Chapter 4: The 1st Solar League
Peace in Central Europe, did not always mean peace everywhere. While Cathay, Ferrara and Bohemia lorded over their victory unrest was picking up elsewhere, notably in Britain where the English Monarch had died suddenly at a young age while engaged in a war with the Scottish to the North. England, previously a governorship of Cathay, and even centuries later the ruling elite of the Kingdom saw little need to involve the nobility in establishing the formal rights of the monarch and other classes within the country.
This had also meant that no laws of succession had been drawn out should the King die without a legal heir. Now of course the King was dead and the capital was in the hands of Lord Regent Idris of York one of the powerful vassals of the Kingdom, but whos closest royal relation was to the King of Sweden, a foreign power.
Worst still was that the previous King William's wars within the Isles had made enemies of the Irish (Who had Northern Ireland taken from them), The Welsh, and of course Scotland who now were all eagerly supporting rival claimants within the great Power's court in hopes that chaos in England would give them opportunity to retake thier lands.
The Kingdom of Ireland, knew immediately that it's isolation from Britain proper set it at a disadvantage in England and so found a sponsor not on Britain itself but further across the Straights of Dover in Queen Elizabeth of Cathay. The Cathay had no reason to return to the Green Isle in the future and were eager to offset England's future power in the region as well as to establish a valuable alliance.
Ireland of course was the major stopping point for traders wishing to avoid the Pirates and so held a large navy for protecting both the Island and it's trade interests in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. With the Irish on board, any future Naval power of england would be heavily offset by rival powers, perhaps doing more to weaken the Kingdom than any temporary dynastic unrest.
In Bohemia's sphere events were also moving quickly. In Poland King Konrad had re-established the rights of the Sjem upon his succession to the Throne there and to officially organize the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Poland into a more perfect and permanent political entity, the Sjem was given powers to rule the Kingdom of Poland in Konrad's name in perpetuity. The Sjem as their first act would be to establish a ruling council away from Krakow, eventually choosing the City of Warsaw on the Vistula River.
Bohemia meanwhile formally declared war on the Kingdom of Denmark citing that the Kingdom of Denmark had no rightful claim to the Pommeranian lands the crown currently occupied. Bohemia's claim of course was just as frivolous but, of course Bohemia had allies and the might of the Polish crown behind it. Denmark lacked both such things and soon found itself quickly being overrun.
In Cathay Elizabeth II was enjoying her newfound status as one of the Great Monarchs of the world yet again. With new and exciting technologies populating the regions of southern France Elizabeth saw such a time to be an opportunity to invite artists, intellectuals and famous nobles back to Ventralis for a grand ball.
While mostly a waste of Money, the Elizabethan Ball would bring with it the mind and loyalty of one Rodrigo de Valenz a bonafide 'Renaissance Man' who had made several strikes in fields both artistic and scientific. Rodrigo and Elizabeth's shared interest in the fields of Science and art would lead to Elizabeth's creation of several academies dedicated to art, science and the military throughout the nation.
Such advancements would well and truly being what was known as The Renaissance north into France and Cathay. Ventralis while not the heart of the Renaissance would become yet another organ in the engine bringing progress to Europe. Decades in the future, Rodrigo de Valenz and his workshop both would be considered vital parts of what made the renaissance what it was, and dozens of cultural interpretations would make the most famous man in Elizabethan Cathay one of the most famous in history.
In this time, the Duke of Burgundy impressed by the Cathay to his northern border and fearing for his safety against the Germans and Occitans around him, formally swore fealty to Elizabeth II. Though such an arrangement was more symbolic than practical as the Crown of Burgundy remained almost fully autonomous only sending a small amount of tax and political support to Cathay in comparison to Luxembourg which was for all intensive purposes part of Cathay itself with only nominal independence.
In this time the tensions in England finally boiled over following the assassination of Lord Regent Idris of York. Idris, honorable to the last had located the bastard son of King William in Scotland, and intended to name the boy King. Upon hearing of this news, a member of the Royal Court, Henry of Lancaster had his personal guard, as well as the local London militia arrest Idris and force a confession that Idris intended to name himself King, where afterwards he was promptly executed by Henry's favored claimant, the young Prince Roger of Wales.
In response, Idris' daughter Constance declared a revolt and started a march on London with aid from the Scottish and Idris' favored heir, William of Lothian. Who many onlookers abroad expected to marry Constance of York provided house York stood victorious.
Ireland in the meantime had secured Ulster yet again and made moves to guarantee it's protection against whoever claimed victory in the English Civil War. Ireland would enter into a treaty of protection and mutual respect and friendship with Cathay, with Cathay being the obvious and dominant partner in the relationship. A compromise but one that would ultimately keep the Emerald Isle safe.
Elizabeth meanwhile prepared for a second round against the Hanseatic Republic. The intent was clear, with germany Humbled and the Hansa in full collapse the rich dutch lands needed to be secured by Cathay first and her Swedish allies after. The war would also provide ample opportunity for the Crown Princess to test her new toys, adopted from the spanish not long after the Elizabethan Ball.
Gunpowder had already been a stable of armies for well over a century. Brought from China Europeans first simply used the material as it was intended for fireworks and parlour tricks. It did not take long before sappers began to use it in large quantities to undermine walls, and later develop cannons to siege castles from afar. The Germans while not the inventors of the Arquebus had brought it to the battlefield enmass and this had impressed Princess Diane that her Mother's Infantry first doctrine required such a weapon fielded in quantities never seen before to be the future of armies across Europe.
After all, Feudal levies needed to be trained sometimes for months, and had equipment of varying quality, something that Royalist forces in Cathay's past had abused during the various civil wars of the Empire, where the more professional royal guard would easily deal with the primarily unprofessional armies of the outer provinces. With the army smaller than ever before Cathay needed every last edge over the quantity based armies of its enemies and using miniaturized cannons over crossbows or longbows to Diane was simply a natural evolution of warfare.
The War ultimately would be a slaughter and the Hansa would beg for peace in short order, ceding more of the Netherlands to Cathay but also very importantly, the province of Neva to Sweden. Neva was especially significant becuase of its position within Russia. The Hansa had originally take the province for control of the Neva river, and thus control of the trade coming from Russia and with Russia now developing the city was in a crucial place for the future. Sweden of course was now in control of the city and thus in control of the Russian trade coming into the Baltic Sea.
With the success of her doctrine, Elizabeth turned south to Avalon to exploit the situation in England as much as possible. After all with England in the midst of one of its worst civil wars yet the Avalonians, whos only notable ally was England were once again alone. No time was wasted and the Imperial army left the Lowlands and turned south.
Like against the Hansa the war was short, quick and relatively bloodless. One major battle marked the day and the Avalonians, fearful of Cathay's Arquebusiers quit the field almost immediately, and later sued for peace ceding the remainder of Normandy and Anjou to Cathay, a harsh deal that would be looked on with unease by most of France and Germany but one that would ultimately end the Threat of Avalon, forever.
With two successful wars the Course of Cathay was certain, Guns were the future, what had seemed like pure lunacy a mere decade in the past had humbled two nations that had given Uther the Hammer pause. The ability to quickly train and mobilize an army using a more standard weapon had power. Gunpowder had finally provided a means of producing large amounts of such weapons for the army, and Elizabeth herself would ultimately take a special interest in their engineering and construction.
A New Age of warfare was dawning, One not of individual skill at arms or prestige on the battlefield, but of Gunpowder.