1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 443: War of Logistics

The operation is being finalised by the council and war senate before the end of the year 1461, with various commanders from different branches of the now vast army coming back to Thessaloniki in turns to describe their points of view on the capabilities of their unit, then decide on their field of deployment based on that. Almost all the units from the multinational forces and the troops of Antonius shall be partaking in this operation, with the commander of the Varangians Fjodor and Balkan state troopers led by a temporary commanding officer called Sigismund Tomaevi, a Bosnian prince. This three units accounts to around two thousand plus men, and is chosen as the pioneer of the army due to their superiority as fighters in hard and steep terrains.

The operation of logistics is initiated first, tens of thousands of farmers and workers in towns and villages along the major roads are being mobilised using the period of time where by they are no longer required to be working in their farm steads. The supply stations being set up all of the place is being used again, with transport fleets all over the state ranging from Thessaly to Macedonia, carrying dried foods and woods. This operation alone has already taken nearly a month, and within this month alone it has already burnt away almost three month worth of the government's income.

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On the night of the day before this hemisphere of the world enters a brand new year of 1462, Antonius moved first with his troopers stationed in Thessaloniki, among the marching army there is the mysterious new body guard that seemed to a little bit way too slender for a professional warrior although he is well covered in a full set of armour, with a mask covering his face. People started discussing about this new figure guessing which hero of the army he is, as it seems through body shape that this guard cannot be compared with the brawny Yuri that used to accompany the Caesar side by side.

Thousands of branches of marching soldiers started merging together from all different places across the country stretching for hundreds of Roman miles, all headed for their designated rally point for days and nights against the winter winds, many who are not used to marching in this kind of harsh climates suffered from blisters and started complaining about the higher up's decision to make them suffer through this method. Little did they realise that there is a critical change for this war that makes it vastly different from the other ones before, it is the very first war of Thessaloniki that made the government mobilise almost every single citizen of her near a million population, stretching through out the entire state from the East to the West.

As for what those commanding officers know, a new concept of war and conflicts are being used this time, the higher ups in Thessaloniki referred it as the 'War of the People'. Every single citizen of the state is being assigned with a duty in this operation during various period of time, with their loses being evaluated and compensated. That is why all of these combat support operations have to be done fast, because every single thing that happened during this period of time no longer comes with out a price for the government unlike last time, now they got to pay them, they want to make a test on whether they are sufficient enough to keep a healthy and sustainable economy at the times of war. If this form of concept is proved to be doable, then this country shall have an unlimited potential in economical stability, even might remove the drafting and conscription system in theory only.

Though not all news came to be good, when Antonius and his regiment of cavalries led by Khalid are marching towards the rallying point in Macedonia, a news came to him saying that the regent senate has sent a group of men who are supposedly to 'observe' this war. Antonius frowned, not knowing how did Constantinople acquire this piece of information so fast. Antonius certainly do not trust that these bunch of people, who spent the most of their times sitting inside the walls of Theodosia being protected by them can offer any help in this war, but since this is not an outrageous claim, and Constantinople is legitimately Thessaloniki's liege, so Antonius showed no objection to this.

The bulk of the troops assembled for this expedition is assembled in less than one month from every single outpost in the state, a new mode of mobilisation that the state has never seen before being able to assemble a thirty thousand strong army in around a month's time from the day when the orders are being sent. This fifteen thousand strong army are not made up of conscripts and farmers wielding pitchforks led by a bunch of knights and petty nobles like the armies in the west, instead it is all made up of professionally trained foot men from the past five years who are not engaged in any agriculture or production activities, another sign of the government's increasing capabilities in the past five years to be able to raise a standing army of this size.

In order to supply and reinforce this fifteen thousand strong army, Alexios mobilised a total of ninety thousand civilians, four thousand wagons, eight thousand horses and five hundred ships of different sizes. In order to assemble a combat support operation of such size more than five thousand temporary civil servants and officials are being employed and deployed, thirteen new express ways laid with stones are being constructed connecting major hot spots of the state by the workers as they move their supplies, fifteen more state owned work shops are being set up with another two thousand plus workers being recruited.

All of these has spent Antonius three hundred and fifty seven thousand silver ducats even before the commencement of the battle, a cost that surpassed almost every single battle recorded in history, even higher than the sum of all the costs spent in the third crusade. This cost also means that there are already no step back for Antonius and his men, they cannot be defeated or even fail to achieve their target, if that really happens almost all the investments on war shall be tossed in to the void, and it would instantly trigger a recession in the public due to the drop in the government's spending power, and Antonius can be certain that if the enemies in the surrounding are to see him getting weak, they would not hesitate to leap on to him and tear him apart with their claws.

The various war lords and regional rulers in Epirus also began reacting to the imminent military threat, the Sanjak bey of Sanjak-i Yanya, Hseyin elik, called for an alliance with all Epirus factions in his capital city of Ioannina, with the taget of deterring the outsiders. The Catholic king of Epirus, peasant revolt leaders occupying minor towns and the Venetian local families in Rhodes refused to join this meeting. In the end the five remaining Ottoman war lords and the local Christian land lords formed up an alliance.

But instead of forming up truly as one to fight off the outside threat, the various allied factions only agreed to lease out a portion of their total forces to the hands of the Sanjak bey of Sanjak-i Yanya, adding his forces up to a total number of twenty thousand men. When the Sanjak has requested them to send more reinforcements they refused, saying that since the enemies only have a mere fifteen thousand men, then the twenty thousand men he has must be more than enough to at least counter their offensive with the advantage of geography. If he fails then it must be entirely his fault.

Hseyin elik Sanjek almost vomited blood upon hearing these comments, he really wanted to drag these people to the front line and have a look themselves and bellow out his anger asking them do they really belief that a herd of sheeps led by a few Ottoman lions can fend off a bunch of Rumelian wolves. Though he does knows that these bastards, being war lords who have battled each other for ages prior to this battle which forced themselves to temporarily turn their blades towards the same direction, knows about the vast difference in the comparison of discipline, morales, fighting capabilities and commanding structures, yet they decided to watch him fail, for one reason.

That is, he, Hseyin elik, being the legitimate and strongest war lord in Northern Epirus, is more of a threat to these regional war lords when compared to the Rumelians in the east, that is why they want to deplete his strength when he is battling against the Rumelians so that they can gobble up his remains after the war and claim his legitimacy in the process too.