Tyranny of Steel

While Berengar had begun his campaign in the Iberian Peninsula, rule over the Kingdom of Austria, and the efforts to oversee its industrialization were taken over by his father-in-law Chancellor Otto von Graz. At the moment, the man was sitting at his study within his chateau inside the upper-class district of Kufstein. He was staring at a series of weapons blueprints that would be vital to Berengar's future conflict with the church.

These blueprints were designed to operate alongside the previous weapons he had already begun testing for use in his special forces. The first design was a water-cooled machine gun chambered in 7.92x57mm LP, Berengar's version of the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge.

Unlike the Germans of his previous life, Berengar did not have to worry about the patents of the Vickers Machine Gun. Thus he decided to use such a magnificent weapon as his primary heavy machine gun for the time being.

The Vickers Machine gun was, in all honesty, just an improved Maxim Machine Gun with its action flipped upside down; this allowed it to save substantial size and weight. The Germans were unable to outfit themselves with this improved version of their machine gun due to business disputes, such as patent infringement.

A Water-cooled machine gun was exactly what it sounded like; it was essentially a heavy belt-fed machine gun that had a barrel shroud that contained water. As the barrel heated up, the water would cool it down; while this made for virtually unlimited volumes of fire, it also made the gun exceptionally heavy to the point where it would need to be used as a static weapon.

In fact, during Berengar's previous life, when the British Army retired this weapon from service, a crew of armorers tested a single Vickers Gun to its limits by firing roughly five million rounds of ammunition over seven days without stopping the gun. By the time they were finished, they had taken the gun apart and gauged its pieces, only to find that the weapon was still within functioning parameters.

Because Berengar currently lacked the technology to mechanize his forces, static defensive tactics would inevitably play a large part in waging war against his enemies. Thus there was no weapon suited to the task better than the Vickers Machine Gun.

The primary difference between this machine gun, and the Vickers used by the British in Berengar's past life, was that it was chambered in this world's equivalent of 7.92x57mm Mauser and utilized a metallic belt much like seen in use by the Russian M1910 Maxim Guns during both world wars of Berengar's previous life. Ultimately Berengar decided to designate this variant of the Vickers as the MG-22.

Otto looked over the document and stamped his seal of approval to begin production and testing in the armed forces; if what the notes Berengar left behind were true, they would need to build as many of these weapons as possible over the next few years.

After approving this design for manufacture and testing, Otto looked over the next blueprint; this was another machine gun from Berengar's past life. However, it was neither a heavy machine gun nor a belt-fed machine gun.

This was a magazine-fed light machine gun based on the Czech ZB-30 Machine Gun. The MG-22(H), as it would become known by in this timeline, was a Machine Gun that was considered by many in Berengar's past life to be the pinnacle of the Interwar era Light machine Guns. It had a rate of fire up to 650 rounds per minute and was the weapon used as the basis for many Light Machine guns across the world, including the British BREN Gun and the Japanese Type 99 Light Machine Gun.

The Waffen-SS used the weapon in WWII; due to the competitive nature of the Wehrmacht and the various branches of the Third Reich's armed forces and political factions. The Waffen-SS was excluded from the primary supply chains that the Wehrmacht had access to. Thus they had to source guns from some unconventional manufacturers such as occupied countries like Belgium and Czechoslovakia.

The Only real difference between this gun and the ones issued to the Waffen-SS in Berengar's past life was instead of a 20 Round Box Magazine, Berengar designed it for use with a 30 Round Box Magazine. The use of a Light machine gun among his soldiers was not only necessary it was a requirement. Since a single man could not carry a Vickers Machine Gun into battle, he needed his Squads in the future to have some form of automatic fire readily available on a unit basis, and the MG-22(H) filled that role perfectly.

Otto could not believe how Berengar had come up with such intricate designs. Still, with the industrialization of Kufstein and Austria as a whole, they now had the precision manufacturing equipment to make such advanced weapons. Thus he stamped his approval on this design and would later have it sent over to the National Armory to produce prototype samples and extensive testing.

Finally, there was one other weapon design in Otto's hands, and he looked over it carefully as he decided whether or not to approve of its use as well. This weapon was a sub-machine gun chambered in 9x19mm Parabellum, the same round that was undergoing testing with the Prototype P-22, which was based upon a later design of the Mauser C96 From Berengar's past life.

This Sub-Machine Gun was based upon the Steyr-Solothurn MP-34 from the interwar period. The history behind this weapon was complicated. It was manufactured by the Rheinmetall company via proxies in Switzerland and Austria to avoid the limitations placed upon them from the Treaty of Versailles.

As far as most were concerned, it was the best machine gun designed and manufactured in the Interwar period; in fact, the only reason it ceased production in 1940 was that it was too costly to manufacture during the German War effort.

The MP-34, or MP-22 as it was known in this timeline, was a side-feeding sub-machine gun with a 32 round double-stack magazine. It was capable of semi-automatic or automatic fire via a selector switch on the left side of the weapon. The automatic setting was capable of a firing rate of 600 rounds per minute.

After looking over these weapons, Otto approved them all, only to find a list of squad-based tactics that Berengar had left behind so that his soldiers who were equipped with such weapons could train with them appropriately.

Berengar practically followed the same route of the Wehrmacht's Squad Tactics from his past life. The Squad Leader would be issued the Submachine Gun, while one member of the Squad would be given the Light Machine Gun, as for the rest, they would be issued the Bolt Action Rifles. When it came to a platoon-sized unit, one Squad would be dedicated to using the Heavy Machine Gun.

As such, Otto sent these documents over to the proper departments. With these weapons, by the time the Crusaders Arrived in their lands, they would have the means to defend against many times their army's numbers.

After approving these documents, Otto sighed heavily before hearing a knock on his door. A familiar voice resounded from the other side as they asked for permission to come in. The very presence of this voice greatly shocked Otto as he was not expecting her visit.

"Can I come in?"

Otto immediately rested his forehead in the palm of his hand before collecting himself; after doing so, he allowed the entry of his uninvited guest.

"It is open!"

After saying this, a buxom beauty entered the scene; she had long golden hair and blue eyes like much of her family. This young woman was none other than Adela's eldest sister, Ava. She had a pouting expression on her face as she entered her father's study. Seeing his most mischievous daughter enter the room, Otto quickly concealed the documents on his desk; if such knowledge were to be seen by the woman, he had no idea what she would do with it. Ava immediately broke out into an outcry as she saw her father.

"Daddy! Little Adela won't let me into the Royal Palace! I have come all this way to see how she is doing now that she is pregnant and the bitch won't even let me in! Can't you convince her to let me stay in the Palace!"

Otto immediately frowned when he heard this, his eldest and youngest daughters had never gotten along, and he knew whatever brought Ava to Kufstein was nothing good. As such, he shook his head and sighed before declining his daughter's request.

"Adela is the High Queen; if she does not want you in her home, then that is something I can't change. At most I can speak with her when I next see her, however, she is dreadfully busy introducing cultural reforms at the moment. The people seem to love her, and her efforts! If only you were more like your sister, I wouldn't have to look. However, and your family these days!"

Upon hearing this Ava wanted to throw a fit, but she knew better than to do so in the presence of her father, who now held a powerful position in the new Kingdom of Austria. Ava regretted more than anything that she had not established an affair with Berengar when she had the chance. If she knew what she knew now, she would have invited him into her bath and taken advantage of his inexperience to make him her own.

However, she now no longer had such options. Thus she had decided to do everything she could to mend the relationship between her and her youngest sister; after all, if Adela put in a good word for Ava and her husband, then they would thrive much like the rest of her family. Thus she put on a distressed facade as she once more tried to convince her father to aid her in her efforts.

"Daddy, please! I know I messed up, but Adela is my sister, and I want to fix our relationship. Please help me get in touch with my darling little sister!"

Seeing his daughters' sad expression, Otto sighed once more before acquiescing to her demands; maybe it was because he spoiled Ava so much that she turned out this way. However, there was not much he could do about that now, and he hated seeing his two Daughters at each other's throats. With a heavy heart, he begrudgingly accepted Ava's request.

"The most I can do is set a time and place for you two to discuss your differences. However, if you screw this up, your sister will likely never want to speak to you again, so be sure to mind your manners. Adela is no longer the little girl you used to bully, she is the High Queen of Austria!"

Upon hearing this, Ava immediately smiled once more and hugged her father before thanking him for his efforts.

"Thanks, daddy!"

After saying this, she left the room; leaving the older man in his seat with a confused expression. He had no idea how he was going to pull this off.

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