After a short battle, the winner of this long-distance battle was finally decided.
After a two-hour rapid march, Aigron allowed his army to rest for a while, then launched an all-out charge and captured the fortress on the hill in one fell swoop. After the fortress fell, the commanding heights also fell into his hands.
Although the reinforcements stationed in the port saw that the situation was not good, they tried to retreat and return to the port to organize defense. However, under Aigron's order, the regrouped troops immediately pursued and rushed into the port unstoppably.
Judging from the current situation, it is only a matter of time before he wins the final victory.
Aiglon stood on the hill, looking down at the small port in the distance, and stood blankly for a moment.
In addition to the dead who could be seen everywhere, there were wounded soldiers lying on the ground everywhere. Some of them forced themselves to endure, while others could not bear the severe pain and let out the wails of the dying.
There is no doubt that most of these wounded soldiers may die.
He didn't want to pretend to be in pain hypocritically, but looking at the pale and twisted faces of these dying people, he couldn't be happy at all, so much so that the victory seemed to fade away.
Is it all worth it?
Deep down, he didn't know the answer - but he knew that he had made too many sacrifices and would do the same in the future.
If you haven't gotten used to it yet, get used to it as soon as possible. He said to himself in his mind.
He must talk to all those generals and get used to treating casualties as ordinary numbers, because if he laments and laments for each casualty, he will have nothing else to do.
As if to dilute his depression at the moment, Aigron found Edmond Dantès passing in front of him.
"Edmund." Aigron called him immediately.
Edmond Dantès slowly turned his head, then stopped, and then saluted him. "Your Majesty! I have fulfilled my oath."
In front of Aiglon, his posture seemed humble and respectful, but if you observe carefully, you can feel the ferocious and violent killing aura from this man.
In just a few hours, he seemed to be a different person, exuding a completely different aura from the inside out.
Aigron clearly felt that the man in front of him seemed to be a ferocious beast that had escaped from its cage. He was full of murderous intent and seemed to be looking for the next victim and prey.
"Did you just kill someone?" Aigron asked.
After asking, he immediately realized that he had asked a redundant question - the blood stains on Edmond Dantes' body had already proved what he had just experienced.
"Yes, and more than one." Edmond Dantes admitted the fact frankly.
Then, he opened his blood-stained hands towards Aigron, "I stabbed a man's chest with my sword, and he fell wailing in front of me."
Aiglon looked at Edmond Dantès carefully and looked at his expression.
Although he was a lot more indifferent than usual, at least he wasn't crazy, but his mental state was already very wrong.
It seems that his experience of fighting on the front line today gave him a great mental impact.
This was not the result he wanted to see - he wanted to use blood to temper his Count of Monte Cristo, but he did not want him to go crazy because of bloodlust.
"How do you feel?" he asked cautiously.
"I thought I would be very disgusted, but now I find that it is much simpler than I thought." Edmond Dantès looked at the young man calmly, "I don't like taking other people's lives, but when I really And I won’t be afraid when I do it.”
Aigron wanted to say a few more words, but he felt he didn't know what to say.
"Have a good rest." In the end, he just stretched out his hand and patted the other party's shoulder gently, "I am very satisfied with your performance... Edmund, you deserve my trust in you. Work hard in the future. Come on, I will make you prosperous."
"Your Majesty, thank you for your trust in me... However, I think it is not time to rest yet." Edmond Dantès said while pointing to the port in the distance, "The battle there is not over yet. Please allow me to fight for you again."
"That's enough!" Aiglon interrupted him sharply. "I just said you can rest!"
Edmond Dantès was stunned. He looked at the young man in astonishment, wondering why he suddenly spoke so harshly.
However, he instinctively lowered his gaze, not daring to argue with the young man anymore, and quietly waited for his next scolding.
"Edmund, don't misunderstand me. I don't have any objections to you. On the contrary, I'm thinking about you." Looking at his lowered eyebrows, Aigron's tone softened. "You are brave and do more than I ask for, which pleases me very much. But what I need is a Count of Monte Cristo who is smart, calm, brave and has an iron will to despise life and death. Effectiveness, but I don’t want to see a bloodthirsty devil, a fanatic who takes pleasure in taking lives, which is very harmful to me and yourself."
After a pause, he continued, "I hope that besides making great contributions to me, you can also enjoy a good life in the future like a normal person - because I promised to give you this kind of life. .Now, come to my senses quickly! Edmond Dantès."
After Aiglon called out his full name, as if he had recited some spell, Edmond Dantès suddenly shuddered, and his numb nerves seemed to be revitalized.
He looked at his hands again.
Yes, enough blood has been stained, it's time to take a rest.
He slowly raised his head and looked around, and the world seemed to become alive again.
He thought again about the fighting he had just experienced. Although it was only a few dozen minutes ago, it seemed so vague and distant.
"Edmund, although we sometimes have to engage in killing, we must not take pleasure in killing. Because there are still many beautiful things waiting for us in this world." At this time, the young man spoke again.
This ordinary sentence, but when Edmond Dantès heard it at this moment, he almost shed tears.
This young man rescued him, pulled him out of the mud dungeon of Castle Eve, gave him the title of earl, and gave him trust and status. In addition, he also respected and cared about himself. He even promised a better life in the future.
Objectively speaking, if there is a savior in my life full of ups and downs, then He must be the image of this young man.
And although he is very young, he sometimes seems like a philosopher who is well versed in the world and can easily say something that makes him admire.
Maybe God has already destined some people to be born extraordinary.
"Your Majesty... thank you." He reluctantly controlled his thoughts, and then looked at Aiglon with gratitude, "The greatest luck in my life is to come under your command and serve you."
Although this kind of words sounds a bit disgusting, Aigron is quite happy - he believes that the other party is sincere and not a deliberate compliment.
"Okay, you have proved yourself enough today, let's stop here. Now I want to give you a new task..." Aigron laughed again, and then pointed to the corpses and injured scattered everywhere, " You can lead people to clean up the battlefield later, bury the dead, treat the wounded, including those dead Turkish soldiers, gather them together and bury them."
Aigron felt that Edmond Dantès had been stunned by the killing today, and asked him to be responsible for cleaning up the battlefield. Burying the dead might cool down his manic blood as quickly as possible, so he arranged this task.
"Okay, Your Majesty." Edmond Dantès agreed without thinking.
After a moment, he hesitated again, "Your Majesty, we have captured some prisoners before, what do you think we should do with them?"
Aiglon was stunned for a moment.
Because there were too many issues to consider before, he had not considered this issue.
But now, since we are at war with the Turks, we have to face this problem head-on.
What should be done with the prisoners?
It's obviously impossible to put them back, but it doesn't seem appropriate to keep them here - I have so few people now, and it's really not cost-effective to allocate more people to take care of the prisoners.
What's more, keeping the captives with you is bound to be a destabilizing factor.
What should we do? Should they all be shot or thrown into the sea?
Eggron immediately rejected this idea - he didn't really come here for the Greeks, and he himself had no enmity with the Turks. On the battlefield, everyone fought with swords, and it was reasonable to kill or be killed. People will say what they want, but if they kill prisoners indiscriminately, it will definitely give him a brutal image, which does not meet his needs.
And if he does this and fights the Turks again in the future, they will definitely resist to the death, which will be greatly detrimental to him.
After thinking for a moment, Aigron made a decision - throw the pot away.
"Gather the prisoners together, then escort them back on the ship and hand them over to the Greeks." Aiglon ordered Edmond Dantès, "Respect them, be kind to them along the way, and don't insult them. Or loot their belongings."
"Those Greeks and Turks have a deep hatred. If the prisoners fall into their hands, I'm afraid..." Edmond Dantès thought of something, but did not continue.
"Maybe that's true, but so what? I can't control everyone." Aigron shrugged indifferently. He didn't care about the fate of these prisoners at all, as long as he didn't kill them himself. "After we hand over the prisoners to them, we are not responsible for anything else. Even if the Greeks really kill them, as long as we don't get this dirty blood on our hands, it will be fine."
Edmond Dantes was silent.
Although he also knew that this was inappropriate, he really couldn't think of a better way.
After experiencing the fight just now, his heart has hardened a lot. Like Aigron, for him, as long as these prisoners were not killed by himself, his conscience can be fooled.
"Okay, I understand." He nodded.
"If we have prisoners in the future, we will do the same thing. We can't let the prisoners get in our way." Aigron added, "Of course, I will mention it to Panos and the others and ask them not to take all the prisoners." Kill them all, and at most let them do hard labor...I will give them one million a month, and I believe they will listen to my opinion."
After Aigron added, Edmond Dantès had no objection.
"Okay, Your Majesty, I will carry out your wishes." He nodded with conviction.
At this moment, Aigron noticed someone walking towards him.
The two people looked up at the same time and found that the person coming was Edgar de Treville.
Because they were friends, the captain of the guard, Andre Davout, did not stop him and allowed Edgar to walk quickly until he reached the young man.
"Your Majesty, congratulations on your victory!" Edgar stopped two or three steps in front of Aigron, and then without stopping, bowed to salute the young man with exaggerated movements. "Your reputation will be famous all over the world!"
Aiglon looked at Edgar calmly, with a disdainful sneer in his heart.
Compared to Edmond Dantès, who took the initiative and took the lead in the charge, Edgar was much "smarter".
Although he marched quickly with the large army, once he arrived here, he intentionally or unintentionally hid at the rear without exposing himself to the slightest risk of gunfire.
Aigron had noticed this a long time ago, but he had never thought about letting Edgar charge into battle for him, so he didn't care.
But I didn't expect that just as the situation was settled, Edgar happily ran over to congratulate him.
In a sense, he has the sense of a jester...Aiglon complained in his heart.
But on the surface, he remained calm.
"God bless us, we have won this victory. But this is just the first step. There are still many challenges waiting for us, and it is not time to be happy yet." He replied calmly.
"Your humility is as awe-inspiring as your talent." Edgar immediately complimented the young man, and then took the initiative to ask, "Please allow me to use my insignificant talent to leave a commemorative painting for you. Seeing your image at this moment, I simply can’t restrain my desire to create.”
"Really? Very good, then I'm looking forward to your work, Edgar." Aigron smiled and nodded.
Just when Edgar was secretly happy, Aigron suddenly changed the subject, "But right now, I have other things for you to do."
"What's the matter?" Edgar secretly screamed, so he asked nervously.
"I just asked Edmund to collect the dead and rescue the wounded." Aiglon said while looking at Edmond Dantès, "He happens to be short of manpower, so you can join him. .”
Edgar's mood suddenly hit rock bottom.
He originally seized the opportunity and fully thought that he could congratulate His Majesty at his happiest moment. However, he did not expect that it would be self-defeating and he would get such a task.
He turned his head and looked at the bleeding corpses lying on the ground in the distance, and suddenly felt the desire to vomit.
"What's the matter, Edgar?" Aigron asked in a low voice. "Aren't you happy? Then maybe I should arrange some tasks for you that are more like a warrior..."
"No, Your Majesty, I'm happy to!" Edgar shuddered and immediately answered loudly.
