Achaea

On October 17, Vitus arrived safely at the western coast of the peninsula, where a small harbor town named Kyparissia lay ahead.

Unexpectedly, the town appeared completely defenseless. With the gates standing wide open, Vitus could see empty streets and houses inside, along with a dozen roosters wandering about.

An ambush?

Vitus dispatched a squad of heavy infantry to secure the eastern gate, then sent additional troops to seize the remaining gates and towers. After a thorough search, it seemed the enemy had truly withdrawn.

"Are they preserving their strength, waiting for the right moment to strike me hard?"

Following the plan drafted before his departure, Vitus marched north along the coastline. For every castle he captured, he left behind a portion of his soldiers to garrison it. Half a month passed, and the Eastern Roman Empire army was reduced to 2,800 men.

"Your Highness, I suggest you ask the Morea for another batch of troops." Having failed to locate the enemy's main force since the war began, Piero grew increasingly restless, suspicious, and paranoid, convinced that the enemy army was hiding somewhere in the mountains.

"I sent people to deliver letters, but Theodore acts as if he knows nothing. What can I do?"

Vitus gazed at an abandoned watchtower not far away. The upper half of the tower had collapsed, its walls covered in deep green vines. A shepherd huddled in a sheltered spot, fast asleep, while over twenty goats scattered nearby, the melodious sound of their bells ringing out from time to time.

Soon, scouts woke the shepherd and used a gold coin to inquire about the area, and they actually gained some information.

The scouts brought the shepherd to Vitus and had him repeat what he had just said:

"I don't know where the Duke is. Three days ago, knights from nearby sent men to our village to requisition grain. I was out grazing at the time, so I fled to this place to take shelter, waiting for the storm to pass before returning."

Over the next half-day, the scouts discovered more fleeing villagers. They came from different villages, all having encountered the Duke's temporary grain-requisitioning squads; even the Eastern Orthodox Church monasteries had been forced to provide supplies.

Vitus spread out his map, marked the approximate locations of those villages and monasteries, and estimated that he was only half a day's journey from the Duke.

"Finally couldn't hold back? I expect he will ambush me at some point ahead."

The next day, the Eastern Roman Empire army continued to advance in the original direction. As they were about to pass through a valley, Vitus ordered the entire army to halt and dispatched all his infantry scouts.

As expected, sporadic shouts of battle erupted from the woods one after another. The Eastern Roman Empire army quickly cleared their supply wagons and arranged them into ten loose Hussite Wagon Forts. Soldiers inserted thick wooden planks into the grooves on the edges of the wagons to serve as arrow-deflecting shields. Relying on the protection of the wagon walls, the crossbowmen aimed their bolts at the figures appearing in the distance.

Inside the central wagon fort, Vitus ordered the soldiers to pile up grain bags. He climbed to the top to observe the situation and saw a large number of enemies rushing out of the eastern woods, with some soldiers being shot down by grapeshot and crossbow bolts. The survivors charged to the edge of the wagon fort, attempting to climb over the wagon walls, only to be poked down one by one by the defenders with spears.

The next moment, a faint tremor came from the ground. A group of knights appeared silently to the south of the road, forming a loose line and charging straight toward the southernmost wagon fort of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The commander of the southernmost wagon fort was Marcus. As the roar of iron hooves striking the earth grew closer, he paced inside the fort, boosting the morale of his subordinates.

"Hold steady! No firing early!"

As the warhorses reached their top speed, the knights leveled their lances. Just then, the three-pounder cannons positioned in the gaps between the wagons suddenly fired, and the crossbowmen behind the wagon walls pulled their triggers, killing the dozen or so knights in the lead.

Seeing their companions in front fall, the remaining knights slowed down to bypass the corpses. They approached the edge of the wagon fort, attacking the defenders behind the wagon walls with lances, longswords, and flails. Since it was inconvenient to exert force while on horseback, some simply dismounted to fight on foot.

"Fire at will!"

Marcus hurriedly shouted an order, grabbed a spear, and rushed to the edge of the wagon fort, thrusting the tip at the knight in front of him. He poked twice in succession, but both strikes slid off the slightly curved steel breastplate. Two militiamen nearby were also poking wildly with spears, likewise unable to penetrate the plate armor, merely pushing the enemy back a small step.

In desperation, Marcus snatched a halberd from a terrified farmer and brought the axe blade down hard on the knight's iron helmet, finally caving it in. Before he could catch his breath, a plate-armored knight from the side-front charged over fiercely with a shield, knocking down two militiamen and opening a gap for his companions behind...

Before long, the wagon fort at the end of the line was in jeopardy. Vitus notified the nearby wagon forts to provide reinforcements. "Such formidable combat power, it is just a pity that the agricultural output of the Peloponnese is limited, and it cannot support too many knights."

At this moment, hundreds of mercenaries also rushed out of the northern valley. Now that the ambush was exposed, there was no point in hiding in the valley, so they charged toward the forward-most wagon fort of the Eastern Roman Empire, becoming entangled with the soldiers led by Damien.

With the war at this stage, there was little Vitus could do. He remained standing on top of the grain pile, watching the enemy forces simultaneously launch a fierce assault on his north, east, and south sides.

The brutal siege quickly exhausted the stamina of both sides. The Principality of Achaea mercenaries were the first to withdraw from the battlefield, and the Duke's guards and the troops of the Achaea nobles followed suit.

Vitus sent men to count the casualties and then moved to a nearby gentle slope to camp. After this battle, the Eastern Roman Empire had suffered over four hundred casualties, most of whom were militiamen lacking armor.

Realizing the importance of armor, the surviving militiamen endured their nausea, stripped the armor from the fallen nobles and soldiers, wiped the bloodstains off the surface with leaves and mud, and then put them on for protection.

"Damien, have them wear a surcoat over their breastplates so we don't confuse friend from foe during battle." Vitus suddenly remembered that he had "borrowed" a batch of thick gray woolen cloth in Mistra, which happened to come in handy.

The next day, Vitus dispatched a convoy to escort the wounded back to the castle in the rear to recover, while the remaining 2,300 men continued their march. On November 5, they arrived at the capital of the Principality of Achaea—Andravida.

On the eve of the siege, the city sent an envoy to request peace talks. As long as Vitus stopped the attack, any terms could be discussed, including ceding territory and swearing allegiance to Constantinople.

"Constantinople?" Vitus's eyes looked as if he were staring at an idiot.

"Listen carefully. This war was fought with my own savings, and it even delayed me from working for the monarchs of Europe. Now that my troops are at the city walls, if I let you get away with this, what happens to the money I spent? What happens to the mercenary missions I gave up? Who is going to compensate me for this loss?"

Vitus expelled the envoy and began bombarding the walls of Andravida. With the war at this point, whether it was Venice, Naples, or Constantinople, no one could stop him.