User blog comment:Zippertrain85/"Why the Empire Should Prevail Over the Stormcloaks! Part 3 (Economics)" Refuted/@comment-1822253-20140107032124

Actually, something just came into mind while I was playing Skyrim. How can we be sure that the Imperial Army actually did wipe out the Dominion Army at the Imperial City? I mean think about it for a minute. The Imperials are well known for embellishing information to their benefit, an extremely well known fact. They had five days before the Imperial Army managed to encircle and surround the city, it's very possible that a good portion of the Dominion Army that was in or around the Imperial City at the time might have been able to retreat. What would've sounded better "We wiped out their entire army that was occupying our capital!" or "We wiped out a small part of the army that was remaining at our capital."

Speculation? Yes, but it would make sense. If a good portion of the Dominion Army from Cyrodiil retreated and managed to regroup with the army that retreated from Hammerfell, then you've got a serious threat to the remaining Imperial Legion forces that was exhausted taking back their city.