1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 86: Donkey

Antonius got wakened up on the process of being carried away from the surgery table as the clergies need to conduct surgery for another soldier.

Due to the effect of anesthetic cream being applied just now, Antonius still cannot figure out what is going on, still dizzy and sleeping trying hard not to doze off again and see what is going on around him. Then he saw Abdullah behind his feet, nodded towards him and continued dozing off on the stretcher.

As the two men carries Antonius into the palace of Blachnarea where a Greek scholar who introduced him as Andronikos Kallistos accepted them and carried them into a royal chamber where Antonius can have a proper rest on the emperor's guest of honor's bed.

While the three men move Antonius onto the bed, a series of horns began blowing outside the city. "It is the Sultan." Said Abdullah. "The siege has ended, their Sultan called out for a retreat."

Angelo laughed, Abdullah also laughed, Antonius, still in his sweet dreams, also laughed.

Back on the walls.

Mauro watches as the Ottoman infantries backs off like a tidal wave back to their camps. This wave of siege lasted straight for six hours. Starting slightly late after lunch and ended when the sun is about to descend beyond the horizons.

The Ottomans left the ground scattered with bodies, weapons and siege equipment. The siege engines has to be burnt later, and the blades and armours need to be taken into the various forges and iron works of Constantinople to replenish the fast running out supply of metal since the start of the war. The bodies of the deceased Ottoman soldiers will have to wait for the Ottomans to collect them back, or else they have to be burnt to prevent a potential plague spreading into the city.

Mauro stands vigilant on the walls. A qualified commander in a siege should never let his guard down, even if the enemies backed off. That is one thing he learnt from Giovanni for years. Who knows whether the Ottomans did really retreat, or they just pretends to retreat and ambush somewhere near using advantage of the darkness as their cover and take over the city?

Roughly an hour later, three Ottoman legates came below the walls shouting that the emperor of the Romans have approved their request to collect the bodies, but Mauro ordered his archers to give a round of warning shots which chased the Ottoman legates away. Then he had men descend to the ground by baskets attached to levers attached to the mirrors and collect the Ottoman blades and armours before they come back.

The Ottoman legates came back a while later with a letter from Constantine half an hour later saying that is a letter by their emperor. The letter is brought up to Mauro by basket, but with only one glance Mauro torn it into half.

"I am illiterate!" Yelled Mauro confidently towards the Ottoman legates.

The Ottomans of course knows what is Mauro up to, they already caught the sight of hundreds of Romans outsides in the fields picking up weapons and armours of deceased Ottoman warriors and taking it into the city, but they dare not say it out or retort fearing that this senseless Roman commander might change his mind thinking that a few Ottomans heads as add on will contribute towards his decoration of war trophies.

The three legates waited in the late February cold wind of the Mediterranean night for an hour, then Mauro shouted out that he now fully understands what his emperor wants and now grants them the permission to take the bodies of the Ottomans, and also informing them 'kindly' that in thirty minutes time they are going to set fire to the siege engines.

The three legates is really astonished by the ungentlemanly like behaviour of this Roman commander, but nonetheless around twenty minutes later a fleet of Ottoman wagons with peasants arrived and started carrying the cloth less bodies of Ottoman warriors onto the wagons. It is a long process, as there is a speculated one thousand plus bodies waiting for them to collect.

It is rather kind of Mauro when he pretends he has given the order to burn Ottoman siege engines after thirty minutes and gave the peasants plenty of time to finish their jobs. He even organised Ottoman-speaking people shout on the walls about how merciful the Roman are and trying to convince them that they do not need to die for their masters in a war that has totally no benefit to them, the arms of the Romans always welcome them if they wish to yield and confess.

The Ottoman commander in charge of corps collection had to change the peasants into Ottoman soldiers just in case a peasant listened to the verbal lures of the Romans and decides to do something unfaithful to the Sultan, then he shall be put in charge.

Upon seeing the peasants being changed to soldiers, Mauro then ordered the burning of all the siege equipment around, casting a rain of fire around the wars making Giovanni in a distance wonder what has happened over here, stopping the Ottomans in their tasks and had to evacuate in order to prevent the possibility of the fire spreading with the wild grass and burning them instead.

"We want a very good explanation of this! Whoever is in charge, please come out and answer my Sultan's question!" The three legates came under the gates again.

"Tell him that I have slept."

"My commander told me to tell you that he has already slept!" The Roman guard conveyed the message which almost caused the legate to fall off his horse from the sheer amount of anger and humiliation.

"Is your commander trying to fool us?!"

"No, I said that you are fooled by me! Not the commander!" The guard yelled again in an innocent tone.

"You dumb donkey. But good one."

The Roman guard blushed and laughed.