Chapter04
11âPPL Operation
The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick I.
Because he had a red beard, he was also known by the nickname Emperor Barbarossa.
At present, he had suffered a great loss of honor after failing in his conquest of Lombardy.
The memory of that defeat was not simply a military failure. It was a crack in the authority that hung over the entire Empire, and it was also a humiliation that had revealed to the whole world that the Emperor was not an absolute being.
That fact was slowly eating away at his heart.
In the midst of this, he heard that the youngest member of the Eisen-Schwert family, the son of a knight he favored and a boy whom he himself had knighted, had made a name for himself shortly after heading to Jerusalem and had become the Lord of Tyre.
He was a little pleased by the news.
That happiness was more than just an emotion. It was like a small flame rising from the ashes.
It was proof that the order he had established had not completely collapsed, and that his influence was still alive somewhere.
âHe will fight under my flag and my name?â
Emperor Frederick I thought about Michael’s proposal and calculated the gains and losses in his head.
At present, he had lost both honor and influence, leaving him in a somewhat difficult political position within the Empire.
He had managed to restore some of the Emperor’s authority by putting pressure on Henry the Lion, but…
That was only a temporary solution.
He had merely patched up a larger crack for the moment, and he knew better than anyone that he was standing on an unstable balance that could break again at any time.
If he wanted to gain a stronger voice and greater influence here…
The best way was to achieve a worthy military accomplishment.
And that accomplishment had to be more than simply winning a battle.
It had to be a symbolic victory that proved his legitimacy before God, the Empire, and history.
And…
The letter sent by Michael Eisen-Schwert was exactly the kind of proposal that appealed to Frederick I, who had been considering how to gain a military achievement that could expand his influence.
The distance meant there was little chance of it causing direct damage to the Holy Roman Empire…
And if he defeated the infidels in the Levant, where holy Jerusalem was located, his own honor would rise while he could also claim that he was contributing to the defense of the Holy Land.
It was an extremely attractive investment for an Emperor.
The risks were small, while the possible gains were enormous.
âMichael is a friend whom I personally knighted.â
Having made his decision, Emperor Frederick I decided to support Michael.
He sent military funds and a flag bearing the Imperial eagle, the symbol of the Emperor, to Tyre through Genoese merchants.
There was no hesitation in his decision, but deep within his heart were mixed calculations, expectations, and a quiet ambition.
If this succeeded, he would be able to return to the center of the Empire once again.
Not long afterward, the Genoese merchants stopped in Milan, recruited several highly skilled blacksmiths, and returned with them to Tyre in the Levant.
Every step they took carried a meaning beyond simple commerce.
They were a passage through which the will of the Empire flowed toward the East, and proof that steel, gold, and power were moving together.
Tyre.
Two months after becoming its lord.
Michael had strengthened his alliance with Genoa, and perhaps because of that, the Venetians had recently begun openly interfering with him.
On the surface, their interference looked like nothing more than minor conflicts.
But underneath it was a fierce struggle for control over Eastern trade.
Of course, the interference was mostly caused by the Cumans causing trouble outside their assigned areas.
Whenever that happened, Michael did not tolerate it.
He mobilized his heavy cavalry and arrested every Cuman who caused trouble.
His response was decisive and without hesitation, carrying a coldness that ignored any concern for diplomatic appearances.
Thanks to that, order inside Tyre was quickly being established.
âAlready twenty people have been arrested?â
âYes, my lord.â
âWhat are the Venetians saying?â
âThey are promising to prevent it from happening again and asking us to release them.â
âHmph. What nonsense. If they want to take the Cumans back, tell them to pay a fine.â
Michael had specifically established a law in Tyre under his authority as lord, setting official fines for the Cumans who caused trouble.
Naturally, the fines were higher than expected.
They were even set higher than the cost of hiring the Cumans, forcing the Venetian merchants to think twice before doing anything.
The law was not merely a punishment.
It was also a symbol clearly declaring who the master of Tyre was.
The Venetian navy had blocked the harbor several times just to cause trouble.
However, Genoese merchants ignored the Venetian navy, docked their ships at the harbor, and continued unloading their goods.
As a result, only the Venetians suffered losses because they could not sell their goods.
Eventually, the blockade came to nothing.
The gap between Venice and Genoa was still not very large.
Even though the Venetian merchants were strengthening their power through the Eastern Roman Empire, it was still difficult for them to block Genoa, which held a large share of the Levant’s eastern trade.
They were also unable to gain the upper hand on land.
Michael was using the income generated by Tyre to recruit large numbers of sergeants under his command, and another 100 infantry sergeants had already been added.
The speed of his military expansion was going beyond that of an ordinary lord.
It was showing the development of a force that was beginning to resemble an independent warlord’s army.
In addition to the sergeants who had originally come with the existing knights, another 100 sergeants had been added.
Bernhard and the heavy cavalry under Michael’s command were also fiercely training them together with the 100 soldiers of the Tyre garrison.
Because of this, the Venetians, who had only 100 Italian heavy infantry and 30 remaining Cuman cavalry, could not easily provoke him.
âMy lord! A merchant who has received the Empire’s reply in Genoa has arrived.â
âOh!â
Soon, the Genoese merchant Benedetto della Torre entered, accompanied by several sturdy men who clearly looked like blacksmiths.
Their steps were confident, and their eyes showed the certainty of men who already believed the deal had been concluded.
âIt has been a long time, my lord.â
âOh! Benedetto… I have been waiting very much for you to come.â
When Michael had first sent the letter, he had met Benedetto, a Venetian merchant who held trading rights in Tyre and Acre, and had built a connection with him.
Through him, Michael had sent a letter to the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which could be considered the beginning of the PPL Operation.
And now Benedetto had returned with the Emperor’s reply.
Their connection had not been a simple coincidence.
It had been an intentional link, and at this very moment, it was leading into a much larger flow of events.
âJudging by the people behind you… it seems His Majesty the Emperor has provided you with money.â
âYes, that is correct. And… while we were at it, the Della Torre family would also like to personally support my lord.â
âHmm…â
When Michael appeared somewhat hesitant at Benedetto’s words, Benedetto quickly continued.
âOf course, we are not asking for any special privileges in return. We would simply appreciate it if you continued to keep Venice away as you have been doing. At the same time, we thought our family might also gain the reputation of having contributed to the defense of the Holy Land…â
Michael smiled at those words and replied.
âVery well. You have brought your family’s banner, I assume?â
âOf course.â
And so Michael received from Benedetto a yellow banner bearing the black Imperial eagle, the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as a banner bearing the Della Torre family coat of armsâa golden tower on a blue heater-shaped shield.
Those banners were not simply pieces of cloth.
They were like contracts woven together from power, legitimacy, and gold.
âAnd these are the blacksmiths we recruited in Milan.â
Among the Italian heavy infantry, the Milanese heavy infantry were considered the strongest.
The reason they could be so heavily equipped was because Milan had blacksmiths capable of forging Milanese steel into armor.
The steel that would be produced by their hands would not simply be weapons.
It would become a decisive factor capable of changing the course of battles.
âIn addition, we have brought twenty warhorses and Milanese steel.â
Benedetto explained that he had used the military funds received from the Emperor to acquire the blacksmiths, Milanese steel, and twenty warhorses.
On top of that, the Della Torre family had personally prepared another thirty warhorses as an investment.
Thanks to this, Michael could raise a total of fifty additional cavalrymen.
That number was not merely an increase in manpower.
It represented a qualitative leap in his military strength.
And with the money that remained…
Michael made an offer to the Cumans imprisoned in the cells.
If they served under him, he offered to let them serve under his command for three years in exchange for an amount equal to their fine.
He also promised to pay them a considerable salary during their service.
The offer was not a threat.
It was an opportunity, a clever temptation that allowed them to make the choice themselves.
The Cumans hesitated at first…
But after sensing the presence and authority radiating from Michael, they soon accepted the offer.
Thus, twenty Cuman cavalrymen joined Michael’s forces.
With that choice, they went from prisoners to warriors.
At the same time, they had chosen a new lord.
Afterward, Michael made the Cumans instructors for his cavalry training.
He selected fifty sergeants who were capable of riding horses and had them learn horsemanship from the Cumans.
Naturally, the Cumans’ horsemanship was raw and wild, just as one would expect from nomadic horsemen.
The fifty sergeants who were forced to learn it through sheer grit were the ones suffering the most.
The training was pure pain.
But at the end of it, a completely different level of cavalry force would be born.
Meanwhile, the Cumans who had defected to Michael found life under him much more exciting than it had been under the Venetians.
Sometimes they went outside the city to patrol, slaughtered Saracen bandits, seized their weapons and horses, and received rewards for it.
As they began holding more money in their hands, they shared the good news with their former comrades who were still serving under Venice.
The stories passed from mouth to mouth were not simply rumors.
They were temptations, and they gradually drew more people in.
When their fellow Cumans heard this news, they immediately quit their unbearably boring work as Venetian mercenaries and begged Michael to hire them.
Thus, almost by accident, Michael hired another thirty Cuman cavalrymen and expanded his cavalry forces.
Naturally, when the Venetian merchants heard the news, they were furious and practically grabbed the backs of their necks in despair.
But there was nothing they could do.
They had moved the world with money.
But at this moment, something stronger than money was moving.
In particular, the Cumans were a warrior people and a raiding people who had once ridden across the northern steppes.
Because of this, they sometimes regarded battle almost like a game.
Furthermore, the Venetians did not properly pay their mercenaries when there was no fighting.
This made the already dissatisfied Cumans even more eager to join Michael’s forces in large numbers.
Afterward, Michael handed the administration of Tyre over to Bernhard and the knights under his command.
He then took three young knights, thirty heavy cavalrymen, and fifty Cuman cavalrymen and patrolled the area around Tyre, suppressing Saracen bandits and Bedouin bandits.
His movements were more than simple efforts to maintain order.
They were the beginning of his expansion of power.
Every time they charged…
Instead of Deus Vult…
âFor His Imperial Majesty!â
