21. Monopoli

  Gocelin and his men arrived on the 6th, he had hired 3000 men, 1000 heavy infantry, 1000 crossbowmen, and 1000 light skirmishers; landing in the harbour they took the town by storm, defeating and ultimately securing the surrender of the Norman garrison before the flag of the Western Roman Republic was hoisted on the battlements, the green flag with golden lightning bolts hoisted up top so all could see. Gocelin’s Norman lineage was found out and he managed to hire 500 Normans with coin. He had a few options given the situation, sail south and attempt to take Brindisium, ignore his vessels and take Taranto or simply complete the consolidation of Monopoli. Gocelin to secure the loyalty of the local peasants and antagonise the church proclaimed that the local church property would now be the divided among peasants and that city was now under Bari’s rule. He seized 2000 solidi buffing up his personal funds to 17,000 solidi.

  “Damn it Adaneus, you’ll have to manage this place, while I always dreamed of being a lord, fuck, I have 4100 troops total, perhaps I can mobilise some Lombards and march down south or do I take Brindisi as well, or do I take the lot?” He muttered, thinking aloud.

  Thorphinius looked at Gocelin with keen eyes, coming closer to him.

  “It might be an idea to take the entire lot, that way we can simply control the territory, if we draw a line from Monopoli to Taranto and take all the land in the heel, we can control, contiguous territory not controlled by anyone else.”

  Raising 200 Lombard militia to control the city itself, he raced to his ships to take the city of Brindisium.

  Meanwhile in Bari Adaneus sold 3500 solidi worth of cinnamon and 3500 solidi worth of cloves. The city’s coffers now 88,000, he waited for Gocelin’s signal, soon enough in the late afternoon some ships came alerting him to the fact that Gocelin had in fact gone south to take Brindisium.

  “He’s greedy,” Demetra said, “that man has great hunger in his eyes.”

  “I believe that is the Norman way,” Adaneus said, “not necessarily a bad thing.”

  “You see good too often,” Demetra said, “be careful Adaneus.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Butros looked at the woman with a wry smile, she had spoken truth and he liked that.

  “She’s right Adaneus, in this instance anyway, just be careful you don’t know her intentions either,” Butros said, with a glance at the green eyed woman.

  “She is my wife, but I accept your caution, people who are closer are more dangerous than people who are far away, but her caution is probably right in this instance.” Adaneus said, then pondered, “going south, fine, we accept his gambit put an order for more mercenaries, and more bolt shooters, we will assist him and send reinforcements, buy more ships likewise, we will give Guiscard and the other Normans total war! For Helios!”

  The market around Adaneus roared, and his wife looked up at him with a degree of pride.

  To think some people have women come on ships to marry them, that is good fortune, granted we should do a proper audit of this woman. Butros thought, he gave a side glance to the merchant priest.

  Kwame had likewise made the proper calls.

  “Tomorrow,” one man said, “2000 men, I can vouch for, maximum two days.”

  “10,000 now, 10,000 when I see them,” Adaneus said, “granted I already have an army on the field, so don’t think we won’t find you if you cross us.”

  “They are spears, but they are disciplined, many of them ex Tagmata, or trained by them,” the man said, “you are something like the Eastern Romans to them, so they will be happy to serve.”

  Damn it! I am down to 68,000 solidi again. Still this much is necessary to beef up our forces and crush Guiscard.

  “Get the bolt shooters ready, build more, I am going to make these Christians realise their mistake, Western Rome will conquer Italy!” Adaneus said to a few soldiers and fletchers.

  Soft tits pressed into his side, and he turned around to his wife pressing against his back.

  “I will tend to the spices soon enough, excuse me.”

  The wife grinned, and Kwame gaped his mouth in amazement. Butros covered his eyes with his hand and tried to contain his mirth. The soldiers likewise saluted Adaneus, grinning like jackals.

  By the 7th of February, Gocelin made the surprise attack work, taking Brindisi, his bolt shooters bombarding the garrison while his troops swooped in on the harbour and the rest of the city, shouting war cries, and taking the city without much of a fight; the operation working as something akin to a coup. The flag of Bari, the rumoured flag of the devils now adorning their walls; green flag with a thunderbolt. Gocelin lost maybe 50 men in the confusion, but it was not much, and the city was relatively intact, the early hours gave way to daylight and Gocelin looked at the situation with lack of total surety.

  Have I made the right decision, maybe I should have sat tight in Monopoli and consolidated more, that would be Adaneus’s style right? We wait here at least.

  With church relics included, Gocelin found 10,000 solidi with his own 15,000 chest, he decided to hire an extra 1000 mercenaries, and do some quick land reforms.

  This is what he would want.

  “Spend an extra 2000 to hire militia, and keep the city safe, we need to plan our next moves,” Gocelin said, eyeing the map, “fuck… none of this is easy. Guiscard will have my head soon enough.”