CHAPTER FIVE - NOT A SINGLE STEP BACKWARDS, MY COMRADE SOLDIERS
Fortress of Skoplje, South Serbia - 18th of May 1397
- My lord, wake up!
-- Wait.. umm.. mommy.. no mommy.. give me my candy..
- Great Knyaz of Serbia, stand up, wake up!
-- Umm.. ah, yes, yes. Wait. Where am I, Arovski?
- In the safety of Skoplje fortress, my lord.
-- Weren't we in Kruševac in last chapter?
- Sir, you fell unconsciousness, we had to retreat.
-- What? Retreat?! He who fears of fight with the enemy and giving his life for Motherland, may stand down from the line, I will personally kill him!
- Sir, we really had to retreat. Our fortresses on the north are strong and heavily guarded, we will help them, as soon as we regroup our troops.
-- So, we just retreated? Without a single fight?
- Yes, my lord.
-- Cowards, cowards! Prepare your arms! We are marching north! Right now, Arovski!
- Maybe that wasn't so good decision, my lord?
-- Are you questioning my decisions, Arovski?
- No my lord, not at all. Not at all. You are the Knyaz, after all.
-- Yes, I am. And that wasn't so bad decision. We killed 9,000 enemies.
- But we lost 4,000 of our own troops, sir.
-- We fought against twice bigger, better equiped army and we killed two times more then they did! Stop questioning my decisions, you peasant!
- Yes, my lord. Forgive me, you are the Great Knyaz, I am terribly sorry. Putting that aside, I have some bad news. We lost our whole 3 ship-transport fleet.
-- What? How did it happened?
- Well, when the Skadar fell to the occupators, our fleet had to leave the port, where it was attack by joint Genovian and Bosnian fleets, it got completely destroyed.
-- Skadar fell?! When?
- While you were unconsciousness.
-- Damn those Genovians! What shall we do now?
- You are the Knyaz, my lord, I don't know. I am just a peasant.
-- If you are a peasant, you wouldn't mind if I send you to work on the fields, right Arovski?
- Merciful lord, do not do it! Please.
-- So.. what shall we do now?
- Well, since the Venice is leading this war, it could be good to send them an peace offer.
-- Good. Ask 5,000 ducats for peace.
- Sir, I do not believe they will accept our proposal.
-- Okay, okay, 2,000 should be enough.
- Sir, there is 50,000 enemy troops occupying our whole country, if we do not make peace soon, and by that I mean offering them something in return, we'll get annexed!
-- What do you suggest then, Arovski?
- Offer them what they want. Skadar and 350 ducats should be enough.
-- What? But Skadar is our only port we have, Arovski!
- I know sir, but if we don't give them Skadar right now, they will surely annex us.
-- Alright, send the offer then.. Damn it!
-- Now what, smart-ass? We lost our only port in Homeland.
- Do not fear, my lord. I have the plan. But, lets get those wars done..
-- Now what?
- We should attack Bosnian troops near old Ras town, sir.
-- But, you said 50,000 troops are there?
- Sir, Venice peaced out of the war.
-- So what? There are still Hungarians, Poles, Croats, and God knows who else!
- Khm.. my lord.. how should I put this. You see, Hungary and their allies were allied with Venice.
-- Yes, that is because they attacked us.. Those coward inquisitors!
- Yes, and they are now pulling out of the war.
-- Why?
- Because Venice peaced out.
-- So what?
- Because they were the leader of that war coalition, and when the leader peaces out, all their allies do this too.
-- Just like that?
- Just like that, my lord.
-- And why are we attacking Bosnian troops then?
- ..because they are not in the same coalition where the Venice was.
-- But why did they attacked us then?
- Sir, they declared separate war.
-- Arghh, my brain is getting hurted with this confuse diplomatic-war language.
- You can't be in pain for something you do not own, my lord.
-- What?
- Nothing, I said nice weather today. Do you think will it rain tomorrow?
Serbian Royal Court, Kruševac - 26th of November 1398
- Good morning, my liege.
-- Oh. Hi Arovski. Do you have some news for me?
- Yes, dear Knyaz. Bosnia and Genoa offered white peace, sir.
-- What? White peaches? Where did they got those? I want to try them!
- No sir, white peace. That means they are offering us peace with no conditions, like the war didn't happened at all.
-- So, shall we accept it?
- Well, our infamy is not small enough for any new gaining of territories, our legitimacy is decreasing because of the war exaustion which hit the upper border..
-- Wait, what?
- .. yes.
-- Okay then, accept it.
-- What else?
- We lost the province of Al Djazair.
-- That place in China, right?
- No sir, in Africa. The Hafsids gained full control of it and annexed it to their country.
-- How can they do that? We didn't agreed!
- They can, because of the surrender timers.
-- Timers?
- Yes sir, we lost the province. We will regain it, but we urgently need to get out of every war, our army and population is exausted.
-- Alright, give it up then. We didn't needed that anyway.
Serbo-Montenegrin border - 10th of February 1400
-- Did you regrouped and gathered all of my army, Arovski?
- I did, sir. But I frankly don't see the point going again to war, you agreed to stop all our wars until we recover.
-- Don't worry my dear Arovski, this one shouldn't last longer than several months.
- How can we do that, sir?
-- We'll do a little Blitzkrieg operation.
- What is that, my lord?
-- I don't clearly understand it yet. But I read that in that fairy tale, where that guy with wierd moustaches attacked the Poles and they surrendered for two weeks.
- Marvelleous, sir.
-- Alright, enough with the small talk. Lets ride, to Zeta!
- What? Wait, my lord, are you sure? They are our allies, brothers, our closest friends!
-- Don't worry Arovski, we are just regaining our vassals land, and we need that sea access. Now, lets charge!
Cetinje fortress, 29th of August 1401
- We finally captured it, sir.
-- Good, lets do that annexation thing now.
- Sir, war lasted more than a year and a half. It was just a fairy tale, my lord.
-- But, it seemed so real! Damn those sci-fi futurism books!
Serbian Royal Court, Kruševac - 2nd of April 1402
-- So, how's that recovering thing going, Arovski?
- Slow but fine, sir.
-- Any news?
- Not really sir. But I have few ideas. We need to recover, and we will recover quicker if we arrange some alliances, sir.
-- Okay, spit it out.
- But I just drinked some tea, do I really have to spit it out?
-- Argh, Arovski. You'll never learn. I meant speak up, tell me your suggestions.
- We could allie with Muscowy, Ragusa, Tarnovo and Wallachia, sir.
-- Okay, you do that.
-- Anything else, Arovski?
- That would be all, my liege.
You should see it in your country decisions list. If you have a bad monarch then you can hire the advisors and either work your war exhaustion down or build your prestige up.
Thanks. I didn't payed attention on decision tab.