Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 136: Merger Strategy

Many of the Cardinals and Bishops had gathered within the Cathedral of Aachen to discuss the many problems currently plaguing the Catholic balance sheet.

Though they had finally found a solution to mend the feud between the Frankish and German monarchs by creating a Committee of Public Safety, there were still two major issues that presented themselves.

Chief among them was the ongoing Industrial Reformation, which had spread beyond their control to the Midlands and Scotland.

As such, the various Cardinals and Bishops were discussing how to move forward.

With Pope Leo IV and King Charles sidelined by the Coalition, the conversation was far more pragmatic between the various shareholders of the Church.

At the moment, the answer which everyone had agreed to was military force.

However, the military orders of the Catholic Church were all busy fighting the Moors in Spain, and the last group of Crusaders was liquidated in battle by Ragnar's "Corporate Defense Force."

As for the Vatican, they were aware that Ragnar was using advanced technology within his army. One man, in particular, acted as a second-hand witness to this information.

That was the Bishop of Canterbury, whose diocese was hostilely taken over by Ragnar during his winter campaign to seize the South.

The Bishop spoke with an intense hatred for Ragnar about the issues at hand and how it would not be an easy task to route out the Industrialists who had mostly formed within the fortified "Station Towns" of England.

"The machines Ragnar employs have the capacity to burn a man to ash before he even draws his sword! They pump liquid fire through pipes buried in the sand! These are no mere Greek tricks but something else entirely! The average Viking soldier is equipped with standardized plate armor that covers their vital areas and is virtually impenetrable by our swords!

If we are to march on Northumbria, we would need a massive force, one in which is armed with... well, I don't know what, but something stronger than prayer!"

The surrounding clergymen listened to this Bishop's rant, and many of them did not believe their ears.

After all, how could such a weapon possibly exist? Liquid fire under the beach? It sounded like a fable. Nevertheless, what came next shocked them further.

"He employs crossbows that fire six times without reloading! And he moves his armies on iron roads with a carriage that breathes smoke! I know not how he obtained these hellish devices, but we cannot win by sheer numbers.

After all, the Sacred Flame tried these tactics, and they were massacred on the beach where the heathens burned them like dry twigs!"

The more the Bishop ranted and raved about the spectacular performance of Ragnar's technology and the employees who wielded it, the more clergymen within the meeting began to disregard his words as pure fiction.

At a point, a relatively fat and loathsome Cardinal raised his head and began to insult the Bishop.

"I suppose you personally witnessed these iron roads?"

This question immediately made the Bishop of Canterbury frown; after all, he had not witnessed the battle that had taken place; instead, he was hiding like a coward in his rectory before fleeing to France on a fishing boat.

Ultimately he had to admit to the fact that this was all second-hand information from a terrified squire.

"I am afraid not; however, this information was reported to me by a survivor before he succumbed to his burns!"

Several of the attending members of the Council of Aachen began to scoff at the Bishop's words. Clearly, the Bishop believed the wild tales of a traumatized soldier, or so many of the council members believed. Ultimately few decided to take the Bishop's warning seriously.

After all, they severely lacked the liquidity to invade England in the first place. That is, of course, until one of the Archbishops proposed an opportunity.

"Why don't we call for a Grand Coalition to wipe out the heretics in the North? It has worked before. Even if they are as well-armed as the Bishop claims, what can they possibly do against an army of a hundred thousand men who have taken up the cross?

Surely we can sponsor such a vast army by calling upon the Lords and Knights of Europe to defend Christendom from this vile steam? Do we really need to wait for the Franks to finish their war when we can hire mercenaries?"

These were all excellent questions, which could easily be answered; after all, it had been quite some time since the Church had flexed its financial muscle, and due to the fear of Ragnar's influence spreading, the idea was quite popular and would undoubtedly draw in a lot of potential investors to invade England with.

After a bit of discussion, this was how the Council of Aachen chose to deal with Ragnar and the Industrial movement.

Unfortunately for the future Crusaders, by the time they could fully prepare such a massive force for the invasion, years would have passed, and Fortress Britain would be a self-sustaining industrial powerhouse.

Ragnar would be more than ready for such a force. However, how could these men possibly know the future?

As such, after figuring out how to deal with the Industrial Reformation, they moved on to the last topic at hand.

One of the participating Cardinals brought up the matter of the Caliphate and the crisis the Franks were currently facing.

"The Franks have angered the Moors by losing their southern border; they are currently facing a crisis the likes we have not seen in decades. If we aid them, we will only be depleting the funds we need for the Northern Crusade. How shall we proceed?"

Instantly the opinion of the participating clergymen was divided; some supported the Frankish Kingdom, and others believed they should never have antagonized the Moors to begin with.

As such, they quickly devolved into an argument about this issue.

One of the Bishops attending voiced his support for the Franks.

"The Kingdom of France is the bulwark of Christendom in the South; they must not fall to these heathens! I say we supply them with the funding and equipment necessary to win the war at their doorsteps!"

However, Cardinal Humbert instantly voiced his objection to this matter.

"Preposterous! We should never have been involved with the Frankish war in the first place. If Charles had not wasted his knights on Ragnar, they never would have lost the Pyrenees. Now more than ever, we need to conserve our resources.

The Industrial Reformation will be causing a lot of troubles in the future, and we will need every gold coin if we seek to end it swiftly!"

Without a unified Pope in the audience there was no way to move forward with the ideas presented unless all parties agreed.

They could easily agree on a Coalition to crush the Industrial Reformation, but supporting the Franks during their crisis which they brought upon themselves? That was a point of contention between the various factions of the Church.

As such, the men continued to squabble amongst themselves over this one issue for a week before concluding that they would provide Moral Support to the Franks, but they would not provide any troops or economic stimulus.

The Kingdom of France was left on its own to fight the enemies in which it had created, at least for the most part.

After all, the Church was more concerned with putting down Ragnar, who posed a far greater threat to their monopoly on power than the Moors.

If this were the army of the Umayyads from centuries prior, then maybe there would be a need for concern.

However, at the moment, Ragnar was a far greater threat for the Church, and they needed time and resources to prepare for a great Crusade against him and his employees.

Ragnar, of course, anticipated this move by the Church, and he had no qualms building a sufficient force in the meantime to deal with the threat the Crusaders would pose shortly.

However, for now, he was fairly relaxed as he focused his efforts on what he had been doing since his return from the audit in Sandwich. Building his army and defenses while maintaining his trade with the various factions who wanted his steel and wool.

As for the Reformation's place in this world? It was not so easily diminished; word had spread that the Industrial Reformation had begun, and plenty of people saw it as an opportunity to take back power from the Feudal Lords.

Even if they did not necessarily agree with the "Productivity Gospel" themselves, the idea of getting rid of the Church's tax on commerce was attractive enough to join in with the Reformist Movement.

As such, Ragnar's allies grew in numbers, which would be useful in the upcoming trade war with the Catholic Church.

Ultimately the Council of Aachen ended in what could be considered a monumental success for the Catholic Church: the political schism had been patched with a Coalition, and a plan was in place to deal with the Industrial Reformation.

As for the Franks, they were left to their own devices for the most part. Thus the Catholic Church had addressed the ongoing crises from which it was currently suffering.

However, in the end, this would not be enough to stop the growing tide of the Industrial Reformation and Ragnar's rise to market dominance.

Meanwhile, in the North Sea

While the Council was wrapping up, Ragnar stood on the deck of a small survey ship, looking at the grey waves. Gyda stood beside him, holding a telescope.

"The semaphore from the mainland says the Council is over," Gyda reported. "They are saving their gold to fight us."

Ragnar smiled, leaning on his silver cane.

"Good. That gives us a three-year window before they can liquidate enough assets to hire an army."

"And the Franks?"

"The Franks will be busy with Al-Hakam," Ragnar said, watching a seagull dive. "Which means the coast is clear."

Ragnar pointed to a distant, fog-shrouded coastline to the north.

"Set a course for Edinburgh, Captain. I hear the Scottish King is having trouble with his heating bill. It's time we introduced him to the wonders of anthracite coal."