Swiss Arms

Chapter 163

Swiss ArmsChapter 163

-VB-

Hans von Fluelaberg

1310

I was pretty sure that there was no single overwhelming factor that contributed to our victory over Duke Leopold of Austria other than the wave of disease my rangers unleashed upon his soldiers. It alone kept a good third of Austria's troops in horrible condition and not fit for battle.

Sure, my halberdiers flatlining the cavalrymen and their horses? Phenomenal. My archers putting an end to their soldiers so decisively? Also great and exactly what they were trained to do. My counter charge and running the duke through my sword? Felt good.

But the disease?

It left them ruined before we showed up. If they had their full strength, then the duke might have waited longer, fought harder, and maneuvered better. Those diseased soldiers left him with no choice but to either go forward and back, nothing else. His attempt at flanking was also undone so quickly that I had to wonder if the horses hadn't caught anything, too.

As a result of all this, we achieved a near total victory against them, inflicting more than ten times our casualties.

And my people?

Though fifty of our people died and thrice that were injured, we'd done it.

We went up against the biggest player in the empire outside of our own allies and won. We made the goddamn Habsburgs retreat with their tails tucked between their legs.

… But it wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

"Duke Otto," I greeted Henry's older brother.

"Count Hans!" the man greeted. The man, who looked very much like Henry except being much thicker in both muscle and width, grinned as he reached out and took my hands in his with a rough but welcoming grasp. "You have done me a favor coming to the rescue so quickly."

Then he winced.

He also did not look great. He had bandages wrapped around his head, arms, and leg with multiple bleeds.

I frowned. None of those bandages looked fresh.

"I came as soon as possible," I replied.

"And you came in time. We might have had a month or two before Burg Hasegg would have fallen."

I blinked in surprise. "So quickly?"

The duke looked … conflicted. Maybe even a little embarrassed.

I decided not to dig into it. I should, because Innsbruck and the greater County of Tyrol was my eastern border against the Habsburgs, but I didn't. Not only would that be straining the victory by arguing or revealing a problem out in the open but because arguing about it wouldn't do anything.

"If you need some provisions, then I can have some sent from Fluelaberg."

Instead, I was going to put him in my debt.

He looked surprised by my offer and nodded quickly. "I would appreciate that, count, truly!" he replied. "In fact, would you be agreeable to march towards Carinthia? I would happily support you there."

"I would, your grace, but I also have to worry about my rear."

"Your rear…?" he repeated before his eyes widened. "Swabia."

Indeed.

The now defunct Duchy of Swabia was where the Habsburgs began and grew their power. It was a much more fertile land compared to any that the Compact could boast of, and housed many of Habsburg's vassals.

If the Habsburgs were on the move, then their vassals would have received instructions on what to do prior to the attack.

"You must go back."

"I must, yes," I replied.

And this was also the biggest test not just for the Compact but also my former ward, Count John of Toggenburg.

Would that man stay loyal to the Compact or would he side with the Habsburgs and try to take over the Compact? He was, after all, half Habsburg.

I really hoped that he wasn't dumb enough.

He should know that I was far far deadlier than what everyone outside of the Compact knew.

"Then you must return."

"Yes," I replied. "I will do my best to pacify Swabia first. Assuming that the war isn't over by then, I'll be sure to come back and help you in reclaiming your lands from the Habsburgs."

The duke looked resigned. "That is all I can ask, I suppose."

"Ah, and before I forget," I said as I pulled out a letter. "This is a letter addressed to you from the Count of Gorizia. In his letter to me, he assured me that he was riding to your aid."

He took the letter and thanked me for delivering it.

We parted ways after that.

---

After that, I let my army celebrate our victory for one day. I also let them loot from the day, but only items and objects that they can carry, fit into their bag, or in the carts of their camp followers. Injured horses were put down intentionally so that my soldiers would not be tempted to try to nurse them back to health while we were on the march.

Because the day after, we returned to march.

We turned right back around and marched back home. From Innsbruck to Landeck. Normally, we would go down south from Landeck to Zernez and from Zernez to Fluelaberg and from Fluelaberg to Maienfeld.

Instead, I did something else.

I took a shortcut.

From Landeck to Arlberg Pass.

And from Arlberg Pass into the town of Bludenz of Werdenberg (and thus the Compact).

And from Bludenz into Rheintal proper.

-VB-

While Count Hans von Fluelaberg achieved a great victory in the east, a new problem rose to the west of the Compact.

House Habsburg's vassals in Swabia had finally managed to coordinate and amassed their armies into one cohesive unit of six thousand soldiers. Originally, it was supposed to be an army of four thousand eight hundred soldiers, of which seven hundred would have been men-at-arms and a hundred would have been knights. However, the Habsburg vassals envisioned that they might get a greater share of the conquered territory if they had greater participation in the war and competed with one another to hire mercenaries and greatly levy the commoners, swelling their numbers by another thousand and three hundred.

With this army, they marched upon the Compact with their first target in mind: the Toggenburg lands of Gaster, which sat between Zurichsee and Bodensee.

While Count Hans von Fluelaberg did not know who would be where with how many troops, he knew that the Habsburg vassals would crash into the Compact from either the eastern shores of Walensee or through the Toggenburg Valley. So he made haste from Innsbruck. And to the surprise of many studying him, he took the gamble of choosing to go through the undeveloped Arlberg Pass and not through the route he took to reach Innsbruck in the first place. At this point in time, Arlberg Pass and its surrounding valleys were not developed. It would not be an underestimation to say that there were less than a hundred people living nearby. This meant that there was no food, no wells, and certainly no markets to restock. This meant that he had to rely on the provisions he brought from Fluelaberg and those that he purchased along the way to the pass. At the same time, it was still February in the Alps, which meant that this already undeveloped pass was a snow covered harsh obstacle necessitating his entire army, including the camp followers, to climb close to four hundred meters vertically over just one kilometer of undeveloped path: a hellish one meter incline every two meters on a pathway no wider than three meters. This act cost him over fifty men and women who lost their lives in the climb, which was the same loss as what he lost in the Battle of Innsbruck (1310).

In hindsight, this would be the correct decision as taking the regular route through Zernez would have cost him two extra days.

Back in the Compact, Count John of Toggenburg the Guardian of the West acted swiftly and he did so for a reason.

The lands of Gaster sat in the middle of four paths. To its east was the Walensee, and sailing through it would lead one directly into the heart of the Compact. And because of the sheer cliffs that surrounded Walensee, sailing through was the only way through. To its west was the Zurichsee, and sailing through it would lead one directly to the city of Zurich. To its southwest was the southern shores of Zurichsee, which would lead directly into Central Switzerland and thus close to the heart of Habsburg lands.

And the final path laid northeast. Northeast of the lands of Gaster was the Ricken Pass, which sat right in the middle of two mountain subranges of the Appenzall Alps. This flat stretch of land connected Gaster to the middle of the Toggenburg Valley.

Should Ricken Pass fall to the Habsburg vassal coalition, then the Count would lose control of his lands and open up a second passage into the Compact's lands for the Habsburg vassals. Count John of Toggenburg, in his later diaries, expressed how he knew he could not allow Ricken Pass to fall, because if it did, the Compact would have to fight on multiple fronts with their smaller army, and no matter how powerful Fluelaberg's army and rangers were, fighting on multiple fronts with a smaller force was guaranteed to see the Compact bleed their manpower dry.

So despite knowing that he would face a certain defeat, he amassed what he could from all of the other members of the Compact: Chur sent six hundred men, Werdenberg sent five hundred, and St. Gallen sent three hundred. Along with his own one thousand soldiers, these fourteen hundred men brought his total to two thousand four hundred soldiers, which was less than half of what the Habsburgs brought to the field.

… Or the vassal coalition army would have been more than twice the size of his army if the largest contingent of the Habsburg vassal coalition, Count of Kyburg, didn't get delayed because Count Hartmann I, an already sick man, died from being rained on. The count literally went out and marched with his soldiers while it rained, and the sickly count died three days later from fever. This proved to be a problem for the Kyburg contingent because their lands were widespread with many barons and knights underneath the count, and his son, the next Count of Kyburg Hartmann the Second, insisted on a proper funeral before they joined the rest of the Habsburg vassals.

This resulted in over a thousand and four hundred soldiers not joining the army, which reduced their number from five thousand four hundred to four thousand, of which only five hundred were men-at-arms and knights, so when the Habsburg vassals marched without the Kyburgs onto Rickon Pass from Zurichsee, they met an army that was just over half of theirs, not less than half.