Chapter 334: Papal Woes (1/2)
Deep within the halls of the Vatican, Pope Julius was sitting upon his papal throne. As he did so, he held his head within his hands. The man was so thoroughly enraged that he felt like he was about to suffer an aneurysm. The war between the Holy Roman Empire and the newfound Kingdom of Austria had turned into an enormous disaster.
To calm his nerves, Julius breathed in and exhaled a few times; as he did so, he made a snarky comment about his current condition.
”So this is how Valentinian felt right before he died?”
This was a reference to the ancient Roman Emperor who had gotten so irritated that he suffered a stroke and thus quite literally died of anger. No matter how much the Pope tried to calm his nerves, he could not help but think of the setbacks that the Church was currently facing due to Berengar's rapid rise to power.
The Italians were swiftly being pushed back to Florence, which was the seat of Imperial Power, and the Swiss Confederation had surrendered, becoming annexed by the Austrians in the process. Due to this fact, between ten and twenty thousand Austrians would be heading to the Italian theater of war to crush the Italian Army thoroughly.
The pillar of Papal military power was the might that the Holy Roman Empire possessed. Only now did the Pope realize the mistakes that he had made when the Hussite Wars broke out. He should have sent the Catholic Armies into Austria the moment he was able to do so and route out the avatar of Satan that was King Berengar von Kufstein.
King? What gave him the right to call himself that the Pope did not crown him, and as such, Julius did not recognize the legitimacy of Berengar's newfound title. Regardless of this alleged illegitimacy, Julius could not deny that Berengar had truly outplayed him.
Berengar had done the unthinkable and used his neighbors and allies as a proxy to hamper the Catholic Kingdoms and their military might. In doing so, he had pretended to be at peace but instead was preparing an Army the likes the world had never seen before.
Not just an Army, but a powerful enough Navy to challenge the Holy Roman Empire and its vassal states on the Mediterranean. Before the Italians could even respond to Berengar's Navy, the demon had sent his Armada to eradicate the majority of their fleet. This attack was launched without warning as the vessels were docked in their two most important port cities, crippling the massive fleet they had built up in preparation for the war.
All of these things made the Vicar of Christ, of all people, question his faith in the Lord God almighty. Was Berengar not the serpent in the flesh? Was he actually an envoy of God's will sent to deliver Christendom from the corruption that had consumed the Roman Catholic Church?
If not, then how could Berengar triumph against his enemies over and over again without suffering? Such thoughts plagued the mind of the new Pope, who had to inherit the mess his predecessor created.
”Damn you, Simeon! Damn you to the depths of hell! What kind of monster have you provoked against our faith!”
Julius could not help but curse the previous Pope who was forced to vacate his position after the disaster he had caused in the German Realm. While the Germans slaughtered one another for a meaningless title, Bohemia was in an even worse state.
With each passing day, the Hussites gained further ground within Bohemia. Somehow, recently captured Hussite arms had made their way into the hands of murderers and thieves, causing the Bohemian people to lose faith in their King.
”Radek, what the hell are you doing!?! King of Bohemia, and yet you can't prevent your soldiers from selling captured rebel arms to a bunch of brigands! Bah, you don't deserve your title.”
Despite being alone, Julius could not prevent himself from venting his frustrations in the darkness surrounding him. If one were to enter the chambers, they would see a lonely old Pope sitting on his throne in the dark, cursing at people who were hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
If there was one good thing that had happened during this time, it was the fact that the Emirate of Granada had recently been suffering setbacks in their war with the Iberian Union, that, and the fact that various designs of the so-called Arkebuse and Musket had been captured by the Papacy's allies, and thus brought to them for reverse-engineering.
Indeed God was testing his patience, but it would all be worth it when they finally managed to figure out how Berengar's weapons worked. Once they did, they could gather together a grand army of Crusaders the likes the world had never seen before and march on Austria with the weapons that Berengar had created.
It was not just matchlocks and flintlocks that the Church had acquired, but Falconets too. Compared to Berengar's defenses, such cannons were severely obsolete; it did not change the fact that they finally had access to more sophisticated artillery. Maybe they could even produce a gun based upon the one-pounder falconet that was scaled up in size?