The Decisive Battle Approaches

News of Brugge's fall quickly reached Frick Valley, brought by the fleeing defenders.

When Hung, the Swiss Army commander, learned that the Imperial Army had advanced north from Zurich, sweeping all before them and reaching Brugge behind them, his heart sank.

They certainly had precedents of winning despite being at a disadvantage, and many of them, but this level of disadvantage was a first.

Inside the Swiss Army camp, Hung gathered the legion commanders from the other four cantons for a military council.

Now that everyone was present, he scanned the room and immediately noticed that all these commanders had worried expressions on their faces.

Initially, their fighting spirit was indeed high, but after a prolonged standoff with the Austro-Swabian coalition, they gradually lost patience.

Especially after learning that the Zurich Army was almost completely annihilated by the Emperor and Zurich was under siege, many felt that defeating the Emperor was a remote hope.

Originally, during the rise of the Swiss Confederation, they had also defeated the Habsburg Family numerous times against numerical odds.

However, this time, a grand Imperial Army totaling over 40,000 troops from three directions launched a fierce assault on the Swiss Confederation, a scale unprecedented.

Allies who had previously been friendly with the Confederation, such as the Three Leagues of Graubünden, Schaffhausen, and Basel, had severed ties with the Swiss to preserve themselves.

And the French, the only ones who might save the Confederation, were now deeply mired in civil war.

The Emperor had woven a large net, firmly trapping the Swiss Confederation, and this net was continuously tightening.

Zurich was already hopeless; if they also suffered defeat, they would truly be beyond help.

"Gentlemen, Zurich has fallen, and now the Imperial Army, personally commanded by the Emperor, has reached Brugge, just a stone's throw away from us."

Hung grimly informed everyone of the current situation, causing the generals from the various cantons to panic.

Among them, the commander of the Lucerne Legion was the most distraught.

Zurich had fallen; once Aargau was lost, Lucerne would become a barrier for the Three Forest Cantons and Bern.

If the Emperor was determined to annihilate the Confederation, then Lucerne would be the next target.

"What should we do, Hung? The enemy outside Frick Valley has become a shrinking turtle again.

If we continue to waste time here with them, once the Emperor leads his army to raid this place, we will have to face the predicament of being attacked from both front and back."

In fact, the generals present were all well aware of these circumstances.

When they captured Frick Valley, loyal locals to the Habsburg Family escaped from the valley and informed the Imperial Army, which was about to arrive, about their occupation of the valley.

Matthias decisively set up a position outside Frick Valley, taking a stance that if the Swiss did not leave the valley, he would not enter.

Both sides thus fell into a stalemate again.

The Swiss Army had to protect Brugge behind them and prevent the two Imperial armies from converging to form a stronger combined force, so they dared not easily leave Frick Valley.

Outside the valley, Matthias, while marveling at the Swiss's incredibly fast movement capabilities in the mountains, ordered all units to remain vigilant and prepare for battle.

With the Saxon Army leading the way, they could hold the terrain and wear down the Swiss until one side ran out of provisions.

And when they passed through the Rhine Valley, they received many "donations" from the Rhine Valley cities, so their provisions and supplies were relatively abundant.

The two Rhine Valley cities of Rheinfelden and Stein even belonged to Outer Austria's jurisdiction, though they enjoyed high autonomy.

Matthias also completed a tour of the Rhine Valley territories with his large army.

After leading his army from Stein, he no longer continued upstream along the Rhine River but turned southeast towards Frick Valley.

If he continued along the Rhine River, he could reach Laufenburg in half a day.

That was once the core of the Habsburg-Laufenburg Family's territory.

After Rudolf I's death, his eldest son Albrecht I and his second son Rudolf had a civil war. Rudolf ultimately failed in his bid for inheritance and occupied Laufenburg, establishing the Habsburg-Laufenburg Family.

This family was henceforth always at odds with the main Habsburg line.

It wasn't until 1337, when its head was killed in a war with Zurich, that they were forced to seek aid from the powerful main line, and relations between the two sides gradually eased.

In 1408, the Habsburg-Laufenburg Family died out without heirs, and its territory should have been reclaimed by the Habsburg Family.

However, the Swiss, with the tacit consent of the then-Emperor Ruprecht, directly swallowed the family's inheritance, which at one point caused relations between Austria and Palatinate to rapidly deteriorate.

From then on, Laufenburg became the border between Outer Austria - Rhine Valley and the Swiss Confederation.

And Frick Valley was the last territory of the Habsburg Family in Aargau, and also the boundary with the Swiss Confederation's sphere of influence.

However, just after leaving Stein, Matthias received news that Frick Valley had been captured by the Swiss, and he immediately decided to continue confronting the Swiss.

As the Swiss generals had expected, Matthias had no intention of launching a proactive attack.

After witnessing the Swiss's ability to move quickly through the mountains, he no longer planned to rashly advance.

He only needed to tie down the Swiss; as soon as the Emperor achieved greater results, their predicament here would also be resolved.

And the Swiss, who were originally here to block the Imperial Army to protect Brugge, now learned the news that the Emperor had personally led an army to capture Brugge.

This instantly made their situation awkward and dangerous. Some generals had already considered retreating, but no one dared to stand out and take responsibility for defying the Confederation's resolution.

They had already attempted to attack the enemy outside the valley, but the result was no different from the battle at Lausen Village.

Those Austrians defended staunchly with Hussite War Wagons and terrifying cannons, making it very difficult for them to break through the Imperial Army's lines.

Now that Brugge had fallen, enemies were both in front and behind them, with only one safe route remaining: retreat to Aargau.

But retreating to Aargau like this, and waiting for the enemy armies to combine and attack Aargau, they would have to face an unprecedentedly powerful Imperial Army, and it would likely be even harder to win then.

"Hung, we must make a decision quickly," another commander urged, "We don't know when the enemy in Brugge will launch an attack.

If we hesitate too long, the enemy might seize the opportunity, and then everything will be over."

Yes, if they lost, everything would be over.

How could Hung not know that?

Initially, he was full of confidence, hoping to defeat the enemy invading Aargau, and then turn to thwart the large army personally led by the Emperor.

However, now, his Sharpness was almost completely worn out.

The enemy in front numbered as many as 20,000; although the Swabians were a disorganized rabble, and their commander was killed in the first battle,

the Austrians were truly formidable fighters.

In the past few decades of engagements, the Swiss Army he led had not gained any advantage.

Now, an even stronger enemy reportedly appeared behind them; no one would lead the Confederation's last army to stay in this dangerous place.

"We will withdraw to Aargau."

The generals' gazes all turned to Hung, who had made the final decision.

Making a decision to retreat without authorization could lead to punishment from the Confederation, but they secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

If they really had to throw their 10,000 men against the Imperial Army, which was said to number 30,000, in a bloody battle, no one knew what the final outcome would be.

The tragic state of the Zurich Legion could make one tremble just from the messenger's verbal description.

Such losses probably created a generational gap among the young people of the eastern three cantons, and they would likely decline for a long time to come.

Seeing that no one raised objections, Hung immediately understood their thoughts.

"You all return to your camps, organize your armies, and prepare to withdraw from Frick Valley."

"Yes, General."

The Swiss quickly and orderly withdrew from Frick Valley, retreating along the path they came from towards Aargau, the capital of Aargau.

They would make their final stand there.

In Brugge, inside the Emperor's main camp, scouts sent to reconnoiter Frick Valley returned with surprising news and reported it to Laszlo.

"The Swiss ran away?"

Hearing the scout's report, Zettel asked with some surprise.

"Yes, when we approached the Swiss camp from the southern forest, they were retreating towards Aargau."

Upon hearing this, Gunter and other generals turned their gaze to Laszlo.

After capturing Brugge, Laszlo did not choose to act rashly and deliver a gift to the Swiss.

He dispatched a large number of scouts to repeatedly reconnoiter whether there were enemy ambushes on the road between Brugge and Frick Valley, while also urging Charles, who was stationed in Zurich, to quickly lead his army to rendezvous with him.

Because the area between Brugge and Frick Valley was hilly and densely forested, a slight carelessness could lead to being ambushed and raided by the Swiss.

In such terrain, one could easily be caught off guard and heavily beaten by the Swiss, suffering heavy losses.

According to his original guess, the Swiss might divide their forces into two routes.

One route would continue to block the Austro-Swabian coalition in Frick Valley, and the other would ambush the main Imperial Army he led from the south.

However, this time the Swiss seemed no longer as reckless as before, but became extremely cautious, which made Laszlo slightly unaccustomed.

"Ester, send someone to Frick Valley. After confirming that the Swiss have indeed retreated, have Matthias, Werner, and the Margrave of Baden lead their armies to Brugge to rendezvous with our army."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The messenger quickly set off to convey the Emperor's decree to the western army.

"Your Majesty, our next step should be to attack Aargau."

The Swiss's retreat made Gunter feel a bit regretful but also excited; they were now very close to final victory. "There will likely be another fierce battle awaiting us there," Laszlo said, equally full of fighting spirit, "Intelligence shows that the main Swiss Army still maintains a strength of over 10,000 troops.

A Swiss Army of this size is still quite troublesome for us, so there must be no slack whatsoever.

We must proceed steadily to ensure ultimate victory."

The generals in the tent nodded one after another, keeping the Emperor's admonition firmly in mind.

No one dared to question the Emperor's battle methods, because they had proven effective.

Laszlo knew how terrifying his numerical advantage was to the enemy, and he also knew how to maximize his own advantages.

As long as he didn't make any foolish moves and maintained sufficient vigilance, the Swiss would only have one outcome: defeat.

Like "Charles the Bold" in history, in the Battle of Grandson and the Battle of Morat, he actually mistook the Swiss vanguard for the main Swiss force twice.

Those mercenary scouts who were slacking off with the Duke of Burgundy's money simply couldn't discover the Swiss's movements, thus repeatedly suffering defeats.

Until the final Battle of Nancy, Charles, disregarding his subordinates' advice, insisted on taking only half the strength of the Swiss-Lorraine coalition to fight a decisive battle against the enemy.

His reckless military adventures and insufficiently rigorous combat methods ultimately led to his downfall.

Laszlo did not want to be beaten so wantonly by the Swiss like this, so he paid great attention to the army's intelligence work.

Any disturbance within a few miles could basically not escape Laszlo's sight.

Moreover, the Swiss's unavoidable division of forces to meet the enemy had already sealed their defeat.

After the military council ended, the Imperial Army stationed in Brugge immediately began preparing to advance along the Aare River towards their final strategic objective, the city of Aargau.

On the other side, Matthias, who had watched the Swiss retreat, did not hesitate this time but immediately seized Frick Valley.

The Emperor's army was nearby, and he no longer had to worry about the Swiss playing any tricks.

As the valley returned to the Emperor's hands, the road between Outer Austria and the Austrian homeland was completely opened.

Upon meeting the messenger sent by the Emperor, he immediately led his army to Brugge to rendezvous with the Emperor as planned.

On the other side, the Austro-Hungarian Army remaining in Zurich also rushed to Brugge under Charles's leadership, bringing a large number of cannons.

As soon as all forces converged in Brugge, Laszlo would personally lead the grand army to advance on Aargau, reclaim Aargau, and force the Swiss Confederation to submit.

Near Aargau, the main Swiss Confederation army began to fortify the city's defenses and establish camps and outposts at several strategic points near Aargau.

The Federal Diet did not pursue Hung for his unauthorized retreat but instead ordered him to lead his army to hold Aargau.

The Treaty of Zurich had already been made public, and the Bishop of Zurich even sent priests to recruit exiled citizens to return and rebuild Zurich.

This matter caused a huge shock within the Confederation; Zurich had only rejoined the Confederation in 1450, and now, 14 years later, it had seceded again.

Only this time, they probably could no longer use military means to force Zurich into submission.

Zurich was lost, and the right half of Aargau, the jointly administered territory of Baden, had also fallen into the Emperor's hands.

The Confederation now only hoped to retain the left half of Aargau, so as not to be too passive in subsequent negotiations with the Emperor.

They simply had no more young and able-bodied men who could be conscripted to support the front lines.

Now, not only the Aargau front but even Leventina to the south was in precarious danger under the Milanese attack.

As for the aid promised by the French, the French King was currently trapped in Paris by the League of Public Weal, and it was rumored that both sides were planning peace talks; they had no time to concern themselves with Switzerland.

In such a desperate situation, the Swiss could only hope that their army would achieve a miraculous great victory in Aargau, reversing the tide of the war.

The main Swiss Army defending Aargau, carrying the hopes of all Swiss, finally welcomed the tens of thousands of troops personally commanded by the Emperor.