As Kampaku ordered, nobles started conscripting random people, arming them with low-quality weapons, and sending them off to Kampaku.
Many nobles, even those appointed by Kampaku himself, felt forcing them to send their reserves was unfair. After all, Kampaku also had many reserves available in major royal cities.
In the empire, most cities were controlled by nobles, but the biggest and most important cities were directly ruled by the emperor; of course, anything ruled by the emperor was de facto ruled by Kampaku, as the king was not even allowed out of his room.
Nobles saw how Kampaku didn't draw his own available reserves and only ordered nobles to send cannon fodder.
Cannon fodder is necessary for any war, so nobles' complaints were not about the use of cannon fodders but why they should come from their cities and not royal cities.
In any case, Nobles swallowed their protests and sent their troops as Kampaku and his ministers ordered.
The empire managed to hold on against two countries for a month until the 1 million army was ready.
The 1 million army was extremely disorganized and badly armed; they weren't even trained, but they could at least drain the enemy's stamina.
By now, the western front was barely holding on; in only one month, only 80,000 were left.
As for northern cities, they were better but still were exhausted; both defense lines on both west and north succeeded in not letting the invading armies infiltrate deeper. In wars, castles are extremely important; as long as northern and western castles hold, enemies cannot advance deep into the empire.
As for why, it's a simple reason: supply lines. Armies made of hundreds of thousands need robust supply lines; if they advance deep without actually conquering castles, the enemies in those castles can come out and attack supply lines.
Therefore, even though many northern and western castles fell, the remaining ones were enough to deter those countries from advancing further in.
The empire split its new 1 million army and sent 250,000 to the north and 750,000 to the west.
Northern invaders, though numerous, didn't have many cannons.
In the west, however, the republic brought many cannons, which was a massive challenge for defending forces.
Using 750,000 meats... or soldiers, they could keep enemies' cannons under control. Ammunition for cannons is extremely hard to produce; therefore, Kampaku and his military strategists believed it was worth sacrificing a few hundred thousand literal cannon fodders to stop their castles from falling.
As for morals of literally sending people in front of cannons to die, no one in the higher-ups of any side cared. It's war, after all; death happens, whether it's civilians dying from hunger, dying from swords, or being blasted and splattered by cannons. Those 750,000 cannon fodders can only blame themselves for being born into a poor family and not dodging the draft. After all, nobody said the world is fair.
...
Inazuma ordered his 170,000 remaining forces to attack Jack, but unfortunately for him, Jack was a master at running and delaying. Even though Inazuma managed to close off and destroy all roads leading to Purple Flower City, Jack still managed to run by leading his forces into a forest.
It was the Dark Flower Forest, the empire's biggest wildland; it's said that all kinds of wild animals, poisonous insects, etc., are lurking there.
Inazuma's instinct screamed at him that Jack would obliterate his troops if he dared march there. After all, it's very easy to create traps in the forest; any chasing force would be greatly consumed by all kinds of ambushes and traps.
Inazuma had maps of the forest, but those maps were only good for normal situations; after all, maps didn't predict intentional human-made traps; those maps were only about inhabitants of wild animals, all kinds of poisonous plants and insects, the overall shape of the forest, and hunting areas of human hunters.
Still, it was Kampaku's order, so Inazuma ignored his screaming instinct and ordered thousands of scouts to march into the forest, clear possible threats, and clear the way for the main army.
Honestly, Inazuma didn't think Jack would dare march in the forest with an army of a hundred thousand. After all, while in the forest, Jack would have trouble providing food for his army, and many of his troops may die from all kinds of diseases and also from elements, such as swamps, falling trees, all kinds of poisonous food, etc.
What's worse is that the forest is extremely huge, spanning all the way into the United Provinces of the West Continent.
United Provinces of the West Continent, or UPWC, is another country that technically has a land border with the empire. Still, all that border is covered by the Dark Flower Forest, so it may as well not have any land border. In fact, the land border between UPWC and the empire is unclear, as nobody could map that area in detail.
In recent years, some developers started cutting down the forest's trees, but it was only preliminary, so it didn't affect the forest that much. Give it 100 more years, and developers and loggers may completely consume the forest. That is not, however, relevant to the current situation.
...
Out of thousands of scouts, only hundreds managed to return; it turned out Jack's troops, led by a very skilled archer, were ambushing them.
It can be said that chasing Jack in this situation is insanity. Still, Inazuma heard of what happened to the Ministry of Truth, so he ignored his instincts again and ordered 100,000 to march together; it would be much harder to ambush such a large army. As for any traps, they may kill a few thousand, but it's better than waiting here for Kampaku to kill him.
The result was as Inazuma predicted; Jack had set up all kinds of traps, including bear traps, holes in the ground, and even explosives, but they only killed and dismembered a few here and there; it wasn't enough to really damage an army of over 100,000.
What was really damaging to Inazuma's army, however, was only one person. To be more clear, an archer.
Inazuma didn't know who he was, but he could shoot from over 500 meters away. It subverted Inazuma's worldview as it pertained to bow and arrow. In the past, he thought an arrow shot by a bow could, at most, reach 100 meters, but now, his view was disproved by undeniable fact.
Every day when they started advancing, that archer started shooting for hours, killing one person with every shot. Because he was so far away, no one could do anything; they could only hope not to be the next target.
For this reason, Inazuma ordered his troops to stop cutting down the trees in their path.
To ease his way into the forest, Inazuma ordered his troops to cut them down, which allowed the archer to target them from so far away; if they didn't cut down the trees, the archer would be unable to shoot from so far away.
But, not cutting the trees also had its issues.
To begin with, the Dark Flower Forest has a very dense structure, with trees only two to three meters apart; in this situation, carrying supplies would be difficult, as no carriage or cart could move.
...
After 10 days, Inazuma's army started having the same food and water problems that he predicted Jack had.
In total, he spent one month chasing Jack and losing tens of thousands of troops in the process, from traps, wild animals, swamps, disease, the archer, hunger, and thirst.
...
Jack sat on his chair in a wooden chair placed in a temporary room, eating delicious food.
He mapped this forest months ago and placed many food stockpiles all over the place; that's why his troops were mostly well-fed even though he didn't bring any supply lines into the forest.
He was prepared months in advance for this exact situation; he knew Kampaku hated him and would chase him even in such a dangerous forest.
This journey into the forest was a disaster for Inazuma; Jack had researched deeply about this forest, and specifically this specific route, far more deeply than the Ministry of Truth's general purpose map; therefore, Jack and his troops also managed to avoid many poisonous plants, insects, and wild animals, but the chasing army, which had a map but not as detailed, ran into many natural disasters.
Michael estimated the enemy now has only about 110,000, most of whom are exhausted. On the other hand, Jack has 90,000, most of whom are, although exhausted, at least well-fed.
Looking at Michael, Jack ordered, "Start the final trap!"
Michael bowed and left, with a rare smile on his face.
He was enjoying this journey more than anyone. As someone with nearly no socialization skills, these types of adventures into the wild were his favorite pastime; using arrows to kill enemies of Jack-sama was the cream on top. He could enjoy the wild nature and work for Jack-sama simultaneously; who wouldn't want that?
...
The final trap was also planned long ago.
Jack and Michael dragged the enemy so far into the forest that no one could escape.
Retreating is no longer possible, nor is desertion; anybody who leaves the main group would be killed by wild animals and natural elements.
In normal battles of armies comprised of those who aren't willing to fight, the army usually has enforcers, which kill all deserters who leave the front lines out of fear for their lives.
Enforcers are a deterrent that sends a message: "The only way out is staying and fighting; if you run, you definitely die."
Originally, Inazuma didn't have any enforcers, as his troops were volunteers, but as they ventured deep into the forest, some began deserting; at that time, he formed an enforcer corps.
But, as they ventured even deeper, gradually, he disbanded his enforcers. Wild nature is a deterrent itself; nobody can survive in this forest anyway, so everyone knows their only chance is to move forward on and follow the main group.
It must be noted that the only people with the map were Inazuma and trusted lieutenants; even with a detailed map, it was still difficult to find one's route. Trying to get out of the forest without a map was outright impossible.
Therefore, the result of this battle would be the destruction of one side. This area is predicted to have very good and fertile soil for many years, as many people are destined to die here.
...
"Everyone, gather," Inazuma felt something was wrong and called his commanders. His 'commanders,' all in dirty clothes and horrible smells, came forward.
"Get your troops ready, a fight is ahead!" warned Inazuma. From many signs in the last few days, he has concluded that Jack intends to attack them.
Commanders, all exhausted, nodded but didn't talk. In the last few weeks, Inazuma killed anyone who protested, so nowadays, everyone would just listen silently.
It can be said that if the commander had been anyone else, and not peak human peak skill Inazuma, who may be the strongest and fastest warrior in the entire empire, these commanders might have killed him and taken command by now.
Unfortunately for them, Inazuma's personal strength alone is deterrent enough to stop them from acting.
...
Michael looked as enemy troops gathered. Nodding, he whistled loudly.
...
Bees are tiny, lowly animals that die after stinging humans once. It's not that bees' bodies are flawed; their sting actually works fine; it's just that humans are not their natural enemies, so their stings are not developed to be used against humans. It's a fact that bees can survive if they sting some other animals.
Anyways, most of the time, bees are not an issue for humans. But they could be an issue if their numbers are big enough.
...
"Look," a soldier on Inazuma's side, dressed in unbelievably dirty clothes, pointed at some black spot falling from the top of a tall tree.
Bam! It impacted the ground.
Wizzz!
...
"Red strip bees?" Inazuma paled.
Most bee colonies are tiny, but special species of bees in the dark forest create massive colonies, with hundreds of thousands, or even millions of bees per colony.
Habitants of red strip bees were clearly marked on the map, and Inazuma avoided them carefully. But now, Jack somehow picked up colonies intact and threw them at him.
"How did he pick up red strip colonies and throw them?" Inazuma was dumbfounded. The colonies are known as fragile, which would break easily, so how did Jack pick them up and throw them? Still, it was not time to think about these.
"Smoke! Create smoke!" Jack ordered. His orders, however, were barely heard, as everyone was screaming.
One cannot comprehend how scary seeing hundreds of thousands of bees would be.
Bang!
Wizzz.
More and more bee colonies were dropped, and the total number of bees exceeded 10 million.
Some started swinging their swords, from time to time mistakenly hitting fellow soldiers. Some took up their shields to resist bees, but still, the bees were tiny, so it was not really effective.
A few minutes passed, and one by one, those stung, which was nearly everyone, started dropping to the ground.
All this time, Inazuma was careful, paying attention, waiting for Jack to start attacking with arrows, using this chaos. But when he started seeing his troops falling, he felt he was too naive.
"Bee stings are poisoned!" Inazuma shook his head, helpless. Jack obviously planned this a long time ago, and even fed bees terrible poisons just to make their stings fatal to humans.
Overall, bee stings are usually not fatal, but some secret methods exist to make them fatal.
Looking at tall trees around, Inazuma nodded to himself; Jack probably didn't move any bee colony around, rather, he waited months for the red strip bees to create their colony atop those trees.
"I fell right into the trap!" he shook his head and looked at his compass. Determining his location, he started running.
He ran toward UPWC.
He should be quite close to their border.
As a peak human, he could live well wherever he goes.
If he returns, Kampaku would kill him, if he stays, he would be killed by Jack.
So, as a rational person, he decided to abandon everything and make a new life in UPWC.
As we got further away, the screams gradually disappeared.
"Poor souls; I hope they don't suffer!" he felt pity for his troops. Still, that was only for a moment; the next moment, he smiled as he thought of taking a warm bath and eating good food in UPWC.