ALL NOVEL
Chapter 54: Bare-faced Lies
“We…”
Vernier took off her glasses and wiped them. Her voice was quivering.
“We have to stop him! The consequences will be dire if we allow the Khitan to continue messing around!”
“I’m surprised you know that,” the provincial commander sneered in seething anger, “You should have known the danger you are putting our country in right from the start!”
The provincial commander might not be as skilled at politicking and commerce as the senators, but as a military man, his sense of war was far sharper than theirs.
Venice was in the midst of competing with Milan for superiority in Italy.
They had previously thought that with their overflowing coffers, they could simply hire enough mercenaries to crush Milan and evolve from a city-nation into a country.
Little did they know that despite Milan’s small size, it had a ferocious land army. In contrast, Venice’s land army had poor discipline, weak fighting prowess, and dubious loyalties.
As a result, Venice’s land army kept getting crushed by Milan despite outnumbering the latter.
“We suffered a series of defeats in Milan last year, to the point where we had to deploy our seamen on land,” the provincial commander said, “We failed to rally an army of 4000 to reinforce our troops. I don’t know what’s going through your mind to provoke such a powerful enemy at this juncture. Esteemed Senato, if I may ask, did water get into your head?”
He was baffled. For the love of his life, he simply couldn’t understand how such a motion was passed in the Senate.
Did those merchant-politicians’ heads short-circuited?
“That’s why we need this!” Vernier indignantly refuted. “That’s why we need that sea route more than ever. It secures a steady stream of lucrative commodities like spices, silk, and porcelain for us!”
“…Forget it. There’s no way to reason with someone like you.” The provincial commander slammed the door and walked out. “I shall entertain your whims no more. You bunch of fools can await your deaths here!”
“You!”
“Senato, now is not the time to be arguing!” The white-haired Athens envoy stepped forward to calm Vernier down. “We should discuss countermeasures instead.”
Vernier took a deep breath before contemplating their next move. Moments later, she began making arrangements.
“Tell Crete’s Provincial Commander to bring his fleet to Thessaloniki to showcase our prowess. Let’s see if we can intimidate the Romain emperor into peace negotiations.
“Order our mercenaries to gather in Morea. The uneven terrain there is disadvantageous to cavalrymen, so it’ll be easier for us to defend there.
“We can try approaching the nobles and clergymen in Constantinope. The Romain emperor’s attempt at revolution appears to have frustrated them…
“Last but not least, reach out to the Duchy of Athens…”
The Duchy of Athens was in an odd position.
The Ottomains who had come in search of refuge, the West European immigrants, and the Romain converts were squeezed on this land. These people were at loggerheads, but they had been pummeled so badly by Shu Yichao that they joined forces to overcome this crisis.
“The Duchy of Athens will resist with all its might if the Khitan Caesar comes—”
Be it Shu Yichao’s bloody history or Constantin XI’s damned attempt at revolution, as long as there was a sliver of hope, the Duchy of Athens would fight to their dying breath to resist them.
Vernier had started turning people against one another again, a classic move from Venice.
“We can provide the Duchy of Athens with some aid, so that they can better pit their lives against the Khitans. If they can stall the Khitans, we might just be able to force the Romains onto the negotiation table or find other chances to turn the tables around…”
With that, Vernier rose to her feet.
“To ensure that things go well, I’ll personally make a trip to the Duchy of Athens.”
…
The Duchy of Athens warmly welcomed Vernier’s arrival.
“Esteemed Senato, we are honored by your arrival!”
The Ottomains didn’t show the slightest disrespect to Vernier over the difference in their faiths or previous bad blood. They understood that Venice was the only support they had now.
“Our friends,” the Romain converts exclaimed with flowing tears and snot, “you are finally here! That tyrant of a Caesar has been wreaking havoc on this land. In view of our long-standing ties, you have to help us! We’ll all suffer if that demon were to occupy Athens! Your businesses will suffer as well…”
The only long history between the Ottomains and Venetians was mutual stabbing, but that didn’t hinder them from exchanging pleasantries to warm up the atmosphere.
The priority at hand was to take down Shu Yichao.
It didn’t take long for both sides to decide on the loan sum and repayment conditions. It was only when both sides stamped their seals on the contract did Vernier finally exhaled in relief.
At least I won’t have to worry about Morea till the complete obliteration of Athens.
I wonder how things are going over at Constantinope. If we can goad the nobles and clergymen there into turning against Constantin XI, we’ll be able to turn this war into a Romain civil war…
Vernier’s hopes were about to fall flat.
The Venetians had prioritized their profits over potential danger, and they one-sidedly believed that things would go down the direction they had envisioned. But that didn’t mean that others weren’t able to see through the situation…
…
In Constantinope, the Patriarch was hosting guests in his chambers after a sermon.
After trading pleasantries, one of the guests asked, “Patriarch, don’t you think that His Majesty has been acting out of place? He’s propagating heretical culture!”
As Constantin XI propagated his ‘Khitan’ cultural revolution, some Romains became influenced by the Hans’ teachings and started perceiving and interpreting things from a different angle.
This shook the church’s standing.
What do you mean there is more than one God? What the hell is the Three Purities?! There should only be one God in the world, and that’s our Lord!
The clergymen would have burned those people spreading such blasphemy at the stake if not for the fact that they were the new nobles supported by the emperor. Thus, they hoped that the Patriarch could step forward and right everything, or maybe even…
“Some of the viscounts and counts said that they would support us…” the guest vaguely said.
Then, the guests saw the supposedly insane Patriarch looking at them with mocking eyes.
“The mounds outside the city,” the Patriarch slowly said, “how many heads do you think they are made out of?”
“…”
“The biggest mound had ten thousand heads, whereas the smaller ones had at least a hundred. I heard our Caesar recently piled up hundreds more of such mounds. How many people do you reckon that is?
“…”
“One last question,” the Patriarch nailed the coffin, “how many people do you think there are in Constantinope?”
“…” The guests were speechless.
Before the guests’ stupefied eyes, the Patriarch took out a book written in Han characters and relished in it. I might be the pope, but I still have to follow the tides of change.
“May I ask again who is the heretic?”