Chapter 16: Sugar

“The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee, and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.” – John D Rockefeller.

Rome, Italy. November 1078

Queen Matilda stared at the French emissary with contempt. She wondered why Philip would send someone so insulting as Count Enguerran Leroux. The man redefined what it meant to be arrogant, and Matilda couldn’t stand him, which was saying something if Matilda could barely tolerate the man. Pope Gregory couldn’t stand the man either, commenting that when the man went to Satan, Satan would kick him out of hell, not wanting to listen to the man for all eternity.

Matilda was close enough to hear the comment and peed herself from laughing so hard. It was embarrassing for her, but bless her husband and his quick thinking. Seeing her dress dampen from her urine, Gregory “accidentally” spilled his wine on her. That gave her the opportunity to change her dress without anyone being the wiser.

Over several days, Matilda, Gregory, and Enguerran finished negotiating a treaty between Italy and France. In it, France recognized Italian control over Sardinia, Corsica, and the Italian States east of a line from Nice to Tarantaise while the French would stay west of the line. France also granted Italian merchants trade rights in French ports in exchange for French trading rights in Italian ports. Enguerran tried to include a clause saying the British would be banned from both parties’ ports, but Matilda wouldn’t agree to it. Gregory had seen British sea power firsthand, and it had made an impression. Also, the British offered far lower prices for luxury goods than could be had from the Byzantines. Matilda recognized that the more trade steered away from the Byzantines, the weaker they would become.

While Enguerran sulked over the failure of his anti-British proposal, the rest of the treaty was signed in Nice between Queen Matilda and King Philip, who traveled to Nice to sign it. Also in the treaty was a strong anti-empire clause stating that in the case of a war between either power and the Holy Roman Empire, they would come to each other’s aid. The treaty clearly stated that the clause was against the Holy Roman Empire, not just Henry IV.

After signing, Matilda and Philip discussed aiding the German rebels, during which Matilda advanced the suggestion to bleed both sides of the civil war white by not giving the rebels enough aid to win the war. This worked fine with Philip because his treasury was still mostly empty and would take a generation to recover from the previous decade.

With the French treaty in hand, Matilda could focus her energy on addressing economic issues, such as the primitive roads and piracy in the Adriatic. While focusing on the economy, Matilda would also sustainably strengthen her military, especially the army, as the navy was relegated to primarily anti-piracy duties. With a large amount of trade flowing between Britain and Egypt, pirates didn’t dare enter the southern half of the Mediterranean as they were likely to be sunk.

Just after the treaty was signed, Matilda began getting sick in the mornings. Her ladies-in-waiting thought she may be pregnant after she missed the last two months of curses, but Matilda wasn’t convinced. She had been irregular before and was under much stress negotiating the French-Italian Treaty. With the morning sickness, it was confirmed that she was indeed pregnant.

News quickly spread of Matilda’s pregnancy, and well-wishes flowed from across Italy. What bothered Matilda was the knowledge she would be heavily pregnant during late spring and early summer in the coming year. Several of her friends had been pregnant during the summer months and had been miserable. It was something Matilda wasn’t looking forward to.

Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. November 1078

Henry was in trouble, and he knew it. Even though the war in Burgundy was over, and not to his liking, the civil war and revolts in Poland were heating up. Rebels had fortified Linz and were now holding back the regular army. Von Roon tried repeatedly to break through the lines but failed every time. With the rebels now possessing the same rifled muskets as the regular army, the latter no longer had the technological advantage it was accustomed to.

Von Roon attacked five times before he stopped and dug in. His troops were exhausted, and some were becoming mutinous. They were tired of being put into one no-win situation after another. It didn’t help that Werner’s agents were moving through Von Roon’s camps and talking with the regular army troops. The agents pointed out that although the men in the regular army volunteered, Henry was all too eager to spend their blood.

After six weeks of being on the defensive, the rebels attacked, and although they didn’t break the regular army, they caused heavy casualties. Werner knew it wouldn’t take too much more to shatter the regular army. Two days after the first assault, the rebels attacked again, and Werner’s prediction proved correct. They shattered the regular army and captured almost a quarter of it. Worse for Henry, half of the surviving army lost their weapons in the rout. If the lost muskets were not enough, the army lost all their artillery.

When Henry heard about the disaster, he turned white and vomited everything in his stomach. Brunhild saw Henry and rushed to his side. She had never seen anyone have such a reaction.

“All is lost. All is lost.” Henry said once he was able to talk.

“What happened?”

“The army has been decimated, and there is nothing left between us and the rebel army. It’s time to send the children to Britain. When the rebels captured Linz, they enslaved or murdered everyone in the city. The men were either executed by being burned to death or forced into the mines, while every female who wasn’t a crone was brutally raped, with many being killed.” Brunhild turned white and had to fight to keep her stomach where it was supposed to be. Then she saw something she had never seen before. Henry’s face hardened, and his eyes grew cold. “Brunhild, you are going to York. See if you can get help from Marion. Offer her anything, and I do mean anything, to secure her aid. I mean, if she wants the children, give them to her. If she wants you to sleep with her, you better prepare your lips. While you are in York, I will spread the word about what happens if the rebel army captures you. That should harden the people’s resistance to the rebels and stiffen the army.” Brunhild stared at Henry as if he had grown an extra head. “What? Get going!” Henry snapped.

Brunhild’s brain engaged, and she bowed to Henry. She watched as Henry rushed to write releases for the empire’s newspapers. When Henry finished, Brunhild read it and almost lost her stomach again. The release was so graphic that Brunhild could imagine herself in Linz. She had never seen Henry so determined as he was now.

Henry only paused his labors long enough to kiss Brunhild goodbye when she boarded the train to Hamburg. From Hamburg, she would hitch a ride on a merchant ship to Hull. Even though it was fall and the North Sea was rough, Brunhild and the children boarded the first merchant ship they could buy passage on.

A day after Brunhild left, Henry’s propaganda was published, which created the stir he sought. At every recruitment center, the lines stretched for blocks as young men and women rushed to enlist in the army. The problem was it would take time to turn the civilians into soldiers. Time Henry didn’t have because news reached him the rebels had captured Passau. Being a mercenary army, the officers didn’t have much control over the regular troops, so even though Passau surrendered without a fight, part of the population was still murdered and raped.

News of the rape of Passau spread like wildfire, which caused more people to sign up for the army while others became refugees trying to get out of the way. Werner was disappointed in his army’s behavior but should have expected it, as they were mercenaries. If he tried to discipline them, they would desert en masse.

Werner looked at a map of the area and decided to advance to Regensburg before continuing northwest to Bamburg. At Bamburg, Werner’s army would turn and travel down the Main River to Frankfort. This would enable the rebels to fully utilize river transportation. They couldn’t use the railroads because Henry had all the locomotives and rolling stock moved north before the tracks were sabotaged.

As the rebels moved toward Regensburg, resistance began to stiffen, and casualties mounted. However, thanks to the artillery captured from Henry’s troops, Werner had few problems clearing strong points, but every strong point cost Werner time. Time was the one thing Werner didn’t have since winter was beginning to grip the land.

At Regensburg, there were only men left to defend the town. They knew they had to hold out long enough for their women to make their escape. Instead of trying to hold the walls, the defenders dug trenches before the walls to protect the troops from artillery.

By the time Werner reached Regensburg, he had 45,000 troops at his disposal and his diplomats had reached agreements with the Italian States. If they loaned Werner their troops, he would allow them to declare their complete independence once he became emperor. Werner made the same agreement with King Zima of Poland.

While the defenders only had 6,000 men, they occupied well-built trenches and had the added advantage of early winter mud. The attackers would be bogged down in the mud, slowing them down and making them easier targets to hit.

Werner found that out firsthand when the defenders threw his first attack back with little effort, inflicting heavy casualties. Instead of immediately launching another attack, Werner turned to his artillery and had them pound the defenses. He wanted to keep the defenders off balance until the ground froze. To wear them down faster, the artillery fired day and night to prevent the defenders from sleeping.

Three days after the first attack on Regensburg, the ground froze enough to launch another attack. The rebels attacked at first light and broke the defenders’ lines. This time, though, the defenders didn’t rout but retreated in an orderly fashion. To keep the defenders from reforming, Werner sent his cavalry after the retreating defenders to harass them.

The cavalry continued to harass the retreating troops until they entered the Franconian Jura. Then, the defenders turned on their pursuers and cut them to pieces. They used the hills to ambush the rebel cavalry and retreat before the cavalry could reform. After the cavalry had lost almost 60% of their strength, they retreated to the protection of the main army.

After almost a week of fighting, Werner forced his way through the Franconian Jura and reached the Main River on the last day of November. His army was tired and cold but excited because they were so close to their goal. Once he took Frankfort, Werner would have his army set up winter quarters. They couldn’t use Regensburg to winter in because the retreating defenders put the city to the torch, denying Werner the opportunity to winter there like he had planned.

On the same day rebel troops took Regensburg, the British Expeditionary Force landed at the mouth of the Rhine. Thanks to a dry autumn, the river was too low to allow any heavily loaded barges to pass. While the force could have gone to Hamburg, they wouldn’t have been able to use river transportation. Rail transport was impossible because the rebels had agents sabotaging the rail network throughout the Holy Roman Empire, so trains were not moving. It was lucky Brunhild left when she did, or she would have had to walk.

All the problems meant the British would have to walk most of the way to Frankfort in the middle of winter. It promised to be a long, arduous journey even if they made it to Frankfort in time. General Ó Braonáin shrugged and began preparing the army to move out. Even though the river was too shallow for the barges, patrol boats could still easily navigate it, so they moved to take control.

While the British marched up the Rhine, the rebels marched down the Main. Count Werner had received word that Henry planned to stay in Frankfort to lead the defense, although his wife and children had run off to Britain. Werner was disappointed since he had been looking forward to having the blonde whore for his bed.

While the British moved much faster than Werner, Werner didn’t have as far to go. However, it seemed as if he had to fight for every village in his path, and while each fight didn’t cost much, combined, he lost a quarter of his army by the time they reached Frankfort. Everyone knew the British were coming, and to reach Frankfort before them, Werner bypassed the fortified city of Würzburg. Taking the city was deemed too costly in terms of time and treasure.

Henry hadn’t expected Werner to bypass Würzburg since most commanders wouldn’t have chosen to leave an enemy force in their rear. To keep the defenders from sallying out, Werner left several thousand troops to besiege the city.

When Werner looked at the city of Frankfort, it was apparent the British troops hadn’t arrived yet, as civilians were running about helping the defenders build fortifications. The British had been held up on the roads near Koblenz because the area had suffered from a winter storm that dumped 20 centimeters of snow over the region. Now, the British had to deal with snow over gelatinous mud. Werner had escaped the snow because the storm had passed north of Frankfort.

As soon as Werner’s army was set up, he sent his surrender demands to the city and wasn’t surprised Henry rejected them. As soon as Henry rejected the surrender demands, Werner began pounding the city with artillery. With the artillery firing, the rebel infantry moved to surround the city and set up fortifications to stop the British when they arrived.

The only thing Henry was glad for was Brunhild had stayed with the British Army instead of rushing to Frankfort; rebel intelligence hadn’t discovered she had returned with the British troops. This way, if they lost, she would most likely survive. Around him, the remaining civilians were aiding his soldiers in building the city’s defenses. There were 15,000 green troops and 1,200 exhausted, experienced troops to defend the city. Opposing them, the rebel army had made up their losses and now had 55,000 troops. More reinforcements had come up from Italy and the Balkans. The problem with the reinforcements was they had very little experience with gunpowder warfare.

The rebel guns pounded Frankfort without stopping. Thanks to a careless worker, they had enough powder to shoot continuously for six days and nights. The worker had been tasked with igniting a large store of powder, but he delayed his critical task because he wanted to ensure his family was far enough away to be protected from the blast. That slight delay allowed rebel cavalry to arrive and arrest the man. Ultimately, it didn’t matter what steps the man took to protect his family because the cavalry captured them. The females were taken to be concubines, while the male members were sent to become slaves.