Tyranny of Steel

Within the Kingdom of Italy, in the city of Florence, there lies the Holy Roman Emperor, who was also the King of Italy. Sitting upon his mighty throne, within his palace, the middle-aged man of Italian descent gazed upon his ministers who reported the situation across the Empire. 

One of the ministers was a tall and lanky man with a narrow face and a large hooked nose; he had a dark, unkempt beard that made him look particularly hideous. The man was dressed in silk robes imported from the Byzantine Empire. Currently, He held a document in his hands that he read from to the Emperor.

"The German-Speaking regions are embroiled in a war for the title "King of Germany," so far Duke Wilmar and the main Habsburg line has been eradicated, and with their deaths, so too has their claim ended. 

The man who seized power in Austria is a young upstart by the name of Berengar von Kufstein. As you may be aware, he is commonly referred to as Berengar, "the Accursed." The man is a kinslayer, womanizer, heretic and has been excommunicated by the previous Pope Simeon II. 

With his rise to power, the German Reformation spread from Southern Germany into the neighboring German Duchies. Saxony and the Rhineland, in particular, are being converted at a rapid rate."

Upon hearing this information, the Holy Roman Emperor, a man by the name of Balsamo Corsini, began to frown. As a devout Catholic, and a man with close ties to the current Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, dreaded the idea of the Berengar heresy spreading throughout the realm.  However, the man contained his rage and spurred the minister to continue reporting.

"Go on..."

Noticing the Emperor's fury, the minister gulped down the saliva accumulated in his throat before continuing his report. 

"The other two claimants for the title, as you know, are Duke Dietger of Bavaria and the legitimized bastard nephew of the previous King's brother. His name is Manifred von Luxembourg, if I am not mistaken. Manifred is the head of the Duchy of Luxembourg; he and his allies have begun to invade Southern Germany.

With the losses the Bavarians suffered in Austria, Dietger's forces are significantly weakened, and he is currently relying on his allies in Saxony and Wuttermurg to press his claims. Duke Berengar seems to be biding his time; he is either disinterested in the title or is amassing an army and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Intelligence supports the latter of these two outcomes as the most likely possibility. 

The Venetians have reported that Berengar is constructing three large shipyards; they speculate he intends to create a powerful navy to project strength across the Mediterranean. Though at this time, it is unknown whether these shipyards are designed for the construction of a trade fleet or an Armada."

Upon hearing the last part of this news, The Emperor's frowning face worsened to an ugly state. It was becoming apparent that if Berengar was left to his own devices, he could prove to be a troublesome opponent in the future. 

Still, there was not much he could do about such a thing, short of trying to revoke Berengar's title of Duke, which would force him into a war with the Austrians; there was no way for the Emperor to enforce his will on Berengar, and the Austrian people.

Despite the Holy Roman Empire being more streamlined within its political structure in this timeline, it still suffered from the same faults of feudalism when it came to the centralization of power. The fact that there were limited lands within the crown's direct control meant that Balsamo would have a difficult time raising the forces necessary to invade Austria. 

Though he could rely on armies from Italy to answer his call to arms, the Germans were in the middle of a civil war, and so was Bohemia. The only other vassals he could call upon with any large force was the leader of the Swiss Confederation, and he was a man known for minding his own business. 

The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was left with a headache, as he had no idea how to stem the growing tide that was the Duchy of Austria. Seeing that the Emperor was silent for an extended time, the minister began to speak of his reports again.

"The armies of Luxembourg and their allies have marched into Bavaria; after several battles back and forth between the von Wittelsbachs and the von Luxembourgs, it has turned into a stalemate, with the northeastern border of Bavaria under Luxembourg occupation. 

Only time will tell how long this conflict will last, and who will become victorious is still unknown. The war will likely continue for years without a clear victor. Unless we want to personally get involved, and declare the next King of Germany of our choosing, then I suggest we leave it be, and let the Germans settle their disputes by themselves."

The Holy Roman Emperor nodded in agreement to this stance; he had no desire to waste his armies on the infighting of the German people. Instead, he was more interested in suppressing Berengar and Austria as best as possible. As such, he asked the question on his mind.

"What is the status of the Pope's attempts to rally enough forces for a new Crusade against Berengar and his heresy?"

As he was asked this question, the minister began to frown and spoke gently, knowing that his following words would greatly upset the Emperor.

"The Pope has his attention divided to Bohemia at the moment. The outbreak of the Hussite Heresy and their war to overthrow the Bohemian Crown is a more immediate threat when compared to that of Berengar and his Heresy. 

As such, the timeline established to prepare an army to invade Austria has been delayed; instead, what few forces the Vatican has gathered will be marching on Bohemia first. Though Berengar has taken a neutral stance in the war, our spies report seeing a large number of hand cannons and cannons in the arms of the Hussite forces. 

The number that they wield is far more than they should generally be equipped with. Thus it is believed these weapons are manufactured in Vienna and transported into Hussite lands. However, none of this can be proven, as Berengar's agents are highly effective at counter-espionage. As such, whatever is occurring in Austrian lands is unknown to us at the moment."

This news was enough to get the Emperor to grind his teeth; it seemed as if this entire report presented to him was nothing but bad news. As such, the Emperor began to lash out at his ministers.

"Is there any good news at all! Do any of you have a single idea on how to suppress Berengar and his rapid growth? Before long, that boy will be challenging my authority as Emperor! Something needs to be done about this, and until the Crusade is called, military conflict is not an option!"

The various ministers who were gathered all began to glance at one another in awkward silence. That is until one of the ministers began to speak up.

"We could impose taxes and tariffs upon Austria and their goods. This way, the Austrian economy will suffer, and Berengar "the Accursed" will have a difficult time funding the expansion of his military?"

When the Emperor heard this, he began to smile; this was a good idea, however just as he was about to give the decree to place unfair taxes on Austria, another one of his ministers spoke up.

"Are you an idiot? First off, if we were to impose taxes strictly on Austrian goods, it would come across as the Emperor bullying one of his vassals, which Berengar could use to breed conflict among the other Vassals. 

That is the best-case scenario; the worst-case scenario is Berengar could outright refuse to pay such taxes, forcing us with two options, lower our heads in humiliation, or invade Austria and fight a war that we are not prepared for!"

The moment the Emperor heard this, all the joy that had momentarily filled his heart dissipated, as the minister who rained on his parade had made a valid counter-argument against such an option. Thus once more, Balsamo and his ministers were scratching their heads trying to figure out a course of action.

Ultimately, the ugly minister with the unkempt beard spoke up with the best option that the Imperial Crown had at the moment. 

"If we wish to suppress Berengar's growth without giving him a Cassus Belli, there is only one option. We must sabotage his industry; in doing so, we can maintain plausible deniability while still crippling his means to arm himself.

The difficulty lies with getting our agents into Austria without being detected by Berengar's robust spy network. For starters, he is only accepting immigrants of German descent into Austria, leaving our options of spies solely from the Swiss Confederation. 

We will have to actively wage a war of intrigue against Austria and build up enough of a network to infiltrate into his industrial cities. Doing so could take months, if not years, to accomplish any results and would surely be costly. However, it is the best option available to us at the moment, aside from outright war."

After hearing this, the gathered ministers began to mutter among themselves before agreeing to this proposition unanimously; as such, the Emperor grinned from ear to ear, showing off his sickly yellow teeth as he did so. Afterward, he began to bellow in laughter before calming himself to a degree necessary to give his decree.

"So be it! Berengar, I would like to see how you prevent my agents from sabotaging your industry and crippling your economy!"

Thus the Italian Kingdom and the Imperial Dynasty had begun to throw their weight into the fray; by sabotaging Berengar's factories, he would not only cripple Berengar's economy but also weaken the Byzantine Empire to the East who the Emperor had long since had a rivalry over with in regards to who was the true successor of Rome.

Of course, getting past Linde's inquisitive gaze and that of Austria's intelligence agency is much easier said than done. After all, they had begun to rapidly expand across Germany and into Northern Italy since they had started their reforms. What would follow would be a long and bloody shadow conflict between the Duke of Austria and the Holy Roman Emperor.