Chapter 381: The Army That Only Exists In Words

"Look and which way the wind blows before you commit yourself."

-        Aesop

The now seven thousand strong army continued marching, with now a fresh new two thousand plus locals joining in voluntarily forming the back bone of the rear guard. These people, all filled with the zest and hunger to lay revenge on the Ottomans doing exactly like how they have been treated in the past. But Constantine cannot allow that to happen, as a soldier who fights to revenge is not as efficient as an obedient soldier who listens to orders for the most of the times. The force is an organisation, not like a fuel ground where only personnel strength and determination is tested.

Ayaz Ahmad Pasha, together with his team of Ottoman delegates, followed the emperor closely on horse back surrounded by a peck of cavalries, who are in charge of supervising over their actions at all times, even when they go in to the field to dispose their personnel biological fertilising wastes. But Ayaz Ahmad Pasha did not complain by a bit, instead he and his men just quietly followed behind the emperor holding still to that sceptre of an ambassador, reminding himself again and again that he is the ambassador of the sultanate, and he represents the image of his country.

The emperor of the Romans did not really care much about what the Ottoman ambassador has inside that head of his, he only cared about two things, one being the loyalty of this supposed Ottoman ambassador, making sure that he is not a undercover snoop, trying to lead his army in to an abyss. And secondly, the possibly corporation between him and the supposed reinforcing Ottoman forces attacking from a different direction. He needs allies, he needs support, he needs friends with him, not subjects like that Antonius in Thessaloniki who never listened to his orders, or those notorious crusaders from the north and west who only won one crusade and attacked his state in history for multiple times.

The Albanons? Too far away, and far too weak too. The successor states of Kieven Rus who have the same faith? Even further away. The Hungarians? They just lost an epic battle. The Serbians? They still got to prove their trustworthiness, and further more their new despot is still busy contesting for power with his subjects, making him most unlikely to come for a coordinated attack at this point of time. Thus, Constantine could only rely on the anti Sultan powers described by the ambassador. His army is precious, and expensive too. One soldier being killed in action would means that he would need to wait for years before his petite population produces another qualified soldier, a harsh reality for smaller states with a restricted man power pool.

The Ottoman ambassador looked to be reliable so far though, at least in the eyes of Constantine and Mauro. He did provide a lot of useful information along the march for the past two days, helping the entire army discover multiple hidden Ottoman outposts that the spies of Constantine failed to spot, and roads that are relatively new and not marked on the hundred years old maps of Constantine, successfully ushering the Roman army towards their designated target faster with out finding themselves going on to a way where no one has been using for god knows how long, and in the end getting all stuck in to the mud.

When a state's economy collapses, every thing else collapses with it, even including the studies of cartography and geography. This time reemphasising to Constantine about the importance of getting a local guide on the expedition despite this land was theirs merely a few decades ago. After two days Constantine finally partially believed in the modesty of Ayaz Ahmad Pasha, letting him join in the daily route planning with the other commanders, and giving him the privilege of joining in to their feasts being respected as a guest.

Things went on to be pretty well, the Roman troops plucked out one after another Ottoman hot spots, returning the flags of the double headed eagle to these villages and towns, restoring order in the region building back their authority and system of governance, and of course, a relatively healthy system of taxation. The Romans brings their economical expansion on par with their military expansion, a tradition that has been kept for centuries. However, at the third day, when they reached a place called Babaeski, with distance of only thirty five Roman miles from Edirne, the emperor and his advisors finally realised that some thing is being amiss.

Babaeski, a place where it used be known as Boulgarophygon by the Romans, is a tiny town mainly populated by Romans despite being in such a close proximity to the capital of the Ottomans, with a population of roughly three thousand people. The Ottoman regime conquered this place during the reign of Mehmed II, the empire's old friend, and tried to populate this place ever since. But till now only four hundred plus Ottomans chose to reside in this place, and most of them have chose to evade hearing the news of the Roman army approaching.

Thus, the emperor decided to take a stroll outside in the streets of the newly recovered town dressed as normal civilians, despite the fact that normal civilians in this age do not really wear silk, with the purpose of meet his new people to understand more about the local culture, social structure and influential individuals. While at the same time also supervising his soldiers who are replenishing their wares and living necessities in the city, making sure that they act within the code of conduct, purchasing things in fair trade, not drawing out their blades and threaten his new citizens to submit.

Every thing is going on fine and normal, which is a good thing for Constantine making him feel gratified, knowing that his years of efforts placed in to the army has paid off, making his troops an army of standard and laws. Then he decided to have a little chat with the merchants trading winter vegetables in the town centre, because the merchant in this era is perhaps one of the only groups of people who travels a long distance between states with a relatively higher knowledge of the news happening around them, a natural instinct of business sensitivity carried by merchants for thousands of years.

The conversation with two shop owners started well at first, the emperor is happy to know that the bulk of the residents in Babaeski are able to feed themselves in the winter even with the heavy taxation from Edirne, with some rather wealthy families even able to afford to purchase winter vegetables like dried cabbage and purple carrots, an extraordinary expensive luxury that only the wealthy can afford in this era, and that is why these vegetable merchants are here selling some of their wares in the first place before they go further south towards Thessaloniki.

Upon hearing the merchants mentioning that these winter vegetables are bound for the final destination of Thessaloniki, Constantine instantly ordered a purchase from these men and out of curiosity, asked the merchants where did they receive their stocks from.

"Our vegetables came from Yambol, your highness." One of the merchants replied with his back slanted with an appeasing smile on his face. "All of the highest quality in my home town, being plucked and stored the moment it is ripe, with no pest infection or other dirty things…"

Constantine is rather satisfied with this answer, and even more satisfied after he flipped through the bucket finding out that these vegetables are even of finer quality than his vegetables provided by those Genoese from Cherson. But he suddenly realised one thing from the words of the merchant. "You said that you came all the way from Bulgaria?"

"Yes, your highness! I embarked on the journey since last month, and finally arrived here to meet you, your highness, just yesterday, it was a rather uneasy trip I must say…"

"How was the trip along the way?" The emperor asked with a grin, urging himself to hide his true intentions. "Is the road fair for you? Were there any large troop movements along the way? Or did you get harassed and stopped by those Ottoman barbarians?"

"I cannot recall any large troops movements along the way, your highness…" The merchant looked back in to his memory. "The trip is a pretty safe one, the Ottoman governor of Bulgaria spread his forces out in to the mountains clearing out one after another bandit holes making the roads safe again, unlike the last time when it was roaming around with…"

"Wait! You are saying that you did not come across any large troops movement along the way?" Constantine suddenly exclaimed and stood up rooted to the ground, catching an important clue in the words of the merchant. "Are you sure that you did not come across any large Ottoman troops along your way? Or did you not take the main route?"