Steel Empire
Bavarian Surrender

After the battle in the fields outside the city of Vienna, the Bavarian General who led the troops in Austria was no longer eager to fight Berengar and his overwhelming force of troops, as doing so meant death. While Berengar marched ever closer to the gates of Vienna, the Bavarian general was in discussions with his remaining commanders regarding the best course of action.

A group of Bavarian nobility were currently fighting about their choice; one person, in particular, was tall and strong and voiced his thoughts in a boisterous manner.

"We must defend the Capital with all we have! We have shed too much blood to accept defeat! If Vienna wants to return to Austrian control, then we must make sure the enemy commander dies with us!"

However, after saying his impassioned speech, the Lord found that no one in the room agreed with his opinion; instead, the Lord found that no one in the room agreed with his opinion; instead, he was instantly reprimanded by another noble who looked quite opposite to the appearance of a tall and powerful God. This weak and meek viscount quickly retorted

"Are you crazy? Our army was defeated, we have even withdrawn all our troops from the southern District for this battle, and the evil weapon Berengar destroyed us completely! This is a war that cannot be won! I suggest we surrender; Berengar is known to show mercy to those who willingly submit to his will; it is the best way to escape with our lives!"

However, the other nobles were afraid of the consequences of such actions and, thus, pointed out his worries at the first opportunity.

"Do you believe Duke Dietger will be merciful if we surrender Vienna and withdraw all our troops from Austrian soil? He'll be mad because we messed up his conquest so much! After all, we will face certain death; it is better to go to war!"

The two nobles continued to quarrel among themselves as the General of all Bavarian forces in Austria listened to the opinions of his various commanders while immersed in deep thought. He did not know the best course of action, but the chances of survival were much higher with a retreat. They had lost too many men to defend Austria, even if they managed to defend Vienna. 

Eventually, the debate reached a point where the two nobles would clash with each other, and thus the Bavarian General spoke up about the decision he had made.

"Laft the white flag; when Berengar arrived in Vienna, I would negotiate a safe journey for all Bavarians on Austrian soil, back to Bavaria. The war is over, and I will take full responsibility for our surrender!"

Hearing that the General would accept the blame for their great loss, the other nobles immediately heaved a sigh of relief. Because of this, they were much more in agreement with the idea of retreating to Bavaria; thus saying that the meeting had been completed, he said, and the commanders set the task for the few defenders left in the city to raise the white flag. 

...

It took Berengar a few days to arrive in Vienna after his victory outside the city, especially since he had to collect all the equipment and corpses of his dead soldiers. Berengar would never abandon such a valuable technology to be dug up and reengineered; therefore, he spent time recovering what was lost after each battle. More importantly, he regained his own warrior body so that they could obtain a proper burial in Tyrol. 

After arriving at the gates of Vienna, Berengar was quite surprised to see the raising of the white flag. His extraordinary performance on the battlefield and his assassination of the enemy commander had frightened the Bavarians to the point of negotiating surrender. Of course, Berengar would never allow white peace; he would force the Bavarian General to sign a very punishing peace treaty that would impose severe provisions on the Bavarians for their crimes against the Austrian people.

If Duke Dietger did not accept the terms his General would sign, it would give Berengar another legitimate Cassus Belli to invade Bavaria when he was ready to do so. Of course, it would take several years before he could secure his rule in Austria and stabilize the situation; he also expected some papal backlash in the coming years in response to his rapid rise to power. Thus he would not expand his territory further until all internal and external matters had been dealt with. 

Berengar quickly gave the order to Arnulf as he stared at the white flag that flew brilliantly into the clear blue sky above the mighty Vienna city wall.

"Take me, my white flag, we will force these Bavarians to pay a heavy price for their crimes in Austria. It's time for aggressive negotiations."

Arnulf quickly nodded and ordered the troops to take the white flag; after doing so, it was taken to Berengar, where he held it and rode with his host, which consisted of himself, Arnulf, and his wife, several of his commanders, and the troops needed to secure his safety, were all formidable battle grenades. .

Seeing that Berengar and his host were riding with a white flag, the gates of Vienna opened, and the Bavarian General was riding with his host, where they would meet with Tyrolean forces halfway between Berengar's army and the defenders of the city. 

After reaching the middle ground, the two sides planted their white flags on the ground and began to negotiate the terms of the Bavarian surrender. The Bavarian general was the first to speak his mind when he saw Berengar in person.

"I'm Count Kuonrat von Roth, I assume you're the famous Count Berengar von Kufstein?"

Berengar smiled as he nodded his head before answering the man's question.

"It's nice to meet you."

Berengar's tone was blatantly insinuating, to the point that Kuonrat simply rolled her eyes after hearing it and began to state her intentions.

"As Marshal of the Bavarian army in Austria, I hereby declare my intention to surrender to you Count Berengar von Kufstein on condition that all remaining Bavarian soldiers on Austrian soil be allowed to return safely to our homeland!"

Berengar's lips began to warp wickedly when he heard this, and thus he began an intense negotiation.

"I will permit it on condition that the indemnity be paid to Austria by your army and that the territory of Bavaria and its governing authorities swear by God not to invade our land for at least another five years!"

"How much do you want to get paid?"

Hearing the man easily accept Berengar's terms and begin negotiating the price, Berengar knew the man was eager to return to Bavaria and thus began with an unreasonable figure.

"A hundred tons of silver, I'm sure it's worth the damage you caused to Austria! You can pay for it in installments for five years if necessary."

Berengar's whole intention was not to accept payment or secure a peace treaty, but to give him extraordinary justification for his invasion of Bavaria in the future. Although the destruction damage inflicted on Austria itself is quite justification, the, he did not want to appear as a warmonger once his initial rise to power and thus needed to look like he was responding to a broken treaty rather than as an act of subjugation. 

When the Bavarian General heard such an unreasonable demand, his jaw almost fell; there was no way Bavaria could afford such a remedy, a hundred tons was equal to 200,000 pounds. The weight in silver is an astronomical number. Therefore, he quickly began to argue with Berengar about the figure he was quoting.

"At best, we can afford 10 tons; 100 makes no sense!"

Berengar scoffed at the man's negotiating tactics and instead criticized him.

“You have slaughtered the Austrian population and destroyed its land through scorched earth tactics; the amount of time and money needed to repair the damage is close to the figures I have mentioned. You will agree to my terms, or I will besiege this city and every fort your people still occupy, killing every single Bavarian I meet!"

Berengar's voice had risen to a state filled with anger, and thus his tone was extremely frightening to the Bavarian General; this was the result he feared the most. There are still thousands of Bavarians left in Austria, and they have lost most of the 50,000 people sent to the region. Such losses were monumental in this era, as they significantly drained Bavaria's ability to raise revenue. So after careful consideration, the General nodded his head and sighed deeply.

"Alright, on these terms I Count Kuonrat von Roth surrender to you, Count Berengar von Kufstein."

The two men knew in their hearts that this agreement would not be respected and that the war would eventually break out again, but what was successfully done was to secure the safety of Bavaria back to their homeland to focus on their enemies in the North and give Berengar enough time to stabilize his rule throughout Austria. So they were both happy with the arrangement. 

Upon hearing the man accept his terms, Berengar smiled before declaring the war officially over.

"Well, you have at most three months to withdraw completely from Austrian soil; if you stay any longer, we will assume the treaty is violated, and the battle will continue. I promise you, if such an opportunity occurs, not a single Bavarian in Austria will survive my anger!"

Kuonrat nodded in agreement and promised Berengar

"I promise you; there will be no Bavarians left on the Austrian border on the date of the withdrawal you have granted."

After hearing this, Berengar smiled before saying one last thing.

"Good, I will leave you alone; for now, you must have a lot to arrange if you want to withdraw from Austria. Farewell"

Throughout this entire exchange, a scribe had written down the agreement, and received the signatures of the two men, when it was fully signed into an agreement, Berengar departed from the field, and the two men received their signatures, with a copy of the agreement in his hand. 

As for the Bavarian General, he wore a facade and smiled at Berengar as he left the field and returned to his troops. It was only after Berengar came out from a listening distance that Kuonrat voiced her concerns to her nearest commander.

"Prepare for a full withdrawal from Austria; I want every Bavarian soldier who is still holding his breath to retreat from this land as quickly as possible!"

One of the commanders had a worried expression on his face before asking a clear question in his mind.

"What should we say to His Majesty?"

Kuonrat let out a heavy sigh before giving the order.

"For now, say nothing to him; we will inform him of our surrender only after we have fully retreated."

With those words, the Bavarians began to prepare for a full retreat, which would signify the end of the war in Austria. Berengar and his allies have won, and young Prince Tyrol has fulfilled his promise to end the war before leaves fall from the trees.

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