Chapter 204: The Fields of Vienna

Berengar was mounted on his trusty steed as he gazed off into the distance. In his field of view were the borders of Lower Austria and his final destination in this conflict. While Eckhard laid siege to every corner of Upper Austria currently occupied by the Bavarians, Berengar would march on Vienna with nearly 20,000 men. 

Berengar vowed that after he finally won this war, he would do two things immediately, develop a new weapon, and start building a great navy. Though Conrad might protest his every action, ultimately, as Regent, he had the power to accomplish these things. Besides, Conrad would live another few years at best. 

As such, he greatly desired to finish this war and focus on consolidating his territorial gains as quickly as possible. To Berengar, war was a means to settle disputes and acquire territory; the more critical aspect was the development of the land after the fighting had ceased. As a visionary, he had grand plans to construct an Empire that would last a thousand years.

For now, he needed to take Austria and establish his dominion over the region, and that was precisely what he planned to do. With the death of the enemy General at the hands of Berengar's assassin, a nobleman had taken his place and decided that the best course of action to stop Berengar's siege of Vienna was simple, they would sally forth and deal with his army once and for all. They would use the citizens of Vienna as human shields. 

Thus as Berengar and his army entered Lower Austria, they saw a large force gathered, close to thirty thousand in total. The citizens of Vienna had been conscripted by the Bavarians and armed with anything that could remotely be used as a weapon. They were placed in the vanguard so that they could soak up the bullets of Berengar's forces, allowing their main troops to survive the initial onslaught and close the distance.

Seeing the enemy formation, Berengar began to frown, he would prefer not to slaughter over 10,000 of Austria's citizens, but this would be not easy to avoid. The Bavarian forces were behind the vanguard of Austria's common folk and nudged them forward with their spears, bills, and blades. This was not a good situation. As such, Berengar contemplated for a few moments before coming up with a course of action. Thus he rode towards his Artillery units and gave his commands.

"Ready your guns, and aim towards the rear of the enemy formation. I want the levies to remain as unharmed as possible. We will break their rearguard and allow the citizens of Vienna to flee!"

Hearing their Lord and Commander's orders, the Artillery officers quickly set to the task of ordering the Artillery regiment to unhitch their cannons and deploy them in position. They were raised to a specific elevation to act as howitzers where the shells would be fired into an arc and land at the rear of the Bavarian formation, sparing as many levies live as possible.

This was a tactic they had yet to employ on the battlefield. Thus the Bavarians were not expecting such a thing as such Berengar left the artillery to their own devices and rode to the front of the infantry formation where he began to shout his orders to the infantry.

"Try your best not to harm the levies, when the guns go off and batter the Bavarian ranks, allow the Levies to disperse before firing upon the remaining Bavarian troops, those are most likely the civilians of Vienna, and we should not harm our people if we can avoid it! God with us!"

The soldiers under Berengar's command all began to shout their infamous war cry in unison.

"God with us! God with us! God with us!"

Afterward, Berengar raised his sword and gave another command.

"Foward march!"

Under the thunder of cannon fire, the Tyrolean infantry began to march towards the enemy position. The Bavarians sneered as they figured Berengar had decided to eliminate the citizen levies at the front of the formation. However, when the shells fell from the sky and landed among their ranks, the Bavarian forces quickly began to panic. 

They were not expecting the shells to land behind their vanguard and devastate their ranks, completely disregarding the plan they had made. Two hundred eighty shells were fired every minute into the Bavarian formations, and their order quickly began to collapse. Blood, steel, and bone flew in every direction as the Tyrolean artillery battered the infantry lines. 

Seeing that the Bavarians were in a state of panic, the citizens who were drafted into service of the Bavarians quickly began to flee the battlefield. Some were caught and stabbed by the men behind them, but most could escape the slaughter. Now that Berengar had bought the citizens of Vienna enough time to run, he began to lead the cavalry in a charge on the enemy position. 

While he led the cavalry to attack the Bavarian flanks, his line infantry had begun to form ranks and fire upon the Bavarians who charged at their formations. Seeing their plans had come to ruin, the Bavarian commander ordered a full-scale charge; he intended to overwhelm the Tyrolean infantry before they could deal too much damage with their superior firepower. 

As such, the Minie Ball projectiles fired out of the muzzles of their rifled muskets and into the ranks of the enemy. Piercing through their breastplates and dropping them where they stood, yet this did not stop the charge of the Bavarian men at arms, they knew their only chance was to engage in close-quarters combat with the enemy, and thus they ran as quickly as they could into the line of fire, hoping the bullets missed them and allowed them to attack the enemy.

The Tyrolean forces fired off only a few volleys before they could engage in melee combat with the Bavarians. As such, bayonets and spears began to clash among each other in a chaotic display of violence. While this was ongoing, Berengar was riding his mighty steed quickly, leading a charge of cuirassiers, lancers, and hussars who had all prepared to clash with the flanks of the enemy formation.

The Bavarian infantry quickly raised their spears and other polearms in response to the oncoming cavalry charge, which would typically be enough to deter the horses, however, just when they were within firing distance, Berengar and his cuirassiers raised their pistols where they proceeded to fire into the spear wall, battered the lines with musket balls, and claiming the lives of hundreds if not thousands of men. 

The Hussars had fired their carbines from a distance into the ranks and dealt a great deal of damage to the enemy formation. There were hardly any spears raised at this point, and the cavalry unleashed their swords and lances onto the Bavarian flanks crushing through their lines in the process.

Berengar unleashed his heavy cavalry saber into the enemy infantry before him; while parrying an oncoming blow, he made a thrust directly into the opponent's eye, claiming his life in the process. His new steed was heavily armored and surrounded by hundreds of other horses who crashed into the enemy formation. Thus both he and his horse were relatively safe, as they trampled the enemy infantry and ruthlessly cut them into ribbons. 

The Bavarian commander gazed upon the battlefield with fury in his heart as he realized that his flanks had been crushed, allowing the Tyrolean infantry to fill the gaps, and encircle the remaining troops. As such, he made a rash decision and fled the battlefield and back to Vienna. The majority of their army had been lost in this battle, and though it was still ongoing, he refused to be captured alive.

While the Bavarian commander was fleeing the battlefield, Berengar was leading the charge as he slashed down at an archer's neck, which was left uncovered, decapitating the man in the process. Berengar's heavy cavalry sword was fully capable of lopping off heads from horseback and yet had a fine enough point to pierce through most armor. 

The exhilaration he felt as he once more engaged on the battlefield filled Berengar's heart with joy; what was the point of life he could not obtain such an adrenaline rush! Warfare was like a drug to him, and he could not get enough of it. The feeling of risking his life in pursuit of higher glory, the adrenaline and endorphins that flooded his system and made him feel like a living god, this was what it meant to be alive. 

As such, he did not fear the possibility of death as he parried a spear's thrust with his sword and stabbed his blade into the gaps in the opponent's helmet, lodging the cold steel edge into the enemy's skull before ripping it out and slashing at another combatant. 

As the cavalry converged on the Bavarian lines and trampled across their ranks, the Tyrolean infantry gained the upper hand in the grand melee and quickly cut down the Bavarians. Bayonets thrust into the weak points in the enemy's armor, spilling blood and bile across the field. 

As the massacre unfolded, the Bavarian forces began to route. Berengar took advantage of and led his cavalry to run them down, Lances thrust through the backs of the enemy, and swords pierced through their mail armor and into their hearts. Many of the Bavarian soldiers were not equipped with backplates, so it was a vulnerable area that had been exposed in their hasty retreat.

Thus the cavalry had an easy time slaying those who fled the scene. As the Tyrolean cavalry mopped up the routers, the main force of the Bavarian army struggled to maintain their defense. Yet, when the grenadiers lobbed their grenades behind the Bavarian formation, they could no longer hold the line and quickly collapsed as the explosion rocked them to their core.

The grenades exploded one after another, devastating the defensive position the Bavarians had set up, and in the end, those who survived the blast were run through with bayonets. The result of the battle was a complete and total slaughter. Though Berengar's army had suffered casualties, it paled in comparison to the losses the Bavarians sustained on this day. 

With this victory, Berengar was one step away from claiming Vienna and ending the Bavarian occupation of Austria. Though the war would not be over, after all, the fight for Austria was just one of many ongoing conflicts in the greater war for Germany.

During this war that was bound to take years to finish, Berengar would use his power to expand his territory vastly and come out as the man on top. Conquering Vienna and become Duke of Austria was just the start of his grand ambition.