While the Sozzini Army was making haste towards Sinolla, they failed to realise that they had not heard any news from their scouts. This oversight would cost them dearly.
Leading at the head of the army, General Arlo was riding with his bodyguard. They were hell-bent on reaching Sinolla. However, due to their focus on Sinolla, they did not notice the shadowy figure upon the hills on either side of them.
The majority of their column had made it into the valley, while the artillery and supply carts were lagging behind.
With more shadowy outlines appearing on the hills, many foot soldiers of the Sozzini Army had begun to recognise that they were being watched. With the uneasy sense of being watched, the reports began to flood the officers, and then they made their way to General Arlo.
"General, look to either side of us." A mounted soldier said.
General Arlo glanced over his shoulder to see over 100 silhouettes appearing on either side of him. They were far away, and the General chalked it up to being a Luxenberg scouting party. But once he pulled out his spyglass and saw what was truly on the hills, his expression darkened.
"Prepare to be attacked! Infantry, loose formation!" Shouted General Arlo.
But his orders were drowned out by the sounds of cannon fire. Over 100 cannons let loose a devastating volley upon them.
Cannonballs eviscerated the ranks of Sizzoni infantry. Mangled body parts flew about, while men ducked for cover or tried to flee. Cavalrymen lost control of their mounts, and the morale of the army was shattered in an instant.
"Stand and fight, men! Stand and fight!" Bellowed General Arlo, but his attempt to rally his men was in vain.
As he said that, the cannon fire stopped, but the rumbling did not. Thousands of hooves stomped upon the earth, and the Luxenberg Cavalry descended the hill at an alarming rate. They were in a loose formation, so the Luxenberg Cavalry would have a field day killing Sozzini men.
Cavalrymen ran rampant as they cut down the Sozzini Soldiers in thousands. Sabres and lances were coated in blood. The dead decorated the earth in a random assortment. Those who tried to flee were eventually run down and shared a fate similar to their comrades who stayed and fought.
Within a couple of hours, the battle concluded, and only 11,000 Sozzini Soldiers survived. Marshal Davout's plan for an ambush succeeded with flying colours. With General Arlo captured, there were no senior commanders or administrators in Sinolla. The chain of command had been broken, and Victor sought to exploit that.
After dealing with the wounded, Victor and his men marched to support Field Marshal Wellesley and his besieging force. But when Victor arrived, there was no siege camp, no artillery positions and no sound of battle. Instead, the Luxenberg coat of arms flew atop Sinolla's walls that were manned by men of the 3rd Corps. Victor and his main army marched into the city with zero opposition.
When Victor arrived at the Sozzini palace, he was informed that on the day of the ambush, the city ultimately surrendered due to the pressure of being annihilated. If a volley from Victor's fleet was fired, the city would face catastrophic damage.
It was helpful that there were no senior leadership left in the city. If General Arlo and his troops were in the city, it would have been a completely different situation. But General Arlo was not, and the city was now Victor's. All Victor could do now was continue moving forward.
The first thing Victor did was assign General Rapp and General Tauentzien to escort the prisoners of war to Prato. This was to eliminate any chance of a rebellion. Once dealing with the prisoners, Victor's next course of action was to solidify his position.
There were two ways he could do this. First, he could fortify Sinolla and Prato and hope to defend them while Grand Admiral Nelson ferried more troops to reinforce them. Reinforcements would take at least 4 months to arrive, but they would most likely come from the Simbar, as the round trip between the continents is 3 and a half months.
Victor could enlist reinforcements from the White Tiger General, Kan Ki, and his army in the west of Simbar. They could get an additional 100,000 infantrymen, 22,000 cavalrymen and 400 cannons.
This was the better option for Victor, as it also gave him time to enlist the help of the three neutral counties in the eastern part of the continent.
The other option was to be aggressive and secure the entire north. Victor would leave a skeleton garrison in Sinolla and march directly south, taking the two vassal counties of Duke Sozzini.
It would be a risky plan; the Luxenberg Army could not afford to be stretched thin, especially if Alphonse sends an army north, or worse, the Pope and Alphonse work together to eliminate.
Bearing all that in mind, Victor made haste with dispatching his fleet. If the winds were good, and General Kan Ki had his soldiers mustered near a port city, then they could get back to Sinolla within four months.
Four months was a long time, and the continental war could shift anyway. So Victor would need to use these four months to forge an alliance with the neutral counties and dissuade the citizens of Sinolla from rebelling.
While Victor was beginning to fortify his position. A messenger pigeon flew with an important message from the north. For more than a day, this messenger pigeon that had secretly flown away from Sinolla was nearing the loft of Roma.
When the attendant in charge of the loft saw the pigeon, he quickly read the letter attached to the pigeon's foot. With each word read, the attendant grew more and more panicked. The attendant sprinted from the loft, across the palace courtyard, to the throne room where Alphonse was.
Interrupting Alphonse's meeting, the attendant spoke, "Your Majesty, I bring you an urgent message."
Seeing the worried state that the attendant was in, Alphonse promptly read the message.