POV of Andronikos
Anno Domini, 831-January-15
"Generations have passed since a Roman last set foot upon these lands, not as a raiding force seeking to burn the coasts of the sarakenoi, but as masters of the place." I said while riding my horse and moving through the area.
"Tourmarches, do you believe that this time the province of Aegyptus will truly return to the fold?" one of the kentarchoi following me on foot asked while carrying his spear upon his shoulder.
"Normally I would not claim such a thing with certainty, but you must understand that the basileus Rhomaion has decided to place all the eggs in the same basket. We are speaking of what may very well be the largest army the Empire has gathered in centuries, all for the purpose of bringing this lost province back under the rule of our basileus, in addition to sending one of his most experienced strategoi in fighting the sarakenoi both at sea and on land. So this is a campaign that may finally restore the borders of Justinian." I said while my horse continued along the road and I observed the landscape.
"And it can already be seen since we arrived. There have barely been any problems. The voyage by sea was calm and within only days we left Palestina and anchored at the Egyptian harbor where we had to do little more than kill the sarakenoi and chain those who still resisted." another kentarchos at my side said while directing his men.
"Exactly. It seems the main force of these sarakenoi was fighting over who would control their holiest place, so you can imagine that there is barely any resistance here. Only the fertile lands of the Nile. One only has to look at those immense fertile fields to which the river gives life and which will soon once again feed the Romans with all the grain that shall be planted." I said contentedly while unable to keep myself from smiling at such fortune.
As we continued marching while fulfilling the orders to secure every settlement along the Nile one of my riders returned galloping quickly along the road beside the river.
"Tourmarches, we scouted the area and found another settlement. It appears larger than the others and we noticed a religious building of the sarakenoi so it is possible there will be greater resistance than usual." the rider said while pointing in the direction from which he had come.
"Well, it seems we have more work ahead of us. Prepare your men. I want them moving properly and in order just as we have trained. We cannot repeat the same flanking mistakes from the last battle because if it had not been for the cavalry accompanying us the defenders would have escaped." I said while making a gesture with my hand for my officers to begin issuing their commands and distributing their men.
"At your orders, tourmarches." the drungarioi and kentarchoi replied while dividing into their groups. We broke the marching lines and began extending the formation in order to surround the village before entering it.
In this way we continued our movements, sending additional scouts ahead first because we needed to know what the local defenders were doing in case they decided to evacuate. Although with a mosque within the village it had to be a relatively important center so it was not going to be easy and clearly I would not be lenient regarding whatever mistakes we committed.
We continued onward beneath the moderately temperate and cool climate of the region while maintaining the marching pace until after some time we finally began seeing the buildings in the distance.
"Christophoros, move toward the right. Flank them. The moment you see an entrance wide enough for the men of a kentarchos, force your way in, but keep one kentarchos marching so he can close the encirclement." I said to one of my drungarioi who nodded his head.
"Stephanos, the same, but move left. Focus mainly on surrounding them since most of the buildings are in that direction and we do not want the enemy forces escaping and beginning to regroup into a stronger defense." I said to another of my drungarioi who quickly moved out with his men.
My men formed lines where several hundred soldiers of the themata organized themselves and, forming a battle line, we began marching toward the village while noticing heavy movement inside as my forces began surrounding it.
Without wasting a single moment we continued the advance, pushing slowly toward the village while our shields remained raised overhead. I tried to remain attentive to any change that might occur upon the battlefield.
Upon hearing shouting inside the village I realized the men of Christophoros must have already entered, so we finally advanced and began moving into the settlement where there was little or no resistance before us.
As I observed the village I could see several warriors armed with spears moving through the streets. For a moment they attempted to form a shield wall, but they quickly noticed the overwhelming numerical difference and began retreating deeper into the village while my men maintained formation.
"Hey! What did I say? No looting until the fighting is over!" I shouted at the top of my lungs when I saw several soldiers already entering houses trying to steal whatever they could.
"You heard the tourmarches. Back into the lines immediately or we whip you for insubordination!" shouted one of the kentarchoi who quickly stepped out of formation to search for the soldiers who had broken ranks.
It did not take long before we began seeing the sarakenoi fall as our toxotai pierced them like birds and the metallic smell of blood began filling the air.
While looking in every direction I continued hearing the screams of the people inhabiting this village while trying to remain alert to everything around me.
The deeper we advanced into the settlement the more defenders we encountered whom our toxotai immediately began harassing, although the sarakenoi soon began retreating at a run toward the building the scouts had pointed out to me.
The mosque. It seemed we were fortunate since this place was not fortified like some of the buildings that could be found in other regions. The mosque had no walls and was simply a building with a wide entrance. The defenders shut the wooden doors and tried to protect everyone running toward its shelter while we began linking up with the rest of our men.
"Any trouble on your side, Stephanos?" I asked my drungarios who appeared moving on foot with his men through the streets and seemed to have blood stains across his armor.
"A bit of fighting against some defenders armed with farming tools, but nothing more." Stephanos replied while pointing his sword toward the mosque we had to attack.
"Surround it. It may have more entrances. That way we can divide their attention." I said while pointing toward the building.
Stephanos nodded and, gathering the attention of his men, they quickly began moving through the area, circling the target building through the nearby street.
Meanwhile my men and I remained watching the front while dealing with soldiers who kept getting distracted trying to stuff things into their pockets since we were attacking through the market district.
Then Christophoros appeared.
"We encountered strong organized resistance where we entered. It seems they tried to flee." Christophoros said while appearing covered in blood just like many of his men.
"Did you make sure they were sarakenoi and not Christians? We cannot simply kill our brothers in faith." I asked while observing the rest of his men arriving.
"I did what I could to ask, but I do not speak their language. I showed them the cross but they did not seem to react, so I simply put those who were armed to the knife and we have the rest detained so chains can be placed on them." Christophoros replied while dragging his glove across his nose.
"God will know His own." I said before looking back toward the mosque and watching our forces completely surround it.
Without another thought we began putting pressure upon the doors of the building while bringing axes to break them down. The moment holes large enough appeared the skoutatoi began impaling the defenders by thrusting their spears through the openings. We heard many cries of agony as this continued until the mosque doors finally gave way after being smashed apart while another group entered through a second entrance we had found.
Slowly, pushing forward with the skoutatoi, we eliminated every defender we could find while leaving the path littered with the bodies of sarakenoi who wore little armor.
After a hard fight and dragging the remaining sarakenoi from their hiding places to be taken back toward the coast we began securing the area and looting the buildings that appeared to belong to the sarakenoi.
I did everything possible to keep the looting organized, but the village was so large that soldiers still disappeared from time to time. Even so the looting remained orderly and we took control of the city's granaries which were filled with wheat along with the commercial warehouses which were secured so they could later be distributed as spoils once all of this ended.
It was already growing late and since I did not want to risk being stranded in the middle of nowhere during the night I decided we would camp here. We occupied the empty buildings and raised tents throughout the market district so we could rest while fires were lit and the prisoners were sent toward the coast to be transported away and help finance the invasion because none of this was cheap.
We slaughtered some of the animals we had seized and began to eat.
This campaign, although it filled me with excitement, also left me completely nervous because truthfully I did not know whether I was prepared for the rank my father had secured for me through so many political favors he had collected.
I was very young to possess such a high military rank. The opportunity had only appeared because the basileus Rhomaion was carrying out a massive expansion of commands in order to send the army that would support the strategos and his foederati host.
Before this I had been nothing more than a kentarchos tasked with guarding roads and occasionally crushing some bandits. But there was an enormous difference between that and serving as one of the leading attack vanguards and it left me deeply nervous because I did not want to commit a mistake that would cost everything my father had invested.
Fortunately I had the drungarioi who had once been promoted kentarchoi and were veterans who could be trusted, but most of the troops under my command were themata soldiers just like me who possessed little experience in missions like these.
The themata forces had been recruited as always, but many belonged to the new contracts. Many were city folk who had accepted army contracts to settle regions requiring additional troops such as Paphlagonia which had sent urban troops to populate the countryside.
My father had invested everything we possessed. He was not a particularly wealthy aristocrat, but he spent all of it on a fine horse, good armor and a good sword so I could establish myself as a tourmarches by taking advantage of the military vacuum among those who had volunteered to march against the sarakenoi.
So while warming my hands by the fire I began eating a piece of chicken while organizing the night guards and preparing for sleep before continuing the next day with the march to further secure control over the Nile Delta.
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