Chapter 216: Erkan

Death is the easiest of all things after it, and the hardest of all things before it

-        Caliph Abu Bakr

The other Ottoman defenders, seeing there are neither an escape route nor any possible chance of pushing the invaders out of the fortress, willingly surrendered throwing their weapons on the ground after Yuri showed them the tied up Ulema. They are lined up together in teams of tens with their hands tied up using ropes standing by the sea side sited on the sands, staring blankly into the direction of their home land, the mountainous lands of Anatolia. 

It is a fortunate thing that the old Ulema of the Island did not live long enough to see this, to see his one year of effort building these three fortresses fall to the foes in only less than four days' time. Not every one can accept the results of months of hard work crumbling done being proved to be completely useless, especially for an old man. 

Nevertheless, now Antonius completely owns this island, now the only job yet to be done is to dispatch the patrol ships in alert of Ottoman reinforcements, send soldiers deeper into the island led by local guides, re-establish governance and stability on the island putting it effectively under Antonius' control, and lastly, how to deal with these two hundred and sixty five Ottoman defenders taken as prisoners of war this time round. 

The locals gathered around behind the beach like they are going to watch a show.

The two hundred plus men sits there, watching their home land Anatolia, the place where the sun arise. Behind them stands a crowd of people watching, separated by a thin line of armed sailors maintaining order.

What makes the situation bizarre is that different from any other conquered Ottoman territories Antonius have seen, where usually the locals will be reacting violently towards the Ottoman occupiers throwing stones, shouting at them and cheering when they are beheaded, the crowd of locals over here are pretty silent gossiping and discussing with each other in their Greek Marmara dialect on how the new lord shall deal with these people. 

Interested, Antonius asked the defected native soldier who helped them capture the fortress called Helio by his side. And the later gave him an interesting reply. 

"My lord, I must be frank here, there are not many fuss and feelings of hatred between the local Greek communities and the outside Ottoman communities, the conflict and rebellion is all due to the ludicrous policies set by the current Ulema making him the main target. Since there are not much hate with some of them even forming friendship, why would my country men act hostile towards them?" 

This truly surprised Antonius as this is the first time he heard of a such thing. He lifted his eye brows asking the solder Helio to elaborate. 

"Well… my lord, I cannot tell you how did it happen on a broader scale, but we have actually been living alongside them for a few decades by now, and because of the so called 'policies of harmony' set by the previous deceased Ulema, there has not been much troubles settling with each other accept the language barrier which is also gradually getting overcome as the deceased Ulema made a compulsory policy for all Ottoman settlers to learn the local language." 

"Impressive." Antonius made a rare compliment admiring the political abilities of the deceased Ulema and ordered. "Julian, bring some men with you, enforce the stability in this town, seal off the government building of the Ottomans and its archives. Remember that shall be your first priority next time where ever we conquer… restore a territory belonging to the Roman empire." 

"Roger, admiral." 

…

Antonius went to the front of the crowd of people, accepted their greetings and bows, then shouted out to them. "My fellow Romans of Proconnesus! If your family are once robbed, stolen, murdered, or threatened by these Ottomans on the beach! Sound off now! We shall return justice to you!"

The crowd hustled for a brief moment and quickly returned silent.

"First call!"

Several men and women stepped out of the crowd going down to the beach accompanied by a sailor grabbing the prisoner of war out of the line.

"Second call!"

A few more men went down.

"Third… call!" Antonius purposely dragged his word giving the peasants a last chance, but this time no one came out of the crowd.

A little bit disappointed, he went to the prisoners of war and the peasants who pulled them out asking.

"What crime did he make?"

"Stealing, my lord."

"Him?"

"He molested my son last year, my lord."

"…..You?"

"He collected more taxes from me, my lord."

"You?"

"He tried to rob me once, my lord."

Antonius asked around finding out that most of these crimes committed are basically minor ones, of the twenty plus prisoners of war only three are accused to committing the crime of murder, making Antonius suspect if these crest fallen Ottoman prisoners of war are really that familiar Ottoman soldiers he dealt with for the past decade. After asking every one he asked these people to stand at one side first, comforting the peasants softly and politely that he shall return justice to them later punishing these criminals by trial.

Julian then led Antonius to the Ulema of the Ottomans, also sitting there facing the sea with his hands tied up. Upon seeing the admiral of the Romans coming, the Ulema came up kneeling down on the soft sands towards Antonius feeling his forehead on the beach greeting in a loud appeasing tone. "Admiral! Admiral! O how honoured I am seeing a majestic hero showing up before my eyes, you are like the morning sun, glorious, energetic and inspiring. I count myself lucky, really lucky to have the privilege to be able to able to have a closer view of your solemn figure…."

"Wait wait wait what? Stop, stop please." Antonius almost choked himself hearing this, Abdullah behind covered his face in shame refusing to see his country man. Same with the Ottoman prisoners of war tied up sitting behind, widened their eyes like a bull's bell seeing their commander like this unable to believe that all of this is happening right before their very eyes.

"Wait, you speak Latin?" Asked Antonius.

"Yes, my lord." The Ulema replied in a fluent Latin while digging his head further into the sands. "I was once a small shop owner with my father on the Genoese colony of Chios, actually, I was the one who supplies Lord Giovanni and his mercenaries with fresh Anatolian chicken last time! Until I was chased out and my shop was confiscated when my Sul… The Sultan Mehmed II decided to attack Constantinople."

Antonius is aroused with interesting, he squats down in front of the Ulema patting him on his back. "Get up and talk, do not worry, there is no need to be afraid, I will not kill you I assure you."

"Thank you, admiral. It such an honour…"

"Stop, stop." Antonius could not stand it no more. "Tell me your name."

"My humble name is Erkan, your grace."

"Ok Erkan." Antonius lifted this Ulema called Erkan up from the sands. "Listen, here is how I shall deal with you people. Although it is gravely wrong of you and your men stepping onto the land of Christendom without asking for a rightful permission, but I shall have mercy on all of you this time, because you are clean without committing any crimes to my subjects, do you understand?"

"Yes, admiral."

"I will send five ships escorting you back to your Sultan, but I will not send you back to the Sultan in Edirne, I will send you to the Sultan in Prusa…. The Sultan in Prusa, Orhan, is my friend back in Constantinople, we know each other pretty well. When you see him just say it is me who sent you there."

Antonius felt around his chest taking out a feather quill, dipped its barbs into the ink passed to him and wrote a letter right on the spot with a hand writing that still have a lot of space for improvement passing it to the Ulema called Erkan. "Here, take this letter, pass it to your new Sultan, and serve him well. I am pretty sure we shall meet again."

Erkan blew the ink dry on the piece of Anacon paper, carefully folded it into a square and kept it into his pocket. "I shall keep this letter to my new Sultan protecting it with my life."

"I do not need your life to protect this piece of letter, but I do still have a few more words with you, come over here…"

"Yes, admiral."

Antonius whispered in an freezing voice before the ear of Erkan. "I am sure that we shall meet again… Orhan is a smart guy, and you are a smart guy as well you ought to know what I mean… But next time I hope that you shall come to see me wearing robes carrying scrolls of paper bringing silk, if you come wearing armour carrying a blade…"

"I will kill you."

Erkan gulped quivered.

"Yes, admiral."