Swiss Arms

Swiss Arms

Chapter 123

-VB-

Louis von Wittelsbach, Duke of Upper Bavaria

It took him a week to gather just over two thousand levies, eight hundred thirty men-at-arms, and one hundred knights. Had this war broken out before Rudolf's stupid war, then he might have thrice more knights. Maybe even four times more.

But that was in the past. It was his fault that he didn't stop his older brother from charging forward with just men-at-arms, knights, and their vassals.

Because those vassals were now very slowly calling their own banners.

It was obvious what they saw. It was another war sparked by a Wittelsbach against some mountain lords. It was going to be another failure of a war, so why would they risk themselves, their soldiers, and their wealth in something so obviously bad while they were too busy trying to fix whatever crisis that he supposedly caused with the fake coins and new coins?

His policies worked, just not as well as he hoped.

It hadn't been enough to get enough trust back with his people and vassals before this broke out.

So he now had just around three thousand troops to work with.

Which was nowhere enough to take down whatever was coming at him. Even if it was just the Compact which already had a record of taking down twice as much as their own subpar manpower on the battlefield, he needed all of his troops.

But Louis knew that Tyrol was joining in on this war, and the last estimates he had of the duke was that he had over one thousand and five hundred men-at-arms, though those were spread throughout his three fiefs and not centralized in one location. This was good!

What wasn't good was that the duke could pull up at least a thousand levies from the County of Tyrol alone, never mind what the rest of his territories could bring up.

What Louis needed right now was harrying action. To prevent the Compact-Tyrolians from marching upon Munich and putting it to siege, because if they reached his home, then that's what was going to happen.

Munich needed to be free of pressure so that he could gather the rest of his vassals, levies, and allies. The city would serve as the headquarters from which the war would be conducted.

This was something Rudolf did not do, thinking that he would go in, smash, and come back.

So he called upon his most tactically able knight among his knights.

As he saw the knight entering the throne room, Louis looked upon the old knight.

Herr Danton von Seitegren walked up to the throne and knelt before the dais.

"I've come as you've ordered, Your Grace," the white haired knight said with his head bowed.

"Thank you for coming, Herr von Seitegren, and I'm sorry I called you out of your retirement."@@novelbin@@

"When duty calls, a knight answers," the stoic knight replied.

Louis nodded. If only half of his vassals were like Herr von Seitegren.

"This is my order to you. Take half of the knights and all of the men-at-arms cavalrymen that have gathered so far and be my vanguard. Harry the invaders from the south carrying the banners of Duke of Carinthia and Barony of Fluelaberg. Do not engage in a protracted battle where you will be disadvantaged." ꭆ𝐚ΝÖ฿Ёș

The knight stood up and thumped his chest with his fist. "As you will it. I must first know who my enemies are, milord. May I be excused with your spymaster?"

"You are."

The knight bowed and then left.

Louis watched the knight leave and sighed.

Why couldn't he have more reliable and trustworthy men like Herr von Seitegren?

---

Sir Danton von Seitegren

Ffuuucccckkkkkkk…

Why now?

He's over sixty years old. He has grandkids to take care of because his shit son just up and disappeared one day, talking about how he was going to make it big in some Italian city-state. His daughter-in-law was a dumb bint, and his wife was long dead. His little fief right next to Munich had been hit way too hard by the stupid coin crisis he knew the duke didn't cause.

He knew the duke long enough to know that the duke was the cautious sort who wouldn't cause that kind of idiotic crisis over a few bars of silver he got every other month from taxing the salt trade!

It was obvious that there was an insider within Munich. Maybe an infiltrator within the duke's own people.

That meant that anyone was suspect.

That meant anyone he took to the field might be a spy reporting all of his movements to the enemy.

Worse, he didn't know who the enemy was.

From within a guest room within Munich Castle, he looked around the table at all of the relevant reports regarding the Compact and the County of Tyrol, because, unfortunately, his lord's spymaster did not have the reach to find out relevant information beyond the most basics from the Duchy of Carinthia, Sanmark*, and Landgrave of Carniola.

But he had what he needed for now.

In the best case, Duke Gorizia would bring forth a thousand soldiers of varying experience and equipment from the Compact and then another thousand from his own domain in Tyrol. However, if the war lasted longer than two months within Bavaria itself, then Duke Gorizia would be able to bring forward another three thousand from the rest of his lands and maybe another thousand from the Compact, though the Compact's further involvement at that point would be suspect.

From what he saw, the Compact preferred a fast and brutal war by aiming for the enemy leadership, the nobles and commanders.

But the peasants mostly fought on the defensive, only striking at the enemy nobility after they had come all the way to their doorstep.

They wouldn't be as effective here in foreign land that they didn't have control over.

Good. So he could estimate their effectiveness to be no different than a regular army.

As for Tyrolian army…

Danton narrowed his eyes. He would have to make many hit and run attacks targeting specifically them. Even if the Compact was richer, Tyrol had been around for longer with more established men-at-arms and knights. Those knights would be devastating in a full frontal conflict, so the best he could do for his liege lord was to cut down as many knights as he could as his lord gathered all of the troops he could.

It was a rough plan but it was better than nothing.

Knock knock.

He looked up.

They were here.

"Come in."

The door opened and a dozen knights and men-at-arms entered the small room.

"It's been a while, Danton," another old knight, Jeremiah von Locham said as he took the lead.

Danton glared at his old rival before clasping arms with his friend. "It has. Unfortunately, we are in deep shit."

Jeremiah hardened his face into a blank stare. "Tell us."

He did.

Half a thousand of them to keep the enemy at bay until their liege lord could muster the rest of the realm. But the enemy numbered in the low thousands with a track record for excellence, knight killing, and unorthodox warfare.

"This is my plan," Danton continued after explaining to the experienced knights and men-at-arms about their situation and mission given to them by the duke himself. He pulled out a map of southern Upper Bavaria and Tyrol. It wasn't a good map but it would do. "We will set up a base here in a market town," he said and pointed to a town south of Munich. It was far enough away that even if it came under siege and lost in the war, it would not affect Munich itself.

But he hoped he wouldn't see it burn down.

"From there, we will not fight them head on but chip away at their forces."

Jeremiah hummed. "We will need to wear only the minimum armor and ride on fast horses," he noted. "You would have us fight as Ungarn pagans** fight."

"For the first part, yes. Once the duke gathers the realm for the war, we will be by his side."

His rival nodded. "Then that is what we will do."

Danton nodded in return as they left. He looked down at the unfortunate town who would have to host a war band.

A market town called Holzkirchen.

-VB-

A/N: *another name for the Landgrave of Savinja. Sandwiched between Carniola, Carinthia, and Slovene.

**At this point in time, Cumans, a nomadic Turkic people, were still alive and well in Hungary. It was a few of those who will kill a king/prince recently. While a minority, they maintained their lifestyle and culture. It won't last much longer but they're still there.