The hour of Hai (9-11 PM).

The full moon hangs high in the sky, bathing the ground in its silvery light.

After Xu Da and Chang Yuchun's troops arrived, the vanguard army led by Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou set up camp to rest. Since crossing the sea, they had not rested. The next battle would be initiated by Xu Da and Chang Yuchun.

Immediately, Xu Da and Chang Yuchun led their army to Qiuyuan County, and Qin Ze, as the commander, followed along under the protection of Dian Wei and Xu Chu.

Meanwhile, Murata Kosuke, who had arrived in Akihara Prefecture, had already assembled his troops. Together with another force that had come from Hisa Prefecture, their strength had now reached 110,000 men.

They are currently stationed on the main road leading from Akihara to the Kyoto Imperial Palace. This area is an open field, otherwise it would be difficult to deploy so many troops.

The reason why they did not defend the city but fought was quite simple: Akihara Prefecture did not have city walls.

Strictly speaking, in the entire country of Fusang, only Kyoto Imperial City has walls, and those walls are not high, not even as tall as the walls of a medium-sized city in Yan Kingdom.

As an island nation, Japan is prone to earthquakes. Even a minor tremor could cause the city walls to collapse. Therefore, building city walls would be a waste of resources and manpower, with the disadvantages far outweighing the advantages.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the only defense they could rely on was the mountains and rivers, using the natural terrain to form protection.

However, Akihara County had no support, which meant it had almost no city defenses.

It was precisely for this reason that Yamanaka Takuma was so panicked during the initial landing operation; once the enemy troops set foot on Japanese territory, the consequences would be extremely serious.

At this moment, in the Japanese military camp.

Kosuke Murata stood by the campfire, staring blankly at the ever-burning flames.

Beside him was Yoshino Chido from the Hisha. Murata Kosuke held a higher military rank, so after Yoshino Chido joined him with his troops, he relinquished his command.

Looking at Murata Kosuke's expressionless face, Yoshino Chido hesitated for a long time before speaking:

"General, the enemy has been fighting for a long time during the day, and now it's late at night; it's time for them to rest. I think..."

"We should make good use of this opportunity."

"After all, we already have a lot of troops now."

"Wait a little longer, there are more troops heading this way," Murata Kosuke replied without changing his expression.

“But the enemy is now brazenly staying in our territory. They defeated General Yamanaka’s troops, leaving our new army with less than one-tenth of its strength. They have killed so many people. This humble general... simply cannot bear to watch!” Yoshino Chido’s face flushed slightly, and anger surged in his eyes.

"Do you think I don't know? It's just that Murata told me before he left that this enemy force that landed was no ordinary one, and we could only defeat them in one fell swoop with overwhelming force."

"If we keep fighting intermittently, their long-range weapons will gradually erode us."

"Don't be impatient, Yoshino. We'll wait here until our reinforcements arrive, while the enemy is isolated and helpless."

Upon hearing this, Yoshino Chido clenched his fist.

"But the thought that they killed so many of our people and are now able to stay safely in our territory makes me furious."

"These bastards! I'm going to kill them all, leaving no trace of their bodies!" Yoshino gritted his teeth, his face filled with ruthlessness.

Murata Kosuke glanced at him, then nodded silently. His anger was no less than Yoshino's; in fact, he also wanted to strike immediately.

Their conversation ended there.

But a moment later, the sound of several hoofbeats came from afar, and it was the scouts that had been sent out earlier returning from the front.

Before the scouts arrived, Yamanaka Kosuke saw the panicked look on their faces by the moonlight. His heart tightened, and then a surge of anger rose within him.

Soon, the scouts arrived and immediately dismounted to report:

"Reporting to the general, the enemy is still advancing! And their speed is much faster than before!"

"Not only that, they have a huge force. Their cavalry are charging ahead, and we can't get close enough to investigate!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Murata Kosuke slapped him across the face.

The scout staggered and nearly fell to the ground. He covered his face and looked at the furious Murata Kosuke with a puzzled expression.

Murata Kosuke's angry rebuke followed immediately:

"Baka! I told you to go and scout out the enemy's movements, what nonsense are you spouting!"

"Did you even go and investigate?!"

"Where did they get their cavalry?!"

The scout looked aggrieved and hurriedly said:

"General, we've gone! We can see it clearly: there are cavalry, and not just a small force, but an entire army of countless cavalry!"

"If you don't believe me, General, ask them. I'm not making this up." The scout pointed to his companions beside him, who nodded repeatedly and echoed his sentiments.

"General, they are indeed cavalry, and there are a great many of them! You can't see the end of them!"

Hearing the scouts chattering amongst themselves, Murata Kosuke was stunned. Not only him, Yoshino Chido, who was standing next to him, was also stunned. But he immediately asked:

"If you're going to say that, do you mean there are tens of thousands of cavalrymen?"

"Yes! Absolutely!" the scouts replied immediately.

"But where did this horse come from?" Yoshino Chido asked.

The scouts' voices abruptly ceased, and they looked at each other, unsure how to respond.

Where did the horse come from?

Yoshino Chido repeated the sentence, but still no one answered him.

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