Opening the City and Accepting Surrender

The fall of Ward Town and the tragic deaths of Governor William and his family, like a horrific Black Death, swept through the entire Field Territory at an alarming speed, accompanied by the desperate cries of refugees and the deliberate intimidation messages spread by the Sauron, and quickly spread into the heart of the kingdom.

This most fatal and direct blow landed precisely on the capital of Field Territory, the wealthy Field City, known as the "Golden Basin".

When Asgeir led the main force of the Tiger Corps, whose morale had soared even higher due to their plundering desires after the bitter battle of Ward Town, to the Field City, he did not immediately order a fierce attack as he had done at Ward Town.

Asgeir also learned a few tricks from his Harald, adopting a more insidious and ruthless tactic.

He ordered his men to transport Governor William's badly rotten, crow-eaten remains in a large cart to the most conspicuous spot outside Field City.

He used a specially heightened spear to lift it up again, so that every soldier, every official, and even some daring citizens on the city wall could clearly see the final fate of this former governor of the Northern Territory and an important member of the Field family.

The flowing silver hair, the shattered armor, and the inhuman body created a terrifying and impactful scene.

Meanwhile, a group of prisoners who had survived the massacre in Ward Town and had been deliberately left behind were driven to the front lines.

Under the threat of swords from the Sauron soldier, they wept bitterly, their trembling, desperate voices repeatedly recounting the bloody experiences of how the resisters were massacred, burned alive, and slaughtered like livestock.

The empty eyes and hysterical cries of these survivors were more devastating than any War Drum or horns.

This move had a devastating and immediate effect.

The highest-ranking officer in Field City was a distant cousin of the Duke of Field, Sir Elmer.

He had long been pampered and indulged, and his personality was inherently indecisive. He lacked real combat experience, let alone an iron will.

When he witnessed firsthand the tragic end of the once-prestigious Governor William, and heard firsthand the hellish ordeal that followed the resistance in Ward Town, the last vestiges of his sense of duty to defend the land and his aristocratic honor were instantly consumed by fear.

The officials, advisors, and prominent nobles around him, most of whom were sophisticated egoists nurtured by the city's commercial prosperity, were now terrified.

The voices advocating war were so faint they were almost inaudible, quickly drowned out by a chorus of pessimism and surrender.

"Surrender... only by surrendering can the lives of tens of thousands of people in the city be saved! This is the greatest mercy!" a fat councilor said, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Even Lord William ... Our Field City is a commercial capital. The city walls may look high, but they haven't been ravaged by war for many years, and the garrison is poorly trained. How can they possibly withstand the ferocious Sauron Tiger Corps?" Another nobleman chimed in.

"Wealth can be earned back, but once you die, you lose everything! The important thing is to survive!" This was the sentiment of several prominent merchants whose businesses and lives were all in the city.

In this atmosphere permeated with fear, Sir Elmer, completely broke down psychologically.

He didn't even make any proper military preparations; after merely symbolically "consulting" a few of the city's wealthiest merchants, he quickly made the decision to surrender unconditionally.

Thus, Field City, one of the wealthiest cities in the southern part of the Goldflower Kingdom, with tens of thousands of inhabitants and astonishing wealth enough to make any conqueror envious, opened its heavy city gates without firing a single arrow or lighting a single signal.

The defenders, dejected, laid down their weapons, removed their armor, and gathered in the square.

Officials and nobles, dressed in their finest clothes, knelt tremblingly on both sides of the road leading to the city center, carrying thick registers, keys to the treasury, and seals symbolizing the city's authority, to welcome Asgeir and his Tiger Corps into the city with the utmost humility.

Asgeir, riding his tall warhorse, looked down on the ridiculous scene of "welcoming the king's army with food and drink," a smug and cruel smile on his face.

He captured this most dazzling jewel of Field Territory without losing a single soldier, a feat far surpassing the conquest of ten Ward Town.

He did, on the surface, keep his vague promise that "there would be no large-scale massacre if people surrendered," and did not order the indiscriminate, organized bloody purge like that in Ward Town.

But this does not imply any form of mercy.

The so-called "order" vanished the moment the Sauron soldier stepped through the city gates.

After entering the city, the true nature of the Tiger Corps, this barbaric army, was immediately revealed. Like a dam breaking, their long-suppressed desire for plunder surged forth.

Although organized mass killings were avoided, small-scale, spontaneous acts of violence spread to every corner of the city, and there was no way to stop them.

First, it was a systematic, top-down, large-scale looting.

Asgeir was most concerned about was naturally the enormous wealth accumulated in Field City.

He directly dispatched elite troops to occupy the Duke's mansion, the city hall, the headquarters of major guilds, and the treasuries, warehouses, and stores of all the well-known merchants in the city.

In the days that followed, Field City experienced the most thorough and brutal looting in its history.

Boxes of heavy, gleaming gold and Silver coin were carried out by soldiers from cellars, secret rooms, and even burial sites in the garden, and piled on the wagons.

Mountains of silk, precious spices, exquisite porcelain, ivory carvings, and gemstone jewelry were rummaged through from the warehouse, while the less valuable items were carelessly discarded and trampled upon.

Huge public granaries and private grain stacks were opened, and top-quality wheat, barley, flour, as well as barrels of cured meat and ham were continuously transported to the Sauron camp outside the city.

Outside the city, herds of fat cattle and sheep were driven out of the pastures. Even valuable furniture, art treasures, and even magnificent chandeliers and carpets from the mansions of wealthy merchants were dismantled and taken away with everything they could.

Asgeir even assembled a massive transport team composed of prisoners and conscripted laborers to transport this astonishing amount of spoils back to his northern stronghold day and night.

The wealth accumulated by generations, even dozens of generations, in Field City was looted in just a few days, and the city's economic lifeline was completely severed.

At the same time, there was rampant looting and atrocities committed by rank-and-file soldiers against civilians.

The official looting satisfied the appetites of the legions and leaders, while the greed of ordinary Sauron soldier required direct exploitation from the civilians.