Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

When John rushed to the capital of Balden, a very serious debate was going on in the court of the capital of Balden.

"I told you that Midland's army is unreliable. With so many people, even if it was tens of thousands of pigs, it would take him three to five days to capture them. How come they were all destroyed in one night?"

"That's the information we've gathered so far. Some people have seen many defeated Midland soldiers hiding in the jungle, and some have joined some Balden resistance organizations."

"Let's ignore these things for now. What's important now is whether or not we should accept Yoda's peace treaty."

"It's understandable that this clause allows His Royal Highness the Third Prince to become the King of Barden, but what about ceding the land of East Barden near the Yoda area? And the Yoda people can station troops in the capital, and Yoda's merchant ships are tax-free and warships can enter any port in Barden, and there is also unilateral jurisdiction over Yoda. Isn't this clearly making us second-class citizens!"

"But if you don't accept it, Yoda's troops will attack the capital and start a massacre. You can't sign the letter, and you can't refuse to sign it either."

"His Majesty the King has arrived!"

Amid the quarrels among the ministers and nobles, with a loud voice, an old man with white hair, a wrinkled face, wearing a crown and clothes with the royal emblem of Balden, ascended the throne with the help of his servants, leaning on a scepter representing Balden's power.

"Then there is no need for the formalities. Let's discuss how to resolve the issue regarding the Yoda Treaty," said the old king in a weak voice. It seemed that he had not rested for a long time.

"Your Majesty, I think this treaty can be signed, but it needs to be modified..."

"Your Majesty, you cannot sign this treaty. If we sign this treaty, we will become criminals of this country. How will we face our descendants and people in the future?"

"Don't sign? If you don't sign, you're going to die, right?"

"Do you think you can still be that official after you sign it?"

As soon as King Balden opened his mouth, the crowd began to quarrel and the chaos continued.

During this dispute, King Baldung asked the Prime Minister: "As Prime Minister, do you have any suggestions?"

The Prime Minister thought for a moment, then said: "Your Majesty, you appointed me so that I could assist you and your descendants in governing the country and protecting it from foreign aggression. Now, according to my duties, my choice is not to sign the agreement, or to sign the agreement while ensuring the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Only in this way can I fulfill my obligations as Prime Minister."

The old king saw that what he said was useless except for expressing his opinion, so he turned to ask Archbishop Balden: "Then, Bishop, what do you think?"

Archbishop Balden said firmly: "Yoda's behavior this time is unjust and a betrayal of the God of Light! The gods will punish them!"

Well, that’s nonsense, the old king thought distressedly.

The archbishop also saw the king's troubles, and after thinking for a while, he said: "We can urge the Midland army to continue to contain Yoda's troops. I will write a letter to the King of France and ask the King of France to call on more countries to put pressure on Yoda."

King Balden was puzzled: "Didn't they say that the entire army of Midlan was destroyed? How come there is still an army?"

The archbishop said calmly, "It's not what you think, Your Majesty. According to the letter I wrote to the bishops in the East and West Balden regions, it was only the vanguard that was annihilated, and many of the generals in Midland fled. The garrison in West Balden Midland is currently led by a newly appointed governor. Although this governor is very young, he has dealt with Yoda's army many times, and he also has a powerful army. I think there is still hope that they can hold on if they fight a little longer."

Hearing this, King Balden's eyes suddenly brightened up. After all, as long as there is hope, no one wants to be a slave of a conquered country.

He tapped the ground with his staff several times to signal everyone to be quiet, and then said: "Everyone, I think it is better not to sign this treaty." Then he signaled Archbishop Balden to repeat what he had just said to him.

After everyone heard this, two distinct groups formed, one advocating war, the other advocating peace. As for the neutrals, in the past there were only neutrals in minor matters, but in a major matter like this, if they remained neutral they would most likely be directly suppressed.

"Your Majesty, Midlan has just been defeated in the war, how can they gather so many soldiers? Even if they can, it will probably take a month. By that time, the capital will have fallen, let alone Midlan. I hope the archbishop will not believe everything he hears. Only listening to one side of the story will cause devastating disasters to the country." said a peace minister.

"So, you have new intelligence? Then tell us about it. My information comes from letters from the bishops of East and West Balden. Do you have more accurate information than them?" the archbishop said unhappily.

"Of course not. If there was, I would have told you long ago. Why bother arguing here?" said the peace-loving minister.

"If you don't have it, don't talk nonsense. The Bible says that pure people will not be tempted by the devil's language." The archbishop didn't even look at him and said a sentence from the Bible.

"You..." The peace-loving minister was about to speak, but stopped after thinking for a moment. He was afraid that if he spoke again, he would fall into his trap and be labeled a heretic and die.

"Report! The Yoda troops were found twenty miles east of the royal capital. There are about thirty thousand of them, among whom is a part of the army wearing our country's uniforms. In addition to the flag of the Yoda Empire, there are also some flags of the Lord of East Balden." A cavalryman suddenly broke into the palace to report.

"What!" King Balden was startled and almost dropped his staff. Similarly, this sentence caused an uproar among the ministers.

"What, how come the Yodas are here so fast!"

"Didn't you hear? Many of the lords of Balden surrendered to Yoda. Otherwise, how could there be no obstacles on the road?"

"What should we do? There are not many cities along the way that can withstand the attack of so many Yoda soldiers."

"Does that mean we can only sign a peace treaty?"

At this time, a minister from the peace party suddenly came out, knelt on the ground and shouted: "Your Majesty, the country is in crisis, and we can only make concessions. Sign the treaty first to save ourselves, and then think about other things."

Immediately, the peace faction knelt on the ground together and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, you must put the overall situation first!"

The war faction was also unambiguous. The first person to come out said: "Your Majesty, don't listen to these traitors. Maybe they have already accepted Yoda's money. Your Majesty, I dare to ask, even if we really sign this treaty, will you still have the final say in this country in the future? How will the people view us and Your Majesty? For the sake of this country and even more for your sake, you must not sign it." After saying that, he knelt on the ground, and the ministers of the war faction behind him also knelt down and shouted to the king in unison: "You can't sign it, Your Majesty!"

"You guys..." The king was confused for a moment and didn't know what to do.

"Report!" At this moment another soldier was about to enter the palace. When the king saw it, he immediately ignited hope. Those were the soldiers he stationed along the river. If they came, it meant that Midlan had sent troops.

After getting permission, the soldier came in and said quickly: "Mitlan's soldiers crossed the river this morning. There are about 20,000 of them. They are heading towards the capital and will arrive in about a day."

Upon hearing this, the king stood up quickly with the help of his servants and said to all the ministers: "My dears, I will never allow the Yoda people to do such an inhumane thing to us and our people, and I will not agree to the Yoda people's aggressive peace treaty. Let's prepare for war!"

That afternoon, as the bells of the Royal Capital Cathedral rang, notices were posted in various squares and public buildings in the Royal Capital:

In this time of national crisis, as the only legitimate king of the Kingdom of Balden, I will lead my soldiers to protect my people and resist the upcoming Yoda troops. I can never sign such an evil, despicable and shameless peace treaty of Yoda. I have asked Archbishop Balden to write a letter to the French King's Office. We, the royal family of Balden, will shed our last drop of blood for Balden.

The notice had the royal emblem printed on it, and next to it was a copy of the Yoda Treaty. Once the notice was issued, it caused an uproar. Various forces quickly spread the news to the surrounding areas, making the war even more complicated.