1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 379: The Sudden Ambassador

"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons."

-        Book of Genesis, King James Ver.

Constantine covered his face hiding his emotions, feeling like he want to cry as he peeks at Mauro seating before him, who is seating in a posture like a boss, with his hand supporting against his knee forming an arch shape. Beneath him stands the Ottoman ambassador, a warrior like character too with a messy moustache and a broad shoulder. His weapons have already been confiscated, with nothing hanging by his sides, and now he has an appeasing smile towards the two men above him.

"May I, a humble servant of my Sultan Beyezid II, introduce my miserable name, Ayaz Ahmed Pasha. I now hereby send the greetings on behalf of my Sultan to the Autocrat and Imperator of All Rume Romans, the Revivor of the Imperium Romanus, Protector of the Holy Sepulchre, Hagia Sophia and Mount Athos, ruler of all civilisations, king of the kings, representative of God himself walking among the living, may Allah bless you, may the grass you venture be always green, may the water you drink be always pure, may your army be forever victorious." 

"If my army is forever victorious then you won't be speaking with me here now, respected ambassador." The emperor made a small joke with the ambassador named Ayaz Ahmed Pasha. The later made another cough, making Mauro suspect that he is sick. The ambassador soon recovered himself bowing down again, and elaborated on his purpose of visit. "I am here under the request of an alliance within the Sultanate, led by none other than the governor of the Bulgarians Abbas Pasha.

"An alliance? With Abbas Pasha? How should I believe you?" Constantine lifted his eye brow up hearing the name, he remembers the governor of Ottoman Bulgaria, because this man was the one who foiled his antenna stretching in to Bulgaria a year ago, making him lose four hundred valuable combatants forever. He even had to bargain a price and repurchase fifty men who was taken as slaves after their defeat. 

"Of course, I know that your majesty does not have faith in us, for our long past of hostile relationships. But your majesty, there is an old proverb from the east saying that 'An enemy's enemy makes a trustworthy friend'. We have a common foe, a common target, and I believe that is what bounds us together We can corporate, your majesty, just like last time how our ancestors worked together restoring peace and prosperity to this region." 

"The Sultan's father and I used to be good friends and partners." Constantine now began saying things that even he does not believe. "And now, as an adult and senior, I cannot take this advantage of internal dispute within the Sultan's government and bully the child Sultan and his mother. I am a Roman, Ayaz Ahmad Pasha, I shall not oppress a woman and a child in their difficult times The only reason why we marched on to the Ottoman territory, is merely because your governor of the east Mahumad Pasha Angelovic, once I settle my disputes with him, I shall immediately order my army to stop and stop advancing further to disturb the peace of the Sultan."

"Indeed." Mauro seems to have gotten what the emperor is trying to say, double standard, he is exquisitely familiar in this art of words since the day when he was a pirate roaming around pranking passers by with hoaxes and lies either for fun or money, he slapped his thigh, stared at the man before him with his bull's eyes and moustache trembling, and roared. "We are honourable knight Equites that work on a codex of chivalry. We never go around harassing a lady and a kid taking advantage of their difficulties, instead we help them Now if you are still trying to annoy us with this immoral piece of shite, then I would warn you to better bugger off!"

The Ottoman ambassador immediately lowered his head with both his hands before his chest, reassuring his humble social statues before these two men. "No, no, no your majesty, your excellency, I am not asking you to go against your codex of Chivalry and harass the Sultan Dowager and the Sultan, wish Allah bless his holy name. We are actually here to help them! You see, your majesty. There have been some problems going on within the Sultan's court. We have every reason to believe that the Sultan, together with the Sultan Dowager, have been stripped of their legitimate power, the recent orders and policies coming from Edirne are definitely not approved by the Sultan."

"You mean" The emperor, who is a master in intrigues and plots, understood what this ambassador is trying to tell him. 

"Yes, your majesty. There is some one who have been in the government all the well, through some dirty intrigues, stole the power from the Sultan, making him a puppet, there are evidence showing that Mahumad Pasha Angelovic is one of these bastards. Thus I must tell you, your majesty, that by advancing on to Edirne you are actually not being a threat to the Sultan, and we can work together temporarily to break in to Edirne, arrest that culprit who have been causing such a disturbance to the Ottoman government decision making, and hand the power back to the Sultan." 

The ambassador, Ayaz Ahmed Pasha, continued elaborating his plans with his eyes beamed up with redness, looking like he cannot wait to vent his rage at the disloyal treasonist now and have his head. "Not only will the Sultan and the Sultan Dowager bless you for saving them in this critical moment, but also every single Ottoman walking in the world of the living. With this ties of corporation between the Ottomans and the Romans, we can truly achieve a peaceful relationship in the region, running in to an era of prosperity." 

Ayaz Ahmed Pasha lifted his head up by a slight bit and found out that these two men still appears to be unmoved, his heart sunk be a bit and continued adding stakes on the table. "Your majesty, your excellency. If we achieved a success in our joint operation rescuing the Sultan out of the treasonous demon's dump, not only shall we cede the lands your army now controls, but also the land stretching all the way to a forty five miles away from Edirne, with our new border stretching from Pnarhisar in the North, which is Brysis in your Roman name, to Arcadiopolis and Bysanthe in the South. Not only shall we retreat our troops in those fortresses and castles, but we shall also leave a complete city to your hands leaving it completely untouched The land you rule shall expand by almost ten times! Your majesty! I hope that these things is able to enhance our coorpoatio" 

"I never believed in these terms that only serves a purpose of luring the people from the outside to jump in to the hole, thinking that they can gain a fortune at the end of the day, Ayaz Ahmed Pasha." Constantine shook his head and interrupted the ambassador's words. "We are all adults, and we know that in the end of the day, what we gain is only determined by how much power, how many soldiers, and how plenty of swords in our hands, if we are powerless you people can scrap the treaty at any time, and not offering a single plot of land to us as agreed."

Constantine paused for a while rubbing on his double eagle headed sceptre. "And furthermore I do not trust you; I do not trust that Abbas Pasha behind you, and I certainly do not think that there are any coups or conflicts within your Sultan and his subjects. I can see, honourable ambassadors. I can see through my eyes that your Sultan Dowager shall certainly prevail any thing like this from happening, so stop lying to us, ambassador. What you are trying to show me now is just like those conmen roaming along the Forum of Arcadius, trying to treat people in to buying 'golden apples' or 'magical leaves', I have seen too much of this kind, ambassador."

"Aye! Aye! A conman!" Mauro added on by the side. "Those tricksters who fools people passing by, digging gold out of their pockets!"

Ayaz Ahmed Pasha showed a bitter smile on his face as he lifted his head up, looking at the emperor with purity and honesty in his eyes. With a sigh he said. "I know that you wont trust me, your majesty. Even Abbas Pasha said that you shall not trust us because of what we have been doing in the past, suggesting me to abort my plans of trying to convince you. But I still came, simply because I believe that the more support I can get on my side, the faster I can get my Sultan out of danger. I want to help my Sultan, to repay the debts I owe to the previous Sultan, may Allah bless his name in the heaven, I shall wait for your reply."

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