Shadow King Chronicles: Building a Kingdom From Behind the Scenes
The Wolf Scheme
The war continues. But if we look at the war between the Kingdom of Heinz and the Moskov empire like seeing a martial contest, then it looks who is the winner and who is the loser.
The imperial army that was under the command of prince Nicholas continued to be desperate. After failing to repel the army of the Heinz kingdom, they retreated from their current base and set up a new command center that was far enough out of reach of Heinz's army.
The arrogance he had been doing all this time began to feel the effect. He not only lost his strength in the war. Many of his soldiers died because of illness. And even more tragically, because of the resistance of their own citizens.
Right, you could say a small-scale rebellion has already occurred. Every time Prince Nicholas and his troops entered a region, they immediately took food reserves owned by the citizens.
Not just food. Even their treasures like money, livestock, furniture, even their daughters, none of them were safe from the actions of the soldiers.
At first no one wanted to fight. Hey, it's crazy that a commoner who never held a weapon at all against over 100,000 well-trained and well-armed imperial soldiers right?
The best choice they can make is to quit. Anyone knows about it. The evidence also exists. Some of the people who put up a fight were instantly beheaded and their heads were displayed in the middle of the field.
Target's anyone. No matter if you're a ten-year-old boy or grandfather, if you fight, you're dead.
Well, the death penalty is intended so that there is no rebellion from below. At most prince Nicholas and at nobility would simply say, "This is something that is necessary. The lives and bellies of soldiers are more important because they are the ones who will defend the empire!"
While Issac himself, he temporarily halted the advance of Heinz's army for a time. He managed to seize the fortification area neighboring Lostov and several other areas that are quite strategic.
The reason for this temporary suspension is two reasons. First, they need to refill their stock of supplies. Issac could have ordered the armed forces to buy from the territory he occupied but all their crops and food reserves had been drained by Prince Nicholas.
Issac had no choice but to wait for a shipment from the Kingdom. The second reason, is the revamping that Issac did in the territory he occupied. This is the standard procedure that Issac used to do. In addition to seizing the sympathy of the local population, this was also important for the survival of his troops.
"It looks like Prince Nicholas took his own people huh. No matter how many people he slaughtered and no matter how afraid the people were of him, the seeds of resistance would definitely appear."
"Yes, whether it was in our previous or present world, taking from your own people is the most foolish thing that no ruler should ever do."
While looking at the passersby from the top of the Savoy wall, Issac was chatting with Maria. Construction on Savoy was completed and workers were sent to Lostov. Well, not many buildings were destroyed. So everything goes fast.
"yes too. You said you wanted to introduce me to your wives, right? I've known Lia, Margaret, and Anna but I've never met anyone else."
Issac's view shifted forward. It's afternoon. Soon the sun goes down. He smiled and muttered in a fairly small voice.
"It seems the time has come. This way I can keep moving forward."
Mary of course heard the murmur. He's a little confused. That's why he asked Issac.
"Hmmm? Whatchu mean?"
"Ah, so you heard. Simply put, the message must have come into the hands of prince Nicholas by now. Tomorrow morning, prince Nicholas will depart for Kiev at full speed and bring his entire army."
Maria initially had no idea what Issac was talking about but a moment later, she finally understood what Issac meant.
Unostentatious. The Duchy of Petersburg had been under the control of the Kingdom of Heinz. All this time they had not made any movement and only took a defensive stance to stem the attack from the Emperor's army trying to retake Petersburg.
But that doesn't mean they keep on surviving. The attention of the emperor and other high-ranking nobles was distracted. They only focused on capturing Petersburg so they forgot that secretly, the Heinz royal army had piled up their navy in the harbor.
As soon as the momentum arrived, Issac ordered them to make a raid towards Kiev after taking out the besiegers. Within three days, Kiev was surrounded by the royal army of Heinz.
The emperor had no choice but to order the prince to return. He also ordered the Savoy Arc to return from the North and become reinforcements to defend the capital.
It took a long time for Savoy to return from the North. The only quickest and most available option was to call back Prince Nicholas and bring home the more than 100,000 soldiers he had brought with him. His first goal was to reconquer the Petersburg region and expel the royal army there and rebuild their base to pin down the royal army that was besieging Kiev.
"That's pretty awful, huh? It's kind of weird to let the territory that was my birthplace as bait for prince Nicholas."
"I'm sorry for that. But if this works, the compensation you get isn't bad. Take it easy, Petersburg won't fall."
Issac smiled. Maria too. The two smiled at each other. The rest, they spent time to enjoy the sunset over the city walls.