Building the Wall

In early July, Vitus Palaiologos and Theodore jointly issued an order for a large-scale conscription of civilians within their territory, drafting two thousand men from Achaea and six thousand from the Morea.

Considering the morale of the civilians, he planned for a three-month rotation, intending to swap in a new batch of farmers by October.

"Logically, the cost of living in the Peloponnese is lower than in Italy, so we shouldn't be over budget."

With this thought in mind, Vitus personally took charge in Corinth, supervising the massive and costly defensive project.

Once the first group of laborers arrived, he organized them into twenty centuries and ordered them to the hills several hundred meters outside the walls to fell trees, which were then transported back inside to construct barracks and stockpile fuel.

Soon, this large-scale activity drew the attention of the Duchy of Athens to the north. Duke Antonio sent an envoy to inquire why the Eastern Roman Empire was felling trees in the buffer zone, to which Vitus responded calmly:

"We are building city walls to prevent ourselves from becoming vassals to the Ottomans, just as you have."

With sufficient timber stored, Vitus directed the workers to build the camp, using ancient Roman military camps as a reference for the specifications:

The barracks were laid out in a grid, with eleven rooms per row; the outermost room served as a latrine, while the remaining ten were for living quarters. Each room housed ten men with simple wooden cots. There were no stoves inside, and everyone ate together in the mess hall.

Additionally, the camp was equipped with public baths and drainage ditches to minimize the spread of disease.

By mid-July, Vitus directed the laborers to build brick kilns to fire city bricks in large quantities, while simultaneously arranging for men to dig trenches outside the city in preparation for laying the foundations.

To ensure the quality of the work, he rarely left Corinth, spending most of his time inspecting the construction site and the remainder handling administrative affairs and training the army, until October arrived before he knew it.

The weather turned cold, and the first batch of laborers prepared to return home. Theodore arrived with the second batch, taking the opportunity to inspect the progress of the project.

Vitus knew what his second brother was thinking, so he had his guards bring over a thick stack of ledgers, telling him to look through them as he pleased and to ask if there was anything he didn't understand.

Theodore dumped the tedious work onto his accompanying scribes and curiously toured the new style of city walls, immediately requesting a loaded heavy steel crossbow to pull the trigger at a straw target outside the wall.

"You were right; this structure is indeed conducive to the defenders' aim."

Theodore tossed the crossbow to a guard and toured the camp inside the walls. He saw that the internal layout was orderly, with personnel walking uniformly along the right side of the paths, queuing for meals and bathing, with no sign of littering.

"Their discipline is even stricter than the army of the Morea! Are you using military law to restrain them?"

Vitus replied, "Yes, I've taken the time to organize spear training for them so that if the Ottomans invade, they can quickly engage in the defense of the city."

Theodore walked into a warehouse piled with a large number of three-meter spears and simple crossbows. The shafts of the spears were made from trees on the nearby hills, topped with cheap cast-iron spearheads.

Vitus picked up a spear and swung it twice. "Spears are the cheapest and most practical weapons, and they are simple to use—just thrust forward—making them best suited for rapidly expanding an army. The simple crossbows are also very cheap. The total cost of these weapons is only one thousand Ducats."

After the tour, the group headed to the mess hall for a meal. A long line had formed outside, and there were only two items on the dinner menu: black bread and a bowl of vegetable soup, in which small pieces of fish were faintly visible.

Vitus explained, "I placed an order with the nearby fishing villages to deliver a boatload of sea fish every day. Although the portion of fish for each person is small, at least they can taste some meat."

Theodore did not care what the low-level farmers ate. He left the noisy mess hall and went to the conference room to find the scribes auditing the accounts, only to be told that there was no corruption in the project.

"Is that so?"

Theodore feigned interest as he picked up a ledger to flip through. Not long after, a faint, savory aroma drifted in from outside. He looked around. "Is the food ready? Bring it in quickly; we've been traveling all day and happen to be a bit hungry."

No sooner had he spoken than the guards brought in a large silver platter topped with a Neapolitan specialty—lasagna. Theodore curiously picked up a table knife to cut a piece, and the entire conference room was filled with a rich, milky fragrance.

He had eaten lasagna made by Cleopa and had heard of how it was prepared: a layer of pasta, a layer of meat sauce, and a layer of cheese, usually repeated three to four times before being baked in an oven. However, today's version tasted even better; it seemed the chef had improved the ratio of seasonings.

Theodore ate with increasing gusto, occasionally sipping a glass of Retsina, and half an hour later, he returned to his bedroom to rest, belching contentedly.

For the following week, Vitus prepared various dishes for his brother—pizza, dumplings, Central Asian-style roasted meat, meat pies with flaky crusts—to distract him and keep him from meddling at the construction site. On October 8th, Vitus finally saw Theodore off, and life returned to peace.

"Sigh, having to cater to those above while managing the quality of the project, I feel like a project manager caught between a rock and a hard place."

Time reached November, entering late autumn, and the rainy weather increased. Fortunately, the Peloponnese is in Southern Europe, and daytime temperatures in winter remain around 10 degrees Celsius, allowing the construction team to continue working.

As of now, they had completed 1.8 miles of the new city wall, equivalent to thirty percent of the workload, yet they had consumed half of the project's budget (forty thousand Florins).

"At this rate, I'll have to borrow money from Italian merchants. I hope the Di Maggio Bank will give me a favorable loan rate in light of our relationship."

Vitus spread out his letter paper and wrote a plea for help to Constantinople as usual. Although it was impossible for the capital to provide funding, he still wrote regularly so that the Emperor and the high-ranking officials would understand the difficulties of the Peloponnese.

However, the trouble he faced did not end there.

As the project proceeded in an orderly fashion, the Ottoman side caught wind of it and sent an envoy in late November.

"The Ottomans?" Vitus put down his ledger and hurried to the open ground outside to meet the envoy.

Judging by his attire, this man was likely a low-ranking Ottoman noble. He wore a "Derbent" turban with a brass badge sewn onto the front, engraved with an ancient tribal totem, signifying that he came from a family with a long heritage.

The envoy's upper body was wrapped in a thick, dark blue woolen robe, a scimitar with an ivory hilt hung from his belt, and he wore loose, dark red breeches that were exceptionally wide at the legs to facilitate riding.

"I am Vitus Palaiologos. What is your business?"

The envoy did not dismount, looking down at him from the saddle. "Effective immediately, you are required to stop construction and tear down the new walls you have already built."