The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

"General, general!"

With a gentle rocking motion, Hammond gradually awoke from his coma.

As the scene before him gradually cleared, Hammond relaxed. This was his room in Silverwing City.

But Hammond soon realized something was wrong.

"Night raid! How's the night raid going?" Hammond asked almost instinctively.

But recalling the scene before he lost consciousness, Hammond suddenly burst into laughter and said to his subordinates, "I had a dream. I dreamt that our night raid failed, and the enemy's musket blew my head off. This may be a warning from the goddess. Let's discuss the night raid plan in more detail later."

Hammond's men exchanged glances, their faces practically etched with worry.

"General..."

A pharmacist stepped forward and said, "Please lie down; I need to examine your head again."

Hammond's smile froze, followed by a despairing sigh: "As expected."

"That's right, General, everything that happened last night is true."

After the adjutant finished speaking, he stepped forward and recounted the events of the previous night to Hammond in detail.

Thanks to Hammond's subconscious reaction when he was targeted, he mobilized all his magic power to defend himself almost instantly. Hammond was hit by a high-explosive ray but only fainted.

At that moment, the knights had just retreated to Hammond's side, ready to follow his orders and decide whether to continue fighting or prepare to retreat.

Upon seeing Hammond shot, the adjutant swiftly pulled Hammond out of the water and took over command to organize the retreat.

"You did very well."

Hammond sat on the edge of the bed and patted his adjutant on the shoulder.

"But General, many of our brothers have been left behind in the camp."

The adjutant wiped away his tears. In his eyes, being captured was no different from being dead, especially after Doug's propaganda. The thought of his brothers about to suffer inhuman torture filled the adjutant with endless self-blame.

Meanwhile, in the prisoner-of-war camp, a prisoner was slurping up freshly heated noodles.

I heard that this military ration was invented by the governor, who was a white-collar worker. It was made by grinding various filling grains into powder, which could be eaten after being rinsed with water, and it was very filling.

If you add hot water and a little seasoning, it's a delicacy that ordinary people can only enjoy during goddess festivals.

Now, the prisoner had just finished a bowl of soup and reached out to the cook for another.

"Brother, add more ingredients."

After saying that, he even let out a burp.

The cook looked up at the prisoner and advised, "Eat less. It's not good to eat so much so early in the morning. It will affect your training later."

"Oh dear, I'm a prisoner of war, where would I get training from?"

"Too."

While chatting with the prisoners, the cook served this prisoner another bowl.

The prisoner slurped his noodles contentedly again, tears streaming down his face. What kind of inhuman life did the prisoners of this army lead? They were actually living better than before they were captured.

To maintain military discipline, Hammond enforced military law quite strictly, especially during battles. People were lucky to have any hot food, let alone noodles.

The knights under his command were also different from those of noble knights. Most of them were very old-fashioned Lars knights, the kind of pedantic knights who could recite the knightly code word for word.

At first, everyone was used to it, after all, this was how it had been in war for so many years, until the prisoners of war started eating the rations of the First Army Group.

After finishing the soup, the prisoner patted his belly contentedly. Lord Hammond was right, this army really is a bunch of pampered soldiers. Even their rations are so delicious. He was extremely envious.

Just as the prisoner got up to digest his food, the symbolic gate of the prisoner-of-war camp opened, and a new group of prisoners were brought in handcuffed, cursing the soldiers guarding them.

"Hey, buddy, you guys got captured too?" The prisoner shouted almost instinctively when he saw a familiar face.

But then the prisoner realized that he was too emotional and did not behave like a prisoner at all, and immediately changed his expression in a second.

Just moments ago he was beaming with satisfaction after a good meal, but now he's filled with bitterness and hatred, wishing he could kill his entire family.

The newly arrived prisoners, upon seeing this prisoner, immediately showed excitement. Ignoring the guards, they rushed to him and asked excitedly, "Dean, are you alright? Did they torture you like Governor Doug said? Are you doing well?"

The prisoner, named Dean, immediately put on a serious face and said, "They're inhuman! They tortured me with all sorts of methods and tempted me with all sorts of things. But don't worry, everyone, I didn't betray you, and I certainly didn't betray the general! Hiccup!"

If it weren't for that final burp, Dean's explanation would have been quite convincing.

Just then, the cook nearby banged on the pot and asked loudly, "Hey, new prisoners over there, are you still eating breakfast? If not, I'm not going to keep cooking!"

What? Breakfast? Most of the prisoners were unfamiliar with this word.

A normal person only eats two meals a day, right? Do even prisoners of war get breakfast?

Dean could only awkwardly force a smile and say, "It's my treat, it's my treat, brothers, please."

The new prisoners inexplicably sat down with Dean and started slurping noodles. As they slurped, they began to chat.

"This is outrageous! We worked so hard last night to rescue you, and you... you're eating this kind of stuff here."

A professional knight was crying and slurping noodles, so excited that a few noodles went up his nose.

"Yes, sorry."

Dean and several of the prisoners who had been captured earlier lowered their heads.

"It's not that we didn't want to help, but we were already under control when we heard the commotion last night."

"Nonsense, Dean. You were sleeping so soundly last night that you wouldn't have woken up unless I called you! Sorry, cook, give me another bowl."

The newly arrived prisoner asked curiously, "What does 'comrade' mean?"

"They are like-minded people."

"What are your shared beliefs and principles with the enemy?"

The newly arrived prisoner immediately stood up angrily and said, "You were all bought off with this little bit of noodle soup and betrayed the general? No wonder last night's surprise attack failed; it was you guys who leaked the information, wasn't it?"

"Huh? We didn't know you guys would launch a night raid!"

Even though the end of winter has passed, the place has inexplicably turned cold, as if a cold snap had arrived early.

Seeing this, the guard blew his whistle and said, "Northerners don't fight Northerners. Any problems should be resolved peacefully. Fighting is not allowed!"

The prisoners immediately sat down obediently and continued slurping their noodles. After all, they needed to be full to have the energy to think about other things.

Moreover, what the other side said about Northerners not fighting Northerners seems to be true. The knights who were captured earlier have not only not been tortured, but they even seem to have gained a little weight, and only one night has passed.

With such preferential treatment, these somewhat pedantic knights who followed Hammond were too embarrassed to make any moves.