Tyranny of Steel

Berengar tapped his finger on the table repeatedly; the sound resounded throughout the air and was the only thing preventing the entire room from being silent. Three monarchs and a Duke were sitting at the table within the Duchy of Aquitaine. Sitting next to Berengar was Hasan, and across from the two of them was King Felipe of Aragon.

Mediating this convention was none other than the Duke of Aquitaine, who watched with interest, ensuring that everything remained civil but not taking part in the discussion himself. His role was more symbolic than it was practical.

The Peace Accords had been ongoing for three days now, and despite the willingness to cease hostilities between the involved parties, they had yet to come to a comprehensive understanding. Begrudgingly Berengar was prepared to accept the conditions of Aragonese surrender that heavily favored the enemy. After all, he wanted to end this war as quickly as possible and return to his family.

Despite this, King Felipe of Aragon had taken advantage of Berengar's impatience and had begun to make greater demands of him, resulting in an ongoing stalemate within the negotiations. Thus Berengar gazed across the table at the Aragonese Monarch, with an expression filled with contempt.  Ultimately he decided it was time to break the silence and put his foot down over the issues being discussed.

"Under no circumstances will Granada return the occupied province of Murcia. From now until the end of time, it shall be recognized as Granadan soil; this is the price you must pay for your arrogance in challenging the Emirate of Granada and her allies!"

Ultimately Berengar had the final say in the conditions; after all, though he may not desire to, he had the full capability of invading Aragon and enforcing his demands. To him, it was a simple matter of practicality. Doing such a thing would extend the duration of his campaign in Iberia.

King Felipe was visibly flustered when he heard this remark. Though he would be capable of invading Castile and gaining its lands after settling this matter with Granada, he knew that there was a high possibility that Portugal would fall to the Austro-Granadan alliance.

If such a thing were to occur, his advantage of gaining Castile would instantly be negated; the loss of Murcia on top of this would be a severe blow in the future efforts of Reconquista. The fact of the matter was that the objective of this peace was not long term-stability but gaining a reprieve so that both sides could build up their forces in an attempt to re-engage at a later date. After a few moments of awkward silence, Felipe raised his voice as he presented a facade of strength to get Berengar back down.

"If you do not return Murcia to her rightful place as a part of the Kingdom of Castile, then I am afraid that peace can not be achieved between our realms. The war will continue and your armies will bleed in Iberia for years to come!"

Upon hearing this, Berengar's bored expression did not change; in fact, he sighed in exhaustion before taking a sip from the wine contained within his chalice. After doing so, he placed it down on the table, and with the same disinterested look upon his face, began to clarify his stance on the matter.

"If you do not agree to the annexation of Murcia by the Kingdom of Granada, then as you have said, hostilities will continue to exist between our Nations. As a result of this, I will be forced to draft tens of thousands of more soldiers and bring them into Iberia with the full intent to march them upon your Kingdom. Within a year, your whole Kingdom will cease to exist.

Allow me to be frank if such a scenario were to occur; I do not know if I will contain the damage that my soldiers will inflict upon Aragon and its people. Blood will flow in the streets, and entire cities will be brought to rubble. Is that the outcome you desire? Submit to the terms presented or face your reckoning those are your two options."

Felipe was taken aback by this statement; he did not suspect that Berengar would be willing to move more troops into Iberia; after all, as far as he was aware, roughly half of the Austrian Royal Army was currently located within the Iberian Peninsula. Increasing the number of soldiers in this conflict would surely leave Austria poorly defended, or so he thought.

Of course, Felipe had no way of knowing that Berengar's Kingdom was currently undergoing the process of Nation-Wide compulsory military service. Thus hundreds of thousands of young men were being trained in the art of warfare and being outfitted with the equipment necessary to fight across the globe. Therefore Felipe made the mistake of believing that Berengar was bluffing and thus called him out on his boast.

"You would empty the soldiers in your lands in an attempt to end this conflict swiftly? I wonder how the enemies at your borders would react if they saw how defenseless Austria became in a foolish attempt to conquer Iberia for their ally?"

Berengar sneered in disdain as he heard this comment; with a confident smile etched upon his handsome face, he quickly retorted with a response of his own.

"If you genuinely believe such a scenario would occur, then I regret to inform you that your intelligence on my forces is severely outdated. Please do not mistake my comments for hubris; within a year, I will have the full ability to deploy a hundred thousand men into Iberia. I promise you that I will not be merciful when I bring you to your knees with such an Army. I will reiterate, submit to the terms presented or face your reckoning."

Whether Berengar was lying or not, Felipe did not know. However, he was unwilling to risk such a scenario. After all, the entire point of these Peace Accords was to remove Austrian soldiers from Iberia and buy him the time necessary to absorb Castile to rebuild his Army. He could not allow a hundred thousand Austrians to embed themselves in this conflict. Thus with a bitter expression, the Aragonese King relented, he internally resolved himself to retake Murcia later.

"Very well, I will allow the annexation of Murcia into the Emirate of Granada..."

Hasan, who had been silent up until now, smirked upon hearing his enemy relent to this condition. Throughout this conflict, thousands of Granadans had bled to forestall the enemy's advance; if he did not get some land as compensation for their loss, then he would not be satisfied with this temporary peace.

The young Sultan had no way of knowing that Berengar intended to fully conquer Portugal and incorporate it into the Emirate of Granada. Thus he was happy with this small concession. As for the Austrian Monarch, he smiled before making one last condition to the terms of this treaty.

"Allow me to make one final demand. To put it simply, all I ask is for is exclusive mining rights within the region of Collbato. If you give me this, then I will agree to these peace accords in their entirety."

Both Hasan and Felipe gazed at Berengar with suspicion. As far as they were aware, there was nothing of value within that province, yet Berengar had specifically made demands for such a small region. Had he perhaps found something of note within its boundaries?

Though Felipe was suspicious of this, he suspected this was nothing more than an attempt by Berengar to gain something from this treaty for himself and that nothing significant was within the region. Thus he foolishly relented to this demand as he sighed.

"Very well, for the next ten years, Austria will have exclusive mining rights to the region of Collbato. Is there anything else?"

Berengar shook his head in response to this; he had gotten what he wanted. The caves of Collbato were filled with saltpeter, and though Berengar no longer needed black powder now that his chemists had invented Smokeless powder; to hold a monopoly over such a valuable resource was major strategic play.

This meant that his enemies would not be able to get their hands on the gunpowder needed to field firearms en masse, thus ensuring a significant advantage for the Austrian Army over their rivals for decades or perhaps even centuries to come.  Berengar nodded his head before pronouncing the peace accords concluded with these terms agreed upon.

"If there is nothing else, then I believe it is time to sign this treaty!"

After saying this, he waited for a response, and when the silence prevailed, he pulled out a fountain pen from his pocket and signed his name on the document before allowing the others to use his utensil and hence sign this treaty into law.

For the time being, peace with Aragon and Castile had been achieved, and the Triple Alliance could now focus its entire efforts on the conquest of Portugal. The effects of this treaty would have long-reaching consequences for the decades to come.

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