1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 369: Giovanni's Ideas

"The fate of the Empire rests on the outcome of this battle. Let each man do his utmost."

-        Tg Heihachir, Battle of Tsushima, before engaging the Russian Baltic Fleet

All of these factors pushed the skeptical thoughts questioning Giovanni's loyalty leaving him an entire army to command, but still he joined the army too as their marshal making strategic decisions, a tradition left to him by the past Roman emperors, for the countless amount of rebellions and coups when the general's prestige is higher than the autocrat in that army, and of course, together with him came another person with a special kind of occupation that mainly  exists in the Imperium Romanus and the Ottoman Sultanate in Europa the Eunuchs. 

The eunuchs serves not only as the care taker around their sovereign, but also serves as important assistant in government admin matters supervising the various government officials, and most importantly the watchful eyes of the emperor in the military systems, always checking on the generals if they are planning some thing in secret against the emperors. However, for most of the times not only did they bring the emperor's eyes in to the army, they too brought both corruption and disorder in to the army, as they often misjudge the battle situation and make orders on behalf of the commanding officers. 

But for this time round every thing is going on pretty well for emperor Constantine, his army blew off the barricades and fortifications set up by the Ottomans under their familiar opponent Mahumad Pasha Angelovic, and went head on to the Ottoman forces meeting them in a direct combat some thing unthinkable to the Romans in the past hundred years, who only dared to counter the Ottoman aggression either through building more forts, or hire more foreign mercenaries, in this case most likely the Catalans or the other Turkish tribes in Anatolia which ends up dealing more damage to the empire making it what it is now.

Under the command of Giovanni, the Roman army set off before the sun rises, made a fast march and successfully reached a place called Elbasan before the sun sets on that day travelling a distance of roughly thirty Roman miles an incredible speed that can only be achieved by a highly disciplined and professionally trained army with a sustainable logistics system some thing that is rare in this age, needless to say this is greatly contributed by Giovanni's five years of hard work shaping the soldiers of Constantine like to his own band of marry men.

There is still one thing that gave Giovanni a surprise, that is not only did the emperor Constantine not make any groans or complains like the other monarchs or nobles in this age marching for such a long distance with out rest, but he also even managed to complete the trail with out any outside assistance, which again made Giovanni have a better understanding on what kind of ruler Constantine is.

Just as the pioneer troops marched on to the high lands of Elbasan, the scouts ahead returned to report that they met the interception troops of the Ottomans head on merely three Roman miles away from them, which also means one thing to Giovanni. If his scouts have spotted the Ottoman army, that means the scouts of the Ottoman army must have seen them too and is probably on the way back to report to their commanders, thus he quickly sent out his signallers ordering the entire army to take up strategic positions on the high grounds and get in to their formations.

The Ottomans scouts have indeed spotted their foes and reported this information to Mahumad Pasha Angelovic, but they could not determine how many enemies are there as there are still some troops that are marching being blocked by the high lands and woods, planting a false idea in the mind of Mahumad Pasha Angelovic that the Rumelians are probably superior in numbers as compared to his twenty thousand combat troops, combined with the darkening sky this made him decide to give up his usual aggressive battle habit and shift towards a more defensive stance.

Mahumad Pasha Angelovic arrived at a point where he can already see the torches of the Rumelians clearly one mile away, getting in to position ready for combat and it indeed looks huge. Seeing this the Ottoman commander decides to engage his enemies in a more 'civilised' way; He sent out an ambassador, questioning the Rumelians why they are invading his lands and warn them of the consequences, just like the Rumelian last time when the Ottomans attacked them, only that now the roles have changed around with the Rumelians acting as the offensive.

However what is not known to Mahumad Pasha Angelovic is that Constantine has given the full right of all matters in the army to Giovanni once they left the walls of Theodosian, thus when the ambassador arrived Giovanni did not even bother to listen to all those craps the ambassadors got for him, and straight away ordered his men to pin this man down and chop down his methods Just like what the Ottomans used to do last time, then under the last bit of the fading sun he pulled out the his cutlass gifted by Antonius and yelled to his men.

"Lads! The whole world is watching over us tonight! And it is your choice to make a difference, whether you want to be remembered as the victor and have your name marked in history, or you want to be the loser and be erased by history like how the wind blows away a speck of dust! Come my boys! Charge with me! Deus Vult!"

"Deus Vult! Aut cum scuto aut in scuto!" The Latin troopers behind Giovanni lashed out their same old war cry, pulled out their blades, closed their helms and charged down together with their commander. The entire six thousand plus Roman forces who are already facing the Ottomans made a charge towards the foes head on with Giovanni, while there are still two thousand men behind yet to get in to position.

Mahumad Pasha Angelovic have never realised that this Rumelian army charging at them is even lesser than half of his size, under the darkness the waving torches and ear deafening war cries gave the Ottomans a false assumption that the enemies have a far superior size, which is why they dared to charge towards them.

"Budala!" Mahumad Pasha Angelovic made a curse to himself for leading his troops to such a dangerous spot as a part of his screwed up strategic judgement. However, he still knows the combat capabilities of his troops, understanding that many of his soldiers, especially those who lived a farmer's life lack of meat, is infected with a special kind of illness that disallows them from seeing things clearly in the darkness. Thus, he continued making orders for his troops to remain in defensive stance, be prepare for the incoming collision with the Rumelians, and sent out two waves of messengers ordering the four thousand troops still marching behind to make an maneuverer and attack the Rumelians from the back.

It indeed sounds like a good plan, but in fact it is still pretty stupid to try to manuever to the back of the enemies when the battle is already imminent within such a short straight line distance. The Ottomans are simply betting that the Rumelians would not be able to see them in this pitch darkness, with their lives.

And there still lays one question, whether the Ottomans who are still preparing and getting in to their formations can defend against the sudden charge by the already prepared Rumelians. Giovanni separated his troops in to four different segments, with him and the fully armoured Italian heavy infantries at the front, two Roman light infantry contingents at the sides, and a hybrid Roman contingent at the back with both heavy and light infantries; The cavalries are not used for the charge as Constantine is still short of horses and land to herd these delicate creatures who needs a ton of resources to feed.

Giovanni's objective is clear; With the height advantage that offered his most elite and familiar forces the Latin mercenaries additional charging speed to act like a spear head and pierce in to the Ottomans through the middle, then their friendly forces at the back can quickly occupy the battle width and separate the Ottomans in to two different portions, squeeze the space of the Ottomans as much as possible and so his troops is able to achieve a effect of two Romans fighting against one, in some areas even three Romans against one. This plan, if worked, is able to minimise his disadvantage in army size and also cripple the organisation level of the Ottomans hopefully forcing them in to a retreat, but if the plan did not work as expected and the battle drags on

Then he shall be forced to divert to his second plan, that is to fall back using the darkness as their cover, take up the high grounds as their defences, and hopefully be able to find another opportunity while waiting.