The Alliance's Submission

Graubünden, this is the name of a region. Germans use this term to designate the area east of the central Swiss highlands and west of Austria-Tyrol.

Here, there is a union commonly known as the Three Leagues.

No one considered them to form a new state, just as no one in the Empire dared to openly acknowledge that Switzerland was a true state.

So far, among the Swiss cantons, only a few cities were qualified to participate in the Imperial Conference, and they did so as free imperial cities directly under the Emperor.

The Three Leagues, however, had no qualification to participate in imperial-level assemblies; ultimately, it was merely a local organization.

In fact, calling this union the Three Leagues at this time was not entirely accurate.

Because the Three Leagues had not yet signed a permanent, strongly binding alliance treaty, their alliance was even looser and more fragile than Switzerland's.

The League of God's House, which occupied the southeastern part of Graubünden, the Grey League, which occupied the southwestern part, and the League of Ten Jurisdictions, which occupied the northern part, maintained friendly allied relations and were closely connected with Switzerland.

The League of God's House was the earliest established and the strongest among them.

About a hundred years ago, the citizens of Chur, seeking autonomy, chose to form an alliance to resist the oppression of the Bishop of Chur. In the early 15th century, the relationship between the bishop and the alliance deteriorated sharply, even leading to malicious incidents where citizens would periodically attack the bishop's residence.

However, the Bishop of Chur still held significant political power to this day.

The citizens of Chur, centered on their city, incorporated the entire eastern Graubünden into their alliance.

As the alliance was initially established in a house called "God's House" within Chur, it was named the League of God's House, or the League of God's House.

Just at the end of April this year, a major fire broke out in Chur, almost destroying the entire city of Chur, which was primarily built with wooden structures.

Only the bishop's residence and the cathedral, being stone buildings, were spared.

This incident severely intensified the conflict between the League of God's House and the Bishop of Chur.

The representatives of the alliance gathered to discuss and decided to appeal to the Emperor in Vienna, hoping that he would support their demand for autonomy and limit the power of the Bishop of Chur.

However, before the envoys they had chosen could depart, news arrived that the Emperor had declared war on their ally, Switzerland.

This was nothing short of a bolt from the blue for the members of the League of God's House.

The alliance quickly split into two factions.

One faction advocated standing with Switzerland, resisting the Imperial Army's attack with force, and expelling the Bishop of Chur.

They believed that the original purpose of the League of God's House was to resist the expansion of the Bishop of Chur and the Habsburg Family's power, and that only the Swiss Confederation could help them.

The other faction advocated severing ties with Switzerland, gaining autonomy for Chur by pledging allegiance to the Emperor, and thus saving the alliance from disaster.

This faction also had very good reasons.

The Emperor, after all, had a formidable army, and the Swiss Confederation was likely preoccupied; their small alliance simply could not stop the Emperor's vast army.

Chur had just experienced a fire, and the city was still a scorched ruin.

The citizens were planning to rebuild a sturdy town using stone materials, but this would require a long construction period.

If the Emperor's army were to attack now, let alone occupying the city, there would be nothing for them to occupy.

Moreover, Chur was the capital of Graubünden and its most prosperous city.

As the core of the League of God's House, Chur suffered heavy losses in the fire, which undoubtedly shook their resolve to resist.

The two factions argued endlessly, unable to reach a decision for a long time.

Such a situation also occurred within the other two leagues of Graubünden.

The Grey League, which occupied the Upper Rhine River Valley in southwestern Graubünden, had as its core objective maintaining internal stability and development in the region, and reducing conflict.

Many among them were unwilling to engage in battle with the Emperor's army.

The League of Ten Jurisdictions, which occupied northern Graubünden, had an even more complex relationship with the imperial family.

The League of Ten Jurisdictions was one of the products of the Zurich War.

The alliance was founded in 1436, only 28 years ago.

In that year, a major event occurred in the Swiss region, shaking the entire area—the important Habsburg Family vassal, the Count of Toggenburg, died without an heir.

The Toggenburg family had followed the Habsburg Family for over a hundred years.

In 1388, Albrecht III of the Habsburg Family, seeking revenge for his brother Leopold III, dispatched five thousand men to attack Switzerland.

The commander of this army was precisely the Count of Toggenburg at that time.

After the family died out, large power vacuums immediately appeared in eastern Switzerland and northern Graubünden.

The Count of Toggenburg's rich inheritance caused envy among various families.

Among them, Zurich demanded to inherit the entirety of the Count of Toggenburg's inheritance, on the grounds that the Count of Toggenburg's wife was from Zurich.

Another Forest Canton, Schwyz (Swiss), which bordered a large area of the Count of Toggenburg's territory, demanded that most of the Toggenburg territory be allocated to itself.

To suppress Zurich's expansionist desires, the Swiss cantons collectively sided with the federal elder, Schwyz. The other two of the Three Forest Cantons, Uri and Unterwalden, even intended to militarily support Schwyz's demands.

Seeing that the federal allies were all leaning towards Schwyz, the indignant people of Zurich immediately occupied large areas of Toggenburg territory and declared their secession from the Confederation.

Zurich subsequently sided with the Habsburg Family, submitting to Albrecht II.

Originally, the Habsburg Family prepared to march into Switzerland under the banner of reclaiming vassal territories, but Albrecht II knew that Austria's strength was insufficient.

Therefore, he went with the flow, granting Zurich the Count of Toggenburg's territories in eastern Switzerland, thereby forming an alliance with Zurich to jointly oppose the Swiss Confederation.

Unfortunately, Frederick, who presided over this war, was timid and indecisive, and the military commanders Albrecht VI and Sigismund had no military talent.

Ultimately, Zurich was defeated, its mayor was killed, and its territory was partitioned by the Confederation as a punishment.

Zurich, having been taught a lesson, subsequently rejoined the Confederation, declared an end to ties with the Habsburg Family, and in 1453 became a member of the "Eight Canton Alliance."

Most of the Count of Toggenburg's former territories in Switzerland fell into the hands of Schwyz.

And in northern Graubünden, the ten jurisdictions originally belonging to the Count of Toggenburg, the populace spontaneously formed an alliance, which became the League of Ten Jurisdictions.

In 1450, the year the Zurich War ended, the League of Ten Jurisdictions chose to conclude an alliance with the League of God's House.

After the failure of the Zurich War, Albrecht, facing the increasingly tense situation in the Balkans, had no interest in the trivial matters in the Swiss mountains.

Therefore, the League of Ten Jurisdictions, occupying a small territory, continued peacefully and maintained its completely autonomous status.

The current situation, however, was vastly different.

The Emperor's army was now stationed in Innsbruck, right next to Graubünden, and appeared to be preparing to launch an attack on the Three Leagues.

For this reason, representatives from the Three Leagues organized a meeting near Chur.

This was actually the first joint assembly of the Three Leagues.

Before this, both the Grey League and the League of Ten Jurisdictions had separately concluded alliances with the League of God's House, and it was also the League of God's House that represented the Three Leagues in their alliance with Switzerland.

If it weren't for the urgency of the current situation, the meeting of the Grey League and the League of Ten Jurisdictions would probably have had to wait several more years.

"Gentlemen, before the meeting begins, I must first introduce an important person to you," Marcus, the municipal officer of Chur and host of the alliance assembly, directed everyone's gaze to his side, "Mister Klement, a special envoy sent by the Emperor. He comes for peace."

The scene immediately erupted in an uproar, and people looked warily at the smiling imperial envoy.

However, some quickly realized that this was an opportunity, an opportunity to save themselves from the ravages of war.

"Representatives, I come with the Emperor's goodwill, hoping to avoid a potential war."

Klement adopted a very friendly demeanor, showing no sign that he represented the Emperor, who commanded tens of thousands of troops and was eyeing Graubünden with predatory intent.

Hearing the envoy's words, the representatives began to discuss amongst themselves.

Marcus also did not stop the representatives from privately discussing within their respective smaller alliances.

No one wanted to fight, especially in a situation where there was almost no chance of victory.

Within the Ten Jurisdictions League, there were many noble lords who were originally vassals of the Count of Toggenburg, and they were more inclined to accept the Emperor.

The Grey League, nestled in the Upper Rhine Valley, was almost isolated from the world and rarely participated in external conflicts.

If the Emperor insisted on attacking his ally, the League of God's House, then the Grey League would send troops to assist according to their alliance.

The League of God's House, the dominant force among the Three Leagues, was ironically the least willing to go to war with the Emperor.

The Ten Jurisdictions League, backed by Schwyz, only needed to face the threat from Tyrol.

Although the Grey League was adjacent to Milan, the insurmountable barrier of the Alps stood between them, making an attack impossible.

Only the League of God's House, occupying a large area of eastern Graubünden, needed to simultaneously cope with military pressure from both Milan and Tyrol.

The Imperial Army could even attack from three directions: Trento, Brescia in Milan, and Innsbruck in Tyrol.

Moreover, the middle section of the road from Innsbruck to Bregenz would pass through Feldkirch.

From Feldkirch, via Vaduz (now Liechtenstein), one could directly advance into the territory of the Ten Jurisdictions League.

If the Imperial Army advanced rapidly, they could reach Chur within a week.

Considering that Chur was still a scorched earth, the members of the League of God's House truly had no desire to resist.

Just as they were at a loss, the Emperor's special envoy arrived in Chur.

Before this general assembly was convened, the League of God's House had already reached a preliminary compromise with the Emperor's envoy.

What the Emperor sought was actually very simple: the League of God's House needed to hand over the territories of the Val Müstair and several surrounding valleys, and sever their alliance with Switzerland.

In return, the Emperor would issue an edict granting Chur the status of an Imperial Free City, allowing them to completely escape the control of the Bishop of Chur.

In earlier years, previous Bishops of Chur had disputes with the Habsburg Family over regional jurisdiction, so Laszlo readily sold out the Bishop of Chur.

Upon hearing that the fire in Chur had almost destroyed everything, Klement, on behalf of the Emperor, expressed sympathy to the members of the League of God's House.

He claimed that if the peace talks went smoothly, the Emperor would likely allocate funds to help them rebuild Chur—this time, a new city built with stone.

Such generous terms deeply moved the hearts of the league members; the crucial point was that the Emperor agreed to let them continue to exercise autonomy in Graubünden.

In the internal meeting of the League of God's House, the peace agreement was almost unanimously approved.

Now, they hoped that the other two smaller leagues could also maintain peace with the Emperor.

"Mr. Envoy, what exactly does the Emperor want?"

The Grey League was the first to stop their discussion, and their representative asked Klement.

"The Emperor wishes to punish the Swiss who betrayed the Empire. Unfortunately, you have some ties with the Swiss.

And I am here to sever these ties and maintain the hard-won peace in Graubünden."

The Emperor had virtually no demands on the Grey League, after all, the Upper Rhine Valley occupied by this league was the most remote place in the entire Alps.

Because the farmers living there liked to wear grey clothes, they were called the Grey League.

Most of them lived a life free from strife; that place could truly be called a paradise.

"Those are just some commercial treaties, nothing major at all."

"If you still consider yourselves part of the Empire, then you should abide by the Imperial ban and sever any treaties and trade relations with the Swiss."

Klement's expression suddenly became serious; when it came to the Emperor's prestige, he would not back down.

The representative of the Grey League nodded somewhat reluctantly and said, "Alright, we understand."

He turned his gaze to the moderator of the meeting, Markus, the representative of the League of God's House: "Mr. Municipal Officer, have you and your league already settled with the Emperor?"

Markus felt a little ashamed, but he still nodded, admitting the fact that he had betrayed his Swiss allies.

The representative of the Grey League nodded slightly, then looked at Klement: "Mr. Envoy, we also agree to abide by the Imperial ban, as long as we can avoid war with the Emperor."

Klement nodded with satisfaction; the negotiation with the Grey League almost entirely depended on the negotiation with the League of God's House, because the former looked to the latter for guidance.

Fortunately, he had already settled with the League of God's House in advance.

Now, all the pressure was on the Ten Jurisdictions League.

The Ten Jurisdictions League was the youngest, had the smallest territory, the weakest military, and was the closest to Austria.

The most important point was that the Habsburg Family had a legal claim to rule this land.

As the only remaining legacy of the Count of Toggenburg not divided by Switzerland and Austria, the independence and autonomy of the Ten Jurisdictions League would come to an end today.

"Mr. Envoy," the representative of the Ten Jurisdictions League was a knight named Herblingen, and he spoke with some difficulty, "we are also willing to sever ties with the Swiss...:"

"The Emperor has other demands for the Ten Jurisdictions League."

Klement earnestly interrupted Herblingen's words.

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere on the scene became heavy again.

"The Ten Jurisdictions League is the former territory of the Count of Toggenburg, and as a vassal of the Habsburg Family, upon his death, the territory should have reverted to the Habsburg Family.

However, for various reasons, these lands could not be recovered before.

This time, a significant objective of the Emperor's campaign against Switzerland is to recover the Count of Toggenburg's territory."

"Then what should we do?"

Herblingen asked anxiously; the Emperor clearly could not let the Ten Jurisdictions League off the hook as he did the Grey League.

"All the nobles and towns of the Ten Jurisdictions League need to swear allegiance to the Emperor and pay an annual tribute.

The Imperial Court in Innsbruck, Tyrol, will hear important disputes occurring in your lands.

If you can agree to these terms, the Emperor is willing to grant you autonomy."

Having settled the other two, the Ten Jurisdictions League could not cause any trouble.

Herblingen's gaze swept over Markus and the representatives of the Grey League; they all remained silent.

He turned and discussed quietly with the representatives from the Ten Jurisdictions League beside him for a while before giving their reply: "Mr. Envoy, we are willing to accept the Emperor's rule."

"A wise choice, gentlemen, let us sign the peace treaty now.

War will not descend upon the lands of Graubünden, in the Emperor's name!"

Soon, Klement left Graubünden with the peace treaty.

At this time, Laszlo had already led the main army out of Innsbruck and was heading towards Bregenz along the Tyrol Road, which had been built for many years.

Klement found the Emperor's army halfway and brought the peace treaty to the Emperor.

Laszlo immediately ordered someone to rush to Gruornes, instructing the troops stationed there to immediately set off and head to Bregenz to rendezvous with the main army.

Of course, before that, they would dispatch a small unit to peacefully take over the Val Müstair.

An envoy would directly pass through the valley to Milan to issue the order to attack to the Milan Army waiting in the Ticino region. Laszlo then received the town representatives and noble representatives of the Ten Jurisdictions League in Feldkirch and accepted their allegiance.

He also fulfilled all the promises made in the treaty.

Although the Bishop of Chur also personally rushed to Feldkirch to try to persuade the Emperor not to grant autonomy to the common people of Chur, Laszlo simply ignored him.

A bishop who dared to contend with the Emperor over regional jurisdiction had to be dealt with by the people of an autonomous city. After resolving the Three Leagues without bloodshed, Laszlo led the three main armies—the Independent Army, the Austro-Hungarian Army, and the Imperial Guard, plus the Croatian auxiliary army, totaling sixteen thousand well-equipped professional soldiers—to Bregenz, preparing to launch a fierce attack with Zurich as the target.

The other two armies were also preparing to launch attacks in several other directions against Switzerland simultaneously.