Tyranny of Steel

The light of dawn shone through the Castle windows as Berengar was quickly awakened; his child had slept soundly through the night, which was a rare occurrence at this point. Because of this, the man was finally able to get a good night's rest. Seeing as how he would be with the troops today, Berengar did not bother with his morning exercise and instead began to get dressed in his military attire. By now, his armor was comprised of blackened steel three quarter's plate that was gilded in the same gold pattern as his previous set; it came with matching gauntlets.

The armor set even had an armored codpiece to protect his groin and a pair of matching rondels. Of course, the codpiece was hidden beneath his waffenrock; as such, he did not feel embarrassed for having such a piece of equipment. Berengar also wore a golden sash across his breastplate. The black and gold armor went over his matching Landsknecht attire; he still wore the feathered cap over the blackened steel skull cap. He wore a heavy cavalry sword based upon the British pattern 1788 cavalry sword, tied to his waist by a black leather sword belt with brass fittings.

The sword itself had a gold-plated guard and a black leather grip that was wrapped in gold wire. The blade itself was made of Damascus steel imported from the east, it was initially designed to be his wedding gift, but seeing as that was a few years away still, Ludwig had gifted it to him for his birthday, which was in the middle of October.

After dressing in his attire, he snuck out of his quarters, leaving his sleeping lover and child to continue their rest. He quickly found himself in the kitchen where he was prepared a set of field rations, after which he went to the Castle's stables and mounted his trusty steed Erwin, where he placed a set of two pistols within the holsters on its saddle.

After riding out to the field, Berengar met with Eckhard, who was already commanding the infantry in their daily drills. The infantry was fully equipped with the black steel armor and black and gold Landsknecht attire issued to all of his troops. Nearly a quarter of his troops were equipped with the new 1417/18 Rifled Musket, which had been rebored and rifled to accept the .58 caliber Minie ball projectile. Because of this, part of his infantry now had the ability to engage targets beyond 300 yards. They were formed into their own rifle companies and fought alongside the standard smoothbore musketeers.

The combined tactics of rifleman and musketeers would prove to be an effective means of combat, at least until he could manage to have all of his muskets rebored into the new design. Over the past six months, the army had grown into quite the professional force, with its own officer class made up of a mixture of knights, nobles, and commoners. Seeing as it was entirely based upon merit, anyone could become an officer with the right education and training. Since he did not have time to set up a full-fledged military academy, Berengar had been making do with selecting rare talents and training them with his vision of early modern warfare.

Eckhard noticed the Viscount approaching and quickly saluted him. The army which had been mustered quickly did the same. it was only after he returned his salute and gave his orders did the men relax

"At ease."

Seeing all his soldiers standing before him, Berengar made sure to communicate his orders effectively.

"The King is dead; war will be upon us shortly; I trust you have all been properly trained in the past few months; as such, we will be setting off in a month. At the moment, our target is confidential. However, when the time to march comes, you will all be properly informed of our destination. Thus, I want all of you prepared for the eventual day of our conquest! I won't lie, we will be gone for some time, and many of us may not return. However, for the prosperity of the realm and your families' continued fortune, we must fight! God with us!"

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The last part had been a war cry Berengar had stolen from the Germans of his previous life. He had made sure every soldier was aware of this battle cry over the past few months, and the moment he yelled those words into the air, the army of several thousand men echoed by responding with the same chant.

"God with us!"

As such, Berengar spent the rest of his day overseeing combat drills while standing alongside Eckhard, who watched the perfect display of tactics being conducted. Eckhard had a look of concern on his face as he knew of Berengar's plans, he and the officers were already aware of what was to come, and they had known for quite some time what Berengar's aspirations were. Eventually, the man voiced his concerns.

"We have 5,250 men, it is not a bad number, but if we are to conquer the County of Tyrol, we will surely be facing stiff resistance. After seizing Innsbruck, the lords of the Realm will rebel against us. However, many of them and their professional armies will be off with Lothar siege to Vienna; their children will surely raise levies to defy our authority. Our numbers will be stretched thin fighting against every barony and viscounty within the County. By the time Lothar arrives with his armies, we will be fighting several small-scale wars across Tyrol, which will put us in a poor position."

Berengar chuckled at Eckhard's concerns before brushing them aside and comforting his most talented General by clasping his shoulder.

"My old friend, what you say is true; that is certainly one possibility in which war can result. However, I am not concerned in the slightest; after all, I have an ace in the hole."

Eckhard quickly realized Berengar was referring to Linde, and he looked at him with an anxious expression.

"You are going to use her to conspire against her father while he is besieging Vienna?"

Berengar nodded with a satisfied expression on his face, as always with the slightest direction; Eckhard caught onto his schemes. However, the old knight's next words were unexpected.

"That is cruel, even for you."

However, what Berengar said next greatly shocked Eckhard

s

"It was her idea."

letting out a great sigh, Eckhard admitted defeat before his Lord and General

"You two are truly made for each other..."

Though the old Knight had great respect for Berengar, he vastly preferred when Berengar used the might of his armies to display his dominance on the field of battle, rather than when he schemed behind the scenes to lead his opponents into a trap.

Nevertheless, Berengar could easily manipulate Lothar and his Vassals into falling to his ploys with Linde's aid. As such, he looked forward to the upcoming war and the day he could proclaim himself Count. Berengar gazed at the scene of his army's drills and grinned at the sight he had a good feeling about the future; if God truly existed, surely he was on Berengar's side. If not, why else would he be dragged into this world and put into a position of power?