Chapter 396: Austrians Arrive in Granada

A few days had passed, and the first of Berengar's armed forces had stepped foot upon the soil of the Iberian Peninsula. In southern Granada, Thousands of Austrian Soldiers gathered together with their arms and artillery as they prepared to advance north.

However, until the remainder of the division could arrive; a temporary city devised of tents was set up on the edge of the region for the time being. This city of tents was used to house the thousands of soldiers waiting for the rest of their division and supplies to arrive. A General who had earned his spot in Berengar's good graces was currently leading the First Divison.

With his swift victory over the Swiss, Adelbrand von Salzburg was sent as the leader of the First Division until he regrouped with Arnulf and the forces of the Royal Granadan Army. At that point, Arnulf would seize command of all Coalition Forces in Granada by decree of King Berengar von Kufstein.

For some time now, the Reconquista had become a proxy war that Berengar used to divide the forces of the Catholic Church and force his enemies to spend time, bodies, and resources on a fight they simply could not win. Unfortunately, the Granadan Army proved less competent than he had initially estimated. They forced him to enter the war years in advance of what he had planned.

Berengar himself was in the process of leading the Kingdom of Austria into a new era of Industrialization. He could ill afford to march an army to war at the moment. Instead, he had begrudgingly dispatched a portion of his Army to his ally's territory under the supervision of one of his top Generals, who was loosely related to him.

Adelbrand was a young and ambitious Duke who was always a skilled warrior with a mind for tactics. Despite his age, he had gained an advantageous position in the Austrian Royal Army and proven himself on the battlefield by leading a campaign against the Swiss, which ultimately resulted in their annexation.

He was the young brother of the incompetent dullard Wolfgang von Salzburg, the husband of Ava von Graz, Berengar's cousin and Adela's sister. The man had distant ties to Berengar from a familial aspect, and thus the young monarch was more inclined to trust him.

Adelbrand, of course, was fiercely loyal to Berengar and his regime, seeing the meritocratic approach to succession and military matters to be an enormous improvement over the medieval primogeniture system. After all, if Berengar had not risen to power, he would still be kneeling beneath his idiot of an elder brother, that is, if he was still alive.

While Salzburg was being burned to the ground under Bavarian occupation, Adelbrand took up the mantle to defend his home, despite it being a lost cause. Wolfgang had fled to the relative safety of his wife's family's estate, leaving his people to suffer under the wrath of the Bavarian Armies. If not for Berengar's intervention, it is hard to say precisely what the young Duke's fate would have been.

Initially a Count, he, much like his counterpart Otto was raised to the status of Duke when Berengar rose to the position of King. Now he was tasked with leading the First Division of the Austrian Royal Army, which was the most battle-hardened and elite Division of Berengar's forces to battle in Granada.

Granted, he would be forced to cede his authority to Arnulf, who would act as leader of both Granadan and Austrian forces. Nonetheless, he held significant power in this campaign to eradicate the Catholic Kingdoms of Iberia.

Eventually, Adelbrand noticed the arrival of the Granadan Sultan, who gazed upon the field of feldgrau clad men with a look of hope in his eyes. Hasan had a joyous expression as he witnessed the arrival of the Austrian forces.

He was in for a big surprise, as Berengar had initially informed him that he would only be sending 10,000 men to aid him. Ultimately Berengar had opted to send a whole division, which just so happened to be the most veteran force he had under his command.

Berengar was the type of man to under-promise and over-deliver. He had initially expected it would take longer than six months to equip his entire first division with the arms necessary to win this conflict in extravagant fashion.

However, due to his ongoing Industrialization, and the efficiency of his workers, the arms factories produced more than enough weapons to fulfill the demands of a single Division. Thus, in the end, Berengar had sent the entirety of his First Division along with one of his most capable Generals to achieve overwhelming victory.

The first division comprised of three Infantry Brigades, one Cavalry Brigade, one Artillery Brigade, and a few support battalions, which consisted of specialty units like Jaegers, Medics, Pioneers, etc. Not all of these men had made their way to Granada yet, and as such, Hasan was unaware of the immense force that Berengar had committed to his cause.

Upon noticing that Adelbrand seemed to be giving commands to his troops, Hasan approached the man and quickly asked the question on his mind.

"Are you the man in charge here?"

Luckily for Adelbrand, since Berengar had first met Hasan, the man had been studying his German and could now communicate effectively with the leaders of the Austrian Army. In response to Hasan's question, Adelbrand threw up a standard military salute and reported his name and rank to the Sultan of Granada.

"Major General Adelbrand von Salzburg, I have been tasked by his majesty King Berengar von Kufstein to lead the First Division of the Austrian Royal Army to victory in this campaign!"

Though the Granadan Royal Army had sought to emulate Austria's mighty military, they had yet to fully encompass the proper scale and unit designations that Berengar had used. After all, at the beginning of this conflict, they had less than an entire division's worth of men to field.

For this reason, Hasan did not immediately understand just what a division of soldiers meant. Because of this misunderstanding, Hasan immediately asked a relatively foolish question.

"The first division? Does that mean there are more of you coming?"

Adelbrand immediately responded to this question with a smug expression as he explained in full detail just what exactly Austria defined a Division as.

"While my entire unit has yet to reach these shores. I assure you there will only be one division taking part in this conflict. Your Majesty, I must inform you that a full division is roughly 25,000 men who are fully capable of waging war independently if they must. Due to the superiority of our forces over that of the enemy, his Majesty King Berengar has decided that he will only need the First Division to win this war!"

After hearing that 25,000 Austrians would be arriving to support him, Hasan felt greatly relieved, as if the pressure he had been facing these past six months suddenly vanished. He was aware of how efficient the Austrians were in warfare and knew that Berengar truly valued their alliance if he were to send so many of his soldiers to battle.

However, there was one last question on his mind as he thought about this. As such, Hasan did not hold back his thoughts as he inquired about the whereabouts of a specific person.

"Tell me, where is King Berengar? I very much would like to share a drink with him!"

Adelbrand's expression suddenly became awkward; he had no idea that Berengar had utterly neglected to inform Hasan that he would not be entering the conflict. An uncomfortable smile appeared on his face as he tried to explain the situation as delicately as possible.

"King Berengar is currently occupied overseeing a critical transition without our Kingdom and is unavailable to lead the conflict. However, I assure you that under my command, it will be more than enough to win this conflict."

Hasan immediately began to curse in his native tongue as he spoke his thoughts aloud.

"That bastard! I bet he's avoiding me because he knows I will try to marry my sister off to him!"

Adelbrand had no idea what Hasan was saying, but he figured it was not pleasant. Thus he kept his mouth shut. He would only speak up on Berengar's behalf if the Sultan had the guts to insult him in a language that the General could understand. Luckily for everyone involved, Hasan kept his thoughts to himself. After a while, Hasan began to speak to the Austrian General about the ongoing conflict.

"At the moment, your General Arnolf is behind enemy lines leading my Royal Guard in what he referred to as a Guerilla campaign. So far, they have been successful in slowing down the Iberian advance, but it won't be long before they engage my defenses. I suggest that you quickly make your way to the front to reinforce my main Army, or else it will be a hell of a lot more difficult when the first line of defense fails."

Adelbrand shook his head when he heard this suggestion; he had a plan and would stick to it. It was with this in mind that he responded to Hasan's request.

"I will wait here until the first division has fully landed. Afterward, I will route out your enemies from your land. When I have secured your Emirate and exterminated every last Catholic in these lands, I will then drive my Army into Portugal, where I will capture its capital and force their King to kneel before me. For the time being, your soldiers will have to hold out. I am sure they can manage that."

When Hasan heard this, he sighed before walking back to his Caravan, he had traveled a long way to greet the Austrian Host, and he was not going to sit around and wait for the rest of the division to arrive. As he began marching back to his carriage, as he did so he called out to Adelbrand, giving him the green light to do whatever he pleased.

"You are the General, do what you think is best, but I warn you, if they break through my Army, you will be forced to deal with dozens of small armies across my territory, and this will turn into a very long campaign."

After saying this, the young Sultan departed from the port, traveling back to his Capital of Granada. While Adelbrand and Arnulf waged war against the Iberians, Hasan would sick back in his palace and enjoy the luxuries contained within. This carefree attitude would later be seen as an act of cowardice, becoming a significant point of contention between the Granadan Generals and their Sultan.