Chapter 565: O’ No Swearing Please My Lord!
"I have been in the army since I was seventeen, but I never learned to swear. I think that swearing is good on a collective farm when the bulls do not obey. But with people you can’t."
- Dimitry Yazov
Giovanni looked at these men beneath him.
He suddenly felt that he is nothing but a loser, for he has came to the sudden realisation that most of the folks down here follow him not because they feel the same kind of patriotism and love for the state as he do, he was expecting a full loyalty from these men on his orders, just like how his good pal Antonius De’Ricci expected his men to always follow his orders – which they did.
However, when he looked into the eyes of these two hundred men, he knew that he would be never be able to mobilise these men to follow him just plainly on the vow to eradicate the worms of the state returning peace and prosperity to the state and the people, these men would only follow his lead if he can feed them with victories bearing sufficient prestige and loot. Patriotism? What the hell is that? These men can go back onto the path of becoming mercenaries without a nation at any time.
Giovanni has failed to implement a proper psychological education system for his troops, for he has mainly emphasised only on the importance of their combat capabilities, which is the habit he had for a long time due to his mercenary past. Of course, he has built the army into a formidable ones in the past decade, but he has never told his men on what are they actually fighting for?
The soldiers found their own answer to this, prestige and fortune.
"Commander Giovanni." A man stood up, made a chuckle and opened his mouth with a scar. "It is not that we do not trust you, of course, we can understand that the recent situation inside the city is not that... favourable, but you know, commander, raising the blade towards the authorities itself do need a lot of... things, even more than the act of crossing the Rubicon."
Giovanni knows what this man is talking about.
There is an old tradition among the Romans since the old times of the Republic, whereby money is used for all kinds of things; Just like how Caesar squandered all of his funds and loans and distributed them to all of his men to gather up an army for his conquest for Gallia, and how Octavian spent all of his treasury to the citizens of Roma to get him elected during his political struggles with Lepidus and Mark Anthony, and how Constantine the Great allowed his troops to ransack the lands of his rivals in the East to gain benefits. This man before him is asking for the exact same thing: You want us to cross the Rubicon with you? Fine, feed our appetite first, or if not, you will need to allow us to ransack the riches of the palace, but you got to carry the infamy with you.
Giovanni Giustiniani is stunned.
He rolled his throat, there is no way he can allow his troopers to ransack the palace, for he only needs them to arrest the tyrant in the high tower, but of course, there is no way he can provide the troops with enough funding here right on the spot, for he has sent the majority of his coins on that ship to the Marmara with his wife.
The rest of the two hundred men eyed at their commander with various looks on their faces, all waiting for a response. This is a job, and a job needs to get paid for the soldiers to move.
But what can he do?
Giovanni observed the expressions on each trooper’s face, there are some who have a worrisome look on their faces, fearing over the circumstances of the operation weighing the pros and the cons, there are some who have that greedy glee on their faces waiting for the rewards given by their commander just like any other operations in the past; And there are some who have a stern face waiting for their commander’s orders, for these people need no rewards to carry out their orders unlike the others. In other words, these two hundred men are split into three groups, one group who is willing to do anything in the name of Giovanni, one group who needs a little bit of reward to convince them on joining their side, and one group who needs a lot more reward than the others to move their arse.
Giovanni now knows what to do with this piece of information in mind.
Giovanni turned towards the seas, kneeled down in front of everyone and slammed his left hand on a huge boulder, and before anyone else realised what is going on, Giovanni pulled out the dagger by his sides and pierced it right into left little finger and sliced off his finger, and with that instantly came with the acute, burning pain going all the way from his hands right into his heart and mind. Then it turned dull, numb, cold tearing all the muscles and nerves of Giovanni with occasional chills being hammered onto the big man almost making him drop onto his knees. The entire face of Giovanni turned to a plain pale white as his face is covered in a layer of cold sweat, with his entire body trembling violently in extreme pain.
"Sir! What the heck are you doing!" People gulped in shock as they scrambled to Giovanni’s side for aid, but the later roared back at them. "Stop! Listen! Listen to me!"
Giovanni stopped all of his men on their tracks, panting heavily, then he picked up his little finger on the rock with his trembling pair of hands, raised it up high into the air exhibiting it to everyone on the spot without caring about the blood flowing down his elbows dripping onto the sands. "Look!" Giovanni roared to his men. "Look! Soldiers! Warriors of the Romans! Remember that pledge you made on the day you reported to camp? Remember! You shall fight for the future of Rome! Now, there are two tyrants screwing up the foundations of the city, and it is our duty, our responsibility to eradicate the pests of the city! With your blades!"
"Look, soldiers, I know that I am unable to provide you with any gold or silver in the time beings, and I simply cannot allow you to ransack the palace of Blachernae, look, you are the warriors of the Romans! And why would the warriors of the Romans plunder their very own royal Palaces! But I can promise you here and now, with the price of my own finger, that I shall make your trip come worth! Your contributions towards the state, and I will make sure, in the name of God, that the state shall reward you generously for cleansing the political atmosphere of the country! Mark my words!"
Then, right after Giovanni finished all of his words, he can no longer maintain his pose, and collapsed onto the sands with a heavy thump, and lost his consciousness, with that little finger of his now laying still by his side.
...
The two hundred men followed their leader’s orders.
These men are willing to kick open the gates of the palace of course, just with a reasonable bid, and no matter what their beloved commander has given them a sound and profitable one. They truly trust their commander of course, from their prior experience under his leadership. Giovanni has given them the promise of a man, with the stack of a man, the soldiers see their leader as a man, and thus they too are willing to follow the lead and help the man to achieve his goals.
Even when it means openly rebelling against one’s state.
Giovanni woke up on the back of a Donkey borrowed from a fishermen village.
He struggled to get up on the arse of the animal, but failed of course.
He looked to his left, and found out that his left hand has stopped bleeding, with the wound tended to and bandaged.
He looked to his right, and saw his troops marching in a casual manner by his side, singing parade songs and whistling their marching rhythms, just like usual.
His personal guard noted that his military master has woken up, and came forward to attend to him giving him some fresh wine to drench his thirst.
Giovanni gulped down the alcohol that tastes like horse piss, wiped his mouth with his other hand and asked in a weak tone. "Where are we now?"
"We are marching, as you can see, good sir."
"To where?"
"Constantinople! The Cistern! As according to the plan!"
Giovanni halted, looked at the guard and the army moving beside him with their gears already prepped, and made three thunderous laughs, followed by a swear that people rarely hears from him.
"Fk yeah!"
