Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 475: Chapter 78: Review and Re-evaluation

In the urgent beat of military drums, two large contingents of Paratu troops formed an impenetrable wall, mercilessly driving Herder wounded soldiers towards the Confluence River.

Throughout his relatively short career, Winters had seen many inhumane atrocities, but the scene before him was still unbearable:

Men were packed together like animals about to be slaughtered in an enclosure.

Thousands of Herder wounded were trapped on a small patch of dry shore, spears with fresh blood ahead of them and frigid, rapid river waters behind.

Too many people, too little space.

Your shoulder presses against my chest, my back against his. No one could move; bodies were nearly beyond control.

The outermost Herders stood knee-deep in water while those inside continued to push them outwards.

They screamed in desperation, pleaded for their lives, tried to cram onto the shore, only to be swept by the crowd into deeper waters.

Cries from women and children in the distance shook the heavens, and even battle-hardened Paratu veterans could not bear to look into the Herders’ eyes.

But the military drums did not cease for a moment, urging the Paratu soldiers to keep moving forward.

The Herder wounded found their space on the shore further diminished; those who refused to move were stabbed to death, and those who tried to break through the spear wall died even faster.

A few lucky ones found gaps through the spear wall and hadn’t run far before being cut down from behind by Paratu cavalry.

Finally, the Herders were completely driven off the dry shore as the Paratu soldiers also stepped into the river, pressing in step by step.

One by one… Herder wounded continued to scream as they were swept away by the swift currents, while the military drums still rang out.

Winters finally encountered the highest commanding officers on the scene, Colonel Haug and Colonel Laszlo.

[Note: Haug is the second-in-command of the “Alpad Faction,” and Laszlo is the second-in-command of the “Sekler Faction,” the former being a cavalry officer, the latter an infantry officer.]

“Colonels, with all due respect,” Winters got straight to the point without time for introductions, “by dealing with these Herders, all you’re doing is helping the Barbarian Chief Yasin.”

Colonel Laszlo looked numbly at Winters then turned away, silent.

“Who are you?” Haug frowned, eyeing Winters from top to bottom; the colonel obviously did not recognize the junior officer before him.

But Haug then turned to look at the horse, Strongrunner, and let out a cold laugh as if recognizing the steed.

“Oh, it’s you.” Haug also turned his head, no longer looking directly at Winters, “Isn’t this the Venetian boy whom General Alpad is so fond of? That’s a fine horse you have there, Lucian breed?”

Seeing the colonels’ disinterested attitude, Winters felt both anxious and angry.

Winters, suppressing his rage and speaking rapidly, said, “Nearly ten thousand captives here, if not wounded, then old men, women, and children. They need to eat! To drink! To be sheltered! And they can’t take to the battlefield. Killing them all, you’d be relieving White Lion of tens of thousands burdens!”

Winters was almost choking by the end, “Colonels! Don’t you understand the principle that [an army angered is bound to win]?”

He emphasized the word “Colonel” with particular vehemence, his tone disrespectful.

Haug was furious, glaring at Winters and scolded loudly, “[Old Tongue] What do you know?”

Winters stood his ground, meeting the colonel’s gaze with a defiant look in his eyes.

The tension in the air was nearly suffocating, and nearby soldiers instinctively turned away, not daring to get involved in the officers’ dispute.

The sound of galloping hooves approached from behind, dispelling the tension slightly, as Andre finally caught up.

Pulling up his horse, he saluted the two colonels and shouted at Winters, “Lieutenant Montaigne! What are you doing here? Colonel Jeska is looking for you!”

“Hurry up! The colonel is getting impatient.” Andre rode up to Winters and tugged at his sleeve, “Colonels, please excuse us from withdrawing first.”

Haug huffed uninterestedly and shook his head dismissively, waving his hand, “Get lost.”

Winters brushed off Andre and continued to press, “Is there something wrong with what I said?”

Haug laughed in rage, but before he could act, Colonel Laszlo, who had been silent until now, spoke first.

Laszlo looked emotionlessly at Winters and said, “No, you do make some sense… Drummer, stop the drums!”

The deathly beat of the drums finally ceased.

Paratu soldiers, initially dumbfounded, stopped in their tracks and then, guided by the Centurion, retreated back onto the riverbank to reassemble their ranks.

Haug, caught off guard, stroked his chin before ultimately remaining silent.

The Herders, spared from calamity, wept and hugged each other. They supported one another, standing in shallow water, still not permitted to come ashore.

Laszlo summoned a message-bearing Cavalryman and, after giving a few instructions, the messenger galloped off toward the main camp.

“You think I don’t understand what you said?” Haug looked at Winters, his tone instructive, “Wounded can recover, children will grow, women will bear more soldiers. They are all Yasin’s fighters, that’s why there must be no survivors left!”

Winters, not to be outdone, retorted, “The wounded will take at least a month to recover; children will take at least five years before they can fight; women will take at least fifteen years to bear more men. But if I’m not mistaken, Yasin is right on our heels! What’s urgent? What’s not?”

“We have our considerations! How the legion handles Yasin’s followers is none of your concern,” Haug paused dramatically, stating conclusively, “Victors take all from the vanquished; such are the laws of the wasteland; you Venetians simply do not understand! If it were us who had lost the battle on the northern shore, would the Herders have shown us any mercy? Your heads would have been hanging on saddles by now!”

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