After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

In the secluded basement, the young man devoured all the food on the table.

The soldiers kept reporting to him the news of the defeat. The Northern Army's strong offensive had caused them heavy losses, and now they had less than two thousand soldiers who could fight.

The outcome of the defeat was already predetermined. After the dream of establishing an independent nation in the south was shattered, the man's expression remained unusually calm.

Or rather, Giovanna didn't care.

Giovanni let out a burp, leaned back in his chair, picked his teeth, and muttered to himself.

"Charles, Luna Charles... what exactly are the Northern Army trying to do? That woman, could she be planning to attack the heart of our Southern Territory?"

More than the complete annihilation of the garrison at Guanhai Town, Giovanna was concerned about the Northern Army's next move and its strategic intentions in the overall game.

The Duke of Oswald was neither a fool nor a loyal subject.

From the moment the Northern Army marched south to plunder people during the plague, Duke Oswald had already revealed his ambition.

The key issue, however, is that the Southern Territory, which has already launched its rebellion, is a natural ally of the Northern Territory. Even without taking sides, the Northern Territory should strive to maintain a strategic balance among the three parties…

But the Northern army did indeed come to the south to quell the rebellion, and Giovanni, known for his wisdom, found that he could not see through Duke Oswald at all.

He truly deserves to be called a hero; Giovanni is no match for him.

"Surrender first, save your life first," the mage standing to the side suddenly spoke up. "Strategy is too shallow in the face of absolute strength. You can't turn the tide now, Commander Giovanni."

"Besides, weren't you always an idiot? You were bad at academics and bad at martial arts..."

Giovanni rolled his eyes. He was about to die, and he was still babbling on. Just because you're my brother doesn't mean I won't beat you up.

"Bana, the Duke of the Southern Territory has treated me well. Our family and the Southern Territory are interdependent, sharing both prosperity and adversity."

Bana scoffed at Giovanni's show of loyalty, letting out a cold snort. Leaning against the wall, he took out a pipe from his mage robe, lit it, took a puff, and suppressed the emotional turmoil within him.

"Yes, others have eighteen wives, more than twenty children, and countless illegitimate children. What about you? Besides calling your brother to die with you and cut off our family line, what else can you do, you dead virgin?"

Silence, a long silence.

Its only purpose is eating. After eating for more than 20 years, its mouth still can't open. Unable to refute, Giovanni clenched his fist and turned his head away to change the subject and ask the soldier.

"How many Northern Army soldiers have entered the city?"

The soldier answered honestly, "Reporting to the commander, there are seven thousand inside the city and about seven thousand outside the city."

He scratched his head in anguish. Giovanna's life was short, devoid of brilliance. It didn't make sense. Shouldn't I be a genius? Why did I have to fall so soon after my debut?

"You can keep agonizing over it, I'm running away first."

Bana knew his brother well; he had a long-term vision but lacked the quick wit to solve problems. He guessed that his brother was probably still troubled by not being able to understand the Northern Army's intentions.

The problem is that the fall of Guanhai Town was inevitable, fighting to the end was a dead end, and fleeing to Fengrao City in disgrace was also a dead end.

Bana, who was only helping out of personal relationships, was far more open-minded than his brother Giovanna, who inherited the family business. He believed that war was nothing more than a redistribution of interests.

As for Guanhai Town, this godforsaken place, you deserve no credit for holding it, because that's what you're supposed to do. If you lose it, you're doomed, since you're the ones who exposed the lords of Fengrao City to danger.

Profit sharing, huh? This lousy gatekeeper really thinks he's something?

"Hey, are you really leaving?"

When he saw Bana really carrying his staff and striding up the stairs, Giovanni panicked and quickly got up to stop him.

"Otherwise what?" Bana exhaled thick smoke, veins bulging on his forehead. "Boss, if you're going to die, don't drag me down with you! I have a beautiful wife at home, and your brother has a bright future ahead of him!"

"Be honest in your dealings with others. The enemy army has tens of thousands of soldiers, each one of whom is no less capable than the soldiers you have carefully trained. You can't knowingly invite me to die and then drag me down to hell with you."

Upon hearing this, Giovanni, who had been clenching his teeth, lowered his head in shame. He didn't actually care about this outcome.

Where could he possibly escape to? And who could guarantee that the other side would spare his life after he surrendered? Besides, he had already realized that the other side had no intention of persuading him to surrender.

If I followed my brother, I would only be dragging him down with me to his death.

"Wait, give me one minute, then I won't care where you want to go."

The two brothers met each other's eyes. Sensing the seriousness in his elder brother's gaze, Bana was stunned for a long time before slowly nodding.

Releasing his grip on Bana's hand, Giovanni resolutely turned around and led his messenger into a room in the basement.

As the door slammed shut, Bana seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and sat down on the stairs.

Perhaps he shouldn't have gotten involved in this war. Those nobles at the top of the Southern Territory actually managed to carry out a plan like the undead army that would lead to their extinction.

If he weren't worried about his brother, he would have already flown away to the ends of the earth.

Sigh, I'll go and surrender to the Northern Army in place of my brother later...

Barna, who was smoking a pipe, felt that more than a minute had passed. He looked anxiously at the rooftop, but the next second, he heard a sudden wail from the messenger in the room.

A wail rang out, and the pipe in his mouth fell heavily to the ground. Barna finally realized something was wrong.

"Brother...brother!"

He rushed down the stairs, and the door opened at the same time, the pungent smell of blood filling his nostrils.

The messenger, tears streaming down his face, knelt down before Bana with a thud, clutching a bloodstained wooden box.

Bana, his pupils trembling violently, stared blankly at the headless corpse in the dimly lit room, opening his mouth but unable to utter a sound.

Finally, he moved his gaze downwards and met his brother's eyes in the wooden box once again.

The messenger was so grief-stricken he could hardly breathe. "Master, the commander said... said that he requests you take his head to the Northern Army to surrender and ask for a way out for the brothers."

These words were like a wake-up call. Bana took the wooden box and felt as if he were the one who had died.

His mind was a complete mess, and he could only nod numbly.

"Okay, okay, elder brother, I'll go right away, I'll go right away..."

Having laid out a comprehensive offensive plan and already pinpointed the enemy's gathering place, Division Commander Kate suddenly heard a chorus of wailing outside his tent.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be coming from the enemy's position.

With a major battle imminent, could the enemy be playing some kind of trick? Kate frowned. The saying goes, "A desperate army is bound to win, and a victorious army..."

Kate threw her pen onto the battle map on the table and shouted orders from outside the tent.

"Federico! Take your men over there and see what's going on on the other side."