Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 239: Heist of the Century

Constantinople, Byzantine Empire

Throwing his head back, Emperor Basil I let out a booming laugh, pacing furiously across the intricately mosaicked floor, he slammed the ruined goblet down onto his massive tactical map, sending a spray of spiced wine across the parchment borders of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Can you imagine the sheer audacity of this man? While the rest of the world was hyperventilating, completely paralyzed by the terrifying approach of the Tang Emperor’s hundred-thousand-strong expeditionary force, Emperor Basil I was treating the global crisis like an all-you-can-eat buffet!

To leave your wealthiest frontier provinces unguarded to protect your capital is a strategic sin of the highest order, and Basil was making them pay for it in blood!

Dropping to his knees with a clatter of scale armor, Strategos Nikephoros pressed his forehead against the cold marble floor, his chest heaving with exhaustion after riding for three days straight from the vanguard command tent.

"Divine Augustus!" Nikephoros gasped, "The frontier has collapsed! It is a complete and utter rout... The Arab garrisons are fleeing before our banners even crest the hills! We have reclaimed dozens of ancient cities in a matter of days!"

Looking down at the kneeling general, Basil smiled a wicked smile,

"Rise, my loyal Strategos..." Basil commanded, waving his hand dismissively as he turned his ravenous gaze back to the sprawling map.

"Tell me of the gold. The Amorian dynasty bled this empire dry for decades, and I demand that the Arabs refund every last solidus!"

"The vaults cannot hold it all, Majesty!" Nikephoros replied, rising slowly,

"Tarsus has fallen! Melitene is ours! Edessa’s walls were breached in a single afternoon! They left only gray-beards and frightened boys to defend their fortresses. When our heavy cavalry crested the ridges, they simply threw down their weapons and wept!"

Far to the east, beneath the shadow of the imposing Taurus Mountains, the devastating reality of Basil’s ambition was unfolding in a horrifying symphony of iron and slaughter. Standing atop the ancient sandstone walls of Melitene, a young, newly promoted Abbasid captain named Tariq bit his fingernails down to the quick, spitting out a mouthful of blood as his eyes widened in absolute horror.

Trembling uncontrollably, Tariq gripped the stone parapet, watching the horizon turn entirely black...

The Byzantine Cataphracts... These were not your average cavalry units, absolutely not. These were the ultimate shock troops of the medieval world, riding massive, selectively bred warhorses that were entirely covered head-to-hoof in heavy lamellar armor. Both the rider and the mount were practically invulnerable to standard archery.

When three thousand of these iron behemoths charged in a tight wedge formation, it was like watching a modern armored tank division plow through a crowd of defenseless pedestrians...

Thus, the earth began to quake.

Screaming in terror, the skeletal Abbasid garrison broke rank before a single arrow was even fired, throwing down their spears and weeping openly as the thunderous roar of thirty thousand hooves deafened them. They had been abandoned by their Caliph, left to die while the true army guarded Baghdad from the eastern dragon.

"Mercy! In the name of the Most Merciful, have pity!" an elderly Arab spearman shrieked, falling to his knees in the churning mud and throwing his hands over his head in a desperate display of surrender.

Showing absolutely no pity, the lead Byzantine Cataphract lowered his heavy kontos lance, leaning deep into his stirrups as his massive armored warhorse plowed directly over the kneeling man...

Blood sprayed in a wide arc across the trampled earth...

Thus, the slaughter commenced in earnest!

Riding at the forefront of the massacre, the young and brilliant Domestic of the East, Bardas, swung his heavy steel mace, crushing the skull of a fleeing Abbasid lieutenant even as he directed his heavily armored divisions to encircle the panicked survivors.

Sweeping through the narrow, winding streets of the reclaimed cities, the Byzantine forces encountered virtually no resistance, effortlessly massacring the few brave souls who attempted to draw their curved blades.

Captain Tariq, watching his entire command evaporate into a bloody mist, ground his teeth together until a molar audibly cracked in his jaw. Tearing off his officer’s turban, he threw it from the walls in a fit of helpless rage, sinking to his knees as the double-headed eagle banners were violently planted atop the city gates!

Thus, the legendary wealth of the East was laid bare before the greedy hands of the Macedonian dynasty. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The Abbasid border cities were major trade hubs connecting the Silk Road to the Mediterranean, and Emperor Basil’s army was treating them like giant, defenseless piggy banks!

To transfer this much wealth required a logistical miracle, but the Byzantine theme system was perfectly designed for this exact scenario. By utilizing the local agrarian infrastructure, the Byzantines possessed thousands of sturdy ox-carts, instantly converting a brutal military strike into a massive, highly efficient looting operation.

While the carts groaned under the weight of plundered Abbasid silver, lumbering their way back toward the heart of the Byzantine Empire in an endless caravan, Emperor Basil I descended into the deepest, most secure vaults of the imperial palace in Constantinople.

Accompanied by his exquisitely dressed wife, Empress Eudokia Ingerina, and his trembling Logothete of the Treasury, the Emperor walked through aisles of reinforced iron cages, his breath pluming in the cold air of the subterranean treasury.

"Count it all!" Basil ordered, "Every single coin, every gem, every ounce of silver!"

The elderly Logothete bowed so low his nose nearly brushed the cold stone floor, his frail body shaking,

"Divine Augustus! We have seized more gold in three days than the imperial mints could produce in a decade! When the Abbasid Caliph realizes what we have done... when he sees that his border is gone..."

"When the Caliph realizes what we have done, he will be too busy feeding his own people to his starving eastern guests to do a damned thing about it!" Basil roared, slamming his fist against a massive wooden crate filled to the brim with glittering Arab dinars.

Empress Eudokia Ingerina glided across the stone floor, reaching out to trace the rim of the overflowing chest with her delicate fingers.

"You have played them all for fools, my love," Eudokia whispered.

Thus, the absolute genius of Basil’s grand strategy was fully realized.

Turning his gaze toward the doors of the vault, Emperor Basil I let out a sigh.