Winter, the 10th year of Tensho

  Nearly half a year had passed since the Kiyosu Conference. While the administrative restructuring of the Oda clan's territories was nearing completion, it did not signal peace. Rather, beneath the deepening snow, the embers of the next great conflagration were smoldering.

  Kanbe’e was in a temporary camp in Nagahama, Omi. Through the gap of a propped-open wooden shutter, a leaden winter sky stretched wide, and a cold wind occasionally swept through the room.

  "Katsuie Shibata believes the winter is his ally... but My Lord, snow can also become a cage."

  Kanbe’e presented a proposal to his lord, Hideyoshi, that brooked no delay. Katsuie’s stronghold in Echizen, Kitanosho, was located in one of Japan’s heaviest snowfall regions. Once the snow piled high, the mountain passes of Hokuriku would be utterly sealed, leaving the thirty-thousand-strong Shibata army immobilized. Kanbe’e calculated even this natural fury as a cold, integrated part of his military strategy.

  While Katsuie remained complacent, thinking "Hideyoshi cannot move until spring," Kanbe’e suggested exploiting that very isolation to crush their enemies one by one. Hideyoshi adopted the plan instantly. Seizing the window before the heavy snows set in, they launched lightning strikes against Nobutaka Oda in Mino and Kazumasu Takigawa in Ise.

  What Katsuie saw with the arrival of spring was not hope, but a "shroud of death" meticulously woven by Kanbe’e.

  March, the 11th year of Tensho

  As the snows melted, Katsuie finally exploded in a rage, marching toward Omi with thirty thousand men. Hideyoshi’s forces, bolstered by Nagahide Niwa and others, exceeded fifty thousand. They constructed numerous forts among the mountains surrounding Shizugatake, laying a labyrinthine defensive web to intercept Katsuie.

  At this moment, the board Kanbe’e was drawing was not one of mere numbers.

  "My Lord, we shall move the main force to Ogaki to guard against Nobutaka. By doing so, we show a deliberate opening to lure the enemy out. We will turn the fierce bravery of Morimasa Sakuma, Katsuie’s nephew, against him. The more valiant a warrior, the more they are blinded by the bait of immediate glory..."

  Hideyoshi moved fifteen thousand of his main troops to Ogaki Castle in Mino, over fifty kilometers away. This movement served as the perfect lure for Morimasa.

  Guarding the front line at Shizugatake, the Oiwayama Fort, was Kiyohide Nakagawa—a dear friend Hideyoshi had trusted since his days as a wandering vagabond. On the eve of the departure, Hideyoshi visited Kiyohide’s camp, accompanied by Kanbe’e.

  "Kiyohide, my apologies. I have forced the hardest role upon you..."

  The usual cheerfulness had vanished from Hideyoshi’s face, replaced by the raw anguish of a man facing a painful choice.

  "Hideyoshi, don't talk like a stranger. I understand. If I can sink my teeth deep into the Katsuie’s throat here, your path to the Shogunate grows closer... isn't that right?"

  Kiyohide turned to Kanbe’e and gave a defiant, fearless grin. Kanbe’e remained silent, but offered a deep, solemn bow.

  "Mr. Kiyohide... please, endure until My Lord completes his 'Great Return.' Every hour you hold out will decide the fate of the realm..."

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  Hideyoshi embraced Kiyohide’s shoulders so tightly his bones creaked.

  "I will return! I shall leap over the treacherous passes and fly back to your side in a single breath! You must not dare to die! This is our sacred vow. I cannot imagine a world ruled by me without you in it. Live, and we shall meet again!"

  "Aye. If this life becomes the foundation of your reign, I desire nothing more. As long as I do not fall, I won't let Morimasa take a single step forward! Now go, Hideyoshi! Seize the realm!"

  Kiyohide did not say much more, but his words were a final rite of passage—a last farewell to a comrade-in-arms with whom he had survived countless slaughters. In his eyes, as he maintained his gallant front, there shimmered a terrifying, sublime light unique to those who have accepted their own end and are ready to offer up their lives.

  Suppressing his tears, Hideyoshi turned his back. Kanbe’e chewed on the bitterness of his own "karma"—the fact that he incorporated even these precious bonds into the gears of victory. Hideyoshi bestowed the emotion, while Kanbe’e prepared the cold, bloodless "machinery of death" behind the scenes. This was the true essence of their partnership.

  During the march to Ogaki, Kanbe’e never stopped for a moment. Drawing on his experience from the previous "The Chugoku Great Retreat:," he commanded local village leaders along the highway to arrange food stations and specific numbers of torches for the fifteen thousand troops.

  "Listen well! This task concerns the very survival of your villages! If you are even a minute late, I will burn your homes to the ground! But if you perform perfectly, I promise you prosperity for generations to come!"

  Kanbe’e spoke without a hint of a smile. He knew that "terror" and "profit" moved the common people far more swiftly than logic or loyalty. His ruthless management became the bloodless foundation for the march that would later be hailed as "Divine Speed."

  April 20, Midnight.

  Exactly as Kanbe’e had predicted, Morimasa Sakuma moved. Ignoring Katsuie’s cautious warnings, he led eight thousand elite troops in a charge against Oiwayama Fort.

  The onslaught was ferocious; the mountains were instantly transformed into a sea of fire. Kiyohide Nakagawa did not retreat an inch before the surging Katsuie elite. Pierced by countless arrows and run through by spears, he remained standing to the end, keeping his promise to Hideyoshi.

  "Step over my corpse if you can! You are already within Hideyoshi’s net!"

  Kiyohide met a magnificent, tragic end in battle. Though the fort fell with his death, his sacrifice completed the "poisoned bait" that would lead the Shibata army to ruin.

  The news of the fort’s fall reached Ogaki Castle in an instant via the signal fires Kanbe’e had stationed throughout the mountains. Upon learning of Kiyohide’s death, Hideyoshi struck the floor with his fist and wailed.

  "Kiyohide! I am sorry... I am so sorry...!"

  Amidst that depth of sorrow, Kanbe’e’s voice rang out with chilling precision.

  "My Lord. Do you intend to waste the hour Mr. Kiyohide bought with his life? Now is the time to seize the realm. There is not a moment to lose... Save your grief until you have taken the head of Katsuie Shibata! Even now, Mr. Kiyohide’s soul watches you from that fort!"

  Hideyoshi wiped his tears and stood. In his eyes dwelt a terrifying resolve as a ruler, powerful enough to overwrite the sorrow of losing his best friend.

  "Kanbe’e... light the torches. The whole army returns to Omi! We take the head of Morimasa to avenge Kiyohide, and we strike down Katsuie!"

  Thus began the "Mino Great Return," a march of madness etched into history. The thirteen ri (approximately 50km) from Ogaki to Shizugatake were covered by a perfect infrastructure—Kanbe’e’s "Road of Torches" and "Stations of Porridge"—fused with Hideyoshi’s explosive passion for vengeance.

  The footsteps of fifteen thousand men echoed like a localized earthquake through the darkness. Along the highway, the torches were tended by peasants who risked their lives to keep them burning under Kanbe’e’s orders. The soldiers swallowed porridge as they ran, their stomachs burning, yet they chased Hideyoshi’s back.

  Atop his horse, Hideyoshi looked back at Kanbe’e with a smile bordering on madness.

  "Kanbe’e! Look! The road is glowing! It is as bright as broad daylight!"

  "My Lord, these are the lights offered in tribute to Mr. Kiyohide! You must not let your feet stop for even a single step!"

  Kanbe’e answered coldly and lashed his horse.

  Fifteen thousand torches became a massive dragon of light, cresting the mountains. At its head, Hideyoshi, the man who would rule the realm, rode through the night with beast-like speed, turning his friend's death into power. Watching that figure with cold detachment, Kanbe’e was already beginning to map out the "merciless conclusion" that lay beyond victory.

  Produced and written by a Japanese author, rooted in authentic Japanese history. Translated with the assistance of Gemini (AI).