Chapter 205: The Bavarians Surrender (1/2)

After the battle in the fields outside of the city of Vienna, the Bavarian General who led the forces in Austria was no longer eager to fight Berengar and the overwhelming power of his armies, for to do so meant certain death. While Berengar marched every closer to Vienna's gates, the Bavarian General was discussing with his remaining commanders as to the best course of action.

A group of Bavarian noblemen was currently bickering about their options; one man, in particular, was tall and robust and voiced his thoughts in a boisterous manner.

”We must defend the Capital with everything we have! We have bled too much to accept defeat! If Vienna is to fall back into the control of the Austrians, then we shall make sure the enemy commander dies with us!”

However, after speaking his passionate speech, the Lord found that not a single person within the room agreed with his opinion; instead, he was instantly chastised by another nobleman who appeared to be the exact opposite of the tall, strong Lord in appearance. This feeble and meek Viscount quickly retorted

”Have you gone mad? Our army is defeated, we have even pulled out all of our forces from the southern Counties for this battle, and Berengar's ungodly weapons thoroughly smashed us! This is a war that can not be won! I suggest we surrender; Berengar is known to show mercy to those who willingly submit to his will; it is the best course to escape with our lives!”

However, the other nobleman was fearful of the consequences of such actions and, as such, pointed out his concerns at the first opportunity.

”Do you believe Duke Dietger will be merciful if we surrender Vienna and pull out all of our forces from Austrian lands? He will be outraged that we so thoroughly screwed up his conquest! Either way, we will face certain death; it is better to go out fighting!”

The two noblemen continued to bicker among themselves as the current General of all Bavarian forces within Austria listened to the opinions of his various commanders while entranced in deep thought. He did not know the best course of action, but the odds of survival were much higher by retreating. They had already lost far too many men to hold onto Austria, even if they successfully defended Vienna.

Eventually, the debate reached the point where the two noblemen were about to clash with one another, and thus the Bavarian General spoke up about the decision he had made.

”Raise the white flag; when Berengar arrives in Vienna, I will negotiate safe passage for all Bavarians within Austrian lands, back to Bavaria. The war is lost, and I will take full responsibility for our surrender!”

Hearing that the General would accept the blame for their monumental loss, the other noblemen instantly sighed in relief. As such they were much more amicable to the idea of retreating to Bavaria; with that said the meeting was concluded, and the commanders set the task for the few defenders left in the city to raise the white flag.

...

It took Berengar a few days to arrive at Vienna after his victory outside the city, mainly because he had to round up all of the equipment and bodies of his dead soldiers. Berengar would never leave such valuable technology to be scavenged and reverse engineered; as such, he spent the time to recover what was lost after every battle. More importantly, he regained his own soldier's bodies so that they could be afforded a proper burial back in Tyrol.

After arriving at the gates of Vienna, Berengar was quite shocked to see the white flag was raised. His overwhelming performance on the battlefield and his assassinations of the enemy commanders had frightened the Bavarians to the point of negotiating surrender. Of course, Berengar would never allow a white peace; he would force the Bavarian General to sign a heavily punitive peace agreement that would force severe stipulations upon the Bavarians for their crimes against the Austrian people.

If Duke Dietger did not accept such terms that his General would sign, it would give Berengar yet another valid Cassus Belli to invade Bavaria when he was ready to do so. Of course, it would be a few years before he could secure his reign in Austria and stabilize the situation; he was also expecting some Papal backlash in the coming years in response to his rapid rise to power. Thus he would not further expand his territory until all internal and external problems had been dealt with.

Berengar quickly gave an order to Arnulf as he gazed upon the white flag flying brilliantly into the clear blue sky above the mighty city walls of Vienna.

”Fetch me, my white flag, we will force these Bavarians to pay an exorbitant price for their crimes in Austria. It is time for some aggressive negotiations.”

Arnulf quickly nodded and gave the order for the troops to fetch the white flag; after doing so, it was brought to Berengar, where he held it and rode out with his host, which consisted of himself, Arnulf, several of his commanders, and the necessary troops to secure his safety, all of which were battle-hardened grenadiers.

Seeing that Berengar and his host were riding out with a white flag, the gates of Vienna opened, and the Bavarian General rode out with his host, where they would meet the Tyrolean forces in the middle ground between Berengar's army and the city defenders.

After reaching a middle ground, the two parties stuck their white flags into the ground and began negotiating the Bavarians' terms of surrender. The Bavarian General was the first to speak his mind upon seeing Berengar in the flesh.

”I am Count Kuonrat von  Roth, I assume you are the fabled Count Berengar von Kufstein?”

Berengar smiled as he nodded his head before responding to the man's question.

”A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Berengar's tone was overtly sarcastic, to the point where Kuonrat merely rolled his eyes upon hearing it and began to declare his intentions.

”As Marshal of the Bavarian forces in Austria, I hereby declare my intent to surrender to you Count Berengar von Kufstein under the conditions that all Bavarian soldiers left in Austrian lands be allowed safe passage back to our homeland!”

Berengar's lips began to curl wickedly as he heard this, and he thus began his intense negotiation.

”I will allow that under the condition that reparations are paid for the damages dealt to Austria by your armies and that the realm of Bavaria and its reigning authority swear by God not to invade our lands for at least another five years!”