Early March 1446, Greece central, Volos.
In the past year, this seaport has become the home port of Aegean Fleet. Twenty Double-Deck Warship have been parked here for a long time, including twelve conventional warships and eight heavy warships.
There are only five Cruisers in the port, and the remaining ships are wandering around Eastern Mediterranean, harassing Venice merchant ships or transport ships.
Thanks to the existence of these Cruiser, Venice was forced to redeploy some ships to maintain this long Trade route:
Venice's native--Ionian Islands--Crete--Egypt's Alexandria. The total voyage is nearly 1,500 miles and takes more than a month.
The routes of Ionia and Crete are relatively close to Peloponnese and are most vulnerable to attack. Venetian Fleet focuses on this route and dispatches warships to escort them.
After leaving Crete, the merchant ship needs to cross a stretch of three hundred miles of sea with no stopping points along the way. There are a large number of the Eastern Roman Empire Cruiser wandering here, and the level of danger is second only to the southern sea area of Peloponnese.
"Venice lacks Alum. The local textile industry has been hit hard and relies more on the Finance income brought by re-exports of Trade. At the end of winter, this Trade route is getting busier. All newly commissioned ships should be sent there."
Fabius submitted a report to the above, then walked out of the camp and inspected defense on the hillside on the east side of the bay.
In early spring, when the weeds had just sprouted, he climbed up on the dry and hard brown soil, and the hem of his cloak was caught in the thorn bushes on the roadside.
There are many sentries on the east side of the hillside. Sentinels uses a telescope to observe the outside of the bay. Once traces of Venetian Fleet are found, they will be notified to the military port in a short time.
Fabius faced the west, overlooking the light blue bay where dozens of warships and 200 civilian ships were moored. The sea was calm and shimmering under the sunlight. The breeze blew from the ridge behind him, bringing with it a bit of coolness, and he couldn't help but tighten his cloak.
"The bay is wide and can accommodate many warships. The entrance on the south side is only four miles, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack."
Fabius established two lines of defense at the entrance of the bay.
The first line of defense consists of fifteen retired Galley. They are small in size and arranged from west to east, more than 200 steps apart, and connected to each other by a sea-blocking iron chain.
The role of the first line of defense is to serve as a warning. These Galley cannot carry large-caliber artillery, and their mission is to destroy or intercept fire attack boats.
Even if Galley is ignited by the fire attack boat, they can buy enough time for the second line of defense Floating Gun Platform to be ready.
There are six Floating Gun Platform in the second line of defense. These forts are arranged from west to east, more than 600 steps apart, and are also connected to a sea-blocking iron chain.
Floating Gun Platform belongs to the super Heavy Double-Deck Warship, which completely abandons speed and seaworthiness. The hull of Oak is extremely thick, and twenty-eight guns are placed on the side facing south. Fourteen Twelve-Pounder Cannon are placed on the open deck, and the same number of Eighteen-Pounder Cannon are placed on the lower deck.
Soldiers are stationed at the six forts at all times to be alert to Venetian Fleet's surprise attacks.
Overall, Fabius is quite satisfied with the current situation of the port and has decided to stay here for a long time.
The only disadvantage of Volos is that it is located in a remote location, but the other ports have more disadvantages and are not suitable as wartime military ports.
In the classical period, Port of Piraeus of Athens was the most famous. After two thousand years, Port of Piraeus has been lacking dredging and maintenance for a long time. The silt gradually accumulated and the water depth became shallower, making it impossible to berth a large double-decker warship.
The water depth of Chalcis is suitable, but its hydrological conditions are complex. The tidal current in the strait changes direction every six hours, and the flow speed is turbulent. If the ship is not careful, it will hit the rocks, so it is also excluded.
The remaining options are Nafplion, Volos, and Thessaloniki.
Nafplion is the original main base of Aegean Fleet. The conditions are good. The only flaw is that the port is open. Venetian Fleet may break in and forcibly destroy the anchored ships.
Therefore, the only alternative options left are Volos and Thessaloniki.
These two cities have deep and wide bays and ideal anchorages. The bays are almost surrounded by land, forming an excellent natural barrier.
Moreover, Volos is close to the Thessaly plain, and Thessaloniki is located in the Macedonia plain. The fleet can obtain sufficient food, craftsmen, and various supplies.
Considering that Volos is located in the middle of Greece and Thessaloniki is located in the north. Fabius finally chooses Volos which is closer to Crete.
At noon, Fabius returned to the port and suddenly received an urgent letter from the Attica area.
The messenger handed the briefcase to the admiral, "Five days ago, Ephesus was patrolling in the west of Crete and noticed that the main force of Venetian Fleet was heading north.
Ephesus was pursued by an enemy ship and sailed to Port of Piraeus to escape. This is a report entrusted by the captain to us (Athens defenders)." Fabius convened a high-level meeting and opened the briefcase. The report roughly recorded the scale of Venetian Fleet: the total number of Double-Deck Warship, single-layer Cruiser, and Galleass battleships exceeded fifty, and many Medium Galley followed behind.
"They are blocking the port again. This time the number of enemy warships is smaller. They are probably escorting merchant ships."
Last autumn, Venetian Fleet blocked the port once. Fabius did not go out to fight. No matter how abusive and provocative Marcello was, he always stayed inside the bay until the opponent withdrew his troops.
"Volos's defense is not a problem. Send people to notify coastal towns and ask them to be more vigilant."
What Fabius cares about is domestic pressure. Every time Venetian Fleet bombards ports in various places, local civil servants and churches will inevitably write to Central Administration, complaining that Fabius is cowardly and afraid of war, and ask the emperor to appoint a new admiral.
Not only outsiders, Fabius sometimes receives letters from relatives and friends, and they also mention this matter.
As time passed, he began to worry about the emperor's attitude.
Although the emperor now trusts himself, this trust has limits. Assuming that the other party hears negative comments every day, trust will gradually dissipate, and suspicion will one day arise.
"I hope I don't end up in Belisarius's situation."
Rumor has it that Belisarius was blinded by Justinian in his later years and ended up miserable. Fabius walked out of the conference room and kept convincing himself with various reasons, such as the personalities of the two emperors.
Justinian is diligent, loyal and suspicious. His own military ability is mediocre, but he was lucky enough to pick out two famous generals, Belisarius and Narses.
Vitus I is equally diligent, but his attitude towards the church is alienated, he is frugal by nature, and his ruling style is different from that of previous emperors. His attitude towards certain issues is very casual, and he appears to be too strong in some areas. For example, health facilities in military camps and cities, increasing the proportion of mathematics in education...
"His Majesty obtained the throne through repeated military exploits. He is by no means a lucky monarch like Justinian. He should understand the difficulties faced by frontline generals."
Fabius did not return to the office and strode to Cathedral in Volos city. In the surprised eyes of the monks and civilians, the high-ranking admiral knelt in the hall and prayed quietly.
Sunlight penetrated the painted windows, and the sacred and solemn light beam enveloped the admiral's figure. After hearing the news, the bishop rushed to greet him and vaguely heard the admiral's prayer:
"... May the emperor continue to trust me as always, and may fate be on the side of Rome, allowing me to lead the army at the right time to defeat this group of shameless scum who colluded with the pagan forces."