Chapter 338: The Holy Roman Empire Surrenders

After securing the Medici Bank and its vast fortune, Berengar personally led his troops to the crumbling Imperial Palace, which was Emperor Balsamo Corsini's personal home within the City of Florence. Much like the Medici Bank, only parts of the building were collapsed; however, it remained intact for the most part.

The Austrian artillery was more trained than Berengar had initially thought; In contrast, he had given them instructions to spare the Medici Bank and the Imperial Palace. He never thought they would manage to achieve it.

Nearly everything within the City had been completely obliterated, with few exceptions. Berengar was quite impressed with how effective his artillery was, despite its primitive nature. He could only imagine the destruction he could cause if he were equipped with more modern equipment like rifled breech-loading cannons.

Berengar thought about this as he strolled through the ruins of Florence. The roads, the houses, the public baths, the cultural icons, everything within the City had been smashed into ruin by the overwhelming bombardment of artillery shells that Berengar had launched onto the City over the past couple of months.

So much so that Berengar felt saddened, not for the loss of life, but the destruction of history that had occurred in such an ancient and magnificent City. Though he was not a historian by trade in his past life, he was highly knowledgeable on the subject and had a passion for it. To see his war cause such devastation to the City that was supposed to play a prominent role in the Renaissance nearly brought a tear to the young Monarch's eye as he marched ever closer to the Palace.

Eventually, Berengar reached the crumbling steps of the dilapidated Imperial Palace; upon closer inspection, it seemed to be in a very fragile state, so much so that he felt it could collapse at any moment. With this in mind, he sent his soldiers in to investigate the building before he entered.

If the Emperor were wise, he would have fled to the wine cellar, as that was his best chance of survival; as such, Berengar's troops quickly advanced through the building, making sure each room was clear of potential hostiles.

They did not find a single living soul within the upper levels, though there were a few corpses of guards and servants that the collapsed parts of the building had crushed. Yet, none resembled the description of the Emperor.

Eventually, Berengar's soldiers found the entrance to the cellar; it was a long staircase that led some ways underground; as such, the unit sent a soldier out to inform Berengar of their discovery. The young soldier was clad in the basic blackened plate armor, with the flashy attire beneath it. However, it had been thoroughly stained with grime from the months of trench warfare that the man had endured, and as such, His uniform looked as if it would blend in with the mud.

"Your Majesty, the building is clear, aside from the cellar. With your permission, we will breach its entrance and see if we can find any sign of the Emperor and his family."

Berengar silently nodded his head as he followed the soldier back inside, where he gave the order to the Veteran Grenadiers who made up his Bodyguard.

"If the Emperor and his family are still breathing, I want them captured Alive. As for any other survivors? Do whatever you feel to be necessary!"

After saying this, an entire squad of grenadiers went down the staircase. Shortly after, Berengar began his descent, where along the way, he heard gunshots resound from the cellar below. With this in mind, he quickly made his way into the basement, where he found the Emperor and his family cowered in the corner, their last bodyguards lying dead on the ground, bleeding from the bullet wounds that tore their chests apart. They were shot dead by the Austrian Grenadiers. As such, Berengar quickly asked for a status report from the squad leader.

"What happened here?"

The Grandier instantly saluted Berengar before describing the events that had transpired mere moments before.

"We came into the room as we were ordered; immediately upon entering, the guards rushed at us with their blades, so we gunned them down! Do not worry, your majesty the Emperor and his family has been spared."

Upon hearing this, Berengar remained silent as he nodded in affirmation of the Grenadier's actions; after doing so, he slowly approached the Emperor, who was kneeling while shivering in fright like a small child. Berengar proceeded to stand in front of the man with a wicked grin on his face. Every word uttered by Berengar came from a position of overwhelming strength as if he were bullying the weak.

"Emperor Balsamo Corsini, I must say, this is the first time meeting you in person, and yet I am dreadfully underwhelmed. I thought for sure a man of your position would have the courage to stand before me, yet here you are kneeling like a cowardly child.

Allow me to make things simple for you, Your armies are broken, your capital is in ruins, and your wealth now belongs to me. You have nothing left! This is the result of your actions and yours alone! My demands are simple, the Kingdom of Austria shall henceforth be an Independent Nation, and the Empire will recognize its legitimacy. You shall also recognize Austria's annexation of the Swiss Confederation.

Everything North of Rome and Sardinia shall henceforth become the Kingdom of Lombardy and will be established as a protectorate beneath the suzerainty of Austria where they will provide a tribute to their new masters in the form of currency and raw materials. They shall be allowed a standing army of no more than 10,000 soldiers to act solely as a means of Defense.

Malta will be ceded to Austria, where all current residents will be evacuated from the island and returned to the Italian Mainland. As for the rest of Italy, it will remain in the hands of you and your Dynasty, and you are free to do as you wish with it, under the stipulation that your Empire refrains from attacking my Kingdom for the next five years.

You are to pay us reparations in the form of Gold and Silver worth a total of 1,000,000 Austrian Guldens. This, of course, is on top of the wealth we have seized from the Medici Bank and the cities we have since plundered. I expect this to be paid to Austria within a hundred years."

The demands that Berengar had made were excessive. For instance, the reparations alone would account for over 30 tons of gold. In Berengar's past life that would be worth over a billion US Dollars, with a limited amount of Gold in Europe in 1421, the sheer volume of payments Berengar was asking from the Holy Roman Empire was enough to ensure that the Empire was in debt to Austria for a hundred years or more!

However, despite the insane demands that Berengar had forced upon him, the Emperor was in no position to reject them. His army was utterly annihilated, and his capital was in ruins. If he resisted, the only thing that would happen would be his death; one way or another, Berengar would get what he wanted.

As such, the once-mighty Holy Roman Emperor nodded his head in defeat, agreeing to the terms presented. At this moment, the Holy Roman Empire had officially surrendered to the Kingdom of Austria. The War for Austrian Independence was over, and with it, significant changes were about to occur within Europe.

However, at the moment Berengar could not care about such matters; his attention was needed elsewhere. As such, he and his troops departed from the Palace; in a few days, he would sign an official peace treaty with the Emperor where all of his terms would be written in the contract.

Berengar returned to the Medici Bank and watched as his troops began to haul the substantial amount of gold and silver out of the bank and into supply wagons; it would take weeks, possibly even months to transport all of this wealth back to the Austrian National Treasury in Kufstein. As such, Berengar would leave behind an army of 25,000 men within the ruined City of Florence to ensure that the gold and silver were successfully transported back to Austria.

While Berengar's soldiers spent the next few months ensuring the assets gained in the war completed their journey, the young Monarch would depart for Kufstein immediately after the treaty was signed. With the war over, The young King had essential matters of State to attend to.

Austria had gained a sizeable amount of land and wealth from this conflict. Berengar had also crippled the financial backing of his greatest enemy and ensured that his southern rivals could not attack him for a period of five years.

With these gains, Berengar fully intended to utilize the time and resources he had acquired in this war to bring forth the fires of industry. When he finally returned from Florence, a new age would await the young Monarch. The era of Steam and Steel was about to descend upon the newly found Kingdom of Austria.