King of the Sea

Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Currently, Berengar was within the domain of his father's study finalizing the blueprints for the City he envisioned to be his Capital, the City of Kufstein. He had been hard at work on this project for well over a month at this point, seeing as it was something he mainly worked on in his spare time, he had yet to finish it; until now, that is.

As the Town of Kufstein became increasingly more urbanized due to Berengar's agricultural reforms, Berengar found his people suffering from a serious concern. Despite the fact that they were being paid exceptionally well and were no longer bound by the land owned by the feudal lords. The common people of Kufstein were forced to endure terrible conditions of slums and squalor. Considering Bernegar was the kind of man who despised forcing people into such destitution, he had to come up with a new plan to resolve these issues.

Luckily for him, he held almost absolute power in the region and had a substantial treasury built up from the lucrative steel and textile trade. Considering he had just finished making plans for the City of Kufstein, Berengar decided to put them into action and break ground on the construction of a grand city deserving the title of capital of Kufstein.

As he labeled it, this grand Infrastructure Initiative was designed to reconstruct the region into a thriving metropolis. The first critical component of this initiative was sanitation, where he planned to have city-wide sewers and plumbing where the waste would go through a sewage treatment facility and eventually flow into the local river. There would also be cisterns that could provide fresh and clean water into the s of every citizen.

The second critical component of this initiative was to build affordable housing in large apartment complexes; these apartment complexes would be built in the traditional half-timber style. If he was going to build a city, it was going to be an aesthetically pleasing city. Of course, each apartment would be outfitted with its own ceramic tub and toilet connected to the city's plumbing system.

The third component of this infrastructure initiative was focused on defense. With civil war looming on the horizon, Berengar needed a way to defend his population properly. He was more than happy to introduce a complex set of city walls based on the star fortress platform of the renaissance and early modern period from his previous life. However, unlike the walls made throughout the history of Berengar's past life, his would be made out of steel-reinforced concrete, which was a much more resilient construction method than the traditional stone walls that would normally come to be.

A Star Fortress was essentially what it sounded like. It was a fortress designed in the days of the renaissance to combat cannons' effectiveness and commonality, which would prove to be the death blow to the old medieval castle designs. Essentially the city would be built out of a polygon split down the middle by the Inn river. At the edges of the wall would be a series of pointed fortifications called bastions that eliminated blind spots and allowed defenders to fire upon besiegers from all angles. Above these bastions would be cavaliers, a raised structure built entirely inside the bastion that acted as a secondary line of defense, allowing more cannons and musketeers to defend the same section of the wall.

Below the bastions would be a series of ditches filled with water, which was similar to a moat in design, which would make the city virtually impossible to lay siege to fully. The design was based upon many years of fortification knowledge that Berengar had gained from his time studying at Westpoint to be an army engineering officer. In this era, no army could successfully lay siege to such a well-fortified city.

Fourth and finally, he needed to construct a comprehensive set of roads between all the major inhabited regions of his territory and elected for the roman method of road construction. This would certainly be an expensive endeavor. However, he could afford such luxuries, and as such, Berengar had immediately begun the process of constructing his grand city.

At the moment, Berengar was walking through the town in which he currently presided over on his path to Ludwig's workshop, which was now his office space within the industrial district. He noticed the filth and squalor his people lived in and could not help but wish to speed up time, so they no longer had to endure these conditions. Luckily for him, his plans were complete, and he would soon break ground on the project. The people only had to endure these conditions for a little while longer.

Berengar boldly walked through the doors to Ludwig's office and began speaking with the old man in the steel factory about the production of galvanized steel piping to construct his plumping system. If the steel was properly submerged in molten zinc, it could create a relatively rust-proof layer which would be essential for the construction of his plumping system.

"What do you think Ludwig, is it possible?"

Ludwig stared at the details of Berengar's plans and felt a headache growing in the back of his skull. The old man sighed heavily as he looked at Berengar like he was a mad man.

"Is it possible? Absolutely, however, it is going to be incredibly expensive to do this."

Berengar clasped Ludwig on the should and smiled before reassuring his old pal.

"Don't worry, I can cover the costs; this is not some venture that will be completed in a matter of months but will be an ongoing effort over the coming years. As long as it is possible, then I don't care about the cost."

Ludwig could not help but admire the effort and expense Berengar was willing to go to to ensure better housing and sanitary conditions for his people. Truly there has never been a more benevolent Lord, or so the old man thought. Ludwig could only imagine how hard Bernegar had worked on the budget to ensure his vision of a grand city would become a reality.

Ludwig sighed and accepted Berengar's enthusiasm for the project.

"Alright, I'll get it done; after all, we currently have a surplus of steel that is sitting in a bunch of warehouses waiting for such a grand project. It would be a shame to let it all go to waste."

Berengar smiled as he thanked Ludwig for his assistance

"Good, if you will excuse me, I have many different people to contact to begin the construction of this project of mine."

With that, Berengar left Ludwig behind and contacted the remaining subordinates on his list to begin constructing the grand infrastructure initiative, which would later become the basis for how all German Cities would be designed.

: Revelation of Corruption

: Revelation of Corruption

: Revelation of Corruption

Weeks passed and Berengar was, of course, busy overseeing the construction of his grand city and also managing the affairs of the realm at large. Linde continued to manage her spy network, and Eckhard continued to train the troops. Everything was running smoothly as far as Berengar was concerned.

In this time nothing major happened, though there were some minor improvements to Berengar's overall plans. For example, today was the day Ludolf finally became an ordained priest. As such he was kneeling in the church at Innsbruck where the local Bishop conducted his ordination. The ceremony was nothing extravagant, and it was soon over.

When the Bishop of Innsbruck finished the ceremony he began to speak to Ludolf, having no way of knowing that he was already in Berengar's camp.

"Ludolf, I must say you have your work cut out for your working in that godless territory."

This struck a nerve with Ludolf as the land he was currently residing in was referred to as godless by the Bishop simply because he disagreed with Berengar's policies. As such he immediately defended it.

"Godless? What makes you refer to Kufstein as Godless?"

The Bishop smiled in with a condescending look as he chastised Ludolf for his naivety.

"Good Ludolf, I know you have sympathies towards the people of the region, but the Regent who currently commands them is a Heretic, excommunicated and damned as such by the Pope himself. Clearly, the people's souls are suffering under such a wicked tyrant. It is up to you to lead the people of Kufstein to the light of God. Thank goodness we will not have to put up with that heretic for much longer."

The last portion of the Bishop's lecture caught Ludolf by surprise, this meant there was clearly a plot underway against Berengar and as such he decided to dig deeper into the Bishop's meaning.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by that? Why will we not have to put up with Berengar much longer?"

The Bishop thought he was talking to someone on his and the Vatican's side and as such had no qualms about discussing their conspiracy behind closed doors.

"Why because of the Teutonic Order of course!"

Ludolf was visibly confused as he heard the Bishop's orders, as such he explained the entirety of the situation to Ludolf who listened intently.

"As you may be aware the Teutonic Order is currently at war with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, however, they have a plan to wipe the floor with those damned Rus and install the power of the Holy See over their Patriarch. As such within six months to a year, they will be free to bring their wrath down upon the Heretics in Kufstein and annex the territory as an area of the Teutonic State. Surely the control of the territory will return to God's favored son of the von Kufstein family at that time!"

Ludolf was shocked, but he clearly understood what the Bishop meant by that, as such he had to ask the question on his mind.

"Does the Pope know about this?"

The Bishop merely broke out into laughter thinking that Ludolf was joking before noticing the serious expression on his face.

"Who do you think requested the aid of the Teutonic Order in this endeavor?"

If previously Ludolf had any doubts about the extent in which the Catholic Church was rotten they no longer existed. Truly the entire Catholic Church was filled to the brim with corruption, and he could no longer stand by it. Now that he was a properly ordained priest he would take action. He had thought about everything Berengar had told him about the Church and was certain now that everything he said was the truth. When he returned to Kufstein he would quickly get to an academic disputation of the church and its corruption he would be sure to post it on the door to the Church of Kufstein and have Berengar print it with his printing press so that it could be distributed to all learned readers across the German-speaking regions.

However, at the moment he was surrounded by enemies and had to play the part of a loyal subject, as such he quickly smiled and nodded to the Bishop's response

"Of course, I was merely curious. I hope Berengar gets what he deserves."

As such the two communicated for a long while over a few glasses of communion wine, the revelations he heard from the bishop now that he had become an ordained priest only increased his resolve to publically condemn the church. Embezzlement was the least of the Church's crimes, they had done truly unspeakable things in the past, and the Bishop let loose all of the details in which he was privy to after having more than his fair share of wine. Loose lips sink ships, and after a few drinks, the Bishop was more than willing to share anything in which Ludolf asked.

Ludolf quickly came to the realization that The institution he had once looked up to as the beacon of hope in a terrible world was utterly corrupted to the core, and it would take a miracle to save it. Berengar was right all along, though the two had debated over the extent to which the corruption of the church reached, he had always seen Berengar as a benevolent ruler, and kind man to those who deserved it. Ludolf had always justified Berengar's more ruthless actions as bringing the judgment of heaven onto the wicked, even when the inquisitors were executed he did not bat an eye. Yet now he was fully convinced that Berengar's ideals were % correct and needed to be preached by a proper priest. Little did he know that he was playing exactly into Berengar's hands.

Berengar had long since desired to use Ludolf to be the Martin Luther of this world and to usher in the protestant movement. Something which would give Berengar a valid casus belli to seize the territories of the German world for himself after he came to power in Austria. After all the Catholics would never let an openly protestant state exist, and through the might of science and engineering, Berengar would bring down the influence of the Church over the German people and instate his own, one which would serve his interests.