<h4>Chapter 204: The Fields of Vienna</h4>


    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 Eckhardid siege to every corner of Upper Austria currently upied 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 aplish 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 thend after the fighting had ceased. As a visionary, he had grand ns to construct an Empire that wouldst a thousand years.


    For now, he needed to take Austria and establish his dominion over the region, and that was precisely what he nned to do. With the death of the enemy General at the hands of Berengar''s assassin, a nobleman had taken his ce 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 arge 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 ced in the vanguard so that they could soak up the bullets of Berengar''s forces, allowing their main troops to survive the initial onught and close the distance.


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


    "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 andnd 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''smand 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 anothermand.


    "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 andnded among their ranks, the Bavarian forces quickly began to panic.


    They were not expecting the shells tond behind their vanguard and devastate their ranks,pletely disregarding the n they had made. Two hundred eighty shells were fired every minute into the Bavarian formations, and their order quickly began to copse. 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 ughter. 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 nks, his line infantry had begun to form ranks and fire upon the Bavarians who charged at their formations. Seeing their ns hade to ruin, the Bavarianmander 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 breasttes 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-quartersbat 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 meleebat with the Bavarians. As such, bays and spears began to sh among each other in a chaotic disy of violence. While this was ongoing, Berengar was riding his mighty steed quickly, leading a charge of cuirassiers,ncers, and hussars who had all prepared to sh with the nks of the enemy formation.


    The Bavarian infantry quickly raised their spears and other polearms in response to the oing 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 iming 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 andnces onto the Bavarian nks crushing through their lines in the process.


    Berengar unleashed his heavy cavalry saber into the enemy infantry before him; while parrying an oing blow, he made a thrust directly into the opponent''s eye, iming 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 rtively safe, as they trampled the enemy infantry and ruthlessly cut them into ribbons.


    The Bavarianmander gazed upon the battlefield with fury in his heart as he realized that his nks 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 Bavarianmander was fleeing the battlefield, Berengar was leading the charge as he shed 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 exhration 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 de into the gaps in the opponent''s helmet, lodging the cold steel edge into the enemy''s skull before ripping it out and shing at anotherbatant.


    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. Bays 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 backtes, so it was a vulnerable area that had been exposed in their hasty retreat.


    Thus the cavalry had an easy time ying 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 copsed 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 st were run through with bays. The result of the battle was aplete and total ughter. Though Berengar''s army had suffered casualties, it paled inparison to the losses the Bavarians sustained on this day.


    With this victory, Berengar was one step away from iming Vienna and ending the Bavarian upation 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 ande out as the man on top. Conquering Vienna and be Duke of Austria was just the start of his grand ambition.