The Hohenzollern Empire 2: Über Alles - A Roman Reich Megacampaign

[zenphoenix]

Chapter 78: Attack of the Zoroastrians​

"This is for all those years of oppression Persia has suffered under the Caliphs!"
-Prince Saltuk Seljuk of Persia, executing Shia Caliph Hakam IV Fatimid and Sunni Caliph Osman V Ottoman

"Where is your God when you need him? Praise Ahura Mazda!"
-Prince Saltuk Seljuk of Persia, marching triumphantly into Baghdad

After the Roman defeat at Khorramabad, the Reich advance into western Persia was stalled. It was supposed to be a three-pronged attack into Persia, with all three prongs converging on the Persian capital of Isfahan. The northern army, generously provided by Caliph Hakam IV of the Fatimid Caliphate, would invade Tabarestan. The central army, provided by Caliph Osman V of the Ottoman Caliphate, would advance from Baghdad into central Persia. And the third army, made up of Israel-Arabia militias, would strike from the Persian Gulf coast. The Battle of Khorramabad destroyed the central army, which was the main invasion army. Now the path to Baghdad was left wide open, a fact that Prince Saltuk Seljuk knew quite well. The Persians marched into Iraq with twenty-one thousand men, hoping to take Baghdad for the first time in centuries, but the Romans would not give up without a fight. A combined Roman and Abyssinian army managed to beat back Saltuk Seljuk's forces in a brutal battle outside the walls of Baghdad. A second Persian army attacked the allied forces, but they too were driven back. It was the the offensive, though which succeeded. Saltuk Seljuk attacked the Roman forces as soon as the Ethiopians had moved on into Persian territory, and the Abyssinians could not aid their ally in time. There were no survivors.

The northern army managed to take the city of Zanjar and moved closer to Isfahan, taking out a Persian army in the process, but Baghdad was now under siege by the Persian forces.

To save Baghdad, a combined Roman-Abyssinian army, numbering at least fifty thousand men, attacked Saltuk Seljuk's army of about forty thousand men in a desperate attempt to save the city. The Romans and Ethiopians hoped that their superior numbers would rout the Persians. They didn't.

The allied forces had underestimated the discipline and morale of the Persian armies, especially the elite Immortals. Thousands of men were cut down under Persian swords and cannons that day, and the survivors fled in all directions, abandoning Baghdad to its fate. The city fell in July 1570, with the victorious Persians looting the city mercilessly. The libraries and universities were burned down, and their books were dumped into the Tigris River, which ran black and red with ink and blood for months. Churchs and mosques were razed, with their gold confiscated and holy relics and priests violated. Citizens were put to the sword, and those who were spared were sold into slavery. Not even the caliphs were spared. It was said that Saltuk Seljuk personally beheaded both of them and paraded their heads through the streets of Baghdad before sending them to the Shahanshah as a birthday present. For weeks Baghdad burned. It was a disaster in the Middle East not seen since the Plague of 1303, the Mongol and Timurid invasions, or even the Crusades themselves. For the first time since the twelfth century, the Persian lion standard flew over the minarets and bell-towers of Baghdad.

The war took its toll on the local environment. European beavers were hunted down for their fur, which was used to keep the soldiers in Tabarestan warm. So many beavers were killed that the population had declined to critical levels, never to rise again. In addition, with the free trade economic policies that the Reich promoted, merchants felt that they received so many government benefits they refused to work at all, draining the imperial treasury.

The northern army was suddenly ambushed by Saltuk Seljuk in January of 1571, though its commanders were confident that with their superior numbers they would drive away the Persians soon. They were wrong, and by the end of the battle it was the Romans who fled. Zanjan was liberated ten days later.

With the fall of Baghdad, the Persians moved on to Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. Not wanting a repeat of the disaster at Baghdad, Victoria ordered several legions and Ethiopian armies, with a combined strength of over a hundred thousand men, to attack Saltuk Seljuk's forces. The Persians killed at least thirty thousand Romans and Ethiopians before they were finally routed, though when the Romans then tried to liberate Baghdad, they suffered another crushing defeat at the hands of Saltuk Seljuk.

The same thing occurred at the city of Shahrizor, where a legion of eleven thousand men was ambushed again by Saltuk Seljuk and completely annihilated. But unlike Baghdad, this wasn't the main battle. It was just a trap to lure Saltuk Seljuk's army into a trap, upon which over a hundred thousand Romans and Ethiopians converged on his position. The allied forces sustained heavy casualties, but they succeeded in defeating the Persians and driving them back across the border.

Baghdad was liberated in February 1572, and the Reich went on the offensive now, sending troops deep into Persia to capture every single city they could get their hands on. Around this time, a young woman from Hibernia arrived at the imperial court asking for the release of her brother, a known pirate. Victoria complied, releasing the brother and also making her an admiral. Grainne Ni Mhalle became the commander of the Ost-Afrika Flotte and was ordered to blockade the Persian fleet.

Victoria took measures to bring the Church more fully under her control, in the process enriching the treasury and making up for the money lost in the economic crisis several months ago.

As the Romans began laying siege to Isfahan itself, the Tran, smelling blood in the water, declared war on the Persians as well to conquer a colony in Indonesia.

On 20 December 1572, Isfahan fell to the Roman forces, and although most of the allied forces wanted to seek vengeance for what the Persians did to Baghdad, the commanders ordered them to respect the Persian civilians, to show that they were truly civilized people. The Shahanshah fled to his holdings in Khiva, far from the front lines.

However, news of the victory reached Victoria too late. Having gone through years of news of defeat after defeat against a technologically and numerically inferior empire, Victoria succumbed to her depression. She went to sleep on 16 January 1573 and never woke up. The next day, her cousin Martin was crowned Kaiser Martin II in Constantinople.

Next time: Revenge of the SaoshyantSayyids

 

[Michaelangelo]

My immature mind can't help but laugh at "Cock's Castle". What a terrible name.

I sometimes wonder if you're purposely letting the enemy get in a few victories to help keep things interesting. The Reich could obviously steamroll over everyone at this point, but that wouldn't be that entertaining to read.

 

[zenphoenix]

My immature mind can't help but laugh at "Cock's Castle". What a terrible name.

I sometimes wonder if you're purposely letting the enemy get in a few victories to help keep things interesting. The Reich could obviously steamroll over everyone at this point, but that wouldn't be that entertaining to read.

No, I'm just not good at conducting this war, and I also found out a few decades later that I gave the Persians 140% discipline accidentally.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

...and I also found out a few decades later that I gave the Persians 140% discipline accidentally.

That would explain this war. Maybe Persia will survive surrounded by larger nations thanks to this error. Oh well, just means you'll need to talk Quality and Quantity to balance things.

 

[zenphoenix]

That would explain this war. Maybe Persia will survive surrounded by larger nations thanks to this error. Oh well, just means you'll need to talk Quality and Quantity to balance things.

I should probably also nerf the discipline bonuses. Because I just looked at the code files, and it appears everybody with Absolute Monarchy gets +20% discipline, and Abyssinia and Persia get an extra 20% discipline on top of that. Taking military ideas will only bump me up to +10% discipline.

 

[zenphoenix]

Chapter 79: Revenge of the Sayyids​

"I like windmills."
-Martin II

"I die happy, knowing that the borders of the Reich please the Kaiser and do not prompt him to declare pointless wars."
-Mercator's last words

Wolfram I had only two children, Wilhelmina and Victoria, both of whom died childless. As a result, the throne passed to Wolfram's nephew Martin, son of Prince Karl, Duke of Saxony, Wolfram's younger brother. Kaiserin Sarah Milton's line died out with the death of Victoria I.
Martin II's first act as Kaiser was to pass the Blasphemy Act, which made blasphemy a serious offense for Christians only punishable by imprisonment and "interrogation by Inquisition," as he put it.

In June of 1573, the Persians sued for peace with the Abyssinians, agreeing to cede the disputed island in question and pay some war indemnities. With Ming and Tran forces marching towards Isfahan, they had to get the Reich out of the war quickly, which they did. "So much destruction for such a small piece of land," Mercator mused. The First Persian War had cost the Reich at least a hundred thousand dead and left Baghdad depopulated and devastated. It would take years to rebuild the region.

Many fled overseas, to the Reich's colonies in Mittagsland Minor, where enough colonists had settled to allow Martin to establish another imperial province, named Provincia Mittagsland.

A little over a week later, an heir was born to Martin and his wife, a daughter who was named Sophia.

Mutapa sued for peace with India in November 1573, and Dhanga "the Blade of Shiva" took the opportunity to annex the small kingdom's entire coast, much to the outcry of the Africans. It wouldn't be long before the Indians sought to extract more land from the helpless Africans...

More colonists journeyed to the colonies in the Eimericas in search of a better life, becoming citizens of Neu Rhomania and setting up new homes in the jungles of the Amazon. Hundreds of trees were cut down to make houses and ships, and the cities of Wilhelminasland, New Cordoba, Amazonien, and New Brandenburg grew rapidly from small towns into true cities with their own distinct culture, which was a blend of native Eimerican and German. Unfortunately, Mercator would not live long enough to see the borders of Neu Rhomania expand deep into the wilds of South Eimerica, dying in September of 1575.

The next month, the Tran and the Ming concluded a peace with the Persians. Each of them took a single island from Persia, with the Tran adding war indemnities for good measure. In the lands of the Song Dynasty, the encroaching Roman colonists prompted the Emperor to issue an anti-Christian edict which formally expelled all Orthodox missionaries from Aozhou. The problem with this was that there were no Christian missionaries in the Song territories, and the Reich had no plans to send any anytime soon.

Taking advantage of the trade between Neu Rhomania and the Reich mainland, a lucrative business emerged in smuggling desperate citizens to the colonies at lower costs than the government-sponsored transports. Once Martin learned about them, he ordered them eradicated, deploying fleets to hunt them down and bring them to justice.

Provincial Viceroy Friedrich sent a letter to the Kaiser in June 1577 stating his intentions to establish an "encomienda system" in the colonies. As Martin didn't know what such a system implied and only cared about the profits, he approved the Viceroy's plan.

The government made advancements in drainage technology, allowing Martin to set up a land reclamation program in Holland. Meanwhile, the Indians claimed the titles of "Defender of Hinduism," whatever that was.

And in October of 1578, the Russians invaded Scandinavia in the Sixth Laplandkrieg with the sole purpose of reclaiming what was lost to the Norse in the previous Laplandkrieg. The Reich joined the Russians in their war...for now.

A feud erupted between two Hibernian noble familes, and Martin intervened in the issue, attempting to settle it fairly.

Meanwhile, the war with the Norse progressed, with the berserkers driven back by combined Russian-Roman armies, though Wilhelm Adam II was killed in action after a brave Viking shot him in battle. Both sides agreed that he would be in heaven, though whether in Valhalla or Heaven depended on which side.

As Lybaek fell to the Romans, the Hibernian admiral whose name was hard for Martin to remember or even spell was sent into the Atlantic to hunt down the Norse fleet. She did so with impunity.

After the vast majority of his fleet was either captured or sunk by the Reichsflotte, the Fylkir agreed to a white peace.

A local aristoi house in Holland, the Elzevir, became well known for its book printing business, giving Dutch Germans and the Reich in general a reason to be proud of their already illustrious heritage.

Naval technology was increased, and a new ship design was developed in order to protect the treasure fleets heading for Europe from Neu Rhomania.

Despite all of this progress, Death still had his ways of reaping souls. Plague ravaged Berlin in September of 1580, devastating the city and killing thousands of citizens. The imperial capital suffered the same fate as Baghdad before the plague, rumored to be the same disease as that of the Great Plague of 1303, subsided and moved on to Scandinavia. The city would feel the effects of the plague for the next two years.

Admiral Grianne Ni Mhalle died in 1581. In her short career she had managed to take on both the Persian and the Norse navies, inflicting heavy casualties on the latter and capturing at least ten ships. By the time she died, she was the highest ranking admiral in the entire navy. She would be remembered for decades as a true legend. To commemorate her, a university was built in Holland, where she had spent the majority of her life, in addition to a memorial in her home in Hibernia.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

After all that, Persia loses a single province. So many borders changes outside of Europe, so few inside. Speaking of, Russia... This is getting a little ridiculous. I'm starting to think you'll be helping them in the 50th war against Scandinavia by the end of EU4.

Another colonial nation! Great news for the Reich and the locals if you think about it. The Reich accepts many different cultures. I like the Eimerican-German culture developing. I wonder what other unique cultures would develop (aside from what has already happened thanks to Asian migration into the New World and Australia).

 

[Michaelangelo]

Scandinavia and Russia are at it again. What a surprise.

 

[zenphoenix]

Chapter 80: The Interwar Period
​

"It is with great reluctance I accept this crown. I shall use the remaining time that Ahura Mazda has given me as Shahanshah to drive back the Romans and take Baghdad once and for all! For the glory of Zoroaster and the holy fires, the crescent-worshipers who oppressed our people for centuries will be eliminated once and for all!"
-Shahanshah Saltuk I Seljuk at his coronation

"The Fylkir has oppressed us for long enough. The time has come for us to set up a colonial assembly to demand better representation in the All-thing! ...On second thought, never mind."
-Haraldr Hysing, political dissident and leader of the "Free New Vinland" movement

In June of 1581, Saltuk Seljuk's father died after a period of illness, and the young prince who had almost won the First Persian War was crowned Shahanshah. He immediately emphasized getting revenge on the Abyssinians and the Romans at all costs and reclaiming the small islands in Indonesia his empire had lost. However, he was not above using diplomacy to get what he wanted.

A was composed in Holland by an author named Wilhelmus, who presented it to the Kaiser hoping that it would become the national anthem (and give the Dutch Germans bragging rights over the other Germans). Though Martin had nothing against approving it, the proposal ended up getting lost after being passed between multiple bureaucratic agencies and was ultimately abandoned when everybody forgot the lyrics. That didn't stop it from remaining popular among the Germans, who said that it was "that song which everybody knows but nobody can sing."

The OIG (Ost-Indien Gesselschaft), was merged with a bunch of regional trade companies in Provincia Indonesia in 1582, the result being the powerful Allgemeine Ostindischen Gesellschaft, or AOG, which with assistance from the Kaiserliche Marine (the second Imperial Navy, the first and main one being the Reichsflotte) was able to basically control all trade and shipping heading through the Straits of Malacca (basically all Asian trade east of India).

Indian continued its expansion into Indonesia, forcing the small Sunda Sultanate to become a vassal. The sultan was forced to swear fealty to Dhanga "the Blade of Shiva."

The next ten years saw peace in Europe, with the Russians and Norse finally agreeing to a Reich-mediated ceasefire which would last until Martin saw fit to revoke it. A group of people arrived in Brandenburg Palace, most of them former thieves and smugglers the Kaiser had pardoned a few weeks ago, and one of them a prominent mathematician and doctor. The former criminals were put to work in the Bureau of Intelligence and National Security, and the mathematician was hired to be Crown Princess Sophia's personal tutor and physician.

The encomienda system that Friedrich III, Viceroy of Neu Rhomania, had established had unintended effects as the triangle trade between Europe, Africa, and the Eimericas prospered. Exploiting the loophole in the Augustinian Code, Roman and Malian officials made a secret agreement: the Malians would sell the Romans their worst criminals and outlaws in exchange for manufactured goods from Europe. As a result, slaves flowed from West Africa to Neu Rhomania; gold, silver, cocoa, coffee, and other exotic goods were transported to Europe aboard the treasure fleets departing from New Brandenburg; and guns and textiles were transported across the Sahara in camel caravans to be sold in the bazaars of Timbuktu in exchange for more slaves.

The plague of Berlin subsided by April of 1583, and in memory to the lives lost, Martin ordered a huge Mercy Column to be erected in front of Brandenburg Palace.

It appeared that Martin acted too soon in building the Mercy Column, for the next year disease spread throughout Neu Rhomania, devastating native populations which had no immunity to European illnesses. Once he heard about the suffering of Neu Rhomania's native citizens, he ordered in legions to provide relief and to help the natives migrate to the relatively cleaner cities. The need to transport troops overseas led to some fishermen to improve on existing ship designs.

In 1585, the people of New Vinland formed a colonial assembly, demanding more rights from the Fylkir in Stockholm on threat of revolution. They only stood down when the Fylkir suddenly died and was replaced by his more hawkish son, who threatened to send in the berserkers...and then granted them their representation in the All-thing.

Abyssinia's colonial adventures in Indonesia came to a halt when it invaded the small kingdom of Bali, hoping to conquer it after a brief war, only for the Indians to come to their aid and send hordes of Rajput and Turkish soldiers into the Ethiopian heartlands. The Negusa Negast sued for peace, and Bali took the opportunity to force it to cede territory to the Coptic Kingdom of Kaffa and to the Funj Sultanate in a humiliating peace treaty. Almost immediately, though the Abyssinians invaded both Funj and Kaffa and retook what they had lost in the treaty.

Another mathematician arrived at the imperial court, a Flemish man named Simon Stevin. Protests erupted in the capital when it became clear that Martin was heavily biased towards the Dutch. It didn't help that he was raised by a Dutch tutor and grew up in Amsterdam for some time. He ordered the troops sent in to crush the protestors.

The improved ship designs that the fishermen developed led to the creation of a new class of ships, the galleon, which was designed to carry heavy loads of gold and slaves to and from Neu Rhomania.

A man named Cervantes in Hispania published a book that made fun of feudalism and chivalry. The tale of "Herr Quixote" became popular among the Norse and Normans of Hispania, who lacked their Scandinavian ancestors' warrior spirit. The Dutch liked it too because Herr Quixote, the nostalgic Norse-Andalusian berserker, frequently liked to stab windmills with his squire, Haraldr de Diarisso et Leon.

1588 was an exceptional year, with the harvest yields above average and dissent below average. As a result, citizens were more inclined to pay their taxes for the next few years.

This gave Martin the time to invest in scientific experimentation, funding the imperial universities. A new age of reason dawned in Europe. The cultural renaissance of the 15th century was followed by the scientific revolution of the 16th century. Now armed with the approval of the Kaiser and protected from the wrath of an overeager Inquistion, thinkers and intellectuals started experimenting and innovating.

Where his uncle and cousins had carried out humanist policies, Martin decided to adopt an innovative mindset and national policy. He vowed to be a patron of the arts and sciences and to foster Roman intellectual growth. It was only right, he proclaimed, as Rome was the heir to the highly innovative ancient Hellenes (who also happened to be mortal enemies with the Persians).

Roman merchants in North Eimerica began bringing back charts of the continent's interior, and to everybody's relief, the Mexica did not control the entire interior. There was only so much the Great Spiritist Republic of Cherokee controlled, and wedged in the small region between New Vinland and the Cherokee was the small Rhotinonsionni Confederacy, a federation of five native tribes which had banded together in defense against the Mexica incursions but had been backstabbed by the Cherokee ever since the Nahua had withdrawn from the area.

The imperial legions made advances in gunpowder-manufacturing techniques and developed new infantry tactics, useful in potential wars against the Persians.

On 20 September 1588, a combined Ming-Korean army marched into Yuan Beijing and sacked the Yuan's Forbidden City, forcing the Great Khan to cede large amounts of territory to the Ming. The once-powerful Mongol dynasty's holdings were reduced to a small portion of farmland around Beijing and an equally small portion of steppe in northern Mongolia. In the aftermath of the peace, the Borjigins were overthrown in a coup by a rival Mongol clan, which became the new Great Khans and refused to negotiate with the Ming, insisting on keeping to the old ways of the nomadic warriors. The Manchu Empire reaffirmed their intent to keep the Yuan alive, though the Onggirats did not, as they were being crushed by a combination of Ming, Indian, Ghaznavid, Yavdi, and Zunist separatist forces.

Peace deal in ledger

The AOG's new policies of aggressive control of the Asian trade meant that merchants were spread too thin, and there weren't enough merchants in both Asia and Europe to sustain the Reich's current economic growth. Martin invested many of his personal funds to fix this problem.

Martin made good on his promise to be a patron of the arts, funding many up and coming artists throughout the Reich and promoting their works as the high point of Roman civilization and culture, a golden age to rival that of the Athenians, the Caesars, and Justinian.

Further expeditions into the interior of North Eimerica by Roman merchants discovered a larger native kingdom, the Fox, which was allied with the Rhotinonsionni Confederacy and opposed further Cherokee and Norse expansion into the continent.

In November of 1591, war broke out between Abyssinia and Persia again, with the Ethiopians invading the Persian colonies on Sumbawa for the second time. The Reich was called into the war by the Abyssinians, and Martin ordered the imperial legions to march again. The cry of "For Baghdad and the Caliphs!" was taken up by thousands of Roman soldiers, both Muslim and non-Muslim.

And so the Second Persian War began.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Wow, Yuan has been devastated in that war. Ming looks a lot stronger now. Who knows, they may be the one to inherit China.

The newly discovered Fox and the Rhotinonsionni Confederacy sound really interesting. More players vying for dominance. Will they only be enemies for the Reich, or perhaps future allies?

A scientific revolution for the Reich! Honestly, the Reich is going to be far more advanced than V2 will portray at this rate. You'll need to just start inventing new advancements.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Well that's one Chinese imposter state down. One less for Song to crush when they return to their Chinese homeland in glory.

 

[zenphoenix]

Chapter 81: Revenge​

"Death to the inbred abominations!"
-Negusa Negast Negus I Gideon

"Once more unto the breach! The vile Persians shall be driven out!"
-Malcolm Bethune

For the second time in twenty years, the Romans and Persians were at war. By all accounts, based on numbers and technology alone the Reich should have easily crushed the Zoroastrian empire, but the Persians were a resilient people, and they would not surrender without a fight.

Gold was discovered in the depths of the Amazon rainforest, and hundreds upon hundreds of young men eager to get rich streamed into Neu Rhomania, and although the taxes levied on the gold mines brought in thousands of ducats to the treasury, the gold rush also took away thousands of able-bodied men needed to fight the Persians.

As such, the invasion forces that were sent into Persia using the same battle plan as in the previous war were quickly dispatched by disciplined Persian armies led by skilled generals who may or may not have gotten their talents from their inbred nature.

As news of the defeats in Persia spread through the Reich, many citizens, disillusioned by Martin's Dutch-bias and warmongering, decided to promote new ideas under the protection of Wolfram I's and Wilhelmina II's humanist laws. They began questioning the status quo, especially Martin's right to rule and the enormous wealth and influence of the Church. They complained that the Church had too much money and was straying from its Christian values. The fact that the Patriarchate of Rome, the largest autocephalous patriarchate in the Reich, also sold indulgences to forgive sins made things worse.
Many of the humanist laws were vastly unpopular. The Christians did not like the fact that heathens, infidels, and pagans, especially the Jews, were not being rooted out by the Inquisition, contributing to the moral and spiritual decay of Christendom. The heathens complained that the humanist laws weren't doing enough to protect them from discrimination by Christians, and the non-Germans complained that Germans were receiving preferential treatment by the govenrment. Whatever the case, tension was building up in the Reich. All that was needed now was a spark.

Abyssinian reinforcements arrived in Kermanshah under the command of Negusa Negast Negus I Gideon, the ruler of Abyssinia himself. The Ethiopians arrived in time to save a Roman legion from annihilation by a much larger Persian force.

And in Africa, the Indians continued extracting concessions from Mutapa, now pushing deep into the interior of the continent.

The Second Persian War dragged on, with no end in sight. Men killed each other over several acres of farmland, and the front refused to budge. It seemed like there was nobody on either side who could end the war decisively.
That was, until the Battle of Ilam.

Ilam, 1592
The trumpets blared, and the soldiers in the camp snapped to attention. Kaiser Martin II appeared at the entrance to the camp, flanked by his bodyguards, his daughter Sophia, and his various attendants. The Kaiser went straight to the tent where the wounded were kept. He didn't normally leave Berlin, let alone Brandenburg Palace, but he had to have some way of keeping the morale of the legions. The visit wasn't going well, as Sophia had nearly been captured by the Persians while the legions were still fighting.

"What bloody man is that?" said Martin, pointing to the man who had managed to rescue Sophia and Martin from the Persians, "He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt the newest state."

Sophia cleared her throat and looked through her list of names. "This is the sergeant who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought against my captivity.—Hail, brave friend! Say to the Kaiser the knowledge of the broil as thou didst leave it."

The man strained to speak, his face quite bloody. "Doubtful it stood; as two spent swimmers that do cling together and choke their art. The merciless Ferdows Farzad, worthy to be a foe,—for to that the multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him,—from Mesopotamia of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; and fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, show'd like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak; For brave Malcolm Bethune,—well he deserves that name,—disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, which smok'd with bloody execution, like valour's minion, carv'd out his passage, till he fac'd the slave; and ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, and fix'd his head upon our battlements."

"O valiant soldier! Worthy gentleman!" said Martin.

"As whence the sun 'gins his reflection shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break; so from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to come discomfort swells. Mark, Kaiser of Rome, mark: no sooner justice had, with valour arm'd, compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, but the Persian lord, surveying vantage, with furbish'd arms and new supplies of men, began a fresh assault."

Martin paused again to think about the Persian counteroffensive. "Dismay'd not this, our captains, Malcolm and Kane?"

"Yes; as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were as cannons overcharg'd with double cracks; so they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe: except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, or memorize another Golgotha, I cannot tell:—but I am faint; my gashes cry for help."

Martin understood. "So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; they smack of honour both.—Go, get him surgeons."
The soldier was hurried away by the surgeons to another tent.

"What he hath lost, noble Malcolm hath won," Martin muttered.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

This war with Persia is going a lot smoother than the last one. It still isn't easy, but it's going better.

If you really end up with a revolt because your global empire is accepting of various cultures and faiths, I think I'm going to lose it.

 

[Michaelangelo]

I felt like I was reading some weird Shakespearean play there at the end.

 

[zenphoenix]

Chapter 82: Ambition​

"This is much harder than it looks."
-General Wilhelm Alexios

"This is way too easy."
-Admiral Wolfram Georg

By 1592, with the front lines in danger of crumbling and giving the Persians another route straight to Baghdad, Martin ordered all battle plans to be abandoned in favor of one of overwhelming numerical superiority, involving clusters of legions numbering at least a hundred thousand laying siege to the same city and attacking the same Persian army simultaneously. Only then did the Reich start to make gains, with the city of Khuzestan falling to the legions in December.

In April, the Sixth Lapland Krieg began, and Martin didn't even bother to pay attention to it.

Megas Droungarios Wolfram Georg, descended of the general Friedrich Augustin Georg, of the Ostafrika Flotte engaged a Persian fleet that was blockading Socotra, forcing it to flee back to the Persian coast, where Georg blockaded the Persian ports.

While the war with Persia raged, Martin began showing his Dutch side again by approving the creation of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the Reich's second such stock exchange (the first being the Berlin Stock Exchange).

Isfahan fell on the summer solstice of 1593, and for the second time in twenty years the Shahanshah had to flee to Khiva and the city's inhabitants found themselves under Roman occupation. The western city of Kermanshah fell a month later.

Seeing how many men had been killed in Persia already, Martin became pragmatic in how to raise more armies to fight the Persians. Using his shrewd negotiation skills, he managed to reach a deal with mercenary leaders: the salaries paid to mercenaries would be decreased significantly in exchange for better equipment and training. After the deal was finalized, he ordered ninety mercenary divisions to be hired near Baghdad. He also made some investments in the imperial navy and established Europe's first maritime laws to regulate trade and protect Roman sailors.

Battle followed battle, each one increasingly bloody. The Persians won many battles, and if they lost a battle, they took down tens of thousands of Romans with them. The carnage that was being spilled in Persia led many in the High Command to issue a standardization of calibre, which increased the effectiveness of Roman artillery and hopefully would give them an edge over the Persians.

General Wilhelm Alexios, the de facto Megas domestikos of the Reichsheer, being the highest-ranking field general, managed to score several battles against the Persians, though most of those were decided by the Reich's numerical superiority. Eventually, his legions were pushed out of occupied Isfahan, suffering at least twenty thousand dead.

Before the Persians could as much as set up their cannons to retake Isfahan, Martin sent a peace deal to Saltuk Seljuk, who was still in exile in Khiva. It was a very simple offer: peace for Sumbawa. The Persians accepted, not knowing that Sumbawa would go to the Reich itself instead of Abyssinia. Negusa Negast Negus I Gideon expressed much outrage upon learning of the treaty, but some money quickly quieted him and his diplomats.

Somewhere outside Mosul

A group of three old women huddled around in a small cabin on the side of a road leading to Mosul.
"Where hast thou been, sister?" asked the first sister.
"Killing swine," said the second sister.
"Like always," said the third sister.
They heard a drum beat far down the road, signaling an approaching legion.
"A drum, a drum! Malcolm Bethune doth come," said the third sister.
All of them began to chant simultaneously. "The weird sisters, hand in hand, posters of the sea and land, thus do go about, about: thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, and thrice again, to make up nine:—peace!—the charm's wound up."
Two young men rode up to the front of the cabin, one a young and dark-haired man in armor, the other a slightly older lighter-skinned man.
"So foul and fair a day I have not seen," said the armored man, "and who the blazes are they?!"
He pointed at the sisters.
"How far is't call'd to Mosul?" said the other man. "What are these so wither'd, and so wild in their attire, that look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, and yet are on't?—Live you? or are you aught that man may question? You seem to understand me, by each at once her chappy finger laying upon her skinny lips:—you should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so."
"Speak, if you can;—what are you?" demanded the armored man.
"All hail, Malcolm Bethune! hail to thee, Doux of Silesia!" said the first sister.
"All hail, Malcolm Bethune! hail to thee, Doux of Pomerania!" said the second sister.
"All hail, Malcolm Bethune! that shalt be Kaiser hereafter!" said the third sister.
"What the--" said the armored man--Malcolm.
"Who are you?" demanded the other man, Kane, "My noble partner, you greet with present grace and great prediction of noble having and of imperial hope, that he seems rapt withal:—to me you speak not: if you can look into the seeds of time, speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear your favors or your hate."
"Hail!" All three sisters screamed.
"Lesser than Malcolm Bethune, and greater," said the first sister.
"Not so happy, yet much happier," said the second sister.
"Thou shalt get Kaisers, though thou be none," said the third sister. "So all hail, Malcolm and Kane!"
The women vanished, somehow.
"Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more!" demanded Malcolm, "By Sinel's death I know I am Doux of Silesia; but how of Pomerania? The Duke of Pomerania lives, a prosperous gentleman; and to be Kaiser stands not within the prospect of belief."
"Were such things here as we do speak about?" said Kane. "Or have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?"
"Your children shall be Kaisers."
"You shall be Kaiser."
"And Duke of Pomerania too, did they not say so?"
More trumpets blared, and two messengers approached.
"The kaiser hath happily receiv'd, Malcolm," said the first messenger, "The news of thy success: and when he reads thy personal venture in the Persians'' fight, his wonders and his praises do contend which should be thine or his."
"We are sent to give thee, from our imperial master, thanks," said the second messenger, "Only to herald thee into his sight, not pay thee."
"And, for an earnest of a greater honour, he bade me, from him, call thee Duke of Pomerania," said the first messenger, "In which addition, hail, most worthy duke, for it is thine."
"What, can the devil speak true?" Kane spat.
"The Duke of Pomerania lives: why do you dress me in borrow'd robes?" said Malcolm.
"He has just died of an illness, and he had no children or relatives to inherit his titles, so the Kaiser has decided in his infinite wisdom to grant it to you."
Silesia and Pomerania, the greatest is behind, thought Malcolm, Do you not hope your children shall be kaisers, when those that gave the Duchy of Pomerania to me promised no less to them?
"I know what you are thinking, friend," said Kane, "Do not give in to it! You have a whole life ahead of you!"
Two truths are told, as happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme. This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill; cannot be good:—if ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, commencing in a truth? I am Duke of Silesia; if good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature? Present fears are less than horrible imaginings: my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man, that function is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is but what is not.
"Oh, will you look at the sun!" said Malcolm. "We better get going, or the Kaiser's going to be mad!"
"Yeah," said Kane.
And they headed down the road to Mosul.

Mosul
Malcolm entered the tent where Martin resided.
The Kaiser looked up at the two soldiers and grinned.
"O worthiest soldier!" Martin said. "The sin of my ingratitude even now was heavy on me: thou art so far before, that swiftest wing of recompense is slow to overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserv'd; that the proportion both of thanks and payment might have been mine! only I have left to say, more is thy due than more than all can pay."
"The service and the loyalty I owe, in doing it, pays itself," replied Malcolm, "Your highness' part is to receive our duties: and our duties are to your throne and state, children and servants; which do but what they should, by doing everything safe toward your love and honour. I shall be throwing a feast in honor of your victory over the Persians in my own estates in Krakow. I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful the hearing of my wife with your approach; so, humbly take my leave."
"My worthy Pomerania!" said Martin. "I shall attend your banquet, for you have earned it through your glories in battle against the vile Persians."
Malcolm left the tent.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Now I'm getting a witches from Macbeth vibe.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

So the winning strategy against the Persians is basically a Zerg rush. Considering how massive your army is and how quickly they are replaced, I think that works just fine for now. That said, I doubt people are so happy to have so many soldiers die for a single province.

Really, Russia? Come on now, you're just being silly at this point.

Now I'm getting a witches from Macbeth vibe.

I'm fairly sure that's their inspiration. It's been awhile since I read it, but their speech sounds nearly identical. Let's hope Malcolm doesn't steal the thrown though, considering the nightmarish penalties created if the Hohenzollern dynasty is overthrown.

 

[zenphoenix]

Chapter 83: Betrayal​

Castle von Bethune, Krakow

Lady Bethune opened the letter from her husband and read:

"They met me in the day of success; and I have learned by the perfectest report they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me, 'Duke of Pomerania'; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, Kaiser that shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell. ~Malcolm Bethune"

She put down the letter and thought.
"Silesia thou art, and Pomerania," she muttered, "and shalt be what thou art promis'd; yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' th' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; art not without ambition; but without the illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, and yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'dst have, great Silesia, that which cries, "Thus thou must do, if thou have it: and that which rather thou dost fear to do than wishest should be undone." Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear; and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round, which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crown'd withal."

A servant entered the room, forcing her to snap out of her thoughts. "What is your tidings?"

"The Kaiser comes here tonight," said the attendant.

"Thou'rt mad to say it: is not thy master with him? who, were't so, would have inform'd for preparation."

"So please you, it is true:—our duke is coming: one of my fellows had the speed of him; who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more than would make up his message."

"Give him tending; he brings great news."

The attendant left the room, allowing Lady Bethune to think again.

"The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Martin under my battlements. Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here; and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty! make thick my blood, ttop up the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, and take my milk for gall, your murdering ministers, wherever in your sightless substances you wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell that my keen knife see not the wound it makes nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry, 'Hold, hold!'"

There was a knock at the door, and in came her husband, Malcolm Bethune.

"Great Silesia! Worthy Pomerania!" she cried. "Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! Thy letters have transported me beyond this ignorant present, and I feel now the future in the instant."

"My dearest love," said Malcolm, "Martin comes here tonight."

"And when goes hence?"

"At the end of the month,—as he purposes."

"O, never shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my duke, is as a book where men may read strange matters:—to beguile the time, look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't. He that's coming must be provided for: and you shall put this night's great business into my despatch; which shall to all our nights and days to come give solely sovereign sway and masterdom."

"We will speak further."

"Only look up clear; to alter favor ever is to fear: leave all the rest to me."


[Exeunt.]

The Next Day
"This castle hath a pleasant seat," said Martin, "the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses."

"This guest of summer, the temple-haunting martlet, does approve by his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but this bird hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle: where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd the air is delicate," said Kane.

Lady Bethune appeared in front of the imperial entourage, dressed in her finest clothes.

"See, see, our honour'd hostess!" exclaimed Martin. "The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you wow you shall bid God ild us for your pains, and thank us for your trouble."

"All our service in every point twice done, and then done double, were poor and single business to contend against those honours deep and broad wherewith your majesty loads our house: for those of old, and the late dignities heap'd up to them, we rest your hermits," said Lady Bethune.

"Where's the Thane of Cawdor?" asked Martin. "Fair and noble hostess, we are your guest tonight."

"Busy. Now let me show you to the dining hall..."

Nighttime.

Malcolm wandered through the castle, a candle and knife in his hand.

"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well iIt were done quickly," he said to himself, "Why must I do this? Besides, this Martin hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking-off..."

Lady Bethune appeared in front of him. "He has almost supp'd: why have you left the chamber?"

His feet cold, Malcolm stammered out, "We will proceed no further in this business: he hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon."

His wife was not convinced. "Was the hope drunk wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale at what it did so freely? From this time such I account thy love. Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem; letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would," like the poor cat i' the adage?"

"Pr'ythee, peace! I dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more is none."

"What beast was't, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; and, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man. Nor time nor place did then adhere, and yet you would make both: they have made themselves, and that their fitness now does unmake you. I have given suck, and know how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums and dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this."

"If we should fail?"

"We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail. When Martin is asleep,—whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey soundly invite him, his two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail so convince that memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason a limbec only: when in swinish sleep their drenched natures lie as in a death, what cannot you and I perform upon the unguarded Martin? what not put upon his spongy officers; who shall bear the guilt of our great quell?"

"I am settled," said Malcolm, "and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show: false face must hide what the false heart doth know."

Lady Bethune left the hallway, leaving Malcolm alone to his fate.

"Is this a dagger which I see before me," he muttered, starting to hallucinate, "The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:—I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable as this which now I draw. Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going; and such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, or else worth all the rest: I see thee still; and on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, which was not so before."

Up ahead, a bell rang--his wife's signal that the guards were dispatched.

"I go, and it is done," he whispered, "the bell invites me. Hear it not, Martin, for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell."

He heard a soft knock on the door. "Who's there?—what, ho!"

"Alack!" said Lady Bethune. "I am afraid they have awak'd, and 'tis not done: the attempt, and not the deed, confounds us.—Hark!—I laid their daggers ready; he could not miss 'em.—You were too slow, you fool, with all of your monologues! I have done the deed.—Didst thou not hear a noise?"

"I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry."

"Did not you speak?"

"When?"

"Now."

"As I descended?"

"Ay."

"Hark!—Who lies i' the second chamber?"

"Frederica Augusta, Sophia's sister. I dispatched her too."

"This is a sorry sight."

"You do unbend your noble strength to think so brainsickly of things.—Go get some water, and wash this filthy witness from your hand.—why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go carry them; and smear the sleepy grooms with blood."

"I'll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; look on't again I dare not."

"Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt."

And Lady Bethune vanished into the darkness of the hallway. Presently Malcolm heard a knocking.

"Whence is that knocking? How is't with me, when every noise appals me? What hands are here? Ha, they pluck out mine eyes! Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red."

Lady Bethune returned, not amused by her husband's frequent monologues.

"My hands are of your colour," she said, "but I shame To wear a heart so white. Let us return to our chambers."

And they did.


Morning.
"Is our host stirring?" asked Sophia. "Our knocking has awak'd him; here he comes."

"Good morrow, my princess!" said Malcolm, still dressed in his nightgown.

"Is my father stirring, worthy duke?" she asked.

"Not yet."

"He did command me to call timely on him: I have almost slipp'd the hour. I'll go wake him up now."

Sophia left for the Kaiser's quarters.

Malcolm only had to wait a whole minute before Sophia burst back into the room, screaming, "O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!"

"What's the matter?" said Malcolm.

"Confusion now hath made his masterpiece! Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope the Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence the life o' the building," said Sophia.

"What is't you say? the life?" demanded Malcolm. "Mean you his majesty?"

"Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight with a new Gorgon:—do not bid me speak; see, and then speak yourselves," said Sophia.

Malcolm left for the bedchambers.

"Awake, awake!" screamed Sophia. "Ring the alarum bell:—murder and treason! Kane and Frederica Augusta! awake! Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, and look on death itself! up, up, and see the great doom's image! Kane! As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites to countenance this horror!"

The alarm bells began to ring, and Lady Bethune entered the hall, obviously annoyed by the bells.

"What's the business, that such a hideous trumpet calls to parley the sleepers of the house? speak, speak!"

"O gentle lady," said Sophia, "'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak: the repetition, in a woman's ear, would murder as it fell."

Kane arrived in the room.

"Kane! Our imperial master's murder'd! My father is dead!"

"Woe, alas! What, in our house?" demanded Lady Bethune.

Malcolm returned and said, "Your imperial father's murder'd."

"O, by whom?" asked Sophia.

"Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done't: their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood; so were their daggers, which, unwip'd, we found upon their pillows: they star'd, and were distracted; no man's life was to be trusted with them. O, yet I do repent me of my fury, that I did kill them."

Lady Bethune fainted.

"Quick!" said Malcolm. "We must get the body in order for the funeral! And find anymore conspirators!"

Everybody left, except for Sophia and her cousin, Friedrich.

"What will you do?" asked Friedrich. "Let's not consort with them: to show an unfelt sorrow is an office which the false man does easy. I'll to Scandinavia."

"To Russia, I," said Sophia, "Our separated fortune shall keep us both the safer: where we are, there's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood, the nearer bloody. Malcolm has the loyalty of the legions and probably the Diet. He will order us killed and then take the throne."

"This murderous shaft that's shot hath not yet lighted; and our safest way is to avoid the aim. Therefore to horse; and let us not be dainty of leave-taking, but shift away: there's warrant in that theft which steals itself, when there's no mercy left."

They quietly left the castle, got on their horses, and left Krakow.

Later

"How goes the world, sir, now?"

"Why, see you not?"

"Is't known who did this more than bloody deed?"

"Those that Malcolm hath slain."

"Alas, the day! What good could they pretend?"

"They were suborn'd: Sophia and Friedrich, the Kaiser's daughter and nephew, are stol'n away and fled; which puts upon them suspicion of the deed."

"'Gainst nature still: thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up thine own life's means!—Then 'tis most like, the sovereignty will fall upon Malcolm."

:He is already nam'd; and gone to Berlin to be invested."

"Where is Martin's body?"

"Carried to Potsdam, the sacred storehouse of his predecessors, and guardian of their bones."

"Will you to Berlin?"

"No, cousin, I'll to Vienna."

"Well, I will thither."

"Well, may you see things well done there,—adieu!—est our old robes sit easier than our new!"

"Farewell."

"God's benison go with you; and with those that would make good of bad, and friends of foes!"

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Welp! Can't say I'm surprised. I do believe the Reich is in for a rough few years now. Those penalties you added aren't going to be fun.

Edit: Just say the changes to the title and the front page. Nice touch.

 

[HIMDogson]

Oh my god what did you do