Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 477. Defending the City
"Lord Himiko, we are probably defeated. The Han soldiers are much stronger than our Ashigaru, and their armor is so good that they are almost invulnerable to weapons. I'm afraid we need to outnumber them ten times to have a chance of defeating them."

Tsukuyomi returned to the hills in a dusty state. Although he was wearing black clothes, the clean black clothes had been cut into several holes, causing a lot of skin injuries. There were also large pieces of dark coagulation on Tsukuyomi's clothes, which were obviously traces of dried blood, but no one knew whose blood it was.

Tsukuyomi followed Susanoo to try to stop the Han army, but unfortunately this plan failed. Although Tsukuyomi had some martial arts skills, most of them were one-on-one or assassination-like ranger methods. In the military formation, he could only ensure that he would not die. His role was definitely not as great as Susanoo and Takemikazuchi.

It is precisely because of this that Himiko asked Tsukuyomi to set up the Noshishi to spy on intelligence and assassinate important figures of other countries instead of charging into battle.

Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto had just fought with Han soldiers on the battlefield, but her fighting style was not suitable for this kind of melee. In addition, the fighting power of the Han soldiers was really extraordinary. Even Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto could not defeat three broadswords and several sickle spears with just a short sword. She mostly led her own Noshishi to assist the foot soldiers in resisting the Han army on the battlefield.

However, the energy users of Tsukuyomi also encountered the same problem as Takemikaze, that is, they found that their slashes at the hearts of ordinary Han soldiers could not penetrate the opponent's defense at all, as if there was a piece of iron plate under the opponent's robe.

And these Nengshi users were not good at frontal combat. Although they caused some trouble to the Han army at the beginning by relying on surprise attacks and smoke bombs, the Han army soon became familiar with their tactics after a little adaptation. These Nengshi users suffered heavy casualties in a short time. Even Tsukuyomi himself was unable to withstand it and had to retreat.

"Contact all the lords immediately, retreat to Yamato Castle, and defend it. ...Then have Susano lead the troops to cover the retreat."

Himiko was silent for a long time before she gritted her teeth and issued the final order. In fact, Himiko knew that she had already been defeated. She had united more than a dozen kings, and an army of 20,000 couldn't stop the Han people, so how could Yamato Castle stop them?

But now Himiko has no choice, it's just a matter of dying sooner or later. But even ants try to survive, they are now preparing to retreat to Yamato Castle, even though they know it's a way to survive, they have no choice but to do it, after all, no one wants to die immediately, they still want to struggle.

"……Yes."

The male and female ministers under Himiko's command each received the order, but they all seemed to be in a very low mood. First of all, it was naturally because of this humiliating defeat, and even the threat of the Han army was like a dark cloud lingering in their hearts, so naturally no one was happy.

The second is that Himiko asked Susanoo to cover the retreat, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that Susanoo is in a dangerous place where there is basically no chance of survival.

"Grand Commander, the Japanese have begun to retreat. They seem to want to retreat to the city and defend it to the death."

The movements of the Japanese army naturally did not escape the notice of the Han army scouts. Ma Su, who was guarding the rear army and taking care of battlefield intelligence, naturally discovered this and immediately sent someone to inform Feng Xi.

"Got it. Let Yizhong and Bao Yi in the vanguard kill as many Japanese troops as possible, focusing on pursuit and killing them. Then, after all the enemies have retreated, surround the city of Yamatai."

Feng Xi nodded. He was not surprised by the Japanese army's movements. If the battle continued, the Japanese coalition forces would be wiped out by the Han army. They would not fight foolishly in the field anymore and would definitely want to defend the city.

However, the defense of Yamato Castle seemed too much of a joke to Feng Xi, the generals of the Han army, and even the soldiers. Yamato Castle was known as the strongest castle in the Japanese island, but the city wall was only three feet high, not even as high as an ordinary county town in the Central Plains. The city wall was made of ordinary wood mixed with a small amount of large stones and soil, and the width of the city wall seemed to be only about two feet. This kind of city wall would not be able to withstand the new weapons of the Han army, even the old-fashioned battering rams.

The Japanese troops outside the city were beaten up by the Han army, and finally they managed to preserve most of their manpower by using the method of a lizard cutting off its tail and returning to Yamato Castle.

"Lady Himiko, Lord Susa is back." A servant rushed out of the lord's palace in a hurry with an excited expression. Although it was a bit rude, no one had the mind to care about it at the moment.

"Is Susano back?"

Himiko couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, then her face became serious and she pretended to know nothing.

"It seems that God has blessed Susano, allowing it to break out of the encirclement of the Han army."

The others below also looked at each other without saying anything. After all, anyone with a discerning eye could see that if Susano had obeyed Himiko's order and stayed behind until the last moment, he would never have been able to return even if he had three heads and six arms.

There is only one explanation for Susano's return, that is, he deserted the battlefield. He did not obey Himiko's death order to cover his retreat, but quietly ran back in advance.

But Susanoo was Himiko's younger brother after all, so everyone turned a blind eye to the matter and no one was tactful enough to bring it up again.

"What are the casualties of our army? Is there enough food and grass in the city?"

Himiko changed the subject with just one sentence and turned to ask about the preparations for defending the city.

"Sir, the situation is very bad. There are less than 10,000 of our allied forces returning to the city. Most of the casualties were killed by the Han people, and a small number are missing."

Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto didn't even have time to change his tattered clothes as he immediately worked out a rough count of the number of remaining troops in the city.

In a field battle, Tsukuyomi had no idea how many people the Han army had lost, but the number compared to the casualties on his own side was definitely a terrifying number.

Yesterday, the coalition army of more than a dozen countries was still mighty, but after a field battle today, less than seven kings were left, and more than half of the 20,000 troops and more than 2,000 samurai were lost. There were less than 10,000 foot soldiers left, and only 700 samurai were left because they were targeted by the Han army.

"And considering the current number of civilians, foot soldiers, and samurai in the city, I'm afraid the food and grass will only be enough for ten days."

Although Yamato City is the capital of Yamatai, the food and grass reserves are prepared according to the number of thousands of Yamatai people. How can they prepare for the scale of 10,000 or even 20,000 people in a hurry? So it is normal that the consumption is less than expected.

In addition, siege weapons were not well developed in Japan, so a siege would not last for ten days or half a month. Basically, the war would end when the attacking side ran out of food and grass. Therefore, the thirty days of food and grass provided by Yamato Castle to the Yamatai headquarters was already a lot.

(End of this chapter)