EP.225
Among the stories I learned while reading Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, there is one that I still remember.
‘It’s best not to go to war, isolating the enemy through diplomacy is the best, winning by joining the enemy’s troops is the best, and attacking a castle is the worst.’
And as soon as I saw the walls of Oslo Castle, I immediately realized why the saying ‘siege is the worst’ came about.
The circumference of the walls is over 18km and the height is 3m, making it difficult to attack. Surrounding the huge castle is a moat over 20m wide filled with water, making it difficult to even place a ladder.
Moreover, if you look closely at the soldiers on the castle wall, or rather the guys standing on top of it, only about 1 in 5 look like real soldiers.
The rest are people who don’t seem to have any reason to hold a spear like this except in urgent situations, such as boys and girls who look younger than their mid-teens.
“But even if someone like that were to pour boiling water or oil on such a huge castle wall and throw stones or sticks at them, all of our allies would have no choice but to die. “This f*cking siege is crazy.”
So, I looked at the castle wall from the ally’s base, sighed, and then spoke.
“Colonel Anastasia, how many prisoners were captured after defecting to the Kingdom of Stockholm under Ishtaven?”
“There are about 300 people.”
“Then if you kill 10 people a day, you’ll last about 30 days. Since I didn’t know it would turn out like this, I would have followed Ishtaven and betrayed him. “I wish I hadn’t come here because I didn’t betray you.”
When they hear me say this, those who followed Ishtaven in betraying will say this.
‘If I knew that, would I be a god or a human being? And when the chief betrayed us, we below had no choice but to follow him!’
It’s not that I don’t understand that feeling and situation, but what can I do?
When war and politics become intertwined, innocent people often end up dying, and it is common for those who have even the slightest fault to become entangled and hunted down.
“Colonel Anastasia, bring me the cart and 10 prisoners. “I need to scare them about what will happen if they don’t come out of that f*cking castle wall.”
So, if you have any resentment left in you, die blaming me.
Even so, I don’t know if Deus will listen or not.
**
The next morning, the vacant lot in front of Oslo Castle.
“The Lieutenant General came with a cart wheel! Roll, roll, roll!”
“I can’t believe that as an imperial citizen, I can do something so rewarding! “All of this is by the grace of His Majesty the Emperor!”
“I can’t believe I get to do the thing my grandfather was proud of when I was little! Long live your Majesty the Emperor!”
At the same time as he said that, a soldier appeared rolling a wooden wheel about 80cm wide and the soldiers’ cheers got louder.
… It was astounding to see the reaction almost like when Louise appeared in the 7th Guards Division.
When the soldiers following Ishtaven, who were tied to ropes, appeared behind them, the imperial soldiers threw stones, mud, rotten food, and biscuits at them.
“You filthy traitors who are worse than dogs and pigs! die!”
“Kill! Kill it! “Kill it!”
“I really like these northern customs. Catch all the traitors and kill them all if they are bigger than the wheel. “I hope His Majesty the Emperor will also accept this good culture from the North.”
… In this era, unlike Korea, there was almost no proper entertainment, so the execution of criminals became a good entertainment and festival event that attracted people’s attention and interest.
For this reason, in each city of the empire, including Reichburg, a notice was posted at the imperial or local government level a week before the execution, informing people when the execution would be carried out.
On the day of the execution, a small, noisy festival begins, with all kinds of merchants showing up and selling various alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine.
So, it is said that couples with slightly unique tastes often include an execution ceremony in their date course.
We, the Reich Imperial Army, are excited as if it were a festival because of the upcoming execution ceremony, but the citizens and soldiers of Oslo watching us from the walls must feel truly terrible.
That’s because showing them the execution of those who followed Ishtaven like this is threatening them by saying, ‘If you are stuck there, I will make you like that too.’
“f*ck, save me! If you let me live, I’ll roll around like a dog! If you tell me to bark, I will bark, Lieutenant General Yeager! “Please just spare my life.”
I felt sorry for the guy who was trying to survive despite all the boos and swearing, but I had no intention of sparing the traitors.
“Bring a cart wheel. “If your height is shorter than the wheel, you will live; if not, you will die.”
With those words, I ordered the 10 prisoners and the cart to be placed on a platform that was clearly visible from the walls of Oslo.
The soldiers laughed and swung their whips at the prisoners, lifting them onto the platform.
“Now then, let the cart roll! If you happen to see something smaller than a cart wheel, please shout out quickly! I’ll save him immediately! Business ethics must be maintained!”
I don’t know who chose it, but one soldier with a great sense of humor encouraged applause, and all the Reich soldiers responded with applause and cheers.
Then, according to the original plan, the officer or soldier in charge of the executioner would have cut off their heads…
“Lieutenant General, here is the beheading machine. But do you really want to do it yourself?”
“The executioners who normally carry out executions may say that their work is menial, but isn’t this the work of executing traitors to the Reich Empire? “It is an honorable thing to do as a commander.”
I raised my sword upward and ordered the soldiers to be quiet.
Then he shouted loudly at the men on the wall standing about 300 meters away.
“If you don’t open the gate right now and come out, you won’t be able to avoid this! Those who surrender will not be killed as prisoners and will be treated with respect, but those who do not surrender and try to fight until the end will be killed like the traitors here. Because you are the same traitors who do not rise up and wage war under your dishonorable king.”
As I said this, I heard a murmur coming from the castle walls, but I ignored it and continued speaking.
“It may be unfair, but. Your king is a cowardly scumbag who didn’t even declare war, but instead tricked the empire’s chieftain, Ishtaven, into betraying the empire! “You, who wrap yourself around the walls and tremble inside under that bastard’s flag, are no different from these traitors.”
And I immediately took up the beheading sword and cut off the heads of the ten prisoners who followed Ishtaven one by one.
Every time a head was cut and blood splattered, our soldiers applauded.
“Someone said that our lieutenant general was a sword master. I guess that was true… How the f*ck do you swing a sword like that?”
“I heard that it is difficult to kill one person at a time even with a normal decapitating sword…”
“…… Khan Slayer! Long live the Lieutenant General, the enforcer of justice who killed the evil Khan!”
…… I couldn’t help but feel a strange feeling as I was praised for killing someone, but the morale of those watching from up there must have plummeted to the lowest level.
After cutting down all 10 prisoners to death.
To create a slightly cool scene, the beheading sword, a two-handed sword weighing 3 kg, was held with only the right hand and the blood was shaken off.
Seeing that sight, the soldiers of the Reich Empire following me, especially the northern archers, were cheering to the blood-curdling beat and were about to die of joy.
“You have to be at that level to kill Khan, damn it. These bastards are betraying His Majesty, the Emperor whom such a person serves. “You deserve to die!”
“Khan Slayer! Khan Slayer! Long live the liberator of the North!”
“Long live Lieutenant General Jaeger! Long live the Reich Empire! Long live your Majesty the Emperor!”
Meanwhile, I couldn’t see the facial expressions of the guys about 300 meters away… but
I felt like I could grasp their hearts.
A large army of 150,000, or more than 200,000, including Warsaw’s 50,000, was defeated by the Reich Imperial Army, and they feared that that terrifying army would attack them.
Furthermore, it is said that another Swedish army is coming to the north. Anxiety about not knowing what’s ahead.
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The fear is that if this situation turns out to be the worst and the royal capital falls, the heads of those living in Oslo, the capital of the Kingdom of Stockholm, will be cut off by the hands of their enemy.
Since all these things will come at once, their morale will gradually drop.
No, even those who are seriously considering opening the gates and surrendering will appear.
But worrying that much now is going too far, and perspective is on my side.
“Now that we have captured and killed the evil Ishtaven’s prisoners, we must hold a banquet today. Let people drink and eat as much meat as they want, except for the soldiers standing guard. And when you eat meat, eat it in a place where you can clearly see the Stockholm Kingdom Army.”
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