1453: Revival of Byzantium - Chapter 487

“Qui peut tout doit tout craindre.”

“Who is all-powerful should fear everything.”

–        Pierre Corneille, Auguste

“Oh, my dear Apostolos, really, answer my questions please. Have the age finally got you making you insane, incapable to think things through that brain of yours? Look at what you have caused!” Alexios is still ranting to Apostolos about the whole commotion he has just caused by upsetting the Caesar. “Can’t you see, he is already no longer that admiral who is still unprepared for his new career as a ruler and is able to joke with us all day long, he has changed, a lot, and do you know what might happen to you once you upset him? You might be sent back to that village of yours to continue your life as a farmer.”

The two of them have now far behind at the back of everyone else making sure that their conversation won’t be heard by everyone else. While Alexios is ranting beside his ear Apostolos kept his head lowered observing the front of his mount without replying anything.

“Look, Apostolos.” Alexios looked around making sure that there are no one picking an ear towards them and realised that the sound of hooves and the roar in the background is already enough to cover them up and continued raising his voice by a bit. “Haven’t you realised something, my old friend? About the recent shifting of power in the court.”

Apostolos has sensed what is this middle aged man is trying to say next, but his instinct told him that it is better to be ignorant for the most of the time to evade trouble, especially in the world of politics. Thus, he shook his head slightly and asked, “What is it?”

“We are no longer that government that only controlled one city and several isles like last time, we are now a big country, and after this war we are going to become even bigger with half of Epirus under our control! You can see the change in the Caesar too, just look at his attitude towards us…”

“What are you trying to say? Can you get a bit more straightforward?”

“No, I can’t be straightforward on this pardon me, what I am trying to say is.” Alexios suddenly pressed down his voice. “Now the cake has been big enough, and it is now the time for us to get our share of it after serving ‘him’ for so long. But now the thing is we, the scholars and educated, are still lacking power in the central government. I can bet that after this battle that the army faction are going to acquire even more power in various segments of the government which shall mean less power for us. We have far too less people on our side, and our voice are too weak in times of war when all the resources of the nation are being piled onto these militants. We need to grip more power, and in order to achieve that we got to unite ourselves around the Caesar, we need to show him that we are the ones that are far more useful for him, and now the least thing that we want to do now is to offend him ant further!”

Apostolos has already sensed this uneasy movement within all levels of government officials way before, but he has maintained a distance from them throughout knowing from his experience that such things mean no good especially for him to get himself exposed too early, so he rode forward by a bit replying to Alexios. “I am sorry my brother, I have no intention in doing this kind of partying things right now, I have devoted my frail body towards serving the government.”

Alexios is getting a bit frustrated on this old man that is as stubborn as Anjelo. “We can only serve the nation better if we have more power! And we must make sure that power does not slip out of our hands and turn into the wrong hand! We, the educated, must form up together to gain more power from the Caesar! If these people who can only hold blades in their hands get the power that should be given to us, they shall only turn the new born country towards the wrong way! So you must not upset the Caesar now in this crucial moment, because you are a part of us!”

“I am not a part of you people, young man.” Apostolos sneered and continued moving forward, separating himself further from Alexios. “And I shall never join force with you, I don’t know whether is it that our chain of victories has made your mind complacent or you are simply ignorant about the situation we are in now, and I must remind you that planning such things at such a time it is inappropriate to be planning such a thing at the current moment.”

The middle aged Master of Economy stopped and gaped as he looked at the back of the old man getting further and further away, these people who are well educated never curse in vulgarities as they think that those words are for the barbarians, but the words that just came out from of the old man sounded worse than any curses he has heard before. Alexios is stunned over there for a while, and after a while he bite his lips heard cursing back to himself. “You old donkey, if you insist on being a loner, then don’t regret next time when theres no one supporting your back in court next time!”

There is a reason for Apostolos’ rejection towards Alexios’ proposal for a political alliance, not because he is concerned about the battlefield thinking that it is inappropriate for them to do at now of course, the main reason is of course of his desire to evade himself from all court struggles and political turmoil by staying unaffiliated and maintain his image as a courtier that is not afraid of speaking against the authority on the right thing. Honestly speaking Alexios has looked down at this old man, thinking that he is lacking political sensitivity and intelligence for staying in the rural areas for too long, but apparently Apostolos got his own set of skills on how to survive in politics.

This tiny trifle in the parade square soon passed as matters with more urgency are yet to come, the Ottomans have already marched a distance of almost three Roman miles, the outposts and blockades set up by the Romans have all been abandoned after a minute conflict or even no resistance knowing that these kind of efforts are completely useless against enemies of this size. The Ottomans successfully went all the way through the valley separated into four different segments maintaining a distance from one another, this is an achievement that the Ottomans have never managed to achieve since the outbreak of the war.

But that does not mean that they have entered the safe area, as now they have lost the protection of the valleys, forests and mountains on their flanks entering an open ground. Now they have a low land on their left and a whole plain of flat land used for agriculture on their right, this means that the enemies who now owns superiority in cavalries can charge down upon at them at any point of time if they want to.

The Sanjek knows that they must depend on themselves for their own defence now, and as a general who spent his life studying on the topic of how to use cavalry properly, he is a master on how to counter cavalry as well. He ordered his troops to form up in groups of diamond shapes with their flanks covered and leaving gaps between each segment in order to leave space to avoid chaos between units and lure the enemy’s cavalries deeper in allowing for maximum engagement area, as the Sanjek knows that it is almost impossible for a group of cavalry to stop once they have started charging in high speed.

And indeed, a group of cavalries flying the banner of red lion showed up on the horizon beneath the sun which immediately increased the alertness of the Sanjek and his troops causing some level of chaos which is immediately supressed by the Sanjek, at the same time a mixture of disconsolate feelings and misery started appearing in the Sanjek’s mind. The descents and offspring of a standing army that once achieved most of her glory with mounted warriors, are now afraid of cavalries. The world has indeed changed but to the old Sanjek, this is a total piece of bullshit, it does not make any sense!”

Lucky enough, the group of cavalries paraded through the right flank of the Ottomans maintaining a safe distance from the formations and did not show any signs of launching an assault.. After a while of scouting and terrorising, these cavalries retreated from the frontline disappearing from the horizon.