After Becoming The Tyrant

Port of Putao.

On the pier, the patriarch of the Meissen family was waiting respectfully.In the previous rebellion, the Meissen family was not like the satisfied Earl Prittany, who felt that with the help of the black dragon and mercenaries, they could run amok.The Mason patriarch is weak, but he is quite energetic by nature. Except for providing military support in the early stage of the rebellion, he has never set foot on a battlefield.

Facts have proved that his approach is correct.

The body of the majestic Earl Plitani was hard to find, but he was still safe and sound in Putao Port, relying on the power of the head of the Herrid City Judgment Bureau, to live well.

On the sea in the distance, pieces of white sails were raised up, neatly like a battle flag unfurled fiercely.The bow of the ship at the front looks like an angel holding a sharp sword and holding it high. The whole ship breaks through the waves and breaks the sea like a long sword, carrying a majestic momentum.Standing on both sides of the ship's deck are silver armored warriors, who are the most powerful temple knights in the holy court.

The giant ship docked, and the white pedals were put down for a while.

A group of monks dressed in white quickly spread a pure white blanket between the step and the pier, and all the people on the pier knelt down, with their hands close to the ground.

The Emperor of the Holy Empire, the Pope of the Holy Court, and Theolde slowly stepped down from the holy ship.

Compared with the previous gray-haired popes, Theolde is considered young, and he is very likely to be the greatest pope in the history of the Holy See, because he not only swept away the heresy 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 Holy Lord.

The robes on Siolde were blown by the wind. The Pope's robes should have been pure white, but because he was also the first emperor of the Holy Empire, compared with the usual white robes, the Pope's Alder's robes have more gold embroidery.

Surprisingly, after the Pope stepped onto the pier, he did not walk along the blanket symbolizing "Holy and Undefiled", but took a few steps to the side and stepped directly on the ground.

"His Majesty?"

Following Theold was Cardinal Sissian, who reminded the Pope softly.

"I've been thinking about what kind of country this is." Siolde sighed, looking towards the direction of the Rose Palace in the distance.There was still the smell of blood and gunpowder smoke in the air. The Mason patriarch tried his best to arrange here, but the smell of blood and fire still lingered for some reason.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one dared to say a word.

During this period of time, all the victorious fruits of the Holy Army movement under the Pope's control have made the man wearing the triple crown firmly at the pinnacle of power-he has more power than any previous Pope!

Siolde bent down, and in the astonishment of everyone, grabbed a handful of soil from the ground.

"Look at the soil."

He spread his hands, and the wind blew the dust away.

"Soaked in blood."

Sisian reacted the fastest, he immediately drew a cross on his chest, and said loudly: "This is because the Holy Lord calls us to fight for Him in blood, and wants us to cleanse the heresy with arrows and fire! Holy, holy! Battle of the Army!"

The others followed Sisian and shouted: "Holy, holy! The battle of armies!"

Siolde's gray pupils stared at the sand blown away by the wind, and he showed a meaningful smile:

"Holy, holy! The battle of armies!"

The waves are noisy, and the holy army of the Holy Land has arrived in Legrand.

………………

Keya State, Senvia Fortress.

"Senvia" means "guardian" in Keya's language.The megalithic fortress named "Senvia" was built by the people of the whole country after Eleanor was crowned king.It is the first fortress that enters the Keya Mountains from east to west. It is the first and strongest line of defense of the Keya State.It is a natural line of defense for the entire southeast of Legrand.

The dark red light at dusk shone on the walls of the fortress, which was as majestic as a giant standing among the mountains.In front of this giant is the rushing Doma River.

Amidst the sound of the rushing river, a cavalry soldier arrived under the fortress of Senvia in Xiaguang.

Thrall raised his head, looked at the majestic fortress built among the mountains, and clearly felt that withdrawing from Bubas to here was Legrand's best choice at present.

The Koya Mountains are the birthplace of Legrand's two major rivers, the Doma River and the Ouz River. It is also the gateway to enter the central and western parts of Legrand after landing from the southeastern coastal port of Legrand.With Keya as the backing to defend, the United King's defense in the east of the middle reaches of the Doma River can pull up a Great Wall that combines the river, the terrain and the fortresses and castles.

Only by relying on Keya's terrain can it resist the [-] Sea Holy Army.

Thrall took a deep breath and led the soldiers closer to the fortress.

From above the fortress came the guard of Keya's shout.

"Five Thousand Rose Cavalry, under the order of General Sean, to defend Keya." He raised his head and shouted loudly towards the fortress wall.

He showed the military order.

He held the general order tightly.

The huge noose rotated, and the friction of the iron chain made a heavy sound.The suspension bridge was slowly lowered, and the heavy city gate was slowly opened from inside.

"An order from General Sheen? Where's General Sheen?"

A guard in a gray robe with an arabesque bow and arrow came up from behind the city gate on horseback.

"Yes, by order of General Sean."

Thrall answered his first question.

For the latter question, the guard had guessed some answers from the silent atmosphere of the cavalry.He didn't speak any more, and steered his horse to lead them to the fortress.

General Sheen... yes, by order of General Sheen.

Sal closed his eyes.

Thrall, we are going to be... knights who protect the world.

He led the rose cavalry across the heavy suspension bridge, and the river was turbulent under the suspension bridge.Among the mountains, someone blew a long clarinet. The sound of the flute was desolate, like weeping and 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 very quiet, the wall clock was chiming on the wall, but time seemed to stand still.When the head of internal affairs stepped in here, he saw his back facing him, sitting at the table, with a high-backed chair blocking his figure.

The head of housekeeping couldn't see his expression.

"Queen Eleanor sent back a message that there are seven Blessed Ones located in Herrid Harbor, and there should only be three Blessed Ones around Theolde. In two weeks, a batch of important materials for the construction of the God Seat Wharf will arrive from here. Transported by sea to Port Herrid. The Queen Mother will launch an attack on the day the supplies arrive at Swan Harbor."

The head of internal affairs reported important news one by one.

"The Holy Army of the Holy Land has landed in Putao Port. Pope Theolde appeared in Putao Port, and the first soldier he brought was the Knights of the Temple. They did not advance immediately. The news that the Eternal Knights were intercepted should have already passed. Known by the other party, the Knights of the Temple are repairing in the territory of the Meissen family."

"On the other side of the Hopeless Inland Sea, the Nujin Empire has arrived at the Holy Spirit Bay. The wolf knights led by Hull burned down the military port of St. Peter Port in the Holy Spirit Bay. They are currently attacking the Third Sanctuary and the Fourth Sanctuary."

"In the territory of the Holy Empire, the old Blessie nobles in the northwest are showing signs of restlessness. What is the root cause? Overseas spies have not sent back definite news."

……

The news was reported one by one. The Chief of Internal Affairs paused and reported the last news: "The Rose Cavalry has successfully retreated to the Keya Mountains and arrived at the Senvia Fortress. The Holy Sea Army occupied Bubas County and began to disperse its forces to various villages. The south of the tributary of the Doma River and the east of the Koya Mountains are all invaded by the Holy Army. In addition..."

He looked at the king with his back turned.

"In addition...the people seem to be angry."

The Chief of Internal Affairs said this sentence with some difficulty.

In fact, it is not that there seems to be anger, but that "the national anger is shockingly high."

General Sean ordered the Rose Iron Cavalry to withdraw to Keya, handing over the southeast coast of Legrand, and causing the entire southeast people to suffer.In this situation where the whole country takes up arms and fights to defend the country, this is an unforgivable act of "treason" in the eyes of people.He is believed to have betrayed all the people of the infested southeast, and he must pay for his sin.

The anger of the people was like a fire, burning from the occupied area to all counties and states in Legrand.

This is a thorny and vital issue, and failure to resolve it will seriously undermine any previous efforts to unite Legrand's national will.

however……

The steward looked after the king.

He was one of the few people who knew exactly what was going on in the whole thing.The Chief of Internal Affairs knew that the king's order to General Sean was a secret order.

The choice is actually in the hands of General Sean.

He could choose to give the order to retreat in the name of the king, or in his own name.From the moment General Sheen received the secret order, he should have known what kind of problem he was facing.

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 right—General Sean was indeed one of the best generals in the empire.

"His Majesty?"

The steward whispered that those below the king were still awaiting his decision.

The king sat at the table, and the unwritten writs lay open under the lamp.

He looks out the window.

After suppressing the rebellion in the North, the king once asked General Sheen, who had made many achievements in the war, what reward he wanted.At that time, the army was still stationed in Bomari Castle. General Sheen looked through the window at the Rose King Banner planted in the Bomari Tower, pondered for a long time, and said.

"If possible, I hope that one day in the future, I can 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 new lions will emerge from the blood and war.

Now, General Sheen, he's proven it.

He could 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 his pen and began to write a decree for all Legrands.

After receiving the writ written by the king, the head of internal affairs looked down and felt that the paper in his hand weighed a thousand catties.

It was a writ that was half speech, half command.

In the second half of the writ, the inscriptions were as deep as a knife carving.

"...As long as the last Legrand soldier has not died, the Legrand Empire will never perish. As the monarch of the Legrand Empire, I will fight to the end with every knight, and I will die for this country." With every drop of blood, the rose flag will never fall."

"In the name of Lord Legrand, I request all the people of Legrand, no matter where you are, please fight to the end with the enemies who invaded your homeland. Legrand's future is in the hands of all of us."

"The glory of the empire must not be tarnished, the blood of the people of the empire must not be desecrated, the traitor will pay the price for what he has done, hereby I order—"

"Pursue Sean Rowlander's southeast defense line commander, pursue the Earl title in Sean Rowlander, and take back the territory that should be given to Sean Rowlander."

"Appoint Sal Court as the general of the Rose Iron Cavalry."

"The traitor should die, and the whole country will fight."

……

The steward of internal affairs withdrew with the warrant.

The king sat alone in the room, silently looking out the window.

The long night, the night is forever silent.

The author has something to say: I flipped through the comments in the previous chapter and made an explanation here.

The retreat of the rose cavalry, this event, can be said to have a historical prototype, or it can be said to have no historical prototype.The reason why we say yes is because there have been too many strategic retreats that had to be made in history.And there is no prototype because it is not written specifically based on one or two retreats in military history, but is written based on more similar campaign decisions.

In war, many times, it is necessary to retreat in a local battle situation.The more well-known retreats, such as the Dunkirk retreat laid the foundation for the victory of World War II, the retreat of the Red Army's Long March ensured vitality, and the retreat of the Soviet Union to Siberia was an important part of defeating Hitler, etc.War is not an idealized game to fight hard. Although retreat is cruel to the people in the evacuated area, it is often a choice that has to be made.

First of all, why "small population" doesn't take the whole city with them.

For the case of the Medieval Legrand population, reference is made to Medieval England.According to British historian DM Palliser's "History of British Cities (600-1540)", the urbanization level of England in the late Middle Ages reached more than 20.00%.At that time, the population of big cities could reach 10000~80000.This data seems really rare today, but we must look at it in the context of the Middle Ages, with low population density and low productivity.Moreover, large cities in the Middle Ages would radiate to the surrounding areas, so medieval wars had the phenomenon of "siege". Once the key city castles were captured, the radiation would affect the surrounding small towns and all villages.

Even without counting the small towns and villages affected by the radiation around the main city, it is absolutely impossible to take away the tens of thousands of civilians in Bubas City and evacuate them together.[-]. The organizational capabilities of the Middle Ages were very limited. It was absolutely impossible for people who wanted to evacuate an entire city quickly with the manpower, material resources and local system at that time. [In fact, even in today's technologically advanced and economically developed world, 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 often even causes accidents due to panic Casualties] [-]. At that time, the Rose Cavalry was in an emergency evacuation state, and carrying civilians would only slow 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, then only the civilians will be destroyed together with the rose cavalry.If you don't take care of them, it's no different from letting them die directly.

In an emergency strategic retreat, it is difficult to take into account civilians.The Dunkirk retreat almost ceded the entire Western European continent to Germany.Look at what Chubil said at the time, "a large area of ​​European land and many ancient and famous countries have fallen or may fall into the clutches of the secret police and various criminal institutions ruled by the Nazis."And the Long March of the Red Army that we are most familiar with also only took away the army, but it is impossible to take away the people in the base area.

Second is why civilians don't abandon their property and flee...

Let us look at a passage "England's kingdom in France collapsed quickly, but still caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Town after town was captured, floods of refugees were forced to flee, and women trudged to the country, and tie the child to himself with a linen sash".

This is the description in "The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors" of the situation faced by the people of England in France after the loss of Normandy in 1449.Of course, some people can escape to other cities where it is safer, but more are those who cannot escape that far and can only flee to the countryside, and those who have no way to escape and can only stay where they are.Abandoning property and fleeing... This is no different from directly letting civilians die, but if they flee with their property, where can they escape?difficult.Moreover, ordinary people in the Middle Ages had poor economic resistance to risks. After leaving the place of residence, even if they avoided the enemy for a while, they often ended up in poverty and poverty.This point is actually easy to understand... Even in modern times when the comprehensive strength of the country is enhanced and the relief capabilities are enhanced, many people will not leave their homes when there is 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 in Syria living there under artillery fire.

It is easy to say, but the reality is very difficult.

In addition, the previous article has explained the problem of "looting civilians" in war.Civilians flee to small towns or to the countryside, and it makes no difference to a large army for the purpose of plunder.Once the city castle as the "pawn" of the war situation is captured, the small towns and villages around it will be unlucky.This is also why people were so desperate after the Rose Iron Cavalry withdrew from Bubas.

Finally, there is the question of the ending of General Sheen, why did he stay so "stupid" and let the civilians kill himself for the sake of morality.

The reason for the evacuation of Bubas has been explained in detail in the article, and here we mainly talk about the ending of General Shinn.He didn't die because of the condemnation of his conscience, he didn't die because of morality, he died to appease the anger of the people.

Partially, for the people of Bubas City, the rose iron cavalry burned down the granary, which not only cut off the supplies of the Holy Army, but also cut off their way of life.Their despair and anger are intense and normal.Under the circumstances at that time, Bubas's hatred for the person who gave the order could not be resolved. General Sean stayed to transfer the hatred to himself, so that the rose cavalry could retreat smoothly.

[In addition, as far as I am concerned, I don't think the civilians in Bubas are angry and desperate and their actions are damnable... It's not that they don't want to protect themselves, or they just want to pin their hopes on others.They have lost hope and ability to defend themselves.And as the innocent sacrificed in the war, they are also one of the millions of mourners in the war. 】

As for the entire war situation, for Legrand, who was fighting for the whole country, after the fall of Bubas and the fall of the southeast coast, the public's anger needed a place to vent.And it was this that sealed the fate of General Sean.

His end was sealed when he told Thrall that "the king gave no orders."He made a choice for himself.In order to quell public anger, to unite people's hearts, and to ensure that the national will gathered by Legrand before the war will not collapse, there needs to be someone who can bear this infamy.

A person of sufficient authority.

The identity of General Sean, he is the general of Rose Iron Cavalry and the person in charge of the southeast defense line.His status is high enough. Only when someone of his level dies and is punished by "Happy People", can people's anger be eliminated and suppressed in the shortest possible time—the people need faith.

He had to die, and he was doomed to die in disgrace.

He didn't die for morality, he died willingly for Legrand, for the victory of the war - he knew his end.

He is a tragic victim of this war.

War is not a child's play, war is the cruelest thing in this world, none of them.

War always has the coldest core.In war, everyone is in control.Kings, generals, soldiers, civilians...the lives and souls of all people are being torn apart in the huge machine of war, and no one can break free.