After twenty days of preparation, Eastern Roman Empire formed a large transport fleet capable of carrying five thousand soldiers and various supplies.
On December 25, the weather was gloomy and Aegean Sea was moderately windy.
In the morning, the fleet set off from the Gallipoli peninsula and sailed westward following the sea breeze.
Lemnos is only 60 kilometers away from the starting point. At one o'clock in the afternoon, a very light gray line appeared on the west side of the sea, which is the coast of Lemnos.
"Venice people!"
On the deck of the transport ship, a crew member pointed to two warships flying the Winged Lion flag in the distance, attracting onlookers from his companions.
Soon, the decisive battle fleet responsible for escort sent four Cruiser to drive away the enemy ships.
As the fleet approached the coast, Venice Sentinels lit the beacon, and three black smoke pillars stretched straight into the sky, signaling inland the enemy's incoming attack.
Bang!
A Cruiser aimed at the coast and launched a bombardment, and the Sentinels stranded on the beach dispersed in a hurry.
The eastern part of the island has a flat and open terrain, and there are many places suitable for large-scale landings.
Seventy transport ships anchored offshore. The crew used cables to lower Longboat to the sea. Immediately afterwards, Army soldiers walked out of the cabin in an orderly manner and followed the cables down to Longboat.
Each transport ship put down two Longboats, and the first batch of Longboats landed as many as one hundred and forty. The gray-blue sea surface was undulating, and the soldiers shouted slogans and paddled, and the Longboats swayed towards the deserted beach.
Looking around, there is sparse vegetation near the coast, no forests, and no mountains. The view is unobstructed and there is no possibility of setting up an ambush.
Finally, Longboat arrived at the beach. Everyone took out their weapons from the boat and formed a formation on the beach.
"Third Dragoons Battalion, come and assemble!"
Boranov Let the non-commissioned officers hold the camp flag high and collect the troops scattered on the beach.
According to the plan before the attack, of the first 3,000 soldiers to land, 1,000 occupied nearby fishing villages and built port facilities, while the remaining 2,000 marched inland and captured various strongholds in the central part of the island.
During the trip, Boranov discovered that the soil here is excellent and winter wheat is growing well.
""Golden Horn News" seems to have mentioned that the soil of Lemnos is rich in volcanic ash and is suitable for farming. The grape varieties on the island are special and the wine produced tastes very good. The military salary from last month has not been used up yet. I will buy some wine from the villagers later."
Two hours later, Boranov arrived at the bay in the south-central part of the island. In front of it stood a port town named "Moudros".
Venice has two military ports on the island, one is Myrina on the west coast, and the other is Moudros.
The military port in front of you has a low stone wall, with soldiers stationed above and an unknown number of artillery installed.
According to the plan, the mission of Boranov and friendly forces is to surround the town, draw a city defense map, and wait for Siege Cannon to be transported from the rear.
The friendly battalion commander had a low level of education and was not good at drawing maps, so he assigned this task to the three staff officers of the legion. "You guys go ahead and I'll send people to scout the surrounding villages to find a suitable camping spot."
Boranov stayed where he was to observe every move of the young staff officer.
First, they came to a higher gentle slope and placed a small table supported by a tripod. A rangefinder was fixed above it. There were vertical aiming plates at both ends of the ruler for aiming at targets and drawing lines.
A person takes out a compass, determines the direction of magnetic north, marks a north arrow on the drawing, sets the current location as the origin, and then starts to draw a line segment...
At dusk, the staff completed the drawing and the troops evacuated to a nearby village to camp.
Most of the people on the island are Greece people. The villagers warmly entertained the emperor's army and inquired about the recent war situation.
Boranov: "We won the naval battle and temporarily gained Aegean Sea control of the sea. If Venice sends a new fleet from the mainland, our navy will still have to fight the enemy."
His words aroused concern among the people. The priest was the first to ask, "After capturing the entire island, how many defenders will you leave behind?"
"Such matters are beyond my control. You should discuss it with the generals, or go to Constantinople to see the emperor."
In the following days, Dragoons Battalion and friendly forces built a siege camp outside the city.
There is a lack of forest nearby, so the soldiers can only go to the northeast and southeast of the island to cut down scattered trees, and then drag the wood to the outskirts of the city. The construction efficiency is seriously insufficient.
The construction progress on the east coast is not ideal either. Engineers need to build a dock for large ships to berth and transport Siege Cannon to land. Mediterranean Sea suffers from heavy rainfall in winter, which not only delays the construction progress, but also causes hundreds of people to fall ill.
Even so, the Eastern Roman Empire army did not slow down its offensive. They must recover as many Aegean Sea islands as possible within the short period of time when they control the sea.
According to Admiralty's speculation, there is a high probability that Venice will send a batch of new warships to the mainland next spring.
Once they arrive at Crete and Venetian Fleet regains their strength, a melee will break out again at the Aegean Sea, which is no longer suitable for large-scale landing operations.
On the last day of 1446, the camp outside Moudros was finally completed.
"Really? It's not easy."
At this time, Boranov was recuperating from illness and stayed in the barracks all day warming himself by the fire. All the army-related affairs were handed over to Deputy Battalion Commander.
He was using a portable iron stove with briquettes burning inside, and a pot of red wine was being heated on the stove.
Referring to the method mentioned in "Golden Horn News", Boranov uncover the lid of the pot, add a small amount of cinnamon and cloves, heat over low heat for a while, and then add sliced lemons.
"Well, I can't find honey at the moment, so I can only use sucrose instead."
He put in a piece of cane sugar, stirred it evenly with a spoon, then took a small spoonful and tasted it, "Yes, the newspaper did not lie."
The boiled red wine tasted rich and sweet, and the original astringent taste was covered up by the spices and sucrose. It was simply the best-tasting wine he had ever tasted.
Unknowingly, after drinking half a bottle of red wine, my body felt warm from the inside out, and my whole body felt much better.
Boranov opened the door, and the cold wind howled, making him wrap himself in a gray and white blanket.
Suddenly, the scream of Harness Horse was heard in the distance. He walked to the edge of the camp. Four Harness Horses dragged one Nine-Pounder Cannon forward with difficulty. His breath condensed into white mist in the air.
"The destructive power of Nine-Pounder Cannon is limited. When will Siege Cannon be transported?"
Hearing Boranov's inquiry, the accompanying officer came over and complained, "Forget it, the quality of the temporary trestle was not good and was crushed by Siege Cannon. The engineers are busy reinforcing the second remaining trestle, and it is expected to wait for two days."
Malaka! Winter sieges are troublesome. It's windy and rainy all day long. The number of sick people far exceeds the number of casualties. It's all the fault of the Switzerland mercenaries in the city. Why haven't they surrendered yet?"