Chapter 401: Or Have They Been Sacrifaced

"Weep for me, my eyes!

Spill your tears and mourn for me the vanished kings

Hujr ibn 'Amru's princely sons

Led away to slaughter at eventide;

If only they had died in combat Not in the lands of Banu Marina!"

-        Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi, Arabic Poet

"We got even lesser time on our side… The Ottomans are on a haste in ending this war, not because of us, but because they are a lot more vulnerable than us to attacks; Thanks to their ancestors they now have enemies in the south, in the east, in the west, and in the north. If they do not withdraw their forces and build back their defences before the others catch the scent of their blood. But for us… Innocentius you should know, that is we taxed the citizens of Constantinople and Peloponnisos three years in advance in preparation for this war, and till now, our supplies are already running low. If we continue this war, we might go bankrupt pretty soon."

"But…If we could win just one more battle." Mauro retorted, wishing to reveal his broad tactical plans before the emperor. "Just one more battle, and we can overturn the entire table, and then we can let our troops besiege the city of Edirne. If we succeed, the entire Thrace shall be ours, and if we don't, we can send ambassadors to Edirne directly in making a more straight forward peace treaty taking every single town and city away, leaving them only with the city of Edirne, giving them a taste of what you used to be last time, how does that sound to you?"

Constantine listened patiently to Mauro, nodding occasionally and only replied after the troubled general has finished his words. "I understand you, Lord Mauro. I understand you, but I know my soldiers as well, and I do not think they still have the spirit and capabilities in battling the Ottomans outside our walls. You see, Lord Mauro, if our forces is like an arrow, then the peak of its speed and power was a few days back before the ambush, but after the arrow has struck on to the metal plate and bent, it shall not be able to reach the same speed again. Our soldiers now only want to go home, nothing else definitely trying all ways possible to yield the hooves of Ottoman horses, and besides…"

The emperor felt the feeling of dizziness coming back to him again as he speaks, he gave a yawn and signalled to Innocentius, who got what the emperor means and elaborated. "And besides, looking from a regional political situation, you will find out that the regional Ottoman war lords did not do any thing in aiding their Sultan, which is pretty bizarre. Has their gratitude for the Hose of Osmanlugu gone to such a low level and rejected all orders for reinforcements sent by the Sultan? I do not think so, that can only means one thing…"

"Indeed, the most possible answer for this question is that the Ottoman warlords deliberately turned a blind eye towards their Sultan not because they hate the Sultan, but because they want to maximise the profit they can acquire from the aids they send." Constantine recovered part of his consciousness after drinking some more alcohol and continued. "From what I think, the Ottoman war lords shall only send out reinforcements under two situations, one is if we started besieging their capital city Edirne, two is if we managed to defeat the entire Ottoman force in a major confrontation. Then they can send their forces in to Edirne to 'protect the Sultan' and become the next regent of the Sultan's court having a higher legitimacy than the rest of the war lords."

Mauro remained silent without saying any more sentences of opposition, he now knows that no matter what they say, the emperor and his 'good buddy' has already decided to agree to these terms and end the war fast. But within his mind of a warrior he still thinks that his choice is much better thus refusing to say anything. Constantine realised this emotion coming from Mauro and comforted. "Lord Mauro, I know that you are the most experienced and superior within all of us in terms of military knowledge and leadership, but this negotiation, is already a political thing that cannot be mastered or moved by a tactical operation. I hope that you can understand that."

The general clenched his fist and nodded his head with great difficulty.

"From this time onwards, I shall split the responsibilities between you two; Lord Mauro shall be fully in charge on all military matters, whereas Senator Innocentius shall be in charge on all admin matters, including that of diplomacy, with this you two should have much lesser conflicting areas and troubles, and do not need to find me every time for matters like this…" Murmured Constantine as he took another sip of alcohol to make himself awake. "I need to rest…"

After a while the emperor went back unconscious, and the eunuch opened the door quietly gesturing Mauro and Innocentius out while he stayed to clean the saliva from the tip of Constantine's mouth. Looking at the emperor in this state, Mauro left a sigh of disbelief while senator Innocentius almost cried out resisting the tears from dropping out.

Senator Innocentius signed the document with the Ottoman ambassadors making this proposal an official thing. And the Ottoman forces on the outside kept their promises, opening a corner for all Roman forces to leave, and retook the fortress closing up their defence on the east of Edirne once again. A fleet of Ottoman cavalries followed the tail of the Romans from one Roman mile away keeping a constant pressure on the soldiers, forcing them to march faster and not confined to one single place for too long, like a group of sheeps being herded by a few dogs.

The moment after the Romans left a fortress, the Ottoman infantries would show up to chase any one remaining inside out and reoccupy the fortress knowing that the infidels shall never again be able to return, and with this tactic the Ottomans reclaimed every single important land mark they have lost in Western Thrace. This brought an almost catastrophic result to some soldiers in Mauro's army who is from these towns knowing that their homes have once again been returned to the rule of the non believers.

Feeling that they have been rebelled, desertions started taking place with soldiers running back to their homes, and for the citizens of these towns their flames of hope has too been extinguished, realising that the Roman empire is already a thing in a past and shall never be able to protect them once more. It shall never be possible again for Constantine to gain any large support from these citizens, both mentally and physically, as the Ottomans started launching a series of purges and persecutions on the families who supported the infidels, some innocent Roman families who did not pick a side have also been ransacked and looted, for the crime of 'not being loyal enough to the Sultan'. This just revealed another fact about the army in this era, it can be very easy for an army to be turned in to a bunch of rogues and raiders, no matter which state it is.

And not knowing whether it is the Roman commander's cowardness or is it the boldness of the Ottoman front line commander that sparked his ambitions and greed, the Ottomans decided to start taking lands that are lent to the Romans as agreed on the treaty.

Facing this situation, senator Innocentius hesitated, and decided that it would be best to avoid all conflicts with the Ottomans, pretending to have never seen it and go back to the protection of the Theodosian walls as soon as possible. When Mauro heard this piece of order he is engulfed with rage and broke in to a severe argument with senator Innocentius, to an extent where he used his horse whip to slash the old senator on the back side. Then he brought every single cavalry of the army – a total of two hundred plus riders, and galloped towards the town that sent signals of aids.

It turned out that these greedy bastards are totally not a massive Ottoman army at all, it is only a bunch of Ottoman infantries being led by a çeribaşı, a pretty Ottoman officer who took the chance of the chaotic situation to occupy and loot this town. Mauro dispersed these Ottomans with one single charge, killed the çeribaşı and saved the lives of an entire town, earning him the title of 'Champion Mauro' in the mouths of the citizens. In the whole time the Ottoman cavalries that has been watching from a far away distance did not do any single thing, not knowing whether this is a test for the Romans to see if they are already shattered in their wits and guts.