Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 478 472. Fire Attack
"Grand Commander, we have already besieged the capital of Yamatai as per your instructions."

Now Feng Xi was standing on the hill where Himiko had stood before, looking into the city. The city wall, which was only two or three stories high, could not block the prying eyes from outside the city. Feng Xi could see the demoralized Japanese soldiers in the city.

"There are only two gates in Yamato Castle?"

Feng Xi asked Ma Su who was standing beside him.

"Yes, Grand Commander. Because there is the sea on the west side and not many settlements on the south side, the gates of Yamato Castle are only opened on the east and north sides."

Ma Su nodded and made some speculation based on what he had learned and the actual situation.

Feng Xi was not too surprised. Nowadays, the Japanese island's navigation technology is only good enough to fish near the coast or travel back and forth between several islands. Going deep into the ocean is basically risking one's life, so it is normal that the west gate is not opened.

At that time, the south, including the future Kawachi, Izumi, Kii, Yamato, Iga and other areas, were basically mountainous and forested, so these areas would definitely not be given priority for land reclamation. As a result, the population was small and there were few people coming from the south. The south gate of Yamato Castle was not built due to defense and management cost considerations.

"In that case, we will mainly defend the north and east directions, and transfer the Shenji Battalion to these two directions."

Feng Xi had made arrangements and deployments first, and had his own messengers to inform each camp.

Soon, Feng Xi personally took charge of the north gate, Ma Su and Bao Yi took charge of the east gate, and Fu Rong guarded the south wall and patrolled the surroundings. Because the wall was low, if someone really wanted to escape, it didn't really matter whether there was a city gate or not, so Feng Xi did not relax his attention on the situation in the south.

As for whether the enemy would escape from the west wall to the sea and go to other places? There were Han navy patrolling the sea, and if anyone really thought so, they would be walking into a trap.

After a day of fighting, the Han army was a little tired. After cremating all the corpses of the Japanese soldiers to prevent epidemics, they chose to camp where they were instead of attacking the city immediately.

But this night was not peaceful. Himiko was able to unite the people mainly because of her prestige. Now the troops of Yamatai headquarters were almost annihilated, with less than a thousand left, and the deterrence to the leaders of various countries was greatly reduced.

Himiko, who used to be able to keep her composure, now seems to have trouble speaking, and there are many kings who pretend to obey her but actually disobey her.

For example, the Guinu Kingdom that she contacted, this Guinu Kingdom originally came from the remote Kii, and there were no special products to show off in the local area. It was a country with poor mountains and bad waters.

As we all know, poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people. The people of Guinu are as their name suggests, extremely belligerent. The only thing they couldn't defeat was Yamatai, otherwise how could they be so obedient?

Now that Yamatai was in decline, the Guinu Kingdom was too lazy to obey Yamatai's orders anymore. After some thought, they decided to take advantage of the Han army's unpreparedness and launch a night attack out of the city to catch the Han army off guard.

Himiko was completely unaware of this. By the time Tsukuyomi asked her maid to wake her up, hundreds of people from the Oni Slave Kingdom had already opened the city gates and rushed out. Fortunately, Yamatai at least controlled the city gates and closed them immediately after they left.

"Idiot! The Art of War came from the Han people. How could they not know how to guard against night attacks?"

Himiko was so angry that she couldn't speak. Didn't the Guinu Kingdom want to give it away? Himiko immediately ordered that the Guinu Kingdom be abandoned directly, and not to open the door even if they knocked.

There was no way. Although it was a bit demoralizing, the Guinu Kingdom acted so rashly. If the Han army tricked them into opening the city gates, I'm afraid everyone would be doomed even sooner.

The Guinu Kingdom lived up to expectations and confidently left the city quietly to prepare for a big attack on the Han army. However, the training level of the Japanese island foot soldiers was not satisfactory. As soon as they left the city, they were discovered by the Han army scouts. The Han army simply used a trick against them and deliberately let the Guinu Kingdom into the camp to catch the turtle in the jar. In the end, no one from the Guinu Kingdom escaped, and the leader of the Guinu Kingdom and two state soldiers were also captured alive by the Han army. This was because Feng Xi specifically ordered to spare their lives, otherwise they would have died on the spot.

On the second day, a platform was built between the Han army camp and the north gate of Yamato Castle. This left the Japanese soldiers in the city confused and they had no idea what the Han army was up to.

But soon, they found out the reason. The leader of Guinu State and two state officials were tied to three crosses, and then tied to a rack by the Han army, gagged and exposed to the sun.

This was undoubtedly a blow to the morale of the Japanese army, especially the rulers, who were all worried. Someone suggested opening the city gates to get the people back, but Himiko sternly rejected the idea, which made them even more distrustful of Himiko.

Feng Xi waited for a whole day, and finally in the afternoon he got the southeast wind he wanted.

Feng Xi looked at the flags fluttering in the southeast wind, and ordered someone to pass a message to Fu Rong, asking him to start acting according to the plan.

Feng Xi certainly wouldn't be so foolish as to start a siege here. His idea from the very beginning was to annihilate the enemy completely.

And he secretly allocated one thousand Shenjiying to Fu Zhu for this plan.

As the sun was setting, people in Yamato were still relieved that the Han army had not attacked the city today, but some lights began to appear from the south of the city. At first, the lights were just a few spots, but with the southeast wind, the lights gradually became a prairie fire, and began to engulf buildings one after another.

There are many forests on the Wa Islands, so the residents' houses are mostly made of wood and straw. In addition, Yamato Castle is the main city of Yamatai, so the housing density is even higher.

Now there was a fire in the south of the city, and it took less than an incense stick of time to burn down a quarter of the city. The fire was so fast that just as Tsukuyomi Nobuo went to report to Himiko, the fire was already out of control.

While the fire was one thing, the poisonous smoke produced by the flames was even more terrifying. Most people were not killed by the fire, but died in the thick and toxic smoke instead.

"The Han people are really cruel..."

The expression on Himiko's face was angry, scared, yet somewhat calm.

"Also, Lady Himiko, the rulers in the city could not hold back and seized the east gate in an attempt to leave the city to escape the fire."

Even now, Tsukuyomi is still so calm, as if it is not herself who is about to die.

"Oh, how can the Han people not be on guard against them? Let them be."

Himiko laughed at herself, but did not take any other action. Instead, she asked Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto to summon other civil and military officials, such as Susanoo, to come to the lord's palace together.

As Himiko expected, the Han army had already been waiting in full battle array at the two gates of Yamato Castle. The thousands of Japanese soldiers who tried to rush out of the city were blocked by the Shenji Camp and shot at, resulting in heavy casualties. When they finally managed to escape, only one in ten survived.

How could they fight under such circumstances? In the end, they were completely wiped out by the Han army.

(End of this chapter)