Chapter 168: Let's Say

"Understands both your enemy and yourself, and you shall go into war with no fear of returning with a defeat."

- "Art of War" By Sun Tzu, chapter III 'Attack by Stratagem'

"What if, let's say, just if, I reject this…" Constantine stood up slowly from his throne, went down the stairs and took the scroll from the ambassador's hand. "This piece of indeed 'generous' proposal by your Grand Vizier? Did he ever say that anything will happen to my city and my people?"

The ambassador gulped and responded by reaching his hand for the part between his wrist where he would usually place his dagger. Only to realise that it has already been confiscated by the guard prior to entering the palace.

Constantine leapt a step backwards after noticing the ambassador's actions with the instinct of a Roman emperor, and then narrowed his eyes looking at the ambassador realising what was his intentions. The imperial guards surrounding the emperor ran forward in protection of Constantine pinning the three ambassadors to the ground holding them tight by their limbs. Though Constantine, pretending that nothing has happened, continued walking around reading that scroll by himself.

"Chritoupolis, Mosynopolis …. Nicomedia, Thessaloniki…. Mesembria… Very kind of your Grand Vizier to use these cities' old names to address them in this letter, to spark my feelings to this five cities to strike a deal?"

The ambassadors remained quiet with their eyes facing another direction of the emperor.

"Do you know, what is your Grand Vizier planning by creating this peace treaty with me?" The emperor asked walking briskly before the ambassador's face."

"Yes, your majesty." The ambassador replied difficultly with his face pinned hard onto the floor. "To establish a fair and equal relationship between the two countries, return peace and prosperity to the region which will in the end…"

"Your Grand Vizier… your Grand Vizier!" Constantine rose his voice stopping the ambassador. "Is a clever man, and he does everything with purpose. Think carefully, my dear ambassador, if he really wants to cede land to me, why don't he just cede the lands of Thessaly, or the lands of Thrace which is connected to my Despotate of Morea or the capital city of Constantinople?"

"Emperor!" The ambassador felt his scalp shivering from looking into the emperor's merciless pair of eyes. "It is only to repair the relationship between us two nations! If you are not satisfied with the ceding of land we can still discuss!"

Constantine shook his head. "There is no trust in your Grand Vizier's words, thus I do not find a need to continue it… Let me tell you the answer, he offered me Chritoupolis, Mosynopolis, Nicomedia Thessaloniki and Mesembria, only because the five cities are all in a distance far away from my government's sphere of control which means that if I want to pass any message, or send any troops to reinforce that city, it will take days… And that also means that if your Ottomans, your Grand Vizier Candarli Halil Pasha is out of his crisis now, he can immediately take what he has offered me today back, tell me, is this what he wants?"

By the time when Constantine finished his words, his face is almost only inches close with the Ottoman ambassador focusing his sight right on the pupils of the ambassador's eyes.

"Emperor!" The second ambassador responded. "We are just humble messengers who are here to pass a message! We know nothing of what our Sultan and his modest Viziers are thinking about!"

Constantine stood up leaving the bead ambassador alone gasping for air, and stared into the eyes of the ambassador who just spoke. "You are lying."

"…?"

"When people lies, their eyes rolls and keeps looking in different directions unable to look straight." Constantine sniggered walking to the second ambassador. "Remember it next time when you lie."

Constantine looks to the third Ottoman ambassador, who has been pinned there silent during the entire time, interest spurred in his mind and he walked to the ambassador asking. "What about you, the quiet one? What do you have to say?"

The third Ottoman ambassador squeezed his words biting his teeth in frustration. "We are faithful followers of the teachings of the Great Prophet, and proud warriors serving the Sultan baring the glorious banner of the white horse, if you want to kill us, do it now! We are not, and will be never, be afraid to die!"

"Who said I will kill you?" Constantine went back on his throne. "I will let you go back… We can still talk, guards, thank you I am safe, release them."

The guards released the three ambassadors.

"Tell your Grand Vizier, release his old friend Loukas Notaras first, then we can talk, before that, no way… Now you can go and remember to remind your Sultan to tell his father, that this is how civilised nations treat foreign guests, although they come not with cradles of sweets and blessing, but a scroll written with lies and intrigues! But we, as the origin of all civilised world in the West, will not kill you, remember that."

The three ambassadors bowed towards the emperor of Rumelian and went out of the palace without saying a word.

"Guards!" The emperor clapped summoning his guards. "Escort our honourable ambassadors out of the city! I don't want to hear the news that they are torn by angry Romans and in the end I get the blame of murdering foreign legates."

…

This is only a trivial but on the other hand a milestone in the diplomatic turmoil between the two centuries-old rivals. Only that the position of offender and defender has swiped the other way round, temporarily of course.

Mean while our Antonius is still in his naval base gulfing down a roasted chicken leg with Abdullah and Anjelo when he got startled by the news from Giovanni's hidden eyes in the palace about his appointment as a 'stratēgos' or 'governing general' of a piece of land that is not under Roman control.