Steel Empire
The Invasion of Trent

The invasion of Trent was quick and sudden; the three-way attacks on Trent, Riva, and Pergine Valsugana caught the Prince-Bishop completely off guard. Berengar gave no warning when he attacked Trent; as far as he was concerned, he was already at war with the territory when they decided to supply his enemies. Due to the lack of notice, the Prince Bishop had no time to gather troops in defense, not even having the ability to form retribution.

As such, he was currently besieged in Trent City by Berengar's forces; for the other main assault area, they could hardly even be considered a city; if anything, they were, it is a city with a castle. Both Eckhard and Arnulf would be able to take their territory and march in the last area with significant population before Beregnar even completed his siege of Trent.

It is a lightning war fought with limited time. Berengar had to seize key territories before Lothair was defeated in Vienna. Because of this, he had ordered the constant bombardment of the enemy fortress. While the siege camp was built, it was soon produced, as Berengar was not afraid of the Bishop's army, all of whom hid cowardly behind the great city walls. Instead of it being important, Berengar concentrated artillery bombardment on a certain part of the wall and felt he could take it down very quickly.

As usual, Berengar's forces had fired their rifles at the defenders in the fortress; those who had survived the initial attack began to realize that by looking up at the merlon, they were asking for death. As such, the whole bombing was rather peaceful, with only a few shots often taken whenever a defender was foolish enough to stick his head out from under the protective cover.

...

The Prince-Bishop of Trent is enraged, his territory besieged from the Cursed Berengar and his hordes of demons; he is completely and completely trapped within the confines of his territory. The Bishop's name was Ludger, and he could think of no worse fate than being trapped inside his city walls waiting for Berengar to bring Satan's wrath to him. Clearly, he was not one of the Bishops within the Catholic Church who supported Berengar's ideals and had used much of his power and authority to vilify the young Viscount in public.

Ludger was yelling at his Garrison commander, who was heavily armored with equipment owned by a gunman of the era.

"What do you mean the people in the fort don't have the ability to return fire? What kind of weapon does the enemy use?"

The garrison commander was completely terrified; he had seen too many of his men shot dead by the rumbling weapons that the enemy forces were using. Although he recognized the possibility of the weapon being used as a hand cannon, he could not believe the range they could do. It was beyond imagination to suggest such a weapon was capable of striking a target at over 400 yards.

"I believe it's a hand cannon, but Your Majesty, I don't understand how these weapons are capable of reaching such a range; they have a greater range of effects than our steel bows!"

Prince-Bishop Trent could only grit his teeth furiously as he continued to hear the echo of the 12-pound cannonball thunder wreaking havoc on his walls. Worst of all, he asked a question in his mind.

"What about the wall? Will they hold the cannon fire?"

The garrison commander shook his head with a worried look on his face as he told the truth.

"They will last at most one more day, Your Majesty, allow me to get you out of the city, you can take refuge in the Vatican until power can be deployed to take back your land!"

Ludger was angry at the idea of escaping his land and letting it control the Cursed Berengar, but the commander of his garrison was right; if he stayed here, Heretic would probably execute him as a show of force against the Church. Ludger actually refused to die on Berengar's orders, and he also needed to give the Vatican the information he had gathered about Berengar's weapons. Whether they believed it or not, the hand cannons in Berengar's hands were far more effective than anything seen at the time and posed a great threat to any army of the era.

"Good... We will do it your way; make sure you and your men give me time!"

With those words spoken, the Garrison commander nodded his head and saluted the Prince-Bishop.

"We will die defending this holy land from the infidels at our gates!"

With that said, a plan was made for Pince Bishop of Trent to escape into the night and escape towards the Vatican. Hopefully, Berengar's forces won't be able to catch him.

...

Night fell, and the Berengar bombing continued into the night; to distract the fleeing Prince-Bishop, the enemy defenders came out of the port sally and rushed to the Berengar trench line. Eventually the enemy was spotted even before they were 250 yards from the encampment; therefore, Berengar and his men woke up from the sound of watchtower bells and rushed to their equipment. This time they would not be foolish enough to abandon their armor; therefore, it took them several minutes to obtain the complete equipment.

During this time, rifles from guards inside the moat had exploded echoing in the night as mini-balls and rifle-ball projectiles tore apart the approaching attackers. Even though the trenches had been shifted, there was still barbed wire in place and earthen fortresses designed to protect the soldiers inside those trenches.

By the time Berengar arrived at the scene, a pile of corpses stacked on top of the trench added a secondary barrier for the defenders to pass through, the spirit in which they had attacked the defensive trench line was something Berengar had not witnessed in quite some time. Surely religion is a powerful force that can force people to neglect their lives, but Berengar does not know why they decided to act this way. Berengar ignored the thought as he rushed into the trench with a shotgun pinned to the bayonet in hand and pointed the weapon at the approaching attacker.

After obtaining a visible target, he pressed the trigger of the firearm, causing the hammer containing the stone to fall into the pot below and sparks, thus triggering the black powder contained within the pot, which pushes the mini ball down and into. the chest of a man on his arm is no more than 10 feet in front of him. The bullet-like projectile easily pierced through the man's plate layer creating a large hole in his chest where his heart used to lie intact. Not giving the soldiers time to rush forward, Berngar quickly refilled his rifle with his soldiers as quickly as he could.

Enemy soldiers rushed to the Trench line but got caught in the barbed wire, that snagged around their armor and held them in place long enough for the defenders to recharge and fire into the entangled enemy forces. Blood splattered across the trench line as limbs were torn apart by the impact, and gaping holes filled the abdomen and chest of the enemy. Eventually, enough corpses piled on top of the barbed wire that allowed the enemy into the trench line where Berengar and his troops began fighting inside the trench with swords, bayonets, spears, and sticks.

The trench war became a chaotic terrain as the soldiers of the Berengar army clashed with the gunmen, using every method they could think of to defeat their enemies. However, as time went on, it became increasingly clear that enemy forces were outnumbered and outgunned. The enemy forces suffered heavy casualties, as the Berengar army bayonet was the perfect size and length to pierce through the gaps in the enemy armor. See how most of them wear letter aventails as a form of throat defense, berengar's army quickly made a target of their bayonet stabbing which easily pierced the interlocking iron rings and into the throats of their opponents, ending their lives.

As for Berengar's forces, aside from the levies, each one was equipped with sufficient armor plate armor for their torso, thighs, neck, and head. Aside from the face or armpits, it was almost impossible to deal a deadly blow to his troops with a piercing or slashing weapon. As such, most of Berengar's deaths were caused by blunt trauma to the head, but this was a minimal amount.

At dawn, the sun had risen, and Berengar had won. However, only after Berengar had captured the city would he have realized that the Prince-Bishop had abandoned his land, leaving it ready to be taken. Despite defeating the invading forces, several hundred people still held out behind the wall that refused to surrender the city. Thus, the Siege would last for a few more days while Berengar's allies fought alone for the Prince-Bishopric of Trent.