276 – Don’t be bluff, Grand Duke! (2)
First of all, to prevent the Archduke of Warsaw from fainting and hitting his head on the ground, I asked the archduke’s guards to put him back on his chair.
The Archduke looked a bit dazed, as if he hadn’t come to his senses yet, and then I asked the messenger again.
“Koszalin Castle must be quite a large castle. Is this report true?”
“This is the report sent by Brigadier General Anastasia von Kergit and the surrender document signed with the mayor when we delivered the castle.”
“You can leave now. “If you don’t have any urgent plans, take a rest today and go back home.”
The messenger immediately left the position and I first read the surrender document.
The document clearly had the seal of Anya and the seal of the mayor of Koszalin Castle, and judging from this, it was a real document of surrender.
In the first place, there was little chance that the messenger would bring fake documents to me, so there was no need to check.
The reason I bothered to check is because with this, I now have a weapon that can impose slightly more unfavorable conditions on His Majesty the Archduke of Warsaw.
“Your Highness the Archduke, Your Highness the Archduke. “Are you unwell?”
The Archduke must have come to his senses only when I read the surrender document and asked him a question while looking at his face. He waved his hand and answered in a slightly fussy voice.
“Sometimes I feel dizzy. It’s not a major illness, so don’t worry about it. It will last for a while. It’s okay now. “You showed me something I shouldn’t have seen.”
“No. By the way, I just received a message from Brigadier General Anastasia von Kergit, commander of my archer cavalry brigade, informing me that Koszalin Castle has been surrounded and captured. Would you like to read it?”
“Give it a try! There is no way Koshalin Castle could be taken over so easily, so it must be fake.”
After hearing my words, the Grand Duke immediately took the surrender document written by the mayor of Koszalin Castle like an eagle snatching a rabbit.
According to normal diplomatic etiquette, if I give something with both hands, it is appropriate to receive it leisurely with one hand.
It seemed very beautiful to me, who had to surrender, as it showed that he was pushed into a corner to the extent that he even lost the ability to maintain his manners.
Why, as some Korean broadcasts say, other people’s misfortune is my happiness, because it is a big fortune for our allies when a high-ranking person in the enemy army is delighted.
On the other hand, the Archduke held the surrender document so tightly that it became crumpled in both hands and began grinding his teeth.
“How could Count Kominz, who has served the Grand Duchy of Warsaw for over 200 years, open the gates just because it was surrounded by one division, or even one cavalry brigade? This is ridiculous! “If we had just locked the walls and held on for a little while, the peace negotiations would have been completed soon, or I would have brought in reinforcements.”
I wanted to further harass the Archduke, who had caused hardships for our troops by suddenly sending 50,000 reinforcements into the war during the war with the Kingdom of Stockholm.
If that surrender document is torn, it will be difficult to prove Anya’s achievements, so we shouldn’t let that gentleman handle the document carelessly.
I slightly bowed my head to the Grand Duke to ask for his understanding, then took the surrender document with the seals of Anya and Mayor Koshalin from his hands and placed it back in my hands.
When the document disappeared from his hand, His Highness the Grand Duke of Warsaw looked like a person who had reached the state of liberation, and for a moment I thought he looked pitiful.
The duty of a general going to war is to frugally rip off every bit of flesh and every drop of blood from a cornered enemy, so he decided to use pressure instead of sympathy.
“Immediately after the Battle of Griffino ended, the Reich Imperial Army captured 13 castles of medium or larger size, including these. In the process, no friendly blood or enemy blood was shed.”
“Are you bragging about your victory in front of me, who is now a loser? Okay, congratulations. “But if you act so recklessly, won’t you be a nuisance to His Majesty, the Emperor of the Reich Empire?”
“Your words are too harsh. And how could I have such an ulterior motive? I simply wanted to inform His Majesty Stefan von Báthory, Archduke of Warsaw, of the current situation in detail. Since we are still at war and we don’t know when we will cross paths again, wouldn’t it be good for you to learn a little bit of information about the other side? So rather than criticizing me, shouldn’t you say thank you?”
The face of His Majesty the Archduke, who had been trying to show off his dignity by pretending to be relaxed after coming in a little while ago, turned bright red.
What I said was, ‘Your Grand Duchy’s army is so weak that it doesn’t seem to know how you are fighting, so I will tell you one by one. But it’s a mockery close to saying, ‘You can’t beat me anyway.’
Our Royal Highness Bathory, who was born as a Grand Duke, equivalent to the King of a Grand Duchy, has never experienced this kind of humiliation and shame, so it seems to be working very well.
Anyway, it’s surprising that the skills to ridicule others learned in Korea, where the best online gamers gather, often become the best conversation skills on the Europa continent.
It’s amazing, new, and thrilling, and it’s the best technology that works very well in the current situation… So I should keep using it.
“Okay then, let’s change the conditions.”
Hearing those words, His Highness made a very bewildered expression.
In fact, it is not like he is saying that he will cut the conditions in the peace negotiations as if he were being generous, but he is suddenly saying that he will change them in a playful tone. Who would imagine such a thing?
I am generous, so I can understand that much and overlook it.
“The demands of the Reich Empire are the cession of the entire Warsaw coastal area and the Duchy of Königsburg, compensation of 500,000 gold, and an official letter of apology for arbitrarily sending reinforcements in the battle against the Kingdom of Stockholm.”
“The initial conditions were ridiculous, so I just wanted to return. If it turns out like this, I’ll go back! No, I would rather continue the war.”
After saying that, His Highness seemed to want to somehow express how bad he felt, so he kicked the innocent chair, knocking it over, and tried to leave.
Since our army won completely anyway, the situation is so bad that most castles would surrender immediately after a siege, so there would be no harm to us even if the battle continued with the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.
I had no intention of grabbing His Highness the departing Archduke by the leg of his pants and making him sit back down at the peace negotiations.
However, I was full of thoughts of having them grab the leg of my pants and make me crawl away on their own.
“Huh, are you okay, Your Highness?”
“More soldiers will be brought from other parts of the Grand Duchy. I will compete with you again. So, wash your neck clean and wait.”
“Listen carefully before you go, Your Majesty. The Grand Duchy of Warsaw has already been defeated.”
At those words, the Grand Duke of Warsaw stopped.
“No matter what measures are taken, the message to the Reich Imperial Army cannot be resisted. Because so far, I have already captured more than 13 castles even though I only gave one division to each of the major generals and lieutenant generals under my command.”
I stopped talking for a moment, walked up to the Archduke, and whispered in his ear, pressing down quietly.
“If today’s negotiations fail, I plan to personally take up the sword and surround not only the coastal area but also other major cities. Even cities with walls that could easily be blocked by a force of about 8,000 men are surrendering with both hands and feet out of fear of the Reich Imperial Army. But what do you think will happen if I step forward?”
Even if you become a major general in the military, you will have so much influence that you can spread an enormous disaster among the soldiers and officers.
If you go beyond the rank of major general and become a lieutenant general, your power and status will be much higher, and if you reach the rank of captain, your power and influence will increase to the point where you can control the major generals with just a gesture of your chin or a movement of your fingers.
So, from the perspective of defending a castle, how big of a difference would there be between whether it is the ‘major’ or the ‘captain’ who is trying to attack you?
“Don’t you think they will open the gates of most cities except the capital of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw?”
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“……”
“Even if you regret it then, they will not accept your surrender on the same lenient terms as they do now. So take your pick. Are you going to hit the ground running and do something you’ll regret? Or do you want to accept these conditions now?”
When the Grand Duke heard me, he looked at me with fear and contempt, as if he were looking at the devil.
“The Emperor of the Reich Empire is raising a devil. You are like an evil devil, you are a war in which the people of Warsaw, who serve the same god, keep dying, no! As a general, do you think it is the human thing to keep driving the soldiers of the Reich Empire to death?”
If you look at the results alone, it was the Grand Duke of Warsaw who tried to starve 2 million Warsaw people to death.
As a general of the Empire, it is my duty to order my soldiers to die for victory, and in return, I have always done my best to make their deaths worthwhile and noble.
Well, I wanted to refute all these facts, but I don’t have the time or energy to do so now.
So, we need to instill fear in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw so that they can never look towards the Reich Empire again.
“As a general of the Reich Empire, it is my duty to bring victory to the empire, even if I am called a man worse than an animal or a despicable human being worse than a dog or a pig. I don’t know what to do when people praise me for doing my job so well. Now let me ask you again. Would you accept the conditions I proposed? Or would you rather fight to the death for the next ten years for the survival of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw?”
With those words, the Grand Duke returned to his seat.
I presented him with a contract listing all the conditions I had proposed, and the Archduke signed it with his signet ring and seal.
After that, His Highness Stefan seemed to have lost all strength in his body and started to feel limp.
“His Highness the Archduke’s escort knights will take him to the VIP reception room at Griffino Castle.”
With this, the long and dirty war with Warsaw is over.