Three hours later, they were even more certain that the Imperial Council abandoned the Yunyun Stronghold, the Featherwind Sect was absent, and the Li Family would not be coming. There was no trap! Only then did everyone's brow loosened and the tension in the air eased. Some of them even began beaming. Overconfidence might be a killer, but so was overcaution. Not everything needed to be a complex, intricate conspiracy, weaving around every little thing. Sometimes, things were just that simple! However, the longer they took here, the more likely things could develop out of control, so General Dennis immediately made his mind.
"Since they're not going to surrender, start the attack and notify Her Highness. Ten Dawn Iris and Krogan will utilize their large-scale tactical spell, Diffusion Void. All soldiers to assume battle positions!" General Dennis ordered.
Elizabeth received the news and her brow furrowed. Their army was a massive disciplined fifteen thousand force. Just looking at the soldiers who stood in tight formation, backs straight as an arrow, silent as could be, releasing a menacing air, with steeled swords ready to draw blood, anyone would feel their heart palpitate. This was a true killing force! And when she looked at the Yunyun Stronghold, where the mob of commoners were poised… Wearing patchy clothes with dirty faces, wielding rusted tools and makeshift weapons, without the slightest sense of formation or discipline, and some young enough that they could barely look over the walls… A few might hold heroic expressions, but most of them were scared out of their minds, fearing the inevitable invasion. A good portion of them were even prepared to flee at first notice. A blind person could tell which side would win!
For an instant, Elizabeth's mind travelled back to New Havens. Defending their home against a foreign invasion, her homeland was uprooted and massacred. Her mother, father, brother, and sister all died one by one in futile resistance. Except for her, the Xingyuu Empire's soldiers had annihilated everyone! Was it not the same situation unfolding before her eyes right now? The people of the Yunyun Stronghold were just defending their homes, while the Alzar Kingdom's army was preparing to unleash a bloodbath. With the sides flipped, Elizabeth felt guilt as her morals conflicted. War was war, so casualties were expected. However, killing people forced to action by circumstance was… The girl gripped her fists and walked to the commanding tent.
"Your Highness?" Everyone was surprised and confused why she came here.
"I'm going to speak to the defenders," she said with a firm and forceful voice. "I am hereby forbidding the army from attacking the citizens. Xingyuu citizens will be treated to equal rights as our own citizens. Anyone found attacking the citizens will be judged accordingly!"
According to the Alzar Kingdom's rules for military engagement, anyone serving under the military was expressly forbidden from harming citizens. Under no circumstances could a soldier willingly expose or inflict a citizen to bodily harm. That was an absolute and inviolable rule! Anyone found in contempt of this rule was treated extremely poorly in the court of law, and more often than not, it led to a death sentence. This was a natural thing because citizens were the lifeblood of the kingdom! They were the essential foundation through which the entire kingdom could last so long. Losing the trust of this foundation would eventually tear the kingdom apart! Therefore, the kingdom would spare no quarter for any of these criminals, treating them equal to traitors.
While the protection of citizens was a paramount duty for the Alzar army, that applied strictly to Alzar citizens. As for the Xingyuu Empire… There were no rules! Although the army postured itself as a righteous paragon of moral integrity, the reality was that the Xingyuu Empire acted as an excellent target. Unifying the kingdom through body, mind, and spirit was a difficult ordeal that every monarch struggled with. Everyone had a different background, different education, different moral, and different opinion. At first glance, it might seem insignificant, a few debates here, a few fights there. But with enough time, those small differences could swell into a storm big enough to topple the kingdom: a civil war!
Contrary to what people believed, the Second Great Kingdom War carried great benefits. Using the hatred against the Xingyuu Empire as a common point of agreement, the people could come together and unify under a single banner. That was precisely what the Alzar Kingdom hoped for! On the surface, the army forbid any action against the Xingyuu Empire's citizens. They declared it a detestable thing to prey on the weak and defenseless. However, it was a thick-faced lie. The army would never persecute their own over such a thing. It was an unspoken rule that the soldiers treated it as a reward, while the commanders laughed it off. Who cared about the lives of the Xingyuu Empire anyway?
In response, everyone grew a tiny bit upset at her words. General Dennis then stepped up and assured, "Your Highness, our soldiers would never lay a hand on the defenseless."
"You don't need to lie to me. As the heir apparent, I know about every scandal in the army, big and small," Elizabeth replied with an insipid face.
As the heir apparent, she was fully exposed to everything in the Alzar Kingdom, good and bad. Barring extremely sensitive national secrets which only Queen Bethnal could know, Elizabeth knew everything that happened in the known world! Naturally, that extended to the numerous scandals in the army. Due to the higher-up's lack of responsibility towards the Xingyuu citizens, there were cases where a few soldiers grew too emboldened and committed unspeakable, horrific acts.
Two years ago, there was a case where they discovered a group of thirty soldiers calling themselves the 'Divine Judgement Squad'. They kidnapped some of the Xingyuu citizens and created their own torture dungeon. As the investigation team later realized, the victims were dissected and dismembered into three hundred indistinguishable pieces! It was so grotesque and disturbing that there were no longer bodies, but piles of finely diced meat. The investigation required five weeks to sift through the evidence, and they were shocked to discover at their conclusions. It was not ten or twenty victims, the Divine Judgement Squad acted upon ninety-five people!
Fourteen months ago, the kingdom caught news of an illegal underground gambling business. Normally, the kingdom would turn a blind eye to it, but there were also rumors of a Brigade Commander being involved. A Brigade Commander was not as influential or powerful as a Legion General or Army General, but they still wielded five thousand troops! This was a bit distasteful to the army's reputation, so they sent an investigation squad. In the end, they were stunned by the three gambling arenas that had a combined total of seventeen hundred patrons! These patrons belonged to the mid to upper echelon of society, where they had too much money to spend, and too little reputation to spoil. They sought fresh entertainment in this gambling business. That was where the Brigade Commander would step in. He would 'unknowingly' supply groups of Xingyuu citizens, and they would fight to the death in the arena! At its peak, the gambling business had two hundred and seventy fighters, all fighting and dying before being replaced!
And perhaps the one of the most outrageous of scandals was five months ago in the extermination of the Whispering Shadow. The army raided their numerous bases and finally realized the depths of their depravity. The Whispering Shadow had unbelievably imprisoned over three thousand people! What Elizabeth saw in the Lannisail Household's basement was a mere drop in the ocean! Three thousand people was equivalent to a large town, more than ten times larger than New Havens' population. Four-fifths of them were from the Xingyuu Empire, while the remaining one-fifth were either from the Alzar Kingdom or the Zino Kingdom. These slaves would be sorted by their age, gender, stature, ability, and beauty and assigned a price. Nobles could then buy or auction them at sky-high prices. With over three thousand slaves, the flow of wealth was a monstrous amount. Worse yet, that was their monthly transaction volume, meaning that the Whispering Shadow handled over thirty thousand slaves per year!
Each of these events showed how poor the treatment of imperial citizens was in the kingdom, and they were among the countless other cases that happened every year. Cases that were too small, involving less than fifty victims, were usually ignored, so only the heavens knew how many suffered like that? People always believed the Alzar Kingdom was on the righteous side, while the Xingyuu Empire was on the villainous side. Therefore, purging evil was their sacred duty given by the goddesses! Even Elizabeth once believed that the empire was filled with vermin, needing to be exterminated. Who could blame her after experiencing the fall of New Havens? But the reality was less black and white, and no two sides were ever without their truth and lies. Elizabeth was determined to ensure another 'New Havens' never happened again, regardless of whether it was the Alzar Kingdom, the Xingyuu Empire, or the Zino Kingdom!