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Anno Domini 828,February-19
"Please, I've done nothing!" a woman screamed desperately as my men burst into the house and threw the guards to the ground, those same guards who had reached for their swords and spears in a belated attempt to react.
"Move it, you stupid Roman!" a Varangian shouted, loosening one guard's teeth with a brutal punch as the man tried to attack him.
Servants shrieked in terror as they watched the guards being beaten down in the kitchen. Blood splattered across the tiles each time clubs and fists struck flesh.
"Don't kill him," I ordered the Varangian who had the guard firmly restrained. He released him without protest, letting him drop to the floor before picking up his weapon and continuing the search.
Dozens of doors were kicked in. Locks shattered. Splinters flew through the corridors as the Varangians smashed them apart with their polehammers.
"Up here!" one of my men shouted.
We rushed up the stairs. I heard a door being destroyed with a kick.
"There—grab him!" someone yelled.
When I entered the room, I found a completely naked man trying to escape through one of the villa's windows. One of the Varangians had caught him by the arm and was struggling to keep him from throwing himself into the courtyard.
Turning my head, I saw a woman barely covered by the bedsheets, frozen in terror, unable even to scream.
More men joined the struggle and managed to drag him back inside.
"Let go of me, you miserable bastards!" the aristocrat shouted, kicking uselessly.
I pulled out the papyrus and glanced at it quickly. "Let's see… Leandros… yes. Leandros Argyros," I said aloud. "By order of the basileus Rhōmaiōn, you are under arrest for bribing imperial officials through intermediaries to evade the payment of taxes. By this same act, all your properties are hereby confiscated."
"That's a lie! I've paid everything!" he screamed, beside himself.
"Yes, yes… whatever you say," I replied without emotion. "Explain it to the basileus Rhōmaiōn when he judges you personally. Take him away. And give him a piece of cloth to cover his miseries."
My men grabbed some random clothing and threw it over him before dragging him out.
Then the systematic stripping of the house began.
There was nothing extraordinary—just several thousand gold coins that, at another time, would have seemed like a fortune to me. Now they were nothing more than the equivalent of three or four merchant ships' profits in a single month.
We took absolutely everything of value.
Art, jewelry, books, silks, weapons, slaves, armor, fine furniture. Even the glass windows—valuable for their quality—were removed. The house was left completely gutted.
When I stepped outside, I found similar scenes in every nearby property. My men were dragging entire families out by force. In other houses, some tried to flee by leaping over high walls, chased relentlessly by Varangians who gave them no quarter.
I remained in the main street, managing the arrests. I read the orders, pointed out properties, trying to identify the aristocrats—since I had no images of their faces, I depended entirely on finding them in their private quarters or having a family member recognize them among those captured—and I explained the charges.
Little by little, a long line of detainees formed.
In barely two hours of operations, we had captured seventy-two aristocrats along with their families. Another sixty-one were nowhere to be found; everything indicated they had fled the city before the raid began. Those would have to be hunted down across the entire Empire.
But the haul was already immense.
Thousands of coins here. Jewelry there. Entire chests dragged out of basements and hidden rooms.
When the first preliminary count was made, the figure was clear.
Nearly seven hundred thousand nomismata in confiscated wealth—without counting art, jewels, or textiles, only hard currency. It was easy to understand why Theophilos was so furious with the aristocracy. If all that wealth had been accumulated by avoiding taxes, then the Empire had quite literally been bled dry.
After hitting other buildings, I encountered several units of scholai cavalry who had caught nobles that had escaped the initial sweep and hidden in other buildings, trying to leave the city while chaos still reigned.
With all the targets captured, we began moving through the sepulchral streets of the capital. There was no one left outside; only people peering from windows, watching the procession of bound aristocrats marching through the streets toward the imperial palace, alongside the massive line of carts loaded with plunder that we had to guard.
Along the way, I found bodies. Among them were corpses that appeared to be bodyguards of the strategoi whom Theophilos had ordered arrested. There were also bodies from the tagmata of Macedonia—Skleros' men—and I recognized one or two of them lying where they had fallen.
Elsewhere we found similar situations among certain merchants' buildings, scenes much like the ones I had carried out. Some structures where merchant organizations met were completely looted and empty, likely because they had already been arrested for abusing commercial loopholes or illegally evading taxes.
At the palace, scholai were on maximum alert in great numbers, guarding every entrance.
I removed my sword from my belt and offered it to the guards; my men did the same as we entered the palace, pushing the carts and the prisoners inside.
Not long after, Theophilos appeared, escorted by a large group of guards, visibly tense at the sight before him.
"How did it go, strategos…? I hope successfully," Theophilos said, looking at the prisoners and the carts we had brought into the palace.
"Well… there was a great deal of wealth," I replied. "We inspected all the properties. All one hundred and thirty-three that were on the list were searched. We left nothing behind. Those houses are empty now… although forty-three of the people you wanted were nowhere to be found."
"It was to be expected. Even though we tried to keep the plan under the strictest secrecy, it's possible it leaked to some of the most powerful aristocrats, given the level of influence certain eunuchs and palace officials wield," Theophilos said, looking around. "Do you have a count of how much you seized?"
"About seven hundred thousand nomismata. That number could increase significantly, since there are many jewels and works of art that still need to be sold," I replied, gesturing toward the cargo.
"Good… this is very good news. This gold should have reached the imperial treasury years ago, but it never did. Now it finally arrives as it should. Nothing is missing, correct? None of your men helped themselves?" Theophilos asked.
"Of course nothing is missing," I said, turning toward my men. "NO ONE would be foolish enough to steal from the imperial treasury," I added sharply, making sure the message landed.
Seeing no reaction among them, I turned back to Theophilos.
"My men are disciplined, Your Majesty. Nothing is missing," I said more calmly.
"Excellent… with this, we can finance a war. Once we sell the jewels and art, and auction off the aristocrats' properties, the treasury will be full enough to recruit men and equip the armies. The smiths will have to work overtime…" Theophilos said as he looked at the carts filled with coin.
"So… who will the first war be against? Whom will we attack?" I asked, as he began to examine the prisoners.
"Oh… we will not be attacking. We will be attacked. The Abbasids are waiting for an opportunity once word spreads of my father's death. They'll be at our gates. Or it could be the Bulgarians… or the Lombards of Benevento. The moment they hear of his death, they'll smell blood and come for us. We must be ready," Theophilos said, signaling the scholai to move the prisoners.
"Then perhaps we should begin preventive raids along the Levantine coast. I could cripple their Mediterranean trade if I strike their main ports and burn their fleets, if the opportunity presents itself," I suggested.
"Not yet. Let them gather their armies and weaken their defenses. Then you strike, as you did with the Aghlabids. That way we hit their economy hard. But we must also be careful—most of the population still follows Christianity… or so I hope. Come with me," Theophilos said.
I followed the emperor, closely guarded, while my men began helping palace officials transfer the wealth into the treasury vaults.
We returned to the room where the arrests had been coordinated.
"Here. These are the locations of several estates belonging to the most notorious tax debtors in the Empire. We must act quickly, before they flee. You will take your men and all your ships and begin striking each of these locations, extracting the maximum amount of resources. Meanwhile, I will focus on purging the administration," Theophilos said calmly.
"I understand," I replied, studying the map of the Empire and the smaller charts marking the aristocrats' properties, already determined that not a single coin of theirs would escape imperial coffers.
"And while we're at it… Kentarchos Nautikos," Theophilos said to one of the scholai, who stepped forward and raised his head. "Please surrender your sword and armor. You are under arrest for treason," he ordered, taking his seat.
The kentarchos froze as the other scholai drew their swords and surrounded him.
"Your Majesty, I have never betrayed you… I—" the kentarchos managed to say before his comrades seized him.
"Do you know who is missing from the list of prisoners the strategos brought me? A group of families who, coincidentally, are friends of your own family. So you warned them. I placed my trust in you, and you spat in my face. Today could have been a great day if we had caught them all," Theophilos said, his voice cold, his eyes empty of emotion.
The kentarchos went silent as he was dragged away.
"It seems loyalty to blood cannot be changed… as expected. They are probably already seeking refuge in other courts, where the usual claimants of Roman history gather. A real shame… we need those funds to reinforce our defenses and begin recruiting troops," Theophilos added.
"I will move immediately. I'll mobilize my fleet and issue orders to bring back everything they find on those estates," I replied, gathering the maps.
"Yes. Do it well, Strategos Basil. By the way, once you return, send me a price list from your Cretan forges. We'll need every smith available to arm our defenses, and it's said your steel is among the finest in the Empire. We'll need it. As well as every Varangian you can find—naval battles will be fierce. The Sarakenoi are good sailors, and we'll have to fight hard once the news spreads. These months must be used to accumulate as much power as possible," Theophilos said with a thin smile, as the scholai watched him intently.
"At your command. I will return as soon as I have results," I replied, slipping the maps into my pockets.
"Oh… one more thing. When you return, choose whichever property you like from those we confiscated. I recall you have no residence in the city, which is why you never stay long in the capital. Choose whichever you wish—it will be yours. That is your first reward for choosing the correct side of history," Theophilos added as I was about to leave.
"Thank you very much for your generosity," I replied, turning and leaving the room to carry out my next orders.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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