Chapter 215: Seven Days Of Mourning
Caesar did not, during that day and night, simply stand futilely by the princess’s coffin praying and mourning for her as people thought; or rather, he did pray and mourn, but in a different way.
While he and Baldwin were still taking lessons in the tower of Holy Cross Castle, their teacher Heraclius had explained the Byzantine Empire’s theme system to them in exhaustive detail.
This system evolved from the professional army system of the Ancient Rome Empire—initially, the salaries of professional soldiers were borne by the nation or the emperor, and at first, this policy could be called effective; generals did not own the armies, they led soldiers into battle and had to return power upon triumphant return.
In return, the land, slaves, and money obtained after campaigning were distributed as spoils of war to the generals and every soldier; the emperor, senate, and priests and clerics in the City of Rome also benefited from it.
But this virtuous cycle was interrupted after the Ancient Rome Empire repeatedly expanded; the reason was that after occupying too vast a land, the emperor’s decrees could hardly reach places thousands of miles away in a timely manner, and news from remote areas likewise had severe delays.
This led to many messages arriving in Rome long outdated, plagues might have already subsided or worsened, riots might have been quelled or expanded, famines might have spread across several provinces or suddenly disappeared—but after delegating power to the governors of various provinces, the Roman emperor still faced a thorny problem: these provincial governors could easily act as emperors in their own provinces, so how could they willingly return to Rome to become senators or ministers at others’ mercy?
Not to mention, after the bloodline of Augustus was completely extinguished in the river of history, the position of Roman emperor became one for the virtuous or, say, for the wealthy; every ambitious person could scheme to touch that tantalizing throne.
Later Roman emperors, to resist these attacks that were hard to say were external or internal, had to strengthen their own armies, namely the Praetorian Guard. But if they spent all their money on the Praetorian Guard, the armies in remote areas would get no support from the emperor; no matter how loyal the soldiers, they needed to eat. When they received bread from their general rather than the emperor, you could not demand they remain loyal to the emperor.
The current Byzantine Empire faced the same problem.
Originally, after the split of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, the existing territory of the Byzantine Empire fully supported the title of heir to Ancient Rome. Even though the Western Roman Empire had been destroyed by barbarians, it was still surrounded by several kingdoms that, though not friendly, could be nominally placated; Byzantine emperors had always strived to be on good terms with them to make them buffers against the barbarian nations that destroyed Western Rome.
But such balance was ultimately broken; no one could deny that the visionary Emperor Justinian was a great monarch; during his reign, he successively subdued several surrounding nations, nearly making the Mediterranean Rome’s inland sea again. But likewise, the empire’s rapid expansion made this bloated large ship hard to navigate freely on the Anatolian Peninsula as before, so the theme system, replacing the provincial system, was born.
Soldiers were no longer professional soldiers; they were both soldiers and farmers, ruled by the theme’s governor; each theme received corresponding land, establishing the military colony system; these soldiers needed to pay land tax and poll tax to the nation but were exempt from public labor; in return, they had to fight for the empire.
The governors responsible for managing these soldiers received large amounts of land as their salary—anyway, the Byzantine emperors of that time had extremely vast new lands, though not much money—this indeed greatly reduced the empire’s fiscal expenditure.
But the Byzantine emperor should have realized that people hundreds of years ago were greedy, and so were people now; governors and generals would crave more money and power, meaning their swords might not always point at the enemy.
Moreover, the empire’s too rapid conquest momentum brought a new problem: the original buffer zones were gone, and their new neighbors would not negotiate or compromise with them, only launching swift attacks and plunders one after another; to maintain these hard-won territories and use them as stepping stones to reintegrate Eastern and Western Rome, the empire’s emperors had to repeatedly tilt policies toward these remote provinces, but this in turn caused the remote provincial governors to constantly grow stronger.
After growing strong, the glory and dark clouds of the Ancient Rome Empire seemed to cover this land again; they too challenged the position of the Byzantine Empire emperor.
Later generations often speak of Byzantine-style conspiracies, usually referring to those limitless political struggles willing to destroy everything. But at the beginning, the Byzantine Empire’s emperors were not like that; they might not all be Alexander or Justinian, but at least they were qualified monarchs.
As for why it became like this in the end, it was because they found they could no longer conquer those eager subjects and generals with personal military power and prestige; they had to use means they previously disdained, like sowing discord, intrigue and assassination, corrupting ethics…
Under the emperor’s incitement, relations between the governors of various provinces were not harmonious, or rather, they had no way to be harmonious.
If they wanted to maintain their current status or climb higher, there were only two ways: one was to expand outward, but not to mention whether the emperor allowed it, even if he did, this new territory might not belong to them; likewise, they had to bear the huge losses of war, while surrounding colleagues might take the opportunity to attack them.
It was also possible that, after losing sufficient threat, the Imperial Court in Constantinople would turn against him.
What left later generations dumbfounded was that in the Byzantine Empire, there were indeed cases of governors or generals, after failing in strife（whether on the battlefield or in politics）, having all power revoked, their property seized, and all offspring and relatives executed or exiled; even the soldiers who fought with them would be stripped of land ownership and become slaves.
Such a situation was embarrassing, after all, the theme system was initially praised and truly stabilized the empire’s foundation while defeating great enemies like Sasanian Persia precisely because generals and soldiers were protecting their own land; but now this land’s usage rights were proven revocable…
After a theme governor or general carefully calculated, he would find that if he monopolized all or most of the land in this theme, his wealth would reach a terrifying number; he did not need many soldiers, just farmers and craftsmen, and as long as he drew a portion from these taxes to hire Turks, Franks, or even Hungarians, it would be more cost-effective than leaving the land in soldiers’ hands.
Moreover, they could not bribe ministers in Constantinople with a soldier, but gold could.
So, the other way was much simpler: just buy land from soldiers—soldiers’ land was hereditary but allowed free trade. But this brought a familiar term—”land annexation”; after obtaining vast lands, these governors and generals did not, as people expected, fight barbarians, but instead turned their swords toward Constantinople…
Compared to the original virtuous cycle, this was undoubtedly a vicious cycle.
The emperor, at such an age, still decided on a personal expedition, yet after setbacks became disheartened and cowardly; perhaps for this reason, no one could confront powerful enemies while also guarding their vulnerable rear.
The Crusaders could mock the emperor’s cowardice and incompetence, but if they stood in his position, even comparable to Emperor Justinian back then, it would be hard to achieve much, unless he was willing to shed his layered robes and cloak, discard the crown, and appear on the battlefield as a soldier rather than emperor; only then could the Byzantine Empire’s glory possibly be salvaged somewhat.
Caesar did not know that three hundred years later, there was indeed a Byzantine emperor who heroically exercised this power.
His gaze fell on the list. The reason Cyprus’s theme governor always came and went in haste, and in recent years even some kept declining the position, was not without cause.
Cyprus became a trade and transshipment center in the eastern Mediterranean in the 10th century BC; in 708 BC the Assyrians conquered it, in 560 and 540 BC Egypt and Persia invaded successively, in 333 BC Alexander the Great of Macedon became its master, from 294 to 58 BC Cyprus belonged to Egypt, until 58 BC when it was incorporated into the Roman Empire…
After so many dynasties and monarchs, Cyprus had been mostly divided among various family powers…
Cyprus on one hand expected aid from the empire to help resist the Saracens from Egypt. But on the other hand, several great families and dozens of small families had operated on this island for centuries; if an external governor demanded they relinquish their land, they would absolutely refuse, and the taxes they paid were far insufficient to build a strong army.
Even toward the Grand Prince, they were not entirely convinced or submissive. The Grand Prince could get little from them; otherwise, he would not have used a box of fake Greek fire to swindle ten thousand gold coins from that Cypriot noble.
Kostas was pessimistic about this conspiracy from the start; even without Princess Anna’s marriage to Caesar bringing the Crusaders as her dowry, Cyprus would not have become the princess’s dowry drawing Crusaders; he did not believe that at the time when unity was most needed, these people tearing at each other like crabs in a basket could truly put the Grand Prince on the throne as Byzantine Emperor.
Therefore, when he decided to betray the others, he felt no burden; only he did not expect that to make Cyprus fully submit would take only three days.
This record made later generations think it impossible; even just galloping on horseback from Larnaca in Cyprus to the Kryzes Islands would take a full day and night, and the palaces and fortresses built by some families might not pale beside the emperor’s strongholds; some fortresses were even built on protruding sea cliffs, with advantages of high ground to repel enemies at the pass.
So, that famous ballad is called “Seven Days of Mourning,” not three days; when people speak of this pacification campaign, they instinctively include the four days at beginning and end.
But Caesar had made clear that the Cypriots he needed to deal with were not as many as people thought.
The families involved in the rebellion were mostly on Cyprus’s north side, facing the Byzantine Empire, Turks, and Armenians; they faced fewer attacks from Egypt’s Saracens, and the farther east side, due to the remote sea route and possible pincer attacks from Christian countries, Saracens rarely chose to land there.
The most dangerous were the several great families on the southwest side; they had long hoped for a strong-willed lord deeply favored by God to rule them; this young lord, setting aside else, at least had the King of Ayyarasa Road on his side, and as they saw, the Grand Masters of the other two great Knights were also favorable toward him.
His only shortcoming was lack of foundation, but sometimes lack of foundation was a good thing; the Crusaders could invest with their knights, and Cyprus’s nobles with their money. And those who came to Caesar and others before the wedding were precisely these nobles.
The families arriving successively afterward were mostly at Cyprus’s east end, and the families involved in this conspiracy or neutral（they might have just known but not reported）, some also came to submit to Caesar and atone. For them, Caesar’s attitude was firm: hand over the ringleaders, others would be exiled and driven out; their land, property, and homesteads would be confiscated, and if they had caravans or fleets, treated the same.
Though for them, this was little different from completely destroying their foundations on Cyprus, at least their lives were spared. If they and their offspring were content as ordinary merchants, it would not be too great a loss.
What troubled them was that Caesar requisitioned their armies, whether their own Family Disciples or hired soldiers. However, since they had decided to submit to Caesar, this was their due obligation—only it was quite amusing that when they reached the first palace, they found it already deserted; the people inside had not submitted to Caesar but also had no intent to fight him; they had fled, leaving only some servants and slaves.
They stared dumbfounded at the people rushing in with torches; some even greeted them joyfully. God knows they had been very close before, their servants naturally knew each other, including quite a few men and women with fleeting romances.
Such a situation relieved those people; if possible, they did not want to fight fellow Cypriots, possibly even friends and in-laws; but such hopes shattered instantly when Caesar ordered them to hurry to another place.
This fortress’s master was extremely stubborn, also the most radical in this small conspiracy group; he showed no intent to yield or evade; when the army reached his fortress, over the towering walls and dense trees, one could see the sea-facing terrace lit brightly, with people singing and dancing.
Unfortunately, his loyalty to the Byzantine Empire, or regard for his status, could not reinforce the walls or add defenders; the garrison of Family Disciples and mercenaries was no match, especially the hired ones, who very straightforwardly surrendered before the Crusaders’ swords; they even turned to assault their employers, killing their men and women, looting their rooms clean, then fleeing swiftly.
In the end, this poor fellow could only set a fire on the terrace, burning himself, his family, and the palace to ashes; the scene of people dancing and wailing in the flames would move anyone.
One Cypriot noble even fell from his horse; he staggered toward Caesar, knelt at his feet, clutched his stirrup, as if begging something. But he only saw this handsome young lord, kissed by the moon goddess, lean down and say to him, “Get back on your horse quickly; we have many places to go.”
Two of his family disciples rushed over directly, pulled him to the horse, and pushed him onto it.
They had already witnessed one family’s destruction and really did not want their own family to suffer the same disaster.
They successively destroyed several places; Caesar assessed and weighed these nobles’ military strength; he already knew their conspiracy and of course knew the Grand Prince had once planned, after sabotaging this marriage, to detain the King of Ayyarasa Road and Patriarch on pretext of expelling outsiders, and blackmail the Crusaders for ransom.
Could this plan succeed?
It indeed could, if these Cypriots could truly unite.
Compared to the Cypriots’ bereavement, the Crusaders were jubilant; they had not vented so freely in a long time; repeated defeats on the Syria and Egypt fronts in recent years had indeed dented their morale.
To follow Cyprus’s new lord in exterminating these heretics, even without the rich returns Caesar promised, they were quite willing. Some Crusader knights even said somewhat dissatisfiedly that fighting Saracens was like lions against wolves, while these Cypriots were adept at intrigue but even worse at war than horned goats.
But these arrogant fellows soon encountered the greatest obstacle in Cyprus.
It was not a palace or fortress, but a true castle belonging to Pendaya, facing Morphou Bay, a port city.
Of course, Cyprus abounds in port cities, but due to Morphou Bay’s indentation at Pendaya, many ships sheltered here from storms, loaded goods; their family leveraged this natural geographic advantage to amass vast wealth, which they did not shortsightedly squander on pleasure but farsightedly used to build this grand castle.
This castle, as said before, stood on a sea cliff; the path to the interior was only one and very steep; they did not spare soldiers to guard it but blocked the only city gate with bricks and stones, intending to hold out here; like Constantinople, one favorable condition for the garrison was they too could receive support from the sea surface, whether soldiers or grain.
“We can use those Cypriots’ ships to intercept their provisions.” Templar Knight Walter said, his fingers fidgeting nonstop, clearly excited, “We can surround them; even if they stockpiled enough grain, how long could they hold? Two months? Or three?”
“But I don’t want to wait that long.” Caesar said; after raiding so many places continuously, he was covered in dust; this aura and color were what Walter knew and liked most, but now he did not dare approach Caesar easily; he always felt this young man was like a freshly sharpened sharp sword, touching it would flay skin and split flesh.
Leave these for those Cypriot rebels to enjoy; better stay far away.
“Then I’ll have people bring up the siege engines.” Walter said; he vaguely saw people moving on the city wall; though they would not come out to fight, if siege engines were brought under the wall, they would definitely counterattack.
“Send the Cypriots first.” Walter planned well, but Caesar just shook his head, “No need for that.”
He first sent an envoy demanding the castle’s surrender; the people inside responded—with stone blocks and crossbow bolts. Fortunately, this envoy had received Caesar’s protection before and kept a safe distance; when galloping back, though hit by several bolts and injured, his life was not in danger.
“Looks like they’ve set their hearts on opposing you.” Walter incited maliciously.
Then he saw Caesar order soldiers to bring out a siege engine—the “turtle” we know; you can think of it as a four-wheeled cart with a roof but no bottom, covered above with thick cowhide to resist rolling logs, stone blocks, boiling water, and flames from above; below usually hides a battering ram, pushed on both sides by laborers.
Though this narrow road was hard to traverse, some places even laborers shouldered it up; the castle kept hurling stone blocks and crossbow bolts, but it indeed arrived intact before the city gate. Walter, as an experienced old knight, soon noticed this “turtle” hid not a heavy battering ram below, “What’s that?”
Caesar turned his head to him; under the bright moonlight, he saw a serene face, so close there was no buffer time, like being struck by a battering ram.
And in the next moment, his mind could hold nothing else, because he had seen it—flames jetting from under that “turtle.”
Emperor Alexios I had once installed Greek fire equipment on ships; to make enemies more fearful, he specially had craftsmen make hollow bronze beast statues, letting flames spout from their mouths, looking like devils from hell fighting for him; wherever the flames reached, all was devastation, everyone fled in terror.
Such a scene reappeared now; though without lion or tiger statues, the flames from the flamethrower mouth were visible to all, so bright and so scorching. It was like God’s fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, the instant brightness even lighting the entire city wall like daylight.
The Cypriots on the city wall recognized this flame even before the Crusaders; they let out desperate shouts, running back and forth on the wall; they watched the sturdy thick oak city gate turn to charred charcoal in the flames, metal parts twisting and deforming in the intense heat, the bricks and stones piled behind the gate cracking crisply under the blaze, “No! Impossible!”
The Cypriots witnessing all this wailed in despair, “How is it possible! How!”
This was Greek fire, Greek fire! Even on Byzantium’s sea ships or armies, Greek fire was rarely seen now!
The research and production of Greek fire were conducted deep in the palace, strictly controlled by the Galenos family under imperial orders, controlling the entire operation—if leaked, even the finished product, buyer and seller should suffer twelve tortures before execution; the best outcome for those involved was lifelong imprisonment.
Even the noblest Alexios only produced a box of fakes to swindle money…
Walter beside Caesar was stunned: “God!” He could not help crossing himself on his chest, looking reverently at Caesar: “Is a face really that useful?”
