Steel Empire
Successful Operation And New Invasion

Right now, Berengar was standing in the middle of the Sterzing Great Hall; after a well-done siege, the enemy had conceded and knelt in front of him. With the collapse of the city's defenses the night before, it didn't take long for the cowardly Regent inside to hand over the Castle and the City to Berengar, some bombardment on the castle walls, and some of the, and he quickly waved the white flag, rushing for Berengar's good.

With the victory of Sterzing and Meran, all that remained in the Trident operation was the fall of Schlanders, and news of victory in the area would soon follow. Berengar therefore smiled at the defeated Regent, who happened to be one of the Baron Brothers who ruled this area. Although the man was trusted with the defense of the territory by his elder brother, he had completely failed at it.

The resistance in the South had collapsed around the strength of Berengar's army, and some places still harbored bad sentiment towards Berengar's campaign, at least openly. Right now, Berengar was talking to the Regent, who was kneeling before him like a loyal person.

"I'm not going to punish you for your brother's defiance. Since you have surrendered willingly, you will be given the same respect as I treat all my prisoners of war. However, Sterzing was under my authority until the rule of law was restored in Tyrol. "

The regent sweated as he knelt in front of Berengar, unwilling to see the young man's ferocious gaze. He had never seen the siege end so quickly before, nor had he witnessed such destruction. The fast speed at which Berengar mastered Sterzing is unprecedented, unless you count his other conquests. Indeed, the tactics of European war would change when the feudal lords of the continent finally learned of the effectiveness of their weapons.

Therefore, the man lowered his head as he thanked Berengar for his mercy

"My lord, I thank you on behalf of me and my family for saving my life!"

The Church has made use of Berengar's conquest to spread rumors about the alleged evil actions of his troops and himself. Despite behaving with an unusual degree of decency found in this medieval era, his troops were branded as murderers, rapists, and cannibals who worshipped demons by the Church. Therefore, the fear in the Regent's eyes was understandable, he was clearly a fool who believed everything the Church said to him, and Berengar was useless to such a fool in his County.

That's right, his county, as far as Berengar was concerned, there was only one way for this war to end, with him being awarded the title of Tyrol County. Although he was currently unaware of Liutbert's decision to help him in this, Berengar was still confident he would get what he wanted. So he looked at the Regent in front of him with disdain as the man was taken away to the prison.

Afterwards, Berengar sat in the seat of power at Sterzing and gave his orders.

"Prepare to rest here, and leave the garrison of 500 men, we will prepare our troops to attack the Prince-Bishopric of Trent when we have gathered our strength. For now, enjoy it, but be sure to follow the rules I have set; if I find anyone who dares to rape, attack, kill, cause unnecessary harm to civilians, he said, and prisoners, I'll put them in front of the firing squad, do I make myself clear?"

With that said, the voices of the soldiers under the command of Berengar who had gathered in the Great Hall of Sterzing voiced their support simultaneously.

"Okay, my master!"

After all, for the many changes he had planned on the structure of society, rebellion was inevitable, and he wanted his army to be in place to counter any revolution that might emerge from the nobles who were dissatisfied with his change to their feudal power. Therefore, he intended to begin the construction of a small star fort in the conquered area and house it with a garrison of local people until the day he incorporated the entirety of Tyrol into political, economic, industrial reforms, his farm.

After a few days of rest, a messenger came to Berengar and handed him a series of letters, written by different people, but each contained important information for his war effort. The first came from Linde who claimed to have convinced her older brother Liutpert to support her in her bid for the title of Prince of Tyrol; in fact, it was, the man publicly denounced his father and his actions during Berengar's siege of Sterzing.

The next two letters from Arnulf and Eckhard, inform Berengar that they have mastered their target and that Operation Trident has been a great success. Berengar now held a major center of resistance to his authority in South Tyrol; with it, the remaining Rebel territory would fall into Berengar's hands within weeks.

The next letter was the most important report he received, and it was written by Adela, telling him that Lothair was besieged in Vienna, with no way out, he said, and the siege his father had put in place to get rid of the traitor Lothar went quite well. . Lothair was captured by Duke Wilmar's forces and executed. When Berengar read this news, he realized that he had to advance his schedule. If he could not capture Trent by the time Lothar's rebellion ended, then the Duke would definitely not let him attack Trent without a proper reason openly.

Today, the justification is the fact that the Prince-Bishop of Trent has publicly expressed support for the Lothair rebellion and has even supplied them. Realizing that Berengar no longer had the luxury of waiting for reinforcements, he quickly wrote a pair of letters and sent them with an envoy to Arnulf and Eckhard. The letters contained further orders; Arnulf and Eckhard would leave the garrison and march in the area later known as Riva and Pergine Valsugana. As for Berengar and his army, they will march on the city of Trent. They just don't have time to wait for reinforcements.

After sending the letter, Bernegar quickly gathered his officers, where they were confused by an unscheduled meeting but wanted to listen to Berengar's orders. Because of this, Berengar cut in to the chase and informed his troops of his monumental decision.

"The traitor Lothair will soon fall into the hands of Count Otto's forces. Just in a matter of weeks now..."

With this said, the room echoed in applause, this meant that the war was coming to an end, and they were able to return home. However, Berengar shocked them by raising his hand and making them clap; he pointed towards the map in front of them, which landed directly on the Prince-Bishopric of Trent. Berengar had a fierce and determined look in his eyes as he gave his decision.

“Therefore, we must act swiftly if we are to put an end to the Rebellion as a whole; as you all know, the Prince-Bishop of Trent has supplied our enemies. If we don't attack them now, we will allow the authority in Trent to get away with the blood on their hands. Therefore, I hereby declare that tomorrow morning, our troops aside from the small garrison of 250 men, designed to maintain order in the region, will march on Trent, he said, where we're going to take that territory in the next few weeks and put it into the County of Tyrol!"

The Officers were shocked at first with this news; however, when thinking of the potential rewards they could earn by capturing Trent, their eyes glittered with greed. With the new territory under his control, Berengar needed to appoint more respected nobles to run it for him. As positions in its political and military structure were largely based on merit, the more capable it was to prove itself as a leader in the upcoming conflict, the better their chances of becoming a Baron or Viscount.

Thus the spirit for this invasion was far greater than the conquest of Tyrol, and everyone wanted to do their part to gain the prestigious position and untold wealth of the annexation of Trent. As for Berengar, he was pleased with the fact that he could finally deliver a huge blow to the Church, which he had made an enemy of. If they thought the Teutonic Order would be enough to eliminate him within a few months, they were unfortunately wrong. With the orders given, the Officers quickly relayed them to their troops, and Berengar took a sip of wine while staring at this world map. Increasingly strengthening his determination to become the unrivalled Emperor, the conquest of Tyrol and Trent was only the beginning!