Chapter 846 Lord Theony’s Roll of the Dice (Part-2)

Chapter 846 Lord Theony's Roll of the Dice (Part-2)

?846 Lord Theony's Roll of the Dice (Part-2)

Crown Prince Philips's great political insight was readily on display when he sought to soothe Lord Theony over the feast so graciously.

Given the current busy timing, most men would not think to do so, especially when the 4,000 men were already in the city.

They would thus assume the other side had already forgotten the little bickering and there was no need to lower himself.

But not Philips, who sought to quickly reassure Lord Theony with both gratitude and promise of heavy rewards.

It was only a pity that this was unfortunately already too little too late.

Lord Theony had already set the ball rolling by sharing all that valuable intelligence with Alexander and there was no way to undo that, to simply forgive and forget that.

So even if he were to have a change of heart, it would not matter, for there really was no turning back.

Besides, even if Lord Theony fought tooth and nail, they really had very few chances at victory. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

So currently, his choices really were either to betray Perseus and live or fight and almost certainly die.

But whatever Lord Theony was truly planning to do, he kept it strictly to himself, only replying to Philips's apology with a breezy wave of his pudgy hand, "Haha, oh Your Highness, I have already forgotten about that! Hahaha, please there is no need to even mention that."

An attitude that Philips found very reassuring, as he then heard the other party quickly ask in a hushed tone, "Where is His Majesty? Will he be returning to the capital soon?"

This was a critical bit of information that Lord Theony needed to know before committing to the act he was planning, for he did not want Perseus to suddenly appear before the gates just as he was trying to capture it.

He had tried to find news about the king's whereabouts on his own, but with the scattering of the army, his own scouts had lost sight of Perseus and his small gourp of bodyguards.

"... I head royal father is still trying to gather the scattered army a bit west of us,"

Regarding this query, Philips saw no reason to deny this information to the high ranking noble, for they were undoubtedly on the same team according to him.

Thus Philips even frankly revealed new information in a sort of low hushed tone, "According to him, our losses in the fight were really not that great."

"Although we lost, it seems that the enemy was unable to give chase due to the rough terrain."

"So we only lost around 3,000 men. Meaning we still outnubmer the enemy!"

"That's why royal father has not returned to the city. He believes he can get all the scattered men to rejoin the army instead of running away if he is out personally."

"And once he is ready, he plans to flank attack the enemy from behind as they assault the walls, crushing them like a hammer against an anvil!"

Which was- whether to keep marching for the capital or to take a detour and finish the last surviving tail of the snake.

Menes was unable to contact Alexander right at the moment via messenger bird because the latter had just left Thesalie and was currently on a boat toward the capital.

Thus, being left to decide on his own, quickly a fierce discussion, or more like an argument broke out among his officers regarding what to do with this information.

"We should attack the king! Catch him off guard before he can mount any attack. The capital is not going anywhere. As soon as the king dies, Tibias dies."

This was the main point of argument for one faction, who saw defeating the king as equal to the country, reasoning that once Perseus was defeated or better yet killed, all resistance would naturally crumble, and marching into the capital would only be a formality.

But in counter to that, the opposing party had some strong rebuttals too, as they claimed,

"The king has his eldest in the capital. So killing the man will simply transfer the power to the other. Tibias's will not break by simply putting Perseus's head on a spike."

"And that is assuming we can put his head on a spike."

"Remember! We do not know exactly where Perseus is! Even the scouts say they have not verified the information with their own eyes. It was all dedication and hearsay."

"What if we simply end up going on a wild goose chase? Who can say for sure that will not happen?"

"And even if this information is right, who says the king will give us a fight just because we showed up."

"He could simply retreat further back and bait us into giving a long chase through god knows what terrain."

"If that were to happen, not only would we have wasted a golden opportunity to take the enemy's empty capital, but would also have nothing to show for it."

"Do you General Menes wish to take that risk? What will the Pasha say if you fail?"

Like this, the latter side made much better points than the former, and with that last cheeky question where they casually brought up Alexander, finally convinced Menes to stick to the original plan.

Placing his large, heavy palms on the wooden table thus he declared in a deep, commandingvoice,

"I have decided!"

"The enemy king can scuttle like a rast all around the country as he pleases. Once we take his capital, none of that will matter."

"I will send a small scout detachment to keep an eye on him, while the main force concentrates on the capital."

"That was the order from the Pasha and that is what we will do."

"If any of you have any problems with that, you can bring them up with Lord Alexander when he gets here."

For Menes, the risk of going after Perseus as opposed to simply taking the undefended capital was too great for too few a reward.

And this would actually be the correct decision, as upon reaching the walls of the capital-Parthenigh, Menes would find the gates instantly opened to welcome them, with Lord Theoney's son being there to personally escort them in.