Chapter 72: Overwhelming Victory

The thunder of a thousand guns fired in unison echoed throughout the vicinity of the battlefield as the militiamen stood in their line formations a mere twenty feet away from the enemy infantry. The front line kneeled and aimed their muskets, while the second line stood above them with their muskets raised. Instantly the massive amount of lead flying downrange decimated the enemy forces. At best, the infantry of the enemy was equipped with a brigandine breastplate. However, such an obsolete piece of equipment could not protect the men wearing it from the devastating effect of the musket.

As the Militiamen quickly began to reload, the Pikemen standing nearby rushed forward and defended them as they rapidly reloaded their weapons. During the twenty seconds it took to reload, a sturdy pike wall was set up in front of the enemy, who desperately tried to barge through and attack the men behind it. After witnessing the defeat of their cavalry, they had no choice but to go all out. As such, a frenzied charge began as men threw themselves at the pike wall in an attempt to break through.

A single man clad in a mixture of brigandine and plate managed to storm past the pike wall with a sword in hand as the men around him were stuck like pigs by the massive length of the pikes. He quickly slashed at one of the militiamen who was reloading his weapon. However, before he could finish his attack, the militiamen dropped his activity and lifted his musket into the air with its bayonet affixed stabbing directly into the open bascinet of the soldier who dared to attack him instantly piercing through the man's eye and ending his life.

Scenes like this appeared across the pike wall; considering the importance of the militiamen and their hand cannons, the enemy's infantry did everything they could to prevent another volley from being fired off; after all, they doubted these man could quickly reload their weapons. Unfortunately for them, this was a miscalculation as most of the lines were fully reloaded and ready to fire again within a matter of seconds.

Before long, their weapons were once more aimed in the direction of their enemies, many of which had yet to recover from the shock of their front line being torn apart. The pikemen quickly fell behind the line of fire and waited for the second volley to go off. Within seconds the order to fire was given, and with Eckhard's command, another volley of thunderous gunfire riddled the enemy's lines. By now, much of the enemy force no longer dared to fight and began to route.

The enemy Marshal looked in horror as he witnessed his Lord's glorious army being gunned down in front of his very eyes. He had never before witnessed such an overwhelming defeat. Despite his forces being roughly on par with Berengar's in terms of numbers, they were quickly overwhelmed by the mysterious weapons in the hands of his enemy's well-trained soldiers. His knights were dead, his infantry's ranks were shattered, and what little remained of his archers had already begun to route.

As such, he quickly gave the command to retreat, as he yelled to whatever troops could still hear him.

"Fall back! Fall back to the Castle! Retreat!"

Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain as soon after the Marshal had given his command, Berengar's decree resounded throughout the air when he arrived with the Cavalry, who instantly crashed into the routing forces, cutting them down in the process. Still, considering he was on horseback the Marshal managed to escape the field of battle where he quickly fled back to the Castle to inform his Liege about the disastrous result of this battle.

"Give no quarter!"

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With that command, the musketeers quickly dropped their reloading process and engaged in a massive bayonet charge. Nearly 2000 infantry armed with muskets which had their bayonets affixed and pikes quickly surrounded the routing forces of the enemy and reaped their lives away like wheat to the scythe.

The horrific display of the chaotic battlefield was enough to make one's stomach churn. The enemy forces were quickly encircled and pierced in the weak points in their armor by bayonet and pike alike. Berengar slashed down from horseback with his saber decapitating a soldier who was trying to attack him, he could not help but feel like this was where he was meant to be, leading his forces in a charge against his broken enemies. This was an absolutely humiliating loss to the Barony of Kitzbühel, whose surviving forces were quickly cut to ribbons.

After defeating the enemy army, his troops broke out into cheers and celebrations. The enemy army had been annihilated, with only a pile of corpses remaining from their ranks. Due to the archers being decimated at the start of the battle, and the heavy cavalry taken out early on, the most serious injury was some minor lacerations caused by the brave souls who were lucky enough to get past the pike wall. If this had been a larger army he was forced to fight, Berengar was unsure if he would get the same results. However, against an army of equal size, The weapons and tactics Berengar employed were too advanced for his enemy to even contend with.

The men within the ranks of the professional army were stupefied beyond belief at how effective the muskets were; these were obviously not ordinary hand cannons. If not for the fact that they were veteran soldiers with plenty of experience, they may have failed in their duty to protect the militiamen while they reloaded due to shock.

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Berengar, on the other hand, was impressed with the performance. Once more, his victory was overwhelming. Who in this feudal era could contend with the power of steel and shot? While his troops were cheering, he reloaded his pistols while Eckhard approached him.

"Congratulations on another overwhelming victory, my Lord!"

Berengar smiled and accepted the gesture before staring down at Eckhard, who stood below his mighty steed.

"We may have won the battle, but the war is still waging. Get the army on the march; I want a siege camp built outside their Castle walls before dusk!"

With his orders being given out, the army quickly began to march into the nearby town, where they would begin the lengthy process of laying siege to the enemy's remaining forces hiding cowardly behind the Castle's walls.