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Chapter 36: Killing the Caesar
Thessaloniki, in the chief supervisor’s extravagant manor…
The Second Imperial Consort and Pasha Callerga rested while listening to their aides reporting the latest updates.
On the table was a magnificent spread—refreshing honeyed water, fragrant roasted lamb meat, piping-hot naans, glistening fried meatballs, and more—but no one dared to touch them.
Rather, none of them seemed to have any appetite, and their complexions looked awful.
“The Khitans went on a massacre in Edirne and plundered its wealth. Those who tried to retaliate were beheaded, and their corpses were stacked into mounds outside the city.
“There are tens of thousands of survivors, but none of them dared to fight back. They surrendered and obediently became their prisoners of war. The Romain emperor took over them and turned them into slaves and coolies.
“However, the Khitan Caesar wasn’t satisfied. He continued marching westward and took down all of the cities and fortresses in his way. None of them lasted a day against the Khitans despite the Khitans being at a numerical disadvantage.
“It got to a point where most officials and nobles chose to abandon their cities upon learning that the Khitan Caesar was heading in their direction. No one dares to stand up and oppose the blood twin-headed eagle flag…
“The Albanian army is the most recent victim of the blood twin-headed eagle flag. Our scouts reported that crows wouldn’t stop circling the sky in the vicinity, and the hyenas roaming the plains had turned red-eyed from their feasting.”
Pasha Callerga was chilled to learn about the Albanian army’s wipeout, as well as the deaths of the First Imperial Consort and her aides, despite being sworn enemies.
“Eyy, I would have never thought that an esteemed imperial consort could land in such a plight.” The Second Imperial Consort shuddered.
With the death of her final rival, her son would be the only legitimate sultan left.
Yet, instead of celebrating the good news, she felt melancholic instead. Perhaps it was the fear that this was an omen that she was next on the list, especially with the blood twin-headed eagle flag drifting closer to them!
A single misstep at this juncture could spell the end of them!
“Big brother, it should be safer for our troops to camp in the city and fight a defensive battle,” the Second Imperial Consort suggested unconfidently.
They had been organizing their forces in recent days.
Despite the Morean army’s claims to be 20,000-men strong, it only had 11,000 soldiers in total. Of them, around 7000 to 8000 were trained soldiers.
Thessaloniki, as an important Ottomain port city, had a garrison troop of 1000 too.
If they took in the remnants of the other armies and conscripted young men on top of that, they should be able to bulk up to 15,000 men, a force more than ten times stronger than their enemy.
Any competent commander would have said that it was ridiculous for an army ten times larger than its enemy to opt for defensive warfare; they should go on the offensive since they had the upper hand!
However, it was a different story since their enemy was the Khitan Caesar.
“Fight a defensive battle?” Pasha Callerga shook his head. “We can’t fight a defensive battle. On the contrary, we need to directly engage the Khitans.”
“Big brother?!” The Second Imperial Consort widened her eyes in shock.
“We don’t have a choice.” Pasha Callerga clenched his fists as he deciphered their current circumstance. “Our Ottomain Empire’s massive loss at Constantinope not long ago and the subsequent series of defeats on Thrace Plains have severely undermined our prestige.
“Some of the Anatolian chieftains have begun ignoring our orders.
“The Romains we have suppressed have raised their arms in rebellion under the blood twin-headed eagle flag’s rally. Many joined the Crusade led by the Romain emperor, causing its force to swell up to over forty thousand people.
“Once Transylvania, Hungary, Albania, and the other countries who harbor enmity toward us learn about our sultana’s death and Edirne’s downfall, they will begin plotting against us. Our days are numbered at this rate.
“Our only way out is to swiftly tear down our enemies before they gather their forces. I know that our forces are limited, but we don’t have a choice. If we hole ourselves up in this city and let our enemies bulk up…”
Pasha Callerga concluded his speech.
“…it’ll be the end of us.”
“…Your words make sense,” the Second Imperial Consort weakly agreed. “But how can we win this battle?”
Pasha Callerga did raise a good point, but this was the same problem as hanging a bell around a cat—how could they pull this off?
In the first place, they wanted to hole themselves up in this city because they didn’t think they were a match for the Khitans. Yet, Pasha Callerga wanted them to tear down all their enemies when it was unknown whether they would even survive the Khitans’ onslaught.
“Rest assured,” Pasha Callerga said with a chuckle. “I’m not so foolish as to relinquish our fortress advantage to stake our soldiers’ lives against the Khitans’ cavalrymen. What I want to propose instead is to fight them against our city.”
Pasha Callerga proceeded to share his plan with the others.
To summarize, he wanted to bait the Khitans over to their walls, then mobilize their elite troops to corner the Khitans against their walls. Meanwhile, they would fire their cannons and arrows from the walls on them.
The Khitans might be valiant, but would their bodies be strong enough to tank a cannonball?
“The Khitan Caesar is an enemy who defies common sense, so we’ll need special measures to take him down. We can dig pits along the walls and have a cannon aimed at each pit. As soon as he approaches one of the pits, we’ll fire our cannons.
“I don’t believe that we can’t beat the Khitans with these preparations.
“The Khitans’ defeat will crush the Romains’ morale. The so-called Crusaders rallied by the Romain emperor are just cowards who bunched together because they thought they had the upper hand. A single charge from our cavalrymen will reveal their true colors and send them feeling back where they came from.
“With that, we might be able to reclaim Edirne and suppress the chieftains and military commanders whose loyalties are starting to waver…”
Pasha Callerga’s voice crescendoed in excitement as his optimism about the future rose. He could almost see himself grasping power and berating the chieftains in the Ottomain imperial court.
“Pasha,” an Ottomain military commander hesitantly spoke up, “would the Khitans be that foolish? Would they chase us to the foot of our walls despite being severely outnumbered? What if he chooses to retreat?”
“Others may do that,” Pasha Callerga stroked his beard as he smirked, “but I dare say the Khitan Caesar won’t. He’s an arrogant man who thinks no one in the world can threaten him and his cavalrymen. That’s why he doesn’t hesitate to charge into a huge flock of enemies.
“I would have been at a loss if he was like the Romain emperor, bringing 40,000 cannon fodder wherever he went and having them test the water before making any move. But now… Hmph!”
Pasha Callerga looked at the crowd with confident eyes.
“Let’s prepare to kill the Khitan Caesar.”