145 Restitutor Orbis
This is tomorrow's chapter
-------------------------
If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
-------------------------------
-Pov of Antti fourth moon 286 AC
"What happens now?" said Karl with a serious look as he polished his Valyrian steel weapons and placed them on a shelf with the king's portrait.
"Tyrosh has fallen into total anarchy... they killed the Archon of Tyrosh, and the magisters are fighting among themselves, while the mercenaries have rebelled against them... it's only a matter of time before the coastal colonies of the city are divided between Myr and Lys," I said, deep in thought.
"Well... that's serious... I'll send a letter to the capital to see if I'm authorized to intervene and stabilize the city as soon as possible... unfortunately, I can't help you for the moment unless the king authorizes it; but if he does, my entire fleet will do everything possible to assist you," said Karl, thoughtful.
"Don't worry, I understand. The reaction of the Free Cities if Tyrosh falls under the influence of our king will be terrible... this must be resolved by us. Although it would be good to have some of your ships in case we need to move troops urgently. We're not expert sailors like yours. I must send a letter to Lothar to make his presence immediate in the city," I said as I took the ink and pen from Karl.
"How did the city collapse? At least, in the last few days, everything seemed quiet..." said Karl as he did the same, writing a letter to the king.
"We left them dry, they had nothing to pay their mercenaries or the administrative expenses of the city. They depended a bit on the wealth of the magisters, but as distrust grew, they stopped collaborating. The mercenaries were not paid, and it seems that the information that they had no way to pay leaked out. The mercenaries rebelled because some had annual contracts that couldn't be paid," I explained.
"And if what we stole was the reserves from the bank of Tyrosh... we collapsed all the merchants who had their savings in that bank. We destroyed Tyrosh's economy. The merchants and artisans went bankrupt. Unemployment is rampant. The city is an island without merchants; without food arriving. People are starving. All this led to the uprising of the mercenaries who, as expected, are abusing the population, acting as if they were kings," I said, specifying in the letters.
"Damn, and how much did you steal? Since that gold and silver don't belong to me, I haven't asked for it to be counted," said Karl with interest.
"Well, we stole four hundred and eighty-five kilograms of Valyrian steel, of which ten are yours in the two swords, the axe, and the mace. And well, we haven't counted exactly how much we stole, but if we deliver it to the king, we will have increased his wealth probably three or four times," I said, remembering the large amounts of precious metals we stole.
"It depends on your plan what you should do with that gold... for now, it will be safe here; no one will dare to besiege my islands without a force ten times superior," said Karl, pointing to his fortified port.
"This is not a problem; it's an opportunity... a civil war and internal chaos, all perfect for someone hungry for power to emerge... and that would be Lothar, who was ratified as noble by Tyrosh. Then, we have legitimacy for Lothar to take control of the city, returning it to the natural regime of governance: a noble and his subjects, and ending that weak and pathetic attempt of their oligarchic democracy... if the Romans couldn't, less these decadents," I said, revealing my plans to Karl.
"I suppose you'll need ships to take Lothar to Tyrosh... how many do you need? I'll see if I can arrange the ships you need without leaving the sea passages unprotected and without making the king lose gold," said Karl, taking his book.
"Horses... no, we don't need horses. If there's a fight, it'll be in the streets. We need to transport Lothar's infantry and knights. I'll need the galleons, about five should be enough to transport most of our forces to Tyrosh," I said to Karl.
"Wow, you're putting me in a difficult situation... but well, we don't use galleons to chase smugglers, so I can lease them temporarily. Don't worry, I won't charge you much, just pay the operational expenses... until I have a response from the king, any use of my resources without authorization could be seen as insubordination. So, we'll make it look like a commercial transport activity, which I'm authorized to perform," said Karl, checking his books.
"Alright, I'll send the letter to Lothar and I'll leave with the galleons to Lothar's city to transport him to Tyrosh," I said to Karl.
"Alright, travel safely. Those ships are very expensive... remember that if you need help with anything, I'm always available as long as it benefits the king and my family," said Karl, smiling.
My men and I organized everything as best we could and sent a letter to Lothar to prepare everything for our arrival.
-----------------------
"Ha, ha, ha! So the pagans are killing each other?" said Lothar after laughing loudly.
"Yes, the city has fallen into total chaos. We must arrive as soon as possible to take control of it as mercenaries. The king cannot intervene without facing the complaints of the Free Cities, and we must arrive quickly, before the other Free Cities find out what is happening and take possession of the coastal cities of Tyrosh. The balance of power is at risk. If Tyrosh falls, it's only a matter of time before Lys or Myr win the war and establish themselves as the hegemon of the area."i said to lothar
"Ha, ha, ha! You did an excellent job then. There's nothing better than knowing those filthy slavers are killing each other. Well, we'll sail day and night to reach Tyrosh as soon as possible. Any recommendations on what I should do in the city? I mean, who can I or can't I kill?" said Lothar, sitting on the railing of the galleon and looking at the sea.
"The plan was to force them to ask for more loans from our king and deliver that gold to the Prussian Bank in King's Landing. That way, we would gain a lot of influence in Tyrosh, in addition to greatly increasing the bank's power. But this plan had unexpected results. But it's also an opportunity. You must take control of the city, kill the mercenaries, present yourself as a savior, like Aureliano, Restitutor Orbis,"i said to Lothar.
"Well, but what do we do with the degenerate libertines of the magisters? I want to nail them to a cross and expose them for days in the city's port so that everyone knows what happens when they covet the blessings of the Almighty being disgusting pagans," said Lothar with a smile.
"We can't kill them. We'll have to use them to our advantage. I doubt the Free Cities will tolerate hereditary nobility in their lands that have been governed by the oligarchy of the Valyrian heirs. So, recomposing the council of the magisters will be vital to have that legitimacy. But you could become the ruler of the city and have them as pawns in a council with no power, as they do in Norvos," I said to Lothar.
"Bah, but you're right. They can be helpful as pawns. What about that Karl? Is he trustworthy?" said Lothar, pointing to Karl's captains.
"Yes, he has an uncontrollable desire to make his father proud, and he will always act to bring prestige to his family. It's strange, but he's a person who, if you offer him payment equivalent to the risk, will help you. Unless the king orders him to do something, since like his father, he has unconditional loyalty to the king. Only Karl thinks a little more before acting, which makes him even more efficient when carrying out missions, as he thinks of everything. Besides, he doesn't adhere to Prussian social norms; he considers those norms mere recommendations. A young Helmuth," I said to Lothar, recounting Karl's quirk.
"Let's hope he doesn't have Helmuth's religious pragmatism. That stupid thought has already caused too much chaos. It would be terrible if Karl fell into that," said Lothar.
"The funny thing is that to control him, you just have to make him think about what his father would want, and since Johann is a devout Protestant, that makes Karl the same, a devout Protestant, so that his father feels proud of him," I said to Lothar, revealing Karl's peculiarity.
"In a way, all children want to make their parents proud. It's not a negative thing," said Lothar, making faces with some disgust.
After that, we loaded around eight thousand men into the galleons and Lothar's ships, and we coordinated for two of Karl's galleons to carry wheat to Tyrosh for what would happen after the massacre that would fall on the city. From our ships, we could see several columns of black smoke rising from the different factions that ruled the city.
The port was completely empty, and the presence of people was minimal, only those who were hiding from the excessive violence that had consumed the city. As Lothar's men prepared to fight, I searched for my spies who had observed much of everything. And the information was as expected.
There were cases of cannibalism, mass rapes, and countless abuses that had been generated by the mercenaries who controlled the poorest neighborhoods of the city, while the magisters controlled parts of the rich area. The pikemen took their positions and began to walk the streets, while my men and I walked on the rooftops of the city.
The terrain played in favor of our forces, and although the city's mercenaries outnumbered us, they were disunited. Each captain ruled over their mercenaries, and each magister over their guards, while Lothar led all his men.
The first combat occurred in the central square of Tyrosh, where our pikemen and crossbowmen fought against the mercenaries. They could do nothing but retreat before the immense wall of pikes approaching them, leaving their comrades wounded by crossbows behind, only to be quickly dispatched by our infantry.
Lothar charged like a bull against the mercenaries, killing several and grabbing a mercenary captain by the neck, strangling him in front of everyone.
People watched from their homes, and some started to come out to observe everything. Realizing that our men weren't attacking them or attempting to take them as slaves, they became confident and began kneeling before us, thanking us. Some even tried to kiss Lothar's feet, but he ignored them to continue his search for enemies.
Our forces continued fighting street by street, even house by house, killing all the mercenaries. As word spread that the fearsome Lothar had arrived, more and more people came out to praise our forces.
Many mercenaries began surrendering or joining larger groups. Those who surrendered were crucified in front of their victims, who started throwing stones at those who had been their jailers for several days.
There was a great battle at the walls of the wealthy sector of the city, among the mercenaries we had cornered, with a wall of pikes in all possible escape routes. To everyone's surprise, the mercenaries fought to the end.
In just one day of intense fighting, we had controlled the poor area of the city and began unloading wheat from the galleons, giving food to the people, while we prepared to assault the magisters' sector.
The people saw us as their saviors...
"Although we were the ones who got them into all this."
When Lothar was about to give the order to launch ladders against the walls, the gates opened, and several magisters came out with gifts for Lothar.
They received him as the savior of the city... but the idiots wanted everything to return to normal, hoping that Lothar would peacefully return power to the city council in exchange for some worthless gifts.
Without much resistance, we took them prisoner and began searching for the rest of the magisters.
By nightfall, only praises for Lothar and his army of saviors were heard, while we had all the magisters chained up.
--------------
Give me your power stones
------------------------
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
----------------------
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
----------------------
