After Edmond Dantes returned to the team safely, the last trace of worry in Aigron's heart was relieved.
It is true that he suffered heavy losses in the battle around Mesolongion, but his backbone was not damaged. Most of his most trusted and important people are still alive. The previous losses can be recovered through subsequent Supplement to make up for it without causing fatal injuries.
As long as he wins, all the sacrifices will be worth it - he will remove the Turks' largest stronghold in western Greece and control a large area; at the same time, his already great reputation will inevitably increase even more. , everyone will see that he overcame obstacles, overcame difficulties, and put in the greatest efforts for the cause of independence of the Greek people, and no one will doubt that he just took advantage of the situation and harvested the fruits of victory.
The most important thing for him now is to end the war as soon as possible and then prepare for the next step.
So he secretly ordered Michel Ney to send people to the fortress to persuade him to surrender.
In order to achieve his goal, he used both hard and soft tactics, and set a two-day consideration period, threatening that if he did not surrender within two days, after the city was broken, he would let all the captured people be handed over to the Greeks and die in agony.
While persuading them to surrender, his men continued to attack, on the one hand to erode their remaining positions and consume their few resources; on the other hand, to exert mental pressure to make the defenders collapse as soon as possible.
After doing all this work, Aigron waited anxiously for a response - in his opinion, the conditions he proposed were generous enough, and if they were still rational, the garrison officers would not refuse.
He didn't believe that these Turks really had the heroic spirit to live and die with the fortress.
Sure enough, on the afternoon when the deadline he proposed was about to end, several military envoys with white flags appeared on the front line.
Michelle Ney, who knew what was going on, immediately ordered these people to be sent to Aiglon.
Aeglon then met them in his tent.
Not long ago, the two sides had a brief ceasefire in order to collect the remains of the fallen, and there were military envoys coming and going between the two sides, but this was the first time that Aiglon personally received them.
The leader was a Turkish officer. Even though his clothes and beard were disheveled due to the fierce battle, it could still be seen that he was well-educated.
When they saw Aigron, they were all stunned for a moment, marveling at his youth. Then, they all bowed and saluted the young man.
"My lord, I am here to see you on the orders of our commander." Then, the leading officer said to Aiglon in fluent French. "My name is Ahmed Yusuf Yassin. It is an unforgettable honor for me to meet you. I salute you!"
Because after Aigron came to Greece, the title he used publicly was the head of the Knights of Fontainebleau, so he faced the young man with this title.
After he finished speaking, he lowered his head deeply and was extremely humble.
Seeing his attitude, Aigron knew that he would be done soon.
He was in a good mood, so he smiled and nodded to the other person.
"Nice to meet you too, sir."
Then, without being too polite, he went directly to the topic, "The deadline I proposed is coming soon. I can understand that the purpose of your coming here is to give me an answer?"
"Yes, sir." Yusuf Yassin nodded, "Our commander, after careful consideration and weighing, decided to agree to your terms and surrender to Kaicheng."
As he spoke, he looked at the young man carefully and curiously. He seemed a little frightened, fearing that if he said the wrong thing, he would offend the young man and plunge himself and the remaining robes into eternal disaster.
From his awe-filled gaze, Aigron finally felt that he was now a famous figure.
He has grown from the poor prince with nothing to a big man who can control the life, death, misfortune and blessings of tens of thousands of people.
For a moment, he was filled with secret joy.
However, there was still a voice in his heart warning him - how can you be complacent just because of this small achievement? ! How can your achievements only reach this level? !
This warning made him calm down again.
"I'm glad you made the right decision." He nodded calmly, as if it was just a trivial matter.
Then he asked, "So what conditions do you want to put forward?"
"You promised in your previous letter not to hand us over to the Greeks and to ensure our personal safety." Yusuf Yassin whispered, "We hope you can confirm it again in writing."
His attitude seemed very unconfident, because he himself knew that now he no longer had any capital to resist, and would face failure no matter what. Now that he could fight for a glimmer of hope, he was already showing mercy to the other party.
"No problem. I will list this item in our formal peace treaty." Aigron nodded lightly and agreed to the other party's request. "Anything else?"
"Except for the weapons that must be surrendered, please keep all other personal belongings of our officers and soldiers safe." Yusuf Yassin continued, "Of course... in order to compensate for your warriors who have fought bloody battles these days. We will donate a sum of money to reward them and make up for our apology."
Although he spoke evasively, Aigron understood immediately. Although he nominally said 'our officers and soldiers', he actually meant the property of the officers.
After these Turkish troops came to Greece, they burned, killed and looted everywhere. The officers must have a lot of looted property. Under normal circumstances, after the fortress was breached, they would either be killed directly or looted. There is no way to save these belongings.
So after deciding to surrender, they hoped to "hand over a sum of money" in exchange for Aiglon to preserve their remaining belongings so as not to lose everything.
His eyes were full of pleading. Obviously, for them, this was the most important condition.
In principle, Aigron could indeed agree to this condition. After all, he didn't care about the property he robbed, but... he was unwilling to agree to the other party so easily.
"After the fortress is handed over to us, all items will be returned to us, and any property and weapons inside will be confiscated. This is our natural right as the winner, and I will not give up." Aigron said coldly at first replied coldly.
When Yusuf Yassin showed a look of despair, Agron changed the topic again, "However, as a person who likes to be lenient, I am not unable to make some accommodations. When confiscating property, we will conduct Register accordingly. If you behave well in the future, I can return some personal property belonging to the officers at my discretion——"
Yusuf Yassin's expression suddenly softened a little. Although the young man's tone was still very harsh, at least it still gave them a glimmer of hope.
Now their fate is indeed determined by his kindness.
"Are there any other conditions?" Aigron asked again.
"You said in your letter that some of us can be released appropriately. How many people are allowed to be released, and to what extent?" Yusuf Yassin continued to ask his question, "Is it Are the officers allowed to leave as well?”
Aigron had already considered this question, so he answered it without thinking.
"The number of people released cannot exceed one-fifth of your total number, and the ratio of soldiers to officers is ten to one. As for the specific people to be released, it is up to you to decide, except for your commander Ibrahim Musta Except for Mr. Fa-Omar, who cannot leave, others can come and go freely."
He had previously estimated that after the heavy casualties caused by the continuous fierce battles, there should be about two thousand healthy and able people in the fortress.
If one-fifth of them were released, about three to four hundred people would be released. The release of these people would have little impact on him and would not change the future war situation. Even after they return to the Turkish army, they may still Help spread your reputation.
On the one hand, doing so will make the defenders feel more confident in surrendering, and on the other hand, it will also show their compassion, establish a good relationship with the Turks, and lay the foundation for possible future cooperation.
Sure enough, after he said this, Yusuf Yassin seemed even more overjoyed.
"Thank you for your mercy!" He suddenly knelt down on one knee, and then Aiglon bowed and saluted. "Sir, in this case we have no other demands - although we have fought hard, under the current situation we can only choose to surrender, and we have fulfilled our obligations, and no one can blame us for our choice. From now on, our fate will be decided by you, and we pray for your mercy..."
His tone was as humble as before. Although surrender was never a good experience for any soldier, they had no other choice at the moment.
Between survival and dignity, survival is more important after all, and this young man has already offered them relatively generous terms.
"You've finished stating your conditions, then it's my turn." Aigron said calmly.
"What do you want?" Yusuf Yassin immediately became nervous, fearing that the young man would suddenly put forward some embarrassing conditions.
"I promised to feed you after you surrender instead of handing it over to my allies; but this also means that I have the right to drive you to work in order to compensate for the price I paid - after the war is over, I will feed you in Mai Solongion builds some monuments, you are responsible for providing labor, and after the monuments are completed, you must collectively pay tribute to those heroes who died in the war."
Eggron made these terms with a serious expression—obviously, they were not negotiable.
Although this condition is indeed a bit humiliating, now that it has reached this point, Yusuf Yassin certainly does not want to offend this young man again.
So, he nodded with difficulty and agreed to this condition. "Okay, we will obey your instructions."
"Very good." Aigron nodded with satisfaction, and then extended his hand to Yusuf Yassin, who was still kneeling on one knee. "Sir, I am very sorry for everything that happened before, but everything has become a After all, I will do my best to fulfill my promise, and I wish you good luck."
Yusuf Yassin also reached out and took Agron's hand, expressing his respect in a humble gesture.
================================
After completing the brief negotiation, Aiglon watched the envoys leave their camp and then returned to the remaining lines of the defenders.
He waited quietly for the moment when his victory would finally arrive.
He did not wait long. On the morning of the next day, the defenders who were originally staying in the trenches and city walls waved white flags. Then they put down their weapons, raised their hands high, lined up, and walked out of their original positions. .
Because they knew nothing about the surrender negotiations, the soldiers on the front line were a little shocked by this scene, but soon Michel Ney informed the entire army that the enemy officially surrendered.
The enemy surrendered!
As if loaded with radio waves, the news quickly spread throughout the army.
The seemingly never-ending sound of gunfire had stopped now, and the entire fortress was as quiet as if it was in another world.
But just a moment later, deafening cheers suddenly drowned all the frontline positions.
Then, a large group of soldiers in black military uniforms walked out of the trenches and positions and rushed towards the fortress quickly.
This time there was no one to stop them. They crossed the trenches and ravines, climbed up the city wall, and then rushed into the fortress that they had dreamed of but had never been able to obtain, and saw its true appearance.
While the whole army was ecstatic, Michel Ney was naturally not carried away. While they worked hard to maintain order, they sent out a special team to receive all the weapons of the defenders as soon as possible and seal all the supplies and belongings inside.
The inventory of prisoners was also being carried out at the same time.
And Aigron doesn't have to worry about all this.
Surrounded and cheered by a large group of soldiers, he led his guards into the fortress, and what greeted him was a middle-aged man in his forties.
He has a big beard, and his square-faced forehead is covered with wrinkles. It is obvious that he has been a little mentally and physically exhausted recently, but it can also be seen that he is relieved now.
Under Aigron's gaze, he walked up to the young man, and then handed the saber in his hand to Aiglon.
Then, he spoke, and Edmond Dantès, who was standing next to Aigron, quickly translated to the young man.
"I am the commander here, Ibrahim Mustafa Omar." The middle-aged man replied with emotion, "I am unfortunate to stand here as a loser; but I am I am very lucky to be able to witness a new legend as a person involved. Sir, everything for me is over. Next, I ask for your mercy and forgive me and my subordinates. In addition, I wish you to write more legends in the future. , just like...him."
Aigron didn't speak anymore, he just walked up to the other party, then nodded to him, and then he reached out and took the other party's saber.
At this moment, everyone present looked up to the sky and cheered, and the salutes also roared. The deafening sound seemed to make people suspect that the war had resumed.
However, everything is definitely over, and victory will come at any time.
From this moment on, Mesolongion fell into the hands of the young man.
