Under the order of City Official, Cesare had no choice but to hand over his command and stayed under house arrest in the backyard of the official residence.
"If I had known this, I should not have let that damn mercenary go. I would have given him a hard whip, and the bad things that followed would never have happened."
The scorching sun was high and the courtyard door was closed. Cesare had nothing to do, sitting in the shade under the eaves in a daze, admiring the blooming marigolds in the corner of the courtyard.
Bang! Bang!
The sound of artillery outside the city continued. Judging from the momentum, the number of enemy artillery continued to increase, reaching at least more than 200 artillery pieces.
"It's September 16th now. If we hold on for more than a month, the local reinforcements should arrive."
After War of Chioggia, Venice's fleet size ranks first in Europe all year round. Cesare has full confidence in the navy. As long as the local fleet comes to help, Euboea's situation will be reversed instantly.
At noon, the courtyard door opened a crack, and a servant brought in a meal with the same specifications as the previous days: white bread, half a jug of wine, and bacon fried in a small amount of olive oil.
"The olive oil and wine of Greece taste different, and taste better than similar products of Italy."
Cesare chewed the slightly salty bacon, drank by himself while sitting under the eaves, recalling the taste of wine from France, Italy, Aragon and other places.
Suddenly, the courtyard door opened again, and City Official strode in. He stared at Cesare with a solemn expression for a long time, and said slowly, "The mercenaries are mutinying, and they want to send people out of the city to negotiate as soon as possible. Some mercenaries mentioned your name and strongly requested that you be the envoy."
Feeling the other party's suspicion, Cesare put down the flask and said in a very helpless tone, "These fools have misunderstood. I have never contacted Greece people. Now asking me to go out of the city to negotiate is equivalent to confirming the suspicion that I am secretly collaborating with foreign enemies. There is no need to talk about this matter."
City Official cursed in his heart and tried his best to speak a gentle tone, "I swear, if you are interrogated after you return to the country, I will do my best to protect your reputation. Those colleagues have the same idea..."
At this time, the noise outside the official residence became louder and louder. An officer rushed into the courtyard and urged City Official and Cesare to act quickly:
"Greece people got Mortar and bombed the inner city area through the city wall. The mercenaries' emotions are on the verge of reaching the limit. We can't delay it any longer. The mercenaries may rush into the official residence at any time!"
Under the persuasion of City Official and his colleagues, Cesare was forced to take on this potentially troublesome task.
The moment he walked out of the gate of the official residence, the crowds crowding the street outside were in an enthusiastic mood and quickly gave way to a narrow passage, as if to welcome the hero who returned from victory.
"It's over, my reputation is ruined."
Cesare looked gloomy and walked slowly through the crowd. The mercenaries on both sides patted his shoulders enthusiastically and praised him as a kind-hearted nobleman.
At a certain moment, Cesare turned around instinctively and stared at City Official and his colleagues under the eaves. Everyone remained silent with cold eyes, as if they were sizing up a traitor.
Immediately afterwards, his colleagues noticed Cesare's gaze, squeezed out a stiff smile again, and waved to him in a friendly manner.
"These damn chameleons!" Cesare was carried forward by the crowd, and his mood was extremely pessimistic.
Returning to the mainland this time, City Official and his colleagues must have put the blame on themselves. I am not Governor and several high-level faction members. Without their help, it will be difficult to wash away this grievance.
Unknowingly, a group of people arrived near the East City Gate. The houses on both sides of the street were in dilapidated condition, and some traces of the Black Powder explosion remained on the street.
A white flag fluttered on the city wall, revealing a willingness to "request negotiations" in exchange for a moratorium on shelling outside the city.
There was a lot of debris piled up in the city gate corridor. The soldiers barely cleared a passage, then used a winch to raise the city gate, allowing Cesare to go out of the city to negotiate alone.
Outside the city are intricate trenches. The enemy dug three Parallel Trench and numerous communication trenches, cutting the flat farmland into pieces.
The innermost line Parallel Trench was only a hundred steps away from the city wall, and Cesare walked to the edge of the trench. He obediently accepted the soldiers' body search, and then was blindfolded by a piece of black cloth and taken to the siege camp in the distance.
The negotiations went smoothly, and the besieging army did not want to delay too long. The commander promised that as long as the defenders surrendered their weapons at three o'clock in the afternoon, they were willing to ensure the safety of everyone's lives and personal property in the city.
"I have an additional request."
Faced with many surprised looks, Cesare confessed his experience, "Now that the matter has come to this, I don't want to take a boat back to Venice, as it will definitely not end well if I go back. I want to leave Balkans by land and go to Bohemia to join my relatives."
The leading officer suggested. "Have you considered serving Rome?" Cesare said firmly, "I'm just unlucky and forced to go into exile. It doesn't mean that I want to join the enemy. No matter what happens, Venice will always be my hometown."
After negotiating the terms, Cesare brought the news to the more than two thousand surviving mercenaries. The soldiers cheered loudly, and the Venice civilians were relieved and thankful that they had escaped the turmoil after the city was broken.
That afternoon, Eastern Roman Empire troops took over Chalcis defense.
The surrendered defenders were concentrated in camps outside the city. Commander Eastern Roman Empire released a Venice merchant ship and notified Venetian Fleet to come over to pick up the officers and civilians.
The situation of mercenaries is different. The commander will not hand them over to Venice all at once to prevent them from being regrouped by Venice.
The commander's personal idea is to hire foreign merchant ships and transport them back to the south of Italy in batches. Alternatively, the mercenaries can also stay in the Eastern Roman Empire, settle in Northern Black Sea Coast, Anatolia, and allocate unclaimed real estate.
However, he is only Tribune of the Varangian Legion. He has no authority in this regard and can only report it to Central Administration.
Dragoons of Boranov was responsible for guarding some of the prisoners of war. He took the name list and counted the number of prisoners of war. After finishing, he asked City Official Paul Elizzo,
"Why don't you send more people to Euboea?"
City Official shifted his attention to Boranov's armband - embroidered with two horizontal bars and two bay leaves in the middle.
According to his understanding of the Eastern Roman Empire's military system, this guy is just a mid-level officer responsible for commanding four to five hundred people, so his attitude is a bit cold. "During peacetime, our army is small. Ten years ago, the number of defenders in Euboea was less than two thousand. It was Governor's strong request that the number of defenders increased to six thousand."
After a few perfunctory words, City Official sat in a daze on the grass. He lowered his head, pulled up a piece of grass with his right hand, and passed the time by observing the insects on the grass blades.
In fact, he concealed some information.
Venice local Militia, the number of mercenaries is nearly 40,000, scattered in several isolated strongholds on the mainland, Po Valley, Dalmatia, Dalmatia, Ionian Islands, Aegean Sea Islands, so it appears that the number of troops is very small.
"Governor believes that there are insufficient troops to protect many territories. Great Council believes that there are too many soldiers and the proportion of military expenditures is too high, which has increased Venice's overall tax rate and affected the city's commercial development.
After 1204, Venice has expanded year by year and has exceeded the limit of its own control. Even if there is no Palaiologos, there will be another power competing for the hegemony of Eastern Mediterranean.
Forget it, let's forget about these things for now. After returning to my hometown, I will definitely have to accept many questions. I'll get through this first."
The siege only lasted for more than half a month, and the defenders suddenly mutinied and surrendered. City Official was undoubtedly the primary responsible person. Even if he tried every means to shift the responsibility to Cesare, this fact could not be changed.