"Return to Your Majesty."

Viscount Jarvis continued: "At first I thought they were unwilling to lose, but later I learned that this was not the case."

"Oh? What's the reason?" Owen asked curiously.

"They don't believe our promise of 'no killing of prisoners'." Viscount Jarvis replied.

After a pause, he added: "Because the Popon Empire has carried out brutal massacres of prisoners many times in the past wars. Many soldiers have witnessed or even participated in the massacres, thinking that these were the prisoners.

In the end, if they surrender, they will definitely be treated like this, so they will resist."

Isn't this a typical example of judging others by oneself? Thinking that the bad things you have done will definitely be done by others.

In the final analysis, it was the inhumane way the Popon Empire treated defeated prisoners, which made some soldiers think that other countries did the same thing.

The Kingdom of Morning Light is not the Popon Empire, and the People's Army is a new type of army with strict disciplines. It will never commit such brutal acts as massacre of prisoners.

"I see."

Reaching out and touching his chin, Owen thought for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Viscount Jarvis, take me to the place where the prisoners are held. I want to say something to them in person."

"Okay, Your Majesty." Viscount Jarvis nodded.

After the People's Army soldiers capture prisoners on the battlefield, they will uniformly disarm them and send them all to an open plain in the north of the military camp to gather.

To prevent anyone from escaping, iron mesh fences were set up around the place, and a soldier would be on duty at small intervals to guard the prisoners 24 hours a day.

Under the leadership of Viscount Jarvis, Owen came to the place where the prisoners were held.

The prisoners did not respond to Owen's arrival. They still sat on the ground dejectedly, with despair written on their faces.

Seeing this, the soldier responsible for guarding the prisoners shouted loudly: "Our King is here, you all stand up quickly and don't sit on the ground!"

After hearing this, the prisoners stood up from the ground and looked at the young king who was surrounded by guards.

Looking around randomly, Owen found that all the prisoners looked lifeless, so he said, "What? You all think you are dead?"

Hearing this, the prisoners looked at each other in shock. It took a while before a prisoner hiding in the crowd responded.

"What else? Although we surrendered, we are still soldiers of the Popon Empire. It is impossible for you to let us go. But if you continue to imprison us, it will create thousands more mouths to eat. I don't think you will be willing.

Feed us freeloading soldiers."

Just because they didn't want to provide food to the captives, the Popon Empire mercilessly killed them. It was really cruel.

"Indeed."

In response, Owen raised the corner of his mouth and continued: "Since we can't confirm whether you will become enemies on the battlefield after we let you go, we will not let you go. However, you can rest assured that I have issued an order not to kill the prisoners.

Order to ensure that nothing happens to you. You can eat for free while you are in detention. Our army can afford it."

"Are you telling the truth?"

As soon as these words came out, another prisoner in the crowd immediately asked loudly.

"It's absolutely true." Owen said with certainty, "I am the king of a country, and I will definitely abide by any promise I make. You don't need me to swear to you, right?"

Obtaining the king's guarantee meant that his life was definitely saved.

"No, no need." I don't know who responded.

Immediately afterwards, the prisoners knelt down to Owen one after another and kowtowed several times with excited expressions. Some of them even couldn't help but cry.

"Thank you, His Majesty the King, for not killing me."

"Remember it for me."

Owen finally reminded: "Our Kingdom of Morning Light is not the Popon Empire, and we will not torture or even massacre prisoners. Otherwise, we will not treat so many injured prisoners, right? After the war is over, you will have a chance.

Freed again."

Now that what needs to be said has been said, it is unknown how many captives will see clearly the cruelty of the Popon Empire because of this speech.

But at least Owen succeeded in eliminating their despair and completely eradicating the possibility of riots.

…

A week later, the People's Army arrived on the east side of Einbeck, a metropolis in the eastern part of the Popon Empire.

This city was once the royal capital of the Gurman Kingdom. After it was captured by the Popang Empire, it lost its status as the royal capital and lost its glory.

Since the commercial road leading to Longya Ridge was closed, Einbeck's commercial activities have been far less than before, and the residential population has been decreasing year by year, with all of them moving to other places.

Now, with the advent of war, this city is even more silent.

The soldiers on the city gate were in full formation, all with solemn expressions.

Many fortifications have been built outside the city, but time is a bit tight and many fortifications have not yet been completed.

It seems that Bad Punier, the Thunder Knight who successfully escaped back to Einbeck, has made a lot of preparations for the battle to defend the city.

Unfortunately, all this was in vain in the face of the artillery fire of the People's Army.

In the combat headquarters, Owen even handed over full combat command authority to Viscount Jarvis, while he was drinking tea leisurely and quietly waiting for the results of the battle.

At the artillery position at the rear of the army, it was confirmed that the large artillery had been adjusted. Blue, who had been promoted to the commander of the artillery regiment, immediately waved his hand and gave the order.

"fire!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As clouds of flames spurted out from the muzzle, the cannonballs were shot out one after another, falling towards Einbeck's east city gate at extremely high speeds.

Large balls of flames and black smoke rose into the sky. The head of the east city gate was blown beyond recognition in an instant. The city gate was also attacked, and the heavy gate was broken into several pieces.

The soldiers guarding the city gate had never seen such a posture. After a round of shelling, those who were lucky enough to survive threw away their weapons without hesitation, turned around and ran away.

With this offensive, the People's Army quickly entered the city and started street fighting with the enemy.

Just after noon, Viscount Jarvis came to the combat headquarters, saluted Owen with his chest caressed, and reported: "Your Majesty, the People's Army has taken control of Einbeck. You can enter the city."

The battle ended sooner than Owen expected.

Putting down the tea cup, he said a little surprised: "How fast?"

"Yes." Viscount Jarvis nodded, "In front of our army, the enemy has no power to resist. However, we did not capture the enemy's commander, Thunder Knight Bader Punill. It is said that he was killed before the war.

He has already escaped with the knights."

What a neat run!

Probably after the Battle of the Mantar Plains, the other side had learned that there was a huge gap between the Popon Empire army and the Dawn Kingdom army, and that it was impossible to defeat them, so they fled before the war started.
Chapter completed!