Tyranny of Steel

After showing the Byzantine noblemen and merchants the armory, Berengar quickly walked into the next area of the industrial sector which housed the arms factory; there were two of such facilities in Kufstein, much like the armories they had been split into production for local forces, and production of arms for export. The export arms factory was also manned by many workers, who utilized trip hammers and other water-powered machinery to pound the steel ingots into the shapes of swords, spears, war hammers, polearms, arrowheads, etc.

Arethas witnessed the final process of creating a halberd in the hands of one of the workers, it was stacked neatly onto a pallet filled with hundreds of other halberds which would later be inspected for quality control, and only after the shipment was fully inspected, and tested would they be shipped out to their customers. Berengar knew the importance of quality control, and as such, he did his best to maintain the quality of his equipment. Each piece of equipment approved for export was given a proof mark shaped like the letter K, symbolizing that it had been manufactured and received approval for shipment within the factories of Kufstein. This process, of course, was also used on the equipment for his own forces, but that was not important at the moment. Berengar began to introduce the facility to the merchants as if he was a standard tour guide who had repeated this phrase a hundred times before.

"This is the arms factory used to produce weapons from the steel manufactured in the city. Each piece of equipment, much like the armor in our armories, is inspected for quality before it is shipped out to our customers. If it fails to meet our standards, it is recycled into the steel plants and manufactured into something new. I have stringent guidelines about quality control to ensure that each piece of equipment manufactured in our factories is truly fit for the stresses of battle."

The idea of strict quality control was something Bernegar had taken from his previous life and was not generally used in this timeline, at least not to the degree to which he had implemented it.. Seeing such a massive stockpile of weapons being loaded onto wooden pallets, the byzantine merchants and noblemen were practically salivating at sight. They all wanted to get their hands on the arms in front of them, where they could be sold in the Empire for a large profit or used to outfit their own troops.

Berengar had yet to show the actual warehouse which housed his steel surplus, but he had already captured the interests of the men from the East. From the looks in their eyes, he could tell they would spread this news across the Empire, and Berengar would gain various new customers. Arethas, in particular, could not wait to return home and inform the department in charge of procuring equipment for the army about such a massive opportunity. After all, the Byzantine Empire was a highly complex imperial bureaucracy; a general could not just outfit his troops with new equipment out of nowhere; it first had to be approved by the bureaucrats in charge of logistics.

After showing off the armory and arms factory, Berengar finally dragged the men over to the warehouse which housed the steel surplus; after opening it up and displaying the full might of his industrial capacity, the merchants and noblemen were absolutely shocked. The warehouse was roughly 5,000 sq feet and contained piles of steel ingots stacked to the roof. The amount of steel in this facility was in the thousands of tons. This was the surplus that had been gathered after months of production from the Bessemer converters.

Seeing the sight before him, Arethas' eyes nearly fell out of his sockets; his jaw dropped to the point where it nearly unhinged itself. He could not fathom so much steel in one place. Steel was a scarce commodity, and yet Berengar had produced such a vast quantity of it. He could not understand why so much steel was needed. After all, the idea of using steel in structures was not something that had been invented outside of Berengar's domain. The steel ingots themselves were sorted into different areas based upon their composition and purpose. Structural steel, armor steel, weapon steels, tool steels, and galvanized steel ingots were properly organized in their own sections. If one were not familiar with this organization, one would think that all the steel was the same.

After confirming that they were looking at reality, the Byzantine merchants and noblemen recovered their senses and instantly began thinking about taking advantage of this. The merchants, in particular, wanted to resale this steel for an exorbitant price and instantly began making offers to Berengar. One fat and bald man, in particular, approached Berengar with a smile on his face as if the young Count was his benefactor.

"Count Berengar, what would it take for me to acquire a small amount of this steel to bring back with me to the Empire?"

Seeing the way the man was looking at him made Berengar uncomfortable. However, he knew the value of the steel and the man's plans. As such, he made a figure he felt was appropriate.

"I will accept one pound of silver for every ton of steel you wish to buy."

This number was quite high, considering 150 lbs of iron could be sold in England for 4 shillings, each shilling being roughly 1/20 a pound of silver. However, this was not iron but readily manufactured steel, and Berengar held a monopoly on it. There was nowhere else in the world the man would be able to get such a vast quantity of steel. For reference, in the modern world from Berengar's past life, one ton of steel ingots was worth anywhere between 1,000 to 1,500 US Dollars, whereas one Avoirdupois Pound of silver was worth roughly 345 US Dollars. However, silver was much scarcer in this time period, and as such, its inherent worth was much higher than 21st Century America, but then again, so was steel.

The smiling face of the fat merchant quickly receded to a scowl as he heard Berengar's offer. It was quite a large sum of money, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he could charge an even greater price when he resold it, as for the time being, he would be one of the few men capable of bringing such a vast quantity of steel back to the Empire. However, the man still tried to negotiate the price with Berengar.

"How about 1/2 a pound of silver?"

However, Berengar shook his head in refusal and clarified his position

"One pound of silver for one ton of steel. That is my offer."

Everyone in the room knew that Berengar had a monopoly on such a high quantity of steel, and he could dictate the price as he pleased, even if these merchants were unwilling to pay the price, someone would, and as such, Berengar took full advantage of that to pressure these merchants. Eventually, they gritted their teeth and bought a large steel supply to bring back to the Empire. Of course, they did not have such a vast quantity of silver on them, and as such, they would have to go back to the Empire, get the silver, and then return to Kufstein to complete the transaction. However, such a trip was worth it when the profit they could make from the steel was massive.

After concluding the initial transaction, Berengar completed the tour of his industrial district and captured the interests of the Byzantine merchants and noblemen; they had no idea how Berengar had managed to accomplish it as he kept them away from the Bessemer converters. Still, he had such a large stockpile of steel. If they were his neighbors, they would be tempted to invade. However, due to the distance between the Empire and Tyrol, it was not something they could easily do. As such, the Byzantines spent some time in Tyrol getting accustomed to Berengar before returning to the Empire, though they would be back shortly with plenty of silver to trade for Berengar's steel.

Berengar, on the other hand, was rather happy about the deals he had made; he had secured a new market, and with it, another fortune. For now, he went back to preparing his armies for the upcoming war with the Teutonic Order, as well as overseeing the construction of his star fortresses and monuments. The work of a Tyrant was never complete.