The Disaster of Palatinate

The army led by Adolf and Gunter swept through Palatinate, and wherever they went, villages and towns of such a large scale surrendered at first sight.

The army advanced triumphantly, breaking through all obstacles.

At each location, Adolf would employ his superb wealth accumulation skills, thoroughly plundering the local wealth and supplies.

If anyone dared to resist, Adolf would directly order his troops to 'physically transcend' entire villages, sending those rebellious people who were unwilling to welcome the Imperial Army to meet God.

He generously allowed his soldiers to keep most of the plundered wealth, and in exchange, he could pay a much smaller amount in military salaries.

Everyone in the army felt satisfied and joyful; even the soldiers of the Independent Army couldn't resist such temptation, and they immediately recalled the pleasure that accumulating wealth brought.

Consequently, every place this army passed through was reduced to scorched earth, and many civilians, stripped of all their possessions, could only despairingly face death in the snow and bitter cold.

Meanwhile, the jubilant soldiers had their pockets stuffed full and carried considerable amounts of plundered wealth on their backs.

The excessively abundant supplies boosted the morale of the entire army, and the number of soldiers lost for various reasons was also very small.

Of course, Adolf earned the most, as did Gunter and Eberhard, who joined him in accumulating wealth under his leadership.

By now, he had paid off all his debts and, through this war, accumulated a vast fortune of tens of thousands of rhineland thaler.

In the evening, the army encamped near a small town.

Most of the people in this town, like the residents of previous towns, had already fled before Adolf's army arrived.

Those who wanted to escape but lacked the means could only remain in the town to suffer the soldiers' plunder and bullying.

Even though people knew that embarking on a refugee journey in the cold winter would be a near-certain death, they still held a glimmer of hope and fled their homes, attempting to find a chance at survival.

With the fall of large swathes of Palatinate territory, the people of Palatinate had completely given up hope for the mercy of the Archbishop of Mainz and the Imperial Army.

Those who surrendered had all their possessions stolen and died miserably in the cold winter.

And those who refused to sit idly by and chose to resist, unfortunately, all became casualties of the Imperial Army's blades.

Anyone with eyes could see that Adolf had no intention of letting these people live.

It was precisely for this reason that so many people chose to flee; only by escaping was there a chance to survive.

In a grand house, Adolf, Gunter, and Eberhard were seated around a long table.

The firewood in the fireplace burned brightly, crackling and bringing comfortable warmth to the entire room.

The firelight reflected on their faces, making them appear rosy-cheeked.

The clinking of wine glasses was exceptionally crisp; these Venetian glass cups, filled with Burgundy wine, truly made a perfect match.

Adolf took a delightful sip, then tossed a heavy bag of gold coins onto the table, saying with a smile, "This is all we scraped together today, just over a hundred. Let's divide it according to the old rules."

Eberhard frowned slightly and asked, somewhat perplexed, "Archbishop, the money we've been plundering has been decreasing these past few days, yet you seem somewhat happy?"

He harbored some suspicion in his heart, suspecting that Archbishop Adolf was secretly pocketing a portion of the money, but he dared not show it too obviously.

Gunter opened the bag, grabbed a handful of glittering Gulden gold coins, and carefully examined the patterns on them.

The coins bore the image of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, with the inscription of the Basel mint engraved around the edge.

This amount of money couldn't satisfy his appetite, but he hadn't forgotten that he was a soldier; everything he did was for victory, and making money was secondary.

He perceived Eberhard's doubts and thus reminded him, "We should indeed be happy about this, because plundering money is not our primary objective; our objective is to—"

"Completely destroy the territory of the Elector Palatine!" Archbishop Adolf interjected, making a firm declaration, "The Emperor will, of course, severely punish the Elector Palatine in the end, but he will absolutely not directly destroy the Wittelsbach family's rule in Palatinate.

What I want to do is to completely turn this land into scorched earth, so that even if the Elector Palatine reclaims these lands, he will have to invest a great deal of effort and money to rebuild his territory.

This is precisely the punishment for his resistance against the Emperor, and it also serves as a warning to the other princes."

Gunter nodded in agreement, "Now, people immediately abandon everything and flee to distant places upon hearing of our army's arrival. Our goal is actually halfway achieved.

However, our current pace of advance is still too slow. I think we might need to divide our forces and strive to capture all Palatinate territories west of the Rhine River before next spring."

Upon hearing the explanations from the two, Eberhard finally put aside his doubts, though he still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

He had come on this trip partly because the Emperor had made demands of his father, and partly to gain more benefits.

It would naturally be good if he could accumulate more wealth.

However, after the war's victory, he assumed the Emperor would not forget the contributions of the Count of Württemberg, and benefits would certainly not be lacking.

Hearing Gunter's suggestion, Adolf smiled mysteriously, took out his map, spread it on the table, and used a candlestick as a paperweight on the map's edge.

The firelight illuminated the map, drawing Gunter's and Eberhard's attention.

Adolf pointed to a spot on the map, glanced at the two, and whispered, "I do intend to divide the forces, especially since the Elector Palatine is almost powerless to stop us now.

However, before dividing our forces, we have another excellent opportunity to make a fortune."

"Make a fortune?"

Upon hearing this, Gunter and Eberhard exchanged glances, their eagerness and greed clearly evident in their eyes.

Archbishop Adolf had already amply demonstrated his wealth accumulation abilities to them, so they both firmly believed his words.

Adolf pointed to a spot on the map; that location was not far from them, reachable within one or two days of marching north, but it was not the territory of the Elector Palatine.

Eberhard asked, somewhat confused, "Worms? Archbishop, isn't this wrong? Hasn't the Archbishop of Worms already seen the light and decided to support you?"

Adolf shook his head and said in a deep voice, "I did forgive his mistake in supporting Dieter, but opposing the Emperor with a traitor—such a crime cannot be easily pardoned by me. He must obtain the Emperor's forgiveness.

Unfortunately, he has not yet received the Emperor's pardon."

Adolf's speech, playing with the rules, left Eberhard and Gunter stunned.

Gunter looked at Worms on the map, and a strong interest arose in his heart.

He had long heard of this city; Worms was one of the oldest cities in the Empire, once the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Burgundy.

It had a long history and a venerable status.

This city was also known as the 'City of the Nibelungs,' and the well-known Nibelungenlied is set in Worms.

The Pope and the Emperor had signed the Concordat of Worms here, ending the Investiture Controversy.

Of course, more importantly than any of the above, Worms was one of the Empire's original seven free cities, and remains an important Imperial Free City to this day.

Thinking of this, he reminded with some concern, "We should not rashly attack such an important Imperial City, much less do so in the Emperor's name.

The last time you attacked Worms, the Emperor received protests, and the Free City of Worms has remained neutral throughout this war. Even if we are to punish, we can only target the Archbishop of Worms.

On such matters, I advise you not to play petty tricks."

"Alright, since you've already said so..."

Adolf reluctantly gave up his bold plan.

The last time he plundered Mainz, he had a taste of success, and this time he intended to use the might of the large army to attack the even richer Worms.

However, it now seemed that this plan was not suitable.

The mention of the last time he and Florian led troops to attack Worms made him somewhat irritated.

The Worms garrison, claiming to uphold neutrality and maintain urban stability, righteously rejected his request to enter the city with his army.

In reality, it was because the Archbishop of Worms had bribed the Worms City Council, causing the council members to ultimately choose to shelter the Archbishop of Worms who was hiding in the city.

Unexpectedly, afterwards these fellows even dared to turn the tables, claiming that the Emperor's Army had attacked an Imperial Free City and demanding compensation.

Laszlo simply exempted their taxes for that year, though there wasn't much tax to begin with.

Adolf could only secretly lament that the Archbishop of Worms was lucky. If Worms had agreed to hand him over at that time, Dieter would likely not have been the only one beheaded for treason in Vienna.

The Emperor only cared about Dieter and the Elector Palatine, those two big fish, and did not pay attention to the other insignificant accomplices.

This was also the reason why the Archbishop of Worms had not yet been purged.

Adolf's desire to eliminate the Archbishop of Worms at this opportunity also stemmed from his suspicion of him.

After all, this person had previously been a staunch supporter of Dieter, but now he had transformed into a loyal supporter of Adolf.

Compared to such a fickle fellow, Adolf preferred to install one of his own in the important position of Archbishop of Worms.

After thinking for a while, Adolf decided to write a special letter to the Emperor later to request an edict, so that he could openly deal with the Archbishop of Worms.

As for the Pope? Heh, he, the Archbishop of Mainz, was the Pope north of the mountains!

In Italy, perhaps the Pope's words carried some weight, but in the German regions of the Empire, the Archbishop of Mainz also held extremely high authority—when supported by the Emperor.

Having made up their minds, Adolf and the other two no longer dwelled on the matter of Worms, and began to mark on the map, discussing the division of their forces.

"I'm going back to Mainz," Adolf first stated his intention, "This time I will consolidate my rule in Mainz, and at the same time reclaim the Mainz territory along the Main River that was illegally occupied by the Elector Palatine. As for attacking the Palatinate, I'll leave that to the two of you.

I will await your good news in Mainz, and once all the territory west of the Rhine River is taken, we will rendezvous in Mainz, cross the Rhine River, and advance south to attack the core territory of the Palatinate."

Frederick and Eberhard also delineated their target areas based on the forces at their disposal.

Early the next morning, the large army split into three.

Gunter led his army west, attacking the core territory of the Palatinate west of the Rhine River.

Adolf continued along the Rhine River, leading his army back to Mainz.

Eberhard led the Württemberg army north, to attack the remote, undefended Palatinate territory.

Time flew by, and the progress of all the armies was very smooth.

Almost every now and then, news of fallen castles or towns reached Heidelberg.

On the hill next to the city of Heidelberg, a solemn and magnificent ancient castle stood, which was the Elector's Palace of Heidelberg.

Frederick I strolled along the city walls, overlooking the scenery of Heidelberg.

He raised his hand to straighten the red fox fur collar disheveled by the cold wind, revealing a section of golden lion embroidery on his cuff, which was the symbol of the Palatinate.

The snow on the hem of his cloak fell with his steps, and Frederick gently pressed his hand to his shoulder; he felt the healed wound still faintly aching.

Just then, Hans, the commander of the Elector's Guard, came before him, about to report something, but hesitated.

Frederick sighed softly, urging, "Speak, what more bad news?"

"Elector... Zweibrücken is under siege by enemy forces, and they are resisting fiercely."

"Is that so?" Frederick nodded indifferently, his stopped steps resuming, "Alright, you may go."

Hans looked at Frederick's lonely back with some concern, but could do nothing, and could only continue to gather intelligence from various places for the Elector.

Frederick was already somewhat numb; earlier this week, he had received news of the fall of Amberg, the capital of the Upper Palatinate.

The Imperial Army from Bohemia had plundered this developed city, and even his Elector's Palace was not spared; the entire Upper Palatinate (Bavarian region) was declared fallen.

And the recent news... Zweibrücken was the center of the Palatinate territory west of the Rhine River, also a regional capital.

The city's defenses were not weak; perhaps it could hold out for a while longer.

Even so, Zweibrücken would hardly escape its fate of falling, unless he could do something in the coming time to reverse the dire situation.

He still had several thousand combat-ready soldiers, and as long as he was given a suitable opportunity, he was not entirely without a chance of victory.

But where was this opportunity?

"My Lord! The Archbishop of Mainz is leading an army to attack the Mainz territory you acquired from Archbishop Dieter," Hans, who had returned, panted, his expression quite agitated, "He only brought his own men; this is an excellent opportunity!"

Frederick turned abruptly, asking seriously, "Is the intelligence true?"

"Absolutely true, My Lord, Lorsch sent a letter requesting aid."

Hans presented the letter in his hand to Frederick. Frederick took the letter and read it carefully, his eyes immediately becoming sharp.

"It seems Adolf naively believes I've completely lost the power to resist... Go, gather the troops, we will sally forth tomorrow morning."

"Yes, My Lord!"

Hans felt that the familiar Elector was back; he would surely lead the army to victory again.

After a series of intensive mobilizations and preparations, Frederick I, the Elector Palatine, personally led an army of over two thousand men across the Neckar River, advancing at an extremely fast pace towards the Mainz territory not far to the north.