Bloody Sunrise

by Christopher Nicole

  Another long, appraising gaze. Then Mutsuhito again nodded. ‘I believe you, Captain. I will give you your authority. Be sure you do not fail me.’

  *

  Oyama estimated it would take a fortnight to make the army ready for the march south. Nicholas hastily tried to arrange a meeting with Elizabeth, but this proved impossible, so he had to be content with a message, although this time he had no idea how soon he might return. But she would understand the situation, as all Tokyo was immediately buzzing with rumour and speculation.

  It had, indeed, reached Sumiko before Nicholas got home. ‘There is to be war on the Satsuma,’ she said, her face tight with emotion.

  ‘There is still a chance.’ He told her his orders.

  ‘Saigo will never surrender,’ she said. ‘And you cannot fight against him. You are brother samurai; to all intents and purposes, he is your father, as he sponsored your adoption by my people.’

  ‘Do you not suppose I know these things?’ Nicholas snapped. ‘But I owe a greater allegiance, in the oath I swore to serve the Mikado.’

  ‘A boy,’ Sumiko said contemptuously. ‘Seeking to destroy our people.’ She bit her lip at the near blasphemy she had just uttered, while Aki and Takamori looked from one parent to the other in anxious dismay. Aki was fifteen now, and would soon need to be found a husband. She was like her mother in most ways, although, disconcertingly, she had blue eyes. Takamori was two years younger. They both obeyed Nicholas, because he was their father, but he knew that they had been brought up as Satsuma first, and Japanese second. That was the curse of this country, the curse that Mutsuhito was determined to overcome.

  ‘You must pray that Saigo shows some sense,’ he told his wife.

  *

  But she was not to be mollified, and Nicholas decided to move out until the crisis was over. In fact he might have done so even if there had been no crisis, for he was equally busy preparing the tiny navy for its first campaign; he had every intention, should Saigo prove recalcitrant, of joining Fuso and Ito. Thus he moved his gear on board the flagship, while he chafed at the delay, and chafed too at his inability to be with Elizabeth, a frustration increased by the repeated presence of Rashnikov, all affability, as he inspected the Japanese preparations.

  But most of all was he obsessed with a sense of dread, a feeling that the Empire which he had come to love was plunging headlong into civil war; he could not bring himself to believe that Saigo, so uncompromising in his determination to uphold the old ways, would be persuaded to accept the new.

  At last the word came that the army was ready to march. ‘We will sail at dawn,’ Ito told him.

  ‘But you will not enter Kagoshima Wan without my signal,’ Nicholas reminded him.

  Ito nodded, and held out his hand. ‘I wish you success in your mission.’

  ‘I’ll say Amen to that,’ Nicholas agreed, and went ashore, going first of all to his house to say farewell to Sumiko and the children, as it could be some time before he returned.

  To his surprise, he was greeted by Kisuda, with a very long face. ‘Lady Sumiko is not here, master.’

  Nicholas frowned at him. ‘Not here? Then where is she?’

  ‘She left the house three days ago, master. With the young ones.’ Kisuda was trembling.

  ‘And you did not inform me? Where did she go?’

  ‘I was ordered not to do so, master. Lady Sumiko said she was going to stay with friends in Yokohama, for three days. She was to return today. But she has not done so.’

  ‘Yokohama? Mrs Barrett has no friends in Yokohama!’ Sumiko had indeed carefully refrained from making any friends since her arrival in Honshu. ‘By God! She has fled to Kagoshima!’ Kisuda hung his head in distress. Nicholas punched him on the shoulder. ‘You were not to know.’

  But what to do? Three days! There was no way he could overtake them now, even if he rode day and night, because Sumiko would have done that as well. And in any event, his orders were to accompany the army, only moving in front of it when Kyushu was reached. And Mutsuhito had threatened to raze Kagoshima, if Saigo continued his defiance. Now he had to be made to see reason. But once Sumiko had reached him, he would know the forces being massed against him, and have time to prepare to meet them.

  *

  Nicholas reported to the Emperor, and it was agreed to expedite the march. The advance guard, one of the new honin regiments, commanded by a German, Colonel von Donop, left immediately. Nicholas accompanied them, and they were also given, at his request, two batteries of artillery. His mind was already ranging ahead to how he would fight Saigo, if it came to that, and if these men would respond to his leadership. The honin soldiers wore smart uniforms of blue jackets and white trousers, with blue peaked caps, and were armed with rifles and bayonets, and supported by a battery of artillery. They were well drilled and looked as good as any troops in the world. But they had never fired a shot in anger, and they had never faced a samurai army. They were a totally unknown quality.

  At Osaka, a fleet of junks waited to convey them down the calm waters of the Inland Sea. Here Nicholas was able to discover that Sumiko and the children were still three days ahead of him, now probably more, as she had hired a fast galley to convey her and the children south. That made the two day journey in the junks seem forever.

  Nicholas spent his time with von Donop discussing the capabilities of the men, and was relieved to hear the German claim that they were highly trained in marksmanship and volley fire. But von Donop also feared their reaction when opposed to the samurai; he felt they would do better on the defensive. Nicholas disagreed. Obviously, given the slightest opportunity, the samurai would charge – it was the only way they knew how to fight. But how would the honin react to the advance of those armoured men in the fearsome masks and wielding the even more fearsome swords, when they had lived all their lives in terror of their superiors?

  Even more, he could not contemplate a withdrawal of the Satsuma into Kagoshima, and a fight to the death. Sumiko and the children were in the very eye of the storm. No, if Saigo could not be made to see sense, then he had to be defeated in a short, sharp battle, with Kagoshima occupied before it could be prepared for a siege. That was why he had asked for the special powers the Emperor had granted him.

  To defeat a samurai army, with a brigade of honin? Yet he knew it could be done, if Saigo, despite all he had been taught, fought like a samurai, as Nicholas was sure he would.

  For the moment, however, he kept his opinions to himself, because nothing would be possible, if Kumamoto had already fallen. So they made all possible speed, dropping anchor off Shimonoseki less than three weeks after leaving Tokyo. They found all quiet, although the place was full of rumours coming up from the south. Satsuma agents had been in the town, recruiting samurai, and they were told that considerable numbers had crossed to Kyushu. But as yet no one knew of any fighting down there, and apparently the imperial banners still flew over Kumamoto.

  Yet Nicholas hastened to disembark on the north shore of Kyushu and drive his men onwards. The honin no longer laughed over their evening sake; few of them had ever been to sea before, and after their earlier forced marches they were exhausted. Now they looked at Nicholas from scowling faces and muttered behind his back, and now too they no longer polished their rifles and bayonets. But there would be time enough for that when they reached Kumamoto. And on the fourteenth day after leaving Tokyo they marched over the hills and looked down on the fortress, from which the Rising Sun of Japan still waved, and then looked at the hills beyond, and the cross and ring standards of the Satsuma.

  *

  General Kodama himself rode out of the fortress to meet them. He looked past Nicholas and von Donop as the column of honin approached, followed by the sweating artillerymen. ‘This is what you bring to my relief?’ he asked.

  ‘This is the advance guard,’ Nicholas told him. ‘The Emperor follows with the main body.’ He pointed towards the Satsuma. ‘How long have they been there?’

  Kodama shr
ugged. ‘They assembled perhaps three days ago.’

  The moment Sumiko reached Kagoshima, Nicholas surmised. ‘And they have made no move to attack you?’

  ‘We parleyed. Saigo-no-Takamori explained that pending instructions from the Emperor, they wished to retake possession of Kumamoto. I replied that, pending instructions from the Emperor, the fortress would be defended. General Saigo then told me that my cause was hopeless, that he disposed of fifteen thousand men to my two. I acknowledged this, and he offered me seppuku. I agreed, if no succour came from the Emperor. I asked for a month, but he would allow me only a week. Which ends tomorrow morning.’ A twitch of Kodama’s face indicated the narrowness of his escape. ‘They did not suppose you, or anyone, could come so soon.’

  If they had not, this stiff-necked old samurai would have felt obliged to carry out his part of the agreement, and cut open his own belly, just as Saigo was determined to wage this war with all the traditional honour of the samurai. The fool, Nicholas thought. The heroic, glorious, magnificent fool. ‘Well,’ he said. ‘Let us continue to surprise him, if we can.’

  Now Kodama’s face did twitch. ‘With what, Barrett san? He will have seen the size of your force. I do not consider that anything has changed. Tomorrow morning at dawn the fortress will surrender.’

  ‘And you will kill yourself?’

  ‘All officers present will commit seppuku,’ Kodama pointed out. ‘Including yourself.’

  ‘I do not think that will be necessary, General. I have a letter for you, from the Emperor.’

  While Kodama read Mutsuhito’s instructions, Nicholas studied the Satsuma forces through his binoculars. Saigo had not actually occupied the hill overlooking Kumamoto, no doubt confident that he could do so whenever he wished, and for the time being was keeping his men out of sight in the valley beyond. This was strategically sound, but he had made the mistake of leaving all his flags and pennants flying, as was the samurai custom, and it was possible to work out his strength, and even his dispositions.

  Kodama folded the letter and placed it in his pocket. His face remained impassive. ‘What do you propose to do, Barrett?’

  ‘Occupy that ridge, certainly. I will parley, which is why I am here. But if General Saigo will not submit, we must advance immediately.’

  ‘You will attack fifteen thousand samurai with three thousand honin?’ Kodama was incredulous.

  ‘It is the only way to gain the initiative, General. If we merely wait for them to come to us, we will be overwhelmed. With the support of your garrison we will number five thousand. Colonel von Donop, your men will march into that dip beyond the fortress as if to pitch camp. Once they are there, have them unload all their surplus equipment, but instead of erecting their tents they are to be formed into line, and then they will proceed directly to the top of the lie, with loaded rifles. Until they reach the brow they will be hidden from the Satsuma.’

  ‘And the artillery?’

  ‘They will also enter the valley, but instead of unlimbering, will be kept in readiness, both batteries together, mind, and the moment the flag of truce should be thrown to the ground, they will advance their pieces to the top of the ridge as rapidly as possible, unlimber, and commence firing into the enemy.’

  Von Donop pulled his nose. ‘If the riflemen fail to support them, the guns will be lost.’

  ‘If the riflemen do not support us all, Colonel, then everything will be lost, and as General Kodama says, the fortress will be surrendered at dawn. So either way, let us prepare to die like men, if we have to.’ He smiled at Kodama. ‘Like samurai, eh, General?’

  *

  Nicholas rode across to the nearest company of riflemen and saluted them as they trudged by. They did not look any more cheerful than earlier; they too could see the banners on the far side of the hill. ‘I need a standard-bearer,’ he said. ‘A volunteer, who can ride.’

  ‘I can ride, honourable Captain.’ One of the sergeants stepped from the ranks and saluted. ‘Fushida Mitsui, at your service.’

  ‘Lend this man a horse, Colonel von Donop,’ Nicholas instructed. ‘Now, Sergeant Fushida, you understand we may not return?’ Fushida saluted again, the white flag was raised on the end of a lance, and the pair of them walked their mounts forward, down into the hollow where the main body of the Imperial troops were already laying down their surplus equipment and being marshalled into lines by their officers, and then up the slope beyond. Their movements were certainly being overlooked by the Satsuma pickets, and now a group of armoured horsemen, their pennons flying in the breeze, moved forward to the ridge itself, to look down on the scene below. But Nicholas was relying on the probability that they would be more interested in the flag of truce, and the person of the herald himself, than in the deployment of such a pitifully small body of Imperial troops.

  ‘Are you afraid, Sergeant Fushida?’ he asked, without turning his head.

  ‘A man can but die, honourable Captain.’

  Spoken like a samurai, Nicholas thought, and hoped Fushida’s comrades were as spirited. He topped the rise, and now looked down into the valley beyond. The Satsuma outposts waited, on the hill beyond, where the main body of the rebels was grouped, a glittering mass of gleaming armour and sunreflecting lanceheads and waving banners, certainly at least fifteen thousand men, he estimated. They were a magnificent sight, and reminded Nicholas of paintings he had seen of medieval armies awaiting the shock of battle. Because that was a medieval army, and thus was doomed to extinction, if not today, then soon enough.

  He swung his glasses to the left and made out the three rifle regiments, grouped on the right wing as he had done outside Tokyo. Saigo was using an identical disposition as on that famous day, unable to grasp that each battle required different tactics. And he had made the same mistake as the Tokugawa in failing properly to mass his artillery; if he had not placed the guns in complete isolation from each other, he had yet spaced his batteries in an attempt to cover his entire field. Yet did he still possess four batteries to the imperial two, and five samurai to every honin. There was no certain victory in sight.

  Now the group of horsemen was close, and Nicholas could recognise Saigo, and his brother, Saigo-no-Kiyotake, as well as several other of the Satsuma samurai he knew so well; he had no doubt Tadatune was also on the field, in command of one of the regiments behind the generals. ‘The time for talking is past, Barrett san,’ Saigo said, as he drew rein.

  ‘You cannot succeed, Saigo,’ Nicholas told him. ‘You will be overwhelmed.’

  Saigo looked down into the hollow. ‘By those?’

  ‘That is but the advance guard. The Emperor follows with all the strength of the Empire. Saigo san, there is no hope of your defeating him. But not a shot has yet been fired. His Majesty knows this, and thus he invites you to take your samurai home, and accept his decrees, and make your peace.’

  ‘Rather would I say to you, Barrett san, old friend, repudiate this boy who is being so misled by his advisers, and rejoin your clan and your people. And your family.’ His eyes narrowed as he watched Nicholas’s expression.

  ‘They are safe?’ Nicholas asked.

  ‘Tired, but safe. And angry, that you have turned against them.’

  ‘It is not possible to turn against any Japanese, Saigo, by serving the Emperor of Japan. Rather do you mislead your people on to a path which must end in their destruction. I beg you, in the name of all that is reasonable, to reconsider.’

  ‘Barrett, you have chosen to be our enemy, and the enemy of your own family. So be it. I now speak to you as an enemy. The Satsuma are determined to live and prosper as did their forefathers. For this it is necessary for us first to regain complete control of our lands, and that means the fortress of Kumamoto. General Kodama has agreed to surrender the fortress tomorrow morning unless relieved. He has not been relieved by any force capable of defeating the Satsuma. Therefore tomorrow morning we will take possession of Kumamoto. I have fifteen thousand men at my back, Barrett; your few honin will not stand ag
ainst us. Flee with them, or remain and slit your belly after your defeat.’

  Nicholas gazed at him for several seconds. Then he said, ‘So be it, General Saigo. What follows is on your own head.’ He nodded to Fushida, and the pair of them turned their horses and walked them back a few paces. ‘Now!’ Nicholas shouted. Fushida threw the white flag to the ground, and Nicholas could clearly hear the call of the bugles and the shouts of von Donop and his officers, commanding the honin infantry to advance. Saigo also gave a shout and drew his sword, as did his aides, kicking their horses forward. Nicholas turned in the saddle, drawing his revolver as he did so, and tumbled the foremost samurai from his mount with a single shot. Fushida dismounted, unslinging his rifle and bringing down another of his erstwhile superiors, while Nicholas dropped a third.

  It had all happened so suddenly that the remainder dragged on their reins, staring at the deadly revolver and the no less deadly rifle in consternation, as Fushida calmly reloaded. Saigo’s face was twisted with anger. He was a perfect target, and yet Nicholas could not squeeze the trigger at the man who had so befriended him. He hesitated, while they stared at each other, then Saigo wheeled his horse and galloped back down the slope to his men. And now there came a cheer from the hollow, and the honin infantry started forward, bayonets flashing in the afternoon sun. They had after all responded to von Donop’s command, even if they had as yet no idea who or how many they were being called upon to fight. But certainly the rest of the Satsuma commanders were astonished by the sight. They followed their general, waving their swords and shouting their commands, while the conch shells began to wail and the entire mass of armoured warriors rippled, before itself starting to advance down into the valley. Nicholas turned to find out where his artillery was, and saw the gunners forcing their mules up the slope, accompanied by von Donop himself.