When the defensive breach was opened, the iron defense line that the Japanese had set up near the port would be useless and would not be able to stop the Chinese expedition army from sweeping Hokkaido.
6th month, 5th day, when Ouyang Shuo and his group onboard The Emperor arrived at the port of Kushiro, the three armies led by Han Xin had already surrounded Hokkaido’s center city Sapporo.
In a short two days, the expedition army had wiped out the entire Hokkaido and Sapporo was the only city left.
Seeing that the enemy was unstoppable, Tokugawa Ieyasu moved all the available defensive forces into Sapporo and was prepared to have a fight to the death with the expedition army at this place.
In comparison, although the south army smoothly disembarked on Kyushu, their progress on the island was not really swift. In two days, they had only taken down half an island.
When they got the news, Ouyang Shuo used his identity as the country war leader to send a letter to Di Chen and order them to speed up to try to reach Honshu soon and surround Edo as planned.
Di Chen’s reply was that Kyushu’s geography was really complicated, and the army needed to play it safe, so they would not dare to proceed carelessly. When Ouyang Shuo heard the explanation, he gave out a cold laugh and directly showed the letter to the public.
No one was a fool.
Regardless of whether Di Chen did it on purpose to cause trouble for Great Xia or was forced to do so under the pressure of Silver Hand, as long as Ouyang Shuo revealed it, the people would support him.
“He’s digging his own grave!” Ouyang Shuo commented.
Di Chen was obviously no fool, but he was a member of Silver Hand. Whilst he enjoyed the benefits that being in the organization provided, it was unavoidable that there would be times when he needed to contribute back.
There was no free lunch in the world.
As expected, the moment the news was released, players all demanded an explanation from Di Chen. Obviously, Di Chen could not give one and could only keep silent. His heart felt really pained.
Handan City’s prestige in China was dropping toward a freezing point.
…
6th month, 6th day morning, Sapporo.
After a full day of siege battle, the majestic Sapporo was in tatters. The city walls were stained with blood, and there were huge holes and craters everywhere like it might collapse at any moment.
Beneath the city wall, corpses of both sides could be stacked up into little mountains. The blood that seeped out dyed the city protection river red. On the city walls, there were only a few Japanese soldiers that could still stand.
Everyone knew that Sapporo would be lost.
As expected from a master strategist, it was because Han Xin made the decision to quickly sweep Sapporo that Tokugawa Ieyasu’s defenses seem really rushed.
Sapporo was not as stable as its tall city walls looked.
City Lord’s Manor.
Tokugawa Ieyasu looked at the generals in front of him. His expression was not depressed but instead really pumped up, “Generals, Sapporo cannot be defended and will not need to be defended. Even if we die, let’s die with honor and take a bite out of the enemy. I order the remaining troops to gather at the south city gate and strike out preemptively!”
“Hai!”
The generals were all similarly pumped up, viewing death as a release.
Tokugawa Ieyasu said loudly, “To us, this is our final battle, enjoy it!”
“Fight to the death! Fight to the death!”
“Go!” Tokugawa Ieyasu waved his arms and gave the final order.
The generals left the city Lord’s Manor to gather up their forces, walking toward the south city gate in an orderly manner. War was cruel. In just a day, half of the defending troops were taken down.
Only around 30 thousand people could be gathered up now.
‘Kachi~’
The south city gate was opened up, and right outside were the Chinese army.
“Kill!”
30 thousand crazy men charged out of the city gates. They would not be able to return from this.
…
Still the City Lord’s Manor.
After sending the last group of troops to their death, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the general in charge of Hokkaido, showered and changed, entering the room that was prepared earlier.
He took out a special knife used to slice one’s stomach apart and slowly stabbed it into his stomach.
6th month, 6th day, 10:15 AM, Tokugawa Ieyasu killed himself in the Sapporo City Lord’s Manor. Meanwhile, the 30 thousand troops all died in less than two hours.
The death of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the fall of Hokkaido became a symbolic moment in the Battle of Japan. The Chinese north army took just six days to take down a quarter of the Japanese islands.
Such strength terrified everyone.
…
6th month, 6th day, afternoon, Ouyang Shuo and his group arrived at Sapporo.
There, Ouyang Shuo gave a fervent speech to praise all the soldiers. He listed their contributions and rewarded soldiers that performed well on the spot.
There were even three players who were awarded platinum equipment, making the other players envious.
Did they not fight to the death just so they could exchange for a piece of platinum rank equipment?
Ouyang Shuo even said that once they arrived at Edo, he would reward a batch of warriors with rewards three times the scale of this.
Ouyang Shuo’s riches were a great motivation; the players were instantly pumped up.
After which, Ouyang Shuo met Han Xin and announced his opinion on how to deal with Hokkaido, “Send forces to gather up all available food to assist the frontlines. Use all available civilians and their ships to help transport grain. Use all artisans to produce war resources for the army.”
Ouyang Shuo used the word ‘all’ three times to show his determination.
For this army expedition, grain transport was a huge problem.
If they only relied on Great Xia, it would not be able to sustain the use of two million people.
The grain problem needed to be solved quickly.
Moreover, before the country war began, Sanli City had started to control the grain in the cities and villages. To try to get large amounts of grains from the granary was impossible. The only way would be to take from the stored grain of the people.
“Even if only one grain of rice is left, take it. If the civilians do not want to starve, let them join us, and the army will provide them with basic food. As for the remaining, let them settle their own problems.”
Ouyang Shuo was so cold not because he wanted to kill all the Japanese but because desperate times called for desperate measures.
Taking down Japan was the top priority.
“Apart from large-scale killing of civilians, the army can go all out. I give you the power. You do not have to care about people’s sentiment and the post war effects, as the war is the main mission.”
Ouyang Shuo gave the army a bottom line that they could not cross.
Armies killing civilians, no matter who the enemy was, was a huge no-no. To the army itself, it was a huge cancer that harmed both sides.
This pandora’s box could not be opened.
Even on the Japanese battlefield, Ouyang Shuo needed to defend his bottom line.
“Understood!”
Han Xin nodded his head solemnly. The king was rarely so vicious. This battle seemed to be different from the previous ones.
Ouyang Shuo said, “Go and prepare to cross the sea tomorrow. Officially attack Honshu.”
“Yes, my king!”
…
Looking out at the leaving back view of Han Xin, Ouyang Shuo took in a deep breath. At this moment, his eyes were filled with thought.
