-----------------------------
If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
-------------------------------
Anno Domini 829, December-21- 830, January-7
"How long have they been shouting?" Sigurd asked while we waited for the results of the diplomatic talks between both sides.
"Several minutes already. It seems the negotiations are not going to end well" I replied while drinking warm cow's milk from a leather flask. I had boiled it earlier and now I let it cool slightly.
"Is that good or bad?" Sigurd asked.
He was struggling with a piece of dried horse meat, using the full strength of his jaw and neck to tear it apart.
"I would say it is bad" I replied. "First because we would be fighting Christians. And you know I will not allow them to enslave the Slavs. I will have to fight them over that… and also argue with some of the Varangians who arrived recently".
I took another drink of milk.
"It also means that instead of building sewers, aqueducts, cisterns and irrigation systems using the many rivers of these lands, we will be fighting. We could be raising settlements, founding schools to teach Greek to thousands of immigrants… but instead we will be killing Franks. And who knows how many men they can mobilize".
Sigurd snorted."Bah… they are badly equipped, you said so yourself. Only mail shirts. I do not know what the hell they have been fighting to believe that is enough. They had the Bulgars on their frontier and it never occurred to them to copy their lamellar armor".
He finally tore off a piece of meat and began chewing it with satisfaction.
"What matters here is numbers" I replied thoughtfully. "And we will not receive reinforcements from the Empire, you can be certain of that".
Sigurd frowned."Why?"
"You heard the diplomat. Theophilos is taking advantage of Abbasid weakness and annexing territories while we speak. For that he needs men. The Empire is already in a high state of mobilization".
I looked toward the snowy horizon.
"More troops in the field means fewer hands in the fields. And if the harvests fail we will have problems. The agricultural system of the Empire still requires too much labor to produce. It is not like in Crete where we use more advanced agricultural techniques. There a harvest can feed up to five times the population of the island".
Sigurd looked at me with some irritation."But seriously… is there no way to recruit more? You have the gold. You could pay to train more men".
I shook my head."Even if I had the best intentions in the world many would think I am preparing a rebellion".
Sigurd raised an eyebrow."Is it that serious?"
"I already have the largest personal army in the Empire after the emperor. Between the forces in Jerusalem, Crete and those I have mobilized right now I already exceed most of the imperial tagmata in size".I sighed.
"And that after removing almost four thousand Greeks from my ranks. Now most of my troops are Varangians and Slavs. I keep only a few thousand Greeks scattered across the garrisons as commanders".
I remained silent for a few seconds."Damn it. If the Empire had better agricultural techniques we could recruit far more men".
Sigurd shrugged."In any case we are not lacking men. We have almost fifty thousand Slavs who would ride for you if you ordered it. That is a massive army. Besides we could recruit another fifteen thousand Varangians if we go to the two cities you are building. We could easily raise a gigantic army for an attack".
"And do not forget my original ten thousand Varangians" I replied.
I stood up and stretched my body while the freezing wind struck my face.
"Yes… we have a great army. But the king of the Franks controls an enormous territory. Who knows how many people live under his authority".
I looked toward the north.
"I would not be surprised if his population surpasses the Roman one two or three times. So you can imagine the size of the army they might throw at us".
"Meh… a glorious death. But let us see what happens, the diplomats are coming out" Sigurd said while pointing toward the tent.
The Frankish envoy came out first. He was furious. He cursed in his language while walking across the snow and when he lifted his head he stared directly at me. His face was filled with anger.
Soon afterward the diplomat of Theophilos emerged. Unlike the Frank he seemed quite satisfied.
"What happened in the end? All we could hear were the shouts you exchanged" I asked while the man brushed snow from his clothes.
"Nothing was achieved" he replied calmly. "The Frankish envoy demanded impossible things. They asked too much in order to recognize our victory over the Bulgars".
I watched him carefully."Are you sure there will be war? Because you look far too calm. I do not think Theophilos likes the idea of opening a new front after we just closed the Bulgar one".
The diplomat grew slightly more serious.
"Strategos Basil… we are very far from imperial territory. Even if the Franks launched a campaign it would take them a long time to reach anywhere that could truly place the Empire in danger".
"Italy" I replied with my arms crossed.
The diplomat hesitated for a moment."That also gives us the opportunity to continue advancing through Pannonia. There are bridges and you have the forces to seize them. Frankish forces are scattered. You have the capacity to continue advancing".
He smiled slightly."So why not give a demonstration of power? Show the Franks what the best general of the Empire can do against those Germanics who believe themselves to be Romans".
I looked at him with some irritation.
"Will Theophilos at least send reinforcements? Because if not I will have to perform miracles with what I have".
The diplomat sighed."The emperor will soon carry out a population mobilization in the new Armenian territories. Many soldiers are joining the themata there. They will be mobilized toward those regions to establish permanent settlements in the new northern thema. That should free troops to send as reinforcements… but we are speaking about next year. Perhaps even the year after".
"Then what do we do now?" I asked.
The diplomat did not hesitate."Attack. My good strategos, attack the Franks. Take their castles, capture their resources, make it difficult for them to launch a campaign in the region. After showing strength we can negotiate again… and force them to recognize the imperial frontiers wherever it suits us".
I looked at Sigurd."Well… it seems we have war".
The Varangian stood up with a smile."Perfect. Nothing warms the body better than breaking someone's ribs with a good blow".
Without wasting time I began sending orders.
I called back my men who were scattered across Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, leaving only small garrisons in the fortifications we had already secured. I gathered all the available Greeks and Varangians.
Attacking in winter was our best opportunity.
If we waited until spring, when temperatures rose and the roads cleared, reinforcements from the Carolingian Empire would begin arriving from every direction. Then we would face a much greater problem.
Winter was also dangerous. Cold and disease could kill almost as many men as the enemy.
I also summoned about ten thousand Slavic riders. In theory I could have gathered an army of seventy or eighty thousand Slavic, Vlach and Rhomaioi foederati, but I had no intention of mobilizing them in the middle of winter. Food had not yet become scarce, but we would depend on plunder and extremely fragile logistics.
Our supply network from Crete practically did not exist at this distance. Sending supplies from there could take weeks.
If I gathered too many men we would die from hunger and cold.
I had two options.
We could advance north toward the region of what is now Slovakia where perhaps we could attract the local Slavic tribes to our side. Not long ago they had fought against the Franks and had been converted by force, so that resentment might place them on our side.
The other option was to cross the Danube and burn everything possible inside the Frankish military march of Pannonia. But that region was probably filled with castles and defensive positions and we would not be able to advance very far.
So I did not take long to decide.
We would march north.
Because somewhere in those lands had to lie the famous medieval mine that produced much of Hungary's gold. If I managed to find it I could finance all my future projects.
Though for that I would first need to request a reward from Theophilos, the right to mint coin.
If I secured those mines I could begin producing my own gold coins. As long as I kept the coinage pure without debasing the metal inflation should not become a major problem.
Yet I had another immediate dilemma, what to do with the population.
Hungary was already a complicated region with all the cultures living there. I did not know whether mixing more populations would create more problems or if it might become a solution. Perhaps if they disliked each other enough it would be easier to prevent them from rebelling against us.
But it was difficult to know how everything would evolve.
The only thing I knew for certain was that Carpathia needed people.
I doubted the entire territory we had captured exceeded one and a half million inhabitants. The Slavs probably surpassed half a million and the Vlachs had similar numbers.
So during the campaign I would have to evaluate whether capturing peasants to settle in our lands would become necessary. Carpathia needed a solid population base if it was to serve as a shield against future invasions.
But that was a problem for later.
As the winds blew strongly I gathered the cavalry and we began moving as fast as we could, twenty five thousand men, ten thousand Varangians from my tagma, ten thousand Slavs and five thousand Vlachs and Rhomaioi.
Not as fast as I would have liked.
We had to drag heavy supply wagons that constantly sank into frozen soil or mud. Many times the advance stopped while men pushed the carts out of the mire.
When we finally left the Danube behind and entered the lands of northern Hungary, moving into what today would be Slovakia, we began advancing with greater freedom.
Our cavalry moved quickly along the roads built by the local inhabitants, which were the best way to reach other settlements.
We began raiding nearby villages.
Frankish forces in the region had started withdrawing once they realized they were outnumbered. They took refuge in their numerous wooden castles scattered across the region.
The only thing that could be said in favor of the Franks was their obsession with building castles.
It seemed they already had some kind of standard design.
A hill, a castle. A lake, a castle. A small river, a castle. A village, a castle. A quarry, a castle.
They were not the large stone castles people imagine when thinking of medieval fortresses. They were simple wooden fortifications.
But that did not mean they were easy to take.
Fortunately we carried siege machinery. We could assemble our trebuchets, tear down their wooden walls and capture the fortifications.
The problem was time.
Castles defended by barely one or two hundred men could delay us one or two days while we advanced.
Every day we were besieging new castles.
We could storm the walls and take the fortifications in a few hours but that would cost hundreds of men. Soldiers were not something I had in excess.
So I had no choice but to proceed with caution instead of speed.
The only positive aspect of the campaign was the enormous number of mail shirts we found.
Each castle we captured provided new armor along with prisoners. In only a few weeks of campaigning we had taken dozens of wooden castles and captured more than two thousand Franks while continuing to advance.
The villages we encountered we looted and burned.
The population was captured and sent to the rear.
I tried to avoid them dying from cold or hunger which would also represent a logistical cost. So we attempted to give them clothing when possible and distribute part of our food, using the grain we found to keep them alive while we continued the campaign.
After all they were prisoners of war who could serve as bargaining weight, people are equal to money because their value lies in labor, whether I used them later as settlers for our lands or simply returned them.
-----------------------------
If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
-------------------------------