It was the end of the tenth month when Claude and King Avitelli I arrived at Saint Cyprian. It had been ten days since Stormwind took over the royal capital.
In the past ten days, news of Saint Cyprian's fall had spread to the other nations of Freia. It could be said that every nation that had been paying attention to the war had shaken up.
Nobody could have imagined that the insufferably arrogant Northland hegemon Shiks would fall so easily.
Aueran prime minister, Marquis Blancarte, was rushing back to Shiks day and night. He was filled with regret.
Back then, Claude stated that he was returning to deal with Shiks, but Fredri the First, the prime minister and the high-ranking officers of the ministry of the army didn't believe him. They all believed that Shiks wouldn't be that easy to deal with.
On the contrary, the royal court was wary of Claude, who had once disobeyed his superiors. After all, Aueras seemed easier to deal with than Shiks.
In the past two years, the kingdom had poured all its energy and resources into economic recovery and didn't pay much attention to military construction.
After learning that Claude was reorganizing Thundercrash and forming Stormwind, the royal court immediately decided to form two standing corps to strengthen their defence.
However, Fredeli I and the ministers didn't know that Claude was indeed mobilizing his troops to the Great Plains of Canas to deal with Shiks.
His plan succeeded in attracting Shiks' attention with a naval assault and they mobilized all of their forces to the southern coast in preparation to repel the assault.
However, Claude managed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes and convince Bleyotte to join the anti-Shiksan coalition.
Not only did he open up the national highway and expose Shiks' empty hinterland, he even sent troops to help Thundercrash and Stormwind to attack Saint Cyprian and wipe out Shiksan's Ironguard and Solym's standing corps in one fell swoop.
The fall of Saint Cyprian meant that Shiks' fate was set in stone.
While Shiks still had six standing corps and eight newly formed reserve corps along the southern coast, they had already lost their source of logistical support and military funding.
The supplies Shiks had at the frontlines weren't enough to last that many corps for two to three months.
That had something to do with Shiks' military system. In order to effectively control the corps, all supplies and equipment were stored in the royal capital, Saint Cyprian. They were only supplied once every two to three months.
Now that Saint Cyprian had fallen, all of those supplies fell into the hands of the region. Even if they were gathered locally, the eight southern prefectures wouldn't be able to provide that many corps with the rations they needed. Starvation alone would be enough to cause Shiks to crumble.
Back in the second great eastern war, the Aueran royal capital was occupied by the alliance. However, the Aueran army took all their supplies with them before retreating from the royal capital, so they were able to resist and didn't admit defeat even when they retreated to the three southwestern prefectures.
But when Thundercrash and Stormwind attacked Saint Cyprian, they were caught along with all their supplies. Even though Shiks still had a lot of troops stationed along the southern coast, the outcome was already clear.
That was why Blancarte rushed to Shiks with all his might. He needed to negotiate with Claude and fight for Aueras' right to participate in the war.
They couldn't just let the region take the limelight and destroy Shiks. That way, Aueras wouldn't be able to control the development of the region's military in the future.
Even King Frederick the First and Prime Minister Blancarte knew very well that the overseas autonomous region didn't have any great ambitions at the moment.
But to Aueras, the autonomous region was still the greatest threat to the kingdom.
Especially after the autonomous region formed a third regular corps to guard the Great Plains of Canas, it meant that there was an independent armed force in the eastern region that listened to orders but did not obey orders.
If the region was allowed to single-handedly destroy Shiks, the region's reputation would surpass that of Aueras in the future. The countries of Freia might even choose to deal with the region and ignore Aueras. That was something Fredeli I and the court couldn't tolerate.
Blancarte's mission was to participate in the war no matter what. Simply put, he had to get a piece of the pie.
Eiblont held a large military parade in the royal capital to welcome Claude and King Avitelli I.
Claude noticed that the city's defences were rather complete. After asking around, he found out that Stormwind discovered that they didn't have enough men on the walls after surrounding the royal capital. They thought the defenders had set up some sort of trap, only to find out that they really didn't have enough men. So, in less than half an hour, they managed to take down the walls and the twelve city gates.
The real problem was the resistance they faced after they entered the city. Stormwind had to fight for five days before taking over the city with heavy casualties.
The last of the Shiksan defenders gathered at the palace to put up a desperate fight. In the end, Eiblont ordered the cannons to bombard the enemy's stronghold, destroying most of the palace. Only then did the remaining defenders lay down their weapons and surrender.
"Where's Majid III?" Avitelli I asked.
"Dead."
Eiblont shrugged. "Don't blame me. I wanted to capture him alive too, but he wouldn't surrender no matter what.
I couldn't send my men to their deaths just to capture him, could I?
I could only order the cannons to bombard the palace he was hiding in. When we cleaned up the battlefield, we found half of his corpse.
He was unlucky. The cannons didn't hit him, but a huge beam fell on his waist and split him in half. "
Majid III died just like that. The culprit behind the war between Shiks and Aueras was crushed to death by the beam of his own palace. His death was far too unexpected, wasn't it? Claude felt a little lost.
He had imagined meeting the stubborn Shiksan king countless times to see how dejected he would look after being captured.
Yet, he didn't think he would die in such an unexpected way.
"Take us to his corpse," Claude said.
Eiblont led them to the hall of a wooden building that seemed to be the palace servants' quarters.
The hall was probably the dining hall for the servants. The floor was greasy and the walls were dirty, but there were more than 20 coffins in the hall.
But now, there were more than 20 coffins in the hall. Eiblont said that all the corpses of those who had died in Shiksan's palace were gathered there.
"There are the corpses of three princes here. Two were Majid III's uncles and one was his eighth son.
We haven't identified the four corpses yet, but they all wore Shiksan general uniforms. Two were major-generals, one was a lieutenant-general and the last was a general.
"This old lady is said to be Majid III's wet nurse and was given the title of marchioness. She was killed by cannon fire next to Majid III.
"This girl is the seventeenth daughter of Majid III. She died in the arms of the wet nurse due to a small piece of shrapnel lodged in the back of her head. Fortunately, she died painlessly.
That damned old man, I really don't understand why he didn't surrender. Did he only feel happy when everyone around him died? "
Eiblont was furious, especially since the little princess was only 13 or 14 years old. She had a bright future ahead of her, but she died because of her father's stubbornness.
Claude finally saw Majid III's corpse. It was pieced together.
It was covered by a dirty cloth that seemed to have been cut from some sort of curtain.
If it weren't for the golden tassels on his shoulders, he would look no different from a regular old man in his fifties.
However, Majid III's expression was extremely menacing, as if he was roaring something.
However, Claude would rather believe that was his expression of pain before his death. It was said that prisoners who were cut in half suffered the most, and Majid III's cause of death wasn't much different from that.
"I came to Saint Cyprian once when I was 34," Avitelli I said as he looked at Majid III's corpse and reminisced, "It was the 540th anniversary of Shiks' founding. All the monarchs of the vassal states gathered in the royal capital to congratulate Shiks.
At that time, Majid III was heroic and insufferably arrogant. People called him the Lion King.
All the monarchs prostrated themselves before his throne, and I was no exception.
"The next year, he started the colonial war with you. We all thought that the great Lion King would get what he wanted very quickly.
"But we didn't expect that the invincible Shiksan would perform so badly in the war. Majid III was constantly slapped in the face by you people.
He buried 14 of his Shiksan corps in the colonial war and became a huge joke to us.
"Even after the war ended and Shiks was defeated by the region, they were still a behemoth in the eyes of us vassal states, an unstoppable giant.
"Majid III, on the other hand, became like a tyrant and acted on his own will.
"Due to the defeat in the war, he didn't even have the 550th anniversary celebration.
Then, in a short span of five years, he more than doubled the amount of goods and tributes that our vassal states had to offer.
"It wasn't until he interfered in the second great war and was chased away by you people that I came up with the idea of forming an alliance with you to defeat Shiks and take back the land you occupied.
"Thanks to the Wargod, you didn't disappoint me. I never dreamed that I would see Majid III's corpse right in front of me.
"Even after I die, when I see my grandfather, father and brothers, I can proudly tell them that Shiks fell at our feet."
The emotional Avitril I went to rest. Claude and Eiblont visited the medical centre in the Shiksan palace.
There was a sea of people there. There were injured Stormwind soldiers everywhere, as well as a small portion of the wounded that Thundercrash transported back.
"We lost more than 14,000 men in the city," Eiblont said with a heavy heart.
General Eiblont said with a heavy heart, "Almost a division of our Storm Legion was wiped out.
Saint Cyprian is very different from the Nasri capital we occupied last time. While Nasri is Aueras' archenemy, the people in the capital didn't have much of a will to resist after it was occupied.
"But it's different here. Even though we've taken over the city, quite a number of Shiksans are still fighting back and shooting at our patrols."
"How did you deal with that?"
Claude asked. He felt quite troubled. Shiks was the hegemon of Northland, after all. The citizens of the capital were very patriotic and rebellious, so they didn't fear Stormwind at all. Guerrilla warfare in a city like that would be troublesome no matter who the occupier was.
Eiblont shrugged. "What else can I do? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Those who resist are hanged by the roadside as a warning.
However, the Shiksans aren't very cooperative, so we were only able to catch a small portion of them. Most of them escaped under the protection of the residents. "
Claude gave it some thought. "Let's do this. Let General Drivek lead four Shiksan folk into the capital to guard it.
"First, search every house for firearms and ammunition. We can't let the citizens in the city have firearms. Also, check the underground tunnels and other hidden spaces to prevent any possibility of our soldiers being ambushed in the future.
We can search the residential areas one by one until we have cleared out the entire Royal Capital.
Once we're done, we can search the entire capital.
"We'll deal with all the rebels the same way we dealt with Nasrian. Find a place to imprison them and wait for the situation to stabilize before doing anything else.
"We might have to stay here for a year or two. The sooner we get rid of the danger, the safer our soldiers will be.
"From a certain point of view, we're in an enemy nation with enemies everywhere we look.
However, don't forget that we still have eight Shiksan folk. They're our most capable helpers.
Perhaps they won't be able to help us wipe out the Shiksan standing corps, but they're very suitable to deal with the rebels. "
"What should we do with Shiks in the future? Should we destroy it and make it part of our region?" Eiblont asked.
Claude shook his head helplessly. "To be honest, I don't know what to do now either. My original plan was to defeat Shiks and force Majid III to sign a peace treaty with us and the region.
Then, we'd reap a huge profit from Shiks and migrate the families of the eight Shiksan folk to the region. That way, Shiks wouldn't be able to rise again.
"But now that Majid III is dead and Shiks is leaderless, who should we get to sign the peace treaty?
If Majid III was still alive, we could force him to order the surrender of the six standing legions along the southern coast. Now, we can only prepare to destroy them.
I think we should first investigate Wang Jing and the rebels in Wang Jing's area before we think about what to do next … "
General Eiblont said with some shame, "It's all my fault. I ordered the bombardment to destroy the palace and let that old man Majid III die …"
"It's not your fault! It has nothing to do with you!
You did the right thing. The lives of our soldiers are much more precious than this old man. We can't let our soldiers die in vain just to capture him.
Given his stubborn personality, there's a high chance he won't cooperate even if we capture him alive. It's better for him to die cleanly.
Otherwise, we might end up being humiliated by him. He's the king. If we don't want to become kings, we can only endure his humiliation. If that's the case, it's better for him to die. You don't have to feel guilty about it. "
General Eiblont laughed. "Actually, you're right. I admit that I ordered the cannons to fire because that damn old man kept cursing at us. I tried to persuade him to surrender for a long time, but that damn old man just hid in the palace and fired at us. There were nearly a hundred guards in there.
"We tried to charge into the palace four times to engage in hand-to-hand combat, but we were all repelled by the concentrated firepower.
"At that time, the path leading to the palace and the corridors were filled with the corpses of our soldiers and wounded. We lost close to a hundred men.
"I tried to persuade the people inside to surrender, but the old man started cursing and taunting us, saying that no matter how many of us came, we'd die.
"In a fit of rage, I ordered the cannons to fire and destroyed more than half of the palace. The surviving guards all surrendered. They were armed with revolvers and revolvers. No wonder their firepower was similar to ours. It's so concentrated …"
Claude looked at the half-destroyed palace. It was indeed as Eiblont said. Apart from firing the cannons, they could only charge in with their lives.
The palace was made of wood and stone with granite on the outside. It was no different from a fortress hidden inside.
Outside the palace were low flower beds and grass that couldn't provide any cover for the attacking soldiers.
Charging through that area would be akin to becoming a sitting duck for the palace guards. Even if Claude was there to command them, he would have ordered the cannons to be fired.
"Alright, Deriwek's four Shiksan folk will arrive in the royal capital this afternoon. Discuss it with him tonight. We'll start investigating the royal capital tomorrow.
I'll be in charge of Thundercrash and two Bleyotte corps to deal with the Shiksan standing corps and the eight newly formed reserve corps, "Claude said.