Enlightened Empire

Chapter 384: Negotiations of Surrender

Day forty-eight of the Winter Season in fifth year of the Era of Strife was a momentous day in Medala’s history.

Two major battles took place,on the same day, at the same time, several hundred kilometers apart. Both ended in resounding, one-sided victories for the royal forces of the southern kingdom. The death of Divitius Ichilia on the northern battlefield and those of a further three lords in the southern battlefield marked the beginning of the end for Medala’s old ruling class, as well as the true beginning of the dominance of firearms in Medalan warfare.

All in all, the battle that would come to be known as the ‘lightning massacre’ had lasted for most of the afternoon. By the time the sun was about to set on the snowy hill at the border of Puscanacra, Corco was ready to call a temporary end to the fighting. From within his command tent, he watched as his men swarmed out like bees, all the way to the horizon. Any farther and it would be difficult to recall them. If he couldn’t regroup in time, it would slow down his march tomorrow.

“That’s enough,” Corco thus said towards Fadelio. “Call off the pursuit. We’re not here to kill people, and we’re not here to make prisoners. We’re here to end the wars in the south.”

“Understood.” Fadelio left the tent to relay Corco’s orders, while the king continued to watch his men in the distance. Soon, a red signal flare rose in the sky, to call back all the troops who had pursued their routed enemies into the distance. Today, they had achieved a great victory, so now was the time for them to celebrate and rest their tired bodies.

There really wasn’t a reason to keep going anyways. Most wars in Saniya wouldn’t end with the big battle. For most lords, that was only the beginning. After they got their enemies into a rout, the victors would greedily swarm out to collect as many prisoners as possible. After all, these prisoners were worth a lot of money. According to the common customs of medalan nobility, today’s battle could net Corco tens of thousands of Sila if he were to continue the pursuit.

However, as the richest man in Medala, he didn’t have to go out of his way just to make such a small amount of money. In this war, he had far more important pursuits, so he couldn’t be distracted with some chump change.

Thus, as soon as Fadelio returned, Corco gave his next orders.

“You’ll take one company of men and stay here. Clean up the battlefield, nurse the injured, bury the dead. Make a report on our losses, and take care of our prisoners. In the meantime, I’ll take the rest of the army and go pay my good cousin’s mansion a visit. It’s been a while.”

“Is that really a good idea?” Fadelio asked. Concern was clearly written on his face. “If you personally go to Puscanacra, you’ll have to negotiate with them yourself. And then, someone draws a knife or a pistol. People love assassinating you, so we shouldn’t take any risks. I can go too, that would be safer. I’ve already negotiated with them before the battle, so I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if I represent you this time as well.”

“Maybe, but I’m still the king in the end. Considering their status, the least I can do is accept their surrender in person. Otherwise people would call me a coward, or insecure. You know, the kinda crap rumors that makes politics more difficult. I’ve only just managed to build the image of a tough guy, I don’t want to ruin it in one move. And as for assassinations? I won’t give them the chance.”

Soon, all soldiers and warriors followed the glowing symbol in the sky back to the site of the lightning massacre. It took a mere hour for everyone to find their platoon again, and to reorganize the troops.

By that time, an advanced platoon had already set off towards the south, to build the next camp for the night. Although it was already late in the day, Corco took most of his troops and set off, under protest from Fadelio. Still, the king wouldn’t hear any of it. For his personal satisfaction, he still had an Ogulno to catch, so he had to go himself.

His new goal was Puscanacra, home of the southern governors.

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The city of Puscanacra did not need walls. That was a myth that had almost become common knowledge in all of Medala. Thus, as the largest and richest city in the south, Puscanacra only had wooden barricades to protect itself from wild beasts, not nearly enough to hold back even bandits.

Despite the flimsy nature of the walls, the people of the city had always been proud of them, as they had been of the fact that there was no need to shrink behind giant fortifications in the face of danger. They could defend their homes with their flesh and spirit alone.

Now however, this pride had become their undoing. On the second day after the lightning massacre, King Corco and his men arrived in front of Puscanacra’s wooden palisades. There was not even a need to enter the city. Between him and the wall stood yet another army, but it looked as flimsy as the palisades did.

Corco hadn’t expected strong opposition during the battle for Sachay’s largest and most important city. After all, he had already destroyed the best army the league of lords could muster. But this was still less than what he thought he would find. Only around four thousand warriors stood opposite his own army of around forty thousand, ten times as many. It wasn’t even a fight anymore.

Is that really all there is? Where did all the others go?

The warriors who stood opposite Corco could be no more than the few hundred guards who had retreated together with their lords after the previous, plus the troops Mayu had left behind in his city to protect from any traitors within the league. That meant that over ten thousand thousand warriors from the enemy army had simply disappeared.

By now, Fadelio had sent out a messenger and given Corco a more precise idea of the lightning battle’s outcome. Not counting the many thousands of commoners, his men had killed around three thousand warriors of the league in the battle, and they had caught roughly the same amount during the pursuit.

The numbers weren’t large, which showed just how quickly the league’s army had fallen apart when presented with a superior opponent. A combination of low morale, poor leadership, poor coordination and massive firepower had broken them long before they had had any chance to die. Of course, the sacrifices of the commoner soldiers in front of the noble warriors had helped them survive the worst of it.

Their quick defeat meant that most of them had survived the war, which was the reason he had brought almost his entire army south. Close to twenty thousand warriors should have survived the lightning massacre, all of them fleeing south. The most logical place to regroup would have been where they had started, here in Puscanacra.

Even if many of them had scattered after their rout and hadn’t found the time to arrive here quite yet, there should have still been a core of many thousands that could have been collected by the lords after the battle. So where did all these warriors go?

Since he wouldn’t find out by sitting here all baffled, Corco was determined to get an answer from his enemies. Thus, he had his men raise the signal flags for negotiations with the other side. Of course, Mayu and the league of lords agreed. Heavily outnumbered and freshly beaten, what else could they do?

Once again, the representatives of the southern kingdom and the league of lords met for negotiations in the empty space between their armies. Yet after two days, much had changed.

On the kingdom’s side stood the king himself, flanked by his guards. On the other, only three of the original five lords were left.

While Corco had no idea what they had looked like during their first talks with Fadelio, they looked like beaten dogs this time around. As the only one who seemed like he still had some spunk left in him, Mayu was the first one to speak up.

“So the king comes in person this time.” The governor’s biting comment sounded like the cry of a loser to Corco. With all that had happened so far, was this guy really still going to insist on his useless pride? His arrogance was the only reason this pointless civil war had started in the first place. Mayu’s incorrigible nature really annoyed Corco, so his response was suitably brutal.

“You’re really in no position to act tough, are you?” he asked. “If you wanna start our talks like that, we may as well end it here and go another round on the battlefield instead. Then you can try to defend your precious city with those leftovers behind you.”

Mayu’s face went white as a sheet, but he couldn’t speak up before his fellow lords did it for him.

“No, King Corcopaca, there really is no need!”

“We admit our defeat!”

It looked like the two remaining lords were more reasonable than Mayu.

“So is that an unconditional surrender then?” a brazen Corco asked. Though he hadn’t expected such a quick capitulation, the lords had lost their spirit. Shocked by their great loss, they seemed to have accepted whatever punishment he had prepared for them. Still, one more time, the cousin made trouble.

“We should first discuss the terms of surrender. If we are forced beyond measure, we are more than ready to withstand your army in Saqartu manor for as long as our blood flows.” Mayu’s reply was full of bravado, but Corco wasn’t buying it.

Whatever peace he offered, he was sure that they would eagerly lap it up. However, there was no reason to embarrass the lords further, so he pretended that they still had some influence. Yet as Corco looked at the crowd, he noticed something else that bothered him.

“Can you even represent your entire group? Where’s the rest? If we’re negotiating peace terms, I’d rather have all the lords of your little league present. Or do you plan to speak for all of them again, governor?”

Just like there was a lack of soldiers, there was an equal lack of lords present in Puscanacra. Only three had come to greet him. Even if he didn’t count the dead ones, that still meant that three of the lords were missing.

“Of course they are dead. They were brutally murderedby your commoners!” Mayu’s passionate response was a creative answer to Corco’s problem, but the king wasn’t playing around any more.

“Can we stop the bullshit please, and be honest for once?” he sighed an exacerbated sigh. “You know as well as me that that’s not what happened. I’ve already received the preliminary report from the battlefield. According to our numbers, only three lords died in the battle two days ago. That means three more are still unaccounted for.”

“Only three!?” This time, Mayu looked genuinely outraged, and so looked the two lords behind him. “Never have so many lords died in one battle, not even during the civil war! Your men were aiming for the lords and you know it! It is an outrageous break with traditions! How dare you!? Even the king cannotbe above the law! If you wish to defeat us, then do it with honor!”

Corco could have completely denied the allegations, since it was impossible for these people to prove that he had trained snipers to target them directly. However, there really wasn’t any need to make up excuses that everyone knew were false. Not anymore. Corco usually kept with the truth anyways, and in this instance, the truth would be far harsher, and far more effective, than any lie.

“Are you really suggesting I was targeting ‘lords’?” Corco sneered. “I was targeting traitors, that’s it. As king, it’s my right to punish traitors however I see fit. You were the ones who broke the code of conduct first. You got involved in my conflict with House Ogulno when they had nothing to do with you. You tried to force me to effectively hand over control of my estate, something that has never been imposed on a lord in the history of Medala, not even on those defeated in the civil war. You raised an army to attack your king’s estate with no justification. And you’re fucking complaining that I’m not playing by the rules? Are you fucking kidding me right now!?”

Corco shouted in the traitor’s face, but even now, Mayu was still stubborn.

“How rich from a man who aims to break all the traditions of the ancients and take all the land of the lords for himself.”

“It looks like you still haven’t quite understood your position here.” Corco frowned, barely keeping calm. “We’re not negotiating as equals here, and I haven’t come to see who’s better at making up accusations. You’re a rebel, and your rebellion failed. I get to decide that, because I’m the king, and I won the war. Right now, we’re only discussing whether you’re ready to negotiate a ceasefire. That’s it. If you keep pissing me off until I lose my cool, you’ll have to face my army next.I don’t mind killing more than just three of you ‘lords’, really. By then I can just take all the land for myself. That’s what I wanted anyways, right? So what’ll it be? You wanna show off some more and die here? Or shut up and survive?”

Corco looked at the lowered heads of the lords. Even Mayu seemed to have finally understood his position and wouldn’t even dare make eye contact anymore. Finally, Corco saw the reaction he had wanted to see all along.

After a few seconds of tense silence, with a friendly smile and a soft voice as if he hadn’t just threatened their lives, the king spoke up again.

“Good, then let’s go sit somewhere and talk about your terms of surrender. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll prefer them over the alternative.”