The surrender document of the Smolensk Parliament was finally sent to the desk of the mayor of Fyodor obkhovic. The old nobleman, who was personally appointed by King kazimiz and had high hopes, looked at the signature page on the surrender instrument and almost wanted to cry.

    "I can''t, I can''t," cried fiordo obhovich.

    The city Lord knew very well how the fall of the famous city would affect the Republic.

    Czarist Russia will drive straight into the werna and mazoshev regions where the Republic has not suffered the disaster of war, and the Republic will fall into the danger of two front operations; Czarist Russia will get through with the zaporoze Cossack rebels, the strength of the rebels will be greatly enhanced, and the counterinsurgency of the king and commanders in Ukraine will end in failure.

    He didn''t want to bear the name of a criminal of the Republic, so he didn''t go to the meeting of surrender.

    Speaker shchenko (shchenko is the nominally second person in Smolensk City, so the task of submitting the surrender instrument to Fyodor for signature was entrusted to him by the parliament) seeing that Fyodor is still so indecisive, he was so angry that he wanted to rush up and hold his hand and "help" him sign the instrument. But he held back, because he thought he was a civilized man. Since he was a civilized man, he had to deal with everything in a civilized way. Otherwise, it''s different from the mud legged Cossacks.

    "Fyodor," said speaker shchenko kindly: "Of course I understand your mood. But as the city Lord of Smolensk, if you don''t sacrifice for the sake of all the people in the city, who else will sacrifice? And in order to take care of your mood, we didn''t force you to attend the meeting. And you said you would sign as long as it was a decision made by the Council."

    "But, but." fiordo''s face turned red. He did say such a thing, but he didn''t think it would be so difficult to sign his name at that time.

    "Dear shchenko," fiordo begged, seizing shchenko''s hands with a silver cane, "dear shchenko, you are the speaker of the Smolensk parliament, and you have the right to sign the instrument. Please sign for me."

    Fiordo didn''t want to sign it, but how could shchenko? Although he had made up his mind to take refuge in czar Russia, the war between the Republic and czar Russia had just begun. Smolensk was occupied because there were few major generals, but who can guarantee that the army of the Republic will not come back in the future? If there is such a day, his signature today will be the best tomorrow So it''s better for the guy in front of you to sign this word.

    Shichenko desperately wanted to get rid of fiordo and grabbed his hands, but he was a civil servant after all, and he was more than ten years older than fiordo. He struggled several times without success.

    In desperation, shchenko had to pestle the ground with a silver stick. The sound of the stick hitting the ground finally quieted fiordo.

    "Fyodor," shchenko shouted: "What else do you think you can do besides signing now? We''ll leave the matter of signing the surrender instrument to you for your own good. If you hadn''t been stubborn enough to be the enemy of the Almighty Czar, so many brave soldiers of his Majesty would have endured so long in the ice and snow? Would so many people have died? To tell you the truth, Prince Alexei wanted you to sit on behalf of him Yes. "

    At this point, speaker shchenko deliberately paused. Sure enough, the mayor of Fyodor showed an expression of fear.

    Szczenko continued: "I said all the good things in front of the prince. I told him that you, fiordo obkhovich, had been stubborn at the beginning, but now you have realized the unexpected power of the Almighty czar and his Excellency the prince. You are willing to repent and surrender. Your Excellency the prince has forgiven you and forgiven your life. You don''t sign now. Isn''t this deliberately cheating the prince?"

    At the end, shchenko suddenly raised his tone.

    "I, I." sure enough, Fyodor was speechless by shichenko''s words. He wanted to argue, but he didn''t know where to start.

    "Besides, if you don''t think about yourself, you should also think about your daughter. If you are taken as a war criminal, what will happen to your daughter Helena? Who will protect her? She is so young and beautiful."

    In order to completely make fiordo give in, shichenko threatened fiordo with Helena.

    This move was really useful. Helena became the last straw to crush fiordo. Although Helena and Catherine annoyed fiordo and even wanted to break the father daughter relationship with her for a time, after all, blood was thicker than water. Fiordo, a father, still loved his daughter. Seeing that his failure to sign would endanger his daughter''s safety, fiordo finally gave in.

    Fiordo trembled and picked up the quill pen. Because of the heavy pressure in his heart, he didn''t even find that the tip of the quill pen had not been dipped in ink when signing the document.

    Shchenko grabbed the quill pen. The old speaker pushed the quill pen into the ink bottle and handed it to fiordo.

    This time, fiordo successfully signed the document.

    Shichenko took the surrender document contentedly. He picked up a bottle of fine sand and poured it into the place where fiordo signed his name. After the sand sucked out the excess ink, he blew it gently. Then he picked up the document and walked out of fiordo''s office contentedly.

    "Oh, by the way. Fiordo, Prince Alexei will lead the army into the city tomorrow. You are also going to move out of the castle today." when the door was closed, shchenko did not forget to remind fiordo.

    Fiordo lay down in his office chair, tears of humiliation gushing from his eyes.

    At this time, the door of the office was opened again.

    "Who?" asked Fyodor.

    "It''s me, Lord," said the man who opened the door.

    "It''s Franco. What else can I do for you?" fiordo recognized Franco''s voice.

    "Lord, just now I saw speaker shchenko go downstairs with a document. What''s the matter with him?"

    "What is he doing here? Don''t you know? Are you even going to humiliate me?" said fiordo angrily, thinking that Franco had also attended the meeting.

    "I really don''t know, my Lord," said Franco.

    "You didn''t go to the meeting?"

    "I didn''t."

    Perhaps after hearing the sincerity and hypocrisy in Franco''s words, fiordo told Franco about shichenko''s intention and documents.

    "Now the war is over for us. Congratulations, Captain Franco. You survived the war." finally, fiordo concluded.

    "No, the war is not over yet." Franco''s voice had no joy of surviving. On the contrary, the mercenary leader was full of discontent.

    "Oh?" said Fyodor strangely.

    "Lord, you signed the instrument of surrender under duress, which is illegal and invalid. My mercenary regiment and I are loyal to the Republic and you, not to the Smolensk Parliament. As long as you are willing to continue to resist, we will follow you." Franco said excitedly, and his attitude is quite different from Franco''s calm obedience in normal times.

    As a soldier, Franco had a natural aversion to surrender and betrayal. He believed that this act of Parliament completely ignored the interests of the king and the Republic. Yes, he Franco is a mercenary. He works with money. Doesn''t mean he doesn''t love this land. For the sake of the Republic, all of his former mercenary regiments were sacrificed, leaving him alone.

    "You, you mean!" fiordo was stunned by Franco''s idea. He even wanted to continue the war with hundreds of mercenaries.

    "Yes, my Lord. We can guard the castle. The castle is a very strong fortress with plenty of ammunition and food. We can keep it for a few more months. We can continue to wait for the king''s reinforcements."

    Fiordo was stunned by Franco''s bold idea. He looked at Franco like a madman. On the issue of surrender, Fyodor and shchenko are actually the same kind of people - they have lost the will to continue fighting, but they don''t want to bear the responsibility of surrender.

    Franco, however, wanted to fight to the end.

    Fyodor was speechless with horror. Franco had read the real thoughts of his boss from fiordo''s expression. With such a boss, even if you have a cavity of blood, what''s the use! Franco shook his head in disappointment. He stopped talking and turned out of the office.