Swiss Arms Chapter 169

Swiss Arms

Chapter 169

-VB-

Duke Rudolf I of Upper Bavaria

1310

So this was what it was like to be on this side.

When he and Hans took back his rightful title from his late younger brother, most of the fights had been sieges. And the final fight wasn't even during the day but during the night when Rudolf had been sleeping.

But this?

This was a proper fight in a war. This was what it should be like. An even number of n on each side, facing off against each other. Trusting in their commanders while the commanders devised the best way to victory. It was how he preferred to fight.

At the sa ti, he knew exactly how this had co about.

It was because he let Hans's rangers engage in a "low" war. But if there was sothing he learned from his ti in exile, then it was that there was no such thing as dishonorable conduct in war. It was war! It was where n died. It was when villages were burned and raided by the invaders. Maybe it was the years he spent in the Compact, reading the books Hans wrote, listening to his people talk, and seeing what war truly did…

He wasn't sure if he would ever be able to relate to other lords who talked about war as if it was sport.

Because if he was given the chance to get this sort of advantage again, he would use it without even blinking an eye.

"Count," he greeted his once-enemy and now stalwart ally. After all, Hans didn't need to co help him. He could've gone straight to Carinthia and Carniola to support the Gorizias, who he has a stronger tie to. Like… a literal marriage tie to that house. "You've finally arrived! Your rangers have been working very hard."

Hans smirked. "Good. That's what they have been training for. So how many of them have been put down?" he asked as he walked up on his foot instead of riding a horse as soone of his standing should. Each step he took sunk his foot into the soft ground by a good inch or two, though, and that told Rudolf about just how heavy the man's armor, cloak, and weapons were; most likely, the combined weight of those things on Hans was at least double Rudolf's own.

Probably because of that poor excuse of a sword he carried around.

"... Is it or does your sword look rough?" he asked.

The count paused and pulled his sword out.

Hans looked it over. It had a lot of knicks and grooves. Its edge looked sharp but the curve of the blade had chips, cuts, and grooves that made it serrated.

"I really should use a different sword. I do have a bunch I made, but I just keep coming back to this," he humd before looking away from the blade and toward the gathered army of the Lower Bavarians. "So we're here to kick your cousins' asses?"

"Definitely," Rudolf grunted." Those shits thought that it was a good idea to ally with the Habsburgs and attack us all."

"Well, that at the very least explains their intellect. Or lack there of."

Rudolf barked out a laugh. "Yes, they aren't smart at all. Henry was always greedier than his father, and his dad was Otto the Would-be King of Hungary! And the younger Otto just followed his cousin here to war without even properly thinking about it. He was never the shiniest sword in the barrel."

"Wait, Otto Wittelsbach who tried to get the crown of Hungary and failed because he alienated basically everyone?"

"Yes, that one."

"And this Henry is his son and greedier, too?"

"Yes."

Hans let out an exasperated sigh. "Jesus Christ needs to save from this world. Am I going to spend the rest of my life dealing with greedy assholes?" he bemoaned.

"Oi, I wasn't greedy."

"No, you weren't," he conceded. "Anyways, how do you want to play this battle out?"

Rudolf looked at Hans in surprise. "You want to lead?"

Hans raised an eyebrow. "Yes? But I hold the right to pull out if you do sothing stupid."

"Fair. Then please hold the left flank and move in whenever you feel like it. My much more feeble soldiers will stagger behind yours."

"Hmm. I'll see what I can do. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, though, right? How many of them are up and about?"

"Barely over two thousand."

"Two thousand? That's a lot less than what I was expecting."

"What can I say? Your rangers are vicious demons when it cos to making their night as hellish as possible."

Hans frowned as he looked over at the enemy line.

"... They seem like they are getting ready to fight."

"They are. Henry knows that if he lets this go on any longer, then he'll lose even without a battle. And losing even without fighting? That would ruin his chance of ever getting his hands on Upper Bavaria for the rest of his life."

"Then we fight him. And give them a beating he won't ever forget."

"You an like you did with ?"

"Exactly."

---

Hans

With my one thousand two hundred soldiers, we now outnumbered the Lower Bavarians five to three.

It was probably the first ti I've been on a battlefield where odds were decisively in my favor, and that wasn't even including how strong I was or how much better my troops were.

From what I heard, even with the reduction in able-bodied n, the enemy had double the number of knights and cavalry that Duke Rudolf did. That was no longer the case because I brought all of my knights and cavalry, turning even that odd from one to two into three to two.

It was a surreal experience being the "winner" even before battle began.

Then a horn sounded.

I turned around and saw the enemy marching forward.

Well, damn. They're ballsy, marching toward a larger army. I can respect that.

But respect won't buy them rcy.

"ARCHERS!" I roared.

And my rangers ca out, not with their repeating crossbows ant for soft targets, but the prototype compound bows I've assigned them for this campaign.

Two hundred rangers stepped forward.

"DRAW!"

They drew and held it.

"AIM FOR THEIR RIGHT! AIM STRAIGHT AHEAD!"

They shifted.

"HOLD!"

The enemy drew closer and closer…

"LOOSE!"

Two hundred releases of arrows combined into one long high pitch shrill that crescendo'ed and fell off quickly.

The arrows briefly replaced the shrill release of the bows, and their shrieks too faded away quickly. They flew up and ca down.

And struck the enemy's right flank. They landed evenly across, punching through armors and shields like they weren't there.

And that's when the enemy realized sothing was wrong and imdiately sent out their cavalry to try to crush us.

Unfortunately for them, my own cavalry and knights were there to crush them. My cavalryn alone matched their cavalry in number, but unlike them and their horses, my soldiers weren't sick and dying. So when their thundering hooves drew closer to each other …

They clashed.

And we punched through their formation.

Their infantry formation faltered when they saw their cavalry getting massacred, but they kept on marching forward.

.

But even with their shields up (only a few among them had shields as part of their kit, and most of their levies were only given spears to fight, poor bastards), our arrows kept on coming down hard on them.

And that's when they ran into and my infantryn.

I stepped out to the front and swung with my giant sword.

The blade cut through the first enemy soldier, but instead of cutting, it was more like an edged and long maul. The soldier's gambeson held but the crushing weight of my swing crushed the man's ribs in one-go, and did it so hard and quickly that all of his left ribs broke. The man spit out blood almost imdiately and crumpled.

My soldiers and rcenaries were right behind . They roared as they stabbed forward with the halberds issued to them all. Healthy and strong as they were with only a few weeks of slow march behind them, they were far stronger than these poor bastards who had to stew in their own wastes and that of others.

Our halberds ca down hard, and their spears were too weak to keep us back.

I broke through their frontlines and their weak spear grips, and swung again.

The panicking L.Bavarians quickly tried to run away from , and a few brave ones thrust their speartips at my chest.

I almost casually swirled my cloak around from my back, and the speartips got caught up in the thick fur.

Then I swung again.

Everyone watched as a man was bisected from head to groin in one blow.

They broke and ran, screaming like they saw the Devil himself.

"AROUND!" I shouted.

My cavalry and knights abandoned the fleeing L.Bavarian cavalry and swung around to the rear of the enemy formation.

"ARCHERS! TARGET CENTER FORMATION!"

My rangers did exactly as I ordered. Still standing where they had started their attacks, they turned their compound bows around and shot. I winced when I saw one of the compound bows break.

I heard Rudolf giving out his own order to his cavalry and saw them crash into the L.Bavarians' left flank.

It didn't take much longer for their right flank to break under my assault, and the center began to curl and ball up as they huddled around shield bearers to protect themselves from my cavalry and archers.

"HOLE!"

My cavalry broke into two, one harassing the fleeing right flank and one moving to attack the rear of the left flank.

The levies and conscripts saw a large gap in the formation… and chose to flee.

Two. Four. Seven. A dozen.

It didn't take long for a steady trickle to beco a stream. And then a river.

I stopped myself from chasing. They were mostly conscripts, if their lack of armor was any indication. I didn't need to kill farrs and poor bastards who were forced to fight for their ignoble nobles.

But L.Bavarian n-at-arms and knights?

They stayed and fought. They were like madn, taking down at least two of those that they fought unless they were overwheld from the start.

Eventually, though…

"DUKE HENRY HAS BEEN CAPTURED!" he roared over the dull roar of the battlefield. The battle slowed centering around where he had dove into the center of the L.Bavarian formation with his knights. And then the fighting ca to a stop.

I watched as a plate armored man was dragged out of the battlefield and L.Bavarians began to surrender.

"This him?" I asked as I hefted my sword over my shoulder.

Rudolf, who had approached on his horse, nodded. "Aye!" he replied breathlessly. "This is my stupid cousin, Henry XIV."

"You should not have been here…!" Henry hissed at . He looked exhausted. "The Habsburgs promised us that you would be tied up in your mountains and valleys…!"

"Yeah, well, they aren't as smart as their parents were and they severely underestimated ," I chuckled. "So what are you going to do with him?"

"Simple," Rudolf growled. "Either he and Otto forfeits their titles to or they die here. They are my cousins thrice removed, so it won't be kinslaying."

"Y-You can't do this! We are all part of the sa house!"

"And you still attacked anyway so stow it, whelp!"

I looked around. My rcenaries were out there in the field looting the bodies while my rangers and volunteers were securing the prisoners.

Yeah. The battle was over.

I looked up.

Damn, it hadn't even been an hour since we started fighting. That was really quick.

I wet my lips.

"Anyone else hungry? This fighting just whet my appetite and nothing else."

"What about their camps?" one of Rudolf's knights asked from atop his own horse. "Should we not loot it before the retreating soldiers do it first?"

"Go. I want everything collected and catalogued!" Rudolf quickly responded, and eager knights and n-at-arms rushed off to do exactly that. He turned to . "As for , I am hungry like you said. Co! I have great salted pork at my tent!"