Chapter 467: No Matter What

All the commanders here who were also present when Jacob escorted the newly manufactured gun barrels know about this idea that is just mentioned by Alexios, but none of them really wants to mention it for two obvious reasons. One is because of the execution of Fisnik a while ago which indeed sent a shock to them making them fear that if they say any word wrong, they might get screwed. Secondly this idea is widely unpopular among the soldiers as they feel that this idea is literally sending trained soldiers to die for nothing hugging explosives in their hands charging towards the walls, if a commander made this suggestion words would be spread around in camps and his support from his own unit would drop tremendously before he knows it. 
Alexios knew about this too, and indeed he is the most suitable person here to make such an advice, for he is an advisor on financial issues which means that he do not need to face much pressure of leading an army. And although he is not a military commander, his influence in the army is quickly catching up with the others as the salary and bonus system of the entire troop never made any system mistake under his care, earning him some level of reputation from everyone.
Antonius did not mention anything, and Alexios looked around knowing that everyone is observing him sending hints in their eyes. Alexios knows what they are hinting about, and the reason why they refuses to mention it by themselves. He sighed within himself knowing that it is inevitable for him to take the blame and recrimination today. So Alexios went a step forward, bowed slightly towards the Caesar and continued. 
"The main confidence of the bulk of the Ottomans is the walls and the fortresses they built along the only transitable road along the mountains and give access to large regimental movements. If we show to them that we are able to forcefully breakthrough those walls this might send a tough message to them, shatter their confidence and make them evade. But there is one concern within us regarding building the demolition force with the valuable life of our trained soldiers, I suggest that we can build a demolition force consisting of civilians, slaves and infidels with the promise of rewarding them with freedom and reward…"
"And so, we shall suffer a lot less casualties on the paper, and in turn achieve the greatest amount of harvest on the enemies and earn everyone a sumptuous buffet of credits and plunder right? But what makes us be different from the Ottoman mutilators if I listen to this suggestion?" Just as Alexios has expected, Antonius made an abrupt interruption and gave a stare at him. "I executed Fisnik today not simply because of all his frauds and corruptions, but also because he is spreading the wrong belief among the men! The belief that men with weapons are more prestigious than other forms of lives in this age of chaos! If this becomes a trend, then the soldiers shall soon become a whole bunch of arrogant arseholes looking down on all living things, just because of that metal stick being hung by their waist!" 

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Alexios bowed slightly more with no facial expression, knowing that these words are not for him, but for the commanders behind his back. The commanders acknowledge this as well and thus some who cannot take this immense pressure coming from their boss even kneeled and began shivering. 
The Caesar did not even bother looking at these people, he looked at Julian, the most respected commanding officer of the troops and lowered down his voice. "Remember, first of all there are no such things known as slaves here in our state unlike the Ottomans; We are here to liberate the people not to enslave them. And we are here to protect the civilians, not to push them to the frontline to get them slain. Thirdly there are no such thing known as believers and infidels here even in our camp, everyone should be treated equally. All of these form the backbone of the principle that is used to form our state which makes us stand out, these things added up together ensures the level of support we acquire from the mass population. We are not the not a bunch of pirates, we are not a barbarian invading the civilisation, and we are not the Ottoman slave masters." 
Still, no one dares to utter a word keeping their heads down, Antonius looked around and left the camp through the side entrance. A few minutes later a guard came in informing the commanders that Antonius has just asked them to go back to their respective unites, cleanse the mind of their troops, establish the demolition unit through a collaborated effort. If there is anyone that the soldiers want to blame, they can mention the Caesar's name. 
A new scheme is being created between the various commanders for a new demolition unit aimed to recruit among the artillery corps, with the vice commander of Fisnik called Maximos being appointed as the commander. They only managed to recruit a total of eighty people but according to Maximos, this number of men is already enough from performing the functionalities of the unit. 
No matter what the Ottomans successfully managed to delay the offensive of the Romans by at least three days, but Antonius cannot allow his army to sit here to suffer a blow from his foes without doing anything.. During the time when the demolition unit is training up on handling the explosives, Antonius rode out of his camp travelling north for one Roman mile away where the camp of infantries commanded by Julian seats in, he is being forced to take up an action to show to his enemies that they might have gotten lucky and achieve some progress, but in the end of the day they are still a bunch of weaklings against a mightier force.

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