On the 5th day of the siege, nothing had changed in terms of each army's approach. It was almost identical to the previous day's outcome. The Gu cannons had continued to pelt the walls while losing 200 cannons in the process, whereas the Luxenberg Army lost another couple of dozen.
The walls of Hunyuan were visibly weakened, much to the delight of Crown Prince Gu Lintian and his army. They were a few days away from breaching the walls. This realisation had many commanders from the Luxenberg Army nervous. They had hoped that they could inflict more casualties today and really batter the Gu artillery; unfortunately for them, that was not the case.
The sustained damage the wall had received over the last two days was problematic. Some of the engineers predicted it would collapse in another two days at the earliest. Victor's hope of an improved outcome was squashed by the effectiveness of the Gu cannons. What was worse was that Victor's defenders were beginning to worry about the walls collapsing under them. A few of the Luxenberg artillery crews were hesitant to man the wall.
With growing concerns about the Hunyuan's walls, Victor convened his commanders once again to hopefully draw up a reasonable solution. When the sun set and everyone was gathered, Victor addressed them, "Gentlemen, you are my kingdom's finest commanders and yet none of us has been able to come up with a solution. I urge you to think long and hard about what we can do to stop them from breaching the walls."
The generals took a while to conjure up ideas; they did not want to suggest the same ideas as they had the previous night. General Lasalle, once again, put forward a daring idea. "My Liege, could we not try and sabotage their cannons? Surely we have saboteurs capable enough to at least take out a few hundred."
Field Marshal Schwarzenberg shook his head, "We do not have the men capable enough for this type of mission, nor do we have the equipment to deal with that many cannons. I hate to tell you this, but we can not sally out. We must remain steadfast and hold the city."
Once again, there was another long silence; none of Victor's generals could come up with anything viable, apart from General Kamensky, but his plan crossed many boundaries. "My Liege, if I may be so bold. We do not necessarily need to target the cannons to stop them from firing."
Everyone remained quiet and intently listened to the conversation between Victor and General Kamensky. "What do you mean by that, General. The floor is yours, so please explain your plan in full," replied Victor, slightly unsure of where General Kamensky's plan was going.
General Kamensky offered a slight grin that left many uncomfortable. "We brought 60 out of the 80 rocket artillery pieces in the Luxenberg Army. In addition to that, we have 20 poisonous warheads that need field testing. Why not see how effective it is? The enemy is camped within range of the rocket troops. Many of their tents are in a small forest. Let us spread fear through fire and poison."
As to his nature, the cruel suggestion that General Kamensky made was diabolical, running a thin line on the border of war crimes. None of Victor's commanders spoke up in support or disagreement. They did not wish to comment on something as devious as General Kamensky's suggestion.
"General Kamensky, you are aware how heinous such an idea is, right? I understand we are on the back foot here, but resorting to that is unfathomable. If the world found out about this, we would be labelled as sycophants and villainous scum. Do you think our kingdom could handle the repercussions?" Victor worriedly remarked. He knew that this idea would spell nothing but trouble.
Marshal Lefebvre quickly chimed into the conversation and shocked the group, "My Liege, I concur with General Kamensky's plan. If we use the poison warheads to incapacitate the enemy, and then use the incendiary warheads to burn their camp within the trees, we would greatly shift the momentum of this siege. I am forever loyal to you, but I think this is our only option."
Before Victor could even get a word in, Marshal Lannes was quick to protest this idea, "Our king is right. This idea is heinous and inhumane. I understand our current position, but there has to be another way we can go about this. We are not seriously considering doing such an atrocious thing?"
Soon enough, the conversation had snowballed into a full-on heated debate. General Kamensky led the faction that supported the idea of the poisonous warheads, while Marshal Lannes led the opposition.
Victor had hoped that Marshal Lannes could dissuade the other commanders from taking such a drastic action. Victor did not want to take a stance and go against the advice of his esteemed commanders. He had to remain neutral and think about the army's best interests. It was not just Victor who sat on the fence; General Rapp and Marshal Soult watched alongside him as the madness unfolded.
In the end, the decision came down to a vote. Victor's neutrality had caused the decision-making to boil down to a democratic solution. There were eleven voters, including Victor. Six commanders voted for the poisonous warheads, while three voted to oppose them. General Rapp and Marshal Soult both abstained from voting.
To Victor's dismay, the majority had voted for the use of poisonous warheads. As one of the voters who were opposed to this decision, it was hard for Victor to order such a cruel attack, but it needed to be done. He could not afford discord amongst his commanders, hence why he let the decision come down to a vote. If he showed favouritism, it would mean straining the relationships of his commanders.
With a sullen look, Victor addressed his commanders, "It seems that we have come to a decision. General Kamensky, you will take the lead on this. If you are going to follow through with the plan, now is the best time. There is no wind, and the enemy is unaware of what we might do."
General Kamensky cupped his fist and placed it on his chest, "I shall see it done, My King."