. Ozaka was
greatly developed, an immense fortress being built, the river widened
and deepened, and canals dug in great profusion, over which were thrown
more than a thousand bridges. Various other cities were improved, great
towers and pagodas built, and public works erected in many parts of the
realm. In addition Hideyoshi won popularity by his justice and mercy,
pardoning his opponents, though the rule had hitherto been to put the
adherents of opposite parties to death, and showing no regard for rank,
title, or service to himself in his official duty as judge.

He had married a peasant girl while a peasant himself, but as he rose in
rank he espoused new wives of increasingly high station, his last being
of princely descent. In the end he had as many wives as the much-married
Henry VIII., but not in the same fashion, as he kept them all at once,
instead of cutting off the head of one to make room for the next.

Hideyoshi had one great ambition, born in him when a boy, and haunting
him as a man. This was to conquer Corea, and perhaps China as well. He
had begged Nobunaga to aid him in this great design, but had only been
laughed at for his pains. Now that he was at the head of affairs, this
plan loomed up in large proportions in his mind. Corea had long ceased
to pay tribute, and Corean pirates ravaged the coast. Here was an excuse
for action. As for China, he knew that anarchy ruled there, and hoped to
take advantage of this state of affairs.

Patting the back of a statue of Yoritomo in a patronizing fashion, he
humorously said, "You are my friend. You took all the power in Japan, a
thing which only you and I have been able to do. But you came from a
noble family, and were not, like me, the son of a peasant. I propose to
outdo you, and conquer all the earth, and even China. What say you to
that?"

To test the feeling of the gods about his proposed expedition, he threw
into the air before a shrine a hundred "cash," or Japanese small coin,
saying, to translate his words into the American vernacular, "If I am to
conquer China, let these come up head."

They all came up "head," or what in Japan answers to that word, and
soldiers and ruler were alike delighted, for this omen seemed surely to
promise success.

Nearly fourteen hundred years had elapsed since the previous conquest of
Corea by the famous empress Jingu. Now an army said to have been five
hundred thousand strong was sent across the ocean channel between
K