50,000 cavalrymen stormed out of the Hunyuan gatehouse. Lances and sabres were brandished as they surged into the camp.
The Gu soldiers were caught unaware as the Luxenberg defenders mercilessly cut them down. Simbarnese soldiers flailed about as they tried to save themselves. There was no organisation or teamwork amongst the Gu men. None of them thought to form infantry squares.
Horses stamped the ground violently as they propelled themselves further at a vicious pace. Sabres and lances were stained red with blood, while the hooves of the warhorses were beginning to share a similar colour.
High-ranking officers in the Gu Army panicked and tried to marshal their forces; however, the undisciplined soldiers of their army proved that to be a difficult task. Thousands of casualties were beginning to pile up, and the fate of the Gu Army was destitute. General Lasalle brazenly frolicked into the fray, slashing any Gu soldier in his path. The Hussar General demonstrated his martial prowess, inspiring his men to fight fiercely.
General Rapp was the same; his bravery and ferociousness saw him in the thick of the battle. His courage was well known and respected throughout the Luxenberg Army. He was a veteran of all of Victor's battles. During those battles, he had picked up many scars, each a trophy symbolising strength and honour.
The experience of the two French Generals helped the Luxenberg vanguard deeply puncture the Gu Army's defensive line. General Kamensky and his infantry in the rearguard were now starting to join the melee. Bayonets waved about as the soldiers from both armies clashed. The soldiers from the Gu Army were not as skilled in melee compared to their enemy. They aimlessly thrusted and slashed away, hoping to kill their opponent.
Bodies were littering the earth as more and more Gu soldiers were killed. With the heavy losses, the Gu Army soldiers gradually surrendered. They had lost over 300,000 soldiers within an hour and a half; this was a grave loss considering the army had slightly over 550,000 soldiers just three hours ago.
It took a while for all the Gu soldiers to surrender. In the end, the Luxenberg Army had captured 200,000 soldiers while another 50,000 had fled. This was an astronomical amount of prisoners, especially when there was no place for them to be locked away. Victor dreaded the thought of having such a high prisoner population. He remembered the sad order that he had to give to the 40,000 prisoners that were stranded on his continent.
All the Luxenberg soldiers were deployed to round up the prisoners into clustered groups. The city of Hunyuan had deployed all available soldiers to assist in this task, given the fact it was such a ginormous amount of enemy soldiers. Victor's summoned Simbarnese soldiers were critical to this task as they could help communicate with the enemy prisoners.
When all the prisoners were gathered, Victor needed to make a quick decision on what to do with them. He could be cruel and sentence them to death; however, that would ruin any chance of peacefully ruling this continent, plus Victor would never be able to forgive himself.
There was no way they could house all the prisoners, so Victor took the initiative to make a decision without consulting his commanders. In the spur of the moment, Victor began to deliver a powerful speech while atop his war horse. To the surprise of all present, Victor delivered his speech in fluent Simbarnese
"Soldiers of the Gu Army! My name is Victor Luxenberg, King of the Kingdom of Luxenberg. I stand before you not as a tyrant or maniac, but as a simple man. It was not by my hand that this war was started, I never wanted it, but I am merely acting in retaliation to your piss poor excuse of a king."
"It is not my intention to kill or torture you all. I am not as ruthless as Gu Tian. My wish is for you to return to your homes and never take up arms against me. I am not here as a conqueror or a dictator, but as a liberator. I know many of you are former citizens of the Sun and Zhao Kingdoms. You have suffered war at the hands of Gu Tian. Leave peacefully, return to your homes, and no longer fight for a man who would not fight for you."
All the Luxenberg commanders were shocked and confused. They did not know that their king could speak Simbarnese, let alone give a full speech while speaking it. None of them knew what was said, but the summoned Simbarnese soldiers were cheering for Victor's compassion.
"My Liege, what is it that you said? What are your orders?" Asked Field Marshal Schwarzenberg with a serious face. Victor smiled at his subordinate and then proceeded to translate a portion of his speech into Bulgartic. He did not say the entirety of his speech, but summarised the key messages for his soldiers.
At first, many of his men were confused by his magnanimity. It was unheard of to release 200,000 prisoners of war for nothing. No grand ransom needed to be paid, no territory needed to be ceded, and peace was not offered.
Victor had done something truly monumental. While he still had 100,000 souls resting on his shoulders, the weight felt increasingly lighter with his good deeds. All foot soldiers, artillery crews and cavalrymen were released. Any officer ranked Lieutenant or higher was kept in captivity for questioning.
Releasing 200,000 soldiers was seriously risky; a very unorthodox course of action. One of which could backfire miserably, resulting in the same 200,000 soldiers taking up arms against Victor again. But in that moment, it was not worry or doubt that rested in Victor's mind; it was pride. He was proud to do something that did not result in the death of tens of thousands of men.
Victor's decision to release the prisoners was met with absolute disagreement. None of his commanders could conceive of such an odd idea. Not even Marshal Lannes could fathom such an idea, and he was the most humanitarian-focused out of all the commanders.
To many of his commanders' surprise, this was not the only idea Victor had.