Steel Empire
Blood in the Snow

By the time Berengar and his troops were crossing into the Southern part of Tyrol, his forces had recently parted ways and headed in different directions, and he was now leading an army that numbered around 5,000 men, he said, half of them are his own army. . The other half of the army consisted of levies from the southern Lordships, who supported Berengar's campaign to quell the Lothair rebellion and retake Tyrol from the treacherous ruler who openly opposed the authority of Duke Wilmar.

Unlike Berengar's army, which was filled with the most veteran members of his infantry and cavalry units. Farmers' retribution is not well-equipped, and many of them have never seen a battle in their lives. At most, they would act as cannon fodder for Berengar's troops; their role was to absorb enemy missile fire while his troops fired at the enemy. At that moment, it was late in the morning but not yet noon, the wind was still calm, and all one could hear was the sound of thousands of feet marching following the beat of the drums as the infantry soldiers sang one of Berengar's lines. tunes.

After crossing the cold mountain cliffs, the Berengar troops finally found themselves in a position overlooking the Sterzing city in the distance. However, to their surprise, they also saw troops marching towards them. It seemed that the enemy had chosen to advance onto the field in an attempt to intercept Berengar's forces and eliminate them before they entered the city limits. Therefore, Berengar shouted for his troops to hear.

"Shape line!"

His orders were forwarded to the Officers and NCO before finally reaching the enlisted personnel. With this order, the Berengar army's veteran troops formed a lineup and began loading their weapons. The artillery batteries also began to take high positions above the field below where the enemy troops were marching. The cavalry did their job and took up positions in the wings, where they would soon raid enemy troops. There was no cavalry to speak of in the enemy army; in fact, as elsewhere in Tyrol today, all the professional armies gathered with Lothair in Vienna, leaving small garrisons and large groups of retribution to defend their homes.

There were quite a few nobles and knights, but they quickly descended from their horses as they saw so many cavalry Berengar had brought. Thus, the Cuirassier ranks of Berengar slowly began to step on enemy positions while his infantry prepared their rifles. Retribution at the time was used to protect the flanks of the Berengar infantry line. With this rapidly assembled Berengar army starting to march slowly and uniformly towards the enemy army, the cavalry had already started their attack.

As the cavalry attacked the enemy, the thunder of a 12-pound cannon resounded in the distance as explosive bullets were launched into the enemy forces. Explosive explosions and shrapnel from bullets hit enemy forces. It quickly turned the light armoured levies into cuts of meat and meat paste. The limbs scattered, the head rolled, and blood stained the snow below. However, there was only one battery capable of firing at the enemy. Thus, the number of enemy troops hit by the barrage was significantly less than in the previous Berengar battle.

Berengar naturally led the cavalry and quickly pulled both of his pistols from Erwin's saddle; it was already loaded and ready to fire; all that needed to be done was to cock the flintlock's action, what Berengar and his Cuirassier did in unison. The enemy brought some archers with them and started shooting at the steel horses belonging to the Berengar kuirassier, in this period of history, barding was still an effective way to protect your horse, and therefore, barding was still an effective way to protect your horse, Berengar had spent a lot of money to protect his cavalry horses, after all, it was expensive to buy, it would be a pity if they died easily on the battlefield.

The arrows were released into his cavalry when a huge volley fell from the sky as if it were raindrops, but to the dismay of the enemy forces, the arrow failed to injure the horse or cuirassier. Instead, three-quarter steel plates and steel plates covered most of the cavalry's body, deflecting the bolts as if a padded arrow hit them. If there were some arrows finding their way into the gaps in the armor, but this was not a vital area, and therefore nothing more than inflicting pain on their riders and horses.

Therefore, the enemy forces quickly raised their spears, anticipating the clash of the heavily armored Cavalry troops, but before such a situation occurred, it was not until the time, the horses shot out from the direction of the spear wall and dashed to the side. While the horses were maneuvering in this manner, hundreds of Cuirassier pulled the trigger of their two pistols and aimed at the enemy at close range.

As hundreds of guns exploded, they quickly cut through the small defenses equipped with retribution and tore the bodies of those who made contact with the lead balls. Screams of blood curdling filled the air as retribution blood splashed onto their comrades. After firing their shots, the cuirassiers quickly stored their pistols and unsheathed their heavy cavalry swords as they aimed their horses at a full-scale attack.

Currently, the enemy ranks, which consisted mostly of greenhorn retribution, were filled with terror and fear as they were pushed forward by the somewhat more veteran forces behind them to the meat grinder. Inevitably they thought that the weapon Berengar and his army used was some kind of vile magic obtained by associating with the demon minions. They were a group of uneducated and superstitious people, and the propaganda the Church spread about Berengar filled their fearful minds as they walked ever closer to the enemy formation.

When the shooters finally reached firing range, they formed a precise firing squad with the first column kneeling and the second holding their rifles over the heads of their kneeling comrades. The officers gave the order to fire, which resulted in over a thousand lead projectiles flying down the range and into the bodies of retribution advancing towards them.

Unlike the previous battle, Berengar did not directly give chase. Instead, he raised his fist and gave the opposite order.

"Stop!"

With that, his army suddenly stopped. The retribution of Berengar's troops thanked God that their master was wise enough to join Berengar, because if they were to march on such an army, they would also lie dead in the snow. After gazing at the violent remains on the battlefield, Berengar noticed the sea of corpses whose blood had been drained into the snow below. The gloomy scenery had made those who did not know among the Berengar ranks feel nauseous.

After standing coldly staring at the grizzly scene, one of the Lords that had supported Berengar finally regained his senses from his daze, the battle scene that had just been waged consuming his senses for quite some time. Now that his thoughts had returned to him, he asked Berengar about the enemy who was running away.

"Don't we have to go after them?"

Berengar merely shook his head and pointed his bloodstained sword at the pile of hundreds of corpses lying scattered on the ice-covered ground before expressing a thought in his mind. An evil grin appeared on his face as he revealed the details of his plan.

“They have paid a heavy price to rebel against us; when the survivors return to the city and tell the garrison about what they have witnessed here today, how do you think it will affect the morale of the defenders? When we finally besieged this town and unleashed the power of our weapons on it, do you think they still have the will to fight?"

With that said, the nobles who had supported Berengar instantly thought what would happen to them if they chose to stand with Lothar against Berengar, and they shivered at the thought of that terrifying thought. Their city will be next. Luckily for them, they have chosen to support the right horse.

Without giving his master time to respond to his words, Berengar raised his sword into the air and commanded the troops behind him.

"I want the siege camp built before sunset! Forward March!"

With that, the soldiers who suffered little casualties in this battle started marching towards Sterzing City, where they would surround him for the next few days. Although Berengar had no way of knowing how the fate of his other two troops would be, he felt that they were in the same position as him now. Therefore, he smiled as he rode a horse around Sterzing City.