Chapter 778: The March to Rome

Berengar stood at the border of the Kingdom of Lombardy and the Kingdom of Naples. He stared through his monocular across the defenses that Lombardy had established and gazed upon the Army of Naples, who sat frigidly in their fortifications, too afraid of the German Army that had amassed beyond their borders to bother showing their faces.

While the Kingdom of Naples stood alone in its war against the German Army after losing their reinforcements in the Mediterranean, a union of four armies had formed on the opposite side of the border with a single purpose in mind. To bring an end to the tyranny of the Papacy.

Two divisions of Byzantine soldiers under the command of Palladius' protégé stood by Berengar's side. Alongside the Byzantines was the army of Al-Andalus, who Adelbrand had dispatched a division from the Iberian Peninsula to the Lombardic border to do its part in the war against the Papacy. Finally, the Kingdom of Lombardy had a division of its own army standing alongside German troops as they prepared to end this conflict once and for all.

This war had progressed in Berengar's favor rapidly. This was to be expected, considering the overwhelming superiority of the German Army. While the Kaiser was marching to the Lombardic border, he had heard reports over the telegraph of the victory his forces had gained in the East. In the desert wastelands of Egypt, the Reichsgarde had utterly annihilated the English Army and the Order of the Red Dragon.

However, that wasn't the only significant victory for the Germans had achieved on the eastern front. On the border of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Hungarian King had foolishly marched his forces upon the German Borders, in under an hour half of his army was wiped out by the German border guard, and forced to retreat back into their Realm, awaiting reinforcements from the Holy Land.

In the lowlands, the local population greeted the soldiers of the Reich with open arms, while the Germans made an example out of the rebellious nobility. After their first loss in the campaign came in the form of an executed messenger, the General in charge of the theater decided to afford no quarter to the Burgundian nobility, and had ordered the execution of all major noble houses.

However, the good news did not end there. The Fifth Fleet, who was normally stationed in Malta, had intercepted the Crusader armada and sent a hundred thousand men to the depths of the Mediterranean. With this, the reinforcements that were supposed to protect Rome were annihilated before Germany and its allies could even march on the city.

With the Catholic ships sunk to the bottom of the Mediterranean, those Crusaders who were still stuck in the Holy Land had no means to return home. Because of that, it forced the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem to provide for hundreds of thousands of refugees. Something they simply could not do.

By the end of the conflict, the crusaders stuck in the Holy land would either disband and become a problem for the neighboring kingdoms in the form of brigands, or they would simply starve to death. Perhaps a select few of their most elite warriors might be selected to stay and operate as members of Jerusalem's army.

The Catholic World had emptied their fields to provide the number of soldiers to embark on its foolish crusades. Now a large percentage of them lie dead, with the rest either stranded, or acting as defenders to what little land remained for Germany to conquer. Just as quickly as the war had started, so too was it coming to an end.

Undoubtedly, the fact that the Catholic World lost its peasant class in this conflict would seriously affect their ability to produce food for their population. The aftermath of this war would find the Catholic Kings wholly dependent on trade with Germany to survive. Their economies would be in shambles, and it would take them decades, if not centuries, to recover their ability to stand on their own.

Berengar had been preparing for this war for years, and he almost felt ashamed that it was going to be over so soon. However, there was nothing he could do to change that. Unless he decided to take an entirely defensive position and wait for the enemy to march on his borders. However, such an action would be foolish, and after everything the enemy had witnessed in the eastern front, he doubted they would continue their attempts to invade the fatherland.

There was only so much the Crusaders could do while armed with matchlock rifles and muzzle loading cannons. Germany had the power of long range artillery and machine guns in its hands. With these weapons, a few thousand men could defend a section of the border against an army ten times its size.

Berengar's plan now was to take Rome, after which he would march his armies across southern Italy and unite it with its northern half. After seizing all of Italy and bestowing it upon his puppet, Bruno, the Kaiser, would march his armies into Poland, and Hungary, where he would execute their monarchs and put a puppet on their thrones.

Luckily for Berengar, the Duke of Burgundy had already removed the Polish King for him. All he needed to do was march into a Warsaw, and take Natalia's brother as a ward, where he would teach the boy to be the perfect puppet for the von Kufstein Dynasty.

As for Hungary, Berengar had already formulated a plan long ago. Though Linde nearly ruined his schemes, he was certain that he could execute the Hungarian King and place Noemi's elder brother on the throne. The young man had proven himself to be a friend of the Reich, and would be easy to convince to act as a puppet for the Kaiser.

the Reich would annex the German-speaking lands of the Duchy of Burgundy, such as the lowlands, while the rest of the realm would remain independent and become a valuable tool in the Balkanization of France.

Through gunboat diplomacy, Berengar intended to compel a successor of his choice to replace the King of England. Though he did not want to invade the British Isles himself, the threat of his naval guns obliterating London would be more than enough to force the English to bend to his will.

Thus, after reflecting on all of this, Berengar sighed as he stood next to the King of Lombardy. Both men were prepared to march into Rome and end this conflict. After a few moments of silence, Berengar spoke the thoughts on his mind as he put away his monocular.

"Bruno, my old friend, it is time for us to end this conflict with the Catholic Church once and for all."

The King of Lombardy nodded his head in agreement with Berengar's words. The Kingdom of Lombardy had been a tributary state to the Germans since Berengar first gained independence for Austria. As Germany rose to greater heights, so too did its client states.

If the King of Lombardy was being honest, The Kaiser's plans for a Pax Germania would see Europe as a whole advance far beyond the rest of the world, and he was looking forward to it. Thus, it was not surprising when he voiced his agreement with Berengar's plans.

"Agreed, for too long I have had to live in fear of the Catholic forces invading beyond my southern border, today we not only put an end to the conflict between your Empire and the Catholic Church, but we also unite Italy under a single banner. Forever destroying the hold the Papacy has over Europe!"

Berengar smiled as he heard this before patting the man on the shoulder. After doing that, he gave his orders to all the soldiers beneath his command.

"Open fire on the enemy's border defenses! I want these bastards buried alive in their stone keeps!"

The march to Rome had begun. Thus, the German artillery quickly loaded their weapons and fired on the stone forts that the southern Italians had constructed. Explosions rocked the forts, and their foundations began to crumble. Still, the forts were large and it would take more than a few shells to bring them down.

The Italian defenders panicked as the German Artillery shook the structures they hid within. They did not even know how far away the German army and their allies were. It did not matter, because there was no hope for their survival. The best they could do was run out of their keeps and wave the white flag, hoping their enemies would be merciful.

Those stubborn individuals who would not kneel before the heretics of the north had stayed in their keeps, and after a few, barrages were buried by the walls when they came crumbling down. The overwhelming power of German artillery crushed the strong stone fortresses that the Kingdom of Naples had spent years building along their border in a matter of minutes.

With the border defenses destroyed, the Artillery quickly ejected their spent shells and hitched their field guns to the horses who dragged them forward into the borders of the Kingdom of Naples. Rome was not far from the border, and soon the Union of Four Armies would be at the heart of the Catholic Church.