Steel Empire
Recruitments

The news eventually reached Berengar of the Papal tactics in order for him to be removed from power by the Teutonic Order and put his brother Lambert in control after the territory was annexed. After all, Ludolf immediately contacted Berengar's burgeoning spy network in Innsbruck and had them send word to Kufstein about such a conspiracy. Berengar knew that saving his brother would come back to bite him, but for his mother's sake, he did. A decision he regretted very much at this time. The Teutonic Order was no small force, and with his current army, he had little chance of defeating them, therefore had no choice but to increase his recruiting efforts for his militia. Eventually he decided to merge the militia and the professional army directly under his father's command into a single unit, and train them appropriately. As far as his father's army was concerned when he was summoned to battle, Berengar would hire a group of mercenaries to fight alongside the Viscount.

In addition to completing the Artillery Battalion and raising the larger Cuirassier group, Berengar did little to recruit. However, with access to double the population he once had, he now knew that he had to start using the Barony of Kitzbuhel and its large population to fill his ranks. But first, he had to make one innovation that he revised after a successful campaign against Kitzbuhel.

Because of this, Berengar once again visited Ludwig's office with a new set of blueprints in hand. When he arrived, the old man quickly greeted his Lord.

"My lord, I don't expect your visit. Can I help you?"

Berengar did not say a word and simply placed the design he had made on the table for Ludwig to see. It was a new sword design, based entirely on the 1788 British Heavy Cavalry Sword of his past life. If there was one thing that conflict with Kitzbuhel taught him, it was that Dusack's single-eyed design was less effective against heavy armored forces in the late medieval period. Therefore, he had to rethink the sword used by his cuirassier, and searching through his memories, he found this gem.

The blade was 38 inches long and had a full edge on one side, with half an edge on the top of the other side. It was a strange mixture of backsword, and broadsword, allowing efficient cutting and thrusting and some more obscure attacks like reverse slashes. The handle is almost like a basket handle, but not quite; with a completely symmetrical protector that covers the entire hand, there is only enough space to allow full rotation of the wrist, making it extremely versatile and ambidextrous. The blade was more than tapered enough to pierce through the gaps in the medieval plate armor, and as such, was a superior weapon to his cavalrymen. Fortunately his cuirassier was few in number, and as such, he did not invest much into their dusack.

Even Ludwig was impressed by the design and asked Berengar's intentions.

"This is?"

Berengar grinned proudly as he clasped Ludwig's shoulder

"New sword for my Cuirassier!"

Ludwig could only sigh; whenever Berengar visited him, be it for drinks or to produce new designs. Even though he had more than enough manpower to do such a thing, especially with the mass application of water-powered technology like the travel hammer, it only meant more work on his plate. He was already inundated with all the production lines he was currently watching. Upon realizing that he had only switched the production of the dusack to this cavalry sword, he felt as if it was not as big a problem as he had made and thus unwillingly accepted it.

"All right, I'll see it done. After all, it was a very good sword..."

"You always know how to make me happy Ludwig, how about we go out for a drink tonight at the tavern?"

Ludwig could not help but smile

"Sure, I'll be there."

after that, Berengar left her and went to his paper mill, where he met people who were working hard. The head of the factory quickly greeted him.

"My lord, it's an honor to have you here."

Berengar was used to the over-enthusiastic attitude of the man at this moment and quickly went on a chase.

"I need some recruitment brochures for the militia made. It's the basic design."

Because of this, Berengar handed the man a recruitment brochure he had personally designed and left the rest in his factory and the many printing presses they had in it. The foreman quickly responded to Berengar's request.

"I'll finish it, my lord."

With that, his spy network would deploy his recruitment flyers in Kufstein and Kitzbuhel to act as a means to recruit many volunteers. He will not realize how effective his propaganda will be until after the month when the number of new members willing to join the militia increases significantly. After all, the people of Kitzbuhel were well aware of how effective his troops were, and now that Berengar was commanding them on behalf of his father, more disillusioned youths were happily joining such an elite army. Before long, his army would be much larger, a power that ordinary Viscounts would not normally have under his command.

So the Berengar militia would soon grow drastically; by the time the Teutonic Order invaded its territory, it was, they would be met with a rude awakening as Berengar spent the rest of his day continuing his daily duties overseeing many aspects in which he was entrusted as the Regent of Kufstein. He seriously began to wonder if his father was still alive. It had been quite a while since the old man had secluded himself, and although Berengar was happy that he could finally accomplish so much, he was worried about his father's health. Therefore, he swore that he would take some time the next day to check on the old man and try to comfort him. After all, he had been too busy to maintain his family affairs lately.