The cold winds howled and snowflakes danced in the air. Under the gloomy sky, the burnt houses were reduced to rubble.
One by one, the corpses of the Buckler Corps were carried out by the soldiers of the Bleyot Mountain Legion and piled up on the plaza. As snowflakes drifted down, they were quickly covered with a thin layer of snow.
There were already more than ten such corpses piled up in the plaza. They were all victims of the fierce battle the night before. Traces of blood could be seen on the muddy snow.
Under the guidance of a few officers of Bleyot Mountain Corps, he entered the governor's mansion in Skanamo, the capital of Skovia prefecture. He stopped in front of a row of corpses in the main hall of the administrative office.
Compared to the corpses piled up in the plaza outside, the Shiksan corpses were clearly treated better. At the very least, they were covered in a grey military blanket.
"That's His Royal Highness Mondocarlo da Hicks, the chief of Buckler's corps."
The bearded Bleyot officer pointed at the corpse in the middle, dressed in a lieutenant general's uniform, and said: "He and his bodyguards launched a final assault against us, but were all knocked to the ground by us.
When we went over to investigate, we found out he was a lieutenant general. We got a few captives to confirm it and found out he was His Highness Mondocarlo da Hicks. "
"At the very least, he was brave and died a worthy death. At least he didn't wear his uniform in vain. He didn't embarrass the soldiers," Dyavid said from beside Claude.
Dyavid, who was standing beside Claude, expressed his thoughts. "But he's not a good leader. He's a brainless idiot for putting himself in such a predicament.
He thought Radiant River could be used as a defensive barrier, but he didn't think it would also trap his corps in Skanamo. "
It was the morning of the 11th of the 12th December. The battle in Skanamo had ended before dawn.
Thundercrash and the three Bleyotte corps had fought hard for a month and used the mobility of Thundercrash's light cavalry to break through the enemy's defensive line and surround the enemy in their respective towns.
When the three corps of Bleyot arrived, they would join forces with the new cannon line and wipe out the 350,000-strong Shiksan army in one fell swoop.
Last night's raid was the result of Dyavid's 3rd Division and Bleyot's 1st Mountain Corps working together. The morale of Buckler's troops was low, and they surrendered without any resistance.
It wasn't until they reached the enemy's main camp, the city lord's manor, that the resistance grew stronger.
In the end, Dyavid ordered the use of a hundred new light infantry cannons and bombarded the place for more than an hour. Almost half of the manor was destroyed before they managed to take over the enemy's last stronghold.
"In total, we captured more than 200,000 enemies. The number of enemies we killed and injured is estimated to be about 110,000. Our own casualties are more than 60,000.
Thundercrash has lost more than eight thousand men, while the three mountain corps of Bleyotte have lost more than 54,000 men, "Fachselin reported the casualty figures to Claude as soon as he could.
More than half of Bleyotte's mountain corps' casualties came from taking Sidpass alone, which was around 43,000 men. That was a one-to-one ratio compared to the Hiksburgs who were defending the city.
Even though Claude dispatched the new artillery line under the corps to assist them, due to poor coordination and the mindless charging of Bleyot Mountain Corps, the casualties increased greatly.
That was why Claude ordered Dyavid to lead Thundercrash's 3rd Folk as the main attack force with 1st Mountain Corps providing support. He wanted to show the simple-minded mountain people how to minimize casualties when attacking a fortified city.
However, it seemed that the effect was rather limited. Instead, the soldiers of 1st Mountain Corps became competitive and lost close to ten thousand men.
It seemed that the reorganization half a month ago didn't achieve the desired results. The reorganization of the three corps was nothing more than picking out the best from the weak.
The elite soldiers selected from the three mountain legions were reorganized into the First and Second Mountain Legions, while the remaining older veterans were gathered into the Third Mountain Legion to be responsible for the transportation of supplies and the custody of prisoners.
While 1st and 2nd Mountain Corps were better organized and disciplined, their bravery was more reckless than reckless. They still needed to undergo long term tactical training.
Taking over Skkovia meant that Shiks' two standing corps, Buller and Bruce, had been annihilated. It also meant that five of the eight prefectures along the southern coast had lost their defensive forces.
All that was left were the two standing corps stationed in the three prefectures of Manori Plains, Dahli and Fakelin.
The winter of Year 604 of the Sacred Light Calendar wasn't an easy one for Shiks.
Five of the eight prefectures along the southern coast had fallen into the hands of the Aueran invaders. Thundercrash was unstoppable in those five prefectures. The officials and nobles in those prefectures were wiped out in one fell swoop. People were captured, their homes raided and their belongings plundered.
Meanwhile, in the Royal Capital, Saint Cyprian City and the Royal Capital region, the invaders launched a massive investigation. Countless patriots who had the ambition to serve their country were either captured or killed.
What infuriated the Shiksans the most was that the Shiksan soldiers who were once part of Nubissia's expeditionary force had suddenly become accomplices of the invaders.
They were the accomplices of the enemy and were even more hated and hated than the vicious soldiers of Stormwind.
If Stormwind had only plundered their belongings, the people of the royal capital would have taken it for granted. After all, that was the norm for invaders.
But why should the families and relatives of the Shiksan soldiers receive such preferential treatment?
The soldiers who were forcibly conscripted into the expeditionary force were the lowest of Shiksan citizens.
That was why, even though the expedition army suffered a crushing defeat in the colonial war, the five hundred thousand captives remained in Shiks. Nobody cared about the lives of the pariahs.
War would naturally disrupt the normal social order. Saint Cyprian had a population of nearly a million, and their daily necessities were dependent on the large and small farms, orchards, and farms in the Royal Capital, as well as the transportation of supplies from all over the kingdom. However, after Saint Cyprian fell, the transportation of supplies was greatly affected.
Even if the occupiers didn't purposely stop the business activities of the citizens, strict checks and entry fees were still unavoidable.
Saint Cyprian's daily necessities began to run low. Prices rose rapidly and many of the citizens were forced to leave their homes to seek refuge with friends or relatives in other prefectures.
Even under such circumstances, the families and relatives of the Shiksan folk were treated extremely well.
They even occupied a large area in the royal square and the noble district and set up camp there. All daily necessities were provided free of charge. Naturally, they spent the resources and supplies confiscated from the Shiksan treasury.
To many of the citizens of Saint Cyprian, the expeditionary force soldiers were nothing more than lowly servants and cannon fodder. Given their noble status, they usually looked down on the peasants.
But now, they were the poorest of the poor. They lacked many necessities and daily necessities. They had to queue for two hours just to buy bread.
The peasants they looked down on, on the other hand, had their families reunited and lived happily in the residential district without worrying about food or clothing.
As a result, the citizens of Saint Cyprian began to hate the peasants who rebelled against Shiks even more.
What surprised General Eiblont was that with the arrival of the families and relatives of the Shiksan returnees, the number of attacks on Storm Corps in Saint Cyprian and the royal capital decreased rapidly. Instead, the number of terrorist attacks against the families and relatives of the Shiksan returnees increased day by day.
In a short span of two months, the families and relatives of the Shiksan returnees were harmed by the attacks.
On the other hand, Shiksan's homecoming folk became more and more ruthless in their pursuit of the culprits. They would even torture the captives they caught to death in order to find the mastermind behind the attacks.
Compared to when they first entered Saint Cyprian, the Shiksan returnees were no longer bashful and merciless. In their eyes, the citizens of Saint Cyprian were now their enemies and not fellow citizens.
Any Shiksan who tried to stop them and their families from living a happy life became their irreconcilable enemies.
As the intelligence agency reported, the Shiksan returnees who were conscripted into the Shiksan expeditionary force to fight the colonial war on Nubissia were mostly serfs and subjects of Shiksan nobles. They had low statuses and were seen as lowly slaves by most Shiksan freemen. Nobody looked up to them.
After they lost the colonial war and became captives, they were treated even better in the region than they were in Shiks.
As long as they were willing to work hard, having enough to eat and wear warm clothes was the most basic requirement. They could even get a meager salary and benefits, which they could save up and turn into their personal property.
If they were willing to learn, they could even be taught how to read and write in the labor camps. That was something they couldn't get from the fief nobles.
So, after their labor was over, the Shiksan captives were able to live quite well in the region. They were truly free people there.
They got paid and were treated the same as the young adults in the region.
The only difference was that they weren't immigrants and didn't get the generous benefits the region gave immigrants.
That was also the real reason why the three hundred thousand Shiksan captives wanted to settle down in the region.
It wasn't that the remaining Shiksan captives didn't want to do the same, but they were worried about their families in Shiks.
Now, the region issued a new decree that allowed the Shiksan captives to form eight homecoming folk and immigrate their families to the region. They would be given the same benefits as the Aueran immigrants and would be given a share of their family's property so that they could settle down in the region and live a happy life.
That was great news for the Shiksan captives and they eagerly signed up. Even those who didn't make the cut asked their comrades to bring their families back to the region.
The Autonomous Dominion also opened its doors wide, allowing those who failed to be selected to register and bring their families and relatives back to the Autonomous Dominion for free.
When the eight Shiksan homecoming folk stepped foot in Shiksan territory once more, they felt rather conflicted.
There was both joy and fear. After all, they had already become rebels, following the overseas autonomous military zone to attack their motherland.
So, after receiving the order to assist Stormwind in the investigation of Saint Cyprian and capture the resistance, the four Shiksan folk that arrived in the royal capital didn't perform too well at first. They seemed to be doing their job half-heartedly.
The spy the bureau had planted in the four homecoming folk reported that a company of the Shiksan folk that had just entered the royal capital was ordered to guard a stone bridge in the city and check for weapons on passing vehicles.
During their mission, a Shiksan noblewoman cursed at them and called them Shiksan scum, traitors, and whatnot.
The company's soldiers, on the other hand, behaved shamefully and let the intercepted carriages cross the river after a careless check.
That wasn't an exception. Most of the four Shiksan homecoming folk that had just entered the city behaved similarly.
Just as they said, this was the royal capital that Shiksan was most proud of. As subjects and serfs, they might never have the chance to enter that great city in their entire lives.
Despite coming to the royal capital as an occupying force, they still felt inferior and panicked. They felt that the citizens of the city were nobler than they were and unreachable.
However, Eiblont didn't punish them for that. Instead, he kept his promise and sent them to the various prefectures to bring back the families and relatives of the returning folk and gathered them in the royal capital. He arranged for them to live in a large residential area with sufficient supplies so that they could reunite with their families and raise the morale of the Shiksan folk.
However, they didn't expect that the relatives of the Shiksan folk in the residential area would be hated by the citizens of Saint Cyprian. The armed resistance also targeted the residential area, claiming that they wanted the Shiksan rebels to suffer the same pain of losing their loved ones and that it was the price they had to pay for betraying the kingdom. As a result, even the relatives of the returning folk were targeted when they went out to shop. They were either beaten up or robbed. The residential area was also hit by gunpowder explosions, resulting in dozens of casualties.
The defenders of Saint Cyprian didn't understand the consequences of their actions at all. Their smug attacks only served to draw the ire of Shiksan's homecoming troops.
Nobody could stop them and their families from heading to the region to live happily ever after. Only there would they be able to live like real people and not lowly peasants.
If the attacks were aimed at the Shiksan folk, they could endure the humiliation.
At the end of the day, they considered themselves Shiksans and felt guilty helping the region invade their homeland.
Even if there were casualties, it was unavoidable since they were serving their own masters. They could receive compensation from the region and their families could migrate to live happily ever after. That way, their sacrifices would be worth it.
However, the attack on their families and loved ones aroused the indignation of all the returning division soldiers. It was the most vicious crime to have one's loved ones attacked in such a way right before they were about to immigrate to the overseas autonomous dominion.
As a result, the Shiksan folk came to a realisation that they no longer considered themselves Shiksans. Instead, they considered themselves members of the region.
They took the initiative to hunt down those who resisted, and even killed the militants they caught on the streets ….
If the Shiksan folk had remained silent when they were scolded by the citizens of Saint Cyprian when they first entered the city, anyone who called them traitors would be caught and given a good beating. That was if they were lucky.
If they were unlucky, their lives might even be in danger.
An aristocrat of such a small territory recognized several officers and soldiers of the Homecoming Regiment as their former serfs and subjects, and publicly scolded them as lowly bastards.
Thus, this brave nobleman was stabbed to death on the street by his former serfs and commoners ….
After killing the noble, the slaves and subjects who dared to kill their former master spat on the corpse. They said that when they were fighting for Shiks on Nubissia, the lord chased their families out of the castle.
Due to the fact that the lord wasn't willing to support the burdensome old and weak, their families could only scavenge for a living and suffer humiliation.
They were forced to serve as slaves in the region, yet their lord didn't care about their lives at all. What was the point of keeping a lord like that alive?
There were many such cases in Shiksan's homecoming folk. The luckier ones were able to find their families and relatives, the unluckier ones had lost some of their family members, and the most unfortunate ones had their entire families killed.
With the arrival of news and relatives, more and more Shiksan folk saw the region as their true home and hope. They were willing to fight to the end for the region.