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Chapter 21: Land Rowing
A massive army formation marched imposingly toward Constantinope’s west wall like a red sea. It was a sight that would stifle anyone’s breath, inducing despair from the depths of their souls.
Momoana had hardened her determination.
She had her men rebuild their cannon site and deploy the remaining cannons. On top of that, she deployed a huge number of catapults, siege towers, and battering rams…
At her order, the grand army marched toward Constantinope.
She initially intended to wait a few days out, given that their first attack had ended in a failure, her soldiers’ morale was low, and their weapons had suffered great damage. The wiser decision would have been to take it slow, recover the soldiers’ morale, and replenish their stocks.
A temporary ceasefire should have been welcomed by the Romains too. They should be more than happy if their enemies aren't attacking them.
Yet, such a logic didn’t apply to Shu Yichao.
He still thought that he was in his gaming capsule, so his hand itched whenever he was idle.
I’ll be coming for you if you aren’t coming for me.
Thus, Momoana’s army was assaulted by the Khitans every night.
To make things worse, the Khitans seemed to know exactly how their defenses were deployed. When they guarded the left, the Khitans attacked from the right. When they huddled together, the Khitans took the opportunity to wreck whatever vital structures they had.
Somehow, the Khitans were always able to find gaps in their defenses, inflict the maximum amount of damage, and safely escape.
What was even more maddening was that even till now, Momoana still had no idea how the Khitans had come out from the city.
But judging from the recent attacks on their logistical troops, Momoana deduced that the Khitans had left a portion of their troops outside of Constantinope to harass them. Most likely, they had been camping at the Thrace Plains like jackals, waiting for an opportunity to bite them.
Left with no choice, Momoana had to order an all-out invasion to break this stalemate, or else her invasion of Constantinope would really become a joke.
“Romains, prepare for war!”
Faced with the approaching Ottomain army, Constantin XI stepped onto the frontlines, drew his prized sword, and began deploying his troops.
On the northern area of the west wall, 2000 hired mercenaries would be forming a defense line against the Ottomains’ Balkan Army.
On the southern area of the west wall, the civilians and volunteers would be fending against the Ottomains’ Anatolian army.
Constantin XI would be holding the fort at the center with the remaining troops, ready to offer support to both sides whenever needed.
Constantin XI had refrained from assigning any positions to Shu Yichao, as he had enough sense to tell that a berserker who had the guts to sneak out every night to assault the Ottomains wouldn’t follow orders.
Just let him do whatever he wants.
“Venerable Khitan Baturu,” Constantin XI earnestly begged, “I only have one request to ask you. Please don’t open the city gates to confront the Ottomains…”
Creak.
The city gates opened.
“Charge, my brothers!” Shu Yichao roared as he led his subordinates out of the city.
“…”
“…Your Majesty?”
Constantin XI looked at his soldier with lifeless eyes.
“He still dares to charge at us?!” Momoana popped a vein. She was certain that the Khitans were looking down on them. “Relay my words! Anyone who takes the Khitan leader’s head will be conferred as the Chief Supervisor of the Balkans!”
“Charge!”
“Kill him!”
The generous reward greatly motivated the Ottomain soldiers, and they valiantly charged forth.
“Aid the Priest King!”
The Romains might not have the guts to leave the city and confront the Ottomains, but the tightly squeezed Ottomain army made perfect archery targets.
Much to the Ottomains’ despair, they soon realized that if they split up, they would be easily swept away by Shu Yichao’s charges. Yet, if they grouped up into a tight formation, they would become easy targets for the Romains’ arrow rain and cannons.
If they ignored Shu Yichao and attempted to siege the city wall straight, the latter would first clear the allies trailing behind them before pincering them. But if they wanted to deal with Shu Yichao, the latter showed no signs of falling no matter how many men they piled on him.
“Do Khitans not know exhaustion?!” someone exclaimed.
They realized that the Khitans, especially their leader, showed no signs of slowing down even after relentlessly swinging their scimitars and shooting their arrows for a long time. It was as if fatigue was a concept that eluded them!
The Khitans slaughtered wherever they went, from the north to the south, and back to the north. Rivers of blood remained wherever they passed.
Once again, the Ottomain army fell into despair.
After witnessing the futile death of thousands of their comrades, they finally tossed aside their helmets and armor to flee. Even when their commanders made an example by executing some of the deserters, they still couldn’t muster the courage to return to the battlefield.
“Sultana, should we…”
Tens of thousands of people were intimidated by just a few hundred cavalrymen; one of the generals couldn’t stand it anymore and tried to advise Momoana.
“Mobilize the Janissary?”
The Janissary, also known as the New Soldiers, were the Ottomain Sultan’s elite household troops, comparable to the Eastern Romain Empire’s Imperial Army.
Underaged men were taken from the heretics under the Ottomains’ rule, and they would be re-educated for conversion and trained before being brought into the Janissary. They would live with a sultan from a young age, where they were taught to be unconditionally loyal to the sultan. They were expected to devote their lives to the sultan, so they weren’t permitted to marry.
Such an army of brainwashed soldiers were bound to be a terrifying force on the battlefield. They wouldn’t hesitate to lay down their lives to bring down their enemies. This was the sultan’s biggest trump card.
The Ottomain general thought the only way to turn the tides here was to bring the Janissary in.
“…” Momoana quietly looked at Shu Yichao, who was parading under the city walls, before shaking her head. “It isn’t time yet.”
As someone well-versed in warfare, Momoana knew how to grasp victory in a battle.
A trump card like the Janissary should only be brought in at the most critical moment to determine the outcome, but Constantinope was nowhere near its last leg yet.
On top of that, to Momoana’s frustration, she found that the Khitans’ fighting prowess surpassed even her elite Janissary. Bringing the Janissary in at this juncture would cause her to lose all her leverage.
“Retreat. We’ll fight again tomorrow.”
…
Late night in Momoana’s tent…
Moamoana ignored the Khitans’ distant war cries—it had become commonplace in recent days—and instead examined a blueprint of Constantinope placed on a huge rectangular table. There were maps, sandboxes, and models stacked on top of the table, all of them based on reliable intelligence reports and meticulously constructed by craftsmen.
The fortress’ layout and scale could be seen in detail, including every elevation and depression behind the walls and the river flow.
Momoana had meticulously researched Constantinope for several years now, such that she pretty much had it within her grasp.
She had brought all of these out today to revise her battle plan. She conducted simulations of different offensive strategies, drawing out drafts after drafts, only to crumple them and toss them aside shortly after…
In the end, an ambitious plan started to take shape.
“Call all the pashas and emirs here,” she ordered with gleaming eyes. “It’s time to break out of the mold.”