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Chapter 27: Khitan Caesar
Chapter 27: Khitan Caesar
Chapter 27: Khitan Caesar
The Ottomain soldiers, who had lost their fighting will, were practically lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Under Shu Yichao’s relentless pursuit, their powerful army scattered into many fragments and fled all around in a fluster.
After being encircled for nearly a month, the war concluded with the Eastern Romain Empire’s victory.
The final tally of the war revealed that the Ottomains had suffered over 40,000 casualties, including its Sultana, its number one warrior, its navy admiral, its minister, and a huge number of pasha and emirs.
Momoana and her entourage had been lingering too close to the frontlines that Shu Yichao ended up massacring all of them.
The Ottomains’ barracks contained 3000 pounds of gold, 10,000 pounds of silver, and hundreds of thousands of spears, scimitars, shields, daggers, crossbows, armor, silk, cloth, clothes…
The Ottomains’ defeat here had enriched the Romains.
The spoils of war were shipped into Constantinope, and the city went into a celebratory mood.
When Shu Yichao gathered his troops and returned to the city, all of the civilians walked out of their houses to welcome the ‘Khitan’, who almost single-handedly brought them to victory.
The Church of God’s Holy Wisdom, a massive cathedral that existed for many centuries now, was lit with many candles reminiscent of the stars in the sky. A horn echoed in the cathedral, followed by deafening cheers that shook the sky.
Countless people were gathered here, cheering ‘Love live the Khitans’, ‘Long live the Eastern Romain Empire’.
When Constantin XI stepped forward with an edict and declared Shu Yichao as Romain’s co-emperor, the atmosphere went out of control.
“Caesar!”
“Caesar!”
“Khitan Caesar!”
“Our great Caesar!”
Cheers erupted from the crowd, as they expressed their highest respect toward Shu Yichao.
It went without saying that Shu Yichao didn’t understand their words, so he could only smile politely in response. The radiant smile on his dashing face, amplified by his ‘Empire Bewitcher’ ability, was so potent that it caused hundreds to faint.
However, there were some things that Shu Yichao still understood from the ceremony.
“Hmm, this festive celebration… is the map going to be opened up?”
Shu Yichao tapped into his profile and found an update to his world map.
The original map only shows the national boundaries and each power’s area of influence, but now, I can see their alignment too…
“It’s a sea of red,” Shu Yichao sighed.
The entire Eurasia Continent, other than the green Roman and a few other distant white countries, were all bright red, indicating that they harbored no goodwill toward him. It looked as if these countries wouldn’t hesitate to declare war as soon as there was the slightest conflict.
“Does this mean that I have joined the Romans now? All these reds I can kind of get it, since there’s bound to be tension between neighbors in such turbulent times. Rather, the Eastern Roman Empire is on better terms with distant nations like France…
“…but what the heck is with the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania? They are two countries away, but they harbor animosity toward the Eastern Roman Empire? Or should I say as expected of the ‘Great Polanders who Leveled Germany and Curbed the Russians’?*
“And Hungery is referring to Hungary, right?
“Rogaria… Is that a combination between Romania and Bulgaria? No, that isn’t right. Transylvania is right beside it. Speaking of which, aren’t there too many countries in the Balkans? It looks almost like a palette on the world map.”
While the Romains were welcoming their Khitan Caesar, Shu Yichao was busy studying the world map.
In the cathedral, there was a contemplative gaze eyeing everything that was going on.
“This poverty-stricken emperor sure is calculative,” the female Venetian senator propped up her spectacles as she murmured. “He’s shrugging off the merits of the biggest contributor of the war with a mere ‘Caesar’ title.”
“That can’t be helped, Senato,” a bearded man, who was Venice’s Constantinope Provincial Commander, replied with a casual smile. “The Eastern Romain Empire has declined so far that this city is all they have left. That fancy title is the only thing they can offer him.”
Constantinope was located between two major continents and seas, so they would have been able to make a huge killing through tariffs made via merchants traveling to and fro.
However, their short-sighted emperors over the generations, in search of reinforcements and urgent loans from Venice and Genoa to cope with the burden of war, signed deals with cunning merchants to have their taxes spared and for them to open up their markets.
These clauses would have been considered an insult to the nations if revealed to the public.
On top of surrendering such hefty profits, they even bestowed upon Venice and Genoa all kinds of privileges, such as granting them extraterritoriality and even enclaves…
These questionable maneuvers made the Eastern Romain Empire terribly impoverished despite sitting on top of a huge pot of gold.
To make things worse, the Romain Empire had no way of withdrawing the privileges and reclaiming the enclaves it had given out, for the Venetians and Genoese had stationed their troops in Constantinope, and their forces were even stronger than the emperor’s army…
Unless Romain’s Augustus wanted to be overthrown, it could only accept the status quo.
In the present day, the Eastern Romain Empire was practically Venice’s colony, with the latter sucking off whatever blood it had left.
“They were poor in the past,” the Venetian senator propped up her glasses and revealed an enigmatic smile, “but they are stuffed now. I think we should help their emperor a little, lest he suffer indigestion. What do you think, Provincial Commander?”
“You want to settle the bills with the Romains at this juncture?” The provincial commander frowned. “Senato, the Romain emperor does owe us a huge debt, but he doesn’t have the means to repay us. Most of the weapons, armor, and valuables are deemed as spoils of war, and 90% are going to the Khitans.
“He even constructed a warehouse and sealed it off, so that the Khitans can collect them whenever they want. As for whatever’s left, it might not be enough for the Romain emperor’s own use. We won’t be able to get much out of this.”
“Provincial Commander, you’re forgetting something.” the Venetian senator wasn’t pleased with the provincial commander’s response. “That Khitan is now Romie’s Caesar. As a co-ruler, don’t you think he should shoulder their debt too?”
“…Senato, your thoughts are dangerous.” The provincial commander’s frown deepened. “You hope to force the Khitans to the negotiation table to acquire their spices and valuables, perhaps even opening up a supply route.
“I know that you’re doing this for our country, but in my capacity as a military man, I earnestly advise you not to assess this matter from just a politician’s viewpoint. The Khitans are ferocious warriors. Rather than words, they are more inclined to speak through force.
“The Sultana’s head is still hanging on the city wall, and countless Ottomain corpses are stacked like a mountain outside the city!”
The provincial commander looked at the bespectacled woman and spoke emphatically, “Please don’t provoke such a dangerous enemy. Our young Venetians shouldn’t shed their blood for no good reason.”
“Heh, my Provincial Commander,” the woman mischievously blinked her eyes, “don’t be so uptight. Whatever we say here has no significance. The final decision lies in the hands of our Provincial Governor, no?”
“…I hope that’s what you really think,” the provincial commander stared at the Venetian senator before slowly replying.
He knew that Venetian senator had much greater say in Venice than him, a provincial commander who only had a couple of ships under his command. If the latter chose to highlight the pros over the cons in her letter…
Let’s hope our Provincial Governor will make a rational decision, the provincial commander prayed. Money is great, but only if it doesn’t come at the expense of our lives.
—
Starve’s Historical Trivia:
The Church of God’s Holy Wisdom is also known as Hagia Sophia in the present day.
It was built in 537 AD, and it has been a cathedral (Eastern Orthodox or Catholic) all the way until the Ottomans conquered Constantinople. The Ottomans renamed it as Hagia Sophia and turned it into a mosque.
Currently, Hagia Sophia is located in Turkiye, Istanbul.
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The Romans had a system of tetrarchy that only lasted 40 years, from AD 284 to 324 (the current era here is AD 1451), where the ruler (augusti/ augustus) and his successor (caesar/ kaiser) would rule in unison, with the caesar to take over the augusti’s position in the future.
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*This saying is basically a meme among Chinese historian buffs.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (established shortly after Constantinople fell) was an extremely powerful country that once enjoyed significant victories against its two massive neighboring states, Germany and Russia, which is incredible considering its relatively smaller size.
This saying is actually to mock the Commonwealth, as its culture of Sarmatism among its Szlachta (nobles) made them take an arrogant stance toward its neighbors, aka cultural relativism
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Venice is a miracle in the Middle Ages - it is a very small nation (practically a city) with almost no natural resources, but it is strategically located to become a critical middleman between the Middle East and throughout Europe, which made them very wealthy.
They used the money they earned to gain further control over future trade, while also building a powerful navy and bases along different countries. They exploited war to expand their territories (such as the Fourth Crusade), and that helped them to become a powerhouse eventually.