1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 333: Candarli Halil

"Your power, which is already very great, you can increase more by peace than by war. For the outcome of war is uncertain - more often you see adversity rather than prosperity accompany it."

-        Candar Li Halil Pasha The Younger

Candarli Halil Pasha the younger, the eleventh Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Sultanate and perhaps one of the most influential Grand Viziers in the early stage of the country. 

Born from a  ilmiye political family with his father and uncles serving as supreme roles in the government system of the Ottoman Sultanate, Candarli Halil Pasha had the time, effort, and money to adopt an education for the elites successfully enrolled as a kazasker, or the chief judge, of the Early Ottoman Judiciary system, ranking up to the position of the Grand Vizier in the year 1439, beginning his almost twenty years journey as the highest ranking official in the entire Sultanate. 

During his reign he first supported his previous Sultan Murad II in stabalising the government, enhancing the system of laws in the Sultanate making it comparably healthier blocking up loop holes that people might be able to exploit. He also helped Murad II to improve trade and supervise the tax collection process picking out those corrupt officials sucking blood from the Sultan's treasury which all of these efforts substantially supplemented the Sultanate's economy, making the victory at Varna against the crusaders, and the series of conquest by Murad II in his later years in Morea and Serbia possible.

Though the high tide of Candarli Halil Pasha only came when the acting Sultan Murad II decided to abdicate the throne to his by then only twelve years old son Mehmed II. The Grand Vizier Candarli Halil Pasha gripped tight on to the power of the country serving as the actual ruler of all Ottomans while the young Sultan still learns from him on how to rule the country. During this time despite no longer being the acting Sultan, Murad II still over sees all operations from Edirne in Anatolia as the loyal Grand Vizier never fails to make a copy of all reports to the old Sultan, which can be said that he is one of the main contributors for the Ottoman victory against the crusaders in Varna. 

And then the disastrous defeat at Constantinople happened. 

With the Sultan lost and almost all of Ottoman resources in the treasury wasted on to some thing that they did not achieve, the fate of the Sultanate turned straight towards the other end with each year becoming worse than the previous year. Never had there been a year that there is some good news for the acting sovereign Candarli Halil Pasha, the only kind of news he would receive every day is that there are some new revolts going on, or a new pretender to the throne appearing, or some political opponents accusing him of not transferring the power to the Sultan. 

But still with so much pressure applied on to him, even with another devastating defeat under Thessaloniki, Candarli Halil Pasha still managed to pose the stance of a thorough dictator with an iron grip making him to at least sustain the government structure of the Ottoman Sultanate making the system be able to keep on running. The Ottomans are still able to collect taxes, build an army, keep a relatively peaceful sovereign relation with regional war lords like Abbas Pasha and Zaganos pasha, and building up another functional army at the borders against Antonius' expansion. 

Now, the helmsman ruling over the Sultanate for the past twenty years is gone, within four days, from a totally unknown cause with out leaving any words or arrangement behind for his future successors, if there is any. 

With this man's passing it is almost for certain that the political situation of the Ottoman Sultanate shall go through another round of turbulence, again. Although every one in the government dislikes the rule of the Grand Vizier, but no one really can foresees what shall happen if he is really not there. Even for the young adults of the army and the military. For most of them, Candarli Halil Pasha was the Grand Vizier since they are born. 

The future of the Sultanate is again once more in shadows.

Two weeks later, near the Roman line of out posts near fortress of Kavala, directly opposite the line of Ottoman defences five Roman miles away. 

The commander in charge of the border defences Helio is again doing his daily walk on ground checks in the premises seeing if there are any suspicious activities going on at the other side of the mountain, and if every thing over here is going on orderly with little or no mistakes. He has been doing this job in this position for almost four years, carrying out the same exact duty with no ignorance and carelessness for every single day. It can be said that he is the shield of the admiral Antonius yielding all possible offensives keeping the newly conquered territories safe from any harassment from enemy horse men, which the Ottomans are superb in after learning from their Seljik counter parts. 

"Some thing is not right." Whispered Helio as he walks down the walls of the wooden fortress.

"What is it?" Asked his vice commander Halfdan.

"I mean the recent activities of the Ottomans." Explained Helio frowning. "There have not been any reports of clashes or conflicts between our scouts and theirs for the past week, do you think that this is normal?" 

Halfdan thought for a while and his face too turned serious. "You mean that" 

"The Ottomans might be planning some thing." Interrupted Helio. "I don't like this quietness, being too quiet beyond the norm can only means that there is a potential danger that is lurking near by waiting for a chance to bite on us I shall write a letter to Master Anjelo right away asking for his assistance in intel." 

Halfdan nodded. "I shall prepare the front line troopers for combat right away." 

While what not known to these two men is that Anjelo is too caught in a mess back in the city of Thessaloniki. He has suddenly lost almost all channels of communication with the undercovers and agents in Edirne over one night. Even including two of his most trusted and professional agents which is a great destruction to his intelligence system. The only thing he can know now is that the Ottomans suddenly decided to maximise their security replacing every one in vital components like the gate keepers and watch men. But the problem is, for what? Are they conspiring some thing? 

That anxiety and restlessness is the strongest when the opponent is hidden in the fog of war, and you know that he might launch an attack at any moment, but you just cannot see him coming. 

After hearing the report from Anjelo, Antonius decided to put in his trust once more for his mentor with an age almost twice as him and went on to mobalise his troops around Thessaloniki and march off towards the front line in Kavala first under the commander of Julian and Khalid just in case some thing happens. And the fleet too are being spread out supervising the port activities of the Ottoman Sultanate from a safe distance. 

The situation did not change until days letter, when a Venetian trade convoy suddenly appeared on the shores of Thessaloniki claiming that they have a letter to the renowned admiral of the Aegean from the Venetian colony in the Duchy of Candia. After the letter is passed to a captain patrolling the seas, the Venetian trade convoy sailed away with out bothering to stay for one more hour to lay off their loads and have some rests as requested by the captain and sailed straight south wards back to where they came from. 

The captain passed the letter to his superior Abraham after he finished the patrol duty with the letter unsealed, then the letter is passed to Anjelo being unsealed too and finally the letter is opened by the old man for safety purpose just in case if there are hidden poisons being scrubbed on the paper. However even before he commences his check, Anjelo almost bumped in to his chair dropping the letter on to the ground after seeing the content being written on this letter. 

The old man almost instantly picked up the letter from the ground with out giving any care about his still throbbing toes and checked the words written on the letter again. 

There is nothing much written on the plain piece of paper except for one single sentence in Latin, which is translated in to. "The Grand Vizier, Candarli Halil of the Ottomans might have already bean dead from more than a week ago, the Ottomans have sealed off all access in and out of their capital city imposing a strict information regulation restricting any letters or paper works from being passed out of the city."