I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 156 Questioning
"Do I win now?"

When Chris walked out of the command tower and stood at the castle gate, looking at a large number of Republican soldiers kneeling outside, he still had a sense of unreality.

Is this a win?

No, shouldn't this siege last for ten days or half a month before it even begins?

How come the outcome was decided on our side in just one day and one night?
"How many prisoners have we taken?"

Chris shook his head, threw the thoughts out of his mind, and turned to ask the clerk beside him.

"We are still counting, there is no specific number..."

"Take a guess and give me a rough number... Clerk, you know what I want to know."

Chris interrupted the clerk's words, who paused.
"There are 121 prisoners in the castle, and perhaps over 3,000 prisoners below. There are also 10,000 civilians waiting in the camp further away. The probability of their escape is 60%. The amount of weapons, armor, arrows, gunpowder, and other supplies seized is incalculable..."

"It's just a wave of fat."

Chris touched his chin, thought for a moment, and then walked towards the nearest pile of prisoners. He had a question and wanted to get the answer from them.

"Your Highness, this is dangerous."

Bruno tried to stop him, but Chris waved his hand and pushed his arm away.

"It's okay, you will protect me..."

Chris smiled slightly, with a hint of teasing in his tone.

"Bruno, haven't you always wanted to prove that you are the best guard? Now is the best opportunity."

Bruno's face flushed slightly. He knew that Chris was teasing his overly sensitive self-esteem, but the prince was right. He did have a strong desire to prove himself.

Bruno took a deep breath, gripped the halberd tightly in his hand, followed Chris with clanging steps, and glanced vigilantly at the captives around him.

Most of the captives had lost their will to fight. They sat or lay down, their eyes filled with fear and confusion. Seeing Chris approaching, some subconsciously lowered their heads, while others secretly raised their heads, sizing up the young victor with complicated eyes.

Chris also lowered his head and looked at these people. The smell of blood mixed with rust hit his face, and he frowned subconsciously.

Chris walked straight up to a prisoner who looked somewhat older. The man was wearing a lieutenant uniform of the Bolas Republic Army. Although the clothes were a bit worn and stained with blood, the emblem on the epaulettes was still clearly visible.

"Well... brother, let me ask you a question. Why did you attack Bolas so recklessly and then suddenly surrender?"

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant also looked up at Chris, his eyes revealing the dejection of a loser.

"I have no idea?"

"Why surrender?"

"I do not know either."

Bruno, who was standing behind Chris, raised the halberd in his hand and looked at the lieutenant with an extremely unfriendly look.

Chris quickly raised his hand to stop Bruno's next move. Although the latter was also a member of the Republic before, perhaps because of the fanaticism of the convert, Bruno always behaved radically when encountering things and people related to the Republic.

If Chris hadn't stopped him just now, this giant who had transformed from a militia captain into a guard captain would have really struck the lieutenant to death with his halberd.

There is no need, there is really no need to kill someone just because he doesn't answer a question.

Chris looked at the lieutenant's decadent eyes and felt that the latter might not want to live anymore.

Shaking his head, Chris found the next person and continued asking questions.

This time, it was a soldier, his armor already removed. He looked even younger than the lieutenant, his face still brimming with childishness. His eyes were filled with fear and confusion, clearly still recovering from the battle. "Why are you surrendering?"

"I'm hungry……"

The young soldier answered weakly and dejectedly.

"I can't walk anymore. Others are running away, but I can't escape."

"Why are you so hungry that you can't walk?"

"I only had breakfast in the morning, but nothing to eat at noon or at night, and no water to drink."

oh!?

Chris was stunned for a moment. He turned his head to look at the prisoners of war around him. Their physique and clothes told Chris that they were all regular soldiers of the Republic, not civilian laborers or auxiliary soldiers.

In order to prevent himself from asking an exception, Chris asked several people in succession and got similar answers.

The reason they surrendered was that they were too tired and too hungry. They had not eaten anything except breakfast in the morning. Their commander did not tell them to attack the city, nor did he give them any food to eat during the breaks in the battle.

They had nothing but water.

This is one of the main reasons why these regular soldiers lost their fighting spirit.

Chris realized something and turned around immediately.

"Messenger, go find Aix immediately and have him lead his men to attack the Republican barracks and defeat the resistance inside!"

"understand!"

At this moment, not far from Chris, a captain who had been squatting on the ground stood up. On his face was a scar as big as a centipede.

The Ultramarines militiaman wearing a short blue cloak beside him immediately became alert and pointed the flintlock rifle with a bayonet in his hand.

The captain was fearless. He straightened his blood-stained back, looked at Chris not far away with a dim gaze, and then he took a deep breath.

"Chris, why did you come back? Why did you start a war?!"

Chris was stunned for a moment, and then it took him two seconds to figure out what the captain wanted to say.

"Brother, do you see them?"

Chris pointed to the militiamen approaching with flintlock rifles.

"Before I returned home, who were they? They were starving refugees, whose farmlands were burned and their homes destroyed by the rangers sent by the Republic, leaving them without food or water and homeless.

If you have time to question me, you might as well ask how many people have starved to death in Bagnia."

The captain's expression changed slightly, and he seemed to be choked by Chris's words, but his eyes still flashed with unwillingness and anger, and he spoke with gritted teeth.

"All this is because of your royal family. If it weren't for your eldest brother forming the so-called Restoration Army..."

"Bullshit! Since you say it's the royal family's problem, why didn't you kill them all when you founded the country? If they were all dead, I wouldn't be forced to come back."

Chris was too lazy to argue with him because he knew that some people were just straightforward, stubborn and would stick to their own opinions, so nothing he said would be of any use.

So, he waved his hand and ordered.

"Take them away and lock them up. Give them each a bowl of porridge... well, two bowls of porridge, so they don't starve to death."

(End of this chapter)