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Pov of Lothair
Anno Domini, 832-April-8-22
''The Greek invasion did not come from the east, brother… We were supposed to be taking an offensive position against the Greek positions in the east, but while we were waiting for your vassals to gather more men to defend themselves from a handful of horsemen who do not even wear armor, we now have the best Greek general roaming freely through southern Italy'' I said while looking at my brother Louis, who did not appear nearly as concerned as the situation warranted.
''Gathering men in Germany is not simple, especially in winter. How is it my fault that there is mud everywhere, preventing our men from arriving at the speed we needed? Besides, I remind you that when the Greeks were attacking our eastern marches, you were comfortably in Pavia making laws for the Italian kingdom while I had to fight the Greeks with almost no support from anyone except Father'' Louis replied, quickly frowning at the words coming from my mouth.
''What do you mean, no support? I obtained that fleet for you so your men could receive reinforcements and equipment. I was the one who besieged multiple Greek positions in southern Italy and brought the Prince of Benevento into the Empire. While you were losing the positions our ancestor brought into the fold, I conquered several Greek strongholds and managed to convince several of their nominal vassals to join our Empire. I did more than anyone else to keep the situation stable'' I said through clenched teeth.
''Do not quarrel, my sons. This is not the moment to allow disunity to consume us. We have the most dangerous general of the Greeks in our lands, advancing through the south without any real resistance, and the Vicar of Christ is in grave danger. We have to gather an army so we can come to the aid of the Holy Father. I do not know what the situation in Rome is because… well, you, Lothair, were the one working to gain greater influence over the politics of the Holy See'' our father said, looking terribly exhausted by everything that had happened over the past few months.
''That is why we have to gather the men who are already mobilizing in northern Italy and the surrounding regions and bring men from every part of the Empire to organize a response. The Greek army in the region is considerable in size and they are also using northern barbarians in their forces. My scouts have confirmed that there are Vikings among their ranks and they are plundering the entire northern Italian coastline under the orders of the Greek general, while also completely ravaging the countryside of Latium. We cannot wait any longer. We have to march as soon as possible'' I said while rising from my chair inside my father's tent.
''And leave my territories exposed? Like last time? Or have you forgotten, Lothair, that we have an enormous Slavic army at our gates? The Greeks have a damned army of barbarians that has not stopped burning every frontier village they have found in the region, along with even more Vikings. I cannot simply move all my men to clean up the disaster you have in Italy, which you were supposed to defend, and we have no idea what happened to the army that was supposedly meant to take the Greek fortresses in the south'' my brother said.
''Then do something. Or is it possible that until now you have done nothing to stop the attacks so that we can concentrate on the greater danger we have in the south?'' I said while raising my voice.
''As if it were that easy to attack an army made up entirely of horsemen. The fortifications in the region were only built recently and we do not have the equipment needed to conduct sieges while also defending ourselves from their cavalry, which harasses us every time we try to engage them'' my brother said angrily.
''For our part, all our vassals have already been summoned to gather men and horses. In Aquitaine and West Francia we should receive their responses soon, but we still do not know how many men we will be able to assemble to support the Italian forces'' my brother Pepin said, being the only one who seemed to be trying to help me.
''In Pavia and the surrounding region I have a commander gathering men and equipment, around twenty-four thousand men in total. He is supposed to harass the siege of Rome and see whether we can rescue the Vicar of Christ from the siege being carried out by the heathen Vikings ravaging our lands'' I said while bringing a hand to my face.
''There truly is no news from the army in the south?'' Father asked while remaining seated in his chair.
''No. We know the Greeks landed three armies and cut off every connection with us, so we completely lost contact with the army commanded by the Prince of Benevento. The south is lost. At most, I suppose we can try to recover Rome and force a battle around Capua before concentrating our efforts on retaking our positions, but we do not know how many troops the Greeks have. We only know that the army besieging Rome is not large enough to properly surround the city, but we know nothing about the south'' I said while moving closer to Pepin.
''With my men and those we are currently recruiting, we should be able to bring another thirty thousand. Added to the Italian troops, we should have a considerable army, but we will still need more men if the Greeks have additional forces and knowing the general who leads them, we will be in serious trouble if Rome falls'' Pepin said as he moved closer and lowered his voice slightly.
''I know, but with the Greek forces present in the east we cannot convince Louis or Father to do anything'' I said while shaking my head.
''Father'' Pepin said while raising his voice. ''We need you to order your men to accompany us south. There is a grave danger that our ancestor's dream will collapse with the fall of Rome. If the Vicar of Christ falls into Greek hands, they may use any trick they can to have our grandfather's coronation declared invalid, destroying everything we have spent our entire lives fighting for'' my brother said, and Louis immediately frowned.
''I need those men here. You can recruit more in Francia or call up the men from the Spanish Marches. As soon as the worst effects of winter are over, I will be able to launch an offensive to recover our eastern marches and put pressure on the Greeks… I need those men, Father'' Louis said while looking at our father, clearly worried.
''I am sorry, my son, but we cannot abandon Rome… we will have to fight defensively while protecting Bavaria. I will mobilize my men together with those of your brothers and we will try to expel the Greek general as soon as possible. Gather your vassals and defend as much as you can against the attacks of the Slavs serving the Greeks. I simply cannot allow everything my father worked for to die'' Father said, and after thinking for a moment, he rose from his chair with far more conviction than he had shown before.
''Fine…'' Louis said through clenched teeth while tightening his fists, clearly angry that Father had chosen to defend Rome rather than the territories where he held influence.
''We need to ride to Italy as soon as possible and assess the situation. We have to send relief to Rome immediately, so once the reinforcements from Aquitaine and West Francia arrive we should be ready to confront the Greeks and begin recovering our territories'' I said while breathing more calmly now that I knew Father would bring his men with us.
It took longer than I would have liked, but we finally managed to leave Bavaria and move toward Italy.
I was not bringing much with me from my Italian sphere of influence. I had only a group of 4,000 horsemen from my retinue, while Pepin had another 2,000 horsemen from his own retinue. Fortunately, however, we had Father's army, the professional core inherited from our grandfather: 25,000 men and 6,000 cavalry. With that, we should have enough strength to fight any Greek force.
Now the great dilemma would be feeding such an army in Italy, considering that there was already an army of raiders burning our lands and trying to prevent us from concentrating our forces. That meant we had to coordinate everything so that the logistics of our armies passed through the Alps, since the sea was infested with the Greek navy and their Vikings, who must have controlled the entire Mediterranean. The Italian fleet that answered to my orders at Portus was already under Greek control. Surely, if the Greeks were besieging Rome, the sea around it had to be firmly occupied as well.
So we quickly began moving toward Italy, crossing through Aquileia, where our enormous contingent of cavalry and soldiers began advancing while trying to gather supplies and livestock to feed the men along the way.
''Do you have any plan for defeating the Greek general? Because arriving with more men is one thing, but that man is almost legendary among the Greeks. He is the one who has carried them from victory to victory, besides kicking our brother's ass in the Croatian March and Pannonia, so it is not as though we can simply defeat him in a straightforward battle… I think'' Pepin said while riding beside me.
''It is not as though I can think of exactly what we can do to defeat him. We know very little about Italy. We lost communication with the entire south. We do not know whether they are besieging castles, whether everything fell into their hands quickly or whether the southern army is still standing. We know nothing. Once we are in Italy and pass through Ravenna, we will try to send out a large number of scouts to make sure we understand what is happening'' I said while thinking about how we could defeat the Greek general.
''Should we not ride ahead then and get a better view of the situation? Because if we continue with most of the infantry, it will take us weeks to reach Rome'' Pepin said while staring at me.
''That may be best. We should move separately from the army and support the recruitment efforts in Italy'' I said while spurring my horse and drawing the attention of my retinue.
After informing Father, we began riding toward my Italian possessions, trying to get ahead of everyone else so we could recruit more men in the region.
So we rode for days, trying to cut as much time as possible from the journey into Italy.
After several days on horseback, separated from the main body of the army, we finally reached Italy, crossed the Po River and several days later arrived in Ravenna.
Apparently, the commander we had sent south had moved the gathering point to Perugia because he was trying to break the siege of Rome.
But that was where we received the bitter surprise of everything that had been happening. With far more information available, it became clear that the south was completely lost. All of southern Italy had fallen entirely into Greek hands. The army that had been stationed in the region had been trapped and appeared to have surrendered to the Greeks, and nobody knew with certainty how large the Greek army operating there actually was, only that they also possessed an enormous fleet that had been operating throughout the region.
As we moved toward Perugia, we began recruiting from the local population to gather more infantry, redoubling the efforts my commanders had already been making. By the time we reached Perugia with a force of 12,000 men, more news had arrived.
My commander had attempted to break the pagan siege of Rome, but he had been practically crushed by the Greek heavy infantry. There were stories of men completely covered in steel armor, with many weapons simply bouncing off them when struck.
Although the defeat had not been catastrophic, several hundred men had been killed and there was considerable fear among the local troops toward what they called the giants of the north, since the force was composed of enormous heavily built warriors from the northern lands.
But when we finally arrived within sight of Rome, it was no longer the small army that was supposedly besieging the city. There was now an enormous army watching every road and a vast camp protected by multiple fortifications. They were even carrying out works to divert the course of the Tiber River.
''Shit… how did they build a fortress just to besiege Rome?'' I said while staring at the fortifications surrounding the city.
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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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