Just as Chu You led his army to set off, the messengers he had sent earlier arrived at the Guishan Valley tribe in the southeast of Yamatai and the Cangjituo tribe in the central region.
Upon learning that the Han envoy had invited them to join forces to attack the Himitai tribe, Guishan Valley and Cangjituo hesitated.
Although they claimed to be one of the five great vassal states, they knew that they were no match for Himitai. For many years, they had only managed to hold off Himitai's attacks by uniting the four tribes, and dared not launch an offensive on their own.
Although the Han Dynasty was powerful, it was still thousands of miles away, and they were unaware of the true situation of the Han army that had come to this place.
If Himitai manages to stop the Han's attack, they will surely face retaliation.
After much deliberation, both Guishan Valley and Cangjituo politely declined the proposal to jointly send troops.
On March 15th, Chu You led 8,000 men to an open space 30 li south of Shishui Village and set up camp.
Upon learning that Guishan Valley and Cangjituo had rejected him, Chu You merely sneered and said nothing more.
In Chu You's plan, regardless of whether they refuse or not, he has no intention of letting any of the five tribes of Yamatai go.
As the army set up camp, Chu You personally led Han army commander Li Shi and Shejinlu and others to a hilltop to investigate the defenses of Shishui Village.
Looking at the dilapidated city wall of Shishui Village, which was no more than three zhang high, with no moat around it and densely packed soldiers guarding the city, Chu You couldn't help but chuckle.
"Ha! How can such city walls possibly stop the attack of my Han army?"
Li Shi, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but say, "These Japanese have lived on islands for a long time, and their past battles were fought outside the city. How could they know the essentials of defending a city?"
Chu You: "That's true!"
After watching for a while, Chu You and the others returned to the camp, their interest waning.
The next morning, after the soldiers had eaten their fill, Chu You ordered the entire army to set out and prepare to break through Shishui Village in one fell swoop.
Upon learning of the Han army's arrival, the Japanese soldiers guarding the city quickly began to move the logs and rolling stones used for defense onto the city walls.
An hour later, Shejinlu led 6,000 Han soldiers to a location 500 meters south of the city, with Chuyou leading 2,000 Han soldiers and guards from various families following behind.
After the army had completed its formation, Shejinlu stepped out of the ranks and began to call out to the city's defenders, ordering them to come out and fight.
In the past, if the defending side had twice the number of the enemy, they would have come out of the city to fight long before the enemy even had a chance to call out. But now they were facing a well-equipped Han army, so where did they find the courage to fight a decisive battle?
The 20,000 garrison inside the city refused to respond no matter how much Shejinlu cursed them.
Shejinlu shouted until his throat hurt, but to no avail, so he had no choice but to return to the army formation dejectedly.
Upon seeing this, Chu You ordered an attack on the city.
Soon, to the astonishment of the defending soldiers, more than twenty catapults, two battering rams, and ten siege towers were pushed to the front of the army formation.
"Catapults, prepare!"
At Li Shi's command, dozens of Han soldiers responsible for operating the catapults carried stones weighing over 100 jin (approximately 50 catties) and placed them into the slingshot.
"Release it!"
With a roar from the commanding officer, the counterweight at the front of the catapult dropped rapidly, and the enormous inertia propelled the stones outward.
Twenty massive boulders, each weighing over a hundred kilograms, hurtled down in an arc towards the walls of Shishui Village.
The Japanese soldiers on the city wall stared in shock at the stones flying towards them from mid-air, frozen in place. In their limited understanding, they had never seen such a method of attack.
"Boom boom boom!!"
The boulders crashing against the city wall made a series of booming sounds, creating one large crater after another.
Some stones fell on the city wall, killing hundreds of soldiers on the spot and splattering blood. Then the stones bounced up, injuring or killing countless soldiers who were touched by them.
The Japanese soldiers on the city wall were thrown into chaos, screaming in terror as they threw down their weapons and began to flee in all directions.
A single test firing terrified the city's defenders.
Seeing the chaotic scene on the city wall, Li Shi ordered the siege towers to move forward while the catapults were adjusting their angles.
Before long, the ten-liang well-ballast, carrying over a hundred Han soldiers, arrived at a distance of 150 paces from the city wall.
Han soldiers also drew their bows and arrows and shot at the Japanese soldiers on the city walls.
In an instant, screams of agony echoed from the city walls. In just one volley of arrows, hundreds of Japanese soldiers died under the arrows of the Han army.
After three waves of arrows, the catapults, having adjusted their angle, launched again, sending twenty massive stones hurtling through the air towards the walls of Shishui Village.
In order to block the Han army's attack, the chieftain of Shishui Village placed all 20,000 garrison troops in the city on the four city walls, and there were 10,000 soldiers defending the southern wall that the Han army was attacking.
Unfortunately, the seemingly impregnable defense of Shishui Village became a nightmare for the defending troops.
In the southern part of the city, the density of the garrison is extremely high. With each stone that falls, dozens of garrison soldiers are smashed to pieces, and countless more are killed or injured by the flying and bouncing stones.
More than twenty boulders fell at the same time, killing and injuring more than 300 people. Although the casualties were not large, the impact was still very significant.
In addition, the Han army continued to fire from the siege towers not far away.
The Han army's attack was a complete blow to these Japanese.
Seeing the attack, which seemed like divine punishment, the defenders on the city wall were terrified and all rushed down the wall, trying to escape the danger.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
