Chapter 265: The Winter War II


    The day after Emperor Charles left Golden Camellia, a small uprising broke out in Viete Region. Starting with a heavy snowfall on the first day of winter, a small uprising consisting of some peasants rallied and protested in front of Velvet Castle, demanding Marquis Florentino to give them food to survive the winter.


    At first, nobody cared about it, even themander who was tasked by the Emperor to guard the Viete regionughed at it. But soon, more and more peasants rallied and they demanded the same thing, soon, Velvet Castle was surrounded by angry mobs. They hadn''t broken through the gate of the castle yet, but they were all ready to do it.


    Themander was surprised with the sudden wave of angry mobs, because they were too many, he ordered his soldiers to surround the angry mobs and guard Velvet Castle.


    "Sir, this is unnatural" one soldier said to themander, "I don''t think the people of Viete would rally this fast, Marquis Florentino is not a popr lord, but he has enough money to feed the people during this harsh winter."


    "Indeed, this is really strange," themander stroked his long beard, "Marquis Florentino cherishes Velvet Castle so much because of the inherited history, he would definitely try to defend his castle no matter what. But it doesn''t seem that he wille out soon to calm these people."


    Seeing the gate was getting crowded, another soldier reported anxiously, "Sir, the people are getting ready to break Velvet Castle and loot! Marquis Florentino is inside the castle!"


    Themander who only observed carefully finally couldn''t control his anxiety. If Velvet Castle fell to the people, then he would definitely be executed by Emperor Audric V. Since the Golden Princess married Marquis Florentino in this castle, Velvet Castle has been marked as an important ce by the minister. It would bring the country to shame if a small uprising was able to break through the gate and looted everything inside.


    "Have you contacted Marquis Florentino?" Themander asked.


    "Yes, sir. He said that he will not give these people more food, also, he he threatened us by saying that he would report this to the court if we, Emperor''s soldiers cannot protect Velvet Castle from a small uprising!"


    Themander''s eyes widened, he didn''t expect Marquis Florentino to throw them under the bus. He indirectly threatened them to protect Velvet Castle or all of them would be executed once the Emperor returned.


    Themander gritted his teeth andmanded, "Fine then! Dispatch all soldiers to protect Velvet Castle!"


    The soldiers finally moved and sieged the crowd of protestants, they thought that there were only women and old men who would rally in this protest, since most of the able men were drafted to war. To their surprise, there were plenty of obviously young and able men who rallied in this protest.


    "Sir, there are many young and able men who joined in this protest!" the soldier reported. Themander started getting more and more anxious, "Where do theye from?! Almost all able men have been drafted to war!"


    Themander saw that more and more people showed up in this protest and soon, he predicted that he needed help from othermanders who protected neighboring regions.


    Floren was watching the rally from the third floor of the castle, he slid the curtain slightly to observe the situation, seeing that more and more soldiers were trying to contain the masses, he turned his head, his eyes darted to a man who had been waiting for his order, "Go tell Irion that Duchy of Arion should be ready to siege these soldiers. In about five hours, I predict that themander here would request the help of themander from Fulk Region."


    "Yes, sir!" the messenger nodded and disappeared. Floren frowned at the crowd who rallied out of hunger, "Aster he is really smart, yet ruthless, just like his mother. To starve the people like this"


    Floren got the instruction from Aster to hold all the food distribution during the war, because only the people of Dionde who wanted to cooperate voluntarily in this uprising. In order for the people to move and initiate and uprising themselves, they needed stimtion, and the best stimtion was of course, hunger.


    It was superbly effective, and the people of Viete didn''t even realize that there had been many foreign faces that joined their rally. In fact, they got even more fired up once they saw how many people were joining, Aster was ying with the herd mentality.


    Where did these foreign able men who joined the rally came from? Of course Rosalie helped bymanding all the servants and shadow guards that were owned by many smaller houses under her to join the rally.


    Floren''s hand clenched the curtain, he remembered that Rosalie was still in Golden Pce and was in herte stage of pregnancy, they were separated for this war. Although he did say that he didn''t like Rosalie at all, when his child was in her stomach, he was bound to be concerned.


    <em>''I just hope that he will fulfil his promise and give me my freedom.''</em>


    ***


    Irion got the news three hourster, he was in Duchy of Arion, he nodded andmanded the legendary soldiers. He counted and found that there were around fifty legendary soldiers. The amount might sound meager, but each of them have the capability of ten up to twenty regr soldiers at the same time.


    The legendary soldiers didn''t have a leader, they only took orders from their mistress or general, in which there would be a mandate from the previous leader about the change. Thus, Lady Merse appointed Aster as the new leader of the legendary soldiers. Irion pped his hand once to gather the attention, "Alright, I am Irion Swordheart. As you know, yourmander, Milord Aster Di Arlingdon is on his way to Golden Camellia. I will be acting as your temporarymander. The uprising in Viete is now getting more intense, get ready, because we are going to rally through three regions and finally helped the uprising in Dionde City!"


    "YES SIR!"


    Irion nodded as he mapped the route for the legendary soldiers, <em>''Alright then, from Arion, to Viete, Mynes, and then Dionde City. We should be able to reach Dionde after killing three regionmanders within only four days. To confuse themanders more, Swordheart soldiers should start the uprising in Fulk soon.''</em>


    Irion had stationed his soldiers in Fulk Region, the neighboring region of Viete and Arion. Right now, themander in Viete should''ve already requested reinforcement from Fulk. Milord told him to start the uprising in Fulk right after, so themanders were forced to send the reinforcements from neighboring Arion and Mynes because the uprising in Viete and Fulk were getting out of control. By that time, legendary soldiers could sweep themanders in four regions easily because they were confused and couldn''t gather their troops.


    Irion smiled as he could finally guess Milord''splete n. At first, Irion thought by sending all the troops to Dionde City, it would be enough, but with this structured rebellion, it would also raise the dissatisfaction of the people. Because their life was much worse after Aster disappeared from Golden Camellia.


    <em>''Milord wants to make sure that the people remembered him as apetent minister of economy, and he wants to nder Emperor Charles as much as possible, so Charles will gradually lose his foothold in his own Empire. He is not a saint, but he is indeedpetent.''</em>


    <strong>***</strong>


    Grand Duke Harion got the news from his messenger that all Diondians were ready for revenge. They were already preparing their weapon to attack the soldiers. But they were still waiting for Grand Duke''s order.


    Grand Duke Harion himself didn''t have any initiative in this war, he hadpletely given all the authority to Aster. He got the list of what he should do in this war from his son. And he knew that the uprising in the Viete region was getting more and more out of control, and the Fulk region would start soon.


    As for Dionde City? Aster told him to hold on for two days and then give the soldiers a cup of tea during the heavy snowfall.


    <em>-- Dear Father, on the third day of winter, Charles'' soldiers must''ve been cold and tired due to heavy winter, seeing that nothing has happened in Dionde City, they will feel dispirited. At this moment, please give all of them a loaf of warm bread and a cup of tea for each soldier, although they are not allowed to take anything from us, I am sure they will ept it due to hunger.</em>


    <em>Don''t forget to put a small dose of poison in each tea and bread, a small dose is enough so it won''t raise suspicion between the soldiers. Make sure that they feel really weak and feverish on the fourth day, and victory is ours.'' </em>


    <em>Aster Di Arlingdon.</em>