The Eternal Empire (50 page)

It had been a victory but the cost had
been high.

"What were our losses?" asked
Comnenus.

A tribune carrying a clipboard moved up
to the general. "These are only provisional figures Sir, but initial
returns indicate over four thousand casualties amongst the infantry, nearly a
hundred aircraft shot down or damaged beyond repair, forty-five landships and
over thirty pieces of artillery destroyed."

"Their losses were even
higher," added another staff officer.

"In the short term they can afford
them!" commented Comnenus grimly. "Well, Cornelius Petronius, what do
you think they will do next?"

Cornelius had been surveying the
desolation around him and had been deep in his own thoughts when the general
asked his question. He turned towards Comnenus.

"They'll wait until the rest of
their army has arrived and then launch a broad fronted attack. That will force
us to spread our resources over a number of potential crossing sites and
increase their chances of obtaining a secure foothold."

"And how long before they will be
ready to do that?"

Cornelius hesitated before replying.
"About four days. But I was wrong about this attack. They launched it a
day earlier than I expected – we weren’t expecting it and it cost us.."

Comnenus could tell that Cornelius felt
badly about not predicting yesterday's attempt to cross by the Saxons.

"They took a gamble
Cornelius," he said kindly. "They attacked before they were ready in
the hope of catching us off guard. It shows they are getting desperate, and
desperate men make mistakes."

"We barely pushed them back this
time," said Cornelius. "It's not going to get any easier."

"But by then the Army of Asia
Minor will be here," added a staff officer. "Then we can kick their
hairy Saxon arses all the way back across the Rhine."

"Yes," agreed Comnenus with a
straight face. "There is that."

31st
August 1920

Constantinople

The sun was beginning to set as the
troop ship 'Empress Antonia' arrived in the golden horn, the great harbour of
Constantinople. The harbour master was not happy about having to stay late and
pay overtime to get the ship docked, but he had his orders directly from Chief
Minister Exanzenus. The troops from Asia Minor were to get priority treatment.
However he was glad that they had insisted on unloading their own equipment so
that he and his workers could go home before midnight. The legionaries of the
1st and 2nd cohorts of the legio XVI Flavia worked all night to unload their
trucks and armoured vehicles. An hour before dawn they were ready to move off.

They formed a convoy and drove out of
the dock area, but instead of taking the main road that led out of the city to
Adrianople, they turned towards the Imperial Palace.

Stephanie was woken by the sound of gunfire.
Alexander was fast asleep beside her and she started to shake him, but he just
mumbled and turned over.

"Wake up, damn you," she
screamed at him as the intensity of the shooting increased. It had been a late
night and the empty bottles strewn around the bedroom explained the Emperor's
lack of interest in what was going on. Stephanie encouraged Alexander to drink
as much as he liked, but was not stupid enough to over indulge herself.

Eventually the Emperor sat up looking
dazed and still partly drunk.

"What's going on?" he
demanded. "And what's that god awful noise!"

"It's gunfire!" she snapped
at him irritably. "The palace must be under attack."

Terror showed in Alexander's face.

"Monomachus has come to kill
me!" he wailed.

Stephanie jumped out of bed. "Get
dressed," she ordered, picking up some of her clothes that were lying on
the floor, "we may have to get out of here."

Alexander sat in the bed paralysed,
watching her get dressed with a vacant look on his face.

"Get up!" she screamed at him
again. "And get a grip on yourself for God’s sake! You’re the Emperor – at
least act like it."

Suddenly the doors burst open and a
squad of armed soldiers rushed into the room. Stephanie let out a scream but
they just ignored her. Two of the men ran over to the window and took up firing
positions, whilst a centurion holding a handgun went over to the Emperor. He
saluted.

"Your Majesty, the palace is under
attack by troops from the Army of Asia Minor. We cannot hold them back for
long. You must leave here immediately and get to a place of safety."

Alexander nodded wordlessly; got up and
walked over to his wardrobe where he took out the first thing he laid his hand
on.

"We have a couple of motorboats
waiting at the waterfront to take you to a navy warship in the Bosporos,"
said the praetorian officer as Alexander dressed. "Chief Minister
Exanzenus and some other officials will meet us there."

A few minutes later, escorted by the
squad of loyal praetorians, Alexander and Stephanie left the imperial apartments
and made their way through the gardens to the palace jetty. Five minutes after
the motorboats had left for the warship the remaining praetorians, their job
done, surrendered to the legionaries of General Strategicus.

There were only a few representatives
and senators who did not attend the assembly that evening, mostly supporters of
Exanzenus who feared a purge. Outside the assembly building soldiers of the
legio XVI Flavia stood guard, but inside there were no armed men, except the
traditional lictors with their rods and axes. The Emperor's throne was empty
but Gregory Nicerites and General Strategicus sat nearby.

When all who were expected had arrived
General Strategicus rose and began to speak.

"Honoured representatives of the
people and noble senators, I stand before you now, neither as a usurper of the
throne nor as a military dictator, but as an imperial citizen driven to take
drastic action due to desperate circumstances." There were muted comments
from all sides of the assembly, but nobody was making themself too conspicuous
until the situation had been clarified,

"The Empire is in the midst of its
worse crisis for a generation," he continued, "to the north of this
great city a civil war rages, in the West our weakened armies struggle to hold
back the Saxons and are in danger of being overwhelmed, whilst the province of
Britannia is being overrun. Only in the East, by the grace of God, have we been
able to lay low our foes, but due to the pernicious influence of Chief Minister
Exanzenus this victory was to have been wasted! He has been using our Emperor
to control the state, abusing the emergency powers available to the throne to
bypass the Assembly and the Senate. Thus, it was with a heavy heart and after
much soul searching that I agreed to use force of arms to redress this
situation."

He turned to Gregory who got up to
speak whilst Strategicus sat down.

"Until the Emperor can be
persuaded to return and govern in accordance with the constitution and without
Exanzenus as chief minister, I wish to propose that a regency council be set up
to act on behalf of his Majesty."

"Who's going to be on this
council?" demanded a radical representative.

"Nicerites and half a dozen
generals of course!" shouted back someone else.

"NO!" said Gregory loudly and
firmly, "General Strategicus said that this is not a military coup and he
meant it. The membership of the regency council will be determined by the
Assembly and the Senate as laid down by the law."

This announcement took them all by
surprise and there was a brief silence as the politicians thought this through.
The military had just seized power but were effectively giving it away again.
That was definitely a first in the history of the Empire!

John Phocas, leader of the modernist
party rose in his seat, and Gregory indicated that he could speak.

"A regency council could order
both you General Strategicus to be arrested on charges of treason" pointed
out Phocas.

"We are aware of that,"
replied Gregory "But we are willing to face the courts if necessary. We
took this action because it was the only way of ejecting Exanzenus."

"What about Monomachus?"
continued Phocas.

"We still recognise Alexander IX
as the only Emperor of the Romans. We will continue to send supplies and
equipment to the troops fighting the rebel Moesian legions that are supporting
the usurper Monomachus. The legio XVI Flavia will remain in Constantinople to
ensure the safety of the regency council and will take its orders from that
body. I will also remain in the capital at the disposal of the council."

"What about General
Strategicus?" asked a member of the Equestrian party.

Gregory smiled. "General
Strategicus and the rest of the Army of Asia Minor have an appointment
elsewhere."

1st
September 1920

Minden,
Saxony

News of the appointment of a regency
council and the fall of Exanzenus broke in Minden at the same time as the
report that the Saxon army's attempt to cross the Mosa had been repulsed. These
two events enabled Frederick to persuade a number of key nobles to support his
call for a cease-fire.

The council meeting was heated and
Frederick had to take a great deal of verbal abuse from the more belligerent
members of the 'war party'. He drew attention to the failure of the army to
achieve the decisive breakthrough that they had promised and the suspension of
the imperial trade laws announced by the regency council to justify a
cease-fire.

The mood amongst the nobles and the
people in general had begun to swing against the continuance of the war. The
surge of national pride caused by the initial success of the army and the
capture of an Eagle had been sobered by the increasingly long casualty lists
and continuing imperial resistance. Many of the nobles who had earlier
supported Godisger now backed Maleric's call for an end to the fighting.

The King, sensitive to the change in
mood, agreed and instructed that a proposal for a cease-fire and peace
conference should be sent to Constantinople. In the meantime the Saxon armies
would remain in place and take no further offensive action.

1st
September 1920

Mosa
River, Saxon Army Headquarters

It was almost dark when the message
from Minden was received at the army field headquarters. Franz Maleric looked
at the piece of paper in disbelief.

"Cease all offensive actions! Fire
only in self-defence! They're fools, cowards! Don't they know how close we are
to victory! The army is ready to attack tomorrow! One more push across the
river and they'll collapse. They have no reserves left!"

Edwin, who had delivered the message,
stood quietly and waited until Franz had finished his tirade before speaking.

"Only three people in the army
know about this message," he said quietly.

Franz looked at his friend, immediately
grasping the hidden meaning in his words. "Who else?" he demanded.

"The radio operator next
door."

"Can we trust him to keep
quiet?"

"He'll do as he is told,"
Edwin replied confidently.

Franz looked at the message again. It
was a notice that a unilateral cease-fire would take effect in twenty-four
hours. He was expected to inform the units of the Saxon army in Gaul. The army
command in Minden would send confirmation orders the next day. This had been
the policy in the Saxon army for nearly a century since a Saxon army commander
had been bribed by the Turks to accept a truce. After that act of treason any
cessation of hostilities had to be confirmed by Minden.

"Some of the generals would have
got wind of this," observed Franz. "They have their own contacts in
the capital. If we ignore this message and confirm the order for tomorrow's
assault a couple of them might query it."

"We don't need a full scale
assault by the entire army," argued Edwin. "The dozen regiments under
my direct command will be enough. Once we have broken through their defences
and are heading for Lutetia the rest of the army will follow us, cease fire or
no cease fire."

Franz looked long and hard at Edwin and
the message in his hands, then slowly and deliberately he screwed the paper
into a ball.

"You're right. We've come too far
to stop now. The attack proceeds as planned, but just with your
regiments."

1st
September 1920

Britannia

Titus was surprised at how quickly
Sextus had replied to his message. The commander of the imperial forces in
Britannia had summoned him early that morning with news of the appointment of
the regency council and the reply from Gregory to Sextus's proposals. Later
that morning Titus had sent word to Sextus requesting another meeting and by
early evening had received a reply to met him at midnight at the same place as
before.