Chapter 483 - The Story Of The Sanjek

Now it has became apparent to everyone here, Semseddin is definitely lost, the whole thing is a trap, the trenches dug by the Rumelians served no purpose other than carry explosives to the walls which really sounded quite stupid, and now he has lost the support of his most trusted ally and sub coordinate Semseddin and the advantage they had in terms of cavalries. Now the glimpse of victory seemed to be even dimer for every single Ottoman commander over here in the premise. 

The Sanjek is not having a good time recently, ever since the war has officially begun.

A few days back he received intel from his capital by his regent, saying that his wife died due to miscarriage, the supposedly trained doctor failed to fulfill his duty and left his wife clinging to her demise for hours before she met her final fate, and in the end the doctor failed to secure the life of his yet to be born child too, leaving the infant dying with its umbilical cord still intact. 

The infant is supposedly a boy. 

The doctor is of course executed by the regent, leaving the Sanjek with nothing but this piece of bad news of both his wife dying and his only heir leaving this cruel world before he could even open his eyes. Sorrow overtook the Sanjek for the whole day making him uncapable to do any duty as he is just seating on his bed thinking about it over and over again, how he wished that he could fly back to his castle like an eagle and have a final look at his beloved wife. But no, the world is way too cruel on him for this occasion by disallowing such a humble request, as he got a bigger duty to serve here. 

Honestly speaking the Sanjek cannot even be sure on whether did his wife really die from natural causes or not, there are a lot of people whom he suspects that has a motive to kill his family, especially the regent whom the Sanjek has a growing suspicion on. Because he knows that he once had an one night's stand with the regent's sister who was sent into the palace by her brother to become his concubine in the chance of forming a political alliance. Apart from the regent there are a few more local lords who want to climb the ladder of power, and they know that the quickest way to do so is to have someone trustworthy to sleep every night on the same pillow with the Sanjek. 

Now with the supposedly trained doctor dead, there is no one there who can provide the solid evidence about whether there are any intrigue or conspiracy inside the court, indeed a smart move by any person who is behind this. 

But still after some time the Sanjek got back up on his feet and went back to his post, giving everyone the impression that their confident and intelligent old Sanjek is back to the line, then this thing happened. In merely one day's time the bulk of the Ottoman's coalition elite cavalries are gone in just one conflict bringing the youngest commander Semseddin who has the most potential with them. Not only that with Semseddin gone now, but it is also questionable whether the ten thousand men troop he brought with him can still maintain the stability and morale, the Sanjek cannot imagine on what kind of response they have once the message begins widely spreading through their mouths. 

The five hundred cavalries are just like a rock being thrown into a pond, achieving nothing except for a tiny splash on the water surface. 

However, with their main invasive gone, the Ottomans now finally increased the pace of the war suddenly as they lead troops out of the walls almost every single day, challenging the Romans for a war, forming a strong contrast with them last time giving every Roman commander a surprise wandering what is the cause for the sudden change of their opponent's attitude towards this war. The Sanjek, being an experienced war commander, however, knows about the principle that maintaining a still defensive stance for a war shall never get him and his army anywhere except defeat. 

No wars in the history are won by sampling defending behind walls, almost every single war recorded in history are won through offensives and attacks, and taking an offensive stance does not necessarily means that one is on the more powerful side, instead it is more vital for the weaker side to take on the offensive more frequently because if they are not keeping the stronger opponents busy and finding out their weak spots that they can exploit through all of these offensives, the foes can easily outmatch them through one major battle. That is the tactic the Sanjek is using now, adapting offenses as a new way of defending his base. 

Some Roman commanders are baffled while some are not, especially for Antonius who has just received a reply letter from Abdullah telling him about all the truth behind these recent developments on the battlefield. He is not in a hurry to end this battle at all, his logistics system is still running smoothly thanks to the new system, and he do not need to face the pressure of a famine next year if he does not disperse the drafted conscripts back to the fields, unlike the Sanjek. But still with the heightening of direct confrontations, the casualty rate of the Romans is also slowly building up despite the fact that one Roman soldier in a formation can take on multiple enemies at once, it seems like the Sanjek is just relentlessly throwing almost every single youngster under his reign into battlefield. 

The Sanjek is mad, that is what the commanders on both sides have in their minds in common. 

But the old man feels like he is calmer and clearer in his head than ever, he has no more burdens left in this world left to worry about. He has no more family, has no more place that he feels safe, has no more man worth his trust, the only thing he has at the moment is his castle and this near fifty thousand men army that is still following his command. He has nearly drained the population of Epirus this time, and no matter who wins this battle, it shall take the mountainous land of Epirus at least a generation's time to recover back to its original population. 

But that is no longer his concern. 

The Sanjek is now transformed into a cold hearted general, every morning he stands up high watching his troops march out in full, and every night he watches them return with less than half in number. But a good thing through this countless offensive is that those trenches left there by the Rumelians are left abandoned and slowly it almost became a refilling hole designated for corpses that are buried in there and entirely covered up with dirt. Whatever things the Rumelians are planning with these trenches are now left completely worthless now, and the Ottomans do have some surprise findings within these trenches – those barrels of black powder. 

Upon testing and examinations, the Ottomans found about how these barrels of gun powder are actually used and these findings made the Sanjek break into cold sweat. He cannot imagine that what shall happen if he chose to remain seating inside his walls and do nothing about it, he would have probably been bombarded along with this wall by the Rumelians in the trenches. 

However, even with the hidden tricks of the Rumelians being exposed, almost every combatant here on the frontline have the feeling that the war is ending soon. 

Not only because the sowing season in spring is incoming soon, but also because of the overall morale of the army in the camps. The morale has never been high, of course, but not everyone who is forced to come to this cursed place from their homes can withstand the psychological shock of seeing dead bodies and men with missing limbs being transported back to them, whining and groaning in agony right in the tents beside them at night when it is time to sleep, wake up in the morning and see a few more corpses being dumped out of the trenches in the next morning with a new group of people being called up to go onto the battlefield. 

The morale among soldiers in various camps are reaching an all time low in morales and sprit as almost everyday passes. They are just like a elastic spring that are being pulled as every day passes reaching the verge of breaking off, especially for the drafted conscripts under the lead of that local Rumelian commander.. But what makes it different is the fact that they are holding weapons that can kill, and the fact that a spring can also bounce back when the tension is loosened .