Chapter 222: Darıca

Antonius then moved on to the Ottoman holdings in Darıca, nothing special about this place with no natural bay making it a safe harbour from the not so dangerous Mediterranean tides, no strong fortress built here stopping the aggressors at its door steps, no tough terrain making it unreachable, and definitely no strong opposition army here to fend off its invaders, if one wants to set up a sea side outpost or fortress here to spy and blockade the ships sailing into the strait, this place is not the best option, so what makes it so damn important that Sultan Orhan must specifically include it in the deal requesting Antonius to take it? 

Because it is rich. 

Seating right on the important both land and sea trading route between Rumelia and Anatolia, connecting the two great cities of Izmit (Nicomedia) and Constantinople, it has always been flourishing with milk, honey and gold, remaining prosperous for more than a thousand years. Although the Turkish conquest from four centuries ago did dwindle its wealth but as soon as the Ottomans somehow returned a stable governance to this area by conquering the entire region undisrupted trade route is restored bringing merchants with fresh money back into the region, making it rich again. 

But why does Orhan take this place by himself and must trouble Antonius?" 

Sarcastically speaking, the Sultan is afraid that if he let loose the leashes on his war lord hogs on this place, they would gobble down every single bit of this place draining its wealth into their and their soldier's pocket without leaving even a quid for their Sultan, completely destructing this place in the process, plucking up the economical foundation, making this place a financial desert with the wind blowing away its former glory of a bustling market and port, just like the city of Antiochia. Orhan can forget about collecting taxation from this place in decades to come, even spending more money to rebuild it in the process. 

In this era, disorganized soldiers are just like bandits, completely merciless when it comes to ransacking the looting the cities, even when its their own people. Especially for those war lord who do not have that much money to feed his soldiers, often turn a blind eye when his troops turn in rogues robbing his own people. 

Thus, it is a sarcastic reality that Orhan cannot rely on his own forces to take a rich holding and must rely on foreign powers to help him take it, as he knows that at least Antonius troops are comparably more reliable and 'clean' to his forces which is like a morale vacuum. 

…

By the time Antonius and his forces sailed into the port of Darıca, a still robust city as it is before, but when the admiral approached the city with his men he is surprised to find out that the city wall is already hanging the banner of double headed eagle with some tear and dirt looking it came from the last century, with the purple flag decorated by a few Greek letters flying on the towers signifying 'the city of the Autocrat and Imperator of the Romans', and the gates of the gate is wide open without anyone guarding. 

A truly bizarre thing that Antonius have never seen before, but just staying vigilant instead of entering the city straight away he dispatched another scout team going into the city first to help him figure out what the hell is the Ottoman commanders in the city thinking leaving the city defenseless like this, can it actually be a trap for him? Maybe there are thousands of foes ambushing waiting for him to enter those gates?

It turns out that he is just being paranoid. The local influential families and power inside the city has long before received news of the Roman fleet bombarding and conquering the bay of not far away from them, and they decided that in order to prevent the fate of their city turning into rubbles just like its counter part, they must do some thing before the Roman fleet arrives. 

Two nights before, these big merchants and influential figures invited the military officers and governors of the city into a lavish concert prepared with the most sumptuous delicacies, tasty lass and a lot of bribes. The Ottoman officers came, totally not realizing what is awaiting them ahead. 

An hour after the Ottomans took their seats, the locals first pumped them with wine, stuffed them with the meat and fruits, then ushered them to lay on beds getting look altered by the maidens. Just as these men are ready to submerge themselves in the cradle of prostitutes and lullabies of the night, the usual friendly and obedient locals suddenly turned their faces tying their masters up with rough linen ropes on the bed stuffing cloth into their mouthes, then went on to confiscate their weapons stripping them off of their armours. 

By this time the half drunk Ottoman officers have already realised what is going to happen to them as they twist and wriggle around tied in ropes like a worm trying hard to vocalise some words but they cant with that piece of cloth stuck in their mouth. After much discussion, the local lords decided to spare their lives rather than killing them, as keeping them alive would probably serve a greater purpose in the future when the admiral arrives. 

The influential local figures then went on raiding the local garrisons with the support of the citizens disarming them placing them under custody in the city's age old Roman sewers, informing every single house hold in the city of what happened last night calming every one down, and broadcasting their decision to surrender the city to the Roman fleet, which received little objections. 

The citizens then dug up their filled with spider cobs ware houses finding those century old Roman flags and banners, roughly cleaning the dirt of them and hanging them outside the city walls and towers, with the city gates facing the port wide open the citizens anticipate the arrival of that legendary admiral lord De'Ricci. 

However, although this deed of bravery gave Antonius a lot less problems dealing with the Ottoman defenders saving him from a siege and a lot of casualties, it also gave Antonius a new kind of problem he had never ever faced before in his entire past military career. In the deal he has promised the Sultan Orhan that once he has acquired the city, he shall pass to the Sultan in one piece, but the citizens of Darıca surrendered the city to him, not to Orhan. And what if he is going to tell those delegates from the city that he is going to hand over the city back to the Ottomans, just to another Sultan?

Hence after getting stuck in the middle of the confusion with no one around to offer him advice and guidance, Antonius chose to pitch his tents outside the city gates instead of entering the city and accept the citizen's welcome and good willing. His followers and sailors, although all have no idea why they are pitching tents here instead of entering the city, all abided by their admiral's orders keeping the city out of touch encamping outside the city. 

This bizarre act confused the citizens of Darıc as they stand on the city walls and towers looking towards Antonius and his army. They have been waiting there inside the city with supplies, food, weapons, different accounts and manuscripts of the government including statistics of population, taxation and most importantly the key to the city. However, after hours of waiting under the sun the imagined Roman hero entering the city riding on white horses donning a laurel crown did not show up, though they soon thought of a logical explanation for this strange act of the admiral. 

They have always heard of the Admiral's upright personality on how he would care about the well beings of the ordinary peasants treating them totally different from how other feudal lords would treat them, also respecting merchants trying to establish market wherever he goes instead of seeing them as blood sucking pests chasing them out of his domains like those Alermanians. Thus, a logical explanation behind all of this must be that the admiral is deeply afraid that if he let his pawns into the city, his forces might have the risk of returning to their old pirate way of living ransacking the city disrupting its social orders. 

The citizens of Darıc are significantly touched by their own conclusion of the admiral even increasing their positive opinion towards him even though they have never actually met. After a short meeting in the city council, they decided to send a team of delegates consisting of the city's most influential and knowledgeable figures who have the capabilities to speak Latin to meet the Admiral expressing their invitation into the city, with gifts of course for his soldiers to fill their appetite first.