Tyranny of Steel

Sultan Salan Mirza sat atop the back of a camel as he gazed across the Kaiser's Pass with astonishment in his eyes. It had been some time since the Byzantine Empire abandoned him to fight the Catholic Church alone.

However, just when his armies were surrounded by the Crusaders in Alexandria, the enemy suddenly broke ranks and fled for their lives. He had later come to find out that the Pope and all of his Cardinals were burned at the stake by the mad bastard in charge of the German Empire.

The armies of the Crusaders were being decimated across Europe by the overwhelming power of German steel, and those who had been tasked with seizing Egypt for the Kingdom of Jerusalem had fled deep into Africa, hoping to escape the wrath of the German Army. After all, the Germans' influence spread across all the Mediterranean and the near east. There was nowhere in the civilized world for them to flee to where the Germans wouldn't find them and slaughter them.

Salan had marched his army up to the Kaiser's pass to see if these rumors were true, and he was shocked at what he witnessed. Foreign ships from Across Asia were sailing through the massive canal. The German Army and Navy ensured protection of the region, and despite there being a major conflict taking place on the European Continent, thousands of ships sailed through the Canal with intent to dock in Trieste and trade with the mighty German Empire.

It was not only the Indians who were trading with Germany, there was even a Ming Treasure fleet making its way through the Canal in an attempt to gain an audience with this major power in the west they had only recently heard rumors of. As Salan and his army approached the garrison, they were stopped by the Reichsgarde, who investigated the armed force, and why they were at the Kaiser's pass.

"Halt, no army shall enter the land which belongs to the Reich. If you take one step further without surrendering your weapons, we will eliminate you!"

There was only one way for Salan to return to his homeland in the Timurid Empire, and that was to march his army across the mighty steel bridges which soared over the Kaiser's pass. He immediately questioned the mere guard, who dared to oppose his entry.

"I am the Sultan of the Timurid Empire. Who do you think you are to demand that my army hand over our weapons in order to safely return to our lands?"

In response to this, the soldier merely scoffed, before handing the Sultan a pair of binoculars and pointing his view towards the other end of the canal. There was a smug tone in the German soldier's voice as he responded to Salan's hubris.

"If you want to end up like those sorry bastards, by all means keep your weapons."

Salan fumbled around with the binoculars before realizing how they worked. When he gazed into the distance, he saw the rotting corpses of the hundred thousand strong crusader army that had dared to march on the Kaiser's pass.

His mouth fell agape as he realized that there was still a giant red stain on the sands of the Sinai peninsula, where the army had rushed to their deaths. Jackals and carrions had picked apart most of their corpses. However, there were traces of flesh scattered in the painted landscape. The Sultan could not comprehend what he was seeing and quickly inquired about it.

"What the hell is that?"

When the German soldier heard this, he merely chuckled before responding with a smug grin on his face.

"That is what remains of the English Army and the Order of the Red Dragon..."

Salan could barely believe what he was hearing. He had fought with King Lawrence and the Welsh Crusaders on multiple occasions in the past. They had pushed him and his Byzantine allies into Egypt because their armies were so powerful. Now they were merely a giant red stain across the sands of the Sinai Peninsula. He could not fathom the power it took for the Germans to accomplish this, who looked completely unharmed from the battle. He only had one question on his mind.

"And King Lawrence?"

The soldier quickly pulled out a cigarette and lit it, where he took a long drag from it before expelling the smoke from his lungs and into the surrounding air. After doing so, he responded with a completely stoic expression on his face.

"Presumed dead... It's impossible to identify most of those poor bastards, so we just assumed he died with his army. There were no survivors after all..."

The Sultan could only gulp down the saliva that pooled in his throat when he heard this. He quickly looked back at his army, and then towards the German soldier before handing the man the binoculars with a frightened expression on his face.

"So, who do we hand our weapons to?"

The soldier laughed once more, then he ordered a bunch of guards to seize the weapons of the Timurid Army. It was a simple act of disgrace for them to abandon their weapons in order to return home safely. However, they had no other option. They did not have the ships to ferry them to the Holy Land, and there was now a giant canal in between them and their homeland.

The soldiers of the Reichsgarde collected the weapons that belonged to the members of the Timurid Army before allowing them to pass through the bridges and to the other side of the Canal. They were closely watched by riflemen at all times as they did so. If any of them stepped out of line, they would be dealt with via lethal force. A nobleman beneath Salan's command whispered to the man as he walked by his side.

"This is an insult to our nation. Who does the Kaiser think he is, stripping us of our weapons? What will happen if we come across the crusaders in the Holy Land? They will massacre us all!"

Salan pointed at the red stain that lie across the Sinai Peninsula before reprimanding the nobleman for his words.

"If we do not submit to the Germans, that is the fate that awaits us. Death would be certain, and I would rather take my chances on the journey home, then be turned into that!"

The nobleman immediately understood his place and averted his gaze, which just so happened to land on a massive ship that was sailing across the canal. It was clearly of Chinese Origin and was likely the largest vessel in their armada. The ship was docking at the other end of the Canal where its leader would meet with Heimerich and pay the toll that was required to cross through the Kaiser's Pass.

After all, the second fleet of the German Navy was posted on both sides of the Canal, and had enough firepower to sink any vessel who dared to cross without agreeing to payment. To think that the proud Ming Dynasty would agree to pay the toll, it was truly a sight for the Timurid Emperor to behold.

Though he had limited dealings with the Great Empire in the East, he knew how prideful they were. Asking them to pay a toll was an insult to their prestige, and yet, it would appear that they agreed to do so. After all, how could they compete with ships made of steel? Whoever was in control of their fleet knew to put away his personal pride when he gazed upon the Ironclad Frigates of the German Navy, and the overwhelming number of guns they had on board.

By building this canal, Berengar had ushered in a new era of trade that would see all goods flow through the Reich. Thus, as the Timurid Army limped back to their homeland, they gazed upon the Prosperity that would soon enter German lands.