225 – Siege of the Royal Capital of Oslo (2)
Among the stories I learned while reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu, there is one that I still remember.
‘It is best not to go to war, the next best option is to isolate the enemy through diplomacy, the best is to stick with the enemy’s troops and win, and the worst is to attack a castle.’
And I immediately realized why the saying ‘siege is the worst’ came about as soon as I saw the walls of Oslo Castle.
The castle walls are over 18 km in circumference and 3 meters high, making it difficult to attack the castle. Surrounded by a water-filled moat over 20 meters wide, it is difficult to even place a ladder.
Furthermore, if you look closely at the soldiers on the castle wall, or rather, the guys standing on top of it, only about 1 in 5 look like real soldiers.
The rest are people who don’t seem to have any reason to hold a spear like this except in urgent situations, such as boys and girls who look younger than their mid-teens, ajummas, and uncles.
“But even if someone like that were to pour boiling water or oil on such a huge castle wall, or throw rocks or sticks, all of our allies would have no choice but to die. “f*ck, this siege is crazy.”
I looked at the castle wall from our troops’ base, sighed, and then spoke.
“Colonel Anastasia, how many prisoners were captured after defecting to the Kingdom of Stockholm under Ishtaven?”
“There are about 300 people.”
“Then if you kill 10 people a day, you’ll last about 30 days, that’s right. Since I didn’t know it would turn out like this, I would have followed Ishtaven and betrayed him. “I wish I hadn’t come here because I didn’t betray you.”
If they hear me say this, those who followed Ishtaven and betrayed them will say this.
‘If I knew that, would I be a god or a human being? And when the chief betrayed us, we below had no choice but to follow him!’
It’s not that I don’t understand the feelings and situation, but what can you do?
When war and politics become intertwined, innocent people often end up dying, and it is daily life that those who have even the slightest fault among them are all tangled up and searched for.
“Colonel Anastasia, bring me the cart and 10 prisoners. “I need to scare them about what will happen if they don’t come out of that f*cking castle wall.”
So, if you have any resentment left, you should die blaming me.
I don’t know if Deus will listen or not.
**
The next morning, the vacant lot in front of Oslo Castle.
“The Lieutenant General came with a cart wheel! Roll it, roll it!”
“I can’t believe I can do something so rewarding as an imperial citizen! “All of this is by the grace of His Majesty the Emperor!”
“I can’t believe I’ll be able to do the thing my grandfather was proud of when I was young! Long live your Majesty the Emperor!”
At the same time as he said that, a soldier appeared rolling a wooden wheel about 80cm wide, and the soldiers’ cheers became even louder.
…… It was astounding to see the reaction almost like when Louise appeared in the 7th Guards Division.
When the soldiers following Ishtaven, who were tied to ropes, appeared behind them, the imperial soldiers threw stones, mud, rotten food and biscuits at them.
“You filthy traitors who are worse than dogs and pigs! Die!”
“Kill! Kill it! “Kill it!”
“I really like these customs of the northern guys. Catch all the traitors and kill them all if they are bigger than the wheel. “I hope His Majesty the Emperor will also accept this good culture from the North.”
…… In this era, unlike Korea, there was almost no proper entertainment, so the execution of criminals became a good entertainment and festival event that attracted people’s attention and interest.
For that reason, in each city of the empire, including Reichburg, a notice was posted at the imperial or local government level a week before the execution, informing people when the execution would be carried out.
On the day of the execution, a small, noisy festival begins, with all kinds of merchants showing up and selling various alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine.
That’s why couples with slightly unique tastes often include an execution ceremony in their date schedule, so that’s all.
We, the Reich Imperial Army, are excited as if it were a festival because of the upcoming execution ceremony, but the citizens and soldiers of Oslo watching us from the walls must feel truly terrible.
Because, showing them the execution of those who followed Ishtaven like this is threatening them by saying, ‘If you are stuck there, I will make you like that too.’
“f*ck, help me! If you let me live, I will roll around like a dog! If you tell me to bark, I will bark, Lieutenant General Yeager! “Please just spare my life, just spare my life.”
I felt sorry for the guy who was trying to survive somehow despite all the boos and swearing, but I had no intention of sparing the traitors.
“Bring a cart wheel. “If your height is shorter than the wheel, you will live; if not, you will die.”
With those words, I ordered the 10 prisoners and the cart to be placed on a platform that was clearly visible from the walls of Oslo.
The soldiers laughed and swung their whips at the prisoners and lifted them onto the platform.
“Okay, then the cartwheel starts rolling! If you happen to see something smaller than a cart wheel, please shout out quickly! I’ll save him immediately! “We must maintain business ethics!”
I don’t know who chose it, but one soldier with a great sense of humor encouraged applause, and all the Reich soldiers responded with applause and cheers.
Actually, the officer or soldier in charge of execution would have cut off their heads…
“Lieutenant General, here is the beheading sword. But do you really want to do it yourself?”
“The executioners who normally carry out executions may say that their work is menial, but isn’t this the work of executing traitors to the Reich Empire? “It is an honorable thing to do as a commander.”
I raised my sword upward and ordered the soldiers to be quiet.
Then he shouted loudly towards the men on the wall standing about 300 meters away.
“If you don’t open the gate right now and come out, you won’t be able to avoid this! Those who surrender will not be killed as prisoners and will be treated with respect, but those who do not surrender and try to fight until the end will be killed like the traitors here. Because you are the same traitors who do not rise up and wage war under your dishonorable king.”
When I said this, I heard a murmur coming from the castle walls, but I ignored it and continued speaking.
“It may be unfair, but. Your king is a cowardly scumbag who didn’t even declare war, but instead tricked the empire’s chieftain, Ishtaven, into betraying the empire! “You, who wrap yourself around the walls and tremble inside under that bastard’s flag, are no different from these traitors.”
And then I immediately took up the beheading sword and cut off the heads of the ten prisoners who followed Ishtaven one by one.
Our soldiers applauded every time a head was cut and blood splattered.
“Someone said that our lieutenant general was a sword master. I guess that was true… How the f*ck do you swing a sword like that?”
“I heard that it is difficult to kill one person at a time even with a regular beheading sword…”
“…… Khan Slayer! Long live the Lieutenant General, the enforcer of justice who killed the evil Khan!”
…… I couldn’t help but feel a strange feeling as I was praised for killing someone, but the morale of those watching from above must have plummeted to the lowest level.
After cutting down all 10 prisoners to death.
In order to create a slightly cool scene, the beheading sword, a two-handed sword weighing 3 kg, was held with only the right hand and the blood was shaken off.
Seeing that sight, the soldiers of the Reich Empire following me, especially the northern archers, were cheering to the blood-curdling beat and were about to die of joy.
“You have to be at that level to kill Khan, damn it. These bastards are betraying His Majesty, the Emperor whom such a person serves. “You deserve to die!”
“Khan Slayer! Khan Slayer! Long live the liberator of the North!”
“Long live Lieutenant General Jaeger! Long live the Reich Empire! Long live your Majesty the Emperor!”
Meanwhile, I couldn’t see the facial expressions of the guys about 300 meters away…
I felt like I could grasp their hearts.
A large army of 150,000, or over 200,000, including the 50,000-strong army of Warsaw, was defeated by the Reich Imperial Army, and they feared that that fearsome army would attack them.
Furthermore, it is said that another Swedish army is coming in from the north. Anxiety about not knowing what’s ahead.
If this situation turns out to be the worst and the capital falls, the people living in Oslo, the capital of the Kingdom of Stockholm, will have their heads cut off by the hands of their enemy.
All these things will come at once, and their morale will gradually drop.
No, even those who are seriously considering opening the gates and surrendering will appear.
But worrying that much now is going too far, and perspective is on my side.
“Now that we have captured and killed the evil Ishtaven’s prisoners, we must hold a banquet today. Let people drink and eat as much meat as they want, except for the soldiers standing guard. And when you eat meat, eat it in a place where you can clearly see the Stockholm Kingdom Army.”