November 20th, Po Valley east, Treviso.
French Army Marshal Rimon held a meeting in the City Hall. The participants included French Army senior officials and leaders of local forces.
In the past few months, House of Habsburg has stood firm and allowed French Army to act on Italy and Iberia.
Correspondingly, Charles VII has no interest in attacking the Alps area. The goal next year is to repel the Greece people and maintain the good situation of Italy.
Naples is the closest to Greece and is a key defense area. Rimon decided to bring the main force to Naples and leave a garrison of 20,000 troops in Po Valley.
Venice Governor Young Loredan, Duke Milan, Genoa Governor and others sat quietly on the right side of the long table, waiting for France to assign tasks. Everyone looked respectful and could not see any resistance or resentment.
Seven years ago, Venice surrendered to the Eastern Roman Empire and allowed Eastern Roman Empire to destroy the armory.
From this moment on, Venice has lost the pride of "Most Serene Republic".
This time, after the French Army invaded the eastern part of Po Valley, Venice surrendered after a little resistance.
In August, Charles VII signed an agreement with Young Loredan, taking away nearly half of Venice's territory. Venice accepted this result, like an old and frail lion, lying on a stone to bask in the sun, letting the young lions encroach on their territory.
Halfway through the meeting, the topic of Rimon shifted to Venice.
"Governor, we stationed 20,000 soldiers in Po Valley, Venice must bear 40% of the military expenses. After the war breaks out, you need to provide an army of 4,000 people to go to the south of Italy for coordinated operations."
Young Loredan responded, as if he had become a subordinate of the Dharma King.
Milan bears less military expenses, but it needs to provide 6,000 soldiers to go to Naples. Genoa provides a fleet, and other city-states have different allocations.
Two days later, Young Loredan came to the west coast of Venice Lagoon and took a Gondola boat to the city.
Eastern Mediterranean's Trade has lost its dominant position, Venice's Trade's share has dropped sharply, and the once crowded Lagoon has become empty and will never regain its former glory.
Hearing that the war would break out next year, the fishermen inside Lagoon endured the cold winter and went fishing, taking advantage of the Greece naval blockade to catch more fish to make salted fish.
Soon, the Gondola boat sailed into the main channel of the Venice city. As the number of citizens shrank from one hundred thousand to sixty thousand, the city's sanitary condition improved and the stench of the river was reduced a lot.
It started to rain, and the light gray river surface splashed with countless ripples. The boatman cursed and increased his paddle speed.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the whole city was shrouded in a hazy rain curtain. Bells rang from the direction of St. Mark’s Basilica, leading other churches to ring the bells. Young Loredan wrapped his cloak tightly. The moment the Gondola boat stopped in the south of the square, he quickly walked into the Governor’s Palace and took off his wet Black Sheep fur cloak and red shawl hood.
Before taking a bath, he ordered the housekeeper, "Let the kitchen prepare a banquet. I will entertain Vicenza, Treviso, Padua... the chief executives of these cities. Send someone to inform them."
Two hours later, Governor’s Palace's dinner began. The banquet hall was brightly lit with candles, and an endless stream of servants served meals, but the atmosphere was dull and hopeless.
Young Loredan distributed the tasks assigned by the marshal to various territories, causing strong dissatisfaction among the guests.
Lorenzo from Vicenza reacted strongly. "You have to provide money, and you have to provide people. Does Charles VII really think of himself as Charlemagne? Or does he want to rebuild Western Roman Empire?"
The remaining people whispered in agreement, but that was all. Suddenly, the singer next to her sang a fashionable tune. The theme was a girl complaining about her lover's betrayal. The song was tactful and plaintive, like crying, which further intensified the depressive mood in the banquet hall.
The cold wind howled outside the window, and Governor looked at the dots of lights outside. Lorenzo mentioned a topic:
"We have concluded a covenant with Charles VII. Will we still pay the compensation to the Eastern Roman Empire this year?"
This is another annoying thing, Governor doesn't know what to do. Paying money is a crime Charles VII, not paying is a crime Vitus.
He made a difficult decision. "Venice is in the France camp and is Eastern Roman Empire's enemy. What's the use of paying? If Charles VII is defeated, the money will be paid back when the time comes."
Today, there is nothing left of Venice. Only a small part of the armory has been rebuilt, and there is nothing worth destroying. If the Greece ships want to come and shoot Rocket, our fort at Lido Island can drive them away."
Everyone stopped talking and used wine to anesthetize their minds. Governor drank the most.
When he was young, Venice controlled the ocean. When he came to power, Venice fell from a Mediterranean Sea overlord to a commercial city-state. The shame and regret brought about by this gap have been torturing him, making him regret that he took over this mess.
After a long time, the banquet was over, and Governor was supported by the maid back to the bedroom.
The cold wind outside the window was endless, and Governor sat slumped on the edge of the bed, with his hair disheveled, his beard disheveled, and his collar stained with red wine. He lowered his head, looked at his swollen belly due to long-term overeating, cursed helplessly, and fell on the bed, snoring loudly.
In early December, Oriental Frontier Army headquarters, Tabriz.
The winter in the inland areas is even colder. Marcus is walking on the city wall, with fine snowflakes floating in the sky. A group of cavalry gallops from the wild, carrying a piece of good news:
White Sheep Army on the southern front gave up the offensive and retreated to the rear fortress to spend the winter.
Not only on the southern front, news of the enemy's retreat also came from the northern front in the past two days. Finally, the enemy's offensive that lasted for a whole year was over. The atmosphere at the Frontier Army headquarters became lively. The staff members were whispering to each other and discussing going to the pub after get off work to have a good time.
Suddenly, Marcus walked into the hall, and the discussion at the scene disappeared. He looked at the map newly marked by the staff, pointed to the three most prominent fortresses and asked:
"How are they doing?"
Military Tribune introduced in turn, "This fortress was occupied by the enemy. Its walls were severely damaged and no longer had defensive value. The enemy set a fire before leaving.
Black Crow Fort and Fir Fort are still in our hands. The former experienced a four-month siege and the latter lasted for half a year. The defenders in the two places fought very hard and need assistance as soon as possible."
Marcus took a breath of white air and decided to inspect the border in person.
The risk of going out on patrol is very high, but Marcus must do it. No matter how detailed the report below is, it will never be as good as an on-site inspection. He must use this winter to reorganize his defenses and prepare for another round of attacks next year.
On December 8th, at noon, the outline of Black Crow Fort appeared in front of us.
Black Crow Fort is located on the northern hillside, overlooking the road below. The exterior of the fortress is light gray, almost blending in with the barren hillside. A damaged Palaiologos flag stands on the top, and the wall is generally intact.
Marcus observed for half a minute, then continued to lower his head, using the thick collar to avoid the cold wind. The horse walked very slowly, and the shoes made a dull sound as they stepped on the frozen dirt road.
As time passed, the number of corpses and debris on both sides of the road gradually increased. Many crows landed on the surface of the corpses and pecked at the cold carrion.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, they set foot on a branch road leading to the hillside. The corpses here were cleared by the defenders and carriages were allowed to pass.
The surrounding vegetation is sparse, with some drought-resistant low shrubs growing on the surface. There was originally a small forest in the mountain col in the distance, but it was cut down by the attackers, leaving only a large piece of bare tree stumps.
Finally, the group reached the mountainside, and the defenders slowly lowered the suspension bridge to welcome the reinforcements, which had been delayed for many days.
Before the war started, Black Crow Fort had one border defense company and two Militia Company, with a total of 420 people. At this time, only 200 people survived.
Woo~
The horn sounded, and the survivors walked out of the barracks one after another, their eyes empty and numb, staring coldly at the faces of the new arrivals.
"General?" A reserve captain with thin cheeks and sunken eyes ran over and saluted Marcus.
According to him, the commander of the border defense company and another Militia Company company were killed in action, and the financial officer was ill. Recently, he has been taking charge of the affairs of the entire fort.
Marcus First observe Reservoir under the courtyard. The rainwater collected every time it rained here. During the siege of the fortress, the defenders relied on this pool to survive.
According to regulations, water must be boiled before drinking, so there was no outbreak of disease among the defenders.
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The second location is the warehouse. There is sufficient grain and firewood, 60% of the ammunition reserve is left, and there is not much left of insect repellent powder, spirits, Canned Food and other supplies.
"Have you finished drinking the strong wine used for healing?" Marcus whispered and came to the nearby barracks.
Inside the barracks was an ordinary wooden bed, with many things stuffed under the bed, which were trophies found by the defenders from the enemy camp, such as knives, arrowheads, saddles and other miscellaneous items.
During the visit, the young captain named Gregory Kamsarakan mentioned the battle.
The siege began on August 2, when dozens of cavalrymen crossed the road below from east to west. The defenders thought they were passing by at first, and fired several cannons at the foot of the mountain, killing two enemies.
At noon that day, more enemy troops came to the valley. They camped on the south slope of the valley far away from the shooting range, intending to take out this forward stronghold.
Black Crow Fort's terrain is higher, and the enemy's two strong attacks failed, so dozens of artillery were brought in.
White Sheep's metal processing capabilities were poor. During the exchange of fire between the two sides, the White Sheep gun exploded several times. After more than a month of busy work, the south wall of Black Crow Fort remained intact, but White Sheep's Siege Cannon had very little left, so the bombardment was abandoned.
The battle that followed was boring, with the enemy crowding around and delaying progress until the cold wave arrived not long ago, and they evacuated this barren and barren valley.
At night, the surviving defenders ate and drank heavily with Canned Food and spirits, but Marcus did not stop them. This was the result of their hard battle for many days.
Gregory stayed with his subordinates for a while, then returned to the barracks to pack his things while lamenting his bad luck.
"This time, my service location is at Black Crow Fort. Next time I will lead a team to serve, I wonder which fortress it will be?"
Kamsarakan Family where Gregory is located is a hereditary lord.
According to regulations, the two hereditary lords of Borderland Region, Armenia and Sophene, must provide Militia to the Frontier Army.
Army Department's requirement for Kamsarakan is to serve in the military for six months every two years and provide a Militia Company with one hundred and thirty people.
After returning home this time, Gregory had a year and a half of rest, and then he had to serve on the border to resist the nomadic invasion from the east.
The next morning, Gregory completed the handover with the reinforcements and embarked on his return journey with the surviving Militia.
They walked west for half a day, and then walked north for three days, passing a fortress on the way. There was no major attack here, and most of the defenders survived.
At noon on December 12th, ahead is Fir Fort.
This fortress is larger in scale and consists of two parts: Main Fort on the plain and Outwork on the hillside.
It guards a Three-Way Junction, where the east, west and south roads intersect. The strategic location is extremely important. There are six companies stationed there, with a total of 800 people.
This year, Fir Fort was heavily attacked by the White Sheep Army. The enemy used tunnel tactics to dig down the outer wall of Main Fort. The remaining defenders retreated to Outwork on the southern hillside and held on until winter came.
"Damn it, the fighting here is more brutal than Black Crow Fort. I hope I can avoid this place in the future."
Gregory revealed his identity and purpose of coming, and the defenders allowed them to rest at the outpost on the opposite hillside and provided some firewood and food.
After resting for a night, Gregory said goodbye to the defenders and headed west. They first passed a fortress, then a hereditary territory, and then to the north was the territory of Kamsarakan.
Even on the second line, Kamsarakan was still attacked by the White Sheep Army. On his way home, Gregory saw a familiar village burned to rubble, and more than thirty tombs built in the open space nearby.
"May these poor souls find peace."
He led the packhorse toward the low hill on the north side. The family Trace Italienne was located on the top of the low hill. The shape of the fortress was an asymmetrical four-pointed star. There was a stream on the east side, a large pine forest on the other side, and rolling mountains further east.
Looking from a distance, Gregory saw his father George·Kamsarakan, mother, wife and children. In addition, he also had a younger brother studying at Constantinople, and his younger sister married into another hereditary lord family in the north.
Gregory's wife was also the daughter of a hereditary lord.
This phenomenon is very common. The hereditary lords cannot reach the big shots of Constantinople, and they look down on the squires and merchants, so they can only marry internally.
At night, the family dines around the Oak long table.
Under the dim candlelight, George coughed and told about the attack on the territory: a group of enemies came over from the eastern mountains and wreaked havoc in the countryside for many days, and were finally wiped out by the Dragoons camp.
Regarding the Black Crow Fort defensive battle, Gregory skipped the brutal and bloody battle and mentioned Border Defense General Marcus:
"The general praised me and wanted to report the battle to the Army Department. When I left Black Crow Fort, he also said that he would recommend me to study at Army Higher School. The recommendation letter is here."
Reading Military Academy means officially becoming a professional officer. Gregory speculated that he would most likely be transferred back to Armenia after graduation, but he might also serve elsewhere.
If Gregory was away for a long time, he would definitely have to neglect territorial affairs, so he did not agree immediately.
George read the recommendation letter and said after a long silence, "Army School will start school next fall. You have plenty of time to think about it. I won't block your future. You can make your own decision."