The fourth day on the desert island.
In the early morning, the expedition team returned to the northern beaches and reported the investigation results of this trip:
The terrain of the island is rugged, with more precipitation on the northwest side and drought on the southeast. There are no permanent residents or large beasts on the island. There are some lizards and birds. The vegetation on the island is rare and there are only two kinds of trees.
At this point, Felix had no choice but to order Boatswain to organize a logging team to cut down Banyan Tree, which was of better quality.
At the same time, he ordered the crew to remove Scala's sails, rigging, artillery and other items to minimize the weight of the hull.
As the logging team worked, timber was gradually delivered to the beach, and the first batch of logs was half-buried on the beach to serve as a towing fulcrum.
Felix estimates that this stage will take at least three days.
Then, the crew needed to wait for the rising tide and use the buoyancy of the seawater to drag Scala ashore with a winch and pulley, causing the warship to tip over on the beach, exposing one side of the hull.
After repairing the bottom of the ship, everyone needs to wait for the next high tide, relax the ropes to straighten the hull and refloat it, and then repair the bottom of the ship on the other side...
"Captain, there is a situation in the east. A Venice small boat is rowing across the sea and seems to want to explore this island."
After hearing the crew's report, Felix put aside his current work and summoned everyone to prepare for battle.
After a while, the observation post on the east side of the island once again sent a message: the enemy small boat did not land, but sailed in a counterclockwise direction close to the coast of the island, seeming to be looking for some target.
"What on earth is the enemy thinking?"
Felix asked the crew to drag Nine-Pounder Cannon up the hillside, set up a temporary shore defense gun emplacement, and planned to bombard this desperate small boat.
As time passed, the crew became increasingly impatient. It was now one o'clock in the afternoon, and the enemy's small boat had not yet appeared. They stayed near the gun position and chatted, suspecting that their comrades at the eastern outpost were hallucinating.
"What nonsense are they talking about?"
Felix was worried about the crew spreading mysterious remarks, so he took the initiative to attack.
He selected sixty crew members, took three Longboats, and sailed close to the coast to the east side of the island. Whether it was a naval battle or a land battle, Eastern Roman Empire had the numerical advantage and would definitely win!
The cold wind was howling and the sea was undulating. The crew rowed the famous oars desperately. Felix sat in the middle of Longboat, using telescopes to search for the enemy.
The northern shore of the nameless island is rugged, with most sections being steep sea cliffs, lacking a flat coastline and a good port, and is the worst type of island.
"It is said that the green land in the south of Africa is vast, covering an area larger than the entire Europe. Portugal's business focus must be on the richest coast. Even if Portugal people discover this place, they will not invest in resource development."
After a long time, Felix found traces of the Venice boat, which was anchored on the beach. There was a bonfire set up nearby, and a dozen figures were slaughtering a large sea turtle.
"Rush over!"
After hearing the captain's order, everyone speeded up their oars and sailed quickly to the beach ahead. The Venice people also spotted these vicious crew members and hurriedly ran to the small boat and paddled it to escape on the sea.
Due to their haste to escape, three Venice sailors did not have time to board the ship. The three of them ran along the coast, waving their arms desperately.
"Wait, I'm not on the boat yet!"
Felix knew the enemy's situation very well, so he ordered two Longboats to pursue him. The Longboat he was on rowed to the coast and successfully captured three Venice people.
After careful interrogation, he finally knew the reason why the enemy explored this unknown island: Tamsui!
Felix despised the poor geographical conditions of this unknown island. In fact, the situation on the island where the enemy ship was stranded was even worse. There were no streams, lakes, or trees there, making it difficult to survive.
"How many of you survived?"
Venice The tone of the crew member suddenly became low, "There were one hundred and eighty people before departure, most of them died in the storm, and now there are only twenty people left."
"It's a pity that not all of them went to the sea to feed the fish," Felix said with great regret, and returned to the beach with the prisoners.
The fifth day on the desert island.
At noon, the two Longboats that went in pursuit returned to the beach and reported bad news to Felix: last night, the enemy escaped under the cover of darkness, and seemed to be escaping to the islands further east.
Felix suppressed his anger and gave up the idea of continuing to pursue, "Ignore them. Continue repairing the ship and leave this poor place as soon as possible!"
On the sea, the Venice boat was still sailing eastward desperately, bypassing three small islands in succession, and finally stopped at a larger island covered with trees.
"Look, there is a small river there." The officer pointed to the right and shouted, leading everyone to row towards River Mouth.
The river bed here is almost dry, and the deepest water is no more than knee-high. Some people lower their heads and sip the cold river water, and suddenly burst into tears, complaining that they should not join the navy.
Of the seventeen surviving crew members, only six were from Venice. The officer did not dare to offend these profit-seeking foreign sailors, so he patiently comforted:
"As long as we pray sincerely, the situation will get better."
At this moment, the foreign sailors' sanity was close to collapse and they no longer recognized the authority of the officers. "Venice and Mamluk are fighting together. Why should we pray for the Lord's protection?"
I was so confused at the time that I sold my soul for a few Ducat. How could I end up with a good outcome if I hang out with you insects?"
The rest of the companions began to clamor, "What Venice did offended the gods, and Battle of Antikythera was lost. This battleship was also cursed, so it sank to the bottom of the sea."
The survivors argued for a while and gradually divided into three groups.
Officer Lorenzo and five crew members of Venice got together and went to the beach to pick up sea turtle eggs and crabs.
The five Northern Italy crew cut down branches and sharpened sticks to use as fishing tools.
The remaining six Naples crew members ran to the sea cliff on the east side, intending to capture seabirds to feed themselves.
The terrain of the island is relatively flat, and there is no shortage of food, fresh water and forests. With sufficient resources, these survivors did not have conflicts.
After more than a week of confusion, some people began to think about the way out for the future.
Officer Lorenzo planned to escape back to the stranded island, obtain planks, nails, canvas and other materials from the shipwreck, build a larger model Longboat, and then drive it to the coast of Africa to find the stronghold of the Portugal people.
The idea of the foreign sailors was more direct-surrender.
In the final analysis, the foreign sailors are just making a living and have no deep hatred against Palaiologos. If Scala is willing to take them back to Europe, they can accept it, whether it means serving a few years of hard labor or being exiled to the Anatolia inland.
At night, the crew members of Northern Italy and Naples gathered together to discuss and unanimously approved the plan.
Early the next morning, Lorenzo yawned and walked out of the cave. Not far from the cave entrance was a pile of extinguished bonfires. He poked at the ashes with branches and took out two warm turtle eggs for breakfast.
The cave was located halfway up the mountain. He walked along the winding path to the top of the cliff, sat in a familiar position, and looked at the unobstructed sea in the distance.
After a while, there were many footsteps coming from behind. Lorenzo turned his head and saw eleven foreign crew members surrounding him.
He stretched out his hand to sweep away the eggshells on his clothes and said in a calm voice, "What's the matter?"
The leading Naples crew member said, "Brothers want to find Greece people to surrender, and we need that small boat."
"Surrender? It's too late now."
Lorenzo pointed to the blue sea in the north. There was nothing there, only the undulating waves. The crew member was about to get angry, but Lorenzo handed over the telescope and said, "Look carefully."
The crew picked up the telescope and saw a vague outline on the sea, with a white sail shadow and a black hull, slowly heading northeast.
"They just left like that?"
The crew tremblingly handed the binoculars to their companions, and quickly found firewood to build a bonfire, trying to attract the other party's attention in this way.
Soon, a column of smoke rose straight upward. The lookout of Scala noticed the smoke on the southern sea cliff and reported to the captain in the loudest voice.
Felix was sitting on the stern deck of the ship, blowing the sea breeze, and replied casually:
"Ignore them and stay on course."
These days, he worked hard to gather people's hearts and finally repaired Scala. Now, Felix just wants to leave this damn place quickly. If he delays it, he might encounter some trouble.
There are three Venice prisoners of war in the bottom cabin, and the information they provided is sufficient.
The more prisoners there are, the more supplies will be consumed, and there is also the possibility of launching a mutiny. Felix Why did he take the remaining seventeen enemies with him?
"The turtle meat and fish meat here are all good things. You can stay and enjoy them slowly. I won't serve you anymore."
Felix returned to the captain's cabin to write a recent work report and draw nearby charts.
While he was busy, he suddenly remembered the adventure rumors about Portugal.
It is said that the Portugal expedition ship crossed the hottest Africa coast. Further south, the tropical rainforest gradually disappeared, the climate became drier and cooler, the disease rate of sailors was greatly reduced, and many new species existed in the local area.
What's even weirder is that the seasons on the southern coast seem to be opposite to Europe.
Europe is in the summer, and the temperature there becomes cold. Once it comes to Europe in the winter, the climate there is hot.
"Portugal feels that the southern part of Africa is their promised land and cannot tolerate interference from outsiders. Scala is in poor condition and hopes not to encounter the Portugal battleship when returning.
Alas, Rome's sphere of influence is limited to Eastern Mediterranean, and its deterrence against Portugal is limited. If they are determined to sink Scala, Rome will not receive the message."
Meanwhile, Eastern Mediterranean.
After Battle of Antikythera, the Crete fleet of Venice has only thirteen Battleships left, while the number of Battleships of the Eastern Roman Empire exceeds twenty.
At the beginning, Venetian Fleet was blocked outside Volos port many times, hoping that Fabius would go out to fight as soon as possible.
Now the situation of both sides is reversed. The main fleet of the Eastern Roman Empire is staying at Nafplion. As long as there is news from Cruiser on the front line, they will immediately go south to pursue the enemy fleet.
However, the enemy fleet stayed at Candia Harbor for a long time and refused to fight, which made Cohen feel the feelings of Marcello and Soranzo.
"There is a fleet. The concept proposed by His Majesty is really appropriate."
Cohen has no other choice but to wait patiently. The trade route between Venice and Egypt is almost cut off. Crete has lost local reinforcements and Egypt grain, and it is expected that it will not last long.
Finally, on May 15th, he received an alert from Epirus: Venetian Fleet was sailing south, and the target was most likely Crete.
This news comes from a ship Cruiser.
Three days ago, it was ordered to patrol Adriatic Sea and accidentally discovered a fleet coming from the north, including three Double-Deck Warship, six Cruiser, and twelve Armed Merchant Ship.
They did not fly flags, but only Venice around the Adriatic Sea could make up this fleet.
Eastern Roman Empire Cruiser Without hesitation, he sailed to the nearest port and entrusted the inn to help deliver the letter to the fleet headquarters.
Hearing that it was an emergency military situation, the post station responded to the matter with Highest-Level, adopting the method of "changing horses but not people", allowing the courier to travel as fast as possible. At regular intervals, the courier changed mounts from the post stations along the way, and the traveling speed reached one hundred miles per day.
Cohen took out the map and marked the enemy's location three days ago: Dyrrachium (Durrës) West North Sea area.
"If the enemy sails smoothly, there is a high probability that he is currently in the west of Peloponnese."
The situation was urgent, and Cohen dispatched all twelve Cruiser, ten Armed Merchant Ship, and twelve Medium Galley in the port. Their mission was to go to the southern waters of Peloponnese to search for and intercept the enemy fleet.
"You must hold off the enemy until our Battleship arrives."
On May 16, after a day and a half of sailing, the thirty-four ships that set out first arrived at the southern end of Peloponnese.
Summer is the time of the year when sea conditions are the best. The sky is high, the clouds are wide, the sun is bright, rain is rare, and the blue sea surface is slightly undulating, which is most suitable for fishing boats and commercial ships.
Unfortunately, the harassment war between the Eastern Roman Empire and Venice is still going on. Cruiser on both sides are furious and desperately searching for traces of hostile ships. This sea area is no longer as busy as it used to be, and has become extremely deserted.
After receiving the order from the squadron's flagship, they began to form a search formation.
Depending on the weather, the effective recognition distance of naval flags is usually 8 to 15 kilometers. According to the plan, the distance between each ship is maintained at ten kilometers, forming a 340-kilometer search chain from south to north.
The northern end of the search chain is the Peloponnese offshore sea, and more than three hundred kilometers to the south is the Africa coast. Venice reinforcements traveling from west to east to Crete must pass through this search chain.
If a certain ship encounters an enemy, it notifies the warships on both sides through a semaphore, and the warships on both sides pass the same semaphore to the next ship. The signal is like a beacon on land, and eventually spreads to the entire fleet.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, a Medium Galley was anchored at the northern end of the search chain. The fleet sailed ten kilometers south and once again left a Galley...
This process can take as short as three days or as long as five days. According to the officers' speculation, there is a high probability that the search chain in the south has not yet been formed, and the enemy has already hit a certain section in the north.