Unspeakable bubbles

"That's good, at least I haven't fallen too far behind."

Shura said expressionlessly, "If you still haven't broken through this time, I'm prepared to take over all of Viper's power in Sien."

"dream!"

Qianbian let out a cold snort and suddenly disappeared.

"Phew, as expected of Sion, the morale of the army hasn't wavered much even after his general was killed."

With a single palm strike, he killed the knight who was attacking him. Looking at the enemy army that was still fighting fiercely with the Southern Legion, Shura revealed a sinister smile.

.................................................. .......................

In this battle, the Southern Army decisively defeated the Central Allied Army. After a brief setback, Carmen achieved an incredibly brilliant victory.

After this battle, the abilities of this much-criticized Yug leader were finally recognized by everyone.

"Lady Carmen, there are no longer any obstacles on the road to the capital!"

"The false king is powerless to stop the southern army. We should press our advantage and storm the capital in one fell swoop."

"Lord Carmen's strategic brilliance is truly admirable!"

"As expected of a famous general from the South, I think he is no less than Duke Hayway."

At the victory banquet, some nobles offered their suggestions on the war situation, while others took the opportunity to flatter the emperor.

This Carmen is extraordinary; she is not only a confidante of the Marquis of Yog, but also skilled in both literature and martial arts!

Given time, he will become a very important figure in the South.

"Haha, without everyone's strong support, how could Carmen have won such a great victory in this battle?"

Carmen raised her glass: "Here, I would like to express my special thanks to Her Highness the Princess!"

“Hey, Isabel wasn’t much of a help.”

With an expression that said, "You're quite sensible," the princess remained remarkably modest.

"No, no, no, when we first proposed breaking up the various teams and reorganizing them into a single army, there was a lot of resistance."

"If it weren't for Her Highness's tireless efforts in persuading all the opponents one by one, Carmen's position as 'Commander-in-Chief' would have been merely nominal, let alone leading the army to the victory we have today."

Hmm, is thanking yourself for this? I thought it was about persuading Ignaz.

In fact, if Carmen hadn't made a firm statement that there would be no army without mixed-speech units, she wouldn't have had to go through all that trouble to persuade those die-hards one by one.

Thinking this to herself, Isabel smiled and said, "My father used to say that there can only be one voice in the army, and Isabel thinks that's very true."

"Your Highness is so wise and understanding. Carmen toasts you!"

"You're too kind, Lady Carmen."

After taking a sip of her drink, Isabel asked with a smile, "What are the army's next moves?"

"Your Highness, the Northern Legion surrounded the capital yesterday. We should join them as soon as possible to put more psychological pressure on the false king."

Carmen pondered for a moment: "A direct assault on the capital would result in too many casualties. Perhaps we could try to persuade them to surrender?"

"Persuade them to surrender?"

Isabel frowned. To persuade him to surrender meant giving that bastard Chavel a way out, and she was not willing to do that!

“Your Highness, too many soldiers have died or been wounded. I think Lord Carmen is right.”

"Although we have inflicted a great defeat on the enemy, our situation is not good either."

"Your Highness, victory is already assured, why make further unnecessary sacrifices?"

Completely to Isabel's surprise, most of the nobles who jumped out to persuade her at this time were actually royalists!

“Zarwell, he deserves to die.”

The princess frowned: "Don't you want to see him go to the guillotine?"

"Of course I want to! I dream about it!"

“Zarwell is insane; I wish I could chop his head off with my own hands.”

"But......"

"But the army has suffered too many casualties; we need to find a way to stop the losses!"

One nobleman finally couldn't hold back any longer: "My family has suffered too many casualties. If we continue fighting... we can't hold on much longer."

With one leader in charge, the nobles began to complain to Isabel: "It was alright before, but since Count Ignaz joined, the battle has become more and more intense every day!"

“My family sent out three hundred cavalrymen, but when we counted the number of people before the banquet, there were less than forty left.”

"Your Highness, we hope you can be more understanding of us."

"Your Highness..."

Isabel looked grim; her proudest achievement in this civil war was 'persuading' Ignaz to surrender.

But these guys keep complaining that the losses were too great after Ignaz joined, so it turns out they were the ones who made the mistake?!

"So what if there are many sacrifices? What war doesn't involve sacrifices? The Jewish leaders haven't even complained yet, and you bunch of 'our own people' are already shouting louder than anyone else."

"..."

Isabel remained silent, and the atmosphere at the victory celebration gradually became awkward.

"Well, in short, we need to reunite with Duke Hayway as soon as possible."

Carmen raised her glass: "But let's put our worries aside for now. Carmen, bottoms up!"

.................................. .................................

Before the capital, the armies from the north and south finally joined forces.

Carmen did not stop Isabelle, and the princess arrived at the northern army's camp without any problems.

"your Highness!"

“Gillian, I’ve heard so much about you all over the South.”

"And Alfred, you've finally achieved your childhood dream and become a magnificent general!"

After greeting the two familiarly, Isabel looked around and asked, "Where's Uncle Haiwei?"

"Father didn't expect you to arrive so quickly, and he's on his way here."

Gillian looked Isabel up and down: "Your Highness, we all thought that Carmen would restrict your freedom."

"Humph!"

Isabel raised her head: "I am the future queen, he wouldn't dare to do that even if he had the guts."

'This is completely different from what I initially thought. There wasn't a single condition negotiated; Carmen simply handed over the princess...'

'Why? Could it be that we've all misunderstood Marquis Yog, and she simply wanted to help the princess?'

As Gillian pondered to herself, Duke Hayway strode in.

"Your Highness, you have suffered so much!"

Haiwei bowed respectfully to Isabel: "The 100,000 troops of the North will now be under Your Highness's command."

Chapter 686, Section 687: Heartbreaking

Isabel was very pleased with the Duke of Hayway's statement, and the presence of 100,000 troops in the north gave her a sense of security.

"Great! Now our total force has reached 130,000!"

"The fact that the Violet and Red Rose Legions haven't shown up yet means they're going to remain neutral to the end."

"That traitor, Chavel, is not far from his doom!"

"Your Highness, the combined forces of the North and South are only 130,000?"

Alfred was already worried that the Southern army was too small, and this made him even more frightened.

"Because of the fierce fighting, the initial 80,000 troops have now dwindled to just over 30,000."

"More than half lost?!"

Alf gasped, "Is that Carmen an incompetent idiot? How could he give orders like that!"

“Carmen…he did a decent job commanding, and no one had any complaints,” Isabelle finally said, offering a fair assessment.

"This Carmen is quite interesting."

Gillian's tone was strange: "The Southern army has been ravaged to such an extent by him, yet instead of provoking a backlash from the nobles, he has become a famous general?"

"Well, death is inevitable in war, isn't it?"

"That's true, but Carmen is too outrageous! Our northern army started with just over 110,000 men, and we lost about 10,000 soldiers along the way."

"In my opinion, this is already a huge loss of life."

After a pause, Gillian added, "Most of Chavel's forces should be concentrated on our side, so the pressure on the south should be relatively low."

"To suffer such heavy casualties under these circumstances... Carmen's tactics definitely have serious problems!"

Now that you mention it...

Isabel looked thoughtful: "Carmen really is a good-hidden airhead."

"No, he can't continue commanding the Southern army. Gillian, I'm handing over the 30,000 men in the south to you as well!"

“Huh?” Gillian blinked.

What's going on? Isn't Carmen in complete control of the Southern Legion's military power? How can Her Highness possibly influence it?

"The army has now joined forces, Gillian, prepare to attack the city tomorrow!"

“Your Highness, Chavel’s chances are slim. Perhaps we can persuade him to surrender.”

Another attempt to persuade them to surrender?

Isabel felt a surge of displeasure, but she said calmly, "Attacking the city will put more pressure on Chawell. We can fight and persuade him at the same time."

Seeing her father give her a meaningful look, Gillian immediately accepted the order solemnly.