could be used as a dojo and we slept in two of the three adjacent rooms. I began to spend time sitting in the classes with the Onmyoji. There were many instructors for these classes and little time to make friends. I became acquainted with most of the other students but they were so much older than me that they weren't very interested in me. Also, I was only present for an hour each day because I had to keep up with my studies for Grandfather during the other hours. Most days I would spend an hour or two in Hiroki's court. He would make several trips to Goemon Toshi as well but he didn't stay gone as long as Daiki did.
He was an odd and frightening man. He hated women but he had a good sense of humor, but he was brutal when it came to doling out punishment. Heimin usually died. Samurai usually were allowed to commit seppuku. And eta usually got to be experiments for the Onmyoji. No one had ever told Hiroki about the concept of mercy.
Our friend Nokizaru Xai came to visit us a couple of times while we were in Fujibayashi Shiro. His first visit was very pleasant. He had some duties to perform for Hiroki so he stayed with us for three days. The second visit started out as just a personal visit, but that changed soon.
All three of us were in Hiroki's court one day. He had sent a Zei-Dansei to retrieve the headman of a village under his protection. The taxman would know the villagers so locating the man would be easier. Zei-Dansei, Fujibayashi Chinichiwa, was the tax collector Hiroki had placed over this territory. Hiroki had noticed that the taxes from this town were far less than they should have been. Chinichiwa claimed the headman had been unfaithful in turning over all of the taxes to his Daimyo. Hiroki wanted to talk to the man. We all assumed the man was as good as dead.
Chinichiwa walked into the hall that morning full of great pride. It had taken little time to capture the headman.
"We have the thief, my Daimyo." He practically beamed with pleasure.
Hiroki sat patiently on his dais. The guards dragged in the headman behind Chinichiwa.
They threw him down before Hiroki. The Daimyo watched as the man quickly moved into a bow
before him. I pitied the poor man. Hiroki liked me and I enjoyed his company but I would rather fall into Daiki's cruel hands than his any day.
"Gozu san, how long have you worked my rice fields?"
"I have worked these fields all of my life, my Daimyo, th... thirty-five years." He was shaking badly.
