Half an hour after the battle ended, Militia from the rear arrived belatedly.
"Finally here."
Boranov handed over the chore of guarding the captives to Captain Militia, who led Dragoons to continue the pursuit and headed for the fishing village mentioned by the captives.
Regarding the sudden appearance of the cavalry, the mercenaries staying in the fishing village panicked and rushed to the edge of the pier one after another, rowing the famous Longboat and escaping to the fleet anchored in the deep water area.
Boranov signaled everyone to raise their guns, aimed a salvo at Longboat, and then quickly evacuated the beach to avoid the shells fired by the enemy fleet.
After a long time, the transport fleet on the sea evacuated, and Boranov was relieved. Turning around, he found that some fishermen had left their hiding places, staring blankly at the fishing village destroyed by shells.
Although the fishermen did not reprimand them, Boranov still felt sad, feeling that they were complaining about their own incompetence.
He strode towards the village priest and said, "Some broken soldiers have fled into the mountains and may cause trouble to the people at any time. I will escort you back to Agrinion and notify the local Mountain Infantry to come and clear them up."
"Then what? Can we come back and live there?"
Hearing the priest's question, Boranov's mood became even lower, as if he had lost a battle. "We don't have enough troops to garrison every coast. The enemy may come back to plunder at any time. It's safer for you to stay in the town."
Hearing this, the villagers began to lose control of their emotions. "What will we eat if we stay in the town?"
"When did the war end, three years or five years? Venice people plundered the coast, why did the emperor's fleet not attack?"
As a mid-level military officer, Boranov could not answer the villagers' questions or make any promises, so he could only deal with it all in silence.
Under the persuasion of the priest, the villagers returned to the messy fishing village to pack their things.
Many houses were destroyed by shells and were no longer suitable for habitation. People wandered around the ruins of their homes, grabbing as many items as possible and unwilling to leave after being busy for a long time.
On the fifth day of November, Boranov arrived at Agrinion with refugees. A log wall was built outside the town. Some civilians were digging trenches outside the wall to strengthen the town's defense.
Compared with the past, the area of the town has been expanded by half, and the new area is used for the construction of barracks and refugee camps.
"This war is just the beginning. Refugees continue to accumulate, and the burden on cities and towns increases. Sooner or later, the burden will be exceeded, and food needs to be allocated from Thessaly."
Boranov looked around, estimating the agricultural output of this plain and the number of refugees it could support.
Not long after, the mayor and the bishop came out of the city with their entourage to greet him. When the mayor gave a speech, Boranov and Mountain Battalion were talking on the edge of the crowd and expressed their doubts.
The other party was surprised. "You are a military attache and you are only responsible for leading troops to fight. Why should you consider the affairs of local civil servants and churches?" The colleagues did not pay attention to this matter, so Boranov simply thought alone:
"If Central Administration lets the refugees stay in nearby towns, it proves that they are confident that the war will end within a year. If Central Administration moves the refugees to Anatolia inland, Northern Black Sea Coast, it is estimated that this war will last at least two years."
At this time, the mayor and the bishop completed their speeches one after another and led the refugees to the resettlement camp in the south of the city.
Boranov disbanded the team and returned to the camp office to write a combat report, detailing the march route, combat process, and specific results.
At the end of the report, he recorded information about the enemy fleet.
"... Even this small-scale troop transport fleet is still escorted by large warships. If we want to attack this type of fleet from the sea, we should send more than three capital ships."
He took the drawing tool and sketched the outlines of the Galleass battleship and Cruiser, then checked the full text of the report, put it into a briefcase, and sealed it with fire paint.
After writing the report, Boranov left the office and saw Deputy Battalion Commander rushing out of the next room. During the run, the other party put on an iron helmet, buttoned up his leather jacket, and blew Brass Whistle to gather the team.
Boranov asked, "Something happened again?"
Deputy Battalion Commander responded, "Yes, I will take the Third Company to the south for a tour."
Boranov didn't say anything more. He handed the briefcase to the messenger and asked him to deliver it to Larissa where Brigade Headquarters was.
... After three days of rest, Boranov received another notice: a beacon fire was igniting on the west coast.
This time, Boranov set off with a company in better condition. He followed these warning beacons all the way to the west North Sea coast and arrived at a high sea cliff.
"Where are the enemy troops?"
He sent people to search everywhere, but found only a pile of extinguished firewood and no trace of any mercenaries.
Ten minutes later, Dragoons found the shepherd's hut not far away, and the shepherd admitted that he had lit the beacon fire.
"I saw a fleet heading south, with blue flags flying on the masts of the ships. It looked like those Venice scum. So I lit a beacon to give you a signal."
"I hope you didn't lie to me." Boranov quickly gathered his troops and headed south.
The cold wind was howling, and the road was covered with a layer of dark yellow leaves. There had been a heavy rain on the coast two days ago, and the road was particularly slippery. Boranov slowed down and had to walk with the reins on some sections.
Bang! Bang!
There was a dull thunder in the sky. He subconsciously cursed a few times and looked for a suitable shelter from the rain. Then, he discovered that the sound was continuous. This was not thunder, but the sound of more than dozens of artillery pieces!
Boranov handed the reins to the soldier and trotted up the hillside on the west side. His right hand was accidentally cut, leaving a bright red bloodstain.
After a few minutes, he panted and climbed to the top of the mountain, and his vision suddenly opened up. The sky was dark, the dark blue sea was undulating, and more than twenty Galleys flying the Venice flag were scattered on the sea, trying to get closer to each other. They had a deep draft and were loaded with soldiers and supplies.
There are four heavy-duty Galleass warships on the edge of the fleet. They are turning desperately, their oars rising and falling neatly, like centipede's thin feet paddling on the water, trying to intercept the Cruiser hanging Palaiologos Flag.
"More than four battleships."
Boranov held up the telescope and stared at the end of the west North Sea. There were two more Venice Cruiser. There were six large warships in total, besieging the solitary Rome Cruiser.
At this time, a strong north wind was blowing on the sea surface. Rome Cruiser did not slow down and rushed straight towards those clumsy and slow transport ships.
The Galleass battleships on both sides tried to outflank the Cruiser, using the ramming angle of the bow and the bow cannon to restrain it.
The next moment, Cruiser turned sharply on the sea where gunfire was flying, the hull tilted almost over, the cannon on the side fired almost against the enemy's hull, and the sail yard made an overwhelming sound.