Injiro found a random hut by the sea to rest, and he found some pickles and rice in the things left behind by his master, who had already fled, so Injiro wrote a note, put it on the table with a few banknotes, pressed it with a paperweight, and made a fire to get food for himself.

After preparing a simple meal, he came to the door of the hut with a bowl and crouched in the doorway to watch Yokosuka burning in the distance.

He could vaguely see several large ships sailing in the sea near Yokosuka, and on the way there, Injiro had cheered at the large ships that had passed by like other refugees, but now he knew that they did not belong to the Japanese Navy.

While eating the pickled vegetable bowl, Injiro looked at the big ship of the Americans and muttered, "Why can't our ship beat them, it doesn't look bigger than our ship." ”

He didn't know that the Japanese Navy had not fought even a single decent battle with the Americans, and that they had cowered in the safe Seto Inland Sea, wasting great fighters in vain.

After eating, Injiro returned to the house with the bowl, scooped water out of the water tank and washed the dishes, and as he washed it, he remembered his sister Sakura.

"Huh." Injiro let out a long sigh and began to hum a slow-paced song. The melody was heard by chance on the way of his aimless travel, and the lyrics were made up by Injiro himself, and in order to rhyme the lyrics, he consulted learned people he met by chance during the journey.

He named this song "Men Are So Hard".

Humming and humming, Injiro sighed, shook his head, put down the half-washed bowl in his hand, and went back to the main room to find a cushion and lie down. The fatigue of the day made him fall asleep quickly and he snored loudly.

Just like Injiro sang in that self-composed song, he is a person who "can take root even if he falls into the sewer", and it is a must that he can sleep so peacefully in the face of this situation.

However, his sleeping face did not look as carefree as usual, and he could occasionally be heard whispering in his dreams amid the earth-shattering snoring, as if calling his sister's name.

**

In the conference room of the Eighth Prince's magic guide maintenance base, there was a solemn atmosphere.

The girls gathered here all bowed their heads and seemed to be in silent mourning. Eventually, the emperor's younger sister, Prince Aiko, was the first to raise her head and say to everyone, "The deceased is gone, so let's talk about the living." ”

The others all looked up, but their expressions were more serious than in silence.

"Sister Ringo has gone before us," Aiko continued, "and we should be ready to come to our senses." The United States will certainly launch a large-scale active attack tomorrow and the day after tomorrow in order to win the decisive battle on its home territory as soon as possible, and if they do so, we will have the opportunity to seize their flaws and inflict heavy damage on them. ”

As she spoke, Aiko looked at the little girl with the beast ears who was sitting at the bottom of the circle at the conference table, the little girl was obviously not able to sit up straight, and had to lean on the battle queen behind her, but her murderous gaze made her not sickly.

"Tomorrow I will attack with the armor specially prepared for me, and I will definitely surprise the Americans." The beast-eared little Lori swore by it.

"Well, I'll leave it to you." Aiko nodded, then turned her gaze to the other two gods present, and finally her eyes focused on Tachibana Qinli, "Miss Qinli, I know that you have been influenced by your childhood playmate and have always disapproved of some of our faction's practices, and I also know that even if we win tomorrow, the impact on the overall situation will be very limited, and the difference is only whether it is occupied by the United States alone or divided and occupied by the United States and Russia." But I still take the liberty of hoping that Miss Qinli will do her best in the battle tomorrow, and after that battle, even if Miss Qinli immediately surrenders to the American army, or declares that she wants to follow her mate's playmate to the Chinese in Germany, my son will never blame you for half a point. ”

If you surrender to the U.S. military, whether it's true or not, the Americans will accept it, after all, they really want Shenji too much. As for declaring allegiance to Lin Youde, the operability is much lower, at most, you will not die, and then put you under house arrest - no one will be stupid enough to hand over the god to the new rising power.

Facing Aiko's words, Qin Li shook his head and said, "Your Highness Aiko, please rest assured, I will fight for the Japanese country to the last moment." Moreover, the current situation is not entirely hopeless, and if Russia intervenes, Britain, which has always hoped to limit and weaken Russia's strength, may intervene. As long as we can hold on until the UK Parliament agrees......"

"It's a possibility," Aiko smiled, "but the Americans would also think of it, and the diplomatic action and the silver bullet offensive should be underway, and maybe Britain will join forces with the United States in order to balance Russia, and send troops to land in Pusan to block the Russian army from approaching the strait." Although Japan became independent and won a certain amount of international prestige, after all, it was still an infant baby, and it was a risky and profitable thing for the great powers to wring off the baby's weak arm. ”

The implication is that the great powers will not care about the situation of Japan, and they can abandon Japan at will for their own interests.

Tachibana was silent for a long time before letting out a long sigh.

"Let's do our best, let us obey the destiny of heaven."

Aiko nodded.

At this time, the beast-eared girl at the end of the seat said: "Then I will go to the preset position to prepare first, and there are still many adjustments to be made to the new mech that has been pieced together." ”

"It's good, pay attention to conserving your mental power, and don't over-consume it in the adjustment."

After Aiko finished speaking, the beast-eared girl who had been picked up by the war queen behind her pursed her lips, and said disapprenorovingly: "What kind of spiritual power is still saved at this time, and I am a one-time killer, even if I die tomorrow, I will give full play to the performance of the weapon." ”

After saying that, the girl waved her hand, so she hugged her and bowed slightly, and retreated respectfully and left the room.

Qin Li kept staring in the direction of the door, until the beast-eared girl's aura completely disappeared into the surrounding clutter, and then she withdrew her gaze to look at the inner prince Aiko.

"Your Highness, you should also rest early, tomorrow's battle will be very hard......"

"Japan's big dream has just begun." Aiko suddenly interrupted Kotori's words, and the words that came out of her mouth were completely unexpected, "If you think about it, the Japanese archipelago is actually very similar to the United Kingdom, the land is small, and there is no strategic depth to speak of, but it can produce a god princess. The great powers on the continent are bound to covet such a place. The difference is that in the era when Britain gained independence, the combat power of the god queen could fundamentally affect the situation of the war, and the British Isles also relied on the birth of several heroes and the sword of the lake forged by chance to defeat the powerful land power and gain independence.

"And we in Japan were born in modern times, and although the power of the gods is greatly strengthened by the magic armor, the use of the magic armor is completely dependent on the comprehensive national strength, and they are like a group of gluttons, devouring tons and tons of expensive raw materials and the labor time of a large number of craftsmen. At the same time, the role of conventional forces in the battle situation is also increasing......"

Everyone was silent, listening to His Royal Highness Aiko's words.

"It's strange that this truth is so easy to understand now, why didn't anyone realize it in the first place? Why did we oppose those who thought that Yingzhou was not suitable for independence? What went wrong? ”

If it was normal times, someone should have stood up at this time to remind His Royal Highness Aiko to be cautious in his words and deeds.

Finally, Tachibana said to His Highness: "No matter what, this is the path we have chosen, so let's go to the bottom with our heads held high." ”

"But what about the people who died in the U.S. shelling? It's the Americans, but in the final analysis, we led them down this path of disillusionment, didn't we?"

"They also have a choice." The moment Tachibana Qinli spoke, she thought of the kind ramen stall owner in Miyake Saka, and the boss's smile made her hesitate instantly, but she still immediately waved away this hesitation and continued, "At the beginning of independence, there were many Yingzhou people who did not accept independence on the ship to the Ming Kingdom, and later people left one after another, and the remaining citizens accepted independence, they took to the streets to cheer when the Yingzhou Independent Army won the victory, they enjoyed the benefits of independence, and many people also participated in the mainland development group, Taking possession of land that originally belonged to Chinese and North Koreans as a matter of course, most people know exactly how the owners of these lands are treated. They enjoyed it all, they chose us, so now they have to pay for their choice. ”

After saying this, Tachibana Qinli's stomach became cramping.

"Adults don't ask about right or wrong, they only distinguish between pros and cons. They didn't weigh the pros and cons, and that's it. ”

"That's what you mean?" Aiko asked rhetorically.

"......," Qin Li responded with silence.

Aiko sighed, stood up and said, "I'm tired, let's go rest first." ”

**

Almost at the same time, the US fleet outside the Bay of Tonkin, the USS Arizona VIP room.

"The possibility of waiting leisurely for the shelling to completely break up the Japanese resistance is gone," Charlotte looked at the other two goddesses in the room, "Luna, can't you sit upright?" ”

"I'm a sailor, and a sailor can sit as he likes." Luna, who still had a healthy complexion, stretched out to show off the proud curves of her body, which was still only shrouded in a bikini—it seemed that she was not afraid of the cold at all, and the weather forecast predicted that the war zone would be snowing in a few days.

Charlotte stared at Luna for a few seconds, and finally chose to continue the conversation: "In order to occupy the entire island of Japan before the Russians land, we must take the initiative tomorrow. After overcoming Tokyo's resistance in one fell swoop, the fleet would move south along the Japanese coastline and break into the Seto Inland Sea to annihilate the remaining forces of the Japanese navy. The army would then land on the archipelago and build defenses on the mainland-facing side of the island. ”

"Aren't the British going to move?" The third American goddess who is leisurely drinking tea, Helen of the Atlantic Fleet? Angeline asked.

"We can expect the support of the British detachment stationed in Hong Kong, and the main force of Singapore's Asian fleet is not expected to come." Charlotte leaned back on the back of her wheelchair and looked up at the map hanging on the wall of the VIP room, "The Russians are advancing fast now, and we don't have much time. Even if Brooke, who visited the Ming Dynasty, was able to persuade the Ming Empire, which was bent on going all out to deal with the strikes and uprisings in the country, it was still questionable whether the Ming army would be able to outwit the Russian army. The security forces entrenched in Vale, Australia, could have expected a lot of land combat power, and if we could have persuaded Lin Youde to cooperate with us at that time, we would have been able to send them to the Korean Peninsula to resist the Russian army without the risk of a direct war with Russia, but ......"

Charlotte shrugged.

Helen muttered an Indian and stopped talking.

"Anyway," Luna sat up, who had been lying on the couch, "and it's great that we'll finally have to wait to see the fleet firepower come up tomorrow." ”

"It's not about playing." Charlotte looked serious, "The purpose of the battle is to destroy the enemy's Shenji combat power, at least to destroy the enemy's Shenji's magic armor to the extent that it cannot be repaired within two months, even if we have the advantage of magic armor performance, this is not simple." ”

"But didn't the Russians kill one in an instant, I think we can do it too."

"That's in a two-on-one situation. And judging from the intelligence of the spy, one of the Russian army participating in the war was too exhausted to recover its combat effectiveness within a month. ”

"Then I'm ready to lie in bed and sleep wildly for three months. Anyway, tomorrow we're going to Kill-Japs! Kill-Japs! Kill-more-Japs! ”

"That's an accurate summary." Helen put down her teacup and agreed.