Chapter VII - Super Soldier
In this climate of war, Thomas institutes the Liberum Veto. This won't lead to problems later on, will it?
Seven weeks later, we accept an expensive peace with Hedjaz. One must know which battles to fight and from which battles to shy away.
The Byzantine navy engages a few Ottoman ships during the summer of 1379. The outcomes are not unexpected.
The next year's spring brings peace with Yemen and Najd. Byzantium is still in a fragile state and can do with as few enemies as possible!
The Byzantine navy were toasting the anniversary of the Ottoman defeats at sea, when they were surprised by a smaller but ultimately superior fleet. All Romans should hang their heads in shame as St. Stephen and St. Mark look down upon them in disapproval.
There is a lull in the fighting as relations between Byzantium and Bulgaria take an up-turn. One hopes that this will prove fruitful in due course!
December 1380 is a bloody month, with 4,000 Romans and 6,000 Moors killed on two Greek battlefields. The Sultan of Morocco is forced to concede defeat in battles, albeit the first time with slightly fewer losses than us.
Nearly three years after we bought off Hedjaz in this hectic war, the recent Moroccan losses allow them to retreat honourably with war spoils as well.
Just a week later,
strategos Konstantinos Mikrulakes annihilates 3,000 Turks in northern Greece. It seems that the war may finally be turning in our favour.
The military victories of Phocas and Mikrulakes have encouraged a renaissance in Byzantine military thinking and, come the autumn of 1382, various military reforms are rolled out across Byzantium's remaining armies.
Roman diplomats are also hard at work that month, building on the good work on 1380, and the Empire now enjoys greatly enhanced relations with both Christian and Muslim powers nearby.
That spring, the fortress at Edirne was returned to Roman hands, with the province of Pontus being reclaimed the following January. What a difference a year makes!
On the other side of Europe, it seems that the English have been utterly defeated in their latest war with the Scots. Edward I would be turning in his grave!
The Orthodox faith takes another battering as the nearby Muslims once more invade the lands of Christos Pantocrator. The last Armenian province is annexed by the Mamluks in less than six months and the Egyptian superpower is now almost at the gates.
After the birth of his second son, Andronikos, in late 1384, Emperor Thomas falls into a fit of depression and it falls to the great
strategoi Phocas and Mikrulakes to hold the realm together in his absence. The Ottomans are seemingly ready to concede defeat, but whilst Pelagios Phocas is willing to accept, Konstantinos Mikrulakes is eager for blood and presses onto into the Turkish heartland.
Near-on 30,000 Roman soldiers, with the support of the few Trapezuntine forces remaining, have been despoiling the Turkish countryside ever since the previous Christ Mass and it is not too long before key Turkish fortresses begin to fall into our hands.
Come September, the victorious Mikrulakes accepts Sultan Ibrahim's surrender and eastern Anatolia falls into Greek hands once more. The Ottomans also pay a nominal sum towards the great expenses occurred during the past decade of fighting.
Shortly thereafter, our war spoils are rechristened, if only to underscore our eventual victory over our Ottoman neighbours!
Thomas Porphyrogennētos
Anno Mundus 6893
Θωμάς πορφυρογέννητος
Autocrat and Emperor of the Romans
Strategos-Autokrator of Konstantinoupolis
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