Tyranny of Steel

After successfully negotiating his future marriage to Honoria, Berengar returned to the great hall of his royal palace, where another guest was sitting and drinking, surrounded by his two wives and his beautiful sister. This guest was none other than Sultan Hasan Al-Fadl. 

Though nearly all of the guests had long since vanished from the scene, Hasan had stayed behind to ask a favor of Berengar. When Berengar saw the man sitting next to the three beauties, he decided to sit alongside them. As he did so, Hasan made a toast in Berengar's honor.

"To King Berengar, long may he reign!"

Berengar smiled as he heard this and took a sip from the chalice filled with the fortified wine. After doing so, he gazed over at Yasmin, who he could tell was an astounding beauty. Berengar decided to check out the young woman and was highly impressed with the Moorish princess's divine physique. However, before Berengar could finish inspecting the woman, he heard Hasan's voice call out to him.

"So, you are interested in my sister after all?" 

Berengar snapped back to attention after hearing this and sighed before responding.

"I'd be lying if I said she was not beautiful. However, I have enough women at the moment, and I'm pretty sure they will castrate me in my sleep if I were to take in another."

When Berengar said this, Yasmin looked at him with a sad glance; she had grown quite fond of Berengar during her brief stay in Kufstein, even though they had rarely communicated. Berengar's exquisite appearance and natural charisma had taken ahold of the girl's affections. Despite Berengar's words, Hasan remained undeterred and made one final remark.

"I am certain you will come around to the idea sooner or later..."

After saying this, he glanced over at his sister and his wives before commenting.

"girls, if you will excuse us, I have some important matters to discuss with my friend."

After saying this, Yasmin nodded and led her little brother's wives from the scene. After the women disappeared, Hasan looked around to ensure that he and Berengar were truly alone. It was only after he confirmed such a thing did his confident facade begin to crack. 

"Berengar, I need your help; the war with the Iberian Union is not going as planned; they have defeated my armies on multiple occasions and captured many of the weapons you have sold me. They have already retaken the land I have seized in this conflict and have begun to push into the heart of my Kingdom. You said in our alliance that you would guarantee our independence! I have come to ask for you to honor your words..."

Berengar took a sip from his chalice before sighing heavily. He had just finished a war and did not want to engage in another. Though he did not desire to go to war so quickly after returning home, certain events were unavoidable. 

Thus Berengar began to hatch a plan, one where he could utilize General Arnulf to oversee the war effort in his stead. If things still did not turn out well, only then would he take up the mantle. With this in mind, Berengar tapped the armrest on the sofa thrice before responding to Hasan's remarks.

"How the hell did you manage to fuck up this badly? I gave you arms, training, and advisors, and you still could not lead your men to victory?"

Hasan had a downcast expression as he stared at the ground, too afraid to look Berengar in the eye. Noticing his ally's behavior, Berengar sighed once more before speaking up on the matter.

"I suppose I should not be too hard on you..."

As soon as Berengar said this, Hasan looked up at him with surprise on his face. However, Berengar ignored this and continued his train of thought.

"Truthfully, even with the advantages I have given you, I did not believe you would win this conflict by yourself. There are too many factors working against you. You are vastly outnumbered by your enemies and surrounded but the south. 

You lack the means to produce the arms and munitions that your Army is equipped with and thus rely heavily on imports to sustain your military. You also lack the means to conscript a large number of forces without it adversely affecting your economy. 

I knew this day would come; I just did not expect it to be so soon. Alright, I will send 10,000 men from my Army to intervene on your behalf. However, I will need a few months to field them, we have just gotten out of our war for independence, and my Army needs time to lick their wounds.

I assume you can hold out for half a year; after all, it takes the Iberians a couple of months to successfully siege a single castle, let alone a city. If you can last six months, I promise you my armies will ensure your victory in this conflict. Who knows, we might even see a restoration of Al-Andalus..."

Hasan knew it would take some time for Berengar to deploy his forces, but he did not expect half a year. Nevertheless, the young Sultan knew there was no chance of convincing Berengar to send his troops early; after all, the reputation of the Austrian King was one of overwhelming dominance. With this in mind, he sighed once more before responding to Berengar's remarks. 

"Very well, I will hold the line until your forces can appear. I hope your Army does not arrive too late."

When Berengar heard this remark, he smiled and grasped ahold of Hasan's shoulder before comforting the man. 

"Do not worry, my friend; by the time my forces arrive in Granada, not even an army of 100,000 men will be able to defeat our alliance!"

Hasan had little faith in Berengar's bold claims, but he knew that Berengar's Army tended to annihilate any hostile force they came across. As such, he was not entirely without hope. Little did he know of Berengar's newest weapons, nor the weapons he planned to build during the allotted timeframe. 

The Age of Industry would soon be upon Austria, and Berengar planned to upgrade his artillery within the next few months. The needle rifle itself was a massive advantage over his enemies, but Berengar needed rifled breech-loaders. 

As such, Berengar planned to use the next six months to industrialize as much of his Kingdom as he could while mass equipping his Army with the new weapons and tactics needed to annihilate his enemies. With this in mind, Berengar finished his wine before placing the chalice on the table; as he did so, he gave the Moorish Sultan a bit of friendly advice before departing.

"Have faith, my friend; you have chosen your friends wisely; now is the time to put some trust into our alliance. Before long, the Catholic Church and its minions will crumble beneath our feet; their days of supremacy are coming to an end. A new world awaits on the horizon, and we will stand at the top of it."

After saying this, Berengar departed from the room, leaving Hasan to drink by himself; he had much to think about; if what Berengar said was true, he may be a powerful monarch within the Iberian peninsula one day, not just a minor player.

The very idea that Al-Andalus could see a resurgence brought a bitter smile to the man's face as he drank from his cup of wine. After a while, his sister returned, where she began to inquire about the contents of his meeting with the King of Austria. She noticed the complicated expression on her brother's face and dragged his head into her mighty bust. Where she proceeded to stroke Hasan's chocolate hair while comforting him.

"That bad, huh?"

Hasan continued to drink from his chalice before responding to his older sister.

"He wants us to hold on for six more months; after that, he will send an army to intervene on our behalf. I don't know if he wants us to be desperate and sink more money into his weapons trade, thus increasing our debt to him. Or if he genuinely needs the six months to prepare his forces."

Yasmin thought about the complexity of the topic for several moments before responding to her little brother.

"He just got out of a war for independence; his troops are likely weary of battle and need time to rest. He also needs to manufacture new munitions for his army; I heard about what he did to Florence; they say he bombarded the city for two months, launching hundreds of thousands of shells onto the town, leaving it entirely in ruin. 

I don't know about you, but that requires a lot of firepower; his artillery is probably drained of resources and needs to recover. He is only asking for six months to prepare for intervention into our conflict, which means he must be confident in his manufacturing capabilities. Have faith, brother; we will win this war!"

After hearing his sister's words of wisdom, Hasan thanked her before departing; he and his family were provided rooms within the Royal Palace during their stay in Kufstein. As such, he dusted himself off and returned to his room, where he began to sleep. 

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