Hanuš the Hussite

Constantine would look over his documents, reviewing each to bring to the council meeting occurring within a few days, he had written down many notable things to put forth to the council and was excited to share it with them and see their opinion on it. The council was made up of around 40 educated men, some from noble backgrounds and others not as much, these groups of people would come from different regions as well and be able to express issues in their own region while also working to discuss the future of the state. He had also planned to discuss something important to Constantine, an ambitious plan of his that would definitely test his and his councils abilities.

"Domianus!" would yell Constantine

His close friend who had been working with Constantine to write down thoughts would respond,

"Yes Constantine?"

"With the revenue of Morea raised, how many men do you think we can have raised?" asked Constantine

Domianus would look up towards the ceiling as he was thinking, and then proceed to say,

"If Basil's estimate is correct, I believe potentially around 2,000 men could be raised for such. The 2,000 men we had for the campaign last year could fit under this budget, however since there would be peace, i don't think it would be as expensive, maybe up to around 2,500 cavalrymen would be possible. With this, we can have many more as garrisoning soldiers as well to supplement them. We'll be needing to house them, create an area for them to train and fight, and pay them daily salaries."

"If we were to have this higher number of Professional and semi-professional garrison soldiers, how many do you think we could possibly have with this new system?" asks Constantine

"Potentially around 5-6,000 men of professional standard, more would have to of course be filled with either mercenaries or Pronoia soldiers, though mercenaries are expensive and Pronoia are poorly equipped and lack discipline. They no doubt would rather toil their fields than serve in the military." says Domianus

"How long do you think it would take you to gather such forces? I've talked with you about this before, but I have a target for the summer of this new year." questions Constantine

"If I had to assume, around May would be a good time period for it to be finished, i'm intrigued as to what you have planned my friend!" grins Domianus

"I'm assuming the Achaians, but I don't know which of the many fortifications you plan to go against."

"Correct my friend! You'll just have to wait and see!" smiles Constantine

The pair continue filling out papers until they're both interrupted by the scholar Plenon returning back with a guest

"Hello Constantine, this here is Hanuš. He was the man who had fought with the Hussites in Bohemia before fleeing the Kingdom."

The man would kneel before speaking in perfect Greek,

"A pleasure to meet you."

"This man has been living here a few years and speaks quite well, even better than some of the people living here!" laughs out Plethon

"This man is also apart of the council I organized as I wanted it to be diverse and religiously tolerant, our focus should be on those whom are competent and educated, and this man fits that role well. He also has plenty of knowledge regarding Western technology that I believe we can learn from."

Constantine moves towards the man before putting his hand out to shake his,

"Nice to meet you Hanuš, I'm glad that you've decided to make Morea your home!"

The man shakes the hand of Constantine, noticing it sweating profusely, and then pulls out a few metal balls and a powder like substance.

"Plethon had told me that you're interested in firearms? I can show you the capabilities of these weapons if wanted. You have seen cannons before correct?" asked Hanuš

"Yes, I have seen them before, but none such as these! The ones i've seen are too heavy to be carried." responds Constantine

"They have the same function really, putting a ball in here loaded with gunpowder, and then lighting a fuse to fire it out. It's deadlier than any crossbow and bow, accuracy is lacking a small bit, but when you have a good number of men using these, the effect is deadly. A shot to the chest of an armored knight would have a good chance of killing him, or potentially taking him off of his horse and out of the fight for the rest of the battle." says Hanuš

"Actually, why don't I show you how it works, come follow me!"

The four would walk outside to an open field outside of the city, bringing with them a set of chainmail along with a helmet.

"Now, watch carefully."

Hanuš would proceed to grab the firearm, a stick looking weapon with a barrel at the end, and proceed to push gunpowder down the barrel of it, and then would proceed to put a small round ball within the barrel, squeezed tight into the hole. He would then begin pointing it from under his arm at the chainmail before using some flint to light the string to detonate the gunpowder within the gun. Soon, a loud blast would occur from the weapon

*BOOM*

A ball of lead would go flying from the weapon and straight into the chainmail hung up on a fence post, a huge hole would be left in which Constantine would look amazed at

"I don't see why these aren't more used? They're powerful weapons!" replies Constantine

"Well, look at this," replies Hanuš while reloading the weapon

He would continue doing so, taking around 45 seconds even at a decent speed. He would then fire once more at the helmet instead this time, making a large dent into the side of it

"The issue is that it takes a long time to reload, the gunpowder is hard to get, not many gun craftsmen out there and so it's expensive, and then trying to maintain it is difficult in the field too. It's why we used wagon forts during the Hussite wars to protect ourselves while firing at the enemy."

"May I try?" asks Constantine,

"Of course," replies Hanuš

The Despot would follow what Hanuš had done, reloading the weapon, however at an even slower time of around a minute and a half due to not being used to doing such at all. Eventually, his weapon would be loaded and prepared to fire in which he would tuck the hand gun under his arm, and move it towards the chainmail that still had a hole in it and would proceed to fire.

*BOOM*

However the Kephale would miss instead and partially fall back a bit after using it, then getting up uncharacteristically slowly

"This definitely takes some getting used to for this weapon, I think I'd like to implement it, for defensive purposes potentially."

"I think that's a wise choice, not many whom are truly skilled as much as Jan Žižka with gunpowder tactics. It's hard to replicate, I don't even know how he did as much as he did myself." replied Hanuš

Constantine would continue to observe the gun and then the armor, and then look at Hanuš with a smile on his face

"Hanuš, there are a number of Hussites whom are coming to live here in Morea, a gunsmith among them, I'd like you to help with teaching Greek to them so they may fit in well within our cities. Please feel free to stay in Mystras with us for their eventual arrival."

Hanuš would look surprised at the Despot, but would kneel before saying,

"I would be honored my lord, there aren't many whom are accepting of the Hussites, I'm happy that you're willing to accept my people."

The group would begin walking back to the Palace, Constantine would walk thinking of the possibilities with this new weapon that could be developed here and how he could maybe use it in his next campaign. Though soon his focus would be elsewhere when they'd get to the Palace's doors, the Kephale would get inside, and then collapse immediately to the floor.

"Constantine!"

"Are you okay?!"

"Can you hear me?!"

The sound would slowly grow confusing as he has no idea what was being said anymore as his eyes would close