Victor had spent 1 and a half weeks dwelling on the matter concerning the newly acquired prisoners from the Kingdom of Gu. There were too many of them to handle. Prisoners were slowly dying due to disease and injuries. If Victor continued to do nothing, disease could spread around the northern part of his kingdom.
Victor thought about creating a military brigade filled with willing prisoners of war; however, that idea was quickly shot down. None of the Gu prisoners spoke Bulgartic, and there was no way that they could be trusted. With this in mind, Victor had to make one of the most brutal decisions of his life.
He had sent an order to Field Marshal Wellesley. It was giving him permission to swiftly and humanely execute all the prisoners and burn their bodies. This decision did not come easily for Victor. He spent many sleepless nights trying to come up with a better solution. To his dismay, he could not conjure any magical idea that would see the Gu prisoners released back home.
Even if he had tried to ransom them back to the Kingdom of Gu, there was no way Victor would trust Gu Tian to peacefully pick up his soldiers. The foreign king was more likely to ferry over a new army to attack them instead.
It took the messenger pigeon a few days to reach the city of Osterbon. Field Marshal Wellesley quickly began to follow his King's order. He dispatched soldiers to begin digging large pits outside and away from the city. Once they had finished, they began transporting all the prisoners there.
As soon as the prisoners arrived, they were taken in smaller groups of 100. The groups went one by one to the pit were they would have their throats slit. Multiple pits were soon filled with thousands of dead Gu soldiers. When the pits were full, oil was poured into the pits and promptly lit on the fire.
The smell that came from the pits was putrid; all the Luxenberg soldiers were required to wear clothes over their faces as they lit the pits on fire. Osterbon's prisoners were not the only ones to suffer this fate. All the prisoners across the northern cities were executed. Over 40,000 corpses were burned as a result.
While the executions were being carried out, Grand Admiral Nelson and his fleet had returned. With them were the two corpses of Prince Gu San-Tong and Prince Gu Yichen. Their bodies were treated with the utmost respect, befitting their status as princes. Victor was already preparing a ship to transport their bodies back home.
As for Stetson, he was not treated with the same respect as the two princes. Victor saw that Stetson would rot in the dungeons with his parents. The reason Victor did not kill him or torture him was because he did not know about Stetson's part to play in the execution of his uncle.
Dealing with the prisoners had taken a heavy toll on Victor. He was responsible for the death of over 40,000 prisoners. They had all died a meaningless death on a foreign continent. There was no reason for this war; no one could understand why King Gu Tian wanted this war, especially after just recently unifying his own continent.
Regardless of the reasoning behind this war, Victor knew it was his turn to take action. He could not allow the continued slaps in the face. His army was ready for war; they just needed to know where to begin it.
Victor was in a meeting room with Field Marshal Schwarzenberg, looking at a map of the Simbar continent. They were devising where they should strike first. The plan was to create a foothold on the continent by securing a port city. The Luxenberg soldiers would have to wait 3 months for reinforcements, so they needed a place that they could hold out for that long.
Guangdong was one option they considered. It was the closest port city to the capital of Xiangyang, and was the city closest to the continent of Bulgar. The only issues with that city were that it did not have towering walls, and the main Gu Army could quickly muster to take it.
Another city that was a strong candidate was the port city of Hunyuan. It was a larger port city with towering walls. The city was located on the north-eastern end of the continent. It was almost a 2-month journey from Hannover, and a 4-week march away from Xiangyang.
If there was any chance of the Luxenberg Invasion succeeding, Hunyuan needed to be conquered first. It would take four weeks for the full invasion force to muster in Hannover. Ships from Osterbon and Bismarck would need time to travel down to Hannover.
If the invasion force was to leave in a month, letters would need to be sent immediately. Messenger pigeons quickly departed Hannover, bearing vital instructions for Field Marshal Wellesley, who was stationed in Osterbon and Marshal Lannes, who was temporarily stationed in Bismarck.
Both commanders would begin mobilising the troops and loading them into the transport ships along with a plentiful amount of supplies. Food, ammunition, medical components and other essential supplies were being prepared for this invasion. There needed to be an ample surplus of supplies stored away on each ship. They could not risk stashing all their supplies on just a handful of ships. If they were sunk, it would spell disaster for the invasion.
Luxenberg battleships were thoroughly inspected for any damage before being given the all clear to join the invasion fleet. Grand Admiral Nelson was anal about having his fleet in pristine condition before departing. He did not want any unforeseen issues to arise during their voyage.
Being at sea for two months would make many of the Luxenberg soldiers suffer. There was no magical drug to help prevent this, so Victor would need his fleet to deal some heavy damage to the city before landing the infantry.
Preparations were quickly carried out, and soon, the invasion fleet would depart from Hannover's port.