Chapter 556: What Next?
"All halt! Listen to my orders!"
"Surround the area immediately! No one is supposed to leak a word of what has happened today!"
"Guards, disperse! Protect the Caesar against any form of threats!"
"We shall all return to our encampment via an orderly manner, starting with the right flank, the third Calvary regiment shall leave first, then followed by the Varangian regiment, then the fourth infantry unit, one regiment at once! The archer’s formation shall be the last one to march!"
"Pass my executive orders, anyone who leaks any forms of information regarding the Caesar, shall be persecuted under the emergency information regulations, at once, no matter what rank or position he is in!"
"Pass my words, in these times of dilemmas I, on behalf of the Caesar, expect everyone to keep their mouth shut! And march back to camp with their usual level of discipline! Anyone who disobeys against the emergency standard shall be dealt with personally by me, and all of the others who obeyed with the regulations shall be awarded according to their respective ranks!"
However, it might be because most of the troopers here have no idea who is this guy shouting randomly on horseback in front of the Caesar or is it because there is no one passing around the orders of Alexios since they are still huddled around the Caesar, the entire army remained in their rowdy behaviour, with a few men at the front bawling out clamours and questions regarding the situation. Alexios saw this too, and without any delays he pulled out the blade that he rarely used, moved his horse forward, and stabbed his blade right into the throat of the loudest trooper.
The trooper, with a blade in his throat, stared at the man before him with his eyes wide open, unable to believe that this man in robes who had never been seen wielding a cutlass before has the ability to slit one into his throat, his pal by the side too could not react to this sudden turn of events, and when he is awakened by the sudden squirt of blood splashing onto his face, Alexios has already rode afar, and two guards came out of the line under Alexios’ order and cut off the fellow head, hang it on a lance and began parading it across the entire army.
"This man has been execution due to exploitation of the emergency regulations set by the Logothetēs! Anyone who fails to oblige shall end with the same consequences!"
The entire army went back to its normal state and marched according to the orders of their commanders accordingly, no one dared to let off a single sound realising the harsh penalty they might get from offending the rules set by this supposedly courtier of the Caesar who have never ever laid his hands on the army before. The thousands of men marched together back to the encampment they had a distance away from the city of Avlonya, with a few groups of men left guarding on the beach, waiting for the Venetians to disperse so that they can have a chance to dive into the seas and see if they can, by any luck, retrieve the remains of their comrades.
Alexios sat on a stool outside the tent of Antonius with his eyes closed under the commanding flag while groups after groups of troopers march pass him, for he is the icon of order, the enforcer of discipline when the Caesar is not around, with Apostolos seated by his side observing this middle aged man like it is the first day the two have met, to a point that Alexios felt a bit uneasy about the continuous stares he is getting from his pal.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing, though I must say that I am amused by your performance today, you know, did not expect you to be so..."
"Ruthless? Oh, it is nothing." Alexios sighed. "You do remember that I was once the advisor for lord Helios for a period of time, right? I did not just waste my time there; I did learn something on how to better manage our soldiers."
"How did lord Helios rule his men?"
"It is fairly simple, in fact I can summarise it in just two sentences, that is a commander shall always treat their soldiers like a bunch of hooligans that need to be dealt with fists but at the same time one must not overdo it, and it is necessary to offer his men some worthy benefits when necessary."
"I suppose that you only learnt the first half from him."
"Indeed, I do agree with you, but..."
Just as the two men are having their chat outside the tent, Antonius gradually woke up from the noise outside and got back on his feet. "Alexios, Apostolos, are you out there?"
"Yes, my lord!" Upon hearing the summon by his sovereign Alexios jumped up from his stool and hurriedly came into the tent. "The physician wants you to..."
"Screw those Physicians!" Antonius waved impatiently. "I know myself, my body needs no physicians, but anyways, what is going on out there? Where are we now?"
"We are back in camp." Alexios took a quick peek at Antonius’ face. "Your majesty, I must confess with you something, that is I had to implement emergency regulations on the entire force and seized control of the entire army yesterday, because..."
"You did right." Antonius closed his eyes. "You did right, and because of your deeds you shall be awarded, Alexios. Anyways, for Abraham..."
"Yes, your majesty." Apostolos shook his head.
"I see." Antonius sighed and collapsed back onto the bed.
"He is a righteous man."
"Aye indeed, your majesty."
"Quite so your majesty."
"Our scouts have managed to regroup some of the sailors along the beaches, around a hundred of them I would say."
"Abraham is not within the hundred of them?"
"Yes, your majesty. I am sure our scouts can differentiate Abraham since he is so.. unique among us."
"..."
"Abraham shall be missed." Antonius felt the same old migraine creeping back onto his head. "We shall erect a monument when we get back to Thessaloniki, dedicated for our courageous sailors who sacrificed themselves in this battle. But we must not make it sound like a defeat for us, warn the press to beware if they write any nonsense on their papers, we must tell our people that, despite heavy casualties, we achieved a total victory against the rivals of the Roman Empire and her people, the Venetians, by causing a significant blow on their fleet."
"Yes, your majesty."
"..."
The tent went back to utter silence for a while, with only the cracking of fires in the furnace audible.
"I know that this... loss is due to my misjudgement of the situation." Antonius said. "I am responsible for the death of Abraham."
"..."
"But we cannot demoralise our citizens, we have never lost a single battle before, and the defeat today shall only be marked as a steppingstone for our victory tomorrow."
"Yes, your majesty."
"Quite so, your majesty."
Alexios made a quick look at Apostolos.
Antonius made a slight cough as he came back up again to reach for the cup of wine. "Did you notify Anna about the events here yet?"
"No, your majesty."
"Good, do not tell her anything about what happened these two days. Tell our men to hold their spirits high and gears shining, for we shall be having a victory parade in the city of Avlonya the next day."
"As you wish, your majesty."
"Anyways... We can lie to our citizens for a righteous cause... for a cause, but we cannot lie to ourselves, do advise me gentlemen, with our navy now in such a pathetic state, do you have any advice to offer?"
Alexios really wanted to advice the Caesar of the empire to stop his conquest for a year or two, solidify his governance and positions in Epirus, build a healthy taxation system, ensure a safe environment for trade, manufacturing and agriculture which will allow the region to have a stable economic growth, but he gulped his words back knowing that this is not the kind of advice the Caesar wants at the moment.
"We need time to rebuild our navy, your majesty." Apostolos offered his advice first. "But because of the naval blockade we might need to take a longer period of time than usual for our navy to get back on its tracks, and before that, I would say we need to focus more on land for expansion instead of the seas. Currently the west is already out of bounds for us, and the North being the Albanons, we are only left with the East and the South, by taking Achaia we can wipe out all Venetian influences on land, which will give them a severe blow in commerce and reputation."
"But those are Roman lands, Apostolos."
"I know, your majesty, I know/"
