Chapter 563: Ambitions Of The Father In Law
"I..."
Giovanni really wanted give himself a pat on the chest and promise George Sphrantzes that this man would definitely not betray against them, but he too found himself having difficulties giving that promise, as he suddenly found out that he has not seen that commander watching over the garrison of the Golden Horn for a year already.
"What?" George asked. "You want to promise me that this man would definitely not jump abroad to another ship? Because he was one of your faithful followers back then in your band of mercenaries? I have told you before my son, that no one can escape from the inevitable washing of time turning one into a completely different person, especially on this sinful piece of land that everything, including things like loyalty, safety and even virginity, can be lost to someone else with just a price tag on its head, especially for your mercenaries fighting and waging wars for the sake of money."
Giovanni remained silent.
"Here." George Sphrantzes pointed towards the Cistern of Aetius. "I was in charge of the renovation and reconstruction of the Cistern over here, and I have deliberately left a series of rooms vacant underground in the name of storerooms and warehouses, I will need you to hide at least a hundred men here in the Cistern, they can be mobilised to surround the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus in less than half an hour."
"Sure, I can manage that."
George then shifted his focus to the golden horn. "I have some intel regarding the recent whereabouts of Demetrios, he has been frequently sailing away from the city through the Golden Horn to the rural areas in the North of the city recently, I suspect he might up hide his secretly recruited units somewhere up there, do you still remember that gigantic iron chain we have lying in the bottom of the Golden Horn?"
"Yes."
"I will need you to get it out tomorrow, the Genoese have struck a deal with us, allowing us to send our men inside their quarters and operate the iron chain in exchange for giving them a concession in the plumber trade market of Thrace."
Giovanni Giustiniani grew increasingly alarmed as he listened to the plans of his father in law. "What are you planning to do?"
"Simple my child, we cannot allow our enemies to have a chance to take the initiative and stab our back when we expect it the least, we need to have the pre-emptive strike! I have accumulated enough evidence to accuse both Thomas and Demetrios for their treason to the state and the people of the Roman Empire in the past month, now what we got to do is just to pin them down on their seats before they have the chance to start another civil war inside the city."
Giovanni Giustiniani gulped, he knows what this means, he understands what his father-in-law wants, he wants a...
"Interceptio regiminis!"
"Yes, indeed my child, a coup, a purge, that is what I want." George Sphrantzes replied with an easy look. "And that is my solution on how to end this kind of chaos we are facing at the current moment."
That is completely against what Giovanni was thinking about initially, for he thought that he only needed to remain the neutrality of the army, preventing it from taking any side or political stance and maintain the law and order in the city, but now it is clear that his father in law’s ambition has multiplied in size ever since the death of the old Constantine to an appalling state.
George too sensed the hesitation and shock coming from his son in law, as he stood up, gave Giovanni a violent shake on his shoulders and yelled. "You must understand the current situation! Lord Giovanni! Commander Giustiniani! You are the commander in chief of all forces in the empire, even Antonius De’Ricci is beneath you! Have you not seen enough of all the desperation, corruption, vandalism and destruction of the state caused by that two men Thomas and Demetrios, acting like two leeches with one sucking out the blood of the state from the left, and another one sucking blood from the right, cant you see it! Don’t you feel that, as a part of the country in such a high place, you are supposed to do something to help with the current situation! Giovanni!"
Giovanni made a few gasps for air, before continuing to make his demands. "My apologies, sir, but your plan comes with a risk that many of my men would never accept, you know, most of my troopers are local born, they joined the army for food and honour in protecting the city, I am afraid that if I am going to announce that I am to lead them into an open coup against the palace, they might kick me out of their camp in the next minute."
"Then we simply do not tell them that it is a coup, my son." George lowered his voice. "We call our troopers in with the name of a military exercise underground, then on the day of the purge, we lead them out, encircle the palace, and then we tell them that we are here to conduct a ’special military operation’ to eradicate the traitors of the state."
"Special military operation?"
"Yes, a special military operation, definitely not a coup or a war."
"But..."
George knows what the commander wants through his eyes.
"Then we tell them, that Demetrios the traitor has an overwhelming amount of wealth, treasures, jewelleries hidden inside the palace, and he still has a range of estates with gardens outside the city, and an extravagantly decorated cruise ship docked in the harbour of Julian for his personal use, all of these wealth shall be divided equally between the troopers, which should be enough for their family to spend for a living."
Giovanni is moved, though he still has concerns in his head. "But what about the commanders? They cannot be persuaded by wealth, for they already have enough money to spend, and is keen to keep a good name and prestige so that they would be able to get a noble statue... Like me."
"I know, my son... Tell me, what do you feel about the senate?"
"A place where a whole bunch of bold men from all walks of lives gather together to turn the hall into a massive verbal brawling session by disregarding and rejecting all possible government proposals resulting in them getting paid but producing no real values."
George Sphrantzes is speechless at the words of his son in law, making his words halted in his mouth for several seconds thinking of something to counter it, but still somehow got it straight and admitted what Giovanni summarised just now is true to a certain extent. "I do admit that the senate is not functioning like what it is designed to, but you got to admit that the current senate we have was not the senate we had before the Basileus of the Makedons, it was just re-established by emperor Constantine for around two decades, but it will get better in the time being, trust me."
Honestly speaking Giovanni could not care more or less about the current statues of the senate as he continued gazing at his father in law, for he is now dominated by his mercenary instinct, he can sacrifice himself to return all the prestige and benefits gifted to him by Giovanni, but he too knows that most of his men joined his army because of the benefits he could offer, and they would definitely not participate in such a dangerous task if there is not enough benefit provided to them."
"I will give you six seats in the senate to be given to your men, and I will be able to clear out a quarter of all government posts in Constantinople, roughly sixty of them, and I can give those new jobs for your men to be promoted too, that would give them the ladder to noble as they requested, and you should know, commander Giustiniani, that these posts do come with land as well."
"Fine!" Giovanni stood up clenching his fist biting his lips. "I will, of course, try my best to convince my men to join your conspiracy, but there is three agreements I have to make with you."
"First, you must guarantee the safety of my family."
"Of course, my son, your family is my family too, you know."
"Second, you must fulfil all the promises that you have made."
"Of course, you know me, I am a man of my words."
"And third, even if we somehow managed to succeed on our conspiracy, you, my dear father in law, are not supposed to, and cannot, be the next ruler of the state, whether be it the title of regent, or is it the imperator, or a dictator, you cannot be the next ruler of the state. My army will not come into the show to eradicate one dictator only to pave the way for the next one!"
