Swiss Arms

Swiss Arms

Chapter 118

-VB-

Hans von Fluelaberg

In all things political, there needed a veneer of legitimacy. Without legitimacy, it became easy for any and all progress made to be overturned. Because if I did not have the legitimacy to continue, then others also didn't have the legitimacy to stop themselves from stopping me.

So I couldn't just invade the Duchy of Upper Bavaria without a casus belli.

And to make that casus belli, I needed a good enough of a reason.

How did I intend to go about this entire rabbit hole of political mechinations?

I started by sending a letter. A politely worded letter. A very polite but still direct letter.

I addressed it to the Duke of Upper Bavaria.

I made my stance on his economic mismanagement and the harm he caused and will further cause his neighbors as "dangerous," "unwise," and "sure to cause grief to his house as a whole," so he should stop whatever it was he was doing.

It was polite.

However, it was not kind and definitely crossed a line because a "mere" baron was making demands of a prestigious duke of a powerful noble house.

It was the kind of thing that would require a response, especially in a turbulent time like this when his reliability, ability, and even legitimacy as a ruler was being openly called into question by his noble subordinates, his neighbors, and his people. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Our response didn't depend on his response, however.

Even if he worked to improve the situation, Henry and I would use his failing legitimacy, "mismanagement," and "corruption" causing harm to our realms as casus belli to kick him out by marching on Munich within the year.

If he didn't try to improve the situation and attacked me, then I would crush him in the battlefield.

If he didn't try to change and just ignored me, then we would still march on his capital to kick him out and install his deposed brother back as the Duke of Upper Bavaria.

And considering that the Duchy of Upper Bavaria currently didn't have the means to hold me back nevermind a coalition of three of its most powerful neighbors, Duke Louis the Bavarian… was fucked.

How did I know he was fucked?

Well, on the surface, he was fucked. The last report I had of the duchy spoke of many city dwellers fleeing the cities and towns. Farmers refused to give up more than a hundred percent of their harvest when told that that's how much they would need to give due to the falling valuation of the local coins.

On top of that, they haven't recovered from their losses incurred during the Battle of Lower Engadine. The ones that hurt the duchy the most was the deaths of man-at-arms and knights. Without those, even open field battles were going to be rough on his duchy.

In contrast, I have been training up my professional soldiers (man-at-arms and rangers both) and able-bodied men in Davos, Understadt, and Fluelaberg. Hell, I even went so far as to contact my dad over in the Forest Cantons to introduce me to whoever was in charge of Uri's mercenaries. Duke Henry of Tyrol was also readying his troops.

I wondered who the empress was getting involved. She did say that she'll have someone of "adequate standing" to come and help us. I just hoped that it would be someone who wouldn't get in the way with either their incompetence or their own schemes that they prioritized over ours.

"Milord."

"Come in," I spoke up reflexively.

The door to my solar opened and -.

"Father!" I said a tad bit more loudly than I thought I would as I got out of my chair and quickly walked around my desk.

And standing in the doorway to my solar with a servant in front of him was none other than my dad.

He looked older now. Just a bit. A wrinkle here, more gray there, and …

Why did he look so worn?

"Come in, father. Take a seat. Abraham, thank you for helping my father."

"Of course, sir," the strict servant bowed lightly before excusing himself.

Father hesitated before he walked in.

"Hello, Hans. It's good to see you again, son."

I grinned. "I guess I have been doing good for myself." Then I saw how his shoulders hunched slightly. Almost as if he was shameful. "What's wrong, father?"

"... It's… it's about the family."

I guided him to an open seat in the solar and sat across from him. "What is this about?" I asked him directly.

He looked at me and then down at the table between us.

"You know how it's been raining a lot lately?"

"Yes. It's been a problem. Some of the steeper valleys have been flooded relentlessly because of it." But most of those valleys already had people living on higher levels instead of closer to the rivers, so it wasn't a problem.

What had been a problem was in towns that … neglected to … follow my directions about … storing food properly.

"Dad… how bad is it?" I asked him with a grimace.

Uri was not part of the Compact. Hell, the Forest Canton wasn't even an ally of the Compact.

But that didn't change the fact that he was obviously hurting.

His lips opened and closed. He grimaced.

"Most of the family's going days without eating."

I nearly shot out of my seat.

Angry.

That's what I felt.

"And you came to me just now?" I asked incredulously. "Dad, you know how rich I am!"

"We thought it would have been fine…!" he nearly hissed, still unable to meet my eyes. "But then the rains swept away one of the village's granaries and …"

Oh shit.

"Dad, there's only granary in the village."

"I know."

"Dad… how many people died before you came to me?"

His hands clasped together, and the knuckles grew wide from how tightly he was holding them together.

"At least five."

Five?

There was barely a hundred people in the village when I left!

Five?

Five percent of the population just died?!

"You should have come earlier," I sighed.

"I should have," he agreed.

I stood up, walked over to my desk, and wrote a quick note. I tore it and walked back to him. "Father, go to my quartermaster. He goes by Albert. If you show him this, then he'll have two wagons filled to the brim with hardy food. Make sure he gets you a five-man squad of rangers as convoy guards, too."

He looked up at me as he slowly accepted the small note.

"What are you waiting for dad-?"

"... I'm proud of you, Hans," he said quietly.

I froze for a moment.

He gave me a hug, a rarity, before he left my solar.

It took me a while to come back to my senses. I sighed as I walked back to my chair and sat down.

So that happened.