Chapter 377: Look At That Guy Over There!

"When two three different religions claim that only their own religions are true and all other religions are false, their religions are only ways to Heaven, conflicts can not be avoided. Thus, fundamentalism tries to abolish all other religions."

-        Rabindranath Tagore

Before sun rises the next day, Constantine and the rest of his five thousand combatants left the camp deeper in to the familiar but yet alien territories in seeking their century long revenge. While Giovanni is of course placed in the casualty camp, waiting for the fleet of cart cruisers to come carrying them to a relatively safer place after offloading their bags after bags of grains. 

It has just been one battle and there are almost two thousand new casualties, with almost six hundred men suffering from permanent and unrecoverable injuries like loss of body parts, which means that these people are unable to continue being placed in agriculture or economical production activities. Considering the fact that they fought and bled for the nation, acquired this injury for the higher purpose of protecting the citizens behind their back, of course the nation needs to look after them for the rest of their lives, not only as their compensation, but also as a form of promise to the rest of citizens sending a clear message of 'hey look! The country shall never abandon any brave souls who fought for the nation, so fear not and join the army!' 

But no matter what, considering the current population of Constantinople and the surrounding outposts, and the puny amount of taxes Constantine's government can collect per annum, feeding these six hundred physically disabled veterans would inevitably bring a heavy burden on the government. This is a cruel fact, cannot be helped, and this six hundred people are only a slight glimpse in to the cruel and expensive nature of all wars and conflicts. 

Before the departure of Constantine and his army, Giovanni asked his guards to pull him up, support him standing before the tent and watch as the men he led marches past him. Some soldiers greeted, some did not, but that is all fine for Giovanni, as he does not even have the energy to lift his arms up to greet back. He was just told of a grave news the previous night by the medic from the Academy of Thessaloniki, that there seems to be some thing broken in one of his knees from the impact he acquired from that dull arrow head on the battle field. 

According to the medic, one part of the bone in his left knee is now able to pop in and out. Though according to the senior medic's experience, it should not be a bone fracture since the honourable general is not feeling any pain, it rather seems like a 'fractura tendonem et ligamentum', a new symptom discovered in the Academy of Thessaloniki. The senior medic comforted Giovanni and his loyal guards a good news that this certainly does not impair his ability to walk or run, but there is also a bad news that Giovanni is no longer recommended to go back to battle field, as his conditions can worsen at any time when extreme pressure is applied. 

Then the senior medic got a pretty good beating from the bunch of Giovanni's guards, saying that they are lame doctors who are unable to cure their general's wounds, and now making lies with some unintelligible nouns of medical conditions to cover up their inability in their professions. 

While as Giovanni is still lying on bed looking at this nonsense going on before him helplessly, Constantine's army is already three Roman miles away by the noon of the day, reaching an impoverished settlement called Chalcedon, apparently living near the Sultan for the villagers of Chalcedon, especially during such difficult times for the Sultanate, is not really a fortunate thing for these villagers. 

Since it is close to the Sultan's capital, it also means that the local autonomy of Chalcedon is low, and the Sultan's tax collectors and officials can come here conveniently in a short time bothering the villages with more loads, and when the army of Mahumad Pasha came, he let the leash of his soldiers lose coming here to 'accept donations from patriotic subjects of the Mighty Sultan', which is basically robbing them off any grains these villagers still have for the planting seasons coming next year, pushing them in to such an impoverished state that they are already preparing to get starved to death when the only remaining hidden grains gets finished. 

However, this might not be a bad thing for emperor Constantine and his army, as the villagers of Chalcedon have already been heated to a boiling point on the hate towards the Ottoman regime, the only reason they have not went on to a revolt yet is because there is no person powerful enough to unite and organise them. Now with Constantine and his army here, almost every single men in the village joined in the Roman army, while the elderlies and women carried up their buckets and carts, transporting necessities and services as the army moves along. 

Constantine has used this advantage to voluntarily conscript almost two thousand soldiers and numerous logistics personnel as his army marched all the way here from Constantinople, using the hate of the local population towards the greed of the Ottoman war time government. But this advantage can only be used in southern Thrace, as the people here speaks the same language, follow the same culture and share the same history with Constantine, it might not work if Constantine and his Roman army are embarking on a foreign expedition. 

The Roman army continued marching along the paths on the plains, vigilant as always, they kept a constant look out and a regulated advancing speed. The Roman's fear over the Ottoman horsemen have been grinded in to their bones over the last century, and they themselves gathered around in formations all the time, with the constant worry that the Ottoman cavalries might suddenly appear even before the scouts can send back the message, and turn this marching in to a death march. 

But surprisingly after they kept a cautious stance for three days, no enemies came to bother them, making the Roman higher ups, specifically Mauro and Constantine come round to discuss the possibility that the Ottomans have suffered a loss big enough, forcing them to stop all operations and regroup, and may be some thing is going on in Edirne, halting them from drawing defensive troops from other positions to intercept them. 

After five days of marching and stopping in a turtle speed, they reached the series of high lands in middle Thrace, where beyond the series of high lands is a military establishment recently built by the 'Pasha with a Long Name' at Türbedere, aimed to watch over any enemy or suspicious activities within a three Roman miles radius. This military outpost is renowned among the local population because the soldiers stationed here are mostly recruited from the families of city dwellers, and they are known to the local population of using their free time to do some additional jobs. 

Thus, to the locals this military establishment has became more like a commercial spot, a bazaar rather than a fortress. After a while even the commanding officer here joined in the fun, allowing merchants to set up permanent stores near the towers, opening holes on the walls to allow trading activities, and used the interior compartments as ware houses, encouraging the passing by merchants and local population to rent it, promising that they can guarantee their ware's safety with knives and spears, and the hard fortress designs can block off any strong wind or rains. All they need to do is to pay a humble little rent and give them priority in purchasing these merchandises. 

It does sound ridiculous to other people that a military outpost is directly involved in local trading activities and markets, making people question whether an army can really fight in wars. However, considering the fact of the dwindling Ottoman economy, and the Sultan no longer being able to pay the non Janissary soldiers their full sum on the regulated basis, this phenomenon is becoming more like a regular basis for the military outposts across the Sultan's realm. While the Sultan's viziers also closed one eye on such things, because they know that if they bans such activities, their soldiers shall turn in to thugs no longer acquiring things through normal trading, but through violent actions like robbing, kidnapping and ransacking. 

Constantine knows about this too, and even understands it himself, as he used to use his navy and army to transport merchandise from the Genoa colonies of Cherson as well using the money to feed his troops. But of course, this kind of empathy shall not turn into mercy for his enemies. He did not come here for a fair trade; he came here edging for a fight.