On September 1st, the Eastern Roman Empire army arrived in the middle of Euboea, surrounded Chalcis from land, and cut off its connection with the remaining strongholds.
Venetian Fleet has the idea of rescuing, but they have been struggling with Aegean Fleet and have no spare ships to transport reinforcements.
On the other hand, Crete's defenders only have thirteen thousand people. The number of reinforcements is too small and will have no effect. Too many reinforcements will weaken Crete's defense.
Fleet Commander Marcello Kanal sighed, "The mainland is mobilizing Army and the navy. The first batch of reinforcements is expected to arrive in October. I hope the Chalcis defenders will hold on until then."
He did not believe that this was his responsibility, and could only blame the small number of Euboean defenders for allowing the enemy to land from a remote coast.
"In peacetime, Great Council's goal is to reduce military expenditures, reduce the size of the army, and try not to delay the nobles from making money. Now that the war has broken out, it is too late to temporarily expand the army."
At the same time, thousands of soldiers were digging trenches in the eastern suburbs of Chalcis.
The sun was blazing, and a hot autumn wind blew from the north. Boranov turned his back to the wind to prevent the fine sand carried by the hot wind from blowing into his eyes.
After a while, the wind gradually subsided, and the orderer shouted in the distance, "Third Battalion rest, the second battalion will take over the excavation work."
The exhausted soldiers put down their pickaxes and walked out of this waist-deep trench one after another. The second Dragoons battalion in the rear was assembled. Boranov chatted with the second battalion commander for a while and handed over this trench to the other party.
"It's finally over." Boranov returned to the siege camp and went to the canteen for dinner. He heard some officers discussing the battle situation of Hermes Brigade. This friendly force did not dig trenches and focused on attacking the shore defenses on the nearby coast.
From their conversation, Hermes Brigade's operation went smoothly. Those forts were only considered to block the sea surface during construction and did not pay attention to inland defense. It was only a matter of time before they were captured.
On September 6, Siege Cannon from the rear arrived at the scene. Artillery placed the heavy artillery at the predetermined gun position and began to bombard the Chalcis city wall.
Bang!
White gunpowder smoke was mixed with orange-red flames, and the twenty-four-pound cannon shot out of the muzzle, carrying a huge kinetic energy and hitting the battlements. With a loud noise, the nearby mercenaries were buried under rubble before they could react.
Prior to this, the defenders' artillery had already ignored the trench-digging soldiers and shifted its targets to those large heavy artillery. The two sides entered the most brutal stage of shooting.
Numerous earth bags were piled around the outside of Siege Cannon, which provided some protection. The gunners stayed inside the fortifications, cleaning the gun barrels in an orderly manner, and loading Silk Powder Charge and iron bullets.
Occasionally, there was a muffled sound from the outer soil bags, causing some gunners to panic. However, under the constraints of military law, the gunners did not dare to escape from their posts. They could only bite the bullet and continue loading, trying to destroy the enemy's artillery before their own was hit.
In mid-September, more and more heavy artillery arrived at the front line, Eastern Roman Empire Artillery gradually suppressed the defenders on the city wall. The hearts of these mercenaries were floating, and their morale was increasingly low.
In the evening, the artillery outside the city ceased fire one after another, and the mercenaries stationed at East Wall ushered in a rare moment of peace. Suffering from continuous bombing, some people suffered from tinnitus. Even if the bombardment stopped, there was still a subtle buzzing sound lingering in their ears.
The setting sun was setting, and some mercenaries were resting at the bottom of the city wall. Some were sitting on the steps, discussing recent events. The mood was generally pessimistic.
Suddenly, an officer Venice passed by, and the mercenaries lowered their voices instinctively.
A mercenary did not notice the situation behind him and continued to complain at the top of his voice, "When will Venetian Fleet come? Brothers really can't hold on anymore. If the fleet doesn't come to reinforce, we might as well surrender as soon as possible."
"Shut up, you are not qualified to make decisions!"
The officer hurriedly went to the official residence to report the situation. He did not punish the daring mercenary. He just scolded him and walked away quickly.
The next moment, the nearby mercenaries cheered up and found that the officer named Cesare had a vague attitude. He only scolded the soldiers for crossing the line but did not refute his surrender remarks.
Could it be said that Venice nobles are also willing to surrender?
The news gradually spread. The initial version was that Cesare did not scold the soldiers for surrender, and then evolved into Cesare and other officers agreeing to surrender.
At night, soldiers whispered to each other in the crowded and hot barracks, and Sentinels whispered on the dilapidated city walls, exchanging information they had with each other.
"It's great, I can finally go back alive."
"I shouldn't have joined this Mercenary Regiment in the first place. I might as well have stayed in the dyeing workshop as an apprentice." In this restless atmosphere, Chalcis ushered in a new day.
In the early morning, Venice officers left their respective rooms and noticed that the atmosphere in the camp had become extremely strange. The mercenaries no longer looked lifeless, but were full of energy, as if they were expecting something.
An officer approached a familiar mercenary captain and asked, "What happened?"
The mercenary captain breathed out the smell of alcohol and looked particularly relaxed, "When I heard that you were going to surrender, the boys were so excited that they couldn't sleep all night. In these years, I have never heard any rumors about Vitus killing prisoners. Surrendering is indeed a wise decision, but it was delayed too late..."
Surrender?
The officer froze on the spot, then found several other familiar officers and gathered in a corner to discuss in a low voice. "There are rumors of surrender in the army. Are they true or false?"
"A few of us had dinner with City Official last night. He maintained sufficient fighting spirit and encouraged us to continue fighting to defend the honor of the Venice nobles. It didn't look like he was about to surrender."
After talking for a while, everyone concluded that the credibility of these rumors was extremely low. The problem was that most of the rumors involved the same name - Cesare.
"This traitor betrayed us?"
"In this situation, surrender is not out of the question, but why does he make the decision on his own?"
At eight o'clock in the morning, the confused Cesare was brought to the official residence. City Official Paul Elizzo and the officers gathered in the hall and asked for specific details about the surrender. Cesare did not answer anything because he had never contacted Greece people from beginning to end!
Paul Elizzo: "Your family's history can be traced back to the tenth century, surpassing most noble families. Why would you do such a thing of surrendering to the enemy?"
Cesare is still explaining, "Surrendering to the enemy? What are you talking about? I have explained many times that a mercenary wanted to surrender yesterday, and I scolded him, that's all."
Observing his tone and demeanor, combined with his past experience, Elizzo felt that the probability of Cesare surrendering to the enemy was small.
To be on the safe side, Elizzo decided to suspend his duties and let him stay in the town mansion to recuperate for a period of time.