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Anno Domini, 831-October-15
We had managed to repel the attack of our enemies, although the casualties in this camp were catastrophic. We had thousands of wounded and hundreds of dead throughout the battle, so we needed to move the wounded to a safe area so they could be treated.
As I watched the sarakenoi return to their positions, I saw how our defenses had almost been broken, although we had managed to defend the kastro well.
The attack in the east had ended relatively quickly once my tagmata of Varangians had crashed into the sarakenoi. Apparently, they had tried to commit my best troops to a fight in order to draw them away from the real attack.
It scared me somewhat that they had such good coordination with the defenders of the city, and I could not imagine where they were moving to transmit information and coordinate in such a way as to achieve those attacks.
We had checked everything, even the sewers, but it seemed they were using something to transmit messages.
''That was close'' I said, sighing as I watched the wounded being carried away and the dead being gathered.
''Be careful with our brothers'' said one of my hird, pointing to the dead Varangians who were being carried to the pile of corpses.
''True. Separate the Varangians. They have a different burial ritual. Prepare wood and gather oil to preserve the dead and send them back to their homes'' I said, covering my face with my gauntlet while calming my breathing.
I was quite shaken by everything, especially by the force of the attack that had almost broken the encirclement we had worked so hard to create.
But, luckily, an attack had been directed at al-Fusṭāṭ. If the city fell, everything would have ended and, although we would have suffered many casualties, we would have avoided a great battle that would leave even more dead.
I remained seated on the top of the walls of the kastro, watching smoke rise from the city and waiting for news, since many defenders had died in the area between our camps and the city.
In addition, I sent some scouts to check whether the sarakenoi were preparing for another attack, in case they still thought the city was resisting.
Long minutes passed while I relaxed and placed a wet cloth over my head, since, with all the pressure, I had been left quite nervous.
But finally, a messenger appeared bringing the news of our assault on the city.
''My strategos'' said the messenger, lowering his head.
''Report'' I said while soaking the cloth with water to keep cooling myself.
''The attack on the city of al-Fusṭāṭ… has failed'' said the messenger, closing his eyes tightly as he said those words.
''WHAT? How is an attack on a city that deployed all its defenders supposed to fail?'' I said, opening my eyes at the news.
''The tourmarches who carried out the attack did not give me much information, but a kentarchos claims that the troops had begun to loot the city when the defenders carried out a counterattack together with the men who had returned from the sortie, managing to kill many men and drive them out of the city while the troops fled trying to save their loot'' said the messenger, who was extremely nervous and stammering as he gave me the message.
''How? They lost control because of looting?'' I said, walking as I covered my face with my gauntlets.
''They had one damn job. Take an almost empty city, not loot it. How can they be so useless?'' I said through my teeth, while kicking tables and chairs as my men remained silent.
''Everything had to end now… We should be celebrating… But because of those…'' I said, clenching my fist as hard as I could.
''DECIMATIO!!!… DECIMATIO!!!'' I said, thinking of a massive punishment for the troops that had failed the easiest mission of their lives.
As I said those words, I saw the messenger's eyes open completely and watched him swallow.
I noticed that all my officers had trembling lips and were licking them, trying to gather the courage to say something to me.
''What is decimatio? And why does it frighten the Romans so much?'' asked one of my hird while cleaning his cuirass of blood that was already dry.
''A punishment. One out of every ten must die by lot…'' I said while thinking about the process.
''A harsh punishment, but I suppose they will never forget it'' said the hird, shrugging.
''It makes no sense... Decimatio worked because those they killed were brothers of the camp. It could work with you, who live and eat together, but most of them, at most, live in groups of three or four in their tents. It does not fulfill the purpose… Besides, the Strategikon… does not recommend it'' I said as I began thinking about the result the action would have.
''And if you take away their loot? That is never forgotten. They must have many thrall and livestock for their farms. Taking that from them would hurt like losing a child'' replied another hird, who sat near me.
''We will do… that'' I said while thinking. ''The entire northeastern camp is barred from the distribution of loot. No one has the right to take anything. From the lowest soldier to the highest-ranking officer, all are forbidden from taking their share of the loot'' I said, turning and speaking in Greek to the messenger.
Finally, I heard a collective sigh among all my officers and soldiers who were listening to me.
As I was calming myself, one of the riders I had sent south returned.
''The sarakenoi are coming back. They have reorganized. It seems they are going to press again through the same sectors'' said the scout.
''Nothing is easy, is it?'' I said, clenching my teeth before the day had even ended, and we still had to fight.
I stood up and prepared myself, trying to coordinate the reinforcements. Of the five camps, three had suffered severe casualties from everything. At least I still had the northeastern camp intact, although there was a strong possibility that an attack would be made there because of the proximity of the mountains.
So once again, we tried to prepare ourselves for the attack. Without the possibility of repairing the defenses or emptying the ditches, we began preparing to defend the points of impact where numbers did not matter.
''Basil, a large number of sarakenoi has gathered in the east, but I think they are the turk. It is a large, well-armed and well-trained army. We may not hold'' said one of my Varangian riders, who had returned to inform me of what was happening in the camp where Sigurd was.
''It must be the caliph's personal retinue. He is there. Have him buy time. We do not have many reserves to send. If we weaken the remaining camps, a new sortie may affect the defense of the area'' I said, clenching my teeth at the situation.
''I will inform Sigurd of your orders'' said the Varangian, returning to his horse and beginning to gallop back to the camp.
Without giving us much time to repair the damage they had done to us, and with the fortifications somewhat destroyed, the waves of sarakenoi did not take long to arrive. This time, it was not simply a plethora of soldiers, but many well-armed troops.
They began to charge without hesitation through the fortifications that had been penetrated earlier, using the earthen paths they had filled in to quickly reach the gates of the kastro.
Seeing how little feasibility there was in going out to defend, we left everything inside the camp, preparing it all. In the same way, I ordered messengers to request reinforcements from the northeastern camp so they could support Sigurd, sending several thousand, since although I trusted that my tagmata could hold against the caliph's best, I did not trust the themata around them much, no matter how veteran the themata of that camp were.
The battle began when crossbowmen and archers started unloading their killing tools, as did the scorpions, which sometimes pierced two or three men with the same bolt if the siege engineers managed to aim with enough skill.
The sarakenoi began filling the last ditch, bringing all the earth they could from several areas and, in a matter of minutes, while arrows and bolts continued raining down, they had completely filled it. Then they brought the battering ram and began striking the gate.
My men positioned themselves at the gate, blocking the sarakenoi attempt to enter. Every time they struck the gate with the ram, some of my men were pushed back by the force of the impact, while they once again tried to use their bodies to block the passage.
The rumbling of the ram continued while my troops crowded at the gate, which would not take long to break, since it was beginning to splinter and bend under the pounding it was suffering.
The bodies of the sarakenoi continued to pile up, falling into the ditch outside the kastro, until finally the gate gave way and opened.
The sarakenoi threw the ram into the ditch, drew their weapons and hurled themselves against the line of soldiers in front of them, a mixture of Varangians and themata soldiers who presented their weapons at the ready.
The men in the surroundings began throwing large stones, splitting heads, injuring men or outright opening skulls.
Small mounds of dead began to form in front of our formation, but slowly, they forced their way into the camp. Even so, it seemed that even more troops were still entering.
Noticing what was happening, I decided to send more messengers so the western camp would abandon its position and bring everything it had with it, since it seemed they were going to break us.
Slowly, the sarakenoi pushed us back, paying a high price in dead, but managing to make us retreat while more and more of them entered the camp, to the point that fighting had begun in the area of the tents.
While the battle continued to be bloody, filled with clashes of metal, screams and blood, where the fate of the battle seemed to shift with each push, I noticed that a large contingent of cavalry was approaching from the rear.
''Sarakenoi reinforcements'' I said, pressing my lips together when I saw a great cloud of dust approaching, but then I noticed that the force split in two.
A large group came toward us and dismounted. When I was able to see them more closely, I noticed that it was my Varangian tagmata.
''What the hell? What are my Varangians doing here?'' I said, looking from the tower as I watched the fighting of my hird against the sarakenoi who were trying to take control of the walls.
The Varangians began moving through the paths and, in a matter of minutes, crashed into the sarakenoi rear. It did not take long before the shouts of the sarakenoi officers could be heard, warning their men.
And, having to begin fighting between two flanks, the battle quickly evolved into a massacre, since the Varangians were not enough to block all the sarakenoi, so they left a possible escape route through which everyone tried to move.
Quickly, the battle began to end, with everyone running and shouting while my men pursued them.
But, amid all that, I quickly went down to try to speak with one of the Varangians and find out what had happened and why they were here.
''Sigurd'' I said, looking at the tall Varangian covered in steel, who was somewhat battered.
''What is it, Basil? A good victory, from what I can see'' said Sigurd, lifting the visor of his helmet.
''What happened? Why are you here? Were the caliph's troops not with you? Or did you defeat them that easily?'' I asked, very interested in knowing what had happened.
''The fight went well at first. We clashed, fought and split about eight of them before they simply stopped fighting. They stayed there looking at us for a long time and then left'' said Sigurd, tilting his head as he said that.
''What do you mean they simply left? They were the troops that worried us the most'' I said, surprised while narrowing one eye.
''Well, that is what happened. We just stood there staring at each other and they left. That said, I sent scouts to see if it was a trap or something like that, but it seems they abandoned everything. There were two camps, one in the hills and another on the Nile. The camp in the hills was completely abandoned and they had withdrawn in an orderly way. The other one is being looted as we speak'' said Sigurd, crossing his arms after speaking and licking a bloody lip he had.
''I do not know how to take this news… It is strange. If they had broken us, the whole siege would have gone to waste and it would probably have taken us longer to win, or we would have had to retreat to the delta… Well, I am not going to complain about being given a victory'' I said, shaking my head.
''Well, al-Fusṭāṭ still remains, so there is still fighting. Let us go fight, the day is still young'' said Sigurd, walking toward the kastro, since he wanted to launch the assault on the city.
The retreat of the caliph's troops left me puzzled, but I sent scouts anyway, and the Slavs on horseback to help capture and pursue the sarakenoi.
At the same time, we launched a total assault from all directions against the city, and this time the objective of taking it and beginning the sack was achieved.
By the end of the day, we had so many prisoners that they would probably flood the Roman markets with everything captured between the prisoners of war, the city and the camps, since the southern sarakenoi camp had an enormous retinue.
The heart of Aegyptus had fallen, and all that remained was to take what was left, as well as search for the sarakenoi troops that had withdrawn.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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