Tyranny of Steel

The invasion of the Golden Horde was as swift as it was deadly. Merely three months had passed since the great calamity had begun, and yet within that time more than half of the Kingdom of Georgia had been either ransacked, or razed to the ground. Though Georgia was reliant on the Byzantine Empire for its protection, their allies had yet to mobilize a proper force to retaliate against the rampaging horseman. 

Currently, within the city of Poti, a German Merchant by the name of Berndth Bentzinger stood among the crowds of Georgian citizens who were seeking to flee the carnage of the turko-mongol invasion to lands that were safer and more prosperous. Under the command of King Besarion Bagrationi, every man and boy capable of bearing arms was conscripted into his army in the vain hope of defeating the enemy invaders. 

However, the women, children, and elderly were free to flee the Kingdom, and because of this, anyone who had any semblance of money saved up were chartering ships to sail to the Byzantine Empire in the hopes that they would be allowed refugee status. Those who would remain within the city were the poor and destitute.

Berndth Bentzinger had come to Georgia with two purposes in mind. The first was to sell a load of arms and armor to the Georgian Army. The Second was to take as many refugees with him to Constantinople on his journey back to the Reich. For a man who owned a Dominion II class cargo vessel, a single round trip was an enormously prosperous business. 

His crew were busy unloading the weapons as the man met with an officer within King Besarion's army, who had the payment transferred onto the ship. The two men were in the middle of signing the transaction as Berndth inquired about the ongoing war effort.

"I heard the eastern half of your Kingdom has fallen, is that true?"

The officer's lips curled into a frown as he silently nodded his head while signing away his name on the contract. As he gazed upon the refugees that were being taken on board the ship, he sighed heavily before giving the man a proper explanation.

"The east has fallen, more accurately to say it has been completely razed to the ground. Anyone and everyone who lived there prior to this invasion is either dead or enslaved. Though we have managed to halt the advance of the enemy, we have paid a severe price.

You have no idea how much these arms mean to us. With the weapons and munitions you have provided us, we might be able to stem the tide of the Golden Horde until our allies arrive. However, King Besarion has already given up on reclaiming the eastern half of the Kingdom."

Berndth merely smiled and nodded his head. There was no way that this petty German Officer knew just how much of a profit he was making off of this arms deal. The German Empire had rapidly risen to prominence in the span of a decade, and within that time frame, they had developed new weapons and replaced their old ones several times over. Because of this, they had entire warehouses dedicated to stockpiling old weapons that they often used to equip allied nations.

However, with the defeat of the Catholic World, and their subjection to the German Empire, these nations now faced heavy restrictions on military capabilities, and because of this, there were too many of these old muskets, and muzzle loading cannons in storage for the Germans to sell. 

Thus, in a stroke of genius, the Kaiser had decided to sell off bulk quantities of these massively obsolete weapons in auctions to private merchants who intended to sell them to regions that the German State had no major diplomatic interests in. Creating a win-win scenario for private arms merchants, and the German Government. 

Berndth had previously served in the Austrian Royal Army as an officer, so he was entirely familiar with these weapons, and preferred selling them to states like Georgia that currently found themselves embroiled in a massive war.  This was the most military aid that Germany had provided to the Kingdom of Georgia, and it was not even the Kaiser himself who did it.

After checking to make sure the weapons were in serviceable condition, the officer nodded his head and stamped his approval on the document as his men carried the crates off towards the training grounds where they had begun to instruct rapidly conscripted peasant levies in the use of these new weapons. 

After doing this, he spoke in a stern tone, but one could see a glint of hope in his eyes as he said the following words.

"I look forward to seeing you again. Lord knows we need all the help we can get." 

A smile emerged on Berndth's lips as he nodded his head and tipped his hat to the officer. 

"Of course, I sail for the Reich as we speak. I will take a brief stop in Constantinople to drop off these refugees before returning to the fatherland. Once I arrive in Trieste, I have a crew of men waiting to load the next shipment on board the vessel. I do hope your army can hold on long enough for my next arrival." 

The Georgian officer nodded his head in silence before departing. There was nothing left to say between the two men, and thus Berndth approached the docking area for his ship and spoke into a bullhorn so that everyone could hear him.

"We only have room for 1,600 people on board this vessel. All 1,600 places will be determined by the highest bidder. So step up and give me your offers!"

The ruthlessness of the man's statement was unexpected. Though carrying 1,600 people onboard a single ship was unheard of outside of the German Empire, it was still not enough to put a dent in the number of people gathered in the harbor trying to charter their way out of their falling Kingdom. For those who knew they could not afford such a price, they could only go elsewhere and hope to charter a much smaller ship like a Caravel to flee the crumbling borders of Georgia. 

It was not Poti alone where such a sight existed. In fact, every port city in the Kingdom of Georgia shared similar scenes of panic. Luckily, Berndth was not the only German merchant doing business in the region, and because of this, several Dominion II-class cargo vessels were sailing through the black sea, regularly taking refugees to the Byzantine Empire for an exorbitant price. 

However, no matter how many ships made their way in and out of Georgia's ports, it would never be enough to carry the millions of women and children who sought to flee the wrath of the Golden Horde. Thus, if Besarion's forces could not hold out against the threat of the foreign invaders, then even the western half of their country would bleed miserably in the coming days. 

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While panic had spread across the western half of the Kingdom of Georgia, the east had fallen to the Golden Horde, and like the officer at the Port of Poti had said, every living being was either killed miserably, or enslaved by their new mongol masters. 

Princess Khorijin sat upon horseback and gazed upon the flaming wreckage of another Georgian town, whose name would soon be lost to history. Piles of corpses littered the streets, and the fields burned in the background.

But it was not this aura of death which concerned the young woman. Instead, her eyes laid west, towards the Black Sea, where she knew the enemy had entrenched themselves. The savage beauty could only let out a sigh of depression as she voiced her thoughts aloud.

"It has already been three months... It would appear that we are doomed to fail..."

Despite the cheers of victory among her men, who had just triumphed over more of Besarion's forces, Khorijin appeared quite concerned about the pace that they had achieved. Despite having 100,000 riders at her brother's back, they had spent three long months conquering the eastern half of the Kingdom of Georgia, and had not even stepped foot into the lands of the Byzantine Empire. 

From what the spirits had told her, she had a year before the Germans turned their attention to the Caucasus, and when they did, there would be no hope of survival for the Golden Horde. She did not know just what power the German Army possessed, but in her heart the Turko-Mongol princess could feel the fear which the spirits contained. 

Since the day her Brother had voiced his intention to march on the south, she had been overwhelmed by a sense of constant anxiety which grew with each passing day. Thus, despite their effortless advances, she feared for the worst. Yet she could not tell her brother, for he no longer cared for her advice regarding the matter. All she could do was witness what was to come...

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