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.
