Whispers of rebellion

Emil POV

''by the powers vested in me by the king in Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II head of the protestant church of prussia and representative of god on earth, i annul your marriage union on the grounds of consanguinity'' said the priest while bertram was kneeling.

Recently, many had accepted that we would never return to Fatherland and many had begun to annul their marriages so that in the future they could remarry without having another undissolved marriage bond, the king had facilitated the process so that all of us could annul past marriages and marry in our new home.

in addition, with the new reform to the military code of conduct has left the possibility that we can interact with women even on active duty, previously we could only interact on days off, although prostitutes were still forbidden in both cases for fear of spreading the Syphilis

Bertram had asked me to witness the dissolution of his marriage, I had no knowledge that he was married, he is my best friend in the army, but he never told me about his relationship.

Leaving the improvised chapel that is only half built, we went to our company.

''tell me Bertram who was the lucky one to be married to you'', I said jokingly ''a neighbor of our village, they forced me to do it, I didn't want to, but I was the only surviving son in the family and they didn't want me to die without leaving children for my parents, so they forced me to get married before I was drafted'' he said with a serious face.

''well maybe you can get married this time for something different and not for obligation, we have a lot to go to the north, so you can meet a beautiful woman who loves you'' I said with a smile ''I doubt it Emil, you have it easy you are handsome all the women always look at you and now that you are a knight anointed by the king himself if someone comes to me, it is to help them to get to you'' he said with a serious face.

''well calm down it's not the end of the world, besides we still have to go north to finish with the rebellion of the former lords of the reach let's hope this insurrection ends soon so we can settle down once and for all'' I said looking at the Field Master's tent.

we entered the tent searching for my orders

''Captain Emil I'm glad you got rid of your personal affairs soon, we have already received the orders from the high command, your company will head to the former domains of the Rowan house, they recently tried to assault our garrisons in the goldengrove castle and failed since then they have dedicated themselves to disturb our communication and supply lines, the mission that I entrusted him with is to secure the locations of the Rowan house and the road that connects it with roseroad, if it is possible to finish with the rebels, and he has been assigned funds to try to put the peasants on our side showing charity, do you have any doubts? Said my superior, pointing to the map he had on his desk.

No, my Field Master, I will gather my men, and we will march to complete the mission entrusted by our king'' I said with a military tone.

I then left the tent and headed with Bertram to our company.

''we have our orders, we must march north and protect some villages from rebel attacks and prevent them from trying to recruit people by force so that the rebellion does not continue to spread'' I said looking at him.

Bertram nodded, and we walked to our company's tent complex.

I gave the orders to my subordinates, we gathered supplies and weapons and for the first time we would not have to march all the time, we had in excess horses and wagons, and we would go all the way sitting down, I won't have so many blisters for the moment.

After 30 minutes we got on the wagons and started our journey it should take about 5 days, but we could not be confident, we must act with the maximum caution, the rebels are barely armed, almost all the weapons were requisitioned in our victories in ashford and when we conquered the castles, so for them to defeat us would mean that they would have access to some of the best armor of the seven kingdoms and to maces and crossbows.

during the first 3 days everything happened as it should, we traveled sitting in the wagons, telling stories, experiences, what we would do when all this was over, if the rebels would give some kind of fight or surrender, finally when the night came we stopped to raise our tents and sleep for the next day to repeat the same thing.

but this day was different, I remained pensive, absorbed in my thoughts about whether we will ever be able to dominate the inhabitants of the reach or what happened to the previous conquerors, the Targaryen who had to adapt to the conquered and abandon their faith.

Finally bertram taps me on the shoulder and snaps me out of my thoughts.

''Captain, look, riders, they're not one of ours'' Bertram said while pointing to a group of 10 riders

''ohh shit, put on your armor and get your crossbows ready, we must be ready if they try to attack us''I said as I got my breastplate, for 10 minutes we prepared for combat, until finally, we saw a group of 10 horsemen with 1000 infantry approaching us

''gather the wagons, form a wall with them, crossbowmen on top, infantry in front'' I shouted to my men.

Quickly, we formed a square with the wagons, giving protection to our crossbowmen and non-combatants.

The group of horsemen of our attackers began to approach.

''SURRENDER, surrender your weapons and armor peacefully invaders and I promise you a quick and painless death'' shouted the only one in full armor.

hearing that stupidity I stepped forward from my men so that I could give a clear answer to this rebel.

''COME GET THEM, YOU DAMN REBEL'' I shouted at him and reentered the formation.

''You will regret refusing my offer invader, I will make sure you will regret the day you decided to take my ancestral home''shouted the horseman, to return to his group.

The enemy infantry began to advance very slowly and with quite a bit of trouble keeping formation

when we could see more clearly what we were facing, a collective laughter came from our side.

''These bastards don't even have armor,'' said one of my men.

''wait, ha, ha, ha, ha they are using sticks, they are going to kill us with sticks'' said another one of my men

everyone was laughing at what we are up against, I must admit that even I find it pathetic that they are trying to take on a professional armed force, with untrained peasants and no weapons.

''be kind to our enemies, they must have a lot of courage to commit this act of madness'' I said to calm the mood, as our enemies approached.

''take aim at the leaders, I doubt the peasants can hold formation without the knights'' direction'' I said to the crossbowmen.

''when they came in range of our crossbows, bolts began to fly and the peasants began to die, their leaders stayed behind, the cowards were just going to lead and if anything went wrong they would escape.

''Sergeant have your men fall back when the enemy infantry comes into close combat, make it look like we are being outnumbered, let's see if we can draw the horsemen into combat''

After 2 minutes, there were already several dozen dead men across the field, but they still did not stop until they began to charge us.

We received the charge well, they did not manage to make us collapse because of their superior numbers, the plan to attract the horsemen was underway, one of my sergeants had withdrawn to the sides of the wagons to continue fighting following my orders.

5 minutes passed, and it seemed that they had not fallen, until the horsemen spurred their horses and charged against our right flank to destroy it.

Now all crossbows against the horsemen'' I shouted at the top of my lungs.

the knights charged only to be greeted by dozens of bolts, managing to hit 7 including the leader.

I want the leader alive, don't stop unloading bolts to the rest of them''.

after 20 minutes we had managed to make the rest of the peasants without any apparent leader disperse through the field.

Dead, wounded?'', I asked my officers.

''we have 32 wounded no dead'' a sergeant answered ''well let the medics start working I don't want dead people fighting with underfed peasants fighting with sticks''.

as I said this my men were bringing me the leader of the rebels in chains with 3 of his men who survived the rain of bolts.

''well well well well who do we have here EX lord mathis Rowan, we thought you had gone to live with your wife Bethany Redwyne to Arbor, but it seems that you preferred to dedicate yourself to banditry'' I said with a sarcastic tone.

''You sons of bitches, the day will come when you will pay for what you have done, I want the right to be rescued by my relatives'' he said full of pride.

''you see, now we are governed by the Prussian code of justice and the BANDITS are nailed to the cross, so they can repent for their sins, suffering the same pain as our savior, so it will not be possible, I just need the order of my superior and I will give you many lashes before I nail you to the cross to see you suffocate slowly and painfully for days'' I said looking him in the eye.

It is possible that this bastard did not know what awaits him, but I think he understood that it would not be pretty, by the frightened face he has now.

''Tie him to the wagons and let him walk for the moment, we have to make up for lost time'' I said as I got back on the wagon to continue our mission.

At least we have already finished with the feudal lord, maybe there are still his knights or no one left, but he is one less stone in my king's shoe.

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Friedrich Wilhelm II POV

''what do you mean there is no more?''I said angrily, looking at a group of quartermaster officers.

''my...my..my king the paper is running low, and we have moved some funds to buy more, but paper is extremely scarce, as in the seven kingdoms parchment and papyrus is used more for documents; however, the cost exceeds what you give us for administrative costs, we need more funds to keep delivering you so much information you request from the fronts'' said with much fear my quartermaster officer of the Teutonic knights

''and what did you wait for to warn me, the paper is the blood of all empires'' I shouted angrily.

I kept silent for 3 minutes in order to calm down and look for a solution.

''well, how much do the merchants sell us paper, parchment or papyrus for'' I said with a calm tone, while drinking some orange juice.

''well .... well ehh ehh.the 10 sheets of paper sell for 1 golden dragon''said with fear the quartermaster officer.

''puff'' I spat out everything I had drunk.

''so much, how is the damn paper so expensive, it's literally made from trees'' I said in astonishment

''paper, papyrus and parchment are expensive, as they only serve the upper and wealthy classes, it is only used for accounting or for expensive books, it is not within pocket access of the common classes''' said the quartermaster officer

''well, it is not the end of the world, get in contact with the merchants, we need them to increase the amount of wood they bring us, we are going to make the paper ourselves, it will be cheaper and we will not have to depend on the supply of other lords''.

Finally, the group of quartermasters leave my tent, and I take a pencil and the little paper that is left in my camp to make plans for a cellulose press and the rollers to make paper, the only bad thing is that this paper will be yellow, since I do not have the chemicals to bleach the paper.

After 20 minutes I finished a sketch of what I wanted and took it to my craftsmen.

''Hans, I need this, as soon as possible'' I said in a serious tone, while I handed him the sketch.

the master craftsman stared at it for a long time until I looked at him again.

''I need 3 days to make the press and the rollers, I will put us all to work on it, how many of these do you need'', asked the craftsman looking me in the eyes

About 3 and keep the sketch, this is likely to become a lucrative venture in the future'' I said turning around to go back to my tent.

After waiting the indicated days, I was getting ready to go to pick up the new machines, but I was stopped by a courier

''Sir, I come to deliver a report'' said the messenger seriously.

''Report, what happened'' I replied to the messenger.

''Captain Emil managed to capture alive a leader of the rebellion Mathis Rowan and some of his knights'' he said, handing me the report and left.

let's see, mmhhh he faced 1000 peasants and captured him alive, that Rowan has marital ties to the Redwyne, mhhhhh I'll leave him behind bars for a while if he wasn't linked by blood to one of my bannermen I would have nailed him, but the Redwyne are powerful even though I confiscated much of their fleet they still have their trade connections and their wine famous in the seven kingdoms.

I had to send a messenger to give the order, as we were almost out of paper to give written reports to my officers.

I went back to what I was doing and went out to look for my master craftsman.

Hans, did you manage to finish the order?'', I said to the craftsman.

''only 2, the third one is half done'' he said without stopping working ''well you gave me more than I asked for I thank you'' I said before turning around ''you 4 get that equipment out of here and treat it as if your life depended on it'' I said in a serious tone to the soldiers that followed me

''we took the machines out near the mander river, where I gathered 6 men for the job.

''look what I need you to do is simple, you will peel the logs and grind the wood, you will let it soak in water, until you get a paste of the wood, that is the cellulose I need, then you will run it through water again to clean it and then flatten it with the press, then let it dry a bit and run it through the rollers to smooth it out and finally cut it into a size to be used for the documents, is that clear?'', I said looking at my men.

They all nodded their heads

well, I must remind you that this is a very important job, I need it to be done right'' I reminded them and sat back in my chair to watch them work.

Several hours went by during which I watched my men working for mistakes, but except in some cases they had already adapted to the repetitive work of making paper, finally, I had in my hands a yellowish paper that would serve to supply the shortage that my bureaucracy suffers and if possible later sell it because for the love of the almighty, paper is expensive in the seven kingdoms.

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hi guys i will upload the chapter early/late depending on where you are XD, question of the day do you want another one today/in a few more hours?, the conditions are 5 comments in this paragraph or 5 reviews no matter the rating(I need to know if I am not making too many mistakes)