CHANCELLOR'S REPORT 1340
The War Office:
The beginning started very well my lords.
The Kaiser began the long and difficult road to Rome with a crushing victory over the first of three Byzantine armies located between Venice and Zagreb.
That was the first and only offensive action taken this season.
The Office of the Exchequer:
As outlined in my candidacy speech, I have decommission a number of outdated structures across the Reich. The Siege works in Acre, Antwerp, and Palermo and the Ballista construction facilities in Zagreb, Genoa and Nuremberg were all knocked to the ground. It is my opinion that all artillery from now on shall be based on the new gunpowder technology. I hope to have most armies outfitted with these new contraptions by the end of my term in office.
Additionally the massive flotilla near Venice was completely decommissioned along with substantial parts of the flotilla near Palermo.
The merchants across the Reich and in wider lands were reorganised, only slightly I might add, but ever penny is crucial at this time. This reorganisation has not been completed but is expected to be in by the next season. I'm promised punishment far worse than I can write here for those blood sucking bastards if they don't complete their task by then.
With the immediate gains in florins and the setting of taxes as high as possible while adhering to the wishes of the Reich's nobles, I've managed to remove our debt and have a modest profit predicted for next season.
The injection of florins lead to the repair of all Reich wide buildings across all Houses. I wont go into detail but economic buildings, two Citadels and a church were all repaired.
With the remaining monies I have begun the reconstitution of the first Swabian House Army, refitting and reinforcing Outremer, the 2nd AHA and multiple garrison's across the Reich.
In a fit of diplomacy that can only be put down to my heavy handedness, and the unfortunate arm breaking of one of their diplomats. The Russian's paid us 3036 florin for the latest Imperial cartography drawings. Well at least that is what I thought until it turned out that they were not interested in the maps at all but merely wanted to get out of Nuremburg as fast as possible before I did any more damage to the poor fellow...it turns out they were prepared to pay 3036 florins just to be able to leave rather than the maps themselves. The next problem was that, out of sheer spite having broken the mans arm, he ask for a tribute of 200 florins for the next two seasons in order to try and save face. Of course, it was only after I had slept with his wife that I managed to hear of this beforehand...please note my lords the original sum was much larger, but after threatening her with reduced bedding rights, it turns out the wife was a very tough negotiator and far more persuasive than any of our own diplomats could have been.
There is also the slim chance that I maybe receiving a potential bride in Ragusa. I'll keep you all updated on those proceedings, as I know you are all fascinated by this.
Our status with the current Pope is poor and I am hoping to have one of our Eastern based diplomats move to Jerusalem for the duration of my term in order to better “manage” our relations with his Holiness.
The War Office:
Having completed the Reich's offensive and economic actions the second half of the battle season continued.
Again the second part of the battle season started off well.
After the Kaiser had kicked the proverbial snot out of one Byzantine army earlier in the season, Captain Draganos seemed to lose his senses and while in close proximity to our most accomplished general went on the offensive and attacked the recently landed BHA Otto under the command of Count Karonlinger. While his forces were the best available in the entire Byzantine order of battle no nation has had success against the Reich's armies on the defensive. Again this was to prove the case as Count Karolinger with elements of our Kaiser's cavalry manage to halt Draganos, kill him and send the remnants of his army back down the road to Venice.
(Report to be filed by Count Karolinger in due course).
Things however then turned sour as the Byzantines continued their campaign against us.
Milan was assaulted as Duke Lothar predicted and in a stoke of ill luck was positioned behind the attacking Byzantine force, this prevented the Duke from conducting a successful defence of Milan.
Therefore, it is with great regret that I have to report Milan has fallen, it's population butchered and now the BHA Gerhard is unfit for battle and located in an exposed position just outside the city.
The consequences are grim. The Office of the Exchequer has informed me that this lose will severely impact our economy next season.
In addition the entire strategy for retaking Italy will have to be reassessed next season.
On a brighter note, Viceroy Steffen was able to completely gut one of Byzantines finest armies using a combination of terrain and what seems to be the beginning of some panic in the Byzantine leadership. I wont place this solely on the effect I outlined in my candidacy speech, but I will say that the report Viceroy Matthias filed with me and his follow up assessment shows a clear sign of concern and at least some desperation on the part of the Byzantine Basileus.
Detailed reports have not filtered in from the north but scouts have reported that Prinz Peter, faced with a vastly superior force, fell back across the bridge near Hamburg. There is now a total of three Danish armies converging on Hamburg which has been also placed under siege.
In Austria the actions of Count Becker and von Essen lead to an attack by Hungarian forces. Able to successfully withdraw from the first engagement the Hungarian captain went after the two Austrian lords for a second time. They were finally caught but managed to survive just long enough to retreat to the relative safety of Vienna.
I say relative safety because the Hungarian Crusade which I never really worked out where it was going, has been called off. This has allowed two Hungarian armies deep inside the Reich's interior to be rerouted against us. They are now less than six months march from Innsbruck and Vienna respectively.
Additionally the Polish have a number of armies massing near Prague. It seems that word has reached them of Count Beckers departure and they are going to severely test Lorenz Zirn's command skills in the next battle season.
Better news was received in Palermo. Dieter von Kassel has informed me that the Sicilian army promptly packed up, boarded their ships and has sailed some distance into the Mediterranean. It is unsure if they are heading to another destination or simply about to reposition themselves for a better attack on Palermo.
I also want to make comment on something that is disturbing me. Various Merchants are reporting the onset of a lethal plague in some parts of the world. While this has happened before I have personally received too many of these disjointed reports to believe this is an isolated incident.
If there are any substantial omissions please inform the Chancellors office and I will endeavor to have the records adjusted as required.
The beginning of 1342 for your information my lords:
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/kotr1342.zip
Re: Orders and reports thread
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks