Julius sat upon the Papal throne with his head held in his hands. Since the attack that claimed the lives of the College of Cardinals, he had been on edge. Believing that his life was in the hands of the heretic who sat upon the German Throne. If Berengar could so easily sneak a man into the Holy City and annihilate its leadership with a single attack, then surely he would not live for much longer.
He had prayed to the Christian God for revelation on how to defeat his enemies, and yet the heavenly father had been utterly silent. He doubted if the Lord God Almighty actually saved him, or if his survival was a mere fluke. Though the Crusade was progressing in the favor of the Catholic Church, the enemy had regrouped and halted their advance further south.
While the Catholics currently occupied the Holy City, and a few others along the coastline, it would not be easy to declare this a Catholic victory, especially since the Byzantine and Timurid Empires were still an active threat. He knew that the Crusade in the Holy Land would bog down into a series of protracted sieges until both sides were no longer capable of fighting.
Such a thing was the least desirable outcome as the only true victor in that scenario would be Berengar the Accursed. He could not allow that man to expand his influence even greater than it already had been. While the Pope was dwelling on such dire matters, an archbishop approached him, where he, of course, had nothing but poor news to discuss.
"Your holiness, it would appear the fleet we sent to secure new trade routes further east was sunk at the strait of Gibraltar. It seems that the German fleet posted in Iberia has no intentions of letting any vessels sail westward. Perhaps they have discovered something that we are unaware of and have blockaded all parties to stay within the Mediterranean?"
It shocked Julius to hear this news, and he instantly broke out into a fit of fury as he condemned Berengar for the twenty-seventh time of this day.
"God damn that man to the depths of hell. If he thinks he can keep our fleets in the Mediterranean, then he is severely mistaken. After all, we have the English navy on our side. Surely they are not blocked by the strait of Gibraltar!"
The Archbishop had an anxious expression on his face as he tapped his feet on the floor. Julius took notice of this and felt that another shocking revelation was about to occur.
"What is it?"
A jolt of lightning went down the Archbishop's spine as he heard the Pope's chilling tone. He had no choice but to reveal the truth about the matter to Julius.
"Your holiness, the English navy has deployed all of its ships to the Mediterranean as a part of your crusade. They are completely unable to return home. The few merchant ships they have left at England have been sunk by the German North Fleet, which has blockaded the English channel. It would appear they discovered that we wanted to find alternative trade routes to India and have placed an embargo preventing all Catholic Kingdoms from sailing westward.
I don't know what they have discovered, but there are rumors of German ships coming and going from the strait of Gibraltar regularly. Whatever they have found in the west, they don't want anyone else knowing about it."
Julius was furious when he heard this. If it was worth blocking access to the Atlantic, then clearly the Germans had found something spectacular. Whether it was an alternative trade route to India, or something else entirely, the filthy Germans desired to hoard it to themselves.
The more he thought about it, the more the Pope realized it could not be a trade route to India, or else why would the Germans continue to dig their canal in Egypt? Something fishy was going on here, and Julius did not know what.
Enraged by this discovery, Julius immediately demanded something rather foolish, not realizing how disastrous the consequences would be for the Catholic Church if they had actually tried to do such a thing.
"I want every ship we have to break through the German blockade at the strait of Gibraltar. We must discover whatever it is they are hiding from us!"
Luckily for Julius, this archbishop was a man who was wise enough to realize such an attack would be nothing more than suicide and clearly outlined the consequences such a disastrous attempt would have.
"Your holiness! If we use all of our ships in the Mediterranean to attempt a breakthrough of the German blockade, not only will we be stranding tens of thousands of soldiers and the Kings who lead them in the Holy Land. We would also send our fleet to the depths of the sea! The German ships have iron hulls and are impervious to all means of attack that we have discovered.
Worse yet, their weapons have incredibly destructive power, and are capable of superior ranges and rates of fire. Do I need to remind you what happened to the Moroccan Armada? They fought against a handful of ships. Yet there are over twenty-five of such vessels currently blocking the strait of Gibraltar!"
Julius panicked when he heard this, because he realized he had sent the overwhelming majority of the Catholic World's forces to the Holy land, and they were now stuck with only one viable solution to return home. They would have to sail for Hungary and march back to their homes across Eastern Europe.
However, the English would have to pass through German Lands to even attempt to get back to their homeland. It was truly a disastrous scenario. When the Kings of Christendom heard this news, they would lose the will to fight. As they were essentially stuck in the Holy Land where they could only fight until the last man against the enemies who surrounded them.
It turned out that Aubry was fortunate that his allies had betrayed him in Jerusalem, because he was given just enough time to escape this mess and return to Paris. Julius realized that if he did not come up with a solution, the armies of Christendom would be stranded in the Holy Land thousands of miles away from their families.
There was no solution other than an all out attack that the Pope could think of that would allow him to break the blockade. Even then, such reckless action would just be asking for their ships to be sunk. It was far more viable to just convince the English King and his armies to stay in the Holy Land until they could all march on Germany.
It was becoming increasingly clear to the Pope that Berengar had provoked him into a conflict in the Holy Land, so that he could set up such a trap. Thus making it so his borders would only suffer an invasion from the east. Honestly, the man was giving Berengar too much credit. The Kaiser did not expect his stranglehold over the Saltpeter trade to force the Church to look for alternative trade routes to India.
By blowing up the saltpeter mines in Collbato, Berengar had annihilated the Spanish army, but at the same time, kick-started the age of exploration before he could finish the Suez Canal. Luckily, his navy was powerful enough to prevent the Catholics from heading to the new world. Or else he would soon be engaged in colonial wars with his neighbors.
The Archbishop gazed upon the Pope with a hopeless gaze. He did not have the answer on how to fix this scenario. He could only ask what the Holy Father had planned.
"Your holiness, whatever shall we do?"
Julius gritted his teeth as he decided on how to move forward. He wanted nothing more than to throttle Berengar for forcing him into such a position, but unfortunately, he could not. All he could do was sigh and give the orders he had in mind.
"We will try to prevent this information from leaking to the crusaders for as long as possible. When they have finally claimed enough of the Holy Land to declare a victory, we will inform them of what Germany has done, and rouse them to attack the Reich. Only by ending Berengar's reign do we have a chance to put an end to this blockade!"
The archbishop gulped his pooled saliva when he heard this before nodding his head. It would appear the final showdown between the Catholic Church, and the German Reformation was around the corner. He had long since waited for this day, but it would appear to him that the situation was rather hopeless.
However, Julius had made up his mind. Since I forced him into a corner, he would not hesitate to resist and bite against those who had forced him into this hopeless situation. If the Reich sought to prevent him from finding out what they had discovered west of the Mediterranean, then he would not hesitate to fight back. By the time Berengar got back from his trip to Jutland, he would realize the desperation of the Church.
