Chapter 478 - Spiders

"There webs were spread of more than common size, And half-starved spiders prey'd on half-starved flies."

-        The Prophecy of Famine: A Scots Pastoral, Charles Churchill

The trenches fell inevitably to the Romans right after the Ottomans chose to give up their grounds in return to save the lives of their men. Honestly speaking Antonius was surprised by his Ottoman counterparts' decision, because in his assumption the Ottomans rarely gave up their strategic goals in exchange for the lives of conscripts. But the Ottomans this time proved that his assumption is totally wrong. After seeing this event Antonius sighed to Anna and Alexios, saying that there is still modest man within the Ottomans that cares for the lives of soldiers despite there are much differences in many areas between them.

Although the Romans have managed to re-acquire the initiative in the trenches, it does not mean that mean that they can use it immediately according to the plan. The trenches dug by the Ottomans are considerably narrower and shallower, with no design to block arrows coming from the walls for obvious reasons. But nevertheless, the Ottomans has lost their initiative and it is much harder for them to come out of that gate now, giving the Romans the ease to work all they want.

Just like what Semseddin has advised, the Sanjek paid his unseen consequence for not punishing the commander. Accompanied with the worries about them losing the war and the distrust in the Sanjek's strategical planning, multiple Ottoman commander started taking things onto their own hands and started deploying quick forces to constantly assault the Roman positions resulting in multiple clashes right outside among the woods, despite their Sanjek not giving any orders in doing so, that commander did not receive any punishment for disobeying his orders what, so why would them, a bunch of true blooded Ottoman nobles receive any?

In the end, the Sanjek only made some light punishments like deducting salaries or reprimanding them Infront of the others for their misdeeds. Because of that same old reason, one cannot cause disunity among the different factions of the army in such critical times.

Meanwhile the Sanjek continued going onto the walls every single day, almost living there although many insisted that he should not. He just wanted to see and observe what sort of trickery does the Rumelians have for him, and how they are going to tear down this war. When facing arguments from his sub coordinates that he should not be here as the overall in charge, he simply said that at this rate he already has nothing to lose. It is either he deters the Rumelians before this pass, or they tear it down, leap over his dead body and steal his home.

He watched the trenching project of the Romans go smoothly, he watched his calvaries gets blocked back into the side gates, he watched the trenches come closer and closer to him, he watched the futile efforts of his archers trying to snab the work of the Rumelians. He has already became numb, being caught in a deep state of questioning himself on whether he should continue seating here doing nothing, or behave like a son of Osman for once, lead his troops out there into formations, leaping over the trenches and get a real hard on confrontation with the enemies for the first time ever since he entered this bloody war.

But of course, his own reason stopped him from doing such stupid things by reminding him that his troops would not stand a chance against the enemies in a full confrontation, and that is why he is stuck to using this boring strategy of building fortifications.

The atmosphere inside the camp turned from a serious anxiety among everyone to a simple dead silence, just silence, in just three days. Some commanders cut their own fingers to write a letter out of blood pleading the Sanjek to let them come out of the walls and directly combat the Rumelians, some stopped showing up for the daily meetings with no idea of what they are doing, some are still just doing their work every single day as per normal quietly, including that commander called Adrianos, which at least provided some comfort for the Sanjek as he sighed to the rest of the people around him, saying that at least he can see through a person and observe their inner souls to assess their loyalty, he did not make any mistake.

The Rumelians stopped digging their trenches, a few mounted riders approached carrying a white flag shouting that they are here to negotiate with a letter. The Ottomans lowered a basket to ground level, the coming riders placed the letter in the basket and then left the scene, the Sanjek unsealed this letter and no surprise to him, it is a letter asking him to surrender willingly, saying that if he resist any longer, he shall be killed alongside with this pass.

"Hahahahaha!....." The Sanjek bursted out into wild laughter as he teared the letter into multiple pieces and stepped on it for multiple times until it is fully black. "Those freaking Rumelians, they sent us a letter trying to provoke me to ask you people to come out of the gate and have a supposedly 'true and fair' fight with them. How dare they ever say this to us? Have they ever made a fair fight with the Ottomans? They took the opportunity of the death of our prestigious Sultan Mehmed II, may the Mighty Allah bless his name, to steal a large portion of our land and the pearl of the Sultanate, Salonike. They took the opportunity of the death of my old superior Candarli Halil Pasha to swept us out of Greece, and now they dare to suggest a 'fair fight' with us? Hahahaha…."

However, everyone around him kept quiet with only a couple of them forcing themselves to laugh alongside with their boss, for they can all make brief guesses regarding the content of the letter. After a while the Sanjek too quietened down, sighed and left the area. The nobles know that their Sanjek is lying, the Sanjek also knows that his fellow pals know that he is lying, and probably the nobles also know that the Sanjek knows that they know he is lying, there is no point in doing all of these to motivate their morale now.

"Look! Honourable Sanjek! The Rumelians are loading up the trenches with strange barrels and carts!" A sharp eyed watcher from the other side shouted to the Sanjek, who quickly poked his head out towards the walls and he too saw the barrels and carts poking out of the trenches as it is being transported across the trench.

"What is the Rumelians doing…" The Sanjek is bewildered as he enlarged his blood shot eyes and tried to seek for any more details, but he failed. He summoned the various commanders and guards and ordered. "My sons, keep a close watch on those bronze pots beneath the walls, I am afraid that those barrels and carts are explosives that those sly infidels are trying to dig to our walls and set it up over there…"

"That is not possible honourable Sanjek, if they want to do that they would have chose to dig underground tunnels but not trenches in the very first place." Semseddin interrupted.

"Then what the hell do you think they are doing over there Semseddin." The Sanjek is displeased about the lack of respect in this young man's words.

"The only thing I am sure, Sanjek, is that those barrels over there must be extremely dangerous, although I am not hundred percent sure of the content inside, but most likely it is filled with explosives. So, we need to do something about it, I shall go out of the city myself leading my finest cavalries, like what I have proposed to you for multiple times."

The Sanjek did not agree with Semseddin, but neither did he show any signs of disagreement. Semseddin grew increasingly frustrated by this form of hesitation coming from his superior as he even kneeled down and pleaded. "Please! Sanjek! Wake up your idea! Every minute, every second now is crucial for us in turning the tide of this war. Remember that this is the very last pass that we have protecting our towns and cities, and till know we still have no idea what are the Rumelians trying to do with us, please make up your mind! What are you still worrying about!"

"Listen here, my dear Semseddin." The Sanjek is touched by the earnest words of Semseddin, he too stopped hesitating, stepped up and held the hands of the young commander tight.. "There are ambushes in the woods on the flanks, and there are caltrops being spread along the way outside the walls which is leading any mounts that is coming out of the trenches into a specific direction that has no way of turning back and returning when there are a lot of horses. It is obvious that they are trying to lure our cavalries out in exchange for information, that is a price we cannot take…"