Chapter 504 - Retaliation Via Proxy

Deep within the confines of the Imperial Palace of the Byzantine Emperor was the personal quarters of the First Prince Quintus. Since his brother's maiming in Austria's retaliation, he had received larger support from the aristocracy than he had previously. With the warrior Prince wounded to such a savage degree, the hawkish faction had declined in power. 

Despite this, Decentius' influence over his most hardcore supporters continued to exist, and in doing so, he had infiltrated his brother's allies. While the Emperor had accepted the Mamluk Sultanate's blame for the attack on his son, and was preparing for war, Decentius would never roll over and allow the attack on his life to go unpunished.

If he could not harm Berengar or his family directly, then at the very least, he could empower his enemies. Thus an agent of the Second Prince who had infiltrated Quintus' allies was currently in the First Prince's quarters searching for a critical piece of information, hoping to leak it to the western world. 

While Quintus was away on diplomatic business, the perfect opportunity had presented itself for Decentius and what little remained of his faction. Thus, the man in question was frantically searching through the First Prince's quarters, looking for the object of his mission. 

However, after a thorough search, he had yet to find the leather-bound journal which Berengar had gifted to the Empire, hoping to improve their agriculture. He was at his wit's end. Of course, until he tripped over an out-of-place tile on the floor. 

After rising to his feet and rubbing his head, the spy noticed the damaged flooring, and inspected it. After successfully removing the tile in question, he found the object of his desires. A large leather-bound journal was hidden away beneath the floor.

A look of excitement appeared on the man's face as he grabbed ahold of the book and searched through its contents, confirming that it was, in fact, the journal he was looking for. After obtaining the object, he quickly placed the loose tile back in its natural position before absconding from the First Prince's quarters and returning to his master. 

Upon entering Decentius' room where he lay, wounded and disfigured, a smile appear on the undamaged half of the man's face before he asked the question on his mind.

"Did you get it?"

The spy nodded his head with satisfaction before handing over the journal to his master. When Decentius read through its contents, it filled him with joy. He could finally get back at Austria for what they did to him. Thus, he gave his next commands to his agent with a wicked smile on his face.

"Copy down all the information in this text, then send it to the Papacy anonymously. Those catholic bastards will most likely distribute all the information in this text to the Catholic world. Soon Berengar's stranglehold over the food supply of Europe will come to an end!"

The spy nodded his head before bowing towards his master.

"It will be done, your majesty."

After saying this, he departed from the Second Prince's quarters, where he quickly got to work on the task at hand.

---

Several weeks later, in the heart of the Papacy, Pope Julius sat on his throne with a distressed appearance. The man had practically aged twenty years since he had first taken the Papal Throne a few years prior. Berengar's attempts to put an end to Papal Power in Europe had taken a toll on the man's physical and mental health. 

With all the German Cardinals defecting towards the so called German Reformation, he was now in a terrible state. Southern and Eastern Germany had fallen into the clutches of Berengar the Accursed. Only the northern states remained defiant to the self-proclaimed Austrian King, and his heresy. 

Catholicism had rapidly deteriorated and the southern and eastern German regions. In response to the Catholic Church's persecution of reformist, The South German Confederation and the states within it had seized the assets of Catholic monasteries and cathedrals alike. With the support of the former German Cardinals, the German Reformation had persecuted its former masters, and by now Catholicism within the borders of Southern Germany was virtually non-existent. 

However, though the Papacy was losing power and influence by the day, its many loyal followers in western and eastern Europe had donated a substantial sum of wealth. In doing so, the Catholic Church could now fund the manufacture of firearms for their Crusader Orders.

Though they utterly failed to replicate the flintlock mechanism, because of a lack of access to spring steel, the captured muskets from the war in Italy a few years prior had provided several insights to the Catholic Church where they should focus on developing firearms.

Because of this, they could upgrade the basic arkebuses obtained from the war in Iberia with some of what they learned from studying the rifled flintlock muskets captured during the war in Italy, and could now create a crude blend of the two designs. Which were being supplied to the Crusader Armies while Julius sat upon the throne of Papal Power. 

While Julius was pondering all these changes to his crusader armies, a servant burst through the door, holding onto a relatively thick leather-bound journal. There was an excited glint in his eyes as he knelt before the pope and presented him with the gift.

"Your holiness, an anonymous source has presented you with a gift, it appears to be a journal containing many of the Technological innovations used in Austria's agriculture. The most likely source of this information is a faction within the Byzantine Empire who is hostile towards Berengar the Accursed!"

Pope Julius broke out into laughter as he heard this comments and immediately stood up from his throne and prayed towards the heaven.

"I knew you had not abandoned us!"

After saying this, he snatched hold of the leather-bound journal and began flipping through its contents. This was just the thing he needed to abate the current food-shortage crisis that existed throughout the Catholic World.

Currently, Berengar held a stranglehold over the food surplus, unlike the rest of Europe. Austria had grown a significant surplus, and was currently using it as ransom over their neighbors, who were suffering from famine. 

Now Julius had the means to grow a surplus of his own within southern Italy, and after a few harvests use it as a means to restore faith in the Church. Only those loyal to the papacy would receive aid in these dire times. Thus, with this plan in action, Julius handed the journal back to the servant and gave him his orders..

"Send this to Emperor Balsamo, and order him to implement these practices across the Kingdom of Naples and what few lands the Holy Roman Empire still hold in the balkans. Tell him whatever the expense is, the Papacy will gladly pay for it!" 

The servant smiled before agreeing to this request

"Yes, your holiness. I will dispatch this to the Emperor immediately!"

After saying this, the servant left his master alone with his thoughts. While Julius sat back down on his seat of power, he smiled wickedly as he thought about the day he finally overcame Berengar and his legions of the damned.

"Just you wait Berengar von Kufstein, when I launch my crusade, you and your armies won't be able to stand against the might of God and his Church! You and your demonic dynasty will perish from this world and spend an eternity in hell. I will make sure of it!"

After expressing these thoughts aloud, the Pope shifted his attention back to the means of arming his supporters with the appropriate weapons. Though he knew Austria continued to advance in terms of military technology at a rapid rate, he was entirely unafraid, for now his soldiers would have the ability to effectively combat the Austrian Army, or so he thought.

It was not just matchlock muskets that were being introduced to the Crusader forces, but bayonets and six-pound cannons. Though they weren't explosive, like the primitive shells launched from Berengar's early artillery pieces, they were far more advanced than anything currently being used by the enemies of Berengar.

The improvements to the Catholic Forces that had been reverse engineered by captured Austrian tech were sure to have an effect on the battlefields across Europe, and the world as a whole. Soon the rest of Europe would be able to create military technology that was on par with the renaissance of Berengar's past life. 

Berengar's actions in this world had sparked a desire within the European nations to compete with his mighty Kingdom. In doing so, the renaissance was bound to begin earlier in this timeline than in Berengar's past life. All that was necessary for this revival of culture and science was the collapse of the Catholic Church and its influence over the Western World. 

The upcoming Crusade against Berengar would be a turning point in World History, whether it destroyed the Catholic Church, and the caused the unification of a Great German Empire. Or resulted in the death of Berengar, and the collapse of his fledgling Kingdom.. Either way, it was sure to have major consequences on the timeline.