Chapter 129: Establishing Camp at Sterzing

Berengar sat atop his trusty steed Erwin, the muscular black destrier gallantly trodded at the front of the Army in which Berengar was currently leading. Aside from the thousands of infantry he had at his back, the man also led a few thousand levies raised from the Lords and Regents of the portion of Southern Tyrol in which supported Berengar and his campaign. Beside him were the commanders of these mostly levy-based units; they were clad in knightly armor in the design fitting for the time period.

This army was one of three which had begun to march on three critical regions, which acted as the centers of rebellion against Duke Wilmar within the region of Tyrol. By laying siege to these areas, Berengar would effectively bring Southern Tyrol under his control in one fell swoop. As such, Berengar smiled as the men in his army sang along to the marching song Erika from his previous life; it had become one of the favorites of the men in his army.

The levies and noblemen who were marching aside Berengar and his army were quite confused about the chipper nature of Berengar's soldiers. The veterans of Berengar's army knew that thus far casualties had been low among their forces, and now they had a bunch of levies to soak up the enemy's arrows and bolts. Thus they were in a perfect mood; as for the conscripts who recently joined the army, they were following their seniors' lead.

Before long, Berengar's forces had arrived at the city of Sterzing and once more made camp outside of the enemy's range of fire but well within their own. Though he only had three cannons in this army, as he had split up the battalion among the three armies, if concentrated on one wall, it would be more than enough to open a gap for his forces to charge through.

The cannoneers, who at this point were well accustomed to laying siege, had quickly set up the guns behind some defensive barriers and began to fire off at the city's walls. When the thunder of the guns echoed into the evening sky, the many levies became frightened, not knowing how to react to such a thing. Seeing the distraught expressions on the faces of the levies, the veterans and conscripts of Berengar's army all began to laugh at the men and the pathetic looks on their faces.

If these levies looked like they were about to shit bricks, they could only imagine the faces of the enemies currently bombarded with explosive shells. Berengar decided to take a moment to comment on the situation.

"Is there anything more beautiful than the echo of an artillery battery and the smell of gunpowder amid a cold winter's sunset?"

He was speaking to his officers and the lords who had gathered to support him. If Eckhard were here at the moment, he would probably sigh and think to himself that Berengar was enjoying himself a little too much in this campaign of his. As for the other officers under Berengar's command, they all gazed off into the sunset much like Berengar had and took a moment to listen to the thunder of guns and the screams of the bombarded among the beautiful scenery.

One of his officers spoke up to Berengar and his twisted idea of beauty

"My Lord... I think you should lie down; you are clearly unwell..."

Berengar merely chuckled at the man's comments and smiled as he inhaled deeply, enjoying the scene before his eyes. After snapping back to reality after several moments, Berengar gave the officers their orders.

"Well, what are you all standing around and waiting for? Make sure the camp is properly established, and the sentries are set to schedule!" We don't want a repeat of what happened in Schwaz, do we?"

Fearing the backlash of their Lord and Commander, the officers quickly got to task assembling the siege camp. Under the sunset, thousands of black and gold tents were quickly set up, with a series of trenches supported by sandbags and barbed wire established around the perimeter. Guard towers were on all sides to keep a watchful eye on the potential arrival of enemies.

Berengar had failed to use a trench system outside of Schwaz, which was a mistake on his part. By digging a semi-modern trench system around the encampment, he was capable of providing a vastly superior line of defense against oncoming attackers, which could fully make use of the several hundred rifled muskets in his army and their range advantage.

As the sun faded away and the moon replaced it in the sky above, Berengar decided to take the first watch. Thus he grabbed ahold of a musket, loaded it, and climbed into the trench system where several sentries were keeping watch. Seeing their Lord and Commander jump in the hole with them, these new conscripts were quite shocked. They× expected Berengar to be in some large tent, with a fire going and maybe even a woman by his side. Yet here he was, taking up the first watch in the trenches alongside them.

Berengar gazed into the distance as he looked upon the city's walls, which were under a near-constant bombardment. It would take a few days for the walls to come down, and when they did, resistance in the South would come to a swift end as long as the other sieges were also successful. Though with his tactics, and the enemy's lack of understanding towards them, he did not fear defeat in this war.

It would be quite sometime before the other European powers would begin fielding firearms en masse. However, his victory in this war would certainly spark the development of such sophisticated weapons. Due to Berengar's influence on this timeline's events, the matchlock would come into existence far earlier than it had in his past life.

When it did, Berengar would finally be facing some stiffer resistance from his opponents, but for now, the advantages that firearms presented were too great for his enemies to overcome. Military historians would study Berengar's campaign in Tyrol for generations to come. This war in which Berengar fought would symbolize the end of an era, as soon the entire world realized that the age of knights and chivalry had long passed. The era of steel and shot had just begun!