Documents lay piled high as mountains in Grand Vizier Omar's office. Murad V's conscription order had come too suddenly—or rather, the Ottoman Empire's recruitment structure was simply far too lax at this point.
"This number is nowhere near enough. What the Sultan wants is a force capable of standing against the Holy Alliance, but with our current troop strength, we cannot even deal with the Russians.
"Tell those provincial governors that if they cannot raise enough recruits, their family sons will make up the shortfall.
"If their families do not have enough sons, then they can sell their estates to hire men. Otherwise, their families will perish before this country does."
Afud Pasha, standing nearby, spoke with some concern.
"Grand Vizier, isn't this going a little too far?"
"Too far?" Omar replied irritably. "I would like nothing more than to go home and sleep with my wives, but this country is about to collapse. What does 'too far' even matter now?"
"But Grand Vizier, it is the busy spring farming season. For farmers, this is the most crucial time of the year. Who would be willing to enlist?"
Not only did Afud Pasha's persuasion have no effect, it made the Grand Vizier even angrier.
"I do not care whether they are farmers, shepherds, or anything else. Put them in uniforms and tell them they are fighting for the country, for Allah, for the Sultan.
"That is what those governors are supposed to do!
"They may promise them honor, they may promise them fortune, and if necessary, they may use any means to force them into the ranks.
"There is no more time to hesitate!"
In truth, launching large-scale conscription in this season was indeed no wise move. Many families would be torn apart, fields left barren, harvests reduced, and corpses