Chapter 118: Taking the City!
Upon arriving at Innsbruck, Berengar and his army immediately created a proper siege camp, which was well defended and placed out of range of the enemy"s weapons. However, unlike the sieges Berengar had led before, this bombardment was brief, and not concentrated on the weak points in the City"s defense. This act was to maintain the integrity of the walls as there was a far more sinister plot afoot, one which would allow him to take the city without the need to bring down the walls.
Berengar"s riflemen continued to take shots at the enemy defenders until the sun went down. The enemy defenders were not accustomed to such weapons and figured this was the ordinary tactics employed; as such, they were unaware of Berengar"s true intentions. It was not until late at night that Berengar had gathered a group of a little over two dozen grenadiers at the edge of the siege camp. These were his most elite forces within his infantry battalions, and they would be following him behind enemy lines soon enough.
Due to conspiring with Adelheid, the cell of agents contained within the city walls, and even the castle itself, Berengar did not need to lay siege to this city in the manner he had previously done. Instead, he and his grenadiers were waiting for a diversion that would be the signal to approach the sally port in the city"s walls, where a spy would personally allow him and a few of his men into the city where they would fight to open the gates so that the rest of his army could invade.
Eckhard was standing next to Berengar; though he would not be taking part in the operation, he wanted to voice his concerns over the current plan in which Berengar was about to take part.
"My Lord, I really want you to rethink this... Partic.i.p.ating in this operation yourself is an enormous risk to not only your own life but the success of the army."
Despite his Vice-Commander"s complaints, Berengar remained undeterred; he would never order his men to undergo such a dangerous operation if he himself was not willing to take the risk. As such, he clasped Eckhard on the shoulder and smiled at him, with a gaze filled with confidence.
"Do not worry, my friend; I promise you, within a matter of minutes, the main gates to the city will be open, and the army will be able to secure the area with minimal casualties! Do not fret, for I will endure, as I always have."
Eckhard wanted to debate with Berengar further about his actions. However, he did not have the chance to do so, as a ma.s.sive blast when off from within the city and gained the defenders" attention, who rushed to put out the fire that was spreading. By smuggling TNT into the city and into the hands of his spy network, they were able to sabotage the granary and draw the guards" notice who would leave the walls relatively undefended.
Berengar let go of Eckhard"s shoulder and lifted his musket into the air; since he was going into the city with small numbers, he decided to arm himself with a proper musket for this operation and a pair of grenades. He immediately began rus.h.i.+ng towards the nearby sally port and commanded his troops to follow.
"That"s the signal! Go! go! go!"
With that, the grenadiers alongside their commander rushed towards the sally port with muskets in hand and bayonets affixed. As they reached the small gate, Berengar and his men noticed a figure shrouded in black open the gates, which allowed them access to the city.
The figure was a young woman, but one could only tell due to her high voice.
"Quickly, take the gates! The guards will notice something is a miss soon enough, and will be on alert!"
With that said, Berengar and his grenadiers rushed to the main city gate, where a few dozen defenders stood watch. Berengar immediately gave the order to lob their grenades.
"Frag out!"
A series of grenades were thrown to the enemy"s positions and rolled beneath their feet. The city"s defenders looked cautiously at the strange devices whose fuses were aflame for a brief moment before they were engulfed in the explosive blast and the shrapnel provided by the steel sh.e.l.l of the device. Not a single man on watch survived the blast of the grenades, and the grenadiers quickly took the position of defense as a couple of the men began to open the gate. Noticing another explosion near the gates, a company of the garrison quickly rushed to its direction where they walked straight into a firing line; Berengar gave the order to fire the moment they were within firing range.
"Fire!"
with his words, two dozen muskets went off in unison, shredding the steel brigandine armor of the company of soldiers who advanced. Though it was only enough to kill roughly a dozen or so men and as such plenty of enemies remainder, though they were initially taken aback by the myserious weapons and their destructive power; when they noticed a second volley was not fired, they began their advance once more. As the gate was slowly rising, Berengar and his forces did not bother reloading their muskets. Instead, they lobbed their spare grenades into the crowd, which immediately detonated, tearing the advancing company to pieces. By the time the second wave of grenades went off, not a single soldier among the enemy company had remained standing.
Berengar once more gave the order to reload; now that they were out of grenades, they would rely on volley fire and melee to defend the gatehouse until the gates were fully open. It did not take long for another enemy group to arrive, where another volley of musket fire once more gunned them down. However, this time, the gates were open enough for Berengar"s men to rush through, and several dozen more infantrymen rapidly formed ranks and fired upon the oncoming enemies.
Before long, his entire army had entered through the gates of the city of Innsbruck and began to hunt down the enemy as they pushed toward the castle. Count Lothar"s son and heir, as well as Linde"s older brother, was in a deep slumber as his city fell around him. Without even the slightest awareness of the ongoing situation, the Castle of Innsbruck was quickly surrounded by Berengar"s forces. Where he would prepare for a similar set of tactics the following night, by the time the Regent became aware that the city had fallen, it would be too late to mount a defense.