A week has passed since the second conquest of the South began.
　We are currently in the process of capturing a fourth city.

　The inhabitants of this city seem to be full of Cilician spirit and have kicked our surrender request to the ground.
　We've been stranded for three days because of it.

　But that ends today.

　"Your Majesty. "Your Majesty, the tunnel is complete.
　All right, have all the troops ready to move in. On my signal, the ramparts will come down.

　The tunnels are dug and the tunnels are reinforced with timber posts.
　When the tunnel reaches the bottom of the wall, they scatter reeds, oil, and other materials and set it on fire as soon as they retreat.

　The timber supporting the tunnel would be burned and the tunnel would collapse.
　The tunnel would collapse and the walls on which it was built would also collapse.

　This is a traditional strategy that has been around for a long time.
　This time, on top of that, they would use gunpowder to push it down.


　"Collapse!

　With my signal, a low whistle sounded.
　At the same time, the smell of burning smell drifted out and the city walls immediately crumbled away.

　''Charge!!!''

　All at once, forty thousand troops poured in from the crumbling walls.
　Thus, the fourth city also fell easily.




　The city is dyed red.
　Consumed by the flames, the houses are burned down.

　After finishing the plundering, the feeling of shame didn't come to mind.

　''Your Majesty has become a little tougher, too.
　Well, I've been hurt by the rebellion.

　I smiled bitterly.
　This is a message to the cities of Cilicia.　

　If we don't make peace soon, we're going to burn all the cities down like this.

　Besides, it's a way to relieve the soldiers' resentment.
　Until now, surrendered cities were not allowed to loot.

　But it was time to move past it.
　It was just right for me to vent.

　I also feel that I've pretty much been tainted by the ethics of the Adelian Peninsula.

　But setting a city on fire is a very effective way to do it.
　Not to mention the visual effect, looting is also a way to secure the cost of war.
　And since the enemy's stronghold would go up in flames, it would also reduce the risk of rebellion.

　The Cilician people are very ethnocentric.
　If they can't accept autonomy, burning them down will result in fewer deaths.

　'But today is a week. It's about time we put an end to the war.'

　Raimondo mutters.
　The crops must be continually cared for.

　The war has already been going on for a week.
　The mass mobilization will have a significant impact on national power.


　'But now is your chance. 'But now is the time to take it as far as you can. If we let this opportunity pass us by, we'll never have another.

　It seems that Bartolo still wants to continue the war.
　In fact, it seems that the enemy is still not ready to counterattack.

　Now we can capture a number of cities without resistance.
　I'm in a bit of a pickle.

　"We are willing to accept a peace offer if it is offered by them. "We will not make peace with them if they ask for it.

　If we offer peace, they will find their feet.
　We are the ones who are going to have to be on the receiving end.


　Well, Bartolo. I'm told there are three cities around here.
　Yes, it is. This city is surrounded by three cities. It's a place that can be attacked from three directions and vice versa, and is vulnerable to attacks from three directions.

　In other words, it is easy to attack and easy to be attacked.
　It is a strategic pivot point that is hard to maintain.

　Well, it doesn't matter much now, since it has been burned.

　''The three surrounding cities have a population of sixteen thousand, twenty-four thousand, and thirty thousand respectively. If we drop these three cities, this surrounding land will be completely ours.

　If we have to make peace, I'd like to cut it out.

　But if you attack one side, the other side will attack you. What are you going to do?
　I have a few ideas.

　Bartolo grinned.






　A siege takes time.
　And they take a lot of damage.

　Our country can only maintain its current strength for two weeks at most.
　If possible, I would like to finish it in another week.

　However, it would be impossible to defeat three large cities in a siege within a week.

　Besides, even if he tried to concentrate on one city, help would come from other cities.
　It was a poor plan to disperse his forces.
　So what should we do?

　That is.....





　"Your Majesty. We have succeeded in forging an alliance with the three northeastern city-states.
　Okay. Now that's six.

　I mark the map as I listen to the reports of the great families I've sent as diplomats.

　Many cities are trying to gain their own independence.
　Independence, however, is a very difficult thing to achieve.

　This area is at the intersection of Adelnian and Cilician forces.
　

　There are two paths that a group of small nations caught between the great powers can choose from.

　One is to form a coalition of small nations.
　But this is very difficult to do.

　It is impossible to unite the will of more than a few dozen nations.
　In the first place, there are also territorial disputes between city-states.

　Then there is one answer.
　We have no choice but to take the shelter of a great power.

　Until now, the cities around here were under the patronage of King Belvedere's kingdom.
　However, the power of King Belvedere's kingdom has retreated due to the last war, forcing many of the cities to become independent.

　But self-reliance is not possible all of a sudden.
　That's why they made an alliance with Rezad and Gehenna and the cities managed to become independent.

　In other words, the city-states around here have formed an alliance with Rezad and Gehenna.
　Now... have Rezad and Gehenna ever helped the city-states?

　No, they didn't even provide reinforcements.
　This is because Rezad and Gehenna were officially neutral in the civil war.

　But in fact, they fired up the various cities and intervened armedly in our country.　
　But they were defeated.

　Both countries make the excuse that they had nothing to do with it and that it was the sole decision of the cities.
　So we can't protest head-on that our country would capture the cities or bring them under the alliance in order to remove the threat.

　And until now, although far-reaching protests and peace brokering have come from Rezad and Gehenna, no troops have come.

　I guess Rezad and Gehenna don't want to take a stand with our country.
　From the point of view of Rezad and Gehenna, our military power is a great threat.

　Besides, there are merchants who benefit greatly from trading with our country.
　From their point of view, friendly relations with our country were even more important to them than the cities of Cilicia.

　It is the Cilician cities that I feel sorry for.
　They were told that we would help them in their time of need, and they did as they were told, and launched a war, which was defeated and abandoned.

　The Cilician cities were no longer united in their efforts to fight each other.
　That's where they could take advantage of the situation.

　They applied for peace to each city individually.

　Small city-states, which cannot be called cities, with populations of only a few thousand, have been able to maintain their security by having other large city-states protect them.
　Of course, in exchange for paying taxes on a not-so-little amount of money.

　From their point of view, it's just a different set of targets to protect.
　All they need is the promise of self-government.

　This is how we're cutting down our small cities....

　How does that lead to the capture of the big three cities....

　It must be very disconcerting to see cities that you thought belonged to your own country descend one by one into the land of King Rosais.
　And if the surrounding city-states become our own cities, they will be isolated in the midst of our enemies.

　Me and Bartolo speculate on the sentiments of the leaders of the three cities.

　I explained earlier that the small city-states were under the patronage of the big city-states.
　This is exactly what the three cities, the regional powers in this region, were doing by keeping the surrounding small city-states under their protection.

　But the three cities were confined to the cities and refused to fight King Rosais' country (the invaders).
　The centripetal force continues to decline as we watch.

　At this rate, all the small cities in this region will fall under the control of King Loseys' kingdom without a fight.
　If they are surrounded, they won't be able to trade, and their water supply will be shut down.
　We're jittery.

　The only way to get out of this situation is....

　'I guess we'll just have to go out on a limb or two. The total population of the three cities is 70,000. If we mobilize them to the very limit, we can prepare for 20,000. 40,000 to 20,000, well, we can't win.

　Bartolo cowered his shoulders.

　Giving old men and women and children weapons wouldn't help.
　They would be kicked away in a flash.

　In other words, it is impossible for the three cities alone to break out of the situation.
　We can't do what we can't do.

　And we can't rely on reinforcements.
　The reason for this is that the intentions of the cities are still not united.

　In this situation, the three cities had three options.

　One, they would surrender. Two, they will fight a desperate battle. Or, three, wait for reinforcements that never come. Any of them.

　Bartolo smirks.
　I mean, it's a jam.

　As far as I'm concerned, surrender is your best bet, but....

　'Your Majesty. The sorcerer who had us keep tabs on the movements of the three cities has sent word. The three cities have raised their troops. If we join them, we'll have about 10,000 men!

　Ten thousand?
　Looks like they won't let women, children and old people join in.

　So he's not that stupid?
　Well, we don't want to kill a bunch of old women and children, either. Good. Good.

　"Tell the cities to close their gates, no aid and no attack.

　A small, small city attacking a small, medium-sized city wouldn't reduce 10,000 troops by much.
　But that doesn't mean they should be helped.

　In the wars in this world, local requisitioning of food is the basic rule.
　Japan also refrains from looting but buys food by force.

　Even if we can't do that, we can deal a big blow to the enemy.

　'So how do you cook 10,000 men?'　
　I'll use poison.

　Bartolo smiled an out-of-character smile.