Steel Empire
Supplying Militia

Berengar was currently standing on one of its many Nitraries, which were formed to produce Saltpeter from ordinary impurities. It was the main ingredient in the manufacture of gunpowder and was very rare in Europe as a natural substance. However, with the knowledge he had gained from his previous life, which was far more advanced than this world, he knew how to make it from dirt, ash, green vegetables, and of course, cow urine. Although this was an extensive process, and therefore, he relied on trade networks around the world to import materials for use in his militia weapons.

However, after nearly four months of producing the material, the first batch of his homemade saltpeter would soon come to fruition. Since the beginning of building industrial estates, he has set aside land to produce potassium nitrate, also known as saltpeter. These facilities are called nitraries. With the ever-increasing demand for gunpowder, it has expanded its partners to the entire industrial sector and even to specialized fields of land outside the burgeoning city.

Although the process is simple; it takes a lot of time to complete; basically, one will make a waterproof mixture of manure, green plant material, and ash. From there, they will make sure it is covered in a stable environment with limited sunlight and pour cow urine on the mixture once a week for three to four months. Eventually, yellow crystals will form, removed from the mixture, and then placed into a bucket with a hole in the bottom with filter paper. The rest of the bucket will be filled 3/4 part with the rest of the pile and boiling water poured into it until the pile is gone.

This process will be repeated until all the saltpeter can be harvested, then mixed with charcoal and sulfur to make a black powder. It is now finally the day when its troops no longer have to rely on expensive imports of rare materials and can produce them themselves in ever-growing capacities. To be honest Berengar pitied those who had to work in nitraries because it seemed like dirty work to him, but it was entirely necessary, and thus they were paid very well for their work.

There was a proud look on Berengar's face as he looked at the results of his efforts and was very pleased with them. He congratulated those people on their first batch of success.

"Friends, you've done an amazing job these past few months, and with this I'm giving you all a 10% raise for your paycheck. Keep up the amazing work, and more rewards are sure to come!"

So Berengar left those people to work when he returned to his other company. Berengar noticed that the people under his command were running the exercises as usual. There is a constant influx within the Militia, which acts more as the National Guard than the Army does today. Despite this, some of the people within his militia were inducted into the City Guards on a full-time basis. The majority of them only train on weekends after completing basic and special training.

Currently, his militia has achieved its goal of about 1000 soldiers in 6 companies, as well as two full artillery batteries charged with a total of 12 field guns and 300 men. He was only one battery away from deploying a full Artillery Battalion. A feat he wants to achieve in the near future. However, it would take some time until he could reach it.

Berengar had spent a lot of money to obtain a sufficient supply of war horses, something that was sorely lacking in his territory. As such, he currently only had 80 Cavalry troops, although he had originally decided to use a Demi-Lancer, he finally changed his mind after he considered the fact that for now, for now, he would fight the medieval army, without significant access to gunpowder. He therefore decided to go with an extremely effective cuirassier who would be able to destroy the spear formation with their pistols, before attacking them with their swords. This elite unit of heavy cavalry was equipped with three-quarter plate armor, with a closed burgonet, and a pair of gloves. The weapon they were holding was a pair of pistols, as well as a dussack sword

Realizing his urgent need for a war horse, Berengar has started a breeding program for the species like a course. However, it would be many years before he could see results in a significant capacity. So, for now, all he could do was import horses into his territory at a high cost. Luckily for him, his family was now very wealthy due to the steel and textile trade. Many nobles were willing to pay a heavy price to obtain a large amount of steel to use in their troops. Completely unaware that against Berengar's forces, equipping your troops en masse with brigandine and steel plates is useless, but then again, they never expected Berengar to have such lofty ambitions.

After overseeing the militia exercises, Berengar returned to his home, where he sat in his father's study with a pint of beer in his hand, slowly checking the documents left for the day. Tomorrow Adela will depart from her country, and she will not be able to see the sweet face of her little fiance for some time. At least she will be able to visit him for her birthday in a few months, talking about she probably should have some beautiful jewelry made for him to show her affection. After thinking about such things, she spent the rest of her night work putting together a plan for a set of very expensive jewelry for her lover.