Chapter 559: Coup D’etat
Following the fall of Patras, the majority of the Roman cities in the Peloponnese Peninsula surrendered their keys to the hands of Julian. Just less than a year after the decease of his honourable Emperor of All Romans Constantine XI, the Peninsula that took his entire life to recover fell into the hands of another man. And with this new conquest, almost ninety percent of Constantinople’s sources for taxation and manpower is now lost.
Looking at the still ongoing political struggles and conflicts between the two factions in Constantinople, this came as a devastating, actually, disastrous news for them, especially for Thomas Palaiologos who relied heavily upon the resources of the Despotate of Morea to contest with his brother Demetrios who had a more solid foundation inside the city of Constantinople.
The Senate, Palace of the Porphyrogenitus.
"The spear head of Thessaloniki is already right pointing at our nose tip, and now you people are still asking us to compromise, compromise what?"
"The tyrant of Thessaloniki should be immediately declared as an enemy of the state!"
"He ought to surrender the imperial city of Thessaloniki back to us on the first day he took it!"
"I knew, I knew all the while that things would end up like this..."
George Sphrantzes did not say a thing seated there among the crowds.
"Have all of you forgotten? Silence! Have all of you forgotten!" Amidst the chaos, someone stood up among all the senators and violently interrupted all of their quarrels with his voice. "Have all of you forgotten, that lord Antonius was the one who came to save all of you! Without him, all of you people who are standing here cursing him now, would have already been turned into nothing but slaves and peasants by the Ottoman Turks!"
The senators in the room are awed and shocked to find some of the folks here to pick a defensive stance for the notorious Caesar when almost the entire senate is attacking him, what came even more surprising is that the person defending Antonius De’Ricci is none other than Demetrios Palaiologos, the current regent and the most likely candidate to take the throne as the next emperor of the empire.
"I am against lodging any form of penalty against the Caesar! For his glorious deeds for the state must be remembered and commemorated by every single citizen of the empire!"
"Do you know what you are talking about! Demetrios!" Thomas rose up with his gang against his brother. "Are you trying to defend the traitor of a state! He is a traitor! He is a traitor!"
Seeing the attitude expressed by their political master, the senators who follow the lead of Demetrios changed their attitude by a hundred and eighty degrees and started defending Antonius too, turning the senate into another brawling session as men from each side in robes throwing fists and kicks at their own colleagues, while George, the head of all civil servants, just sat there without saying a single thing. This kind of mass brawling activities is of course not that common, but not that rare of course.
Amidst the chaos, a fellow senator under him came seeking for his political Master, the regent of the Empire Demetrios.
"My lord." The senator said. "Why did we support Antonius De’Ricci? Did we form a secret alliance with him? Or do he has any hidden interest with us..."
"Not really." Demetrios leaned forward and replied with a grin. "The Despotate of Morea is mainly controlled by Thomas, and most of the people did not vote for us, the Senators who originated from there would now lose their source of income, their support and ultimately their power... Furthermore, do you remember who is controlling the forces stationed in the city?"
"Lord Giovanni?"
"That is right... Our action of appeasing Antonius is equivalent to appeasing Giovanni as well, and if he falls to our side, we will control the entire military force in Constantinople, and by controlling the army, we control the city, if Thomas still dares not to submit to me, I will simply... remove their existence, I have made plans about it, you see, I have even thought of a name for this operation... I will call it the night of the long knives."
"What an ingenious plan! Your highness!" The senator exclaimed, with his entire old face beaming up with redness. "I cannot wait to slaughter all of these..."
"Shush! We cannot discuss about these things here, wait till an appropriate time!"
"Yes, my lord..."
George Sphrantzes sighed beneath his breathe hearing the discussion between these two twats below him, he does miss the times when Constantine was still in power when the senate, and the entire government are actually functioning like how it is supposed to be, and the entire senate actually discussing policies that will make the already crumbling state better.
Sometimes he does wonders in his own mind, that whether it is destined for the Roman Empire to dwindle to nothing and perish into the air after the never ending in fighting, internal turmoil and political struggles. Another civil war is on the verge of outbreaking right before his eyes, and yet he, who have served Constantine for so many years, is entirely powerless in preventing it from happening. George Sphrantzes hate himself, for being too weak and hopeless to save the country he served for so many years, he hates Thomas and Demetrios, for they are just two clowns contesting for a throne of a city, just like two pigs struggling to get their snouts in the trough. He hates Antonius De’Ricci, not for that city of Patras he has taken, that city means nothing to him, it is because of the fact that he saw with his own eyes on how much trust, benefits and fortune did his old friend Constantine give to this Genoese man, but yet this ungrateful Genoese man decided to betray the trust and devour more and more land that should belong to the empire.
But among the three, he hates Thomas and Demetrios the most.
After the senate conference.
Thomas and his supporters gathered in their grounds in the cleaned ruins of the former Palatium Magnum, discussing about their next steps of actions.
"We must start cleansing the empire by removing the supporters for traitors of the empire that is still wandering inside the walls of Theodosian." One of them said banging the table with his shoes.
"Yes, indeed, I agree with you." Another man followed biting his teeth with hate and turned to Thomas. "Your Majesty, we need to do it by force, and I must warn you that, the biggest threat inside the city, is that crap head who just nice happens to control the army and close to that traitor of the people Antonius De’Ricci... You know who I am talking about, your majesty..."
Thomas continued seating there holding his chins. "There is a great risk, you see..." He lifted his eyes and took a peek at the man. "I know that your estate in Patras has been confiscated by the traitor, but we must not cause another unrest in the city, you know, that man is dangerous."
"Oh, he is nothing! Your Majesty! Trust me, I have observed him for months, what he cares now is nothing but his woman and his girl, what kind of threat does this kind of man who knows nothing but only his family possess?"
"He defeated the Ottomans." Thomas lifted his eyebrows. "Can you defeat the Ottomans?"
"I..."
The man is caught in his own words.
"That is exactly why we must do it in a smart way, your majesty!" Another man approached Thomas. "We cannot come into a direct conflict with that man, but we need to gain our grip and influence on the army! Your Majesty, without the blades and shields we cannot do a single thing!"
"Yes, your Majesty, we need to have a standing army in half a year’s time, and we need to arrest all the oppositions and the loyalists of Demetrios latest by December this year... I have chosen a good date for you, how bout December Twelve?"
"Shut up!" Thomas raised his voice and stared at these courtiers gathering before him. "I will not start a coup d’etat to harm the state! I, I am the one and only legitimate Basileus of all Romans! I am the owner of Constantinople! I am the owner of the Palatium Magnum! All of these things belong to me, and you people are now asking me to harm my own things?"
"Of course not! Of course, not your Majesty! What we are doing now is just like... Just like..."
"Just like a minute surgery to cut off all the bad stuff that have parasite in the empire, we are the... Physicians, yes, to cure the illness of the Empire!"
"And the biggest cause of the illness, is none other than... Demetrios and his gang..."
Thomas sunk back into his seat, with his eyes rolling.
