King of the Sea

Chapter 58

Chapter 58

The sound of the horn echoed throughout the campsite in which Berengar's forces had gathered, signaling it to be dawn, thus being time for the troops to rise from their tents. Berengar was already awake and taking care of his horse; it was a solid black destrier of noble stock. The beast was truly magnificent as its shining obsidian coat glistened under the rays of the rising sun. Berengar had named this horse Erwin after the famous German general from his previous life. The young Regent had spent quite the sum acquiring such a magnificent steed for his warhorse, and as such, he tended to pamper the stallion.

He quickly attached the steel plate barding onto the horse, which was blackened to match his armor and had brass trimming across it. Unlike normal cuirassiers, Berengar had elected to armor his horse appropriately; after all, he did not wish to lose such a majestic creature to the horrors of war. After attaching the armor to the horse, he climbed atop its saddle and waited for the men to muster. They would be marching soon enough into the enemy's territory and hopefully engage their army on the field of battle.

Before long, his forces had gathered and loaded their muskets, setting the firing mechanism at half-c**k so that they were prepared for battle at a moment's notice. As for the so-called professionals, they were appropriately equipped with primary pikes and swords as sidearms. The use of the pike was an innovation in which Berengar had equipped the standard infantry of his father's professional army after he rose to the position of regent. It did not take long for the infantry to become proficient in their use and formations, as it was far simpler to train a group of pikemen than it was to train musketeers, artillerymen, or cuirassiers.

The armies marched together in the dawn under the banner of House von Kufstein. By the time they countered the enemy forces, they were merely a few kilometers away from the main town within the region; they were sandwiched between two sets of mountains and were in the valley below. However, they were still far from the enemy forces, which allowed Berengar's army time to get into formation.

The artillery batteries rapidly set up the guns at an appropriate distance away from the battlefield where the armies were organized upon. The primary target of the Artillery would be the archers and crossbowmen used by the enemy forces; if they could wipe them out before the infantries clashed, the casualties on Berengar's side would be greatly reduced.

While his artillery got into position and loaded the field guns, Berengar took charge of the Cavalry, a mix of heavily armored Knights and Cuirassiers. There was roughly Cavalry in Berengar's army, which was far larger than the opposing forces. With Cuirassiers, each armed with a pair of pistols, they had the ability to engage the enemy knights with shots which was far more shots than necessary to eliminate the enemy knights. If fired at close range, it was more than enough to kill the riders or their horses. As such, his cavalry would be taking on the role of hunting down and destroying the enemy knights.

As for the infantry, they were led by Eckhard and the appropriate officers under his command. The militia musketeers were an effective force capable of reloading their muskets in a matter of seven seconds; they would approach the enemy forces while flanked by the pikeman, and open fire when they were within sufficient range to deal the most damage, then the pikemen would protect them while they reloaded and fired again. If necessary, they could fix their bayonets and aid the pikemen in melee battle.

This was the strategy with which Berengar had opted to go with; once his forces were ready for battle, he ordered the march on the enemy position.

"Forward march!"

While covered by the echo of the thundering guns and their explosive shells, Berengar personally led the cavalry in a slow trot towards the enemy cavalry; they would begin the full charge once they were in the range of the enemy knights. Luckily his cuirassiers were backed by the veteran knights; considering they were the newest branch of his army and had yet to be tested in battle, it was good to have the knights alongside them under the circumstances.

Before Berengar could even reach the enemy forces, the explosive shells of the artillery tore the lightly armored ranged forces of his enemy apart. Shrapnel filled the air, while the explosive blast shredded bodies, blood, and limbs flew across the field creating a chaotic scene of death. The whistle of the shells in the air was all that could be heard before the detonation claimed the lives of their enemies. Already the enemy forces began to panic; they had never witnessed such a terrifying sight before, they thought to themselves that the wrath of God had descended upon them. Luckily the Marshal was a veteran of many battles and quickly rallied his troops.

"Hold the line! Hold the Line!"

he called off to the men of his army who were being picked apart by artillery fire. Nevertheless, while saying prayers to themselves, they marched towards the direction of Berengar's forces. A decision that would ultimately be their downfall.

When the enemy Knights spotted Berengar's cavalry rushing towards their position, they began a full-scale charge. With the heavily armored knights on their backs, the trodding of horses in steel barding was enough to install fear into any average soldier. Still, Berengar merely gazed upon them with a sinister smirk as he gave the order to his own cavalry forces.

"Charge!"

His Cavalry forces greatly outnumbered the enemy's, and right when the two forces were about to clash with their lances, the cuirassiers pulled out their pistols in both hands and pulled back the hammers on their flintlock mechanisms. The sound of pistols going off in unison as their lead balls shredded the armor of the enemy knights was a spectacle to behold. In a single second, all but a few of the enemy knights fell from their horses, their lifeless bodies crashing against the ground like steel coffins. The remaining knights sat in shock upon horseback; however, they were completely run through by the enemy knights and their lances, ending their miserable lives before they could even react. Just like that, the battle had begun, and the most elite forces of the enemy were crushed beneath the heel of the Regent of Kufstein.

: Overwhelming Victory

: Overwhelming Victory

: Overwhelming Victory

The thunder of a thousand guns fired in unison echoed throughout the vicinity of the battlefield as the militiamen stood in their line formations a mere twenty feet away from the enemy infantry. The front line kneeled and aimed their muskets, while the second line stood above them with their muskets raised. Instantly the massive amount of lead flying downrange decimated the enemy forces. At best, the infantry of the enemy was equipped with a brigandine breastplate. However, such an obsolete piece of equipment could not protect the men wearing it from the devastating effect of the musket.

As the Militiamen quickly began to reload, the Pikemen standing nearby rushed forward and defended them as they rapidly reloaded their weapons. During the twenty seconds it took to reload, a sturdy pike wall was set up in front of the enemy, who desperately tried to barge through and attack the men behind it. After witnessing the defeat of their cavalry, they had no choice but to go all out. As such, a frenzied charge began as men threw themselves at the pike wall in an attempt to break through.

A single man clad in a mixture of brigandine and plate managed to storm past the pike wall with a sword in hand as the men around him were stuck like pigs by the massive length of the pikes. He quickly slashed at one of the militiamen who was reloading his weapon. However, before he could finish his attack, the militiamen dropped his activity and lifted his musket into the air with its bayonet affixed stabbing directly into the open bascinet of the soldier who dared to attack him instantly piercing through the man's eye and ending his life.

Scenes like this appeared across the pike wall; considering the importance of the militiamen and their hand cannons, the enemy's infantry did everything they could to prevent another volley from being fired off; after all, they doubted these man could quickly reload their weapons. Unfortunately for them, this was a miscalculation as most of the lines were fully reloaded and ready to fire again within a matter of seconds.

Before long, their weapons were once more aimed in the direction of their enemies, many of which had yet to recover from the shock of their front line being torn apart. The pikemen quickly fell behind the line of fire and waited for the second volley to go off. Within seconds the order to fire was given, and with Eckhard's command, another volley of thunderous gunfire riddled the enemy's lines. By now, much of the enemy force no longer dared to fight and began to route.

The enemy Marshal looked in horror as he witnessed his Lord's glorious army being gunned down in front of his very eyes. He had never before witnessed such an overwhelming defeat. Despite his forces being roughly on par with Berengar's in terms of numbers, they were quickly overwhelmed by the mysterious weapons in the hands of his enemy's well-trained soldiers. His knights were dead, his infantry's ranks were shattered, and what little remained of his archers had already begun to route.

As such, he quickly gave the command to retreat, as he yelled to whatever troops could still hear him.

"Fall back! Fall back to the Castle! Retreat!"

Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain as soon after the Marshal had given his command, Berengar's decree resounded throughout the air when he arrived with the Cavalry, who instantly crashed into the routing forces, cutting them down in the process. Still, considering he was on horseback the Marshal managed to escape the field of battle where he quickly fled back to the Castle to inform his Liege about the disastrous result of this battle.

"Give no quarter!"

With that command, the musketeers quickly dropped their reloading process and engaged in a massive bayonet charge. Nearly infantry armed with muskets which had their bayonets affixed and pikes quickly surrounded the routing forces of the enemy and reaped their lives away like wheat to the scythe.

The horrific display of the chaotic battlefield was enough to make one's stomach churn. The enemy forces were quickly encircled and pierced in the weak points in their armor by bayonet and pike alike. Berengar slashed down from horseback with his saber decapitating a soldier who was trying to attack him, he could not help but feel like this was where he was meant to be, leading his forces in a charge against his broken enemies. This was an absolutely humiliating loss to the Barony of Kitzbühel, whose surviving forces were quickly cut to ribbons.