47. Momentum

  Zethos spent April 4th taking Tito and Vignola, giving him a modest sum of roughly 2000 solidi each, leaving him with 101,000 solidi. He marched his army to Tolve, cognisant of the road connection. He did not receive the news of the great victory over the Christians, but he was wondering when the army to confront him would come. His scouts spotted nothing, and he scratched his cheeks and chin.

  “Surely there must be some resistance to what I’m doing?” Zethos stared.

  He squinted, the sun shone in his eyes, the ground shook slightly as his men marched along.

  It seems there is no real resistance to me being here.

  The central government received the news of the total disintegration of the Christian coalition forces and of Gocelin capturing two towns in quick succession. Churning out catapults and ballistae, the central government likewise paid for garrisons and consolidated the towns that the ambitious Gocelin had acquired, nonetheless giving him the right to gather the market tax but fortifying the new acquisitions. 102,000 solidi spent on hurrying the process as the ambitions of the generals continued unabated.

  “Zethos has taken Potenza, Gocelin has taken two towns, are you sure it was wise to send him forces after, he now has even more funds and troops that you gave him.”

  “While we can worry about his potential, we can’t waste his momentum because we’re scared, the Christians were badly bloodied, the Normans can have maximum number of lands taken with almost no resistance. I can’t squander this moment,” Adaneus said, “we cannot be like Carthage and sabotage our own commanders.”

  “The Western Roman Republic was once just Bari, this is the price of expansion,” Butros said.

  “We will almost certainly seize Foggia.”

  Bari in the meanwhile had an inundation of merchants, selling indigo and cloves; 4800 litrai of cloves and of indigo equating to roughly 64,000 solidi. The state’s economic program was enticing enough to encourage more people to live in Bari, with the population having expanded to 14,000. Some of the new residents were mercenary contractors, essentially people who could get people for war, the perfect people for Bari admittedly. The war had expanded the borders and influence of the Republic, 464,000 solidi were in the coffers, a sizeable amount that could be leveraged to finish the war. Trickles of revenue from Casamassima, Ostuni and Nardo and other towns like it in the heel that had not fallen directly been taken by Gocelin made its way to the central government, adding perhaps a 4000 solidi or 5000 solidi. They were token payments and were used to bolster army pay for garrisons and to keep loyalty.

  Gocelin looked outside the battlements of the city of Barletta, smirking to himself, for he was now the strongest Norman warlord in Italy.

  “Bet you didn’t expect that huh Guiscard?” Gocelin whispered, “perhaps I should build a temple to Mars, that would be nice. What is that bloody Greek doing I wonder, I had to be saved by religious fanatics… tcht,” he tutted, “give me a flask of wine, I’m parched over here.”

  A man gave him one and he swigged it, and took a brief glance in the direction of the major battlefield.

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  “Do you think they’ll sue for peace?” Thorphinius asked.

  “They should,” Gocelin said, “they were beaten twice soundly, but before that, we should take Foggia, or at the very least Ceriniola and Trinitapoli. Perhaps Foggia is too far, I don’t know.”

  The fresh recruits were being briefed by the veterans as to the carnage that had just taken place, astonished at the bravery and heroism.

  Despite the losses from the large battle outside, Sauromates had snuck in his troops into the strategically important town of Canosa. Using the 15,000 solidi windfall from the battle, he had equipped many ex slaves and disgruntled serfs, they threw knives at the guards and stormed the settlement during the cover of darkness. Stabbing and throwing knives that killed many guards, the town fell after one agent threw an oil concoction on a bunch of rushing soldiers. Burned alive, the guards continued to fight a bit, but when 500 riders came into the town more men put their hands in the air and so soon enough the momentum was such that the town fell to the Shadows. Sauromates managed to recruit some 1000 men, augmenting his forces and securing a most valuable base. The churches and cathedrals and governor’s pockets yielded some 30,000 solidi. This time the silver staying at Canosa for recruitment and armament purposes. 35,000 solidi in the pockets of the religious faction of the Republic. Sauromates was the practical commander of the Shadows, the iron will of the gods that now threatened all of Italy. He invested more in the oil grenades, a fancy weapon that involved clay pots and oil and sometimes alcohol, a weapon intending to simply inundate and enflame large formations. For now he rested, April 4th being productive.

  In the very night, Adaneus and Butros received a message from a panicked spy.

  “Sauromates has taken Canosa, there are reports he will sabotage and infiltrate Minervino Murge,” the spy said, “there are also reports that most Christian powers want to negotiate with us.”

  “And?” Demetra said.

  “It’s unclear if Kwame is going to negotiate with anyone at all,” the spy said, “Sauromates likewise, both have bad experiences with Monotheists.”

  “What would the Republic even do in this instance?” Butros asked, “where is our demarcation line?”

  “At the moment, we should probably stop at Ceriniola and Trinitapoli, and we should probably stop short of Salerno as to not antagonise the Lombards, Zethos is in Lucania, and that is fine, I wouldn’t necessarily mind expanding southwards into Calabria, but we shall make a northern demarcation line.”

  “Surely they’re not just going to hand Calabria to us?” Butros said.

  “No, probably not,” Adaneus said, “but at the same time, do they exactly have much of a choice, if we raise a third army, we could take the province soundly without much more than sieges. We then besiege Roger’s rump in Sicily and the Normans will be a memory.”

  “Remember Gocelin is a Norman,” Demetra said, “the strongest Norman in all of Italy now.”

  Butros and Adaneus looked at her with a bit of shock, her words were true, but only at this moment, did they quite realise it; looking down at their feet and then at her to answer.

  “Zethos hasn’t pacified Lucania fully yet,” Adaneus said, “raising another army does strain resources especially considering we are the ones paying for garrisons.”

  Another messenger came in, huffing, arched over to gather his breath.

  “General Zethos requests 1000 more bolt shooters, in order to pacify Lucania fully.”

  “Speak of the devil,” Demetra chuckled.

  “Excuse us,” Adaneus said to the messenger, “but we’re talking about something important right now.”

  “We can spare 500 bolt shooters, I think,” Butros said, he waited for Adaneus and Demetra to nod as well, “but after that, the rest of the bolt shooters must go to the garrisons to ensure security of the province.”

  “Security of the province no one ordered him to take,” Adaneus pressed, expressing his annoyance a little.

  “Zethos said, that this would weaken the Norman war effort and ensure a cleaner victory,” the messenger retorted.

  “Is that so? Gocelin only won the most decisive battle of the war through the skin of his teeth, and you tell me this.”

  “While Zethos respects Gocelin greatly, being in two places allows us to achieve more.”

  “Enough my love, he has a point,” Demetra said.

  “Take the bolt shooters, and we shall try garrison more towns in the region,” Adaneus said.

  And with that the messenger left, to go back to Zethos, riding a new steed, and changing the horses every so often for maximum speed.