Tyranny of Steel

During the past few days, Berengar's advance into Salzburg had been reduced. With the constant need to send out advanced parties on a series of search and destroy missions for enemy skirmishers, the Tyrolean host was forced to march through Salzburg at a slow but steady pace.

Because of this, Berengar had become impatient, and it was only due to the constant advice of Arnulf that he did not make a rash action like marching through Salzburg undeterred by the idea of ambush, which would surely result in more casualties than it was worth.

Thus at the moment, Berengar found himself within the encampment that his army had made in the field, with a significant degree of spare time. His army's hierarchy was so well implemented that he honestly did not have much to do on the campaign as Commander in Chief, as the officer class was more than capable of fulfilling their daily duties without his interference.

Berengar found himself whittling wood for entertainment, and as such, was in the middle of carving a wooden figure which greatly resembled that of his lover Linde. Though his artistic skills were lacking, the crude figure displayed the woman's natural curves in great detail. It was not a bad piece of work, considering his relatively poor art skills.

It was at this moment that the flaps to his tent parted, and Anrulf forcefully entered, seeing that his Lord and Commander was in the process of making a wood statue of what appeared to be a full-figured woman, Arnulf wisely chose not to question it, and instead reported the news that he had received.

"Your excellency, I have a report to make."

Berengar did not bother placing down the wooden figure that he was still in the process of carving. Instead, he continued to do so while listening to Arnulf's words. As such, he nonchalantly approved Arnulf's request to inform him of the matters at hand.

"Go ahead..."

Seeing that Berengar was more interested in his sculpture than the important news he had to share, Arnulf quickly sighed before starting the report with a phrase that would be sure to grab Berengar's attention.

"We have gained some viable intelligence from the captives!"

Hearing this news, Berengar's ears perked up, and he immediately stopped his activity. Instead, he placed the half-finished wooden sculpture on the stand next to him and the knife with it before shifting his full attention to Arnulf, where he responded to this news with a great deal of curiosity.

"Go on..."

Seeing that Berengar's interest was fully captured, Arnulf smiled before fulfilling the rest of his report; as such, he placed the map in his hand down onto a nearby table in Berengar's tent and spread it out where it displayed several marks on specific positions in the nearby hills and forests.

"These are the locations of the enemy Ambushes within the nearby area; our scouts have determined the information to be accurate!"

Hearing this news, Berengar quickly got up from his seat, where he proceeded to the table where the map was displayed and carefully observed it, with a broad smile on his face. Now that he knew the enemy positions, he could easily bombard them with the overwhelming firepower of his 140 cannons.

After seeing this information, Berengar quickly gave his orders to Arnulf for the army to fulfill. He pointed at the different locations and ordered a bold attack on them.

"Move an artillery battalion to each of these positions, supported by a battalion of infantry. I want these damned skirmishers sufficiently bombarded before we surround them with our line infantry! Only after they have suffered the barrage of our shells will our infantry move in and mop of what remains of them!"

Hearing Berengar's orders, Arnulf quickly saluted the man by pounding his breastplate with his fist.

"Yes, Sir!"

Afterward, the General left the tent and quickly got the orders into action. Though Berengar wanted to participate in the operation, he was forced to stay behind with the primary host. As such, he sighed heavily before pouring himself a chalice of beer. Where he quickly drained its contents.

As for the operation itself, the Tyrolean forces who were ordered to partake in the attack quickly moved off to their positions; the amount of firepower Berengar had ordered to bring down upon the skirmishers was overkill. Yet, Berengar wanted to put the fear of God in the Bavarians, and what better way than to massacre their forces which lie in wait for his army.

As such, the locations that the skirmishers hid were quickly surrounded by Berengar's artillery and infantry. At all four areas, there were hundreds if not thousands of Bavarian ambushers gathered, hiding, and waiting for the main Tyrolean force to pass by so that they could converge on the enemy and surprise them with a rapid assault.

Unfortunately for the Bavarians, they had been betrayed by the captives, and thus without realizing it quickly came under the assault of artillery, whose roars echoed in the air like the thunder of God. The explosive shells landed upon the position of the Bavarian skirmishers exploding upon impact and sending shrapnel throughout the air.

The 12 lb steel ball, which was utilized as the host of the explosive, contained enough shrapnel to gravely wound or even kill those unfortunate to be caught in its range. The shards of steel were flying out at such speed that they were fully capable of penetrating through the less solid armor like brigandine. As for the full plate armor, it was partially resistant to the shrapnel. However, the explosive blast itself was more than capable of killing the men caught within its lethal range.

Most of the men at arms of the Bavarian army were not fully equipped in plate armor, maybe a breastplate and a helmet, but there were plenty of gaps in their armor, and as such, the shrapnel easily pierced through those gaps and into the flesh of the men unfortunate enough to be hit by it.

The bombardment did not stop with a single volley. The men who had survived the initial onslaught only had roughly half a minute to get their thoughts in order before another volley was fired from the 18 field guns present at each location. Thunder echoed in the air, and what immediately followed was death and destruction.

The Bavarian men at arms wept and wailed as their comrades were blasted apart, and the artillery fire sufficiently injured them. Yet despite their attempts to rally forth and advance on their attackers, 18 shells repeatedly bombarded their location every 30 seconds like clockwork.

Corpses littered the forests and hills where the Bavarians had gathered, blood pooled into a small pond, and limbs were scattered across the area. The armor the Bavarians wore was scrapped and hewn across the land, along with the bodies that equipped it. Shields, swords, and spears were cast aside and mangled by the explosive blast of the 12-pound shells which bombarded the area.

It was as if death himself had descended on the land. Unfortunately, for those lucky enough to escape the bombardment, they quickly realized they were surrounded as they walked right into the musket fire of the Tyrolean forces. Their brief moment of hope for survival was met with a lead projectile piercing through their breastplates and leaving a massive hole in their chests.

With the first wave of Bavarians utterly decimated by the artillery bombardment, and the second gunned down by the muskets, the Tyroleans rapidly reloaded their weapons as more men desperately tried to escape the encirclement.

However, their fates were sealed the moment their locations were revealed to the Tyroleans. Though the artillery bombardment continued to focus on the center of the encirclement, blasting apart those unfortunate enough to get caught within its shockwave. The majority of the Bavarians had now rushed out of the forests and hills they occupied and into the Tyrolean infantry, who were well prepared for their attacks.

In doing so, another volley was fired from the line infantry, which shredded the bodies of the men at arms, equipped chiefly with melee weapons, the few archers in their ranks who were still alive had opted to stay from afar launch their missiles into the Tyrolean forces. However, it was far less effective than they had imagined.

Only a tiny number of Tyroleans were killed and wounded by the arrows and bolts that fell in their direction. The rest unleashed their bayonets on the men at arms, who rushed to their positions in a desperate attempt to break through and flee the scene. Yet the Tyroleans were well prepared for such a reality, and thus the bayonets thrust into the gaps in the enemy's armor, piercing the limbs and bodies of the Bavarians and spilling their blood and guts onto the field.

This chaotic scene of absolute brutality showed itself throughout the four regions that harbored the Bavarian units. No man could escape the encirclement that the Tyroleans had captured them in. As for the Archers, they were quickly picked off by the Jaegers who stayed in the distance of over five hundred yards and expertly shot their foes with their hexagonal bullets, piercing through the brigandine and gambeson of the Bavarian archers and crossbowman.

With this assault, the Tyroleans had single-handedly brought down the threat that loomed over their heads for the past few days, one that had slowed their advance. The course of the war for Salzburg had shifted in a matter of hours, and those who were fortunate enough to survive the carnage found themselves captured and interrogated for information.

With the insurgency crushed and his supply lines secured, Berengar could once more swiftly march onto Salzburg and meet the main Bavarian force preparing for his eventual arrival. The war for the County of Salzburg would be decided in a large-scale battle between roughly 20,000 Tyroleans and 5,000 Bavarians. Berengar was sure that the conflict would be a one-sided massacre.

Berengar's army was already of considerable size for the era, far more than a Count like himself should have. On the other hand, the Duke of Bavaria had paid a significant expense in raising such a large army of his own to march on Austria; it had a fair amount of levies, mercenaries, and men at arms among its ranks.

In total, the Bavarians had roughly 50,000 men in the region at the start of the conflict. With Berengar's and Eckhard's multiple victories, both at the border conflicts and in their ongoing invasions, the Bavarians now had had less than half of that remaining. Salzburg was considered an area of critical importance, and thus Duke Dietger had invested a fair amount of troops into the region; most of them were now either dead or captured.

Thus Battle of Salzburg was a fight that Berengar was greatly anticipating. For if he could display his overwhelming might in Salzburg, it might intimidate the future Bavarian armies to surrender at the sight of his forces. At least he hoped for such an outcome, though he recognized the possibility of such a thing was slim. Nevertheless, he intended to wipe the floor with the Bavarian army waiting for him at his destination.