1453: Revival of Byzantium
The stiff atmosphere lasted for a while like the air has frozen in this place, with every one frozen in their positions like they are nothing but a bunch of silhouettes. Even Antonius himself is stunned in surprise for the rapid turning of events, as he certainly did not expect this chubby man to be so damn dramatic and put up such an explosive performance right in front of him, messing up all of his plans and arrangement to continue this show of slaying goats and the intimidated faces of these criminals that he yet does not have an idea on how to charge them.
But this does not mean that it is a negative change, actually it can be considered as an add on, a surplus to the original show just like how those Greek plays love to have plot twists. Though this means that Antonius can no longer enjoy his session torturing the criminals who robbed his people to soothe his strange taste of joy. While for Borislav by the side he got caught by surprise from those harsh words of the chubby merchant, never expecting this man to have such guts and wits to spit out such offensive words being contradictory to his usual image of avoiding all conflicts with the rich or powerful people.
After some thinking Borislav stepped out again, walking briskly to the front of the Caesar Antonius bowing down to almost a ninety degrees, a posture that can harm his spines as a man of this age. Then he bowed down on one knee looking towards the carpet beneath him, making a formal apology that only nobles would usually do in this era. "I am deeply sorrowful and sorry, my lord, for my ignorance and misunderstanding of both you and the national law, which made me get fooled by the others in to starting a trade union searching for land properties to purchase around two years back, which later went in to the extreme side of persecuting the peasants…"
"Oh?" Antonius responded like as if he has already knew about this. "So, you are the one who started all of these kind of things?"
"Yes, my lord." Borislav continued kneeling over there with his head lowered. "I am deeply sorry. I am willing to pay for my mistakes being made, resign from all the posts of this trade union, corporate with you, my lord, in every bit of investigations regarding the corruption and forced slavery cases in the land of Drama, if there is any lacking corrupted funding that came from my family, we are willing to pay back the full sum… Then after this, I am pleased to receive any form of punishment from you, my lord, whether be it an exile back to Bulgaria, where my ancestors came hundreds of years ago, or immediate death in front of the crowd, it is all up to you, but we only have one minute request, please keep the lives of our families, they are innocent in this…"
Following the prolonged speech of confess by their chairman, the other merchants and land lords soon obediently followed closely, coming out of their seats and kneeling down on one knee on the carpet staring at the ground, performing an unified action with out any further words, displaying a kind of posture showing that they are willing to take any kind of punishment from the admiral, and they have admitted to all the crimes that the chubby merchant has stated prior to this.
Seeing this sign the chubby merchant and the chair man Borislav heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that they are not alone in this and every counterpart here has truly realised that only unification can save their lives. While for the men Antonius brought with him, including Yuri, all displayed a look of scorn and discontent, not only because of all the extra troubles these greedy twits have brought for them, but also because they have a natural sympathy on the peasants that these criminals have exploited and murdered, because they came from the same background as the peasants.
According to the groans of Yuri before this, even the Mongol hordes roaming the vast stepped of Kipchaks knows that peasants are a valuable asset providing food for the army to consume, grass for the horses to graze, and work force for the nation to draft, thus keeping the bare minimum of protection and safety guarantee for those peasants who obeyed their rule, so these gourmandising land lords and merchants are even worse than the Mongols.
But what he did not know is that the story is totally different if it is the Mongols two hundred years back or if the peasants and nobles are defiant on paying tax to the Mongol horde masters.
Antonius narrowed his eyes as he swept his eagle sharp gaze across the entire compound on to the around fifty buttocks pointing towards the night sky. He knows that these people are not apologising to him with a true heart, they would still make the same sort of crimes against the civilians who have literally zero protection against their claws if he left this area. Thus, he made up his decision, stood up and paced himself out on to the carpet, standing behind the chairman called Borislav looking at all the fifty people still kneeling there.
"No, I do not think what you have proposed is doable." Out to everyone's astoundment and disbelief, the Caesar straight away rejected their chairman's proposal of a surrender of fortune they have built over the past years just to exchange for their lives, which means that…
The look of fear slowly climbed back to the merchants and land lords' blackened face. Many started shivering again, some started weeping, where there are also some, who are being mentally pushed to the brink of a cliff, decided to be a hero, a challenger against the rule of the tyrant if they are going to die under the tyrant's claws very soon.
"Then what do you want!" A land lord who is guilty of trying to build his personnel armed security force cried out. "What the hell do you want?"
The chairman, Borislav, sighed and stood up slowly but firmly with out the support of his walking stick, staring in to the pupils of the Caesar with colours in his eyes. "My lord, allow me to address you like this for one last time. We know that we have committed crimes against the people, but are you going to execute all of us at once, over here? What can you possibly get through executing us? I do not understand my lord, I do not understand… Is this the way how you people of the military do things? Thoroughly enforce strict laws through executions? Executing all of our families?"
"What are you talking about." Antonius reached for this man's elbows and pulled him up from the ground. "Do you think that I, Antonius De'Ricci is that kind of guy who knows nothing except for killing others with the cutlass beside my belt?"
The merchant muttered yes beneath in his mind.
"Yes, I have killed a lot of men I admit, and some of them are innocent victims especially when I was roaming the seas as a pirate. However, I got one clear rule that restrains myself from going on to the extreme end, that is the tip of my blade only turns towards the outside, not to the inside. I am no longer that pirate of the Aegean, I have gone through a full set of education under various scholars and professors in both Constantinople and Thessaloniki for the past decade; I learnt the basic knowledge on lives and science through the Vienna Dioscuridos, I got a better understand of laws from my research on the Corpus Junis Civilis, I acquired my knowledge on philosophy and the code of conduct as a man by reading Theatetus…"
"I am not trying to flex over here, what I am trying to mean is that I, Antonius De'Ricci, is never a blood stained tyrant and will never be one, I always tries to talk sense in to people and even if I need to take disciplinary actions against my own men, I would set up a court first to determine which code of the law did he break, give a chance to defend for himself before his finally destiny is being decided. I shall never execute people with out a reason, especially considering the fact that if I execute all of you, the entire social structure in Drama would instantly lose its balance and crumble. My government needs stability, not chaos."
The fifty merchants and land lords before Antonius bowed down again and commemorated on the Caesar's incredible academic achievements, and also thanking him for sparing their lives. At least now every thing is getting better, though many are still not convinced, as they knows that one cannot fully trust a monarch's words; He might change his mind at any moment if he is having a bad day.
Chapter 364: 359: Mutton Is Good
But this does not mean that it is a negative change, actually it can be considered as an add on, a surplus to the original show just like how those Greek plays love to have plot twists. Though this means that Antonius can no longer enjoy his session torturing the criminals who robbed his people to soothe his strange taste of joy. While for Borislav by the side he got caught by surprise from those harsh words of the chubby merchant, never expecting this man to have such guts and wits to spit out such offensive words being contradictory to his usual image of avoiding all conflicts with the rich or powerful people.
After some thinking Borislav stepped out again, walking briskly to the front of the Caesar Antonius bowing down to almost a ninety degrees, a posture that can harm his spines as a man of this age. Then he bowed down on one knee looking towards the carpet beneath him, making a formal apology that only nobles would usually do in this era. "I am deeply sorrowful and sorry, my lord, for my ignorance and misunderstanding of both you and the national law, which made me get fooled by the others in to starting a trade union searching for land properties to purchase around two years back, which later went in to the extreme side of persecuting the peasants…"
"Oh?" Antonius responded like as if he has already knew about this. "So, you are the one who started all of these kind of things?"
"Yes, my lord." Borislav continued kneeling over there with his head lowered. "I am deeply sorry. I am willing to pay for my mistakes being made, resign from all the posts of this trade union, corporate with you, my lord, in every bit of investigations regarding the corruption and forced slavery cases in the land of Drama, if there is any lacking corrupted funding that came from my family, we are willing to pay back the full sum… Then after this, I am pleased to receive any form of punishment from you, my lord, whether be it an exile back to Bulgaria, where my ancestors came hundreds of years ago, or immediate death in front of the crowd, it is all up to you, but we only have one minute request, please keep the lives of our families, they are innocent in this…"
Following the prolonged speech of confess by their chairman, the other merchants and land lords soon obediently followed closely, coming out of their seats and kneeling down on one knee on the carpet staring at the ground, performing an unified action with out any further words, displaying a kind of posture showing that they are willing to take any kind of punishment from the admiral, and they have admitted to all the crimes that the chubby merchant has stated prior to this.
Seeing this sign the chubby merchant and the chair man Borislav heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that they are not alone in this and every counterpart here has truly realised that only unification can save their lives. While for the men Antonius brought with him, including Yuri, all displayed a look of scorn and discontent, not only because of all the extra troubles these greedy twits have brought for them, but also because they have a natural sympathy on the peasants that these criminals have exploited and murdered, because they came from the same background as the peasants.
According to the groans of Yuri before this, even the Mongol hordes roaming the vast stepped of Kipchaks knows that peasants are a valuable asset providing food for the army to consume, grass for the horses to graze, and work force for the nation to draft, thus keeping the bare minimum of protection and safety guarantee for those peasants who obeyed their rule, so these gourmandising land lords and merchants are even worse than the Mongols.
But what he did not know is that the story is totally different if it is the Mongols two hundred years back or if the peasants and nobles are defiant on paying tax to the Mongol horde masters.
Antonius narrowed his eyes as he swept his eagle sharp gaze across the entire compound on to the around fifty buttocks pointing towards the night sky. He knows that these people are not apologising to him with a true heart, they would still make the same sort of crimes against the civilians who have literally zero protection against their claws if he left this area. Thus, he made up his decision, stood up and paced himself out on to the carpet, standing behind the chairman called Borislav looking at all the fifty people still kneeling there.
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The look of fear slowly climbed back to the merchants and land lords' blackened face. Many started shivering again, some started weeping, where there are also some, who are being mentally pushed to the brink of a cliff, decided to be a hero, a challenger against the rule of the tyrant if they are going to die under the tyrant's claws very soon.
"Then what do you want!" A land lord who is guilty of trying to build his personnel armed security force cried out. "What the hell do you want?"
The chairman, Borislav, sighed and stood up slowly but firmly with out the support of his walking stick, staring in to the pupils of the Caesar with colours in his eyes. "My lord, allow me to address you like this for one last time. We know that we have committed crimes against the people, but are you going to execute all of us at once, over here? What can you possibly get through executing us? I do not understand my lord, I do not understand… Is this the way how you people of the military do things? Thoroughly enforce strict laws through executions? Executing all of our families?"
"What are you talking about." Antonius reached for this man's elbows and pulled him up from the ground. "Do you think that I, Antonius De'Ricci is that kind of guy who knows nothing except for killing others with the cutlass beside my belt?"
The merchant muttered yes beneath in his mind.
"Yes, I have killed a lot of men I admit, and some of them are innocent victims especially when I was roaming the seas as a pirate. However, I got one clear rule that restrains myself from going on to the extreme end, that is the tip of my blade only turns towards the outside, not to the inside. I am no longer that pirate of the Aegean, I have gone through a full set of education under various scholars and professors in both Constantinople and Thessaloniki for the past decade; I learnt the basic knowledge on lives and science through the Vienna Dioscuridos, I got a better understand of laws from my research on the Corpus Junis Civilis, I acquired my knowledge on philosophy and the code of conduct as a man by reading Theatetus…"
"I am not trying to flex over here, what I am trying to mean is that I, Antonius De'Ricci, is never a blood stained tyrant and will never be one, I always tries to talk sense in to people and even if I need to take disciplinary actions against my own men, I would set up a court first to determine which code of the law did he break, give a chance to defend for himself before his finally destiny is being decided. I shall never execute people with out a reason, especially considering the fact that if I execute all of you, the entire social structure in Drama would instantly lose its balance and crumble. My government needs stability, not chaos."
The fifty merchants and land lords before Antonius bowed down again and commemorated on the Caesar's incredible academic achievements, and also thanking him for sparing their lives. At least now every thing is getting better, though many are still not convinced, as they knows that one cannot fully trust a monarch's words; He might change his mind at any moment if he is having a bad day.
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