Nor was he unmindful of the part Takara had played in moulding his purpose and building his fortune, even to winning the crown of success. Yet he could not return her that love which completes life and makes it worth the living; he had given it to another and it was not his to recall. He set himself to work at a lighter task, and presently the force of his great ability made itself felt in the complete reorganisation and equipment of the grandest army that had ever marched or fought in the flowery kingdom of Japan. CHAPTER XXXVIII SAVING THE ARMADA The news of the victory had spread rapidly, and by the time Shibusawa reached Kyoto the whole south was in a state of unrestrained enthusiasm. From the first days of the shogunate, the south had never at any time yielded complete submission. They had always believed in the divine right of the mikado, and still cherished the hope of his complete restoration. They had fought many battles before, but somehow this one sounded a deeper note. A new leader had risen, and they rallied to his support with a better heart and bolder purpose. While the force of the great success had been thus encouraging in the south it worked a radically different effect in the north. The news had travelled faster than the terrified shogun, and long before he reached Tokyo they had heard of Tetsutaisho's misfortune and of the crushing defeat Hitotsubashi had suffered to befall the brave samurai. On the return march he was openly jeered, and nowhere did the retreat meet with even respectful consideration. Everywhere throughout the north the people bowed down with sorrow; but in their hearts there arose a feeling of contempt for the halting, fleeing shogun. "Had Tetsutaisho but escaped disablement!" became the suppressed cry on every hand. Hitotsubashi re-entered his palace a broken-hearted man, and there shut himself in, a prisoner and a failure. It wanted only the bidding of the first comer to startle and frighten him into a weak and puerile submission: he waited and the time quickly came. In the readjustment of the army, Shibusawa not only took advantage of the strong public sentiment greatly to augment and newly equip the force at hand, but introduced an entirely new system of arrangement and discipline. He made of the army three great divisions: the Central or Home division, over which he himself retained the immediate command; the Right or South division, the command of which he intrusted to Saigo; the Left or North division, which, strange to say, Tetsutaisho, his most bitter enemy, was named to command.