Chapter 317: Arming Brigands

Months had passed since Operation Thunder proved to be an initial success; the Hussites had advanced well into loyalist territory during this time. So much so that the Catholic armies were now on the backfoot.

As a result of this civil disobedience began to break out all over the realm, which quickly turned to riots. The result of this was a spike in crime; bands of brigands had begun to appear all over Bohemia, acting as a scourge upon the local populace.

While Eckhard was busy acting as the chief military advisor to the various Hussite sects, Agents of the Austrian Crown had begun to supply various brigand groups with the weapons they needed to cause even greater chaos.

The shipment of arms had come straight from Vienna and passed through Eckhard's area of operations; as such, he tasked one of the Field Agents embedded with his unit to take charge of the delivery. At the moment, this Agent was standing in front of the leader of one of the most fearsome Brigand gangs within the borders of Prague.

The Hussites would soon be marching on this territory; with this in mind, Eckhard devised a plan that involved the Brigands' armament, with the intent to distract the loyalist forces. The Agent dispatched to supply these criminals was currently standing in a forest outside of a village that lies within the boundaries of the city of Prague.

The man in front of the Agent went by the name Radovan Dohnal; he was a particularly rowdy individual who was a convicted criminal willing to use violence to achieve his goals. As such, he and his gang of brigands were ideal candidates to arm with hand cannons.

With this in mind, the Agent and his fellow operatives dressed like lowly Bohemian peasants entered into the back of their wagon before pulling out a few wooden crates. After using a crowbar to pry them open, the primitive hand cannons revealed themselves. The Agent, whose identity was shrouded by a hood, pulled the firearms out from the container and handed them over to Radovan and his men. As he did so, he spoke in a perfect Bohemian accent.

"These are the standard hand cannons that have been retrieved from defeated Hussites; you load the gun powder through the barrel, followed by the projectile, where you then pack it down with a stick. After doing so, you put a bit of powder in the pan, where you ignite it with a slow-burning match. "

As the Agent was saying this, he was demonstrating the use of the weapon. After reaching the end of the loading process that took roughly a minute, a loud echo resounded in the forest as the gun discharged its projectile, which embedded itself into a large tree approximately three meters away.

After successfully testing the weapon, the other agents went back into the wagon and pulled out several more crates filled with hand cannons, as well as a few casks; some were filled with gunpowder, others were filled with projectiles such as iron balls.

Having witnessed the destructive nature of the weapon, and the relatively simple loading process, a wide grin appeared on Radovan's face. The man was missing several of his teeth, which resulted from the number of bar fights he had been in during his lifetime. The man pulled out a pouch filled with coins minted by the local lord; he prepared to pay a hefty price.

"How much do I owe you?"

In response to this, the Agent merely shook his head before responding.

"Consider it a gift from the Bohemian Crown, just promise me that when the Hussite forces move onto Prague, you and your band of thieves will provide one hell of a distraction to those damned heretics..."

Radovan chuckled slightly as he heard this before reaching out his hand in agreement.

"Aye, it will be one hell of an occasion!"

After saying this, the Agent and the brigand captain shook hands. The deal was sealed with this, and the Austrian agents departed from the town; this was just one of the many gangs of criminals and thieves they intended to arm in the upcoming days.

As such, they departed from the borders of Prague and journeyed to the next town on their list of objectives. After the Austrians had left, one of the members of Radovan's gang approached him with a worried expression on his face as he asked the question on his mind.

"Are we really going to aid the Crown? We are all wanted men! Who is to say if they use this as an excuse to round us all up and execute us?"

In response to this, Radovan spat on the ground before handing the hand cannon over to the minion who asked such a stupid question.

"I promised them I would simply make a distraction against the Hussites; I don't plan to do anything more than that. With these weapons, we will intimidate merchants and townsfolk into giving us whatever we want! I say that's a reasonable price to pay for such destructive power."

After hearing this, the brigands who followed Radovan felt a sense of ease, they did not desire to see the Hussites win the war, but they also did not wish for this chaotic era to end so soon. There was profit to be made for cutthroats like themselves during times of war, and the best way to do so was to rob towns, caravans, and refugees. Luckily for them, the Austrians had provided them the means to do so more effectively.

Unfortunately for them, they were utterly unaware that agents of the Austrian Crown had supplied them. Instead, they believed it was Bohemia who had given them the weapons. Thus when Bohemia's armies finally captured them, they would be completely and utterly confused as to why they were being executed for acting on behalf of the Bohemian Crown.

Meanwhile, in the supply wagon that had begun to depart, another agent pulled down her hood to reveal her pretty face; as she did so, she began to question her team leader for the actions they had taken on this day.

"Why are we providing these weapons to a bunch of thieves and murderers? Has the Marshal gone mad? Such actions will surely cause significant harm to the Bohemian people!"

When the lead field agent heard these questions, he merely snorted in response; there was silence for some time before he revealed his thoughts on the matter.

"It is no secret that our hand cannons have begun to find their ways into the hands of the Bohemian Crown's forces and that of their crusader allies. After all, they have been captured in battle from the corpses of the fallen Hussite soldiers.

I don't speak for Marshal Eckhard, but he is likely thinking that by leaking these weapons to criminals, such actions can be blamed on the corruption of the Bohemian Crown, which is why we introduced ourselves as their agents. This can be used in propaganda efforts to rally the people against Bohemia and her allies.

Such a result would be disastrous; people have already begun to riot in response to the food shortages and the excessive demands of the loyalist factions. When the people hear that corrupt agents of the Crown have distributed weapons to brigands for pay, they will take up whatever means they can to outright resist Bohemia and her allies.

When this occurs it will split our enemy's attention from our allies' attacks and force them to fight a two-war front against the Hussites and the Bohemian populace. By the time the war comes to an end, the Bohemian people will welcome Berengar's troops as a means to provide stability to their lives."

Upon hearing this, the female Agent began to pout; Marshal Eckhard was willing to cause such harm to the people of Bohemia in order to inspire greater chaos within the realm than was already present; it was simply madness in her eyes.

However, she was an agent of the Bohemian Crown, lifted from the status of a lowly orphan to serve the state, thus despite her reservations, she would fulfill her duty to the fullest of her ability. After all, without Berengar, and his reforms, she likely would have died long ago.

She owed her life to the Austrian Crown and would never even think of disobeying Marshal Eckhard because she found his actions immoral. Austria was at war and surrounded by enemies; they did not have the luxury to fight a war in a fair and just manner.

The actions of the Austrian agents within Bohemia would ignite a fire in the heart of the Bohemian populace against their King and his allies. Before long resistance from groups of all different ideologies would spread across the realm, causing an even greater degree of conflict than already seen. This would create the perfect storm for Berengar to usurp power when he finally managed to secure his victory over the Empire.