Port of Putao.
On the dock, the patriarch of the Maison family waited respectfully. In the previous rebellion, the Maison family was not like the contented Count of Plitani, who felt that with the help of black dragons and mercenaries, they could run wild. Patriarch Maisen is not very strong, but he is quite spiritual by nature. Apart from providing military support in the early days of the rebellion, he has never set foot on a battlefield.
As it turns out, he was right.
The majestic Count of Plitani has been hard to find, and he is still safe and sound in the Port of Putao, relying on the power of the head of the Herid City Judgment Bureau, and living well.
On the sea in the distance, a piece of snow-white sails rose up, neatly like a fiercely unfolded battle flag. The bow of the ship in the front looked like an angel holding a sword raised high, and the whole ship came through the waves, like a long sword separating the sea, carrying a majestic momentum. On both sides of the ship's deck stood a number of silver armored warriors, the most powerful temple knights in the Holy Court.
The giant ship docked, and the white pedals were put down.
A group of monks dressed in white quickly spread a pure white blanket between the pedals and the pier, and all the people on the pier knelt down with their hands close to the ground.
Holy Emperor, Holy See Pope, Siold slowly stepped down from the holy ship.
Compared with the popes who have been in office with gray hair, Theold is young, and he is probably the greatest pope in the history of the Holy See, because he not only swept away the heretical beliefs of the old gods, He also completed the mission that all believers should do - he established the kingdom of God on the ground for the Lord.
The robe on Siold's body was blown by the wind. The Pope's robe was supposed to be pure white, but because he was also the first emperor of the Holy Empire, compared with the usual white robe, in the West Alder's robe has more gold embroidery.
Surprisingly, after the Pope stepped onto the pier, he did not walk along the blanket symbolizing "holiness and immortality", but took a few steps to the side and stepped directly on the ground.
"His Majesty?"
Following Siold's footsteps was Cardinal Sisien, who reminded the Pope softly.
"I've been thinking about what kind of country this is." Siold sighed as he looked towards the Rose Palace in the distance. There is still the smell of blood and gunpowder in the air. Patriarch Mason tried his best to arrange it here, but the smell of blood and fire still lingers for some reason.
Everyone looked at each other, but no one dared to say a word.
During this period of time, all the fruits of victory of the Holy Army movement under the control of the Pope have made the man with the triple crown firmly stand at the pinnacle of power - he has more power than any previous pope!
Siold leaned down and grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground under the shocked expressions of everyone.
"Look at the soil."
He spread his hands, and the wind blew the dust rustling down.
"Drenched in blood."
Sisien reacted the fastest, he immediately drew a cross on his chest, and said loudly: "This is because the Holy Lord has called us to fight for Him with blood, and asked us to cleanse the heretics with arrows and fire! Holy, holy! Battle of the Army!"
The others followed Sisean and shouted loudly, "Holy holy! The battle of all armies!"
Siold's gray pupils stared at the sand blown away by the wind, and he showed a meaningful smile:
"Holy holy! The battle of all armies!"
The roar of the waves, the Holy Army of the Holy Land, arrived at Legrand.
…
Kaya State, Sunvia Fortress.
"Senvia" means "guardian" in Koya's language. This megalithic fortress named "Senvia" was built by the people of the whole country after Illinois was crowned king. It is the first fortress entering the Keya Mountains from east to west, and it is the first and strongest line of defense of the country of Keya. It is a natural line of defense for the entire southeastern Legrand region.
The crimson light of dusk shone on the walls of the fortress, and it was as majestic as a giant standing among the mountains. In front of this giant is the rushing Toma River.
In the sound of the rushing river water, a cavalry arrived under the Sunvia fortress in a glow of light.
Thrall raised his head, looked at the majestic fortress built among the mountains, and clearly felt that withdrawing from Bubas was the best choice for Legrand at present.
The Keya Mountains are the birthplace of the two major rivers of Legrand, the Doma River and the Ouz River, and the gateway to the central and western parts of Legrand after landing from the southeastern coastal port of Legrand. With Keya as the backing to defend, uniting the king's defense east of the middle reaches of the Doma River, it is possible to pull up a great wall that combines the river, the terrain and the fortresses and castles.
Only relying on the terrain of Keya can resist the 70,000 Sea Holy Army.
Thrall took a deep breath and led the soldiers closer to the fortress.
From above the fortress, there was a question from the guard of Koya.
"Five thousand rose cavalry, ordered by General Sheehan, to defend Keya." He raised his head and shouted loudly to the fortress wall.
He showed the order.
He held the command tightly.
The huge noose turned, and the iron rope rubbed with a heavy sound. The drawbridge was slowly lowered, and the heavy city gate slowly opened from inside.
"General Sheehan's order? What about General Sheehan?"
A guard in a gray robe with a bow and arrow with vines under his robe came up on horseback from behind the city gate.
"Yes, by order of General Sheehan."
Thrall answered his first question.
For the latter question, the defender had already guessed some answers from the silent atmosphere of the cavalry. He didn't speak any more, and Pallet led them towards the fortress.
By General Sheehan... Yes, by General Sheehan's orders.
Thrall closed his eyes.
Thrall, we're going to be... knights who protect the world.
He led the rose iron horse across the heavy suspension bridge, and the river was turbulent under the suspension bridge. Between the mountains, someone blew a long recorder, the flute was desolate, like weeping, like crying, and it echoed in the woods for a long time.
In this war, for the ultimate victory, anyone can sacrifice, and anyone can die.
…
The room was quiet, the wall clock ticked on the wall, but time seemed to stand still. When the Chief of Internal Affairs stepped in here, he saw that he was sitting at the table with his back to him, and the high-back chair blocked his figure.
The House Chief could never see his expression.
"The Queen Mother of Illinois sent back news that there are a total of seven holy protectors in Port Hered, and there should be only three holy protectors around Siold. In two weeks, there will be a batch of important materials for the construction of the Throne Dock from Transported by sea to Port Hered. The Queen Mother will attack on the day the supplies arrive in Swan Port."
The house chief reported important news one by one.
"The Holy Army of the Holy Land has landed in Porto Port, and Pope Theodore appeared in Porto Port. The first personal soldiers he brought were the Temple Knights. They did not advance immediately, and the news that the Eternal Knights were intercepted should have been Knowing by the other party, the Temple Knights are renovating the Maison family territory."
"On the Hopeless Inner Sea, the Nujin Empire has arrived at the Holy Spirit Bay. The magic wolf knights led by Hull burned down the military port of St. Peter's Port in the Holy Spirit Bay. They are currently attacking the Third Sanctuary and the Fourth Sanctuary."
"In the Holy Empire, the old nobles of Blacy in the northwest are showing signs of agitation. What is the root cause? The overseas spies have not yet returned the exact news."
…
The news was reported one by one, and the Director of Internal Affairs paused to report the final news: "The Rose Cavalry has successfully retreated to the Keya Mountains and arrived at the Senviya Fortress. The Sea Holy Army occupied Bubas County and began to disperse its forces to various villages. South of the tributaries of the Toma River, and east of the Khoya Mountains, all are infested by the Holy Army. In addition…”
He looked at the king with his back to him.
"Also... the people seem to be angry."
The interior director said this sentence with some difficulty.
In fact, it is not that there is anger, but "the anger of the people is so high that it is alarming."
General Sheehan ordered the Rose Cavalry to withdraw to Keya, handing over the southeastern coast of Legrand, causing the entire southeastern people to suffer. This is seen as an unforgivable act of "treason" in a situation where everyone in the entire country takes up arms and fights to defend the country. It is believed that he betrayed the people of all the infested areas of the southeast, and he must pay for his sins.
The anger of the people was like fire, and it burned from the occupied area to all the counties and states up and down Legrand.
This is a thorny and vital issue, and if it cannot be resolved, all the efforts they have made to unite the national will of Legrand will be dealt a serious blow.
However…
The House Chief looked at the King's back.
He was one of the few people who knew exactly the inside story of the whole thing. The Director of Internal Affairs knew that the king gave General Sheehan a secret order.
The choice is actually in the hands of General Sheehan.
He could choose to give the order to retreat in the king's name, or he could choose to give it in his own name. General Sheehan should have known what kind of problem he was facing from the moment he received the secret order.
And he has filled in the unchangeable answer for the monarch he serves in the most tragic way.
Whether it was the Duke of Buckingham or the King, they were not mistaken—General Sheehan was indeed one of the best generals in this empire.
"His Majesty?"
The house steward reminded the king quietly that the people below him were still waiting for his decision.
The king sat at the table with the unwritten writ under the lamp.
He looked out the window.
After quelling the rebellion in the north, the king once asked General Sheehan, who had made many exploits in the war, what reward he wanted. At that time, the army was still stationed at the Beaumari Castle, General Sheehan looked through the window at the Rose King flag on the Beaumari tower, pondered for a long time, and said.
"If possible, I hope that one day in the future, I will be able to succeed the Duke and become Legrand's imperial knight."
William III will die, the Duke of Buckingham will fall, and generations will leave, but the fall of a lion does not mean that the country will lose its support from now on, and a new lion will emerge from the blood and war.
Now, General Sheehan, he has proven it.
He can indeed succeed the Duke of Buckingham as the new Imperial Knight.
—He is already an imperial knight.
After a long time, the king finally took up the pen and began to write the writ to all the Legrands.
After taking over the writ written by the king, the chief of the house looked down and saw that the piece of paper in his hand weighed a thousand catties.
This is a writ of half speech and half command.
In the second half of the writ, the marks are as deep as a knife.
"...As long as the last Legrand soldier dies, the Legrand Empire will never perish. As the monarch of the Legrand Empire, I will fight with every knight to the end, and I will do my best for this country. Every drop of blood will make the flag of the rose never fall."
"In the name of the Legrand monarch, I ask all Legrand people, no matter where you are, to fight against the enemies who invaded your homeland to the end. Legrand's future is in the hands of all of us."
"The glory of the empire cannot be tainted, the blood of the people of the empire cannot be defiled, the traitor will pay for what he has done, and here I order—"
"Pursue the position of commander-in-chief of the southeastern defensive line of Sean Rolandster, pursue the earl title in Sean Rolland, and take back a territory that should have been given to Sean Rolland."
"Appoint Sal Court as the general of the Rose Cavalry."
"The traitor should die, and the whole country will fight."
…
The Director of Internal Affairs withdrew with the warrant.
The king sat alone in the room, looking out the window in silence.
Long night, dark night forever.
The author has something to say: I looked through the comments in the previous chapter and made an explanation here.
The retreat of the Rose Cavalry, this incident can be said to have a historical prototype, or it can be said that there is no historical prototype. I say yes because there have been too many strategic retreats in history that have had to be made. It is said that there is no prototype, because it is not written specifically based on one or two retreats in military history, but is written based on a number of similar campaign decisions.
In wars, many times, retreats have to be made on local battles. The more well-known retreats, such as the Dunkirk retreat, laid the foundation for the victory of World War II, the Red Army's Long March retreat guaranteed living strength, the Soviet Union's Siberia retreat was an important part of defeating Hitler, and so on. War is not an idealized game of stubborn struggle. Although retreat is cruel to the people in the evacuation area, it is often a choice that has to be made.
The first is why the "small population" doesn't go with the whole city.
For the case of the Legrand population in the Middle Ages, reference is made to medieval England. According to the British historian DM Palliser's "History of British Cities (600-1540)", the urbanization level of England in the late Middle Ages reached more than 20%. At that time, the population of large cities could reach 10,000 to 80,000. This data seems really small today, but we have to look at it in the context of the Middle Ages, with low population density and low productivity. Moreover, large cities in the Middle Ages will form a kind of radiation to the surrounding areas, so the medieval wars have the phenomenon of "sieges". Once the key city castles are captured, the radiation will affect the surrounding small towns and all villages.
Even if the small towns and villages affected by the radiation around the main city are not counted, it is absolutely impossible to evacuate the tens of thousands of civilians in Bubas City. 1. The organizational capacity of the Middle Ages was very limited, and it was absolutely impossible for people who wanted to quickly evacuate an entire city with the manpower, material resources and local systems at that time. [As a matter of fact, even in today's technologically advanced economy, it is a complicated matter that requires a lot of manpower and material resources to urgently organize the evacuation of a town with a population of more than tens of thousands of people, and it may even cause accidents due to panic. Casualties] 2. At that time, the Rose Cavalry was in an emergency evacuation state, and carrying civilians only dragged down the marching speed of the entire army - please don't compare the marching speed of civilians with the marching speed. If the rose cavalry takes care of the marching speed of the civilians, only the civilians will be destroyed together with the rose cavalry. If you don't take care of it, it's no different from letting them die.
It is difficult to take into account the civilian population in a strategic retreat in an emergency. The Dunkirk retreat almost ceded the entire Western European continent to Germany. See what Cupill had to say at the time: "large swathes of Europe and many ancient and famous countries, even though they have fallen or may fall into the clutches of the secret police and the evil institutions of Nazi rule." And the Long March of the Red Army, which we are most familiar with, also only took away the army, but it was impossible to take away the people in the base areas.
Second is why civilians don't abandon their possessions and run away...
Let us read a passage: "England's kingdom in France collapsed quickly, but it still caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Town after town fell, floods of refugees were forced to flee, and women trekked to the Countryside, tie the child to yourself with linen straps".
This is the description of the situation faced by the people of England in France in 1449 after England lost Normandy in The Empty Crown: The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors. Of course, some people can escape to other cities that are safer, but there are more people who are unable to escape so far and can only escape into the countryside, and those who cannot escape and can only stay where they are. Abandoning property and fleeing... It's no different from letting civilians die, and if they flee with property, where can they flee? It's hard. Moreover, ordinary people in the Middle Ages had poor ability to resist risks economically. After leaving the place of residence, even if they avoided the enemy for a while, they often ended up in poverty and hardship to death. This is actually very easy to understand... Even in the modern times when the country's comprehensive strength is enhanced and its relief capabilities are enhanced, many people will not leave their homes in the event of an earthquake, let alone people in the Middle Ages. Moreover, today there is a hot war in the Middle East, and there are still many people living in Syria under fire.
It's easy to say, but the reality is hard.
In addition, the problem of "looting civilians" in war has been explained above. Civilians fleeing to small towns, fleeing to the countryside, make no difference to a large army for the purpose of looting. Once the city castle as the "pawn" of the war situation is captured, then the small towns and villages around it are unlucky together. This is also why people are so desperate after the Rose Cavalry evacuated from Bubas [the city name was wrongly typed in the previous chapter].
In the end, it is the ending of General Sheehan, why he is so "stupid" to stay and let civilians kill himself for morality.
The reason for the evacuation of Bubas has been explained in detail in the text. Here, I will mainly talk about the ending of General Sheehan. He didn't die because of the condemnation of his conscience, he didn't die because of morality, he died to appease the indignation of the people.
Locally, for the people of Bubas City, the Rose Cavalry burned the granary, which not only cut off the supply of the Holy Army, but also cut off their way of life. Their despair and anger are intense and normal. Under the circumstances at the time, Bubas' hatred for the person who gave the order could not be resolved. General Sheen stayed in order to transfer the hatred to himself and allow the Rose Cavalry to retreat smoothly.
[On the other hand, personally, I don't think the anger and despair of the civilians in Bubas and their actions are damned... It's not that they don't want to protect themselves, it's not that they just want to pin their hopes on others. They have lost hope and ability to defend themselves. And as the innocents who were sacrificed in the war, they are also one of the millions of mourning souls in the war.]
As for the entire war situation, for Legrand, who was fighting the whole country, after the fall of Bubas and the fall of the southeast coast, the public anger needed a vent. And it was this that doomed General Sheehan's end.
His end was doomed when he said to Thrall that "the king gave no orders". He made a choice for himself. In order to quell the anger of the people, to unite the hearts of the people, and to ensure that the national will that Legrand had gathered before the war would not collapse, one person was needed to bear this infamy.
A person of sufficient authority.
The identity of General Sheehan, he is the general of the rose cavalry, and the person in charge of the southeast defense line. His status is high enough, and only when he is dead at his level and punished by "pleasant people" can people's anger be eliminated and suppressed in the shortest possible time - the people need faith.
He had to die, and was doomed to die in stigma.
He did not die for morality, he died willingly for Legrand, for the victory of the war - he knew his end.
He was a tragic victim in this war.
War is not a child's play, war is the cruelest thing in this world, no one.
War always has the coldest core. In war, everyone is helpless. Kings, generals, soldiers, civilians... All lives, all souls, are being torn apart in the huge machine of war, and no one can break free.