Chapter 444 - Portugal Surrenders (1/2)
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.”