Chapter 69 The Golden Pagoda Gate and the King's Death(1/2)
Chapter 69 The High Gate of the Golden Tower and the Death of the King
Author: Ivan the Terrible
Chapter 69 The High Gate of the Golden Tower and the Death of the King
The noise of sword fighting in the distance continued, and the screams of northerners being trampled came from under the hooves of the Nilfgaardian cavalry, and the prisoners were wordlessly herded into slave carts.
Villages are burning, black smoke columns rise into the sky, and death can be seen everywhere.
With a look of disgust on his face, Duke Adal Aip Darcy, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Army, stood condescendingly on the nearest hill.
According to Nilfgaard's traditional rules of war, he was surrounded by officers and guards to ensure his safety.
The Duke of Adal looked at the northerners as if they were looking at some kind of unacceptable garbage. Just appearing in his field of vision was already a great sin.
Adar is a man with a deep, powerful voice, an almost pathological self-esteem, and is very sensitive to many things.
Even in political struggles, he maintains an extremely arrogant attitude.
Although he was on the battlefield, he still wore meticulously dressed aristocratic attire.
The color of the clothing is classic Nilfgaardian black gold, and the golden sun's coat of arms shines on his right chest, just like the arrogant attitude he always displays.
It was as if he were at a ball rather than a battlefield.
But considering that he had never wanted to be on the front line in person, it didn't matter.
There is a ceremonial sword hanging on the Duke's waist. The hilt is inlaid with rubies. The edge of the sword is not good. He does not use this sword to fight. He prefers to drive others to fight for him.
In his opinion, that was behavior among wild beasts, not civilized people.
However, although he is so proud, Adal is not a waste. The fact that he was able to survive three dynasties in the Nilfgaard Empire is a testament to his ability.
Frankly speaking, to compare the Nilfgaardian palace to a den of poisonous snakes and scorpions is an understatement. Only by showing extraordinary coldness and cunning can one save one's head here.
Adal Aip Darcy met all the above conditions. From various conspiracies in the palace to the war in the north, he participated tirelessly in it, as if everything was just a chess game.
As for the fact that those chess pieces might be hundreds or even thousands of living human lives, this never made any waves in his mind.
Just as he was watching the killing in front of him calmly at this moment, it was like appreciating the war drama in the city of golden towers.
Duke Adar used fire and sword to cleanse Aedirn. This is exactly what Nilfgaardians like him think of the north: the northerners are barbaric, uncivilized, and will eventually fail. Nilfgaard is going to destroy
Rebuilding a "civilized" world on the basis of the North.
The killing in front of them is just the inevitable price for bringing the barbaric north to civilization.
But beneath these grand narratives, there is also some venting of anger from the Duke himself.
Vent his anger at the defeat of the Central Route Army.
Previously, Duke Adal used his connections to change his appointment from the Western (Viden) Army Group to the Eastern Army Group, just so that he would not have to fight against troublesome opponents like Foltest and Vizmir.
In his opinion, Mivi of Rivia and Demavi of Aedirn are better opponents to deal with.
And this is indeed the case. Under his brilliant strategy, he successfully forced the kingdom to surrender to the empire by taking advantage of the absence of the Livia monarch Miwei.
Although Miwei ran away in the end and caused some trouble for the imperial army, these were all minor problems.
Next, the attack on Aedirn went smoothly. The Aedian people never expected that the Nilfgaardian offensive could be so swift and ruthless.
Under the offensive of the imperial army, the Aedirn army collapsed one after another. The actual resistance of the army that Demavi was proud of only lasted for two weeks. Two weeks later, the army actually collapsed.
Originally, according to the plan, the Nilfgaardian army would continue to advance with great success, and with the cooperation of a series of traitors who were instigated to rebel, they would seize important locations one after another, and finally join forces with the Kaedwen army on the Diverny River.
Yes, the mobilization of Kaedwen was initiated at the beginning of the war.
If the Aedirn army falls apart as Duke Adal said, the greedy King Henselt will never let go of this opportunity.
And things were supposed to develop like this, until that Hemei appeared, and the situation changed.
He first intimidated Kaedwen, then stabilized the situation in the capital of Aedirn, and then defeated the central army that was supposed to take the capital of Aedirn directly.
The impact of this defeat was very huge. First of all, this was the first major defeat of the Nilfgaardian army on the northern battlefield. The political impact was far-reaching.
Due to the characteristics of political animals, Duke Adal subconsciously thought of these influences, and his political opponents in the City of Golden Towers may have taken action.
So after receiving the news, he sent a letter to the Golden Tower City, asking the ancient families (the top dignitaries of Nilfgaard) to remain silent on the matter and not to add fuel to the flames.
If they want to do something with this, things will be completely troublesome.
To do this, he needs to devote a lot of political resources, but it is also necessary.
Then, there was a counterattack from the Aedianites.
After the central army collapsed, they left behind a large amount of occupied territory, including a large number of slave-catching teams and task forces responsible for destroying Aedirn, as well as many slaves and property that had not had time to return to the country.
Now after the Aedianites counterattack, these things belong to them.
The merchants and nobles who invested in the Eastern Army suffered heavy losses this time. Their slave-catching teams and sponsored troops were all lost in the Aedian counterattack.
Most of these people invested in the Eastern Group Army under Adal's introduction, but now they have achieved such a result.
Adal's political reputation suffered a heavy loss after this wave.
Finally, over there, the Aedianites regained their morale to resist.
Judging from the battle reports he received, since Hemei's victory, the resistance of the local northern barbarians has instantly risen to a higher level.
The villages and nobles who originally expressed their obedience began to have other thoughts, and their actions became ambiguous. Adal had to send many troops to garrison in the place.
Now, in the vast occupied area of Aedirn of the Empire, there are guerrilla operations everywhere, destroying the Empire's supplies and attacking the Empire's convoys.
They hide in the forests and mountains. Once the regular Nilfgaardian army comes, they will hide inside as quickly as possible. The imperial army will not be able to catch the tail of these guys.
Although they also have the cooperation of the Scoia'tael, the area of activity of the Scoia'tael is still limited compared to the vast number of people in Aedirn. Many places are also unfamiliar to the Scoia'tael, and at most they can provide some ideas for guerrilla warfare.
Even in Livia, which was successfully obtained through political maneuvers, guerrillas began to appear in some areas, disrupting the rule of the empire.
Therefore, Adar had to mobilize several tactical cavalry regiments that had just been transferred from the rear to suppress these signs of chaos and nip them in the bud.
After encountering such a series of things, one can imagine how Adar felt.
However, he still firmly believes that the empire will win, and he has never doubted the empire's victory.
At present, he is gathering the troops of the three routes and collecting the defeated troops of the middle route, while clearing out the northern resisters in the occupied areas.
When cleaning up the rebels, the Nilfgaardians showed extremely cruel methods. They obviously did this kind of thing often, robbing villages, smashing them and burning them all at once.
At the same time, these areas were also made into white areas. The Nilfgaardian army was very good at doing this.
This is done either to facilitate future reception by the empire's residents, or out of the classic Nilfgaardian pattern of destroying local productivity.
For this reason, the number of rebels is increasing.
But then again, with all the brutal acts committed by Nilfgaard, it is inevitable that the number of resisters will increase after the imperial army is defeated.
The empire relied on a weapon called fear to suppress the northerners. The empire seemed so powerful and impossible to defeat.
It is precisely for this reason that the northerners will just tremble there, waiting for the killings of the imperial people.
And if that seemingly undefeatable fear proves to be defeatable, the backlash will be very terrifying.
Adal is also very aware of this, but he can only continue to intensify these brutal acts of suppression - this is his only choice.
The battle line has returned to the southern border of Aedirn, and originally Nilfgaard should have brought the war to the core of Aedirn, and they did almost succeed, but now they can only think about it.
Before the main forces of the three armies converged, this was a fact that Adal had to accept.
Therefore, he will not show mercy to the "initiator" who caused all this.
"So, General Marcos, oh, to be more precise, it should be Major General Marcos Van Horn, as you said, will you shoulder the responsibility in the future?"
Adal did not continue to look at the scene of the northerners being killed. He turned his horse's head and looked at the commander of the Wingerboni Division, Marcosh, who had taken off his armor and was being escorted by the soldiers.
"Yes, I will take all responsibilities."
Marcosh said in a neither humble nor condescending manner, he just took out a document,
"But before I am taken to the City of Golden Towers for review by the military court, I ask you to accept my battle report. It contains some summaries of my military experience in Hemei. I hope it can help you."
Makosh looked calm. Since he has to take responsibility, this is normal at the moment.
But he did not regret it. At least he brought back many soldiers directly and reported everything he summarized to contribute to the empire's future wars.
After accepting the documents, Duke Adal just waved his hand and silently urged the general to leave.
He didn't want to see this face, so he should take the blame and get out of the battlefield now.
Adal has chosen this person, just to make him take the blame. Anyway, this guy is also aware, so of course he will be blamed, and this matter can be considered settled.
However, Adal planned to read the document he gave him carefully to understand the situation of this enemy.
Although Adal doesn't know much about military affairs, he understands the importance of collecting information. It can even be said that in his opinion, information is life.
Seeing this, Makosh didn't say much, but quietly retreated, preparing to be escorted back to the Golden Tower City.
He didn't worry too much about his future.
Although after the First Northern War, the emperor carried out a general purge of defeated officers, it was more like a purge of the influence left in the army by the usurper emperor, whose name cannot be mentioned.
As a well-known member of the Emperor's faction, Marcos knew that nothing would happen to him. At most, he would be thrown rotten eggs by the people in the capital, and the war in the north was probably not going to happen to him.
He didn't feel much regret about this, and even felt a little lucky.
To be continued...