Count Beluga's city of Forli was not a prosperous fief. It had no marketable goods, nor did it hold any strategic value. The city had limited amounts of funds, so development in the County was difficult. It did not help that the fat, bald-headed Count Beluga was a greedy bastard who used the city's funds to finance a life of Luxury for him and his family.
Prince Alphonse detested the man, but having the soldiers of the Beluga family would help their cause. Count Beluga stayed loyal to Prince Alphonse, purely out of fear. He feared Duke Sozzini. With the Sozzini family being the dominant force in the North, Count Beluga could not dare move against them.
The reason for his switching sides was simple: if the old and powerful Duke Sozzini was dying, then he would not have to fear his wrath. Count Beluga looked down upon Luca and thought of him as a mediocre ruler at best. He did not need to fear a man younger than him, who had no experience in statesmanship and war.
Unbeknownst to him, he had no clue about the Luxenberg Army and their alliance with Prince Alphonse. If he were aware of their help, he would not have switched sides. His bloated arrogance and greed had made his senses dull. It was not until the arrival of Prince Alphonse and his army that the fat Count realised he had messed up. 70,000 infantrymen, 8,000 cavalrymen and 350 cannons now rested at his doorstep.
Count Beluga could only muster a measly 15,000 infantrymen, 1,000 cavalrymen and 75 cannons. Their experience paled in comparison to the veterans of the Green Visconte Army. It may have been a fraction of their true force, but they were formidable nevertheless.
Many of the Beluga soldiers held no love for their lord; some of them even held treacherous thoughts towards him. It was due to this mass dislike of him that the army surrendered and turned the Beluga family over to Prince Alphonse.
Count Beluga, his wife and their two sons were brought before the prince. They were an ugly-looking family. Buck teeth and acne-riddled, these brown eyed nobles were cast into cages, soon to be imprisoned within Sinolla.
The garrison of Forli was pardoned and granted exemption from the war. It would be cruel to send the fighting men away to fight while the territory was struggling with poverty. They were needed at home to help rebuild the neglected County. The wealth of the Beluga family was distributed into projects like road development and agriculture, so that the territory could begin a new chapter under new management.
With Forli under the Green Viscontes' control, Prince Alphonse and his army marched south to their border city, Napo. The march would be 5 weeks, and from there they would await Victor and his army to arrive.
Just after Forli was secured, the city of Prato, under the rule of Count Lamaro, was captured.
Victor and his army arrived two days later than expected due to the unfamiliar terrain. But when they arrived at Prato, the garrison and the Lamaro family metaphorically shit themselves.
The sight of the Luxenberg Army was dreadful; it was larger than the entire Red Visconte Army. Count Lamaro was baffled by the appearance of a foreign army. At first, he thought they were an invasion force; the coat of arms of the Luxenberg family had grown famous due to their growing international prestige. But when he saw the Green Visconte banner flying alongside the Luxenberg one, he panicked.
Count Lamaro was a young man who had barely entered the realm of adulthood. His father, the previous Count Lamaro, was a loyal man who had been nothing but supportive of Prince Alphonse, but his son was a different man. He was already aware that the war was slowly turning in favour of the Red Viscontes, and he wanted to be on the winning side. The declining health of Duke Sozzini was a perfect time to change sides.
The brown hair and green-eyed Count was now scrambling to prepare his defences. The city of Prato was doing well financially; they were making a decent profit on timber and charcoal since they had an abundant forest.
With their wealth, the Lamaro family developed the County and was able to have a flourishing land. They were a respectable family, but the current Count, Ross Lamaro, was dragging the family name through the mud. He was a drunkard playboy who often would be found passed out drunk in a tavern. Many people grew to pity him as a useless youth, but they did not despise him. The Lamaro family had always been respected.
Infantrymen lined the walls, and cannons were readied. The garrison would not let Prato fall without a fight. Ross Lamaro was arrogant, feckless, and self-serving. He was already beginning to figure out a way to weasel out of this situation.
His first idea was to parlay with the army and get a sense for its commander. He was horrified when he came face to face with not a General, but a King. It was safe to say that the parlay went poorly. King Victor could get a sense of Ross's character by the way he intended to switch back to the Green Viscontes.
Instead of being able to switch back, Ross was presented with two options: surrender or die. This infuriated the young Count and sent him into a rage; he hurled insults and barked about how he would not lower himself to some foreign mutt.
Victor remained composed and simply left the meeting spot. What followed the parlay was the thunderous roars of Luxenberg artillery. From midday to dusk, the barrage of Luxenberg cannons persisted. Their screams were deafening, causing the citizens to panic and the garrison to waver. Their limited number of cannons was only a minuscule fraction in comparison, and as such, they could barely return fire.
By the time the sun had set, the walls had crumbled, but Victor did not wish to send his troops in during the night. Instead, he waited; he thought that by morning, Ross Lamaro would see reason and surrender.
But Victor was wrong, as the morning sun graced the city with its presence, there were no white flags. The city would not surrender.