THE MILITARY EPOCH
acter. Open-handed and frank, he won love everywhere without forfeiting respect. The smallest merit did not escape his observation, or go unrewarded. Ambition, however, overmastered him; want of organising capacity impaired his success, and when he found himself confronted by perils of overwhelming magnitude, he stooped to crimes correspondingly great.
At first victory rested with Yoshisada. But when Takauji himself took the field, the aspect of things changed at once. He not only shattered Yoshisada, but pushed on and took Kyōtō. Unable to hold the city, however, he was soon compelled to retire southward, and the Court, believing his power completely broken, abandoned all further precautions.
Kusunoki Masashige alone remained vigilant. A noble type of soldierly loyalty, this man, whose memory remains as fresh in the hearts of his countrymen to-day as it was five centuries ago, had never wavered in his allegiance to the Imperial cause, and by sheer force of stubborn courage had survived situations that appeared overwhelming. Knowing Takauji too well to credit the permanence of his defeat, he vainly endeavoured to procure from the Emperor pardon for the Ashikaga leader. Very soon Takauji justified these apprehensions. He collected a great force, naval and military, and established his base at Hyōgo. The Emperor ordered Masashige and Yoshisada to march against him.
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