Chapter 524: [Bonus Chapter] There Is Much To Be Done
"Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus."
- Ferdinand I of the Holy Roman Empire The regent of Ioannina is indeed pretty stone hearted in his decision of letting a hundred citizens staying overnight outside the city gates in the cold.
Discontent and negative emotion started brewing amongst the citizens whose closed ones are trapped outside in the mild winter. But of course, the dictator seating in the high castle would not have sensed about the impending resentment towards him; These citizens, or peasants, are way too weak and short to even have the ability to reach the balcony of his chamber. It is only when he needs the support of these citizens, then shall the regent throw some bones off his bowl of soup down into the ditches of the cities for these residents to enjoy, but in a dire situation like where his power and life is the top priority, the regent cannot care more or less about these people, even when they are in fact the ’same’ kind of people as him, following the same religion, speaking the same tongue, having the same culture.
"How long are we going to wait here?" Cerberus asked, rubbing his shoulders in the cold.
"We can head back now, but Cerberus, do help me address the soldiers tomorrow to start cutting down the trees in the nearby forests, we should need at least five hundred trees to be used in our logistics system, and another five hundred to be made into siege machines."
"Yes, your majesty."
"For now... Let us get back and have some rest." Antonius looked up at the crescent moon hanging in the pitch darkness. "We shall probably welcome spring here, this city needs at least a month to be taken, if Christ decides to bless us with luck this time round."
"What if... Things did not turn out according to what we have speculated? I mean, if the people did not manage to do anything impactful..."
"What if?" Antonius gave Cerberus a stare. "Do you think there is possibly any way out of a siege battle Cerberus? We are not an army that believes in the favour of God or any miracles descending upon us unlike that piece of standing suck holes in Constantinople, it has already been proven since the ancient times that the most effective method of besieging a city is to surround it with a standing army three times the size of the defenders cutting off her supplies, with siege machines as supplements. Be prepared to stay under these walls till summer. Now get to work!"
...
The Romans and their international counterparts started preparing themselves to withhold here for another few months, there are of course, complains going on everywhere in various levels of the army. The Roman troopers would not discuss about it that much in their trust for their leader, but this definitely does not apply to the friendly troops who came from a thousand nations, many have already started to complain about the war dragging on forever till the spring season which stops them from going back to their homes to sow their seeds. Many of them came here expecting to earn a fortune of gold and lands, becoming a feudal lord on this land just like their counterparts. but of course, Antonius would not let them ransack on his land, which is a factor leading to the dwindling morale of the soldiers.
Well, one cannot expect another person to be a modest holy warrior following the creed of Saint George, till this point of history there has not been a single religion, state or party that faithfully follows the original motto, ideology and inspiration it is built on. Time is not only a kind of fuel that promotes development and progress, but also a brutal chemical that corrodes and rusts the organisation, creating a state of decay.
Everyone knows that the Sanjek is gambling when he decided to mobilise all of what he had in the state, and the results is pretty clear also; He lost all of what he used to have. But what many do not realise is that it is a gamble for Antonius too, sometimes he himself cannot imagine what shall happen to him if he lost that battle. And he can still lose it now, for the increasing pressure pushed to him by the increasing threats from nearby maritime powers like Venice, the increasing disloyalty among troops, and also by his own courtiers back there in Thessaloniki.
Antonius went back to his tent with a dreaded body. Before the rest he might seem to be a brilliant monarch who seems to know everything with lots of ideas regarding all the matters, but that is not always the case, for he knows that he need to display the image of a strong and intelligent leader in front of these ambitious folks in his army camp right now, if not only God knows what is going to really happen when these so called crusaders started to feel that Antonius is unable to suppress their ambitious greed.
Antonius went back to his tent, and the first thing that came to his eyes is his wife Anna, donned in a set of light armour seated on the chair going through the sophisticated accounts and logs for the food supplies of the entire army, looking clearly irritated by the screwed up logistics and the increasing supply consumption rate of the army from her frowning face, it is obviously not a decent job for her, a noble lady, to manage five thousand mouths of men with large stomachs. She has excused herself from always standing by Antonius’ body side cosplaying as the role of his guard for the fact that she has not been feeling well for the past week, thus she has now made herself the scribe of the entire army.
Antonius continued looking at her, still an elegant lady even though she has entered her mid-thirties. He understands the troubles and stress that she has been facing, one of the biggest critics that she is facing now is her inability to bear a legitimate heir of the newly founded kingdom at her age, in other words, a healthy son. No matter what the people hundreds of years later think of in their mind, there is definitely no such thing as gender equality in this era. In most of the times, only sons are admitted as the legitimate heirs of the state, not woman, if a lady is pushed on to the throne in this era, it is widely believed among the people that the state shall most likely end up plunging into total chaos or finding itself going head on into an inheritance crisis leading to wars.
Thus, as the years go by, more and more criticism has been landing on her head regarding on Anna’s head, with some daring ones even speaking it out in the open that she should not be the queen of the nation if she is unable to fulfil her responsibilities and bear a heir. While the others, particularly those in the government, came up to Antonius suggesting that he can learn the good examples of the kings of the Franks by having some concubines to assist Anna in her role. Or if he wishes to stay loyal and faithful, he can find a few mistresses in the city, let them breed the child, and then carry the child over to Anna making it hers.
Antonius slowly turned from reprimanding this advice, to being completely silent, for there is simply too much of them. This led to many things that the Caesar has been approved what they are doing and started to escalate the thing even further by questioning her loyalty and her family background, which is a relatively sensitive topic as everyone knows who her father is and what he has done in the past, leading to a complete political turmoil.
The brother of Anna, Jacob Notaras, now acting as an official in the social sector of the government, came up against the crowd in this critical moment arguing against his colleagues to defend his sister with himself and a few other men forming a shield protecting Anna, and they succeeded in the debate fending off the attacks, but they know that if Anna do not breed a son soon enough, these assaults are going to come back again, and it shall bring Antonius into the issue as well.
Thinking of all these troublesome matters, with his dreadfulness from not having a proper sleep for the past entire week, Antonius suddenly felt an increasing dizziness as he felt something deep in his mind – it felt like a clock that they use in Venice, ticking.
Antonius panted a bit and sat down on the bed to recover himself, it is already post midnight, with a slightly hand he opened his dairy and wrote down.
Remain calm.
The country endures.
The emperor lives.
The State of Thessaloniki shall endure.
There is much to be done.
