Graz Armory

The slow-moving Mainz civil war was quickly set aside by Emperor Laszlo, who entrusted Eyczing with its follow-up and coordination.

The troops he dispatched to assist Archbishop Adolf were the First Legion of the Independent Army, the most formidable fighting force.

This legion was a mixed force of light and heavy cavalry, greatswordsmen, pikemen, and musketeers, equipped with the sturdiest Hussite War Wagons and the newest light artillery.

The commander of this unit was Florian, the bravest commander under General Gunter, an excellent general Emperor Laszlo intended to cultivate.

Currently, Marshal Adolf, Chairman of the Court Military Committee, and Marshal Rosenberg, Military Commander of Bohemia, were both aging, and there was a lack of capable successors in the Austria army.

Emperor Laszlo heard that Marshal Rosenberg's eldest son, Henry, had recently died of illness in Prague, and the tragedy of a white-haired man burying his black-haired son left the old marshal, who had spent his life in battle, bedridden.

For this, Emperor Laszlo even sent envoys to Prague to visit the old marshal, hoping he would recover, but the doctors said there was little hope.

When the news reached Vienna, Emperor Laszlo did not know whether he should be joyful or sorrowful.

Rosenberg was the Bohemia version of Janos, holding high office and power, loyally supporting the royal family against the Hussites.

His death would mark the end of an era, and the Habsburg Family's control in Bohemia would further increase.

The old generals were gradually fading, while the Austria military officer system, built by Emperor Laszlo, was gradually improving.

The two most important aspects of army building were officer training and armament.

In terms of officer training, Emperor Laszlo personally selected excellent generals and established the Austria Military Academy to train cavalry and infantry grassroots commanders, all of which had already shown initial results.

And in the production and upgrade of armaments, Emperor Laszlo also invested considerable resources and effort.

Not long ago, the Austria Arsenal, which had moved from Innsbruck to Graz, was finally completed after more than a year of construction.

Only a small number of craftsmen remained in the fortress near Innsbruck, continuing to produce military equipment to fill the Innsbruck armory.

The newly built Graz Armory was much larger than the Innsbruck Armory, and the arsenal's armament production capacity was further improved.

Iron and copper ores from the Carinthian mining area were continuously transported from the Alps to Graz, and craftsmen serving the emperor wielded hammers to produce more weapons and armor.

The Austria army was constantly at war, and there was a significant shortage of weapons and equipment.

The production capacity of the Austria Arsenal alone was sometimes insufficient to fill these equipment gaps, and weapons and armor also had to be procured from Nuremberg, Augsburg, and other places.

However, after the Italian War ended, Emperor Laszlo signed a long-term contract with the Milanese armor-making family Missaglia, entrusting the family's armor factory to undertake the army's armor orders.

The quality of the Milan plate armor they produced was superior to the plate armor imitated in the German region, and the price was more affordable.

In Silesia, Outer Austria, and Trenčín in northwestern Hungary, several smaller arsenals were also built with the emperor's funding, primarily serving the troops stationed in various locations.

Emperor Laszlo, who attached great importance to weapon and equipment production, immediately decided to travel to Graz upon hearing the news of the completion of the Graz Armory.

On a winter morning, the city of Graz was covered by a thin layer of frost, and the entire city exuded tranquility in the hazy light.

A crisp sound of horse hooves broke the silence; it was the Imperial Guard and accompanying officials escorting Emperor Laszlo to inspect the Graz Armory.

Emperor Laszlo, dressed in a magnificent mink coat, riding a tall white steed, arrived majestically at the armory, surrounded by a retinue of well-dressed nobles and armored guards.

The warehouses for storing weapons and armor and the arsenal were built in the southern suburbs of Graz, adjacent to the encampment of the Imperial Independent Army.

Nearby, there was also a cemetery, where the soldiers who died in the Graz rebellion were buried.

The city had been severely damaged during the rebellion, but it had gradually recovered over the years.

The guards of the armory opened its gates for the emperor.

Emperor Laszlo urged his horse into the factory area, and he immediately saw an enormous cast-iron cannon displayed in the open space in front.

By his estimation, this thing was nearly three meters long, with a bore of almost one meter, a thick barrel, a small caliber-to-length ratio, and a short, stout build.

He knew what it was—this cannon was the Styrian Giant Cannon, produced thirty years ago by artillery craftsmen in Liezen, belonging to the stone-throwing bombard type.

The cannon itself weighed 8 tons, required more than ten kilograms of gunpowder for each shot, and could launch a 700-kilogram cannonball up to 600 meters away at a 10-degree elevation.

This cannon was the largest surviving wrought-iron assembled stone-throwing bombard, showcasing the craftsmanship of Austria artillery artisans.

However, this cannon had only been fired three times after it was made, and then it had been left to gather dust in the Duke of Styria's treasury.

During the construction of the arsenal, the artillery craftsmen of Graz requested that this cannon be moved into the arsenal for display, and Emperor Laszlo approved the request without much thought at the time, even forgetting about it himself.

Now, it seemed that this cannon fit quite well with the arsenal.

The actual utility of the Styrian Giant Cannon was quite limited.

Firstly, there was the cost constraint; regardless of the effect of a single cannonball, the cost of gunpowder alone was half a year's salary for a common mercenary infantryman.

Without a gold mine at home, one could not afford such artillery.

Secondly, although the craftsmanship of this cannon was excellent, its actual production and design ideas were far behind other artillery of the era.

Whether it was the Urban Cannon that helped Mehmed II breach Constantinople or the Mons Meg cannon gifted to the King of Scotland by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, they could cause greater damage to city walls with less gunpowder consumption.

Moreover, the safety performance of these two was far superior to the assembled Styrian Giant Cannon.

Therefore, this cannon was swept into the dustbin of history soon after it was produced.

However, it still looked quite mighty, and with "The Devil's Beloved Weapon" engraved on its barrel, it also made for an excellent, expensive collectible.

Later, the artillery craftsmen of Graz learned artillery technology from the French, Burgundians, and Hungarian, combining it with their forging techniques to successfully improve the Styrian Giant Cannon.

The cannons produced after this improvement were the heavy siege cannons currently in service with the Austria army.

However, the scenarios for using these cannons were not many.

Although in the current era, cannon manufacturing followed the theory of "bigger is better."

Many monarchs favored ultra-large caliber stone-throwing heavy cannons, but Emperor Laszlo knew that miniaturization was the development trend for artillery.

Light artillery capable of operating in open battles and rapid maneuvering would change the rules of warfare in the future.

Therefore, Emperor Laszlo almost halted further research and development of super-heavy artillery, instead requiring craftsmen to focus entirely on improving the lethality and mobility of light artillery.

Emperor Laszlo took one last look at the massive cannon prominently displayed, then turned and walked towards the armory's storage warehouses.

He could probably understand the mindset of the Graz artillery craftsmen; the heavy cannon displayed there was to showcase their proud artillery manufacturing technology.

This was indeed the biggest difference between the Graz Armory and the many arsenals distributed throughout the Habsburg territories—it had excellent craftsmen who were skilled in the manufacturing processes of artillery and matchlock guns.

With the support of these craftsmen, Emperor Laszlo believed that Austria's gunpowder weapons would surely make significant progress in the future.

However, he knew in his heart that in this era, one could not overly rely on gunpowder weapons; the fate of Charles the Bold was a very good warning.

Therefore, his cultivation of greatswordsmen and heavy cavalry, and his research into pike infantry formations, had not ceased.

The Austria Court Military Committee was accumulating and preparing for the next round of military reform.