Chapter 1156: Forcing the Hand
“Manuchehr has retaken control in Shatufan,” Icarius informed the meeting room.
Leon sighed. The Shatufan problem was messy, and it was a mess largely of his own making. He didn’t regret his actions, but dealing with it was going to take some doing, especially now that Krizos and Rolor’s Highcastle were both officially on Shatufan’s side.
“How?” Leon asked.
“Sentudon, Krizos, and Rolor’s Highcastle joined forces with loyalists who fled the city with Manuchehr,” Icarius replied. “It wasn’t even a battle—the self-proclaimed King of Shatufan had bloodied himself fighting Jamshid, and what few forces he retained were skeletal. There wasn’t even a fight; as soon as Manuchehr appeared at the head of an army, the guards threw open the city gates and surrendered. Manuchehr took control over the city and had everyone associated with Jamshid and the ‘King’ executed. The ‘King’ he executed personally.”
“What do the other cities get out of this…” Leon wondered aloud. “Their armies didn’t stay in Shatufan, did they?”
“No,” Icarius answered. “They aided Manuchehr in securing the hinterlands and in boosting the size of his army’s profile, but it was natives of Shatufan who retook the city itself.”
Leon nodded. “So they’re not after hard power, then. I suppose that makes sense, but it leaves open the question of what they expect to gain. How many troops did they deploy to support Manuchehr?”
“Getting accurate numbers based on second-hand accounts is nearly impossible, but I can estimate that Sentudon sent ten thousand soldiers, Krizos sent twenty-five thousand, and Rolor’s Highcastle sent around thirty thousand. Manuchehr and the loyalists, plus those from the countryside they conscripted or recruited, numbered nearly fifty thousand.”
Leon frowned in appreciation. Such an army was impressive, and he was surprised there was enough discipline that no towns were sacked along the way, and Shatufan apparently wasn’t damaged in Manuchehr’s retaking of the city.