Nice: Finally, you mark down all the things that would be nice-to-have. Niceties should never get in the way of Musts and Wants, which are far more important. Nevertheless, you should keep them in view and try to get them once the core points are settled.
I always encourage people to list very few Musts; when you negotiate, you should know the terms you personally need unwaveringly. Many people overreach and lie to themselves, but then they don’t know when to stop compromising and hold the line. You need to know your Musts cold and work infinitely towards them. You should not have too many Musts, which is a rookie mistake that leads to failure.
I consider a negotiation a success when you get all of your Musts (obviously, or you wouldn’t do the deal) as well as all of your Wants. I prefer to classify most things we want really badly as “Wants,” not “Musts.” You should also get whatever niceties you can, but this is obviously a lot less important.
***
TREATY SEALED IN BLOOD
General Muneharu rowed out to meet Hideyoshi’s envoy in the middle of the artificial lake surrounding Takamatsu Castle, created by Hideyoshi’s water attack.
He was wearing his death kimono.
As he was making preparations to commit seppuku, Hideyoshi’s envoy spoke up –
“General Muneharu! Hideyoshi wished to present these to you.”
He handed over a delicate wooden box along with a sealed letter.
The letter commended Muneharu’s bravery, and lamented that such a wonderful man must die. Hideyoshi wrote that he wished he had known Muneharu in peacetime; perhaps they would be friends. As such, he hoped to celebrate his life ever-so-briefly before he departs the world.
Inside the box was a flagon of the finest sake, as well as some choice sweets and delicacies.
As Muneharu finished reading the letter, the envoy said, “Please take your time, General. Take as long as you please.”
Muneharu, half-starved from the long castle siege, saw his hard-hearted determination shift ever so slightly into joy. He drank a little, ate a little, and wrote a death poem as well as instructions to his family.
Finally, he stood on the makeshift boat, and saluted the castle defenders and sang a death song – before kneeling and falling on his sword in ritual seppuku.
Hideyoshi and Kanbei had already drafted the letter to Lord Mori, and seeing the (relatively) happy end of General Muneharu, they finished the letter.
Hideyoshi enclosed an account of Muneharu’s brave death and wrote that, seeing as how touched he was, he would not take possession of two of the provinces that the Mori were willing to cede to Hideyoshi as part of the treaty – instead only keeping claim on the ground they’d already occupied and garrisoned.
The defenders of Takamatsu were fed and courteously escorted to the Mori lines, and the news of Muneharu’s heroism and Hideyoshi’s gracious concession to their forces spread rapidly. There was a mix of sadness and relief among the Mori as things returned to peace in a better way than they could possibly have hoped for.
When they found out the next day that Oda Nobunaga was not marching with 100,000 troops and had in fact been assassinated, Mori Terumoto was enraged – but their forces had already been promised peace, there were no easy conquests to take short of starting a new full-scale war with Hideyoshi and whoever might succeed Lord Nobunaga, and the troops had already set their hearts on peace and rebuilding.
Nonetheless, the Mori sent out reconnaissance to see where Hideyoshi’s forces were.
The report back was mystifying: all of the Toyotomi forces had seemingly vanished instantly and broken the dikes and levees behind them, flooding any path of pursuit.
The peace stood.
***
AKECHI TEMPORARY HEADQUARTERS AT AZUCHI
“Bastards! Why do they oppose us?” Akechi Mitsuhide cursed and wailed.
Things were not going according to plan.
The Akechi forces had marched from the assassination place at Kyoto’s Hanno Temple to one of Nobunaga’s main castles, Azuchi.
Fancying himself the new lord of the nation, Mitsuhide called on the castle lord to surrender the castle. Instead, his messenger had been killed and the bridges into the region demolished – damaging both Akechi timetables and, more importantly, prestige.
By the time the Akechi forces were able to reconstruct and enter Azuchi, it was deserted.
More disconcertingly, most of the envoys that Mitsuhide sent out to other warlords came back with ambiguous replies – they were not rallying to his banner.
Of course, Shibata Katsuie and Oda Nobutaka would be implacable and need to be defeated. Shibata was cousins with Nobunaga and the senior living Oda retainer; Nobutaka was the most talented surviving son of Nobunaga. Both had significant troops under their command.
But there were so many neutrals that could go either way. Of course, Mitsuhide reasoned, Hideyoshi was also going to be an implacable enemy – the men hated each other. But Hideyoshi was tied down fighting the Mori at Takamatsu; he shouldn’t be able to enter the battle for another month, perhaps two.
If a few more daimyo would join me, we could defeat Katsuie and Nobutaka before Hideyoshi is able to return… the war will be won…
But they weren’t joining. There was demurring and excuses from would-be allies, even old friends, in the wake of the treachery at Hanno Temple.
Just then, an Akechi Clan messenger arrived –
“Lord Akechi, I have reports that Hideyoshi Toyotomi is at Oda Nobutaka’s camp swearing fealty.”
Mitsuhide looked like a ghost walked over his grave.
“Toyotomi? Impossible! He’s at least two weeks away, fighting the Mori!”
***
FIELD CAMP OF ODA NOBUTAKA
“Halt! Who goes there?”
“Toyotomi Hideyoshi, vassal of the Oda!”
“Lord Toyotomi! Impossible!”
“Please, take me to Lord Nobutaka.”
When he was shown into Nobutaka’s quarters, the young son of the assassinated warlord was surprised and flinched.
Hideyoshi took the boy’s hand and kneeled.
“Your faithful vassal is here, Lord Nobutaka. I have come to avenge our lord, your father.”
Nobutaka pulled Hideyoshi to his feet, nearly weeping. As Hideyoshi took off his field armor and helmet, the room was shocked – Hideyoshi had shaven his head in the mark of a Buddhist priest, a sign of mourning and a predecessor to abdicating from the earthly world.
***
AKECHI HEADQUARTERS, YAMAZAKI REGION
Shouts of men and whinnying of horses filled the air.
“My Lord, get back inside!”
Akechi Mitsuhide was forced back into his command tent as armed soldiers surrounded it.
“What’s going on? Report!”
No one knew.
Light and smoke began to fill the area, and guns began firing.
Within an hour, the noise died down and someone gave a report to Akechi Mitsuhide.
“Lord Mitsuhide, ninja broke into our camp. They killed many of our horses and set fire to ammunition stores and the supply train before breaking out.”
Mitsuhide wasn’t even enraged any more.
“Who is behind it? Toyotomi?”
“We don’t know.”
Toyotomi forces were converging rapidly on his position; the Akechi were outnumbered more than 2-to-1. It seemed like the Mandate of Heaven had gone against the Akechi.
One senior retainer spoke, “Let’s withdraw and live to fight! We can regroup, and attack at –”
Akechi Mitsuhide waved him off. “Things are getting worse for us with time, not better. This must be the battle; we need to destroy Toyotomi’s forces and take his life for any chance of success.”
***
THE BATTLE OF YAMAZAKI
As often happens, the battle broke out by accident – Toyotomi and Akechi forces were both marching for the high ground overseeing Yamazaki when they came into contact, and gunfire broke out.
To their credit, the Akechi who stood fast fought like desperate men. But others, seeing the signs of the times, deserted en masse.
Within only a few hours of fighting, there were 3000 Akechi soldiers dead to 3300 Toyotomi soldiers – but most of the remainder of the Akechi army had deserted. Toyotomi and Nobutaka now had over 20,000 soldiers facing less than a few thousand Akechi loyalists.
Legends would say, later, tha Akechi Mitsuhide was captured fleeing the battle by bandits and killed by them.
This seems, to this amateur historian, like a falsehood. Mitsuhide’s personal guard was elite; no bandit corps would have attacked, no matter how beleaguered they were.
No doubt one of Hideyoshi’s men killed Mitsuhide, but Hideyoshi told the bandit story afterwards to not excessively glorify his achievement in killing the traitor – winning the battle was enough – and to further denigrate Mitsuhide’s character. What could be more shameful than be slain by bandits after more than half of your soldiers desert?
Akechi Mitsuhide’s head was staked outside the ruins of Hanno Temple.
***
NAVIGATING A CRISIS
Hideyoshi Toyotomi was now indisputably one of the most powerful men in Japan, fighting in an unknown power vacuum after Nobunaga’s death.
He followed the rules of handling an unexpected crisis perfectly – first, he set immediate security and mitigated immediate risks. Had his sentries not intercepted Mitsuhide’s messengers to the Mori, Hideyoshi Toyotomi might have been isolated while Akechi Mitsuhide could have consolidated.
Simultaneously, Toyotomi and his generals assessed the situation, leading them to set their priorities –
Their Musts included extracting themselves from battle with the Mori, making peace terms in a way that would not look like a defeat, and ensuring the Mori kept the peace.
Once extracted, Toyotomi had another Must – legitimacy. By rallying to the banner of Nobutaka, and showing signs of mourning, fellow generals joined his pursuit of Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki without the need for extended war counsels, debate, or deliberation.
Toyotomi had some significant Wants: most notably, he wanted to be the one that did Mitsuhide in without excessively exciting jealousy among potential rivals and undecided forces on who to join.
There were probably some Nice-to-Have points that Toyotomi would have liked, but he rightfully ignored any that stood in the way of his Musts and his Wants for navigating the crisis. He ignored, in the short term, gold, treasure, and land. These shiny distractions might have delayed him a day or two, which might have made all the difference.
You would do well to learn from his handling of the Crisis – it was some of the most skillful generalship in all of history.
***
AND ANTICIPATION
But there is still a power vacuum. What will happen?
You already know that Hideyoshi Toyotomi is heralded as “The Second Great Unifier of Japan” after Nobunaga. How did he get there?
Next chapter: Anticipation.
Vantages #7: Anticipation
UNDER A STARRY SUMMER SKY
Sometimes it feels like I’m aging backwards.
He had turned 45 years old the previous spring, but spring felt a long time ago.
When I was younger, I was outwardly frivolous and inwardly determined. Now I’m outwardly determined, but I feel nothing so strongly as the desire to be frivolous.
The night was, in fairness, beautiful. A perfect night to be frivolous, if ever there was such a night.
Well, what’s the cost of a little indulgence in a little silliness?
He took off his badges of rank and put on a plain kimono. Setting into the summer night air, he decided to go full-whimsical and took his sandals off too, letting the dirt-clay of the castle grounds mush in between his toes.
Sleep is a strange thing.
He walked, drifted, rambled through the castle grounds.
I start the day with a blaze of energy. I get tired and want to sleep. But when I lay down, I feel full of restless energy. I want to get up. But once I’m standing again, I feel the tiredness in bones again. I’m 45 years old. Why do I feel ancient?
A sentry cries out – “Halt! Identify yourself!”
He replied playfully, “I’m merely a loyal samurai of the clan.”
“No joking! I’ll run you through! Identify your –“ but then the samurai realized who he was barking at.
He invoked the God of War in surprise – “By Hachiman’s Blade! Lord Toyotomi, my apologies!” He fell to the ground and prostrated himself.
“No, get up, it’s a beautiful night. You’re doing your job well. When is the next watch taking over? Come have a drink with me on the night pavilion and look at moon, wouldn’t you?”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“Well, don’t neglect your duty; make sure the next man takes your place and then join me on the pavilion. You must be hungry from your rounds, I’ll have the kitchen make us something light and see you there.”
The samurai moved off at a fast pace towards the guardhouse; deliberate and not-quite-running, and then was gone.
Hideyoshi looped through the castle grounds, feeling the bare earth between his toes and soaking the feeling in, before checking in at the kitchen and asking them to stir up some rice and vegetables as well as a bottle of sake.
The 45-year-old Lord waited for his companion to join him; it was good to occasionally mix in with the men. The night sky was alit with the stars and moon.
What’s bothering me?
And just then, a summer breeze shook the nearby trees gently, and caressed the general’s newly-shaven head.
That. That’s it. That’s what’s bothering me.
Two kitchen attendants hurriedly arrived first, before the young samurai patrolman Hideyoshi had bumped into and summoned.
They set the food in a rustic yet elegant placement and hurried off.
The wind is always blowing, but we can’t always feel it. And yet – is it not everything?
Hideyoshi heard the double-marching fast-step of the young armored samurai patrolman coming to meet him.
And that’s the question, no?
Soon, he was lost in discussion with the young samurai, eating and drinking a little, getting to know him and inquiring about his family, and inquiring about the spirit of the men and the morale of the nearby castle town. After the light meal, the guard blushed at the honor and departed.
Hideyoshi took his leave from the pavilion slowly, hoping that sleep would take him in its embrace shortly. But the question remained in his mind –
Which way is the wind blowing?
***
A NONCHALANTLY SIGNIFICANT LETTER
Kanbei stood for a moment in the doorway, sizing up how long Hideyoshi would take to finish his letters.
Hideyoshi was always incredibly courteous – except when he was deepest in political thought. Then he would pour all his energies into understanding the mind and spirit of whomever he was engaging. Hideyoshi was unusually successful in this, a born diplomat.
Kanbei decided that Hideyoshi would be a little while, and edged courteously into the room, limping a little from the old leg wound, but moving delicately so as not to disturb those trains of deep thought.
Hideyoshi would stare intently at the paper, frozen in time and thought, and then explode into action with his brush, putting down mandates and offers with surprising speed once he had found the core thought to drive at.
After finishing three letters in rapid succession, he called for a messenger and only then noticed Kanbei sitting on the tatami floor.
“Oh, Kanbei! Have you been waiting long?”
“Not long, Hideyoshi. Are you finished with your letters?”
A page arrived, and Hideyoshi gave rapid and precise instructions on who was to deliver them, what route they should take, and relevant details. The page flew off with great haste.
“Well, letters are never really finished – how can we
know we’ve won? The future is always uncertain, of course. All we can do is work as hard as we can to understand ourselves, our friends, and our…” Hideyoshi frowns, not wanting to continue that line of thought to its conclusion.
Kanbei lightened the mood: “Our… not-friends, my lord?”
“That’s it! Our not-friends. Yes, what do the Chinese say? ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles’? But we don’t have enemies. We have ourselves, our friends, and our” – Hideyoshi laughed at Kanbei’s turn of words – “And our not-friends. So I have to write a lot, test and push slightly on the minds of the men of the age, and see who, in the end, will be our friends.”
MACHINA Page 10
