episode_0036

The second siege began.

To conclude, the second siege was also a failure.

The progress of the second siege was as follows. First, both armies fired cannons at each other. However, the Dorok Kingdom also had numerous cannons, and the cannons fired from above the castle walls had a higher range and accuracy than those fired from beneath the walls, so the friendly forces were at a disadvantage.

In the end, the friendly forces, who lost the cannon fire battle, began to attack the castle using siege towers, but this strategy did not work properly. That’s why the siege tower was easily burned by the enemy’s fire arrows because it was difficult to evenly attach the leather to the front of the siege tower as it was being built in a short period of one week.

When the siege tower burned, our troops climbed the castle using ladders, but this was not easy. The enemy was stronger than expected.

“Stop it! Stop it!”

“A lot comes to the left! Focus on the left!”

“It’s a knight! Call a friendly knight!”

The defenders protecting Carbia were on a different level from the defenders our troops had easily defeated so far. He was good at fighting and never backed down.

Moreover, what is important is the number of articles. When dropping the castles at the front, the number of knights was strangely small, but they were all gathered in Carbia. Numerous knights were guarding Karbia here.

No matter how large the difference in numbers was, it was impossible to win in a situation where the enemy had many elite soldiers and knights and even our siege weapons could not move properly. In the end, this fight was also slow, and after fighting all night, it was our allies who retreated first.

After the battle, the crown prince was into drinking and dancing.

Every day, he called a woman to the military camp, drank with her, and hugged her.

As those days continued, the morale of the soldiers naturally decreased and those who regarded the crown prince as a hero also turned their backs on him.

The time when morale rose like crazy when the crown prince charged was over.

The drug called Crown Prince had taken effect. From now on, the rest of the commanders will have to take care of it.

The good news was that Gernhardt, the commander of the central army, had come to his senses. Gernhard changed his strategy. It went from a strong attack to a siege operation.

Gernhard completely surrounded Carvia to prevent the ants from leaving and began to hope that Carvia would run out of food. Karbia is a large city with tens of thousands of residents. In a big city like this, food will run out at some point. That was the calculation.

But there was something Gernhard failed to calculate.

“That’s strange. There are 50,000 friendly troops, but food consumption is close to twice that amount. Why on earth do these numbers come out?”

Gernhardt asked. The empire was concentrating all its capabilities on this war. Because of this, a huge number of soldiers were preparing food to eat, but the food was running out at a rapid rate. The administrator said this.

“Ah, that’s… ”

“That? What is that? Speak quickly.”

“Because of the prisoners.”

“Captive?”

“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said to never kill prisoners and to treat them generously. And as a result of keeping the prisoners in the eastern army’s dungeons instead of killing them, a lot of food is being consumed to feed the prisoners.”

“… !”

Only then did Gernhard, commander of the Central Army, realize.

“Holy shit! I forgot that!”

Lee Si-hyeon also felt resentful of himself for having only just realized that fact. Now I felt like I understood the meaning of Wiene Franz’s laughter. Vinnet Franz had been predicting this from the moment the Crown Prince was captured. The fact was that taking prisoners would itself encourage food consumption.

“Hello! Contact Queen Aldvina right now! I will release the prisoners, so pay the ransom!”

In response, Lee Si-hyeon stepped forward.

“Your Excellency!”

“Huh? Isn’t this Georges Brestmaier, commander of the Northern Army? What’s going on?”

“This is all Queen Aldvina’s plan! Don’t be fooled! Queen Aldvina will pretend to agree to negotiations, taking time to encourage her allies’ food consumption. Our troops must kill all prisoners right now!”

“Damn it! So who bears that stigma? I? Are you? Or His Royal Highness? Don’t say nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense! This is the only way to protect our remaining troops! Please trust me just once! This is a matter of survival!”

“It’s a matter of responsibility before survival! You have no authority to take responsibility, and His Highness the Crown Prince has no intention of taking responsibility! So, don’t say such unreasonable things out of your mouth again!”

Only then did Sihyeon Lee realize. This is what Queen Aldvina was aiming for. The fundamental problem of empire. It was that no one wanted to take responsibility. And the nearly 40,000 prisoners were literally a liability. The prisoners should never have been taken in the first place. From the moment of surrender, all enemies should have been let go or, better, killed. The moment we were taken prisoner, we were truly screwed. The crown prince dug his own grave. It was as Vinnet Franz expected.

—–

“Manfred, Prime Minister of Dorok Kingdom, meets Queen Aldvina.”

“Hehe, there was a proposal to liberate prisoners from the empire?”

“Yes. It is said that they are willing to liberate the prisoners right now if a reasonable ransom is paid.”

“Stupid, you still don’t know that you were captured on purpose?”

“Yes. Probably something like that.”

Only miscellaneous soldiers and peasants who could not fight were intentionally left at the front lines. The reason was simple. The crown prince identifies himself with the protagonist of a heroic story he saw as a child. And the protagonist in a heroic story does not kill prisoners. I thought that, given the prince’s personality, he would definitely treat the captives generously and then free them. Because that’s what knights in heroic stories usually do.

“What should I do? Shall I refuse? Even if you refuse, they won’t be able to kill the captive.”

“But it would give them a reason to kill. Accept prisoner exchange.”

“Your Majesty! but… ”

“Accept, but when the enemy proposes a price, find some fault, such as saying that the price is high or that you do not like the prisoner exchange location. Take as much time as possible that way.”

“Ho-oh, this is a plan to take time without giving them a reason to kill the prisoners.”

“Yes.”

“As expected, no one can follow His Majesty’s wishes.”

The Prime Minister laughed softly, and the two people’s meaningful laughter echoed throughout the royal palace of the Dorok Kingdom.

Several days passed, but there was no reply from the Dorok Kingdom.

Finally, after several weeks had passed, the Kingdom of Dorok slowly responded. It was an agreement to accept a prisoner exchange.

The Empire was pleased and offered a very low ransom price for the prisoners, but the Dorok Kingdom surprisingly refused, saying it was “expensive”.

The Empire offered a lower price that could be considered a bargain. This is because the amount of food to feed the soldiers was already running low just from the cost of the prisoners’ food. While food prices were skyrocketing, the amount of food to feed soldiers was decreasing, which was completely different from the intentions of the imperial military.

However, the Kingdom of Dorok took several weeks and refused again. The excuse of the Kingdom of Dorok was this.

[I don’t like the prisoner exchange location.]

Continuing to change excuses, the Kingdom of Dorok repeatedly refused to negotiate a prisoner exchange, and in the meantime, the prisoners of the Kingdom of Dorok continued to reduce the number of soldiers in the Imperial Army.

It was not until then that Gernhardt, the commander of the central army, was able to notice the Kingdom of Dorok’s plan. However, if he kills a prisoner captured by the crown prince, he will alone bear the stigma of being a massacre after the war is over.

“It’s something I can’t handle all by myself… ”

He had no intention of getting himself covered in all the muddy water the crown prince had splashed. Therefore, the central army commander had no choice but to be swayed by the Kingdom of Dorok’s schemes, unable to kill or liberate the prisoners.

“Your Excellency! Kill or free the prisoners! That’s how we live!”

Si-Hyeon Lee shouted every time she saw Gernhard, but Gernhard quietly shook his head and disappeared.

——

Meanwhile, at the same time.

“The food is a little poor these days. Hasn’t the amount decreased?”

“Has only the amount decreased? The taste is not good either. This is definitely old wheat.”

“In the past, they used to give soft bread, but these days they give rock bread.”

“Where is the guy who said he would give me at least one food when I came to the military?”

The soldiers were filled with dissatisfaction. This is because supply has decreased recently. This was both quantitatively and qualitatively.

“I heard a rumor that the prisoners in the dungeon of the Eastern District Army barracks eat better than us.”

“Ah, prisoner. Now that I think about it, you captured a lot of prisoners, right?”

“If it weren’t for those prisoners, wouldn’t there have been a shortage of food?”

These rumors spread from supply officers to ordinary soldiers and were now spreading throughout the army.