On to Tirana

"Put down your weapons, and we will not kill anyone that surrenders!" General vont Smith said for what felt like the 20th time today.

They had captured more than 5,000 soldiers. The Albanian soldiers were fed, given shelter, and given the choice to help siege Tiana for pay.

Knowing that fleeing was useless, more and more Albanian soldiers chose to surrender. They knew being with the Fermion soldiers guaranteed their life, filled their bellies, and gave them coin.

When it came to national pride or food, food won every time. The Albanian soldiers were spread among the divisions, brigades, battalions, and companies

General vont Smith didn't have time to collate all the numbers, leaving the infantry to supervise the prisoners.

General vont Smith and his troops slowly marched to Tirana. Along the way, they captured villages, towns, and cities. Many choose to welcome the army as conquering heroes.

General vont Smith was aware of his invading army image.

The General set strong rules against pillaging and raping. Time and time again, he'd reinforce that these new towns belonged to Fermion. The army was called to respect their new countrymen. Many villagers said they found the Fermion army more hospitable than their own.

However, each city was searched for sheltered enemy soldiers. Not every town liked having the soldiers search their possessions. A few coppers here and there were stolen by the soldiers. But any soldier that was caught stealing was flogged 50 times.

After a successful siege of the Viscounty of Elbasan, the path to Tirana was open. General vont Smith waited in Elbasan to make sure the occupation was stable and to resupply.

Now that he had effectively gotten rid of the enemy forces between Korce and Elbasan, he set his sights on Tirana. Grace decided to stay in Elbasan, to set up a stable logistical network to supply the troops.

At this point, no matter how the Siege on Tirana went, if they were cut off from supplies, it would only mean their demise.

General vont Smith waited a few days more for the King and Will to arrive. When the Royal Carriage arrived, the citizens and military lined the streets and cheered.

Once inside the rundown city lord's manors, the king discussed the Tirana siege and demands. It was decided that after surrounding the city, an envoy would send the sultan terms of surrender.

During this time, General vont Smith properly oversaw his forces and ensured they conducted themselves in a civilized manner. Prisoners of war were afforded proper treatment, and the civilians were left to go about their daily lives without harassment. So long as there was no armed resistance, Marshall vont Smith tolerated protests.

However, the moment citizens took up arms against the Fermion Army, his officers were authorized to use lethal force. This point was effectively communicated to the Elbasan population, and although there was some civil unrest, it was primarily peaceful.

Despite General vont Smith's reputation for advocating for the wellbeing of the common folk, he was still considered a foreign invader in the Viscounty of Elbasan there was naturally a degree of resistance to his occupation.

However, there was no rebellion, due to Elbasan's economic recovery.

Will rebuilt Albania's Northern economy and reestablished trade with Gadreel. Goods began flooding into Northern Albania. Moreover, since Northern Albania was under occupation by Fermion, the northern Albanians used Fermion currency to buy Fermion goods.

Albania's currency became as useless as rocks. Never missing a good opportunity, Will ordered Bubba to exchange Albania's currency.

Within two weeks the Viscounty of Elbasan was firmly under Fermion control. With Elbasan settled, General vont Smith left for Tirana.

King Roland ordered Will to properly defend the region. Will's recent exploits in Korce, had given him a reputation as a Demon Lord. To King Roland's amusement, the Albanians avoided Will like the plague.

With Northern Albania under Will's command, King Roland sent a message to all of Albania.

Will quickly organized Northern Albania's security centered around Grace's Quartermaster duties.

By now the fall of Northern Albania had spread. As General vont Smith's army marched on Tirana, mass panic ensued. People began to flee Tirana ahead of the siege. While most fled westward to Duke vont Khan's dukedom, others flew south to Durres.

On the road to Tirana, General vont Smith rode at the head army. The columns of soldiers laughed, sang, and smiled. General vont Smith enjoyed hearing his content soldier. Thus, an army of almost 30,000 men marched on Tirana.

Tirana was located at the geographical center of Albania. It was equidistant from Korce and Durres. Albania was a small kingdom. From Tirana, you could get anywhere in half a month.

Tirana's main source of revenue came from its port cities.

The tragedy for the kingdom was the plague struck their port cities first. They burned all their large ships to get rid of the virus. The sultan had opened the treasury to rebuild the kingdom's fleet.

However, until the ships were built, Albania was almost completely dependent on Fermion for food. After King Roland's coronation, he restricted Viscount vont Ballard's ability to trade with Albania. Worse yet, the Albanian currency was devalued. Meaning they had to pay more for Fermion goods. Millions of Albanian currency fled the country to buy imports.

It wasn't until after the Sultan read King Roland's On the Philosophy of Mercantilism, that he realized his error.

When the sultan ordered tariffs on imports, to rebuild his domestic economy, he never expected Will to retaliate.

How could a king kneel to a foreign lord? When his advisers recommended increasing tariffs, they wrongly predicted Viscount vont Ballard would lower his tariffs. He never expected the Viscount to bar trade.

The trade embargo cut off Albania's access to the resources it needed to rebuild their domestic economy. That meant Albania would have to wait until harvest and the ships were built.

But that led to another problem, Northern and Western Albania supplied the kingdom's grain. With Northern Albania occupied, the sultan could only rely on Duke vont Khan's support.

And Duke vont Khan's support was withdrawn at the moment. Duke vont Khan decided to withhold troops until there was a clear winner in Tirana.

The sultan was furious, he was beset on all sides by traitors. First, Lord vont Dervish left Korce unguarded. And now, Duke vont Khan decided against loaning his army. Now Tirana was left to siege and starvation.

As the army marched, General vont Smith's voice echoed orders in the mild winter air. The sight of thousands of soldiers heading to Tirana was terrifying. The Albanians gazed upon the army with complicated expressions.

Central Albania was flat and filled with swamps.

For days the soldiers marched in the mild tropical winter weather. It did not bother the Fermion soldiers who were used to marching in much colder weather. With eager expressions, the soldiers looked upon Tirana for the first time. The soldiers' cheered for hours and their final destination was in sight.

All the soldiers could think about was their overwhelming victories. Now it was Fermion's turn to siege a city. General vont Smith knew he was to lay siege to a capital effectively with minimal losses. In Elbasan, King Roland ordered him to siege but not attack. The General trusted his king's wisdom wholeheartedly.