Reincarnated to the Past 38: No Rush (Patreon)

Reincarnated to the Past
Chapter 38: No Rush

-VB-

What took more time than the actual battle was the post-battle talks and the looting.

It was something I couldn’t stop nor did I want to stop. I watched as my tribesmen and the citizen soldiers of Istria scour the battlefield for trinkets of their liking. To my surprise, it wasn’t jewelry that was the focus of their looting.

No, while it was true as I saw that they did want jewelry when they could get their hands on it, it was only one part of looting.

Like right now, there was a particularly distinct individual from the tribe picking out shoes from the corpses. Apparently, good shoes were hard to come by in a tribal society. Go figure.

Not that the Byzantion shoes were much better in my eyes.

“You want us to attack the Byzantions?” The leaders and commanders of the volunteer tribes warriors looked at me in alarm. What I had suggested was not something to be taken lightly.

I was, after all, suggesting that we, a mere two hundred, charge deep into Thracian territory and hit the one city that was on the other side of said territory. It was also said to be a walled city, and while the loss of a few thousand soldiers here would have weakened them severely, there were at least more cities in between who might not take the presence of tribal “raiders” too kindly.

Depending on how they reacted, I might have to go and burn my way across all of Thrace.

I could, however, also get boats and sail from here directly to Byzantion.

That option, however, came with a few problems.

The first problem was that Istria, the closest city/manufacturing center on the coast, lacked any dedicated shipyard nor the necessary know-how and technology to build galleys capable of transporting several hundred men.

Problem number two: logistics. With no allies in the region, we would be limited to what food we can forage and supply ourselves. While we were sure to be able to fish, most of my men weren’t fishermen and thus ineffective at keeping ourselves fed. Getting supplies through ships would also mean letting those ships be exposed to the tumultuous nature of the Black Sea.

The last problem: situation at home. Taking two hundred and plus warriors from the tribe would leave the tribe that much defenseless. Istria was simply the closest city, but it was by far not the only city. I knew jackshit about agreements between those cities, and neither did Johaken when I asked him. I’m of the opinion that there was no agreement, whi-.

No, I was overthinking things there.

The basic calculation was that taking the fight to the Byzantions was reckless, but it was also necessary.

I now lived in the Iron Age. This was an era that saw cities, countries, and civilizations fall by the boatload before its birth and I would wager that many more would fall before stability was found. My memories of the world told me that 1000 BC, roughly when I am, was the time of Saul and David in Israel, and between just those two, plenty of cities and even rival civilization fell.

I didn’t know what to do, honestly. I could conserve manpower and wealth, but not fighting back to protect what I had claimed for the tribe would be telling the world that we were too weak to strike back. It would be a declaration of weakness. Actually striking back would indeed leave a weakness for others to exploit.

In this situation, I thought long and hard, and came to one conclusion.

I would attack but I wouldn’t do so just by myself nor would it be a total war scenario like I had done with the Istrian campaign.

“Istria is a vassal of the tribe. As such, they will provide some manpower for the attack I intend to initiate.”

I would not conquer Byzantion like I had conquered Istria. I would make my statement loud and clear by laying a quick and devastating siege upon them and then, once my point was made, I would end the campaign and return.

Sure, many of the warriors might get miffed that there was no loot to be had, but I would give them some wealth from my own coffers, whether it was coin, metal, clothes, or else, which would sufficiently satisfy the greedy among them.

King Renius looked unhappy with my declaration. “Istria is not in any position to send you levy, milord, nor was it part of the agreement.”

Agreement, he was referring to, was the agreement we made upon my conquest of Istria.

“So you would endure more attacks when Byzantion eventually recovers? They’re not going to let the loss of an entire generation of men go so easily. It’ll be burned into their memory.”

He apparently hadn’t thought about exactly how I might go about regional subjugation if I did go.

“We need those men to start farming in the brief window we have. Please remember that it was you who burned down our fields.”

I sighed. “I hope you are at least growing turnips during winter then?”

They blinked. “Turnip? Those vegetables have so few leaves. Why would we grow that when we need food in bulk?”

“Leaves? You eat the roots,” I replied, equally confused.

Renius and I stared at each other as did the few farmers who were in the meeting room.

“Wait, you can eat the root of the turnip?” Johaken asked.

“Yes? All of you only ate leaves of the turnip?”

What should have been a strategic meeting became one about food and agriculture, which led to another conclusion in me and others.

Although we wanted to lash out now against the Byzantions for the assault, we were not prepared for it nor willing. I did, however, get a promise out of Renius that should the turnip cultivation become a solution to Istria’s food shortage, he would gladly send me two hundred men as levies in the coming campaign.

Though it left me unhappy with the situation, I called the tribeswarriors, assembled, and then headed back to our tribal town.

At the very least, all of the warriors marched happily with the loot of quality weapons, armor, rare jewelry, and clothes.

Next time. Next time, I would go and show the world that my people were not to be messed with.