Chapter 387: 382: There's No Easy Question in Life

"All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him."

-        Sun Tzu

"Are you sure that you did not come across any large Ottoman troops along your way? Or did you not take the main route?" Constantine turned in to a serious face and yelled at these two merchants seated on the stools before him. The two merchants know that this man before him is definitely not just any ordinary tom dick and harry in the streets every day just by looking at his dressing and the way he speaks, they too jumped up from their stools feeling worried that they might have said some thing inappropriate and offended this man, standing there anxiously fidgeting around with their cloths.

Constantine sensed that his harsh tone has scared the two innocent merchants, and he changed to a softer tone re emphasizing his question again. "Do not be afraid, please do enlighten me with what you two have seen on the roads gentlemen, may I know if you came across any large troop movements along your way? Or have you heard of troops moving on other ways from Bulgaria to Thrace from other merchants?"

"N…No, mister." The merchant answered with a trembling voice. "I can confirm that I have never seen any large troop movements from Bulgaria… In fact, I have heard that the governor of Bulgaria has placed most of his emphasize on the northern fronts against the new Serbian despot who is thinking of fixing his kingdom's relations with the other Vatican heretic states by starting several smaller offensives in to Ottoman territories…"

"Thank you for the information, gentlemen." The emperor walked away with a stunned face the moment before the merchant could have finished his statement. "Guards, purchase all the stocks we need from the two gentle men, at a generous price, they have helped me, a lot."

Suddenly around a dozen men dressed in various clothing, some with blades attached to their waists stood up from every where around the corner following this man's order, with three of them offering the two merchants a pouch of newly minted Genoese ducats in exchange for all of their winter cabbages. Then did the two merchants realise the true identity of this man, only one man can bring along so many armed guards freely in a city that has just been taken by the Romans, that is their one and only legitimate leader, the autocrat and Basileus.

Constantine has no mood and time to care about the mind activities of these two minor merchants, for he has a much bigger concern in his head. He rode back to his commanding tent as soon as possible walking around in circles, with his head filled with numerous thoughts and concerns. If the things mentioned by the merchants, that could only mean one thing….

"Are you calling for us emperor?" Mauro and the other commanders entered the tent.

"Yes, I have just received a piece of information from the merchants, saying that the Ottoman troops in Bulgaria never moved by an inch! We might have been cheated, that so called ambassador of the `what Abbas Pasha might have been entirely fake in the first place. Lord Mauro, tell me, how far can your scout cavalries reach? I need the information about any enemy activities as far as possible!"

Mauro frowned and leaned forward observing the map before him. "Our scouts can only stretch out and be dispersed within a maximum radius of fifteen Roman miles, and by then our scouts shall be way too dispersed meaning that they would be very easy targets for our enemies, considering the fact that the Ottomans keeps a much more formidable cavalry force than us we would need to send our scouts in teams, with no choice but decreasing our scouting efficiency… They shall not be able to receive much information like this."

"In fact, your majesty." A Roman senator called Innocentius Zonaras, who is now in charge of all information transmissions within the army took a peek at Constantine and followed up. "In fact, we never treated that Ottoman ambassador at trust worthy in the first place… We have always kept another version of planning assuming that the ambassador is a hook, but it almost seemed like that plan is not really useful as all the advice and details provided by the ambassador seems to be pretty…"

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"Pretty effective." Mauro nodded holding the pommel of his blade. "Indeed, it saved us a lot of trouble, if he is really a snitch, a hook waiting for us to bait then I must compliment him for that amount of patience and endurance, must have been a pain within him watching so many of his own men falling under us, pretending to be ignorant and apathetic. Although I highly suspect this but if he is really a snitch doing all of these, he must be a pretty good actor on the stage."

Apparently Constantine is not in the mood to joke around with Mauro. "Put those Ottomans under custody, make sure your men have a close observation on him at all times, record what they say and do, and find any thing suspicious about their activities. And, if they have any signs of trying to transmit a message to the outside, put them under arrest instantly."

"Roger, your majesty." Innocentius changed to a serious look too, bowing down to kiss the emperor's ring and left the tent to fulfil his task, totally unlike the usual him arguing and brawling with people in the senate.

"Lord Mauro, what do you think, I suggest that we ought to order all units to stop advancing and gather around this town, pitching a new encampment and wait for further information."

"I must deny your proposal this time emperor." Indeed, Mauro is not that kind of person who would like to follow every piece of order given by his superiority. "Don't say I have not warned you, but if we stop advancing now it would only alert any hostile forces if they were really planning to make a trap for us, or if they are not we would be wasting precious supplies and time, offering the Ottomans enough time to prepare themselves. Let me remind you again, that we do not have any siege equipment, not even a ladder, and our supplies can only last us till spring, we must call for a retreat by spring."

The other commanders around who are under Mauro echoed words in support of Mauro, adding on details like calling for a stop would only lower the morales of the soldiers, making them question that why did the higher ups decide to halt their progress when every thing is going on so damn well. The other commanders, despite not being involved in Mauro's faction, also reluctantly nodded in agreement as what Mauro is saying is indeed correct. Constantine did not reply to the harsh reality and savage words from the military professionals, and turned back to study the map, trying to note down several points where they might meet a potential Ottoman interception.

Mauro made one step forward eyeing the map beside Constantine, and after a while he narrowed his eyes plucking out a red flag representing a hostile force, stabbing it on to the board which labels an interception between Edirne and Babaeski. "Chill, emperor, there is no need to worry so much about this piece of information from a merchant, look at the map, the terrain of entire Thrace is so flat that it is not possible for Ottomans to ambush their troops, unlike the mountainous terrains of Bulgaria…"

"But what if they use their superiority in horsemen ship?" Constantine lifted his head and asked back. "If they just organise one thousand plus cavalries and come down for us, we shall be doomed any ways!"

Mauro shook his head and disagreed with Constantine again. "Emperor, If you are truly worried about their cavalries, you should have been already worrying about it before the start of the battle. Let us not talk about the fact that our boys have all been effectively trained on how to guard themselves against a cavalry charge, do you still think that the Sultan in Edirne have the capability of organising a thousand cavalries? With Thrace under threat from us, and the rest of his state either split away or taken away by Antonius? Where would he keep his thousands of hordes? Inside the cities? Not really possible right."

Obviously Constantine is not pleased with the words and promise given by Mauro, he threw the stick down and gave a stare at Mauro, making one last order before he left the tent for his horse.. "Fine, but I still want all units to only advance by the half of their original speed, and no troop movements should be allowed one hour before sun set to prepare for any surprise night attacks… And all units should stay as near as possible, carry it out now."

Mauro had to accept this order, for he knows that this is the only choice given by the emperor, no more room of bargain left for him. "Yes, your majesty."

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