At the end of the battle, each unit was ordered to pursue the remaining enemies. Due to the complex terrain, their pursuit efficiency was very poor, and they only captured more than 3,000 mercenaries.
Prisoners of war faced two choices: go to the mines, or be placed at the Cappadocia border, the most dangerous place.
On March 13, Romanus left the interior and arrived on the northwest coast of Crete.
The soil here is fertile and there are dozens of Venice settlements. When the Venice people heard the news of the defeat on the front line, they hurriedly hid in the Chania city. The plantations and villages on the outskirts of the city became empty, leaving only a few tired and numb Greece tenant farmers.
Chania has a new type of city wall with strong defense. Romanus sent troops to occupy the nearby fishing village, expanded it into a temporary military port, and also asked the army to dig trenches outside the city.
A week later, Konya Legion and Siege Cannon successively reinforced the front line. Romanus's available troops reached 30,000. It was only a matter of time before we captured this strong city.
Souda Bay is located on the east side of Chania, and most of the combat power of the Crete fleet is parked inside. The admiral believes that Crete is about to fall, and it is meaningless for the fleet to stay on this island. It is better to return to the mainland and help defend Adriatic Sea.
Late at night on March 30th, Venetian Fleet quietly left the bay and tried to return to the mainland.
This fleet is huge, with more than sixty ships, and only ten Battleship are truly a threat.
An interceptor fleet of the Eastern Roman Empire is parked outside Souda Bay, with twenty Battleship, twenty-eight Cruiser, and twenty auxiliary ships. The number of naval guns is twice that of the enemy, giving it an absolute firepower advantage.
However, night is not suitable for fleet battles.
At this moment, the view on the sea is dim, semaphores cannot be used, and the light signals are weak and easily confused. Once the fleet disperses, the commander will lose control. Chaos is the best cover for the weak party to escape. Venice people can scatter and slip away.
After receiving news of the enemy's breakthrough, Cohen's strategy was to keep following and launch a general attack at dawn.
He sent Cruiser to harass the enemy formation, and the main force of the fleet always followed behind, keeping a certain distance to avoid a large-scale melee.
Throughout the second half of the night, a large group of Cruiser clung to the tail of the Venice formation like hounds, firing red fireworks every quarter of an hour to mark their position in the night.
Assuming an enemy ship escapes the formation, Eastern Roman Empire Cruiser will launch fireworks of three different colors: green signal represents the transport ship, yellow represents Battleship, and bright white represents Cruiser.
After receiving the fireworks signal, the Eastern Roman Empire ship chased in the direction of the fireworks and cannon sounds in accordance with the predetermined order.
Transport ships are the slowest. They are converted from merchant ships. They are wider and suitable for carrying cargo, but not suitable for fast movement.
The speed of Battleship is slightly higher than that of the transport ship. Assuming a Battleship breaks through, Eastern Roman Empire will send a conventional Battleship and a Cruiser to pursue it.
Cruiser's speed is too fast, chasing them is just a waste of time. If a single Cruiser escapes, the Eastern Roman Empire fleet usually ignores it.
From Cohen's point of view, he does not expect to completely wipe out the enemy. The goal is to defeat the enemy formation.
In the follow-up, the Eastern Roman Empire battleship will continue to pursue, all the way to the north of the Ionian Sea, cooperate with the Ionia fleet to encircle and suppress these scattered ships, and then go deep into the Adriatic Sea to maximize the results.
As time passed, the eastern night sky gradually turned gray-blue, and finally a line of fish belly white oozed out.
Dawn finally came.
Cohen stood on the stern deck of the flagship Nesos. A morning sun rose over the sea, and half of the sky was dyed a gorgeous rose color. On the deck, the night watch crew yawned and prepared for handover, and the aroma of cabbage broth wafted from the kitchen.
There are ten Battleships left behind the flagship, forming a loose night cruising column, surrounded by ten Cruisers responsible for guarding.
To the southwest, several miles away, Venetian Fleet is emerging in the morning light:
Five Battleship, five Cruiser, and ten transport ships, a total of twenty ships, were only one-third of the number at the time of departure, and most of the ships escaped during the night.
Cohen handed the telescope to the signal officer beside him.
"Send the signal, Battleship follow me to attack, the first Cruiser detachment is blocking the front, and the second Cruiser detachment attacks the enemy's rear."
After receiving the semaphore signal, ten Battleships sailed to the rear of Nesos one after another. The bows of the ships cut through the waves, and the foam rolled up along the sides of the ships, gradually forming a battle line stretching for two kilometers.
Facing a Battleship that was twice his own, Admiral Venice's hope was shattered. He asked the crew to send a signal to notify each ship to disperse and break out, and they could run as many as they could.
In this way, Cohen's long-awaited decisive battle turned into a chaotic pursuit.
In less than an hour, five transport ships were captured one after another. Eastern Roman Empire Marines took over the ship, and the Venice crew huddled on the deck, weapons were confiscated, waiting for the winner's disposal.
The situation of Venice Battleship was even worse. They were hit hard. First, the rudder was destroyed by Cruiser, and then they were flanked and bombarded by two Battleship. The scene was extremely tragic.
"Aren't you going to surrender yet?"
Cohen stood on the stern deck of the ship, using a brass telescope to look at the enemy Battleship two hundred steps away.
As he muttered to himself, the flagship opened fire again. More than forty shells passed over the sea. The enemy Battleship's mizzen mast was broken almost instantly, and the thick pine mast with sails and ropes suddenly fell to the right side. Screams came one after another, and several sailors on the mast fell into the sea in horror.
Finally, after enduring twenty rounds of shelling, the Venice Battleship surrendered with a white flag.
Eastern Roman Empire soldiers boarded the deck and found that the ship's hull was severely damaged. The water pump could not drain water at the speed of the water pouring into the bottom tank. The ship's hull was slowly tilting. It was expected that it could last for half an hour.
"Malaka!" Marines cursed a few curse words, "Retreat, this broken ship cannot be saved!"
At noon, Nesos stopped pursuing. The speed of the heavy-duty Battleship was relatively slow, so it was pointless to continue pursuing it.
Cohen is still standing on the stern deck of the ship. Looking around, there are many wooden barrels and broken canvas floating on the sea. The sky is filled with large groups of seabirds. Once they find a corpse floating on the sea, they rush to land and enjoy this unforgettable feast.
Cohen looked into the distance, and the sails of the two surviving Venice Battleship became smaller and smaller, gradually disappearing on the western horizon. Five Eastern Roman Empire warships were pursuing them and were expected to catch up with the enemy before dusk.
"Crete and Venice are thousands of miles away from home. Only a few lucky ships can escape pursuit. From this moment on, the Crete fleet is finished."
Losing the navy means that Venice loses everything. Even if they defend Lagoon, they cannot reverse the situation of the entire war.
Cohen returned to the captain's room and wrote a long letter to the Blachernae Palace, expecting to clear out the remaining enemy ships and seize Adriatic Sea's peripheral strongholds within two months...
April 10, Crete.
Chania The defenders requested surrender on the condition that the safety of the soldiers and Venice people be guaranteed.
Romanus replied, "Yes. I will arrange a ship to take you to Naples."
After two days of rest, the Eastern Roman Empire army moved along the coast and arrived at Rethymno in the east.
This city also built a new-style city wall, but the city area was smaller and could accommodate limited residents and troops.
Romanus came to the hillside in the southern suburbs and overlooked the city, focusing on the coastal port area.
"If the enemy fleet hides here, or at the Candia Harbor port, our fleet will be much more relaxed. It is a pity that two thousand Rocket can make the enemy lose its combat effectiveness."
After thinking for a moment, Romanus left behind the Sakarya Legion and two thousand rebels, and then led the remaining troops to continue eastward, heading towards the enemy's last stronghold - Candia (Heraklion).
The central part of the island where Candia is located is suitable for farming and is the essence of the entire Crete. Most of the Venice immigrants were resettled here.
Now that the war situation has become clear, all the Venice immigrants have fled the countryside and hid in the two remaining coastal cities, Rethymno and Candia.
With the Eastern Roman Empire army surrounding Candia, the enemy has no chance of coming back, and failure is only a matter of time.
Romanus handed over the siege task to Legion Deputy Commander, and led Hermes Brigade and the cavalry to patrol around to stabilize the situation on the island as much as possible.
Not far from the eastern suburbs of Candia, there is a salt farm run by businessman Venice.
Many shoal reservoirs were built in the saltworks. Once the sluice gates are opened, salt-rich seawater is introduced into these ponds and slowly evaporates under the sun.
The profits of the salt drying field are very high. Since the 14th century, Crete has become Venice's main source of salt. This industry is monopolized by Venice people. The local Greece people have no business qualifications and can only serve as the lowest level laborers.
Venice After the merchants and supervisors evacuated, the workers in the salt field fled one after another. Before they left, they burned the wooden buildings of the salt field. The sea salt that they had no time to take away was scattered on the ground, attracting nearby villagers to pick it up.
"I heard that there is another Elounda Saltworks in the east of the island. It is huge. I guess that salt farm was also destroyed by the workers."
Romanus sent a group of cavalry to the east coast, turned around and headed for the inland area of the south.
Crete has a large planting area of commercial crops. In addition to common olive trees and grapevines, almond trees, lemon trees and Sugarcane are also planted here, occupying a large area of food crops.
Not far away, on the right side of the road is a vast area of Sugarcane Plantation. The hot wind blows, and the dark sugarcane stalks as tall as a person make a slight rustling sound. The waterwheel on the riverside rotates slowly, and dozens of workers are searching for supplies in the warehouse.
Suddenly, a laborer pointed in the direction of the light cavalry and exclaimed. The remaining companions fled in all directions, and their figures quickly disappeared into the depths of Sugarcane Plantation.
Seeing the workers' actions, Romanus was not surprised at all.
Along the way, not only Sugarcane Plantation, but the rest of the plantations were also in a state of neglect. The residences of the owners of Venice were looted or even burned down. Some slow-running owners were hanged at the door of the residence, and the corpses emitted a shocking rotten odor.
After walking for a long time, a church appeared ahead. Romanus slowed down and decided to take a break here.
Venice's administrative system collapsed, and Romanus could only rely on clergy to collect information from the people and entrust them to read Rome's official announcement.
"Cancel One-Third Tax? Farmers should be very happy."
The priest posted the notice on the wall to the left of the gate, brought a bucket of Malvasia Sweet Wine from the cellar, and distributed it to the thirsty cavalry.
One-Third Tax (tzaa) is a unique tax on the island. Farmers need to hand over one-third of their harvest to the Venice government. Secondly, farmers also have numerous apportionments and unpaid labor, and the overall tax burden accounts for half of the farmers' total income, or even more.
"Venice people are so cruel?"
Romanus Thinking about the situation of Rome farmers, the overall tax rate is 25%~30%. If the enemy reduces Crete's taxes, or adopts Corfu's rule model, Crete's situation will be much more stable.
"It's a pity that the Venice nobles will not accept this policy."
He sat in the shade in front of the church, recalling fragmentary information about the enemy in his mind.
The main island of Venice has a population of 100,000, and the total population of Murano Island and other islands is between 20,000 and 30,000.
Great Council has nearly two thousand members, which means two thousand adult male nobles. Counting their families, the total population of the nobles exceeds five thousand.
In any case, the local population of 130,000 cannot afford to support 5,000 nobles, so they can only squeeze profits from overseas territories to support this huge class. Crete is rich in products and is destined to become the region with the heaviest burden.
On May 10th, Romanus returned to the siege camp on the outskirts of Candia.
Too many Venice refugees have poured into the city, and food is being consumed very quickly. According to the prisoners' confessions, the city's food reserves cannot survive this summer.
Romanus told the Legion's top management:
"In the previous attack on Chania, in order to save time, I promised to let go of the defenders and people. Now that the situation is clear, we have plenty of time to lay siege to the city. There is no need to provide the defenders with generous surrender terms. The defenders have only two choices: starve to death or work in the mines."
In the following time, Romanus no longer paid attention to military affairs.
He set up his office in Knossos in the southern suburbs, tried to take over the government affairs of the entire island, and registered the ownership of various real estate properties.
"The war lasted for two years. Many people made meritorious deeds, especially Fabius and Cohen. Part of the real estate was awarded to them, and some of the remaining real estate was distributed to civilians, leaving very little for the royal family.
Alas, we Palaiologos are really a group of miserable people. No, it should be that our father and son have a miserable life. Those uncles live a comfortable life, so there is no need to worry about these things.
There are also those distant relatives who bear the name Palaiologos.
When the empire was in crisis, they stayed in the Ottoman-occupied areas and lived peacefully. It is said that some people even converted to paganism. Now that the empire is in danger, they appear from every corner. We, father and son, worked hard, why should we let the sidelines eat and drink?"
Romanus recalls the information about those side branches. Most of them have mediocre abilities. The reason why they hold official positions is entirely due to the kindness of their uncle (John VIII). The only side branch that can come in handy is Orlando.
Romanus thought for a long time and gradually came up with an idea:
"In the future, if there are more side branches coming to ask for help, just find a remote place to place them, out of sight, out of mind. If you make me anxious, throw them to the island on the west side of Africa."