Swiss Arms-Chapter 149

Swiss Arms-Chapter 149

Swiss Arms
Chapter 149
-VB-
Rudolph III of Austria
Sarvar, Hungary
1308 Janaury
He let out a sigh, and the cold Hungarian winter made his breath fog up. Rudolph stared at the fogged up breath as it dissipated before looking toward the dawn light.
What a wretched way to start the new year.
After the failed election of 1306, the Habsburgs had been left to scheme behind the scenes again as they lost their chance at continuing the possession of the
Reichskrone
within their house. And had they succeeded, then they would have had won the crown fair and square through an honest election, which meant that the pope would have had no choice but to acknowledge them as the true rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and thus its rightful emperor, which past popes have not done for some time because Habsburg rulers have been on the throne for some time.
This failed election diminished his house's power across the greater empire, and there was no way for him and his house to regain what was lost.
For now.
But for them to regain the emperorship in the future, they needed to have more power, leverage, and standing.
And to that end, he chose to intervene in the Hungarian Succession by allying with Palatine Matthew Csak of Trencsen.
Why?
The alliance had simple terms.
Rudolph would put his effort behind crushing Matthew's enemies within the fractured Kingdom of Hungary. Specifically, he would help crush Koszegi, whose lands were in Poszony, Sopron, Gyor, Vacs, and Veszprem; a clump of territories that directly bordered the Duchies of Austria and Styria.
In return, Matthew would turn around after the war to support his bid for the emperorship and the Crown of Bohemia.
Henry of Gorizia may have taken it for now, but he had a stronger claim than that of a princess. All he needed was a stronger army to offset his ally…
Hans von Fluelaberg
.
The upstart peasant that his father had raised up from the dirt had become a thorn in the side of his house. It didn't help that Mother* kept getting in his way, too. She tried to convince him time and time again that the current alliance with von Fluelaberg and von Gorizia was somehow better than the Crown of Bohemia and the Crown of Poland!
No.
He would have the crown.
But right now, he had to be careful about the enemies he made. The Hungarians were fractured and bickering lot. Even if the Neopolitan prince managed to gather the Slavonian and Croatian nobles into his court and marched to claim the rest of Hungary, his army was smaller than that of Rudolph.
And if they met on the field of battle, he'll teach the French pup what for!
He shook his head.
Focus, Rudolph. You can fantasize about kicking the Capetian Anjou's ass later. Right now, you have a battle in front of you
.
He looked across the field.
On the other side of it stood Koszegis' camp. There were some four thousand soldiers there. It wasn't all soldiers Koszegis had, but it was a substantial majority.
On his side, he had three-thousand three-hundred soldiers, half of them from his army and the other half from Csak's army.
This was going to be a tough battle… but that wasn't to say that he didn't have a secret weapon! As long as those peasants got him the results he wanted, he didn't care about how they operated, even if it grated on his nerves that the uncultured mountain patrolmen had the audacity to dictate terms to him despite being mercenaries.
He hired them. They should be fighting as he told them to!
Bah.
As the sun rose higher, both armies got ready to fight. They rose up from their cold winter slumber and began to don their armors and arms.
It was odd for men to fight in winter. It was a very odd thing, indeed. But it was exactly because of that he chose to fight in winter. Winter was the time of rest and recovery for both men and the land alike. It was not yet time to plant the seeds for future harvest yet men were free to do … anything.
And that was why they were here now. Many levies from farming villages that had nothing to do had been called up. Some had been lured in by the promise of coins. Others, those who were too poor to pay their taxes properly on time, had been called up to serve with their bodies instead.
It meant that many of the soldiers under his command were of subpar quality.
But that was the point.
He wanted his footsoldiers to appear weak
.
So that his secret weapon may deliver him victory.
---
From the other side of the battlefield, Ivan Koszegi surveyed the battlefield as their armies got into position in a vast grass plain.
He could see rather clearly that the Habsburgs had brought a subpar army, consisting mainly of levies. The upstart and self-proclaimed rival Csak had brought the entirety of his men-at-arms, knights, and mercenaries he had on retinue.
However, Ivan had better trained troops.
While overlooking the battlefield, he waved his hand from atop his steed and his herald blew the horn.
The armies marched slowly toward each other and slowed down even further as they got close. A thousand long spears began to poke and prod at each other's shields and bodies, and a few soldiers began to fall. Most of them were from the Habsburg side, too.
Good.
Then he noticed something.
On a small hill behind the front lines of the Habsburg line were five men. They were armored and armed differently from the Habsburg's men-at-arms or those of Csak's.
It was a fascinating look, actually. They almost seemed to blend in with the grass around them, and had they been in a forest, he wouldn't have been able to spot them!
Oh?
They were drawing their bows. Were they archers?
No, wait, their bows looked a little weird, and it was definitely a bow and not a crossbow.
Why were they…?
Oh, all five of them shot.
… Their arrow wasn't falling.
His eyes widened.
"SHIELDS!" he roared as he quickly got off of his horse.
His squire looked at him in surprise even as he hesitantly brought his shield forward.
But not up.
Three arrows went wide but the other two slammed down into his horse and his squire.
And his squire's body froze before he tilted sideways and collapsed. His horse shrieked as an arrow lodged itself into its back and fell sideways.
Ivan quickly got up and looked at his squire, and his eyes widened when he saw that only one arrow had struck the boy's helmet. That arrow, however, had punched right through.
The boy, his cousin, was dead.
"FUCK!" he hissed as he looked up.
Just in time to see those archers firing again. Toward him.
"SHIELDS!" he roared, and this time, his men quickly brought their shields to bear.
---
Rudolph grinned triumphantly as the Fluelaberg mercenaries pelted Koszegi's command like it was nothing. He even saw a few of the nobles falling. Surely, that would cause some strife among them.
Good, good!
"Csak?" he asked his ally.
Wordlessly, Csak brought his own horn up to his lips and blew.
Just like that, Csak's knights and men-at-arms, who had been holding themselves back by hiding behind the frontline levies, charged through and struck at the Koszegi soldiers who had grown used to a rhythm where they had been killing his levies.
And Csak's knights broke that rhythm with a thunderous roar.
Koszegi army's frontline collapsed as Csak's army cut into the middle of their formation, skewering and trampling over even the knights and men-at-arms who had been caught off guard.
And while all of this was happening, Ivan Koszegi had to keep retreating from the ridiculously long range arrows pelting his position.
"Don't let them retreat!" Rudolph commanded. "Take them all down right here!"
-VB-
*Elizabeth of Gorizia, cousin to Isabella and Henry of Gorizia's sister.
A/N: we skipped a few months to get here and we see a peek into what might have happened in the months since our last chapter. But I'll add an explanation anyway. Despite the cracks in the alliance, Habsburgs, Gorizia/Bohemia, and Fluelaberg are still in an alliance. And Rudolph III Habsburg, son of the former emperor and Henry of Gorizia's sister, asked Hans for some help or mercenaries to bolster his forces, knowing that Fluelaberg had good soldiers. Hans, not knowing that Rudolph III was using his campaign as
preparation
for his future campaign against Henry of Gorizia, rented them his new experimental unit: Compound Bow Rangers.

Chapter 149