In the early morning after the fire attack, a Eastern Roman Empire Cruiser sailed towards Candia Harbor. The lookout stayed high on the mast to observe the damage to the port.
Looking at it, most of the ships were slightly damaged, some were floating on the sea, a few ships rushed onto the beach in panic, and some ships collided with each other.
The lookouts counted the number, and compared with the detection results yesterday afternoon, there were about twelve fewer ships in the harbor.
At this time, the coastal defense fortress fired at the sea, and the shells landed on the water not far from Cruiser. Cruiser did not stay too long and returned to the main fleet to report.
This result was in line with Cohen's expectations. He ordered the fleet to return and stood alone at the stern of the ship to think.
"Candia Harbor's ships were damaged and the port facilities were burned. The enemy needs to rebuild the port facilities before they can repair the ships. In the next few months, the combat effectiveness of the Candia fleet will be greatly weakened. We can separate half of the fleet and recover Ionia."
Blachernae Palace.
"It costs 20,000 Florin to paralyze the enemy fleet for several months. This is a good deal."
Vitus decided to wait until the Candia fleet was repaired and then launch another Rocket offensive, burning as much as it could and forcing the enemy to continue repairing ships in the port.
The area of Candia Harbor is not enough. No matter how prepared the enemy is, the ship is always within the range of Rocket. This is a flaw of the port itself. The only solution is to change to a wider bay.
However, this brings new problems.
Crete There are such bays, but their infrastructure is very poor. There are no Dry Dock, barracks, treadmill cranes, and no fortifications such as city walls and coastal fortresses.
According to the construction experience of Vitus, building a military port with complete facilities and tight defense will have to be delayed until at least the beginning of next year.
"Pelato, convene a meeting with Privy Council, Army Department, and Admiralty!"
The opportunity is hard, Vitus plans to win Ionian Islands as soon as possible.
After Battle of Antikythera, Venice lost control of the sea, and the frequency of coastal raids became less and less frequent. The last attack occurred in the spring of this year. The field troops did not need to take on the task of suppressing bandits, and there were sufficient forces to invest in this attack.
The archipelago is located on the west coast of Greece. The most important one is Corfu (Corfu Island). It is located in the north and has a population of more than 20,000. It is the ruling center of Venice in the archipelago.
Kefalonia Island is located in the central part of the country and has 10,000 residents.
Zakynthos Island is located in the south and has a slightly larger population than Kefalonia.
In this battle, Eastern Roman Empire will attack Zakynthos first, then Kefalonia in the center, and finally Corfu in the north.
In early September, Dragon Cavalry Brigade boarded the ship at Kyllini port, sailed on the sea for three hours, and successfully arrived at Zakynthos Island on the west side.
Under the cover of numerous Battleship, the transport fleet put down Longboat and successively transported Army to the coast.
The beach was within the range of naval guns, and Dragoons was not attacked by the enemy. They successfully completed the assembly and headed to the island's only port town - Zakynthos.
At this moment, there are only two hundred mercenaries left in the town.
Outnumbered, the mercenaries entrusted a local priest to go out to the city for negotiations, and handed over the town two hours later without any casualties throughout the process.
The brigade commander asked the mercenary leader, "Where have the Venice people gone?"
"You made too much noise in gathering troops, and the Venice people have noticed it a long time ago. Half a month ago, most of the garrison withdrew to Corfu, leaving us to guard the town."
The brigade commander suspected that the mercenary leader was lying, so he quickly took over the defense, notified the transport fleet to dock at the port, and unloaded the war horses, Field Gun, and supplies.
In the afternoon of that day, groups of Dragoons left the town and headed inland to reconnoiter the enemy's situation.
The area of Zakynthos is similar to that of Lemnos, both are more than 400 square kilometers.
The eastern part of the island is a large area of flat and open farmland. The rainfall here is acceptable and suitable for farming. It is an important grain-producing area in Venice.
The cavalry troops visited every village and found no sign of the Venice garrison.
Subsequently, the brigade commander focused his attention on the mountainous area in the west of the island and searched for two full days, but ultimately found nothing.
"Has the enemy become so weak?"
The situation of Kefalonia Island is similar, all the defenders evacuated.
It is the largest island in the archipelago (781 square kilometers). The terrain is mainly mountainous. The force responsible for the attack is Hermes Brigade.
Hermes Brigade is positioned as a fast force for suppressing bandits and small-scale operations, with two thousand Mountain Infantry.
After landing on the island, Mountain Infantry was ordered to search the inland area and shuttle through the dense fir forest.
The island has a small area of arable land, and many residents make a living by logging. The felled wood is sent to the coast to be processed into wooden boards and sold to the Venice mainland as cheap ship materials.
After working hard for several days, Hermes Brigade only found one poacher camp, at the cost of four people falling and two people stepping on hunting traps.
After occupying the entire island, the officers gathered together for a meeting, "It seems that the defenders of the entire archipelago have been reduced to Corfu. Sakarya Legion is very busy now."
The area of Corfu is second only to Kefalonia Island. It has become the ruling center of Venice in the archipelago for two reasons:
First of all, at the strategic level, the island is only one hundred kilometers away from Naples in the west. Guarding the southern exit of the Adriatic Sea is the only way for Venice merchant ships to enter and exit Mediterranean Sea.
Secondly, the island has sufficient water resources and fertile soil, which is suitable for the development of agriculture. The number of residents ranks first in the archipelago, and it provides Venice with a large amount of wine and olive oil every year.
Among Venice's many overseas territories, Corfu has the highest loyalty.
In 1204, East Roman Empire collapsed, Corfu was initially occupied by Venice, and then belonged to Principality of Epirus, Kingdom of Naples (Anjou).
The rule of House of Anjou lasted for more than a century. The residents of Corfu could not bear it anymore and sent envoys to ask for Venice's asylum.
In 1386, Corfu became the overseas territory of Venice again. The island was governed indirectly, the interests of the local nobles were protected, and the situation was stable for a long time.
On September 10, 1447, Sakarya Legion landed southeast of Corfu. Compared to Euboea and Lemnos, the attitude of the local people was slightly colder and the cheers were much smaller.
That afternoon, a town appeared in front of the road, with a low stone wall built outside the town.
The vanguard sent people to persuade them to surrender, but they were refused.
"Fire!"
Artillery bombarded it with Six-Pounder Cannon for twenty minutes. The stone wall remained intact. The mercenaries and Militia stayed at their posts. The blue background winged lion flag of Venice was still flying above the city wall.
After the bombardment ended, the nobles of the town sent a representative. As long as the emperor recognized the rights and property of the Corfu nobles, they were willing to be loyal to Rome.
Renaf was amused by these idiots.
Renaf used to be Cyprus's blacksmith and was exploited by the Lusignan Dynasty. To this day, what he hates most are still those Greece nobles and officials who work for Latins.
"Listen clearly, your so-called power is not worth mentioning. The emperor was fighting with Ottoman, and now he is fighting with Venice. There are countless battles, large and small, and he has never compromised. Why do you think he will be patient and negotiate terms with you?"
After driving away the envoy, he arranged for the army to build a camp, block the town's external access, and ignored subsequent requests for negotiations.
After waiting for three full days, engineers built a trestle in a seaside fishing village and transported Nine-Pounder Cannon and Twelve-Pounder Cannon.
After half an hour of bombardment, the Legion forcibly broke through the city wall, and the commandos pushed Three-Pounder into the city, defeating hundreds of defenders in the town. The Militias dropped their weapons and dispersed, each going back to his home.
After the Legion took over the town, it wasn't over yet.
Renaf sent people to arrest those nobles and Militia, and hanged the fifty people who resisted the most resolutely. The surviving personnel and their families were put under centralized custody, and there is a high probability that they will be moved to Cappadocia.
That afternoon, the legion interrogated many prisoners and submitted a detailed report to the command.
Corfu has 24,000 residents and 70 local noble households. The information of all nobles is registered in "Golden Book".
Corfu's "Golden Book" is not the same as Venice's local "Golden Book". The titles of Corfu nobles are only valid locally. They can participate in local committees and be responsible for taxation and Justice affairs.
If Corfu nobles come to Venice's homeland, they will not be able to enjoy the treatment of nobles.
Renaf believes that although this group of people are local aristocrats, in fact they have been intermarried with Venice for a long time, and their identity has already tended to Venice.
"Corfu is long and narrow from north to south. The core city Corfu City (Corfu City) is located on the central coast. The legion's landing location is in the southeast of the island. This Siege Warfare is just the beginning. Next, the legion will face more battles."
On September 14, a stone castle appeared in front of it, with four towers at the four corners. The main tower was located in the southeast corner. Its height was equivalent to ten adults. Judging from the architectural style, it was a fortification from the Anjou period.
The army's attempts to persuade them to surrender were of no use, and they could only forcefully attack the city.
Bang! Bang!
The ten shells fired in the first round hit the bottom of the main tower. They did not penetrate the wall, but knocked down a large amount of rubble. Several birds fled to high altitudes in terror.
Then the second round, the third round...
Renaf had plenty of patience for the siege. He sat under the shade of a tree in the distance and took time to process some office documents. The autumn wind blew by and the withered yellow leaves slowly fell. He suddenly remembered that the war had been going on for two years.
For most of the time after the war began, Sakarya Legion was stationed in Constantinople, serving as a long-term reserve.
This summer, Varangian Legion ended his station in the Greece area and switched defenses with the Sakarya Legion. Renaf was transferred to the front line to catch up with the Ionia recovery war.
"To recover Ionia, the next target is Adriatic Sea's island, and then Venice's mainland. I wonder what Privy Council's plan is?"
At noon, a conspicuous crack appeared in the outer wall of the main tower. Artillery discussed briefly and began to focus fire on the crack.
After multiple rounds of bombardment, the cracks became larger and larger, and some shells even passed through the cracks and bombarded the other wall of the tower. When reaching a certain critical point, the main tower began to tilt and fell toward the inner courtyard of the castle.
Boom!
The huge impact caused the ground in the castle's inner courtyard to collapse, and the underground water storage cellar was smashed through. The accumulated rainwater gushed out from the cracks in the stone slabs and gathered into a turbid pool in the low-lying area of the inner courtyard.
This scene shocked the surviving defenders. The number of mercenaries was larger, and they forced five nobles and twenty Militia to put down their weapons, open the city gate and surrender.
Renaf sent people to take over the castle, hanged all the nobles in public, and sent the rest back to the seaside camp for custody.
"I thought they were going to imitate the Red Fort defenders of Euboea and hold on until they die of old age."
Red Fort is located at the southeastern end of Euboea. The terrain is difficult, but the strategic value is extremely low. Two years ago, the Eastern Roman Empire army did not attack by force, but sent a team of Greece Militia to block it at the foot of the mountain.
After more than a year of persistence, this spring, the Red Fort defenders ran out of food. They requested to surrender, but Captain Militia refused.
The captain replied, "Since you swore to stick to it until you die, why can't you keep your word?"
A few nights later, Red Fort's defenders climbed down the cliff along the rope and stepped on the trap set by Militia. The defenders' screams attracted many Militia. After a brief fight, the seven defenders fled to the nearby woods, where they were caught up and killed by Militia.
The next day, Greece Militia invaded Red Fort, killed the baron and four surviving guards in the castle, and hung their bodies on the top of the tower near the sea to display to passing ships...
No matter how the outside world views it, Renaf believes that Captain Militia's actions are reasonable.
Why should we accept the Red Fort defenders' proposal to surrender? Letting them go will only create an impression that Roman Legion is "weak and can be bullied" to the outside world.
"They should be thrown into the arena and become gladiators, as was done in classical antiquity."
Hearing Renaf's chanting, Legion's Tribune and financial officer remained silent and focused on handling the matters at hand.
On September 15th, Sakarya Legion advanced to the outside of Corfu City. A new-style city wall was built in this city. The north and east of the city are both on the sea. There are many coastal defense fortresses in the port area, making it extremely difficult to attack.
"Alas, it's another large-scale offensive."
Renaf sent troops to block the city's land routes, personally led the team to clear out enemies in other areas, and waited for follow-up reinforcements to arrive.
Ten days later, Renaf occupied most of the island and received a message from the rear:
Thirty-door Siege Cannon arrived at the temporary dock on the south side of the island, successfully completed unloading, and is now transporting it to the siege camp.
The cavalry officer finished the official news and then lowered his voice, "The financial officer asked me to tell you that the Artillery department of the Military Academy sent a group of students to familiarize them with the battlefield environment."
Renaf I don't think there's anything special about this news. It's just a bunch of the Military Academys, so it doesn't deserve too much attention.
The cavalry officer took a step forward and added in a low voice, "Leo·Palaiologos, he is a student of the Artillery department. The financial officer asked you to send troops to escort him. Don't let him be attacked during the march."
Renaf didn't know whether this suggestion came from the person in charge of the Military Academy, a civil servant from the Army Department, or the emperor himself. He suppressed his inner anger and ordered the light cavalry to rush to the south of the island with battalion fire to escort the Military Academy students and Siege Cannon.
"I have wiped out the rebels outside the city, so there should be no big problem. I hope he will not participate in the subsequent Adriatic Sea war and Venice local siege."