At four o'clock in the afternoon, Vitus returned to the study to process documents.
His mansion was hundreds of steps away from the area where the Latin nobles lived. Even so, the noise of the Latin nobles could still be heard.
"These people are really noisy. What did Manuel I think at the beginning? Isn't it annoying for him to let so many Latins join Court?"
Vitus opened a briefcase and read the frontline investigation report.
Recently, Mamluk assembled 30,000 troops and many workers at the border. Even in heavy snow, they did not delay the construction schedule.
At the Antioch border, the enemy built twelve large and medium-sized fortresses and dozens of small stone forts or cottages in difficult terrain.
Renaf speculates that the enemy is not limited to this line of defense, and there may be more fortifications in the south.
What's even more terrible is that Levant is a coastal area that is long and narrow from north to south, more than 700 kilometers long. The east side is an arid desert area with scarce water resources, making it difficult for large armies to pass.
Therefore, the army can only march from the coast and penetrate the entire Levant from north to south.
The first time Crusaders and the Mongolian army took this route. Timur also wanted to take this route at first, but gave up halfway.
Admiralty suggests bypassing Levant, sending a fleet to storm Alexander, and landing directly in the heart of the enemy. As long as Cairo and the surrounding areas are captured, Mamluk on the front line will be defeated.
The plan given by Privy Council is a bit more compromised, landing somewhere in the central and southern part of Levant, such as Tripoli, Beirut, Acre, and Jaffa.
Levant has a long coastline and more than ten large and medium-sized ports suitable for landing. It is difficult for the enemy's troops to cover all directions, and there must be some weak links.
Privy Council has not yet made a decision on which seaport to attack. Vitus plans to wait for a while for the navy to detect enough intelligence before taking action.
On February 5th, Theodore came to Lycia by boat, hoping to participate in the next war.
Coincidentally, Andronikos is also in Mersin, plus Vitus, Thomas, Leo, half of the members of Palaiologos family are gathered in this coastal city.
"So lively? It's a pity that Constantine and Demetrius didn't come."
In the afternoon, the five of them had dinner at the City Lord's Mansion. Theodore sipped wine and remembered the past many years ago.
At first, Vitus persuaded him not to invest in Portugal's southern route, but Theodore didn't care and felt that this business had broad prospects.
As time passed, Portugal gained more and more profits from the southern route, its gold reserves increased, and a new gold coin was issued, named Crusaders.
However, the amount of dividends received by Theodore only increased by a small part.
He wrote to Prince Henry to inquire, but the latter found various excuses. Sometimes he said that the cargo ship had sunk, sometimes he blamed the loss on the aboriginal people, claiming that the aboriginal army defeated the Portugal expedition.
"This man is really hateful. He deducted investors' dividends to mint gold coins in order to build more ocean-going ships. I made the wrong choice. I invested the money in the domestic textile industry or shipbuilding industry. Now I can earn a return of more than five times."
Thomas sighed, "Do you think the textile industry is so easy to make money? The Textile Mill company I invested in has always been in a state of limbo. Last year, I sold the equipment and site and will never touch this industry again.
What makes money now is that glass windows have become popular in cities such as Glass Industry, Constantinople, Adrian. A house needs to purchase a dozen pieces of cheap glass, and the entire city has hundreds of thousands of pieces of glass. How big a profit margin do you think there is?"
Vitus held the wine glass and listened quietly to the conversation between Theodore and Thomas.
These two people have mediocre business abilities and are keen on investing, but they have not settled down to run a business. They cannot compete with those careful private businessmen.
Portugal's successful sailing career is largely due to Prince Henry's extreme concentration and self-discipline.
Enrique lives away from Court all year round, presiding over navigation affairs in a deserted and remote borderland. He does not marry a wife or a mistress, and devotes all his efforts to this career, even at the cost of giving up the life of his younger brother (Prince Fernando).
If Theodore, Demetrius, and Thomas were in charge of Portugal's navigation affairs, Portugal's expedition ship would most likely still be hanging around Canary Islands.
After the banquet, Leo burped out of the mansion and walked on the street in the howling cold wind.
Since December last year, the entire city has implemented a curfew. While it was still dark and pedestrians were walking in a hurry, Leo unconsciously quickened his pace and almost jogged all the way to East Gate.
Seeing Leo's appearance, the defenders speculated that the officer had just attended a banquet in the city, and asked in a routine manner:
"Name, position."
Leo took out his identity certificate, "The third Auxiliary Infantry Brigade, deputy commander of the first company of the Artillery battalion, trainee second lieutenant, Leo·Palaiologos."
Hearing this surname, the defenders near the city gate looked solemn. The captain personally checked Leo's identity documents and found nothing unusual, so he let him and the two guards leave.
Auxiliary Brigade's camp is located in the eastern suburbs. Leo walked quickly along the main road outside the city and arrived at the gate of the camp before sunset.
"You can go back."
After sending the two guards back to the city, Leo went to the southeast of the camp and happened to meet the company soldiers returning from training. Leo followed the queue on the right side and accompanied the company back to the barracks.
At the end of the training, the officers held a routine summary meeting. Leo did not speak and went through the process silently.
Due to Leo's identity, he was always very constrained in getting along with his colleagues and could not become friends.
Now, he accepted this situation and just wanted to get through the war step by step.
"If I had known this, I could have changed my name. Pretending to be an ordinary Military Academy student would have attracted less attention."
However, Leo then thought about it. He was with Uncle Seven last year, and his identity was spread throughout the military. Unless he changed his name from the beginning and did not have public contact with his elders, a certain degree of confidentiality could be achieved.
Di~
In the early morning of the next day, Leo was awakened by the piercing wake-up whistle.
He subconsciously lifted the bedding, quickly dressed up, put a towel on his shoulders, and went to wash up with a cup and toothbrush.
"It's so cold!"
The moment the cold water touched his cheek, Leo instantly became more awake.
After washing, the soldiers of Artillery company conducted morning exercises for a period of time, and then came to the canteen to have a meal.
Mersin is a coastal city with an abundant supply of fish and meat. Three meals a day consist of Fish Soup or fish, and beef and mutton are rarely available.
Leo no longer had any hope for the army's food. While eating bread and Fish Soup, he recalled the scene of yesterday's banquet and imagined that he was eating grilled venison steak and mutton hot pot.
After breakfast, the groom went to the stable to take care of Harness Horse, and the gunner maintained the artillery and vehicles in the warehouse.
At this stage, a Six-Pounder Cannon company has eight artillery pieces, each of which is operated by one non-commissioned officer and seven Artillerys. The total number of gunners is sixty-four. Plus officers and numerous service personnel, the total number is one hundred and twenty, equipped with seventy horses.
Leo's duty is to inspect the stables. He carefully checks the horses' hooves and saddles to prevent the horses from being injured during the subsequent training period.
After being busy for a long time, the groom took Harness Horse out of the stable and put the harness of the gun carriage on them. Each gun carriage was assigned six horses of Harness Horse.
At eight o'clock in the morning, Leo and others went to the training ground in the south of the camp.
The clouds were extremely thick today and the wind was biting. Leo speculated that it was likely to rain. He looked at those Harness Horse worriedly, worried that the horses would get sick from the rain.
"Everyone is here, move to the slope five hundred steps ahead and move forward!"
The company commander's order interrupted Leo's thoughts. He quickly followed the movement of the artillery carriage, and the sound of rolling wheels and bumpy carriages echoed in his ears.
According to regulations, company commanders and deputy company commanders can ride horses. However, a leak in the stables not long ago happened to wet the riding horses of officers and orderlies. The company commander felt that this incident was too embarrassing, and he was really shameless to ask Brigade Headquarters for new horses.
Now, this matter has not yet been decided. If the six riding horses cannot recover, the company commander can only write a formal report to report this heavy loss to Brigade Headquarters.
Arriving at the target hillside, the gunners were busy dismantling the artillery carriage. The company commander pointed at the grass target in the northeast, taking it as the imaginary enemy.
Leo took out the ranging rod and telescope, estimated the distance and height difference between oneself and the target, and made a conclusion on the illumination table:
"Elevation angle 6 degrees, full charge!"
The gunners began to simulate loading and shooting. After completing three rounds of "rapid fire", the company commander ordered the transfer of positions and led the troops to the next target location.
In the next few hours, Artillery Company did not conduct any live fire.
This situation is very common. The barrel life of a Bronze Cannon is only a few hundred rounds. Live ammunition is only used in the monthly assessment, and the operation is usually simulated.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, Leo saw more than a hundred people coming from the southwest.
He picked up the telescope and found that the person in the front was Uncle Seventh Thomas. Next to him was a middle-aged man wearing a red robe with a white cross. He had light red hair and beard and looked like Franks.
"Knights Hospitaller Grand Leader?"
Leo I heard Uncle Qi mention the Knights.
This organization has hundreds of knights, all of whom are from noble families, bringing a wealth of personal connections to the Order.
A few minutes later, a messenger on horseback found First Artillery Company and conveyed the order from above, "Move to the position with the yellow flag, shoot live ammunition at the target area due north, and act immediately!"
The soldiers assembled the artillery and ammunition carts into a gun cart and put them on Harness Horse.
Leo secretly thought to himself, "Uncle Seven showed the results to the Knights. Could it be that the Knights will fight with us?"
In Leo's impression, Hospitallers is good at plundering at sea. Let them operate on land. It is estimated that the combat effectiveness is not as good as Auxiliary Brigade.
Soon, the Artillery company arrived at the target position, and the eight Six-Pounder Cannon were aimed at the position 400 steps away. After adjusting the elevation angle, an artillery began to test fire.
Bang!
The cannonball drew a parabola, landed far away in the target area, and knocked down a target.
Leo put down the telescope and loudly announced the results of the bombardment, "The first hit!"
The company commander issued an order, "Three rounds of rapid fire!"
The remaining seven artillery pieces opened fire one after another, and the acrid smoke was blown away by the cold wind. The horses staying behind were uneasy and repeatedly pawing the ground with their hooves. In order to prevent them from being frightened and fleeing, each gun team had a dedicated person to guard the horses.
In the distance, the regimental commander observed the whole process of the bombardment, "Is this Artillery of the Tuna Legion?"
Thomas: "No, they are a temporarily formed Artillery company with the Military Academy students and recruits. They lack experience and barely pass the assessment results."
After the visit, Thomas led the high-level friendly forces back to Mersin.
In this battle, the Grand Commander promised to dispatch 500 knights and 4,000 soldiers to assist the Eastern Roman Empire main force in recovering Jerusalem.
The shortcomings of the Knights are conservative tactics and backward equipment. However, they have their own fleet and do not need to occupy the supplies of the Eastern Roman Empire army. Vitus does not expect them to play any role, and in his heart he places them in the position of auxiliary troops.
At dusk two days later, Eastern Mediterranean.
Eight Rome warships form a column and are anchored off the coast of Alexandria.
On the deck of the flagship Gray Parrot, Felix stayed in a sheltered place reading "Golden Horn News" and lamented the recent increase in sucrose prices.
"After defeating Venice, Admiralty asked us to choose real estate. I was so confused at the time that I actually picked a piece of Lemon Grove. Malaka! Sugarcane Plantation is the most profitable."
The storage time of lemons after picking is 1 to 2 weeks, and if salted, it can be extended to six months.
Felix's Lemon Grove was contracted to Agricultural Company. Since the price of salted lemons has been stable for a long time, his annual profit is maintained at 200 Florin, which is far less generous than expected.
"After capturing Levant this time, if the emperor rewards real estate on a large scale, I must choose Sugarcane Plantation or a large area of Mulberry Grove!"
Suddenly, the smell of food came from below the deck. Felix folded the newspaper and returned to the captain's cabin for dinner.
After dinner, he announced that the operation had officially begun, led the remaining seven warships to sail to Alexandria, and fired a thousand Candia Rocket under the cover of night.
During the launch, Felix stayed on the stern deck of the ship, looking at the large fire in the distance, without any fluctuation in his heart.
After the last batch of Rocket was launched, Felix returned to the captain's cabin to sleep. After dawn, they came to the deck to listen to the lookout's observation report:
Most of the ships in the harbor were destroyed, and the enemy still had four large warships and ten small and medium-sized warships.
Nile River The forest resources in the middle and lower reaches are scarce, and the strength of the Mamluk navy is limited. Their ships are old and they still use the ancient tactics of jumping gangs and ramming.
Felix realized that if we dispatched four Cruiser, we could defeat the fourteen warships on the opposite side.
"It's a pity that the enemy doesn't dare to go to sea, so we are forced to stay outside the port and accompany them until they are exhausted."
Felix sighed and continued to take out the newspaper to pass the time.
After the destruction of the Venice Navy, Roman Navy lost its biggest enemy, Admiralty the funds it received were not as good as before, and there was a sense of laziness and laziness in the Navy.
"After this battle, Admiralty can consider expanding to Western Mediterranean, or entering Atlantic Ocean to explore the central and southern parts of Africa. It would be a pity for such a large fleet to be idle for a long time. Something must be done."