Tyranny of Steel

While Berengar invaded Italy and the Swiss Confederation, the ongoing war in Germany had never ceased its activities. Duke Dietger was currently in a dilemma. Over the years, he had compensated for his losses in Austria by fielding peasant levies to make up for the numbers of troops slain during his botched occupation of his southern neighbor.

For over two years now, the Bavarian Duke had been at war with his northern Neighbors and relying on his levies and allied troops to keep the Luxembourgs at bay. To refrain from paying Berengar the reparations he owed the Austrian people, the Duke had sent an envoy saying he would not be able to meet his payments and instead would pay in one lump sum at the end agreed time frame.

Dietger had no intentions to pay Berengar, or the Austrian people such an unreasonable amount of money, reparations for actions taken during warfare? Just what kind of stipulation was that? It was simply being unreasonable.

Nevertheless, his General had agreed to the terms and entirely withdrew Bavarian troops from Austrian soil in the designated timeframe. By doing this, he had bought Bavaria five years of peace with their rapidly expanding southern neighbor.

At the moment the Bavarian Duke was sitting in his castle within Munich, surrounded by his ministers, one topic of contention seemed to invoke the ire of everyone present. One of his ministers was practically spitting as he shouted his views on the issue at hand.

"Berengar can not be allowed to achieve Independence. By claiming himself King of Austria, he declares himself independent of the rightful King of Germany, our liege Duke Dietger! Austria is a vassal of Germany first and foremost, and every Duke of the German realm should oppose this. Upon hearing this another man spoke up in an equally furious state.

"The Austrians have gotten too full of themselves, what gives them the right to declare themselves as an independent Kingdom?" I say we establish a temporary truce with the Luxembourgs and march on Austria, showing this upstart King his place in this world! The fact that a lowly Baron's son could rise to such a prestigious position is an insult to every prominent nobleman within the German Speaking regions!"

Having heard this asinine statement Duke Dietger slammed his fist on his armest in a fit of fury, as he did so he gathered the attention of all of his Councilors who were present in his Great Hall. Dietger gazed furiously at those around him as if he were looking at a bunch of idiots, after doing so he spoke abruptly and loudly as he chastised the minister for his stupidity.

"Nobody gives Berengar the right to declare himself King, he takes it by force! While we have weakened our armies with years of conflict over a meaningless title with no genuine authority, Berengar has centralized power over his State while expanding his military and economic might.

For Christ's sake! Our merchants have begun utilizing Austrian currency because it is so pure! In comparison, the money of our realm is given to the individual lords to mint and is debased to such a point that it would take tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of our pfennigs to account for one of their thalers!

If we were to win this war, and Austria was still subservient to our rule, what kind of joke would I be as the alleged "King of Germany? Might is right! Berengar has the power to declare himself King; hell, the man is winning a war with the Empire to establish his ability to do so! Which one of you has the confidence to declare ourselves independent of the Emperor in Florence?

If any of you think we should align ourselves with the Luxembourgs and march on Austria, you should remove yourselves from this council and put forth your resignation; I do not need the counsel of such fools!"

This statement was undoubtedly a harsh one. However, it made a valid point, and that was the idea of marching on Austria being absurd; if one wanted to know how well that would turn out, they just needed to turn back the clock two years to their last attempt at such a thing.

The minister who had proposed such an idea a few minutes before had an ugly expression on his face, however, he remained silent as he stormed out of the room. After his departure, Dietger gazed upon his council with an equally vicious stare as he expressed his following thoughts.

"Does anyone else have any other bright ideas?"

For some time, there was an awkward silence in the room as the councilors struggled to come up with a suggestion on how to deal with the growing power of Austria as well as the stalemate that had been playing itself out on the frontlines of war with the Luxembourgs.

After a while, one of the men present began to speak up; he was the Marshal of the realm and knew how to resolve the situation with their enemies to the North.

"What if we used the money we are supposed to pay Berengar to hire mercenaries to fight the Luxembourgs and their allies? At the moment, we are not even pulling our weight in the war effort; if we don't find a solution to our troop problems soon, then our allies will begin to feel pressured and withdraw their support."

After saying this, the councilors present began to debate over the credibility of such an idea. First, the initial minister to speak up voiced his concerns over the issue.

"If Berengar were to find out about the wealth, we have been hiding away, and that we spent it on mercenaries, he could see this as a provocation and march his troops into our lands. We would not be able to last the winter if he managed to do such a thing!"

While he made a valid point, neither Duke Dietger nor the Marshal was alarmed about such a possibility. Before they could explain why that was the case; another minister dismissed the man's concerns for them.

"Berengar is in the middle of a war with His Majesty Balsamo Corsini and his Swiss allies. It will take some time before he is able to march troops into our lands; even then, his armies will surely be battle-worn from their efforts in those two theaters. We don't have to worry about such a possibility; what we do have to worry about is the fact that if we don't find a way to field more troops, our allies will abandon us."

Though the minister who had his concerns about angering the Austrians was not entirely convinced, he also could not argue against this point. As such, he kept silent about any further objections he might have. After a bit more discussion, the plan of action was accepted by Duke Dietger, and thus he made a bold declaration.

"Send forth the word to all of the free companies that I will pay a handsome amount of gold to whoever fights for Bavaria! I want this stalemate to be broken by Spring so that we may advance upon Northern Germany!"

After that was said, Duke Dietger dismissed his councilors with only his Marshal remaining behind; the two men had one severe issue to talk about that Dietger did not want the other councilors to hear. After everyone else was out of each shot, the Duke of Bavaria closed the door behind them, sighing heavily before speaking.

"If we do not do something about Berengar's rise to power, in less than three years, we will be facing an army that we can not contend with. These Mercenaries of yours better win this conflict for the Crown of Germany before then, or else we will have neither the troops nor the wealth to contend against Austria!"

In response to this the Marshal grinned confidently as he assured the Duke of their future success.

"Not to worry, your Grace, with the addition of these mercenaries to our armies, I have complete confidence in being able to break this stalemate by Spring and marching upon the enemy's capital within two years. By then, you can take all of Germany for yourself, and in doing so, raise an army that can contend with Austria! Berengar von Kufstein will pay for humiliating Bavaria!"

After hearing this, a wicked grin formed on Duke Dietger's face; he could not forgive the young upstart from the south for crushing his armies so thoroughly. There was only one response for such audacity, and that was war.

While Berengar fought with the Emperor and his forces for Independence, the other German Duchies began to conspire against him, after all by declaring Austria to be an Independent Kingdom; Berengar had essentially slapped the rest of the German nobility in the face. For such a thing, war was the only outcome; little did they know that is exactly what Berengar desired.

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