Chapter 468 - Does This Work?

"…According to the interrogations and investigations on the site, we did find a number of fire starting materials, but those culprits who are involved in that shameless attack are sadly, still running around in the wild. But there is one piece of information we managed to have though, that is the leader of that group of invaders is an Ottoman nobleman called Semseddin."

"…Through this operation, three companies from the infantries have temporarily lost the ability to continue going into field action and requires immediate replenishment of manpower and gears, the number of Ottoman casualties are yet unknown to us, but we can speculate that they have at least a thousand men now unable to continue fighting…"

"I don't need the casualty report." Antonius interrupted. "I already have that in my mind when I ordered Julian to breakthrough these walls by force. I only need the results, and I am not really that concerned with the process…Where is your report on the subsequent obstacles we must overcome?"

Julian did not utter a word.

"Yes, your majesty. According to the jointed studies by the scouts, friendly sources and cartologists, the Ottomans have forged their second layer of defence deeper into this valley joined together with the mountain terrains behind it, it consists of two mountain forts on each side of the valley covering the flanks which is the main obstacle that is stopping our infiltrators and scouts from venturing in too far, a reinforced mountain pass located in the narrowest opening between the two steep cliffs built in a composition of stone bricks and wooden structure, measuring a total of five meters tall at least, they seem to have planned to complete their defensive mechanism by digging a moat, reinforcing the foundation of the wooden pillars with rocks and building a few more towers, but our presence here halted them from completing their projects."

"Other than that, there is another chain of camps being built along the lake of Kastoria, around fifteen of them with one being the commanding camp of that Sanjek, and another tent belonging to the owner of Kastoria, who is that Semseddin we have been talking about all the while. The last obstacle we shall face for this campaign is of course, the city of Kastoria. This city has been one of the most important strategic location in the theme of Dyrrachium since thousands of years ago to deter the enemies coming from the north."

No one has a clear idea on what to do facing this situation, some suggested that they should start finding imposters inside these fortresses to open the gate for them, some suggested that they should start using the old methods of setting up a mega calibre artillery outside that fortress. Some suggested using the prisoners of wars as pioneers to avoid losing valuable manpower. The most ridiculous idea came from that representative of the emperor in Constantinople, he suggested that they should choose a group of clergymen and recite the messages from the Holy Bible to let God touch the kind hearts and minds of the believers inside these fortification, let them surrender willingly to the Roman Empire.

Of course, his words got ignored. Antonius massaged his forehead feeling pain in his brain, sighing about how he wish that there is a kind of weapon that can drop bombs from the sky right onto the head of the Ottomans and blast open these walls.

"How is the progress of the demolition team going?" Antonius suddenly remembered something.

"They are going well… but there is one problem." The in charge of the demolitions Maximos came out of the line and answered cautiously. "During our tests and trials, we found out that although these new explosives have a superb level of control and ease of usage, but the power of the black powder inside these jars are just way too low. It is able to blast open simple wooden walls and structures, but too weak against the complex ones that are constructed with stones…"

"So, you mean that this method is impossible?" Antonius is not amused by this result.

"Well, your majesty, I would not say that it is completely impossible…" Maxims stuttered under the immense pressure and threw out his second proposal. "I was posted here guarding the border region since last year, and I have watched the way the Ottomans constructed their fortresses. They emphasised mostly on the above ground structures, but ignored the foundation beneath the ground, which means that if we can make an explosion beneath the walls… It should come crumbling down pretty soon."

"You mean the old ways of tunnelling?"

"Not tunnelling, your majesty." Maximos seems to be already prepared for this as he shoved his guard in and showed everyone something on a metal plate; it is a piece of soil that seems like it is being freshly dug from the ground.

"This piece of soil!" Maximos stood up and showed it before Antonius first before showing it to everyone else. "Is just dug by my men from five meters deep beneath the ground, as all of us can see from this that the soil beneath the ground is now hard as rocks being frozen by the winter and lack of underground water, making it extremely difficult to dig through. If we are going to dig an underground channel, we are going to spend at least a week and from our usual experiences, the Ottomans would have probably knew about our plans by then."

"Do you have a better idea then? If you have, please mention it as soon as possible." Antonius questioned curiously seeing this man appearing to be so confident but only mentioning the problems in his words.

"As you wish, your majesty." Maximos bowed down slightly and elaborated his plans. "I do have a vague thought in my head. Instead of digging for tunnels underneath the ground, why can't we dig trenches that are deep enough to cover our heads and approach the enemy fortification under cover? The trench shall go all the way until their fortifications, then we shall dig deeper until we find the bottom of their shallow fortification and dump all of our bombs over there. Just one explosion alone should be able to take down these walls."

"I must remind the honourable gentleman that the Ottomans are standing on a heightened fortification giving them an angle to let their arrows hit our men digging the trenches." Alexios looks unconvinced by this promising proposal.

"That is why we must do it smart!" Maximos exclaimed. "Our men shall dig multiple trenches in zig zagged patterns and each one of them connected to the other trenches. Our soldiers shall stick to the outer side of the trenches whenever they are digging and with this they can effectively evade the enemy bolts and arrows, unless if they have a kind of weapon that can make projectiles and bombs land straight on their heads – which I believe the Ottomans do not have."

"I see." Alexios backed off.

"Then what shall happen after the walls has been demolished? Do you know that the majority of casualties we acquired from the last occasion is from street battles?" Another commander questioned.

"This gentleman here obviously has not read my reports and the layout of the enemy encampment carefully." Maximos is not showing any courtesy or respect towards his co workers. "Of the two hotspots we need to capture, one is a pass which means that there is only a fortified wall, a gate and several buildings. While the other one is a relatively smaller fortress that is used for logistics purposes that can no way be compared with the one Master Julian conquered."

"I… I see."

After spectating for so long Antonius' interest is aroused too by this overly confident commander of his that he never had a chance to really speak too in the fast. "Let me ask you an obvious question then, Maximos. I believe that the Ottomans in Epirus are not a bunch of fools, if not we won't have enemy like that of Semseddin. I bet that they shall think of coming out from their turtle shells and launch a desperate attack on our men who are there digging trenches to foil our plan. What do you think about this Maximos?"

"Your concern is indeed right, your majesty." Maximos turned and bowed slightly towards Antonius, still with that confident smile on his face. "I bet that the Ottomans inside that pass shall no longer have the guts to come out from their hiding, but of course we cannot make assumptions… Your majesty, you know that in order to muster a troop to launch a coordinated offensive one must find an open area to let their troops form into formations, I would not let this happen. And I have a request for you, your majesty."

"What is it?"

"I need to ask your permission to temporarily allow me to pick any unit from any commander here and place them under my command temporarily."