Chapter 290: Only You, This is

"Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges."

-        Tacitus

"Bey Suleyman reported that a peasant revolt in Epirus." 

"Let him suppress those rebels with his own garrison." The Grand Vizier waved his hands impatiently.

"Yes, my honourable Grand Vizier…" The messenger continued reading the title of the letter and took a peek at the Grand Vizier. "This letter is about the current affairs in Anatolia." 

"Read." 

"It says that Zaganos Pasha has recovered the Sultan's cities of Gebze, Izmit, Sakarye, Düzce, and is now marching towards Bursa…" 

"Good, carry on?" 

"He… Zaganos Pasha made a suggestion, to you… He suggested that the Sultan should pay a visit to Anatolia, pay tribute to the ancestors and warriors who fought for the establishment of the Ottoman Sultanate and learn about the Great Teachings of The Mighty Prophet from the famous Rabis in Bursa Ulu Camii, the Grand Mosque of Bursa…"

"Why don't he say that he now wants to take the Sultan as the puppet?" The Grand Vizier made a cold sneer. "How untruthful and disloyal of him, as the chief of the army, to say such words… Issue a letter of warning ordering him to focus on his conquest, nothing else." 

"Yes, my Grand Vizier." The scribe bowed. "This one is from our Northern frontier, our tributary Vladislav II Dănești reported that the Hungarians are now trying to use the pretender Vlad to invade the lands of our tributary…" 

"This one is a no big issue, since Zaganos defeated them once I am pretty sure that I can defeat these barbarians for another time." Candarli Halil Pasha did not seem to really care about the armies of the Christians as they are almost failing for every single time against the Ottomans for the past one hundred plus years. "Next, next, pick those important ones to read." 

"This one is from the logistics bureau in Edirne. It reports that there are now insufficient amount of food in the capital, even in the palace as all are being transported to the front line." 

"Confiscate all food and grains from the Rumelian farmers, we need to get past this crisis. 

"The market has reported that there are merchants who are taking advantage over the shortage of food and kept their stock pile of grains in ware houses with out selling them to push the food price rocket high." Cold sweat began flowing down the scribe's hand as he reads this. "The food price last reported is already three hundred dinars for one sack of grains." 

The Grand Vizier did not say any thing. 

"This report is from the neighboring cities in Thrace… Local officials reported that because of the heavy grain price the mints had to mint more coins in order to purchase grains from these merchants, but they do not have enough bronze as all bronze are used to manufacture artilleries, so they had to increase the composition of iron in the coins which ended up causing an inflation…" 

"Go and arrest those merchants, chop their head down to show the power of the laws." Ordered the Grand Vizier, but strangely speaking no one moved by a single inch. 

"Emmm… My honourable Grand Vizier, these… merchants of the Sultanate formed a league, and the head of the merchants is… your niece. Thus the entire Sultanate thought that it is your doing and thus no one dared to stop them." 

The body of the Grand Vizier trembled by a little bit but kept silent. 

"The next report is from the governors in Bulgaria." The scribe picked up a letter with an emergency marking on top. "Because of the food confiscation and conscription policy various Bulgarian settlements have rebelled openly occupying vital traffic routes, hills and mountains and started ransacking all cargoes transporting food and coins that belongs to the Sultan, and letting the local cargos go…."

"Stop reading!" The Grand Vizier roared like a maddened lion slamming against the table in front totally unlike an elder who is feeling sick. "I said stop! Stop reading!" 

The scribe hurriedly kneeled and trembled on the ground with his eyes closed waiting for his final fate. While the Grand Vizier just sat there panting facing the ceiling of the tent, no one beneath him ever dared to utter a sound after Abbas Pasha has left, all they know is to say yes and bow, but behind the back of the Grand Vizier who knows what kind of trickeries they are planning in their deep minds. 

After a minute of panting and resting the Grand Vizier swept his eyes across the entire tent feeling disappointed and opened his mouth in a hoarse tone. "I must go back to Edirne. If I continue letting the situation evolve like this, we shall be defeated by ourselves from our backs instead of in the front line by the enemies… Strong empires always start crumbling down from its interior. Any one has any objections?" 

"No, Grand Vizier." The pashas and beys replied in an almost unified voice. 

Feeling both disappointed and tired Candarli Halil Pasha massaged the wrinkles on his fore head and asked whining. "Any of you have any idea on who shall be in charge of the entire army after I go back to the capital with the Sultan?" 

After a while a bey beneath suggested. "How about Mahmud Pasha Angelović?" 

The Grand Vizier thought for a while inside his head and turned down this suggestion. "No, he is just like another Abbas Pasha with his minds filled with those code of morale and chivalry things, totally unsuitable for a position here sending thousands of people to die every day… His soft and weak heart would have foiled my entire plan. Actually, I do have a perfect candidate for this job… Ibrahim! You can come out now!" 

The Grand Vizier clapped twice and a middle aged man dressed in a black cloak came in to the tent from the back door, bowed to the Grand Vizier first and then bowed to the rest of the commanders beneath introducing himself. "Greetings, my honourable Grand Vizier, lords of the Sultan, my humble name is called Ibrahim… I feel extraordinarily honoured by the Grand Vizier's nomination and I vow here that I shall use all of my abilities to do the best I can to carry out the battle plan of the Grand Vizier, catch that pirate king and send him for trial to the capital." 

Candarli Halil Pasha nodded in satisfaction from the appeasing words of Ibrahim Pasha and bragged. "I drafted him to here borrowing him from Zaganos' side to be the assistant to Abbas Pasha's front line operations, but since he is sadly no longer here off to a far away place, I now declare that Ibrahim Pasha shall take full power and responsibility of this army after I have left." 

"Yes, my Grand Vizier." No matter what these people think, they still bowed down again and replied in one voice. Ibrahim Pasha bowed back towards his colleagues with that same old smiley face as always forcing his two eyes in to two curved lines. With the transition of power being smoothly completed the Grand Vizier set off back towards Edirne taking up the role as a fire fighter hoping to extinguish the government corruption, peasant rebellious movements and supervise the efficiency of confiscating food and drafting new peasants of all ages and gender.

Of course he knows that a sudden change of command is certainly a thing that he ought to avoid, but in times like this he could no longer care that much, and thus he left the front line galloping back to Edirne against the cooling weather and northern winds as fast as possible, cutting the usually one week long route on horse to a five days route, with the price of his own aging health of course, deepening the symptoms of his flu to a even more severe state that from this trip onwards when he is trying to sleep at night, he will always make those kind of hoarse sounds from his throat when he tries to breathe. 

…

Ibrahim Pasha studied the entire battle field from the previous battle reports aided with the words of his colleagues. When the colleagues described him how brutal the battle scene was and exaggerated on the death count of the army expecting that this new commander will show some level of sympathy and slow down the progress of the assault, he clapped and laughed, and made a decision merely three hours after he has taken the leadership. 

"It seems like you people have exaggerated too much about the Rumelians… Tomorrow I will need to bother all gentle men over here to pluck out the next wall with calvaries, and then by mid day we shall launch a full out assault right in to their camp! And then we can slowly suffocate them inside Thessaloniki… By then I can promise you the break and rest you and your warriors deserve…. Right now, let us not slow our conquest down with the death of a few simple infidels…. Can we do that?" 

The rest of the commanders had no choice but to oblige.