Steel Empire
Advances in Civilization

Several weeks had passed since the Bavarians first invaded Austria, and although their advance into Tyrol was halted at its borders, the war continued to spread throughout Austria. From Salzburg to Carnten, and even to Upper and Lower Austria, the fires of war consumed the Duchy of Austria. Currently, only Tyrol and its western neighbor Vorarlberg are untouched by the conflict. The only reason Vorarlberg had not fallen, was because Berengar had sent troops to help them; he could not allow himself to be cut off from the outside world, and therefore, Berengar had sent troops to help them, it has spent several attempts to repel the Bavarian forces from Vorarlberg. 

Tyrol is completely cut off from the eastern part of Austria. If Berengar wanted to help Prince Steiermark, his uncle, and his allies, his forces would have to advance through the occupied territory of Bavaria. It would indeed be a difficult task, but Berengar had no choice but to do so if the city of Graz was indeed in danger. After all, he would never allow danger to come to Adela. There were more significant concerns that caught Berengar's attention. The Bavarians had largely isolated Tyrol. Because of this, Berengar could only trade with his Italian counterpart, and furthermore, trade routes from the Italian Peninsula to the near east. As far as German trade routes were concerned, they were completely blocked by the Bavarian invasion of Austria.

While Berengar still made significant profits from its trade with Italy, and the Byzantine Empire, many of its customers no longer had access to its products. As such, he saw his income decrease significantly. Currently, the young Count was thinking of establishing a trade with the rest of Germany. Stretched in front of him was a huge map of Europe; if Berengar wanted to continue supplying steel and textiles to other German territories, then he needed to maintain security in Tyrol and the Vorarlberg region, he said, located on its western border.

After observing the map for some time, Berengar realized the only way to reestablish trade with Northern Germany was to bring its supplies west through Vorarlberg and the Swiss Confederacy, where they will travel north to Wurttemberg. From there, the product could once again spread throughout Germany. Due to the ongoing conflict in the German-speaking region, Berengar needed to guard his trade caravan with the armed forces.

After discovering this new trade route, Berengar carried out the task and sent his orders to the necessary units that would conduct trading operations. Now that he had finished the job, he sat back down on his soft leather chair in his study and sighed heavily before sipping on the wine contained in his skull trophy. Shortly after, Berengar heard a knock on his door, and he immediately replied.

"Come in"

with that, a huge wooden door creaked open to reveal the beautiful figure of Linde, who was holding baby Hans in her arms. The golden red-haired petite baby had a curious expression on his face as he looked at his father with his deep sapphire eyes. Linde has spent time with Hans whenever she has the chance; she is a fairly loving mother. After Linde approached Berengar with their son in her arms, she started talking to Berengar with a severe expression. She was here for business, and for whatever reason, she had brought their baby. The heavenly beauty quickly got to her core as she relayed the information she had received from Berengar's spy network.

"The Bavarians will soon invade Vienna. This city won't last long. Judging from Duke Dietger's fearsome reputation, he would eliminate a potential rival for his authority over Austria, which means that the children of the late Duke Wilmar will most likely be executed after the Bavarians capture the city."

Berengar pondered over Linde's words as he looked at her with one nice eye. Clearly, Linde had not only come here to tell him about the matter, and knowing her lover well enough, Berengar assumed she had made a plan to benefit them both; therefore, Berengar assumed she had made a plan to benefit them both; therefore, he asked about it. 

"So, what's your plan?"

A pretty smile emanated on Linde's immaculate face as she heard Berengar's words; the man really knew her well. Therefore, he quickly got straight to the point.

"We have agents at Vienna Castle currently on standby; when the Castle falls, we will take advantage of the chaos to smuggle Duke Wilmar's youngest son Conrad out, and into Kufstein. Where we will then force him to name you Regent and create a Government in Exile where you can begin the reconquest of Austria once your forces are fully prepared." 

Berengar was surprised by the plan Linde had given him; it was unexpected and brilliant. Berengar initially planned to sit down and gain Tyrol's independence through the conflict before invading Austria later in life to claim the title of Duke for himself, but this is a better plan for his rise to power. Of course, there was only one question on his mind about the entire situation, which he quickly asked. 

An evil grin spread across Linde's lips as she had already thought of this plan and had prepared for it. 

"We let the boy act as a puppet for a few years while we strengthened our advantage, and then we started poisoning him in small doses until he became seriously ill and died, leave your Austrian Regent with full authority to take over. coat Duke!"

Hearing Linde's devious plan made Berengar's backbone tickle as an equally evil smile spread across his face. This was a plan far superior to the one he had devised and far more likely to quell a potential rebellion against his rule. After all, with this, he gained some sort of legitimacy for his claim to the title of Duke of Austria when he finally succeeded. Indeed, Linde's mind is much better at making plans than Berengar's, which is one of the reasons why she became an effective spy. After hearing his crafty plot, Berengar got up from his seat and hugged his lover and son before whispering in Linde's ear.

"You're a cunning little vixen, do you know that?"

After hearing Berengar's words, Linde began to blush; those words were not meant as humiliation but praise, and she was well aware of that fact. After saying those words, Berengar let go of Linde and walked away with his arms folded behind his back.

"I agree to your plan. Make sure there are preparations to evacuate Conrad when the opportunity presents itself!"

Linde obediently nodded before leaving with Hans in hand.

"Of course, sir, I won't let you down!"

Berengar smiled and sat down after Linde left his study. He proceeded to take out a bottle of wine and close his skull cup before taking a sip and gazing out the window. Opportunity presents itself when one least expects it. With Linde's plan, he would be able to secure the position of Duke of Austria more efficiently and although it may take several years before he has a title; in practice, he would have been able to secure the position of Duke of Austria more efficiently, it was only a few months before he held the power of that position. 

Despite the ruthless plan to seize power, Berengar feels sorry for Conrad, soon the boy will become the last member of the powerful Dynasty of his previous life, and the, and he would not live long enough to continue the Dynasty, it could be said that Berengar's interference in this world's timeline had ended the Habsburg Dynasty even before it reached the peak of its power. However, he did not care much about such a thing; after all, the Habsburgs of this world would become nothing more than a stepping stone on the rise of his own Dynasty to power. 

With Linde busy preparing her grand scheme, Berengar himself realized that he could no longer sit idly by; therefore, he quickly began drafting orders for further conscription. By the time the Bavarians had conquered much of Austria, Berengar would need a much greater force to confront them. Fortunately it took months before Austria finally succumbed to the occupation of Bavaria, and that gave Berengar enough time to train another division.

Fortunately for him, the population to provide a large army was no big deal; with the increasing number of refugees coming to Tyrol and the number of natives, Berengar had more than enough men to recruit, he said, something that can only be achieved because of his agricultural reforms. Without such reforms, most men would have to be in the fields to produce food, but now they could be recruited and trained to be soldiers. Such is the progress of civilization.