Put the fire out. There must be a cellar, a hiding place, if this piece of dung is not an incompetent fool." Ogama strode off, in total rage, believing somehow he had been cheated.
Nervously the chief official got off his knees and sidled nearer to Yoshi. "Excuse me, Sire," he whispered, "but the woman's not here either. There must be a h--"
"What woman?"
"She was young. A Satsuma. She has been with them for some weeks. We believe she was Katsumata's companion. I am sorry to say Takeda is not there either."
"Who?"
"A Choshu shishi we have been watching. Perhaps he was Ogama's spy--he was seen sneaking into Ogama's headquarters the day before our other attack on Katsumata failed."
"For certain Katsumata was in there and the other two?"
"Certain, Sire. All three, Sire."
"Then there is a cellar or secret escape route."
They found it in the dawn. A trapdoor over a narrow tunnel, just enough to crawl through that ended well away in a weed-covered garden of an empty shack. Furiously Ogama kicked the camouflaged cover. "Baka!"
"We will put a price on Katsumata's head. A special price," Yoshi said. He was as angry. Obviously the failure had bruised the relationship so agonizingly manipulated and begun. But he was too shrewd to mention Takeda, or about the woman--she had no significance. "Katsumata must still be in Kyoto. The Bakufu will be ordered to find him, capture him or bring us his head."
"My adherents will be ordered the same."
Ogama was a little mollified. He also had been thinking about Takeda, wondering if his escape boded good or bad. He glanced at the Captain who had walked up. "Yes?"
"You wish to view the heads now, sire?"
"Yes. Yoshi-dono?"
"Yes."
The wounded shishi were allowed to die honorably without further pain. They were ritually decapitated, their heads washed and were now in a formal row. Forty. Again that number, Ogama thought uneasily. Is that an omen? Nonetheless he hid his disquiet, recognizing none of them.
"I have seen them," he said formally, the dawn misted with the light rain.
"I have seen them," Yoshi said equally gravely.
"Put the heads on spikes, twenty outside my gates, and twenty outside Lord Yoshi's."
"And the sign, Sire?" the Captain asked.
"Yoshi-dono, what do you suggest?"
After a pause, knowing he was being tried again, Yoshi said, "The two signs could read: These outlaws, ronin, were punished for crimes against the Emperor. Let all beware misdeeds. Is that satisfactory?"
"Yes. And the signature?" Both of them knew this was highly important and difficult to solve. If Ogama signed it alone, that implied he was legally master of the Gates; if Yoshi, that would imply Ogama was subservient to him, legally true but out of the question. A Bakufu seal implied the same. A Court seal would be undue meddling in temporal matters.
"Perhaps we give these fools too much importance," Yoshi said, pretending contempt. His eyes narrowed as, over Ogama's shoulder he saw Basuhiro and some guards come around the far corner of the mean, puddled alley at a run. He looked back at Ogama. "Why not just put their heads on spikes here? Why give them the honor of a sign? Those who we want to know will know soon enough--and be chastened. Neh?"
Ogama was pleased with the diplomatic solution.
"Excellent. I agree. Let us meet at dusk an--" He stopped as he noticed Basuhiro hurrying up to them, sweating and out of breath. He went to meet him.
"Courier from Shimonoseki, Sire,"
Basuhiro panted.
Ogama's face became a mask. He took the scroll and moved nearer to one of the torches.
All eyes were on him as he opened it--Basuhiro politely holding an umbrella over him.
The message was from the Captain commanding the Straits and dated eight days ago, couriered express, day and night, as highest priority: Sire, yesterday the returning enemy fleet consisting of the flagship and seven other warships, all steamers, some towing coaling barges, entered the Straits. Following your instructions that we should not engage enemy warships without your written orders we let them pass. We could have sunk all of them. Our Dutch advisors confirm this.
When the armada had passed, a steamer frigate flying a French flag arrogantly returned and fired broadside after broadside into four emplacements on the east end of the Straits destroying them and their cannon, then steamed away. Again I refrained from retaliating in accordance with your orders. If attacked in future I request permission to sink the attacker.
Death to all gai-jin, Ogama wanted to scream, blind with rage that a whole fleet had been within his grasp, like Katsumata, but had escaped vengeance--like Katsumata. Flecks of foam collected at the corners of his lips.
"Prepare new instructions: Engage and destroy any and all enemy warships."
Basuhiro, still trying to catch his breath, said, "May I suggest, Sire, you consider "if more than four at any one time." You have always wanted to maintain surprise."
Ogama wiped his mouth and nodded, his heart pumping at the thought of so many ships he could have destroyed. The rain had increased and was drumming on the umbrella. Beyond Basuhiro he saw Yoshi and the other officers waiting, watching him, and he weighed whether to treat Yoshi as enemy or ally, the implications of the fleet, the arrogance, and his own impotence swamping him.
"Yoshi-dono!" He beckoned him and, with Basuhiro, moved further into private. "Read it, please."
Yoshi read rapidly. In spite of his control the color left his face. "Is the fleet heading up the inland sea for Osaka? Or will they turn south for Yokohama?"
"South or not, the next warships in my waters get blown out of my waters! Basuhiro, send men at once to Osaka an--"
"Wait, Ogama-dono," Yoshi said quickly, wanting time to think. "Basuhiro, what is your council?"
The little man said at once, "Sire, for the moment presume it is Osaka and we should, together, prepare at once to defend it. I have already sent spies urgently to discover the fleet's course as best I can."
"Good." Ogama shakily wiped rain out of his face. "Their whole fleet in my Straits...
I should have been there."
Basuhiro said, "It is more important for you to guard the Emperor against his enemies, Sire, and your commander was correct not to fire on the single ship. Surely it was a decoy to smell out your strength. He was right not to give away your defenses. Now the trap is baited should you wish to close it. Because only one enemy warship sneaked back and bombarded some easy positions and left hastily, I surmise their fleet commander was afraid, was not prepared to attack or land troops to start the war that we will end."
"Yes we will. A ruse? I agree.
Yoshi-dono," Ogama said with finality, "we should have done with it and start the war. A surprise attack on Yokohama, if they land at Osaka or not."
Yoshi could not answer at once, almost sick with a sudden apprehension that he tried to hide.
Eight warships? That's four more than sailed to China so the gai-jin have reinforced their fleet. Why? To retaliate for the Satsuma murders, but more particularly, Ogama's attacks on their shipping. And they will do it as in China. The gai-jin ship was sunk in the Taiwan Straits, but they decimated China's coast hundreds of leagues away.
What is their easiest target in Nippon?
Yedo.
Has Ogama realized this and his secret plan is just to provoke the gai-jin? If I was the gai-jin leader I would destroy Yedo. They do not know it but Yedo is indivisible from our Shogunate. If Yedo ends, the Toranaga Shogunate ends and then the Land of the Gods is open to rape.
Therefore this will be prevented at all costs.
Think! How to bottle the gai-jin, and Ogama whose answer is to put our heads on their block-- not his. "I agree with your wise counselor, we should prepare to defend Osaka," he began, his stomach churning. Then his anxiety for the safety of Yedo bubbled over. "Whether Osaka now or later, a war fleet has returned. Unless we are very careful war is inevitable."