Chapter 135: 134: Victory in Meran

Eckhard stood in the middle of the siege camp in which he had prepared outside the city of Meran. He was currently wearing his blackened munition's half-plate armor with brass trim, over his winter clothing. A German-style burgonet was adorned atop his head, protecting his skull from potential harm. The three ridges that formed at the top of the helmet were trimmed with brass, as were the edges of the helmet.

The veteran Knight, who now acted as Berengar's Field Marshal scowled as he watched the ongoing siege of Meran. Due to an increase in distance when compared to Sterzing it took him an extra day to arrive at his target with his army. Unlike Berengar, he did not engage in a field battle before setting up the siege, as such his army was well rested for the campaign to take the South.

While Berengar had developed a taste for the gruesome nature of warfare, Eckhard was quite honestly tired of it. He had seen too much death in his life, and the fertile fields of a hundred battlefields being turned into a barren wasteland scorched by the fires of war, and the blood of battle were etched into his permanent memory. However, as a Knight whose only skills were in the art of war, he had no other option in life but to fight until the day of his death.

Hearing the blood-curdling screams of the enemy defenders who were gunned down by the rifled musketeers in his army, many of which had become talented marksmen by this point in the campaign, he could not help but sigh and shake his head as he mumbled his inner thoughts under his breath.

"So much unnecessary death. They should just surrender, their defeat is inevitable..."

Despite the grizzled veteran's views of the conflict, the enemy persisted with all of their being in defending against the technologically advanced forces of Eckhard's army. Much Like Berengar, the army in which he had been tasked with commanding was filled with a mix of veterans, conscripts, and levies. Many of the surviving veterans in this conflict would go on to become NCOs, and even Officers within Berengar's future Imperial Army, but for now they merely hunkered down in the trenches and fired upon the enemy from a distance which was out of reach from the longbows, and crossbows of the feudal garrison in which they were facing off against.

It was after making this observation that the wall finally came crumbling down, after a few days of laying siege to Meran, victory was within his grasp, Eckhard began to wonder if Berengar and Arnolf had already conquered their cities. Nevertheless, now was not the time for that, as such Eckhard grabbed ahold of his loaded musket and ordered his troops to prepare to storm the gap. Eckhard took a different approach to the battle than Berengar did, he bombarded the gaps within the wall with explosive shells, making sure to deal massive damage to whatever men were foolish enough to stay near the gap.

After bombarding the location for some time, the enemy was afraid to protect it, as such, they had managed to stay quite a distance away from the area, when Eckhard finally called for the bombardment to stop, the gap was rushed by the nearby musketeers and levies who ran into the city and began their slaughter. No matter how mighty of defense was initially planned, under the fire of muskets, whose flanks were covered by the levies the city quickly fell into the hands of Eckhard.

As one of Berengar's Generals, Eckhard had made sure to enforce Berengar's rules about the treatment of civilians and POWs, any man who willingly surrendered to Eckhard and his army was treated with a degree of dignity, and under the watchful gaze of Eckhard's forces who had Berengar's rules of war drilled into their heads, the levies were prevented from acting out and causing a scene. After all of the enemies were rounded up as prisoners of war, and the civilians were accounted for Eckhard gave the order to begin the bombardment of the Castle.

Unfortunately for Eckhard the enemy Regent was stubborn and refused to surrender, as such the bombardment continued for several days more before the walls came crumbling down. Wanting to end the battle as quickly as possible Eckhard ordered his grenadiers into position to open fire on the enemy forces before lobbing their grenades into the gap. A common tactic utilized by grenadiers, after causing significant death and destruction to the enemy defense, a great melee had broken out as levies, conscripts and veterans clashed with the enemy garrison. The castle was protected by the elites left behind in Meran and comprised of heavily armored troops resembling men at arms.

Eckhard stayed in the back of the army and watched as his forces slowly captured the courtyard before bashing down the Castle's doors with a battering ram, where they marched inside with their muskets loaded, bayonets affixed, and spears in hand. What followed was a slaughter of every man who resisted until finally, they entered the Grand Hall where the regent was standing firmly in defiance of Eckhard's army.

When Eckhard forced his way to the front and saw the proud Regent he could not help but sigh in his heart. This man was clearly willing to die rather than admit defeat. The Regent noticing the respect given to Eckhard realized the possibility that he was the commander of this army, as such he asked in confusion as to the location of Berengar.

"You are much too old to be Berengar the Accursed, who are you? and where is the Heretic who lays siege to my lands?

Eckhard noticed the usage of the phrase "my lands" despite being a mere Regent which suggested the man undoubtedly had an overinflated sense of pride. As such he sighed and introduced his rank and name to the Regent who acted in power as the Lord of this region was off in Vienna fighting Lothar's war.

"I am Field Marshal Eckhard von Hallstatt, Berengar's leading General, he has tasked me with laying siege to this city and as such, I have full authority to accept your surrender!"

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With the massive growth of Berengar's armies, he had begun to implement a proper rank system in his army, which was equivalent to a modern military's, unlike America in Berengar's past life, he used the rank Field Marshal to give to Eckhard as the highest-ranking General of all of his armies.

The stubborn Lord looked at Eckhard as if he was joking, and once more inquired about Berengar's whereabouts.

"Where exactly is Berengar if he is not laying siege to my grand city?"

Eckhard once more noticed the usage of the term "my" when referring to the city, and if it was not obvious before, it became apparent now to everyone in the room that this Regent was not only stubborn but incredibly arrogant, thinking that the leader of the Loyalist forces in Tyrol would come to Meran himself, as such Eckhard grinned and informed the man of his true value.

"Berengar is currently laying siege to Sterzing and has asked me to take Meran in his absence. Now that the City belongs to us, and the Castle has been secured I highly suggest you surrender, if not I will imprison you by force."

At this point it did not matter if the regent surrendered or not, the city was Eckhard's and by extension Berengar's, the Regent's willingness to accept defeat was irrelevant. Yet shockingly without an army to protect him, or the will of the people to stand up for him, the Regent still refused to admit that he had lost, and instead chastised Eckhard.

"I will never surrender this City so long as I draw breath, when Lothar and my liege return they will drive you into the depths of hell, and I will be greatly rewarded for my loyalty!"

Seeing the stubbornness of this Regent had turned into stupidity at this point Eckhard merely sighed and gave his troops an order.

"Arrest this man, and put him in solitary confinement. I do not want him influencing the prisoners to rebel against our rule here!"

With that said the soldiers pounded their chests in a salute and obeyed his commands.

"Yes sir!"

After saying that they quickly locked up the man in chains, despite his best attempts to struggle, and dragged him off to the dungeon kicking and screaming.

"I can not wait to see how Duke Lothar slaughters you traitors like pigs! You will all be damned to the afterlife for following that heretic into hell!"

With those words said the troops did not react in the slightest, as far as they were concerned Berengar was a man who had proven himself time and again worth following, no matter what the Church might say, he was a righteous man, who had practically become a Warrior Saint in their eyes. Of course, they had no way of knowing that in the distant future after Berengar's passing there would be an enormous debate among the leaders of the Church of Germany as to whether or not Berengar should be canonized as a Warrior Saint.

With the Regent locked away, and the city's defenders defeated the battle for Meran had resulted in a victory for Eckhard, the first of many that would come from the first Field Marshal of Berengar's armies.

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