211 – Operation ‘Storm’ (6)
Early morning a week later.
Leading only a small escort, I confidently rode up to the enemy’s walls.
Then the soldiers who had barely stood leaning on something on the wall just before came out and recognized the escorts and cursed at random.
“Doggy Kreutel! If you come to the battlefield, you will go up to the top of the castle wall and fight. Are you grilling meat and hiding in the back hole?”
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“Aren’t you afraid of the heavens to commit such an ignominious act of killing Our Highness the Duke behind the scenes? Pathetic guy Just die!”
“Like a wicked usurer! Let’s fight fair and square!”
They spit sharp words at me, as if they would fight for their lives even now…
According to the impressions I have felt while watching them and the information reported by the spy unit, they have already reached their limits. So, what you’re showing now is like a weak dog barking at a beast bigger than itself and begging ‘please leave’.
From the point of view of knowing that, it just looks pitiful to see her crying like that.
“They are all dying and barking loudly with only their mouths alive! All is not necessary, call the castle’s garrison captain! I feel sorry for you guys who are suffering, so I thought I would be especially lenient, so it would be better to call them quickly.”
The soldiers standing behind me laughed out loud when they heard this, and the soldiers and commanders on the top of the wall were making faces that could not hide their anger.
The ration route has been cut off for a long time. The morale of the soldiers dying of starvation is completely down, but it is human beings who cannot tolerate being insulted by the enemy.
I wonder if this is a possible way of thinking because it is the middle ages where romance and honor are alive.
Anyway, I spoke in a mocking voice to provoke them further.
“You say that His Majesty the King of another country wants to have a serious conversation with the commander, but is it the law to keep you waiting this long? What a disappointment!”
After a while, the gates of their castle opened, and a man in armor with some gold ornaments rode out slowly but confidently.
Golden armor is very expensive, so only knights belonging to a fairly high rank among nobles can wear it.
Is the nobleman over there the captain of the castle’s garrison now?
The knight wearing armor for noble people came to a distance of about 50 meters from me, then got off his horse and spoke with a confident voice.
“The famous Marquis Ciel von Kreuttel… No, it is the family’s honor to see His Highness, the King of the Kingdom of Creutel. I’m Michelle Brown, captain of this castle’s garrison! What are you here for?”
I got off my horse too, looked at him and said in a sneering voice.
“Surrender. There is no chance of winning for you guys. Aren’t you familiar too?”
When we say this, it is used in a situation where the opponent has no chance of winning, but if we continue to fight, we will lose too.
This is because soldiers much prefer to wait a little longer or fight and then plunder the enemy’s castle in a situation where they can win without losing any money.
I am a state that believes that it is better to just take bloodless occupation and receive tax than to plunder.
But if you don’t surrender… ? At that time, it was really unavoidable.
“If you do not surrender, we will continue to besiege this castle. Also, the moment the castle gate opens, all the nobles in the castle will have to pay the price of this expedition in gold. If there is someone who can’t pay… As is customary, you can hand it over to slavers.”
Until now, I have been through and won many great battles, but I have not been threatened in this way.
So it may seem strange to threaten you like this, but… Because siege warfare puts too much pressure on the side that attacks the castle, according to the customary law of war, it is possible to receive a high ransom.
Also, if the Duke of Orléans or other nobles are still alive, they can spin around in the plains or other places or lock themselves in other castles and fight, saying, ‘What will happen if you touch the small Duchy of Orléans?’
In that case, we would have thought, ‘If we don’t act, we might see blood from these crazy lords.’ So, we would have sent the nobles and their families in exchange for land and property.
I don’t want to catch a mouse that has the ability to resist and bite it with my teeth.
But these guys are weaklings who will only die in the castle after the death of the duke and other vassals.
To be honest, there is absolutely no need to look at these people.
As if Michelle, the captain of the castle’s defense, was well aware of the situation, she immediately looked at me and lowered her stance.
“As you said, we have no intention of continuing the resistance any longer. But… I would like to ask you to soften the terms of surrender a little. So why don’t I go inside the castle and convince the other knights?”
As has always been the case in history, saying that you will listen to persuade is the same as saying, ‘I will pretend to persuade and buy some time.’
Also, no matter how much time is spent, they won’t gain an advantage, but in a situation where no one can take the initiative, persuasion will be possible.
As if to prove my thoughts, his face was filled with the intention of ‘I took office as the captain of the garrison, but I will not suffer the last disgrace.’
“What does that matter? Anyway, look at the war situation now. The soldiers have completely lost their will to fight and are deserting openly in broad daylight. Do you think the emperor and nobles of the Elain Empire will send reinforcements? Even if they were sent, by the time they arrived, you would all be starving to death. So, just surrender. At least with honor.”
Hearing that, Michelle looked as if everything was over and said.
“…. A lowly knight who has lost his master only begs for mercy.”
A word announcing the end of the siege of about a month has fallen from the enemy garrison commander.
Although it’s highly likely that they won’t have full power, no matter how noble they are, they won’t have the hobby of holding on to a fight that has already ended…
Just as high-ranking people have done since ancient times, if there is no one to take responsibility for it, even if you make it, you will run away.
Based on that tradition, I said to the guy named Michelle in front of me, ‘We tried to fight our own way, but because of that weak coward, we had no choice but to open the gate. These f*cking bastards’ and put the blame on them and it’s over.
I don’t know why Michelle suffers such disgrace, but she must be a bit considerate in order to occupy the duchy smoothly and quickly in the future.
“Good. Then open the gates immediately. At the same time as entering the castle, I will receive the official seal of the duke’s successor, announce the end of the family to castles in other territories, and recommend surrender. However, as a minimum consideration for the duke’s family who risked dishonor for the sake of her vassals and people, she is granted 20,000 gold coins and allowed to take all her personal assets with her. The nobles under her command will also accept exile with a portion of her property. Captain of the garrison.”
It might seem strange to give a large sum of 20,000 gold coins to a defeated family and ask them to leave comfortably, but…
Once that money is received, the people living here will believe that the ducal family took 20,000 gold coins and ran away for their own comfortable life.
If you do that later, even if you try to regain the territory, you will be branded as the one who sold the territory for 20,000, and you won’t even get a justification for starting a war. Even the vassals would not think of enthroning again after seeing such a master.
I managed to expand my power by acquiring territory anyway, but wouldn’t that be a profitable business if I prevented a later war with a little money?
A few hours later, the gate that had been firmly closed opened, and I led all my troops through the gate and entered Orléans Castle.
The villagers in the castle lost all energy, and even the children lost their energy from the long hunger and were just leaning on their mother’s arms with their eyes wide open.
The skin-to-bone territories greeted us by lying on their stomachs without saying anything.
Those who have not experienced it firsthand cannot even imagine the feelings of those who lost their duke and fought the dying battle of ‘doing nothing’ for a little over a month.
So I met the last heir of the Duke of Orléans, or rather, the young duke who suddenly succeeded to the title after the death of his father, and ordered him to put his seal on the document inviting him to surrender.
I received the documents and sent them to a castle in another domain belonging to the Duchy of Orléans…
Two weeks later, I entered the Duchy of Orléans and received a report that I had taken over the entire duchy without losing a single soldier.
I wanted to drive this momentum and advance to another county, but I couldn’t move until Franchi was persuaded.
So, I decided to wait here for a little while to take over the Duchy of Orléans.