Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 209 Unexpected, reasonable collapse
The great victory of Hydaris undoubtedly once again boosted the morale of the northern soldiers and civilians.

But the subsequent conflict in Sidaris made everyone nervous.

At the moment of victory in the Battle of Hydaris, the Redanian fleet appeared on the sea outside the city. They wanted to force their way into the port to take over the city.

After long thought, Radovid finally decided to aid Sidaris.

However, the Sidaris who received the aid had to be the Sidaris from Redania.

Therefore, another important task of the Redanian fleet is to turn this city into a Redanian city.

Naturally, the Aedirnians closed the port to the Redanians, expressing their resistance to Redanian power.

Naturally, a confrontation ensued between the two sides. Redania wanted to forcefully enter the port, but the defenders were unwilling to let these ill-intentioned guys in.

During the confrontation, a Redanian ship ignored the Aedian people's blockade and warnings and forced its way into the port.

The Aedirnians responded very quickly. The urgently arranged artillery and the captured Serikanian Fire Scorpion were fired directly, first igniting, and then sinking the Redanian ship.

Although the Aedirnians arranged for small boats to immediately rescue the drowned sailors while attacking, many Redanians still died.

And more importantly, this behavior undoubtedly caused the two sides to immediately become tense.

If the next one doesn't go well, the allies may have to fight here.

The tense atmosphere eased with the arrival of the fleet leading the Lord Protector's army north. They had received the order from the Lord Protector, so they took a special detour to appear from the rear of the Redanian fleet.

Facing the fleet and the city at the same time, and with such a huge disadvantage, the Redanian Fleet Commander finally chose to give in.

The conflict was temporarily stopped in this way, but its impact was not as simple as a confrontation.

As news of the conflict spread, the border conflicts that had calmed down once again became heated on the various frontiers bordering Aedirn and Redania.

At the same time, Aden and Redania both exaggerated the conflict news that they had suppressed in various ways.

Suddenly, many people suddenly discovered that the "allies" they usually advertised were causing such conflicts on the border.

As a result, the next step was to blame each other for destroying northern unity and deliberately creating border conflicts.

Some smarter people, or people with better memories, immediately felt the abstraction. Yesterday they were allies, today they are mortal enemies, so they chose to remain silent and not participate in such nonsense.

But unfortunately, there are still relatively few such people after all, but there are actually also few fanatics.

After all, the MZ consciousness in the north is still in its infancy.

Although most people have this awareness, there are still more elements of living people.

It’s just that these fanatics are loud.

Public opinion on both sides immediately became noisy and boiling. This was especially obvious in various cities. After all, there were many wealthy middle-class people in the cities.

These people are the new force supporting MZ consciousness. In the capitals of the two countries, the embassies on both sides were once surrounded by angry people in protest.

But abstractly, both sides are accusing the other side of betraying the North and being the great sinner of the North.

But those in charge of the situation on both sides were not bothered by this; they were merely tools used to express attitude.

How things will go depends on the negotiations between the upper levels.

While public opinion was turbulent, both Herme and Radovid were making new arrangements for the war.

The victory of Hydaris will inevitably expose many flaws to the Nilfgaardians, and they can seize this opportunity.

As for the conflict in Sidaris, neither side actually paid much attention to it.

For Radovid, this was just a failed test, and for Herme, it was just a test that blocked Radovid.

The current quarrels in the public opinion arena are just to see if this can gain any benefits for one side, and to put pressure on the other side.

The so-called propaganda is not just for this.

However, if it really doesn't work, then it doesn't matter. At least this can unite the hearts of the people inside, right?
And judging from the current situation, the quarrel really won't lead to anything.

But this must not be a sudden change, as that would be too damaging to public sentiment, so we need to ease up.

Both sides chose to let things cool down first and then negotiate.

As the authoritative public opinion in both countries fell silent, the popularity of this matter naturally dropped again and again, and the public's concern about it also continued to decline.

Finally, after a period of indifference, things finally cooled down. Life allowed everyone to put the matter behind them, and the two sides began peace talks.

The place where the peace talks took place was Novigrad. This neutral city that was not neutral was a suitable place for such negotiations. Ambassadors and documents from both sides gathered here.

As for why they are not the rulers of the two countries, it is because there is no need to let them do it.

After a period of hard work, the peace talks came to fruition. The result of the peace talks was that Radovid handed the responsibility for the conflict to the then Redanian Fleet Commander, symbolically demoting him.

Hermei, on the other hand, said that the problem was mainly due to the Temerians being too excited, which led to the tragedy of sinking the Redanian ship.

Therefore, Roche took the main responsibility, and he was relieved of his responsibility as commander of Sidaris - but anyone in the know could see at a glance that this was actually no penalty.

Anyway, everyone has a tacit understanding about this nonsense.

Next, under the witness of Prince Ofel, the two parties signed an agreement.

This agreement existed to ensure peace between the two sides. Both Aedirn and Redania swore that they would not attack their allies and that they would maintain the unity of the north.

As for the reliability of these words, anyway, Herme and Radovid are very capable.

However, it is indeed impossible to say that it is useless. The main function of this thing is that before Nilfgaard was defeated, the two countries guaranteed that they would not have such a conflict again.

In short, at this point, the messy affair in Xidaris has come to an end. Both sides got something, and some things they didn't get.

But overall, it's a win-win.

But it actually hints that after the men in black are beaten away - no one doubts this now - a northern overlord will inevitably emerge between Aedirn and Redania.

While the northerners were writing a new chapter in their political struggle, things also changed dramatically on the Nilfgaardian side.

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The incident with Sidaris was like lighting a fuse, creating huge panic among the Nilfgaardian army.

This kind of panic did not appear suddenly. In fact, as Emhyr was defeated one after another and pieces of occupied areas were lost, doubts about victory within the Men in Black grew over time. getting more serious.

This fear reached a peak when Emhyr lost Maribor and cut off a main escape route for the Nilfgaardian army.

Even with the coastal road as compensation, the panic still appeared. From officers to ordinary soldiers, everyone began to think about how to find a way out for themselves.

The Nilfgaardians were well aware of their evil deeds, so they feared the revenge of the northerners, and no one wanted to stay in the north during the rout.

Especially among the veterans who had experienced the Second Northern War, the panic was even more serious. They did not want to experience another "long-distance race".

Because of this, the performance of these pillars of the empire is not as good as that of recent recruits and direct descendants from Emhyrla.

So, many generals started activities.

They couldn't just run by themselves, it was a simple matter to save themselves, they had to run with their troops.

Everyone knows that if the war is defeated, there will definitely be chaos within the empire. So if you don't have soldiers, how can you survive in such chaos?
As for the generals and officers who came from noble and merchant tribes, they were even more active. Their people belonged to the master behind them, and they had the responsibility to take them back.

There are two main directions for their efforts. One is to transfer themselves to Sintra through activities, which is at least close enough to the south.

One is to contact the Imperial Navy. After all, the Imperial Navy is so large now that it can take them away.Unloved admirals at all levels of the Imperial Navy suddenly found themselves the most popular.

Generals came to contact them one after another, offering them superior conditions one after another, just so that the Imperial Navy could take them away when the time came.

The scale of these transactions was so large, and so many people were involved, that the admirals and emperors could only pretend not to see them and let them mess around.

Although Admiral Lompali is senior enough, his qualifications are limited to the navy, and because the navy is expanding too fast, he does not even have much jurisdiction over his subordinates.

He has no influence at all on the big bosses of the Army. He even cannot stand upright in front of the Army due to his lack of outstanding records.

As for Emhyr, he could only pretend not to see what the ancient family had done. After all, it was only through their strength that this war could continue.

After what happened in Xidaris, the generals unanimously believed that the moment of collapse had arrived, so they all started running away.

They left their own jurisdiction without permission, went to the nearest port, summoned the naval force they had agreed with themselves, and left by boat.

Then more people ran south directly. After all, not everyone had the connections to get transportation from the navy.

In fact, the situation can still be stopped at this time. As long as the Nilfgaardian army's mechanism is good or Emhyr's reaction is relatively quick, it is not difficult to stop the defeat.

But unfortunately, there is nothing in the current situation. The mechanism of Nilfgaard's army has long been broken, and Emhyr's reaction is not fast enough.

The actions of these people also inspired others, and Nilfgaardian armies everywhere began to waver, so they abandoned their posts and joined the fleeing army.

As for the Praetorian Guards that Emhyr left behind to supervise the generals, they were either "surprised and annihilated by northern bandits" or they were "accidentally lost."

In fact, the Nilfgaardian army is still very capable. If these people want to fight, they can still fight this battle.

However, the blow to morale caused by the defeat, the endless resistance of the northerners, and the hatred of war...the combination of these various factors eventually caused the black army to lose confidence.

Confidence, this is the most mysterious thing in a war. When confidence is sufficient, the army can move forward and be invincible. But if confidence is lost, everything is lost.

The man in black was in such a situation. Various problems had accumulated over a long period of time, and things finally changed from quantitative to qualitative.

Faced with this situation, no matter how reluctant Emhyr was to admit defeat, he had to admit that he had to make a decision next.

Vizima, the occupied capital of Nilfgaard.

Although there are constant reports of large numbers of deserters and even organized escapes in various places, there are still up to [-] Nilfgaardian troops in this city.

Thanks to the Emperor's tilted resources, these troops are still in good shape and ready to take to the battlefield.

However, due to the continuous influx of bad news during this period of time, the morale of Vizima's Nilfgaardian army dropped a lot.

But they remained disciplined and undeterred by the constant barrage of bad news.

After all, these people are direct descendants of Emhyr, and their interests are basically tied to the emperor.

Especially the Praetorian Guards. These people are Emhyr's die-hard loyalists. They simply ignore the bad news. No matter what, they support the Emperor.

The citizens of Vizima looked at the man in black with more of a look down on him. Everyone could see that the man in black could not run around for a few more days.

But I only dared to look like this behind the back of the man in black. I still didn't have the courage in front of the man in black.

A group of Nilfgaardian soldiers were walking on the street. One of the soldiers looked at the lifeless atmosphere around him and couldn't help but sigh.

Although he is still loyal to the emperor, he still sighs uncontrollably when he thinks about the future.

What does the future hold?How will the battle situation be discovered?He asked himself this, and found that all he got were pessimistic answers.

However, in the end, he shook his head, shook off these thoughts, and did his job well without thinking. This is what a real soldier should be like.

And before they knew it, they came near the palace.

The current Vizima Palace is extremely tightly guarded, with guards everywhere visible and invisible. As for the majestic steel giants, they are so densely packed.

In the palace, Emhyr pulled up a chair and sat on the balcony of the palace alone, looking at the sky.

Emhyr also had a small table with a bottle of vodka and a bottle on it.

Emhyr was drinking sips of wine, using alcohol to anesthetize himself for a while and make himself feel better.

Emhyr knew he had to retreat.

If we don't retreat, all 8 people in our hands will be destroyed.

Whether it was for himself or for these [-] direct descendants, he had to go.

Although it was said that the withdrawal to Sintra did not mean the defeat of the war, it was just that, and he was very clear about what it actually meant.

However, things still need to be done.

Thinking of this, Emhyr felt a sense of absurdity. He had failed. He had failed like this.

If he hadn't experienced it himself, it would be difficult for him to believe that this was true.

"Come here."

Following the emperor's voice, an attendant immediately appeared and saluted the emperor with impeccable etiquette.

"Tell everyone, prepare to retreat. We will retreat to Sintra."

Saying these words, Emhyr seemed to have exhausted all the strength in his body, and the emperor then slumped in his chair.

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Following Emhyr's order, Vizima's Nilfgaardian army also began to move, heading towards the west.

They gathered the remaining Imperial troops along the way, and by the time they reached Gosveren, the army had swelled to 10 men.

Next to Goswellen is the famous Senide Island, which is now abandoned.

It's just that the emperor didn't come for that, but to take advantage of the local port facilities.

Because the main force of the Nilfgaardian fleet is heading here, a super fleet that exceeds the expectations of the northerners, and they are preparing to retreat with the emperor and his army.

Emhyr had no intention of using this fleet to fight back. Under the current situation, he couldn't see what was going on on the various fronts.

So, let’s go back to Sintra to regroup and see if it’s possible to make a comeback.

In addition, he planned to take this super fleet to the Skellige Islands on the way to retreat, completely eliminate this annoying gopher, and at the same time boost the morale of the army.

In Vizima, the local citizens watched the army move for a day and had no idea what the Nilfgaardians were doing. This made them so scared that they hid in their homes.

After the last Nilfgaardian left, the citizens of Vizima realized what had happened, that is, those damn men in black were finally fucking gone!
Cheers immediately spread throughout the city, the bastard man in black is finally fucking gone!
However, after the men in black left, many locals also felt confused. Since the men in black were gone, what were they doing?

People with quick thinking quickly thought of Her Majesty Anais. Although she was still a child, she was still the legitimate king of Temeria. Now she would definitely welcome the king back.

However, an army that entered Vizima next broke their plan.

It was a cavalry team under the Redanian flag. They were covered in dust, and they had obviously traveled a long distance to get here.

As soon as they entered the city, they began to declare Radovid's right to rule the city and emphasize Radovid's status as the king of Temeria.

As for Anais?That's a usurper!That illegitimate daughter doesn't deserve to sit on the throne!

Seeing this scene, the smarter citizens of Vizima immediately had a bad premonition - it seemed that they would have to suffer for a while...

(End of this chapter)