Chapter 525: Tonight We Hunt
The regent is feeling an increasing amount of dread recently as the days go by.
He is starting to regret all of the things that he has been doing for the past few years.
In fact, it is only when this kind of urgent times comes burning his backside that did, he release that all of his power came from that one and only man, the Sanjek. Without that man, his orders would immediately lose its effect once the messenger stepped out of that main gate of Ioannina.
It is only known that he realised that the foundation of power does not always lay in the court houses of the central government; All controls of the central government on the regional government is made up by three factors, one is monetary system, mainly the ability to build a healthy tax collection system and the control of trade. One is the enforcement system mainly made up by the army, used to crash any regional rebellious governments, ensure that tax is being collected and no peasants or nobles have any funny ideas against the central government. The last being the geological distance and reachability of the central government and the regional government, the further the distance between the two, the harder it is to have a tight and proper control by the ruler.
In the case of the regent, he does have a tight control on the officials in the government, but he has failed to reach his hands deep into the Sanjek’s military systems. The army of the Sanjek is made up mainly with officers from the Ottoman nobility class all the way from Armenia, Anatolia and Azerbaijan. They have sworn their allegations to the Sanjek, not him, even when he tried to bribe them, for no matter how corrupt they are, they still remember one thing, that is they do not belong to this place.
With no control over the military, the economy and grip on the different cities and towns began to collapse too, which is a process that is greatly accelerated after that disastrous defeat, when the only bit of forces that chose to stay loyal to the regent are lost. Without a force to suppress regional autonomy, the economy and control of the government soon failed too, making the regent somewhat landing in the same situation as Constantine a decade ago– both only have one single city.
But heh! At least Constantine still had the peninsula of Achaia at that point of time! So in fact the regent’s situation is even worse than Constantine.
The regent looked at the mirror, looking at the dark circles around his eyes, made a sneer and taunted himself on how naïve he was a month ago when he received the news of the Sanjek’s death, thinking that it is time for him to begin his rule. Only to find out that it is the collapse of his governance when every city and town started surrendering to the Rumelian, no, Romans, despite of his repeated orders.
To be honest, he knows that the best way out of him is to surrender now and hand over the city willingly. Then he shall be able to gain a piece of land and a sum of wealth to live the rest of his life peacefully somewhere else under the new governance from Thessaloniki. But his lust for power does not allow him to do so; It is in this city that did he receive the most amount of prestige and respect, it is here in Ioannina that did he has the most power. Power is like a poison, a drug, it makes him high, boosts him with confidence, whatever he says, there shall be some other people who will get it done for him.
He loves the ability to determine other people’s life, but when it comes to the moment whereby his life is determined by others, he is afraid of it, full of the fear for uncertainty. He tries to grip on to power like a man gripping on the rope out of a cliff, but the rope kept on slipping from his hand. But even in this situation, he is still clinging on to it, hoping for some miracle that is not going to happen.
A pathetic man, clinging on to a power that he does not deserve.
Suddenly, a slight knock on the broke the deep thoughts of the regent. It is the commander of the city defence, a faithful lieutenant in the Sanjek’s army who came from a poor family background in a distant place called Zugdidi in a state named Georgia. He chose to jump to his side a couple of years ago after receiving a handsome amount of bribe, and then helped him spread his influence in the army, supporting the regent into seizing the state’s power. He came in to report that a large number of civilians have gathered in the city’s forum, requesting to the regent to open the city gates temporarily to let their closed ones and the supplies from to come into the city.
The regent turned down this piece of request without giving it a thought.
"Please, your highness, do have some level of kindness and passion this time." The commander pleaded. "They are your people."
"My people?" The regent waved impatiently. "From the moment they have decided to begin opposing me, they are already no longer my people!"
"But..."
"Yes, you are right, your highness!" The eunuch of the regent suddenly interrupted. "These people are already no longer the citizens of the city! They have become a bunch of rogues who dares to defy your rule. The Ottomans once slain tens of thousands of these people when they came into the region, I suggest that we ought to do the same!"
"Excuse me. What?" The commander is shocked out of his mind.
"I am not crazy yet." The regent stared at the eunuch. "Go carry out your orders, commander, just contain the situation, and do not come and disturb me again."
The commander is then chased out of the room, but an hour later he came back knocking on the regent’s door, saying that almost a thousand plus people has arrived in the forum, urging the regent to open the gate, arguing that the Romans would not launch an attack at this point of time. But again, this protest is dismissed by the regent violently as he again issued the commander an order to disperse the crowd through force.
But the situation just continued to escalate even after the commander has tried to put in his effort. Another two hours later, at roughly four in the morning the commander came disturbing the regent again forcing the regent to wake up with his eyes full of narrow blood vessels, and his blade tainted with blood, looking obviously that he has already killed something.
The commander came reporting that almost one fifth of the city’s population has been gathered in every single street of the city, now they have changed from peacefully protesting to violently clashing with the guards, urging to meet the regent. The regent is shocked by the development of situation, but instead of opening up his mind appealing to the population and open the gate, another idea started evolving in his head; a frantic one.
"There must be spies hidden among the people!" The regent started shouting like a maniac, wiping everything off his table onto the ground. "There must be! There must be something antagonising and triggering these rogues to defy my will! There must be!"
It is rare for the regent to be this mad, even for someone like the commander who has worked with the regent for years. He asked with a trembling voice. "Then what do we do now, your highness? There are literally tens of thousands of them out there!"
The regent hissed the frantic order out through his teeth. "Kill them."
"I am sorry your highness, what?"
"Kill them! Cleanse them! Remove them! Which of my word do you not understand? These people have already been turned into a bunch of rebellious rogues! Can’t you see? Go kill them! Every single one of them! I do not care what method you use! You better...."
The commander woke up from his shock and walked straight out of the room with a blackened face not saying one single word. The face of the regent has become way too alien to him.
This is not his regent; this is not the kind of person that he wants to work for.
The commander walked out of the palace, looking at the crowd beneath his feet beneath the walls, he then walked straight towards his headquarters, where he donned his armour, worn his bascinet covering his face, and sharpened his Georgian curved sword. He looked at the face through the reflection of the blade, it looks so unfamiliar to him, even though it is his own face.
It has been destined that there shall be a killing tonight.
