1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 385: The Last Pasha From the Age of Murad II

The Roman army started marching again in a long snake formation, with Mauro's infantries acting as flank guards and quick support. Constantine have gave a thought about his military thinking for the last few days, accusing himself within his mind that his decisions have been way too cautious causing a whole lot of conflicts with his commanders and wastage of time that could have been preserved. Thus he ordered the troops today to take advantage of this poor visibility of the mist and march off as fast as possible to their designated locations to re group. 

The soldiers are delighted, of course. For they are one of the main benefactor of this war; Not only have they received the amount of bounty that are unthinkable to them when they are farming or working in the towns, they have also been promised a strip of land among these newly taken territories and become a free yeoman no longer having the need to bastard land lords, becoming a private land owner themselves. Some of them have been already dreaming about the life after this battle, owning a few plots of land, one for wheat one for grapes and one for olives, with two dogs, a few sheeps, one or two pigs, a peck of chickens and most importantly a horse. 

Constantine too sensed this desire by his own men, knowing that their lust for wealth can be converted for speed and combat capabilities. Thus, he persuaded the troops to march along the road which is shortest to Edirne faster under the advice of the Ottoman ambassador Ayaz Ahmed Pasha. With the three waves of scouts, he sent before hand all came back with the detail that there ae no obstruction or enemy sighted in front, Constantine let his caution down and commenced on the route with the ambassador's instructions.

However it just took ten minutes after he has sent the order to be rejected by Mauro, saying that he and his commanders cannot carry out such dangerous command because it would segregate the entire force, making the gap between each unit be too big and if they are in a scenario of an attack or even worse, ambush, they would be grabbed and held still like a snake being caught in a pair of pliers, with the tail of the snake unable to assist the head, and the head unable to turn around and regroup with the central body and the tail. 

Constantine held his kneels tight feeling displeased that Mauro together with his bunch of Latin commanders did not acknowledge his command again. But as a logical thinker he still held his rage nodding towards the messenger, signaling to him that he can leave. He knows that the concern of Mauro is correct, he could have chosen to directly give the orders to the respective commanders that listens to him and force every one to follow this plan, but this would in the end badly damage the still intact chains of trust between him, Mauro and Giovanni.

Slowly the fog cleared up as the sun reached its peak providing extra view for the army. And with the rising temperature the thin layer of snow slowly started to melt, becoming water and sipping in to the ground, accompanied by the constant stepping and stomping by boots and shoes the dirt beneath their feet gradually turned in to mud, sinking the soldiers' speed with their boots deeper and deeper to the point where the concerns of Mauro is really happening; Some units are slowly starting to lag behind while some units in the front are going way too fast. 

At this point they have not even travelled more than two Roman miles from their original position, and Mauro had to order to the entire army calling for a regroup, reminding all the commanders to make sure that they march in their formations, which again is abnormally hard considering that now a bit less than half of the eight thousand strong force are composed of volunteers and recruits who have just lived the regimental way of life for a week or so. This took another half an hour, and then are they finally able to go on to the muddy road again in one piece.

Two thousand meters away, the commander in chief of the Ottoman army Hamza Pasha eyed at the horizon anxiously, waiting for the foes to show up on the other end of the road. As a true patriot of the nation, he built for decades together along side the two ex Sultans, and perhaps the only man in the military system who is loyal to the Sultan Dowager he knows the importance of this battle and the current situation of the country he loves. Not exaggerating but if he loses too many of his soldiers in this battle in order to gain a victory, it would still be considered as a defeat as the biggest rival of the state is forever that guy in the south, the emperor of Constantinople is too weak to be considered a major rival in his eyes.

He, is the last pasha loyal to the court of a Sultan, Murad II, that has devastated the Rumelians again and again.

Is the strategy of the Sultan Dowager really going to work as intended? Hamza Pasha carries deep doubts and worries about that, because he knows as a professional that the more steps and procedures there are in a plan, the more unexpected surprises and human errors can occur after it is executed, creating a result that might be totally different from the intended outcome. And in the eyes of Hamza Pasha, the entire plan by the Sultan Dowager is way too complicated, with so many possibilities that can occur like, what if the Romans did not trust the Ottoman ambassador? What if they did not take the intended route? Or what if they suddenly decided to pull back?

With so many uncertainties Hamza Pasha decided to take up the old traditions of what Ottoman military leaders loved to do last time when the Sultan is not leading the army; making decision by themselves. Since the monarch is not here to decide the imminent actions that needs to be taken, then I, as the highest ranking officer here shall take up the responsibilities and make decisions by myself with out informing the monarchs, even if the capital city is merely a few miles away?

Thus, Hamza Pasha took up some other precautions facing this situation. He set up three different locations for an ambush on the routes that can possibly have the Romans passing through. With the rest of his troops acting as rear guards protecting the city of Edirne, if the Romans went past the three ambushes he can always send instructions to his troops within an hour, encircling the Romans from the back and with their superiority in numbers and quality of soldiers, they shall definitely still win the war against that ravening emperor of Constantinople.

But until now, the entire battle field is still so damn quiet with nothing being observed except for a few crows flying past, and a few rabbits hoping in only to be scared away after discovering so many big monkeys laying still on the ground. And finally after what it seemed like an eternity, a few shadows of flags started showing up above the horizon, and there soon turned out to be more and more of them showing up with the leading flag bearer carrying the standard of Roman double headed eagle, and the Orthodox cross of Chi Rho. No doubt that they are finally here.

Hamza Pasha jumped off his old but trust worthy mount, giving her a slap on the back. His old companion immediately understood the general's meaning and ran away in the opposite direction. The three messengers at a distance away immediately leapt on to their horses, and galloped to inform the other ambushing sites about the approaching Romans with out the need for their pasha's orders, as compared to Constantine's new Roman army, the Ottoman force acted more like a machine with each gear already knowing what their role is and what they are supposed to do before the battle started.

Mean while Constantine totally did not realise that there are already eyes watching for him, as he is the only guy at the front that is riding on a horse making his shadow the most obvious one in the eyes of many. Although it is still freezing cold in the winter, Constantine felt an uneasy sense of heat coming up from the inside of himself, making him feel hot and so he took off the helmet covering his head, leaving only a layer of silk linen and chain mail protecting his head. Constantine took his flask of wine out from his waist, took a sip and heaved a deep breathe out forming a ring of white smoke.

"Hurry up my brave sons of Nova Roma!" Constantine yelled towards the troops behind him. "We shall have dinner before the walls of Edirne today!"