The blood-red setting sun illuminated the blood-stained battlefield, like the eyes of the Grim Reaper watching over the mortal world, guiding hundreds of thousands of departed souls.
With no hope of breaking through, more than half of their forces dead or wounded, and their commander self-immolating, the last psychological defense of the Venice soldiers was breached, and their morale plummeted.
After the few remaining Pisani loyal guards made their final desperate stand, the battlefield gradually quieted down.
Seeing that Pisani was dead and could not be captured alive, Duke felt regret but also a profound respect for Pisani. After a brief moment of distraction, he shouted, "The chief culprit has been executed! All other Venice soldiers, disarm and you will not be killed!"
This promise of surrender became the straw that broke the camel's back. Most Venice soldiers had fought desperately because they believed Pisani's claim that there was no way out unless they broke through. Since surrendering wouldn't mean death, why sacrifice their lives here?
Whether it was hatred or humiliation, in the face of absolute power, everything was crushed. All that remained at this moment was the instinct for survival.
When one Venice soldier took the lead in laying down his weapon, others followed suit one after another, and surrender became a foregone conclusion. Papal States soldiers cleared the last scattered resistance, confiscated enemy weapons, organized the reception of prisoners, and treated the wounded from both sides.
"It seems the fighting is over. Let's go back and see." Augustus, who had been observing the battle from the mountaintop, sighed deeply and led his guards down the mountain.
This battle was undeniably brutal. Out of a total of over three thousand Venice soldiers, nearly two thousand were killed or wounded; Tuscany did not participate in the subsequent fighting, and even in the initial skirmishes, they suffered over three hundred casualties.
Although the Papal States was well-prepared and had every advantage in terms of timing, terrain, and manpower, the enemy's fierce resistance far exceeded expectations, resulting in close to five hundred casualties. The main casualties occurred on the northern defense line during Venice's breakthrough attempt. This was not the elite unit of the Papal States, yet it bore the brunt of the assault. Fortunately, most of the injuries were non-fatal, and many could be saved, though a considerable number would never be able to return to the battlefield even after recovery.
Since the wounded were primarily on the northern defense line, to facilitate the transport of injured soldiers, Karl and Duke jointly decided to establish the infirmary in the northern camp, temporarily requisitioning a portion of the military tents and dispatching all military doctors to treat the wounded.
Hundreds of wounded soldiers were carried into the infirmary one after another. There were far too few military doctors, and they were overwhelmed. To save as many lives as possible, they prioritized the critically wounded soldiers, treating them until they were out of danger, then immediately moving them out to make way for the next patient. Of course, their own wounded soldiers received preferential treatment.
...
"Strange, this wounded soldier only has one eye injured. Did he faint from the pain? He looks so old. Do we have soldiers this old in the Papal States?"
"Maybe he's a regimental commander."
"But he's wearing a common soldier's uniform."
"Hey, why do you care so much? The regimental commanders after the reorganization are all eccentric, one after another. Who can guess what they're thinking? I advise you not to stir up trouble, lest you offend some important person..."
"Yes, yes, yes! It's better not to meddle. I'm practically exhausted after fighting for so long. You wouldn't believe it, those Venice soldiers were like they were on steroids, charging straight at us. I really didn't know Venice people fought so fiercely before, good thing I'm lucky.
Now, getting some good rest is the most important thing. Once the war starts, there will definitely be more battles to fight. It might even turn into fighting Venice, but that's fine, I've been annoyed with Venice for a long time!"
Pisani was awakened by a conversation, but he didn't open his eyes immediately. After a long silence, ensuring the people had left, he slowly opened one eye. His other eye was still extremely painful. Pisani reached out and touched it; the other eye had already received basic treatment and bandaging.
Looking around, he saw only wounded soldiers who had been treated, changed into clean clothes, but were still unconscious. It seemed there were many casualties, and the Papal States medical staff were busy saving lives and did not suspect his identity.
The scene of so many of his subordinates sacrificing themselves for him was vivid in his mind, and it was this sacrifice that had given him this opportunity. Pisani made up his mind: he must escape!
Pisani lay there for a while longer, and after determining his location and the direction of the exit based on the passing soldiers and their conversations, Pisani immediately got up and walked quickly north.
The Papal States soldiers were busy treating the wounded and counting numbers, so Pisani proceeded unimpeded and quickly reached the entrance. He saw two sentries guarding the gate. In Pisani's current physical condition, it would be absolutely impossible to force his way out.
Just as Pisani was at a loss, he saw a soldier laboriously pushing a cartload of corpses towards the gate. Pisani immediately had an idea.
Running up to the soldier pushing the cart, Pisani asked in fluent Latin, "Comrade, are you going out?"
The soldier pushing the cart was panting from exhaustion and replied without thinking, "Yes, that's right. So many people died in this battle, the general ordered us to transport the bodies out of the camp to prevent an epidemic."
"My son died, and I was severely wounded and fainted. When I woke up, they told me my son's body had already been sent out. It's not very convenient for me to go out now. Can I help you transport these bodies out? I want to try to find him and see him one last time."
Pisani's sorrow was genuine, though he was certainly not thinking of his son who was living lavishly in Crete, but rather of his loyal guards who had died for him.
The soldier pushing the cart looked at the old man in front of him, somewhat moved: "Alright, I hope you can find him. Go quickly and come back quickly. Just leave the cart over there, I'll go transport the next batch of bodies."
In this way, Pisani took over the cart and pushed a cartload of corpses grandly out of the main gate.
...
"What? Pisani self-immolated?" Just back at the camp, after hearing Duke's report, Augustus immediately realized something was amiss.
"It's regrettable that we couldn't capture him alive. If Pisani had been captured alive, it would certainly have dealt a greater blow to Venice's morale."
"This isn't a question of capturing him alive or not." Augustus waved his hand, "Can you be sure it was Pisani who self-immolated?"
"Of course, I saw it with my own eyes, how could it be false?" Duke affirmed.
"Sometimes what you see isn't necessarily true. Can the remains after burning still be identified?"
"They can't be identified, but we've checked all the prisoners and bodies, and Pisani wasn't found. Pisani's physical characteristics are very distinct, it would be impossible for him to blend into a crowd."
"But have you ever thought, why would Pisani die? Given his status, even if he knew we were about to go to war with Venice, it's highly unlikely we would execute him after capturing him?"
At this, the previously relaxed Duke also realized something was wrong. After a moment of thought, he speculated, "Perhaps, he wanted to preserve his dignity after defeat?"
Augustus shook his head and continued to ask, "To preserve dignity, he could have died in battle or given himself a quick stab. Why go through the trouble of burning himself with a fire!"
"Maybe, he wanted to die a more heroic death? Or perhaps, he didn't want his remains to fall into our hands?" Duke was now uncertain.
Seeing that Duke still hadn't hit on the point, Augustus simply broke it down directly: "Is there such a possibility: the one who self-immolated was not Pisani himself, but merely a substitute, and the real Pisani has already escaped?"
"Absolutely impossible! Not a single Venice soldier escaped our encirclement during the engagement!"
"What about after the engagement then? Did anyone leave the camp?" Augustus immediately pointed out Duke's blind spot.
"Ah! After the engagement..." Duke was completely flustered now. If Pisani had truly escaped right under his nose despite such a huge disparity in forces, then he would be utterly disgraced.
Even if one Pisani escaped, it wouldn't significantly impact the overall situation. With a major war imminent, reassuring the troops was more important. Augustus patted Duke's shoulder: "Never mind, I hope I'm just being overly cautious. Even if he did escape, it doesn't matter. Let's just consider him dead. But next time, you must try to be as thorough as possible in your considerations."