Chapter 444: Portugal Surrenders

The sun rose in the east, and with it, the shelling of the city of Porto had continued under the command of Strategos Palladius. The Austrian Artillery brigade had been unleashing its firepower on the unsuspecting town throughout the entire night.

While Berengar was off on a quest to capture the Portuguese King who had begun to flee to the neighboring Kingdom of Castile, the main Army had been in the process of journeying to the city of Porto to lay siege to it.

Several days had passed, and Palladius had made sure not to shell it until the night prior, despite surrounding the city. He wanted to give Berengar some time to complete his objective before turning the city into a ruin. The destructive power of the cannons in use by Berengar's forces was something the aging Byzantine General swore he would never become accustomed to.

After an entire night of launching countless shells upon the city, it appeared as if it had been carpet-bombed from the sky above. There was not a single building in the town that was completely intact. Palladius had begun to doubt whether or not anyone was still alive.

Unlike the bombardment that the Austrian Army had put on the city of Florence, the field guns used in this 8-hour shelling were far more advanced and capable of firing 10x the amount of shells in a minute than the previous 1417 12 lb Field Guns were capable of.

Thus while only a few hours had passed since the bombardment had begun, thousands of shells had been launched from the 70 guns onto the city of Porto. As the sun rose further in the air, the sight of thousands of horses and the men who ride them could be seen in the distance.

Strategos Palladius gazed upon the approaching horsemen with a wide grin on his face. The men were flying the Austrian banners, and thus it was pretty obvious the King had returned. Thus he waved his hand, ceasing the bombardment and forcing it to a complete and total halt. Just as he was preparing to rush the survivors, the Cavalry had arrived.

Berengar rode proudly into the established siege camp with the Portuguese King tied to the back of his horse. The man was in rough shape; throughout the journey to Porto, he had received several beatings from the Austrian Monarch.

Among the ranks of the Austrian Cavalry were the other members of Luiz host who had been dragged with them to the last bastion of Portuguese Sovereignty. Everywhere else within this once proud Kingdom was now either occupied by the Triple Alliance or any number of local warlords and despots.

Though Berengar suspected he would be able to officially end the war with his actions on this day, he knew that subjugating the various despots that occupied 75% of the Kingdom would be a task that Granada would have to undertake for years to come.

However, on the bright side, such a thing would allow Berengar to send his newest recruits into a proxy war to get the actual battlefield experience they would need to dominate this world in their future conquests. Thus he was pretty pleased with the result.

After dismounting from his steed, Berengar dragged Luiz from the back of his saddle and handed him over to the Granadan soldiers; the once-proud Portuguese King was now a prisoner of the Emirate of Granada. After doing so, he approached Palladius and saluted the man before asking for a status report.

"What's the situation? Has the city surrendered yet? Or are they still resisting?"

The answer to this was quite obvious, judging by how the Army of roughly 50,000 men surrounded the dilapidated city and were not inside it. Upon hearing this Palladius sighed before updating the Austrian King on what he had been doing in this time.

"Your Majesty, the city has been shelled for the past 8 hours; I don't even know if there is anyone left alive within its gates!"

Berengar scoffed at this comment before grabbing hold of one of Luiz's family members. He wrote a letter and handed it to the captive as he did so.

"Take this to the city, and if there is anyone capable of receiving this document, then give it to them. If you do not, I will kill your mother and your siblings!"

The small child gazed in fear at the foreign King who had issued such a bold threat. However, he managed to find his resolve and nodded before running off towards the ruined city. When Palladius saw this, he asked Berengar the question on his mind.

"What was in the letter?"

A wicked grin appeared on the young monarch's face as he grasped upon the veteran Strategos' shoulder and educated him on what he had just done.

"Not much; I merely informed them of their King's cowardly actions and implored them to surrender. I also may have made a threat in regards to what I would do if they continued to resist. Something along the lines of destroying the rest of the city, and everyone in it."

Palladius gazed upon Berengar with a cautious expression before voicing his thoughts allowed.

"You are ruthless; you know that, don't you?"

In response to this, Berengar merely chuckled before stating his opinion on the matter.

"I want to go home to my family, and I have grown weary of this conflict. I have spent far too much time bailing my allies out of their mess. The sooner I can wash my hands of this dumpster fire, the better."

Palladius sighed as he nodded his head in response; he understood Berengar's reasoning for his brutality, even if he disagreed with it. After a while, a man emerged from the ruined city gates with a white flag in his hands and several hundred soldiers by his side. The men tossed their arms away before approaching the camp of the Triple Alliance. The man who held the white flag began to introduce himself when he finally stood across from the commanders of the Army that had so ruthlessly bombarded his city.

"I am Duarte Batista, mayor of this city. Under the terms you have presented, I surrender unto you King Berengar of Austria, as well as your Allies. I only make one small request, that you spare what remains of my city! As for this cowardly fool who calls himself our King, do what you desire with him; it is of no concern to me!"

Berengar smiled in response to this before nodding his head in approval; as he did so, he declared his intentions.

"Very well, I accept your surrender; I hereby declare that the Emirate of Granada has annexed the Kingdom of Portugal, you and your people shall forever serve Sultan Hasan Al-Fadl and the members of his house as loyal servants. As for the reconstruction of your city, Granada will make sure that it is fully rebuilt to its former glory, as a proud Jewel of its future Empire!"

The mayor bowed his head towards his conquerors before being dismissed. As for Berengar, he began to stretch his back and exhale deeply. It was as if an enormous weight had been lifted from his heart. While he was relaxing for the first time in a while, Palladius raised the question on his mind.

"What now?"

Upon hearing this, Berengar continued to stretch his weary limbs, all while announcing his plans for the future of Granada.

"Now we return to the Capital, for insurance purposes, we will leave behind a small army of Granadan Soldiers. Once we have returned to the city of Granada, I will discuss in further detail how we will handle the current situation in regards to the Occupation of Portugal. If your Emperor so desires, then you can dismiss your forces and return home.

I, however, will leave behind a rotation of soldiers deployed to the region to ensure the continued training of Granadan troops, as well as support them in their efforts to assert their authority over their newly conquered province."

Having said this, Berengar did not wait for a response. Instead, he began to walk away towards a tent. He made one last demand of his ally to the East as he did so.

"If you need me, I will be getting some much-needed sleep. I trust that you and your forces can take down the camp without my interference."

After saying this, Berengar forced his way into someone else's tent, where he rested upon the cot within. Leaving Palladius to stare at him with disbelief, he did not know why but he had a certain feeling that the Kingdom of Austria would forever have its claws embedded within the Emirate of Granada.

The veteran Strategos of the Balkans immediately became wary of any future dealings with the young Austrian Monarch in fear that the man would turn the Byzantine Empire into a subordinate state. While reflecting upon this, Palladius left a comment behind as he ordered his troops to tear down the camp.

"I underestimated you Berengar von Kufstein, I will not do so again..."