Tyranny of Steel

Chapter 634: German Expansion

It had been days since the battle at the German Fortress had occurred. Since then, Berengar had marched his forces into the Jungle with a plot to conquer the Aztec Empire. At the moment, The German Emperor rode on the back of his mighty red steed. In one hand was the reins to his horse, and in the other was a leash tied to the Aztec Princess’ neck.

He had set out from his fortress with only five hundred men in tow. Among these soldiers were two infantry companies, and an artillery battalion which had split its six guns into two mk2 Schmidt guns, two revolving cannons, and two 7.5cm FK 22 field guns.

As for the remaining five hundred men, they were split into two units. These two units were the garrison tasked with protecting the German Fortress that had been established on the coastline. As well as a logistics unit, designed to resupply Berengar’s small force with munitions, and other necessary equipment to continue the fight.

Tlexictli had a flushed face as she held her head low in embarrassment. Her hands were tied behind her back and she was forced to march with a leash around her neck, following the German Emperor as if she were his greatest prize. Berengar paid no attention to the complex emotions that were all over the woman’s face as he dragged her through the woods.

The Aztec Princess could not help but stare at Berengar’s back with bitter hatred. This man had enslaved her, and she was not content with such a fate. After all, despite everything that had occurred, she was still a princess, and more importantly, a warrior. Despite this resentment, she could do nothing but obey her commands.

After several hours of marching, Berengar came across a small town which had makeshift fortifications around it. The German Emperor was cautious with his approach, and first sent out scouts, who returned to his position with their report.

“My Kaiser, it appears that several thousand of the survivors from the last battle are stationed in this village. Many of them are wounded. What should we do?”

A cruel smirk appeared on Berengar’s face as he issued his orders.

“Take cover on the hilltop above. We will use the rough terrain as our firing position. After we have set up our guns, we will rain fire upon the village, until there are no survivors.”

Upon receiving their orders, the German army circumvented the town and rose into the hills above. The artillery quickly set their guns up into the most advantageous position above the village, while the infantry surrounded them, creating a large barrier of soldiers who intended to protect their comrades with their lives.

As for Berengar, he dismounted from his horse, dragging the Aztec Princess with him behind a cliff, using a rock outcropping as cover. Berengar withdrew his cavalry carbine from his horse’s saddle. As a man who was currently acting as a Hussar, Berengar had access to three weapons: his cavalry sabre, his 1422 Service Revolver, and his Kar 22, which was a G22 redesigned as a cavalry carbine. Berengar ensured that his rifle was loaded, and the safety was off before giving the command to his troops to launch their attack.

“Open fire!”

With this command, a barrage of six guns went off, targeting the village below where the remnants of the Aztec Army remained. In particular, the explosive artillery pieces targeted the buildings that were believed to house the wounded. After all, with the natives level of medicine, they were all dead men anyway, and it was better to put them out of their misery.

The moment the native warriors heard the thunderous echo of the guns, they knew they had been followed. Thus, it was no surprise when they tried to hide within the buildings, foolishly believing that they would be protected from the explosive shells. Sadly, this was not the case, and many of the men who hid were buried alive, as their stone houses collapse on top of them.

Screams filled the air as the rooftops of the stone buildings crumbled into their inhabitants. Try as they might, there was simply no hiding from the overwhelming firepower of the German Army. When the Aztecs realized this, they knew there was only one chance of survival and that was to confront the foreign soldiers who were attacking them. In an act of desperation, the remaining Aztec warriors charged from their hiding places, and ran towards the hilltop where the German soldiers lay in wait for them.

When Berengar saw this, he carefully aimed his carbine before squeezing the trigger, sending a round into the chest of a man who was trying to climb atop the hill, the moment the massive.45-70 projectile punched through the man’s chest. He fell from the ledge onto his comrades below. Having killed his target, Berengar quickly pulled back the bolt of his rifle, ejecting the spent cartridge, before shoving a spare into the chamber and slamming the bolt forward.

While the infantry aimed towards those who were rising onto the hillside. The explosive artillery focused their blasts on the village. Thoroughly blasting apart any semblance of structures. As for the hand-cranked machine guns, they opened fire on the Aztec warriors alongside the infantry.

With the two guns combined, four hundred bullets rushed out of their twenty barrels in the span of a minute and into the climbing horde, cutting down anyone unfortunate enough to be hit by its massive lead spray. Do you want to read more chapters ? Come to ***,com

Despite the fact that there were thousands of Aztec Warrior who had survived the battle and escaped to this village, the Germans held a superior position with overwhelming firepower; it was because of this that the enemy had a hard time reaching the german soldiers.

A few brave warriors climbed their way to the top of the cliff, preparing to strike the enemy with their obsidian weapons. However, the Germans were prepared for this, and merely poked out their rifles, shoving their sharp steel bayonets into the torsos of the Aztec warriors, before pushing them down onto the rising tide. The padded armor of the Aztecs was no match for the German bayonets.

A few of the smarter warriors tossed their atlatls towards the German position, however, their effect was limited. Because the germans were taking cover behind rock cropping, and were in a prone position while firing, at most the stone spears would clang against the steel helmet of a German marine, before deflecting elsewhere.

All this accomplished was making these men a priority target as the German marines aimed their rifles towards the ranged warriors and blasted holes in their torsos. Claiming their lives in the process.

As the battle raged, Berengar noticed Tlexictli trying to escape. Before she could manage to do so, he yanked on her leash which was wrapped around her forearm and dragged her into the dirt where he climbed on top of the Aztec Princess and pinned her to the ground, using his own body as a shield to protect her from the missile fire. After all, he was wearing body armor that could protect his vitals, and she was unarmored.

Tlexictli was forced to bear the weight of Berengar’s body while she watched as her captor expertly reloaded his weapon on top of her and fired at her people. She was completely, and totally helpless to do anything other than bear witness to the gruesome scene. As a jaguar warrior herself, she was well accustomed to bloodshed, but this was no battle. It was simply a massacre.

Eventually, the artillery ceased their fire, as the ruined village was left with thousands of dead bodies. Any more fire would simple be a waste of munitions. As for the German infantry, they too halted their fire as they gazed upon the scene of the slaughter. Below their hill were a sea of corpses, and those who survived were quickly gunned down for sport.

When Tlexictli gazed upon the scene, she now understood why Berengar had been so confident, with only a few hundred soldiers at his command. She could hardly believe that so few men had ruthlessly slaughtered an army. After Berengar had ensured that the area was secured, he lifted the woman up from the ground and dusted the dirt from her torso.

The woman stared at him with resentment in her eyes. She could not believe that the Germans had killed so many of her people in a matter of minutes. She was afraid to ask what Berengar’s next plans was, luckily she did not have to as Berengar issued a command to his soldiers.

“We will hold up in the village until our munitions are resupplied. Afterward we will move onto the next village on our path to the Capital. I dare to see the Aztec Emperor deny my request with so many of his people slaughtered.”

Afte saying this Berengar dragged Tlexictli into the ruined village, and tied her to a post, ensuring that she could not flee. The woman was filled with indignation as she gazed upon the bloodshed that had just occurred. If what Berengar said was true, this was the first of many such massacres that would come in the following days.