After entering the city, the military commander brought the battle report to the city lord's mansion.
"Mr. Chu, in this battle, our army suffered three dead, two hundred lightly wounded, and ten seriously wounded, while the Han army suffered eight hundred and thirty-two dead."
Including attacks with catapults and siege towers, a total of more than 3,500 defenders were killed and more than 14,000 enemy soldiers were captured.
They seized 70,000 shi of food, and the total value of various valuables in the city was approximately 2 billion coins.
After hearing the battle report, Chu You nodded in satisfaction: "All the military merits for killing the enemy shall be distributed among the brothers in the army and the guards of each family. And order Shejinlu to take those prisoners into his own army and fill them all into the Han army."
"promise!"
The official in charge responded loudly, then asked, "Mr. Chu, what should be done with the people in the city?"
Upon hearing this, Chu You narrowed his eyes slightly: "The old rule applies. All the people in the city will be enslaved, half of them will be sent to the mines to work, and the rest will be sent to that fishing village to build a port!"
"This matter will be handled by Shejinlu and the Han-affiliated army!"
"promise!"
The official respectfully accepted the order and then turned to leave.
Soon, upon receiving the order, Shejinlu led the Han troops to take in the prisoners.
Having witnessed the Han army's strength and invincibility, the prisoners had no resistance to joining the Han vassal army and serving the Han Dynasty, and the incorporation process went exceptionally smoothly.
Subsequently, the Han troops, which had expanded to 18,000 men, stormed into the homes of the city's inhabitants in batches, arresting everyone regardless of age or gender, and looting all their belongings.
Of course, they dared not keep these valuables for themselves and handed them all over to the Han army.
Chu You, along with the scions of noble families and merchants, were generous in rewarding the hardworking Han troops with silk, spirits, ornaments, food, and tea.
The Han soldiers, having received the benefits, worked even harder.
In just three days, the entire Shishui Village was ransacked, and groups of Japanese civilians who had been enslaved were led out of the city toward the mines and the beach.
At this time, the total population of Shishui Village, including the residents of the city, the tribes that were forcibly relocated, and the soldiers guarding the city, reached as many as 70,000, which was close to 20% of the total population of the Bimitai tribe.
This loss was extremely painful for the Himidae clan.
When the news spread, Himitai was terrified and turned pale. In a fit of rage, he beheaded the chief of Shishui Village and summoned his city lords and village chiefs to discuss countermeasures.
Upon learning that the Han army possessed siege weapons such as catapults and siege towers, the city lords and nobles were filled with fear.
In their view, if the 20,000 elite troops of Shishui Village could not stop the Han army's attack, the remaining 20,000 soldiers would certainly be unable to stop them either.
If the Han army were to launch a surprise attack, the Himita tribe would surely face annihilation.
Therefore, the officials and nobles of the five cities and seventeen villages under Himittai's command spoke up one after another, requesting Himittai to send someone to seek peace with the Han Dynasty again.
As for the conditions Chu You mentioned earlier, they can all be agreed to.
In the eyes of those officials and nobles, the country was on the verge of collapse, so why should they care about anything else?
Whether it's sending the Holy Maiden as a hostage or allowing the Han army to garrison her and make her a puppet, as long as they can keep their lives and wealth, there's no condition they can't agree to.
Himitai looked at his spineless subordinates, feeling both resentful and helpless.
As those officials and nobles said, he now only had 20,000 soldiers left, which was no match for the Han army and the Han vassal army's attack. Moreover, the Guishan Valley and Cangjituo tribes were also watching him from behind.
One wrong move, and you could face the destruction of your country and your own death.
Himita glanced at his daughter beside him, sighed helplessly, and then, following the suggestion of his subordinates, sent an envoy to Shishui Village to sue for peace with the Han Dynasty.
After two days of travel, the envoy from Himita arrived at Shishui Village.
Seeing the Himitai envoy come to sue for peace again, Chu You couldn't help but sneer and directly rejected Himitai's request for peace.
They didn't appreciate our kindness before, and now they want to make peace? Too late!
After ordering the execution of the Bimitai envoy, Chu You immediately commanded Shejinlu to lead 18,000 Han soldiers out of the city and northward to continue the attack on the Bimitai tribe's stronghold.
The newly recruited prisoners of war who joined the Han army had no psychological burden about attacking their former master. On the contrary, their morale was high because of the rewards promised by the Han army, and they fought with extraordinary bravery.
Along the way, the Han army made unstoppable progress. In just over ten days, they successively captured two cities and eight strongholds of the Bimitai tribe, captured nearly 80,000 slaves, seized as much as 100,000 taels of silver, and countless grains and valuables. The size of the Han army also expanded to 20,000 people.
The Himidai tribe, having suffered successive defeats, also consolidated all its forces, preparing for a desperate last stand.
Seeing that the number of slaves was increasing and the size of the Han army was growing, Chu You and others immediately ordered Shejinlu to stop the attack.
They knew that with just over four thousand men, they had reached their limit in controlling twenty thousand Han troops. If they were allowed to expand further, some unexpected events were bound to occur.
The only option now is to wait for more men to arrive before proceeding with the next step.
While awaiting support from the Han Dynasty, Chu You also sent people to further train and educate the Han troops, and dispatched students from the Engineering Academy to survey the mountains and rivers in the occupied areas.
After a thorough survey and search, the engineering students quickly discovered two more silver mines with a total reserve of approximately 100 million taels.
(In the 17th century, during the Age of Exploration, one-third of the world's silver came from Japan, demonstrating the immense silver reserves of the Japanese archipelago.)
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