1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 373: Chose Not To Do Anything

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"Locking spear by spear, shield against shield at the base, so buckler leaned on buckler, helmet on helmet, man against man."

-        Homer, Lliad

So, what happened to our Mahumad Pasha Angelovic? Is he really capture or killed by the Romans, or according to some rumours spread around by Mauro's loud speakers, willingly surrendered to the vicious assault company by Giovanni?

Of course no, if Mahumad Pasha Angelovic is a man that can be killed or taken captive so easily, he would not have been hand picked by the previous Sultan Murad II from a bunch of junior officers as his personnel guard in the first place. What really happened back then was that, when Mahumad saw the flag coming down, he could care no more about the approaching threat from the front and ordered everyone to go and support that flag before it falls. But it was only then did he find out that his guards have all been sent away by him to contact the other commanders, or used to blockade the Romans twenty meters away, with only a bunch of signallers and archers around him.

Thus, with no further choice available Mahumad Pasha Angelovic had to jump down the mount and attempt to support the flag himself. But it seems like God has decided to play a joke upon him today. as it is already in the heat of the battle, the half frozen Earth beneath them is already sipped with hot blood, and together with the countless boots stepping around it made the entire terrain muddy like a swamp. When Mahumad Pasha jumped down his horse expecting himself to land perfectly as always, his right boot gave him a surprise by slipping making the burly Ottoman commander fall down right in to the dirt mixed with bloody mud.

The people in the surrounding is appalled to see their respected commander in such an preposterous position, laying down on the ground with his shiny armour covered in mud, his left foot still stuck in his stirrup, with both of his hands pointing upwards as if he is going to surrender. Because Manumad Pasha is donned in a full set of traditional Eastern Krug armour, the fall gave him an unimaginable amount of impact that he has never tasted before in his military career. In fact he did not even realise that he just had a pretty bad fall in the first place, being filled with questions and doubts on why is he laying on the ground facing the night sky.

After he has realised what has just happened, the poor Mahumad Pasha tried his best to get up, using his full body's might with his cheeks flushing red. But still no one dared to come over and help him get up, except for one guy, whom Mahumad Pasha wanted to have his head for his stupidity rather than helping him for the noble act, because this guy is the signaller that is in charge of flying the Sultan's royal flag. The man let go of his flag leaving it to one of his pal in charge of the Ottoman ceremonial colours and went forward supporting his commander up.

The ill fated pal could not hold two ponderous flags at once with his arms of course, and eventually combined with the scare of the still advancing Romans, he too dropped the flag and caused a chain of serious consequences. The commander Mahumad Pasha' personnel guards returned seeing the flags dropping, with the Rumelian's Basinet helmets only a mere ten meters away. Being the commander's personnel guards their top priority is to make sure that their commander is safe and sound, if their commander gets slain they too shall be forced in to hiding, exile or executed.

Despite their pasha's continuous protests and commands, the guards hugged their pasha up and made a run towards the back which is relatively safer, at least away from the battle field. The second to run is that signaller who dropped the Sultan's imperial flag for what ever absurd reasons. The others, seeing that both their commander and the representative of the Sultan has ran for their lives, started questioning the reason why are they still standing here and fight. With now the only thing refraining them from succumbing is the discipline enforced in to them with the usual hard trainings.

If Mahumad Pasha comes back now and show to his troops that he is perfectly fine, the dire situation can still be reversed and with enough man power to last for a long night, the Ottomans would probably still endure through the waves after waves of Rumelian drilling, and end this battle with a draw. However, when Mahumad Pasha is faced with this option, he hesitated.

From the hill Mahumad Pasha is finally let free by his loyal sub coordinates. He did not bother scolding them first for misleading the entire situation of the battle, but hastily climbed on to a stool observing the sceneries beneath him. The Romans have drilled in to their central formation way too far, and is now trying to draw back their spear head to avoid a devastation and encirclement. The right flank is showing signs of collapse, the left flank is still doing fine but looks like it is going to submit once the Rumelians are going to be done with the other two sides.

"I am going back." Mahumad Pasha ordered to his loyal body guards as he dug for some thing inside the pouch by his side. "Here, take this seal with you It should at least worth some money, and there is still some wealth in my manor outside Edirne. These are all what I have for you, I am sorry for your long term of serve. Now, run if you wish, may we meet again after we part away today."

Then Mahumad Pasha trudged down the hill with a great difficulty, but it seems like his guards had some different ideas rather than simply running away. They stepped forward, blocking their pahsa in the path and kneeled down, the leader of these guards, a young man brought by Mahumad Pasha Angelovic from Serbia explained himself in an urging way. "Please! Your highness! Do not go back! That place is way too dangerous for a renowned noble. Please, we can be the signallers and you can command your troops here! From this spot! It would make no difference, because even if you are down there you are not able to do any thing to divert the situation!"

Mahumad Pasha Angelovic is enraged by the words of this man whom he has educated, promoted and worked with so many years, but feeling that they are stopping him for his personnel well being he still kept his patience and explained. "I know that you people are worried about my life, but hey, look down there beneath you. There are thousands of our brothers on the edge of dying! You know how absurd it is for me to send my orders here! Have you heard of a battle, won by a general who is not in the front line with the soldiers, but instead sitting in a far away corner, maybe drinking wine secretly in the head quarters of the capital city? Have you heard of it?"

The guards replied with nothing but silence, which is in a way expressing their firm attitude towards this matter. Mahumad Pasha Angelovic tried to bypass these faces who are already turning unfamiliar to him, but his legs are being hugged by one of the guard refusing to let him go even one step further ahead. The pasha, completely shocked, totally lost himself as he shouted and stepped on the hand palm of the guard. "Let me be! Leave me! I have an army to save! Leave me be!"

"Wake up! Honourable Pasha!" However, this time, the leader of the guards bellowed covering the voice of his commander. "Please forgive us! You know that since the days of Sultan Murad, if any guards left his pasha to be killed, he shall be persecuted in the cruelest method too! Alongside with our families! If they just persecute me, I am fine, I know I deserve it But our families! Our wives! Our children! They are still in Edirne! And besides wake up! Honourable Pasha, this battle have been lost the moment those Rumelians pushed to your faces! There are no more hopes left!"

Mahumad Pasha Angelovic turned abruptly to stare in to the eyes of this guard for a brief while, and the later stared back with a composition of emotions in his eyes. Then the pasha backed down, realising that he shall not get the chance to go one step further and sat back down on the hill, looking at how his troops crumble beneath his feet. Yes, the leader of his guards is indeed correct, there are already no hope of winning this battle the moment when his commanding flag came down, while there were so many ways to avoid it, but he chose to not do anything.