I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

According to Nagato's intelligence, the power dynamics of the entire island are quite clear. Nagato also provided Yuhaka and the others with the locations of the three factions' cities, allowing them to use a map to decide which faction to attack first. Currently, the faction that Shokaku and Zuikaku belong to is the smallest, and their cities are relatively close. However, it's not the closest one; the closest is the faction that Akagi belongs to. But Akagi's faction is the largest, and attacking it now would likely result in encountering a large number of Manjuu troops. Moreover, Akagi's faction has the most ship girls.

Although Z23 wasn't worried about the enemy being able to defeat Yhaka, if the city were captured by the enemy at the right moment, then their rescue operation would be considered a failure.

So being too impulsive isn't a good idea. As for Shoukaku and Zuikaku's location, it's more accurate to say they're in the best position. If they could occupy that area, their main city would be a place with a great terrain advantage. Z23 is even confident that they could withstand a simultaneous attack from two forces there.

Volume 1 [Lazy Chapters]: Chapter 1532 [Attrition Tactics]

Under Z23's plan, Yuhaka and her group also prepared to attack the forces where Shoukaku and Zuikaku were located. Under Yuhaka's powerful offensive, they successfully captured one of the castles.

Because there were no ship girls guarding the city, Yuhaka and her group overwhelmed the enemy with their superior strength. At the same time, Nagato and the others took over the city occupied by Yuhaka and her group to handle the city's internal logistics and provide troops for Yuhaka and her group.

Just as Yuhaka and her group launched their attack on the second city, Shoukaku and Zuikaku also received news that they had been attacked by the enemy.

"Shokaku-nee, did you hear the reports from those barbarian crows?"

Upon hearing his sister's question, Shoukaku, who was arranging flowers, stopped what he was doing and looked at Zuikaku, saying:

"Yes, I've also heard reports about those invaders. It wasn't Akagi's forces, but a force I've never heard of before."

To be honest, when Shoukaku and the others heard from Banju that there was a force they had never heard of attacking them, Shoukaku and the others were quite puzzled. After all, apart from the forces that Akagi and the Taihou were in, there were basically no other forces on the island. Where on earth did these unknown forces come from?

Shoukaku and Zuikaku were quite puzzled by this. What's more, the opponent had quite a few ship girls. Although they all looked like children (destroyers), their strength seemed to be quite formidable, which surprised Shoukaku and Zuikaku.

"Well... no matter what, the enemy has appeared, so we need to prepare countermeasures."

Hearing Shoukaku's words, Zuikaku, sitting opposite him, looked at her sister with shining eyes and said:

"Then let me try out those enemies!"

Seeing her younger sister's eyes light up, Shoukaku looked helpless. She knew exactly why her sister was so excited. After all, Zuikaku hadn't fought other ship girls for a while... well, to be precise, Zuikaku hadn't fought any powerful ship girls in a long time. As a very combative ship girl, Zuikaku's strength was naturally not weak, but for the same reason that not many people could fight her, Zuikaku often couldn't find an equally matched opponent to fight.

On Akagi's side, Akagi and Kaga rarely fight in person. Instead, their ship girls usually attack for them. However, those ship girls are generally no match for Zuikaku, which makes Zuikaku feel a bit bored.

Taihou's side is in a better position. Among Taihou's forces is Hakuryu, who enjoys sparring with other ship girls. Hakuryu and Zuikaku have fought before, and Hakuryu is much stronger than Zuikaku, which makes Zuikaku want to challenge her.

However, when Akagi's forces began to attack both sides, Taihou and Shoukaku's forces had to face Akagi's offensive, which prevented Zuikaku from challenging Hakuryu to a duel, making Zuikaku somewhat depressed.

But now someone has invaded their territory, which clearly means there's going to be a fight. This makes Zuikaku a little excited, since the other party seems to be a powerful ship girl. Zuikaku is looking forward to having a good battle with her.

However, at this moment, a messenger arrived at Shoukaku and Zuikaku's room again and informed them that another city had been captured by the enemy.

Upon hearing this news, Shoukaku and Zuikaku couldn't help but show expressions of surprise. Clearly, the speed of the opponent's attack was faster than they had imagined, something they hadn't expected.

"Hmm... I originally thought it was just an emerging force, but I didn't expect it to be such a formidable enemy..."

Thinking about all this, Shoukaku couldn't help but consider countermeasures. Zuikaku, who was standing to the side, was also filled with anticipation for this emerging force after hearing Banju's report. After all, she had been looking forward to such a powerful opponent for a long time, and she was determined to have a good showdown with this emerging force.

Thinking this, Zuikaku looked at Shoukaku beside him, somewhat excitedly, and said:

"Shokaku-nee! Leave this enemy to me! I'll lead the team and repel those invading unknown forces!"

Upon hearing Zuikaku's words, Shoukaku, after a moment's thought, shook his head and said:

"No, the enemy's attack this time is unbelievably fast. We don't have much time to prepare for the battle."

Upon hearing Shoukaku's words, Zuikaku, whose mind was initially excited, immediately calmed down. Indeed, just as Shoukaku said, if they were to leave the city to fight the enemy at this time, it would be difficult to make sufficient preparations to deal with them, and they might not even be fighting a defensive or offensive battle.

The former is relatively easy to handle, but the latter is much more difficult.

"In that case, what should we do? Fight a war of attrition with those enemies?"

Shoukaku nodded to Zuikaku, who was scratching his head, and said:

"Yes, indeed. Compared to a typical siege, we can only fight a war of attrition with the enemy."

The reason why Shoukaku said that is because the water sources of other cities outside the main city are basically from the upper reaches of the river near the main city. Therefore, Shoukaku and her team also installed a sluice gate on the river to ensure that there is no excess water to provide water resources to the cities below.

Cities that lose most of their water resources will soon face various problems due to the lack of water, causing great suffering to the enemies who occupy them. This was the case when Akagi and her team attacked and besieged the main city, forcing them to withdraw from those cities.

Furthermore, Shoukaku and her allies would send out guerrilla units through secret passages to ambush the enemy, making things very difficult for the Manjuu troops defending the city.

"Then let's do it this way. Although it's a bit out of character for me, the enemy is no pushover either. I'll have the barbarian troops from other cities destroy their warehouses, leaving the enemy with nothing to eat."

Hearing Zuikaku's words, Shoukaku nodded and said:

"Well, just summon back the barbarian foes guarding the city. We also need enough troops to defend the main city."

Volume 1 [Lazy Chapters]: Chapter 1533 [Youyou's Blitzkrieg (Part 1)]

After Shoukaku and the others lowered the sluice gate at the main city location, the water level in the downstream area of ​​the river began to drop.

After Yhaka breached a city, he noticed something was amiss. Compared to the cities that had offered some resistance before, the resistance in this city was far too weak. It was like comparing a piece of toilet paper to a piece of cardboard; the former could be torn with a single poke, while the latter might require some effort to puncture.

Yuhaka didn't hesitate to tell Nagato and the others about this strange phenomenon. After hearing Yuhaka's report, Nagato looked puzzled and said:

"Strange, why did the enemy withdraw their defensive forces?"

Hearing Nagato's words, Yuhaka spread her hands with a puzzled expression, as if this matter had nothing to do with her. Well... after all, Yuhaka didn't know much about tactics. In most cases, Yuhaka preferred to directly charge through the enemy's lines and defenses. She would only use strategies when she felt she couldn't defeat the enemy.

After thinking for a while, Nagato also felt that there was something wrong with the situation. Although their attack speed was very fast, the other side did not test their intentions at all, which made Nagato and the others feel a little puzzled.

"What are they trying to do?"

Hearing Nagato's question, Jiang Feng couldn't help but ask him as well:

"My Lord, is the other side plotting something?"

Hearing Jiang Feng's words, Nagato snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Jiang Feng, saying:

"Hmm, that makes sense. I don't think Shoukaku and the others would pull the defensive forces back so easily. The enemy must be preparing something, and they pulled the Manjuu troops back because they were afraid of being affected."

After hearing Nagato's words, Jiang Feng looked at Nagato and couldn't help but ask:

"Should we send troops to scout the surrounding area first?"

Nagato nodded in agreement to Jiang Feng's suggestion, since the current situation did indeed require investigating from all directions.

After hearing the order, Yuhaka and the others began to investigate. Soon, they discovered that most of the supplies in the warehouse had been burned. At the same time, the water level of the river not far away had dropped significantly, which was obviously abnormal. Yuhaka and the others reported the situation to Nagato.

After hearing what Yuhaka and the others said, Nagato roughly understood the opponent's strategy. Undoubtedly, the opponent wanted to wage a defensive war of attrition to force them to suffer from their combat power, especially given their blitzkrieg tactics.

After receiving information from Yuhaka and the others, Z23 and the others gained a better understanding of the forces that Shoukaku and the others belonged to. As expected, forces that could hold out against other major powers were not easy to defeat. This made Z23 feel a bit uneasy, since if a blitzkrieg was stalled, it would basically be considered a failure.

This forced Z23 to consider other countermeasures. After much thought, Z23 came up with several methods, one of which was to continue the blitzkrieg plan, wait for supplies, and slowly use a siege strategy to surround Shoukaku and the others' main city.

However, z23 personally prefers the blitzkrieg plan. After all, z23 feels that the longer their operation is delayed, the easier it will be for other factions' ship girls to notice. If other factions' ship girls notice, then they may be attacked by other factions.

At that time, z23 also felt that it was a very troublesome situation. Although he would not lose to the opponent, the opponent's large number of Barbarian troops were also very troublesome.

"Hmm...did they also burn down all the supply warehouses?"

Upon hearing Z23's question, Ayanami nodded in agreement. After confirming Ayanami's information, Z23 looked sad and said:

"Hmm...that's troublesome..."

Upon hearing Z23's words, Javelin, standing to the side, looked at Z23 with a puzzled expression and asked:

"Then what shall we do?"

Regarding the Javelin question, Z23, with her eyes closed, thought for a moment and then spoke to Javelin and Ayanami:

"Let Youyou and the others occupy the city closest to the main city. We'll use that city to launch a powerful attack on the enemy. If we fail, then we'll retreat."

Upon hearing Z23's words, Ayanami indicated that she understood and would go back to inform Nagato and the others. Javelin, standing nearby, looked at Z23 and asked:

"z23-chan, why did you tell Youyou and the others to retreat when they couldn't take the city?"

Regarding the javelin issue, z23 also provided an explanation:

"The reason is simple: this war of attrition is completely at our disadvantage. We don't have much time and resources to expend in this battle. If this siege fails, we won't be able to hold out any longer, and we're not the only ones watching this area."

After hearing Z23's explanation, Javelin nodded to indicate that she understood.

...................................................................

Meanwhile, on Yuhaka's side, after receiving Ayanami's report, Yuhaka and her group also began their operation. Since they didn't need to conquer each city one by one this time, Yuhaka and her group went straight to the city closest to the enemy's main city and launched an attack. Under Yuhaka and her group's powerful offensive, a city with few Manju troops quickly became their temporary base. Just like the previous cities, the city's warehouses were also reduced to charred remains, meaning Yuhaka and her group were unable to find enough resources there.

After the troops arrived, Nagato, who was in charge of command, began to direct Yuhaka and her team to break through the main city located on the mountain. However, they first had to capture the city gate fortress located at the foot of the mountain. Only then could Yuhaka and her team begin their attack on the main city. At the same time, the ship girls defending the city gate fortress also saw Yuhaka and her team, as well as the Manjuu troops, not far away.

Volume 1 [Lazy Chapters]: Chapter 1534 [Youyou's Blitzkrieg (Part 2)]

With the arrival of Yuhaka and the others, at the city gate fortress located at the foot of the mountain, there were two ship girls defending the position. These two ship girls were Shimakaze and Chikuma from the Sakura Empire faction.

Seeing the hostile approach of Yuhaka and her group, Shimakaze and Chikuma were not too nervous. After all, they were quite confident. The fortress at their feet was just a simple defensive measure. Even if the enemy occupied this place, they would still have to face a rain of arrows launched from the mountainside.

After all, the main city where Shoukaku and the others are located is built on a high mountain, which is basically trapezoidal in shape. No matter which city the enemy conquers, they will face their superior position to attack from above.

"There are quite a lot of enemy ship girls this time, but where did they all come from?"

Regarding the question about Shimakaze, Chikuma, who was standing to the side, tapped his chin and said:

"I'm not sure about that either~ But as for the enemy, isn't it enough to just defeat them?"

Upon hearing Chikuma's words, Shimakaze nodded and said:

"Yes, I wish things could go so smoothly..."

"What? Don't you have confidence?"

Seeing Chikuma looking at him with a teasing expression, Shimakaze also put his hands on his hips and said with a confident look:

"Phew~ I'm the fastest Sakura Empire destroyer, how could I lack confidence? Leave any enemy to me!"

Upon hearing Shimakaze's words, Chikuma covered his mouth and smiled, saying:

"Then I'll leave it to you, Shimakaze~"

Just then, the two noticed something. The Manju troops in the distance suddenly pulled out a huge wooden stake. Shimakaze and Chikuma looked puzzled, clearly wondering what the other side wanted to do with it. After all, if the other side wanted to use that thing as a battering ram, they should have waited until their attention was drawn away by the Manju troops before sending out troops to break through the city gate.

And the other side didn't have any barbarians lifting that battering ram...

However, at this moment, they saw a loli with dragon horns walk out and carry the battering ram, which was bigger than two people could hug, on her shoulder. Shimakaze and Chikuma were not too surprised to see this, after all, as ship girls, it was not a problem to lift such a thick battering ram.

But the next second, Shimakaze and Chikuma were so shocked that their jaws almost dropped to the ground.

With a dull thud, they saw the dragon-horned loli carrying the enormous battering ram and running towards them. Yes, literally, she was carrying the massive battering ram and running towards them.

Although these ship girls can carry such a large battering ram, they still can't do what the enemy does, moving as swiftly as they can.

Soon, Shimakaze and the others reacted and immediately commanded the Manju to attack the enemy. Upon hearing their commander's order, the Manju archers picked up their bows and fired a volley of arrows at Yuhaka. However, facing such a massive rain of arrows, Yuhaka swung the huge battering ram on his shoulder, creating a powerful hurricane that scattered all the incoming arrows. Seeing this, Shimakaze and Chikuma realized that the enemy was up to no good.

After Yhaka charged a certain distance, he suddenly stopped and threw the battering ram toward the city gate. Shimakaze and Chikuma were startled by his action, but they quickly realized that if the city gate was breached, their defensive line would fall.

This has negatively impacted their plans. After all, what they need to do now is to hold off Yuhaka's troops and wear them down for a few days. But not even a day has passed yet. If the city gates are breached, they will have to resort to street fighting.

Then Shimakaze and Chikuma jumped out and unleashed a barrage of sword energy at the incoming siege hammer. As the sword energy struck the siege hammer, it shattered into pieces. Seeing that the siege hammer had been destroyed, Shimakaze and Chikuma breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they no longer had to worry about the enemy breaching the city gate.

But at that moment, they saw a blur dart past them, followed by a sonic boom and intense air pressure that knocked them both to the ground. Both of them were completely bewildered when they hit the ground. With a loud crash, they looked in the direction of the sound and saw the city gate disappear, while the culprit stood out from a pile of debris, its large tail wagging.