Chapter 226: Education

"A little knowledge removes a lot of ignorance"

-        Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib

"Heroes share the same mind." Antonius laughed accepting Abraham's idea. 

Just as Abraham thanks Alexios for supporting his idea, Yuri came in for the third time reporting. "Admiral, Finisk got a letter from Abdullah and here to present it to you." 

"Call him in." 

Finisk entered the tent looking at all the captains inside and gulped, timid as always the moment he entered he kneeled on the ground on one knee not daring to look at Antonius passing him the letter from Abdullah.

Seeing this Yuri sneered pulling the boy up from the ground like how he pulls a cat, patting him on his trousers cleaning the dust off. 

"Be more confident Finisk." Antonius commented on Fisnik while he opens the letter. "You did nothing wrong… No one here is gonna eat you alive."

"Yes, sorry admiral." 

Antonius spread and started reading this beautifully written letter by his friend Abdullah with its margins decorated in Saracen style golden linings. At first he frowned seeing Abdullah complain again on the problems and difficulties when developing the economies and stabilities of the four islands assigned to him, but soon he realised the key word Abdullah is trying to mention in the not so straight forward words. 

The key word is education. 

"… There has been one problem has been my key concern since being appointed the governor of the islands under your possessions, it is the severe lack of a professional work force and a well educated population… Almost all the four islands are filled with people ignorant to any form of basic studies of language and interpretations of calculations, which makes even the simplest thing like transactions of coins and currencies difficult for them, restricting them to use back the old methods of exchanging goods using animals, grains and tools…" 

"… It is almost impossible for these peasants to independently work on any other projects with out being instructed by professional technicians of the fleet, who are also scarcely spread among the islands due to the expenditure. These inadequacy of the local population in basic knowledge has seriously postponed and delayed the progress of local economical ad social progression, that is why even after almost a two month occupation and a high level of local population support, it simply leaves some tasks totally undoable…" 

In the last part of the letter Abdullah finally revealed his true intentions. "I have heard from the returning supplies fleet that you have already received the wealth promised by Orhan. Although I am not there by your side this time, I would still like to propose to you to at least use some of the money to build elementary schools and hire tutors to at least teach the new generation the knowledge they need to have…." 

"… Trust me, my friend, although these money put onto education will not show its effect immediately unlike any other sectors you can spend money on other sectors but remember the proverb that 'Knowledge acquired as a child is more lasting than an engraving on stone', you will not regret it, trust my judgement." 

Antonius read the letter by Abdullah twice from front to back. Abdullah gave him a brand new perspective on how to effectively spend his money, not only on those visible investments like the ships, soldiers, artilleries and fortresses, it can also be on the invisible stuff like education. Making up his mind Antonius ordered his final decision to every one in the tent. 

He gave the bulk of the food stored on the ships to the local peasants population feeding their most urgent needs first, dispersed the jewels and silk cloths among the soldiers, and spent the coins on starting a whole range of educational programs across Antonius' domain including the building of schools and the invitation of scholars across the various towns and cities of Greece and Naples. 

With this thing set it is now time to fly the sails for the city of Izmit, to claim their final and of course biggest bounty, the peninsula of Erdek. 

…

A distance away from the city walls of Izmit, Sultan Orhan observes closely as another wave of Ottoman warrior charge forward laying siege to the city he believe he is destined to take. 

Seeing little progressions in the battle, Sultan Orhan made up his mind today gathering all the various war lords, chieftains, beys and pashas into his tent declaring a call to arms. He forced each and every one of them to make an oath to take the city fast without any further delay for their Sultan by performing an age old tradition, by slicing through their index and middle finger, wiping a stripe of fresh blood on their fore head, and citing his oath facing the direction of the Holy City with both hands facing upwards towards the sky. 

With the goat horns blown the previous quiet battle field suddenly became rowdy again, as thousands of Ottoman warriors coming from various places charge forward towards the walls carrying war ladders and wooden stakes used as war hammer. They ran through the grave yard of the unburied pals with their eyes still wide open against the incoming shower of arrows and bolts, protecting themselves with pathetic amount of armour and a wooden round shield that is barely able to shield their arms. Hundreds of them followed the same fate as their pals, joining the unburied corpses on the ground. 

On the walls things are not going so great either, with all reinforcements and routes of supplies cut off after that bugger Antonius got involved, the defenders of Izmit now lacks every thing, from medication, to arrows, bolts and manpower. They grew so desperate in need of arrows that they recycled those broken arrows by the offenders, demolished the houses and melting down pots, tools and swords in making of more arrows, but it is still not enough. 

Most of the defenders are living through a night mare even worse than the Rumelian faced in Constantinople, many of them have not closed their eyes for days, their hands are full of torn skin and injured muscles with them regularly pulling and releasing that bow string. Many of them will not be able to pull the string of a bow for life after this battle suffering permanent muscle damage. 

One might think that these Ottoman defenders must be soldiers made of hard wits and true loyalty for their under aged Sultan, but no, it is actually because their commander, Ibrahim Pasha, is truly a brilliant strategist that understands those fishy minds of the typical conscripted soldiers knowing their low willingness to fight, and so he spread propaganda to Orhan's rebels outside the city saying that the defenders are really afraid of the rebels beheading the refugees from other cities because the bloody scene would immediately scare the commander into submission surrendering the city willingly. 

What made things absurd is that some uneducated rural chieftains really believed this message, and immediately that day they pulled out all their prisoners of wars lining them up right in front of Izmit's walls beheading them one by one showing it to the defenders. This did send a shock down the spines of the defenders, but Ibrahim Pasha took the valuable chance to spread the propaganda across the city saying that these rebels are brutes with a heart of stone, and this shall be the outcome of them if they choose to surrender just like those beheaded prisoners of war. This message is widely believed and accepted by the defenders, making them never surrender even when things came to this state. 

This wave of charge failed again with the attackers managed to charge up the walls at the height of the battle but are soon pushed back off the walls falling onto the ground breaking their back and skull. The wooden war hammer too is razed by torches, and the war leaders toppled over with hooks. Sultan Orhan's troops achieved nothing again this time except throwing down a land of bodies and corpses. The blowing of goat horns and slamming of war drums ceased and the battle field died down again back to the silent state with only the occasional caw of crows and vultures. 

Sultan Orhan gave Ibrahim Pasha and his defenders no time to rest, he quickly assembled the next wave of warriors and got them ready to launch a second wave of attack today before the sun sets. However, as the goat horns and blown and war drums are sounded, these troops stood there in the same place instead of charging. 

"Sultan! We want more reward! We do not want to die for nothing!" Conscientiously these soldiers faced backwards towards their Sultan, and slammed their Kilij blade on their shields or helmets roaring out their demands, eyeing their Sultan under an umbrella as if they are going to eat him alive. 

Sultan Orhan became speechless first, then his mind is occupied with rage, but soon the rage is replaced with bitterness like he is poured with a bucket of ice water.