September 19, Vitus left the mountainous area and entered a fairly wide river valley to the west.
This area is called Umbria and belongs to Holy See States.
The scout of Mountain Battalion introduced to Vitus, "In front is Perugia, the largest settlement in the surrounding area. French Army sent a force to besiege the city. They heard that our main force had arrived and withdrew two days ago."
Without any obstruction, Vitus led his army across the upper reaches of the Tiber River and arrived at the outskirts of Perugia.
This city is built on a mountain, and the overall terrain is higher in the north and lower in the south. Judging from the urban area, it has at least tens of thousands of residents.
"Inform the city that my army needs a temporary rest."
Facing this murderous group of reinforcements, "Council of Ten" in the city panicked and hurriedly sent a representative out to negotiate.
Vitus was furious. "I was invited by Pope to come to your aid. Now that we are not allowed to enter the city, do you still have the idea of colluding with the French Army?"
As soon as this statement came out, Holy See's special envoy hurriedly came out to smooth things over, demanding that Council of Ten must cooperate with the action, otherwise it would be colluding with the French Army, and Holy See would expel these traitors!
Usually, Holy See States cities have a certain degree of autonomy. They do not fully comply with the orders above and always like to bargain.
Counteroffer. Holy See and the local government are in a complex relationship of "game and compromise".
However, Vitus doesn't care about so-called traditions. If the army is hungry, no one's face will be of any use.
Through the mediation of the special envoy and the local clergy, the Perugia parliament gave up part of the city for the army to garrison and provided sufficient grain, cloth and a small amount of other supplies.
Vitus still felt uneasy and asked the noble family of Perugia to send young children to follow the army to prevent the city from easily switching sides again.
Still want to hand over hostages?
Council of Ten complained secretly, feeling that Emperor Greece was just as bad as Charles VII.
As the city gate slowly opened, a local scholar stood on top of the tower and sighed, "Another Justinian-style tyrant, with a group of brutal and rude thugs."
According to historical records, after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Goths occupied the Italy area, bringing a relatively stable period of peace.
At the beginning of the sixth century AD, Justinian sent troops to "recover the lost territory." The Italy area fell into successive years of war and famine, and the peninsula lost more than half of its population.
Gradually, the Italy peninsula lost its loyalty to the "Constantinople Emperor", and the people changed from "Rome identity" to local identities in various places.
Vitus knows the public's hostility towards him, but he has no time to care about it.
At the military meeting, he read the reconnaissance reports of various ministries and discovered a grim fact:
Can't find the location of the enemy's main force!
"This group of people are not thinking of outflanking my retreat, are they? The central part of Italy has undulating terrain, and there are only a few main roads for the army to pass, so that shouldn't be the case."
Vitus has its sights set on the East Coast.
The second echelon has completed the landing. The main force is Attica Legion, with a total of 14,000 people. In three days, they will arrive at Perugia and join the frontline troops.
"From the French Army's perspective, intercepting the second echelon has the highest chance of winning. But they don't know our troop strength and marching route, so this is not feasible."
At the end of the meeting, Vitus received invitations from two prominent families in the city and decisively rejected them.
His energy is limited and he has no time to play tricks with such a small character.
The sky is getting dark, with cold rain falling from the sky. The area where Vitus is located is a villa halfway up the mountain. Countless houses extend down the hillside, and lights are on one after another.
There are more than ten towering towers in the city. The custom here is the same as that in some Italy cities, where powerful families build high towers to promote their power and financial resources.
One of the towers is more than fifty meters high, and the top of the tower is covered with bright brass, shining like a golden crown in the setting sun.
"It's time to eat."
Vitus returned to the desk. When the attendant came in to deliver the meal, he asked an additional question, "How is the situation in the city? Are the soldiers disturbing the people?"
"I haven't heard of such a thing." Simon put down the dinner plate, turned around and walked out of the study.
During the meal, Vitus reviewed the layout again and felt that what he did was right. The enemy could not sneak around quietly.
"Perhaps, they did not take the initiative to attack, but stayed at Siena to defend. This time Via Flaminia's road conditions were bad. The army only brought small-caliber Field Gun, and its ability to attack difficult problems was extremely poor.
Hmm, the mutton chop tonight tastes a bit old, goat meat?"
Vitus barely finished eating the lamb chops, and then ate most of Lasagna, burping and closing his eyes to rest behind the desk.
After a while, the rain gradually stopped, and a crescent moon hung in the night sky. Vitus inspected the street in front of the villa. Most of the houses were filled with soldiers, and the smell of baking bread came from a warehouse not far away.
Vitus went in to observe. It was a temporary canteen. The cooks were making bread for tomorrow morning. A group of soldiers who were on duty to help carried supplies and lit fires and chopped firewood.
Occasionally, someone would come from outside carrying a bag of flour or cheese, and pile the things somewhere under the guidance of the cook.
Vitus:"Council of Ten gave so much cheese and bacon?"
A quartermaster replied, "The city allocated grain and a small amount of cheese and bacon, and we exchanged the rest for salt."
Holy See States There is a salt tax, which is a long-term stable income, which makes the price of salt in the central inland Italy expensive. Some lower-class residents are accustomed to baking bread without salt, and cook a kind of salt-free bread that tastes bland.
Therefore, the logistics department suddenly came up with the idea of selling the excess salt to local people in exchange for their agricultural products.
This behavior harms the interests of the church, but this is a war period, who cares so much.
When French Army passed by, many merchants accompanying the army openly sold private salt. The logistics department felt that since France people can do it, why can't they themselves?
Early the next morning, Vitus received a report from the front line. Multiple strands of the French Army nearby were gathering northward, and their destination seemed to be Siena.
Siena is located in the direction of Northwest, and it takes 2 to 3 days to walk. Vitus does not know the specific number on the opposite side. Correspondingly, he feels that the enemy does not know the situation of the Eastern Roman Empire's army.
"Your Majesty, Council of Ten requests an audience." The attendant asked outside the study.
"Understood, I will meet them at Garden."
In the ensuing conversation, lawmakers speculated on the military's strategy.
Vitus did not reveal much information, but said, "The enemy situation is not clear yet, we have to wait for a few more days."
One congressman provided the largest share of food, and two manor houses in the southern suburbs were used as barracks, eager to send away these free-fed soldiers.
He tentatively persuaded the emperor, "Your Majesty, your reputation is so great. How can the enemy dare to confront you? They are most likely fleeing north. If you don't attack, they will flee to Florence in the north."
The other congressmen echoed this, praising the emperor as the Caesar and Aurelian of ancient times, with great honors waiting for him ahead.
Vitus had no reaction to these compliments. When French Army passed by last year, they compared Charles VII to Charlemagne. Now, they praised Eastern Roman Empire again.
One day Emperor Holy Roman Empire's army passes by, who should they praise? Emperor Otto, "Redbeard" Frederick?
"I'm tired, please go back."
After sending these congressmen away, Vitus stayed at Garden to bask in the sun and accidentally fell asleep until lunch time.
News came from the front line: the enemy troops seemed to have really retreated.
Vitus asked the officers of Light Cavalry Brigade, "Whose troops have been to the outskirts of Siena and saw them retreat with their own eyes?"
The brigade commander stood up and replied, "We attacked a convoy. The carriage was loaded with valuable furniture and Black Sea porcelain (Bone China). One of the escorts was the steward of a certain baron.
He admitted that the purpose of this trip was to transport the loot to Florence and find an opportunity to ship it back to the mainland. Moreover, he claimed that Siena's city wall had been bombed and had lost its defensive value. French Army does not expect this city to be able to stop us."
Now that French Army retreated, Vitus sent more mountain troops and cavalry to take over the towns in the north.
Not only that, the Urbino army that had just arrived was also sent over. Although friendly forces cannot be attacked, they are quite suitable to be used as pathfinding cannon fodder.
This is not Vitus deliberately belittling friendly forces. Holy See States's military strength has always been weak.
For example, Perugia has fifteen thousand residents. When they resisted the siege of the French Army, they mobilized 2,500 Militia, and every household contributed.
Militia's courage comes from protecting his family and property, as well as his pride as a "Perugia citizen". Once Militia leaves
When you open Perugia, your combat effectiveness will drop rapidly and you will become a group of weaklings who will run away from the enemy.
The same goes for other places in Italy, scattered into small communities one after another. The people's primary allegiance is to the "mother state", not to Pope far away in Rome.
This reminds Vitus of the Greece city-state in the classical period.
They were born in the "Dark Ages" after the collapse of the Mycenaean Empire. Citizens also gave priority to their allegiance to the city-state, and the interests of the city-state often trumped pan-Greece identity.
During Peloponnese War, Sparta and Athens were jealous. In order to obtain assistance from Persia, Sparta was willing to sign a treaty and recognized Persia's right to Asia Minor. Greece city-state control. Decades ago, the Persia army that Sparta three hundred warriors fought desperately against has now become their ally.
In the endless internal fighting, these city-states lost their technological and cultural advantages over other regions, and were successively annexed by Macedonia and Rome.
After the second echelon arrived, Vitus's field strength reached 24,000.
With Council of Ten's expectation, the purple flag finally left the city and disappeared at the end of the road.
However, Perugia's war mission was not over. Vitus left an infantry battalion to garrison South Gate, using this place as an important resting point.
In more than a week, the third echelon will pass by Perugia, and the city will provide corresponding supplies.
War is like this, Vitus is used to the resentment of the people. His reputation in the Latin world is not good, so it doesn't matter if the locals scold him a few more times.
If we say, Justinian's Reconquest destroyed Italy's fragile emotions towards the Eastern Roman Empire, it made Italy people no longer regard Greece people as their own.
Then Fourth Crusade in 1204, in turn, destroyed Greece people's emotions towards the Latin world.
All the previous conflicts combined are not as severe as the trauma caused by this war.
From then on, the people of Greece had a long-term hostility towards Latins. John VIII wanted to obtain reinforcements through the "merger of the Eastern and Western Churches", and the people of Constantinople directly shouted, "I would rather see the turban of Sultan than the triple crown of Pope."
In 1448, news of Venice's surrender reached Constantinople, and the city fell into a half-month-long carnival. The atmosphere of celebration surpassed the previous defeats of Golden Horde and Ottoman. Subsequently, Jerusalem and Alexander were recovered, Eastern Roman Empire was almost restored to its heyday, and the celebration atmosphere of Constantinople was still not as good as that of the autumn of 1448.
Today, the two sides have long parted ways, and there are obvious differences in culture and religion.
The local people are willing to provide supplies to Vitus, largely because of Holy See's face.
If Vitus declares that he wants to rule Perugia, the local people will definitely turn against him.
According to what he saw when he visited Italy when he was young, many cities would rather see the black Double-Headed Eagle Flag and Iris flags than the red Beta Flag flag.
"The good-for-nothing emperors of the past were stupid and incompetent, leaving so much mess behind. Alas, I can only clean up part of it, but there is really nothing I can do about the rest."
At noon on the third day after leaving Perugia, Vitus arrived at the southern suburbs of Siena city.
At the end of the war, a big hole was broken in its city wall, many buildings were burned, and the survivors could only build simple shacks in the ruins.
The reconnaissance force reported that all the grain stores in the city and suburbs had been looted by the French Army, making it impossible to provide supplies.
Therefore, Vitus had no intention of entering the city for rest. The army went north along the main road and came to the border of Republic of Florence.
Pauli·Di Maggio, who was accompanying the army, sighed, "Finally we are back."
Vitus was also deeply moved. It has been thirty-four years since his lifelong battle began in a small town in the north of Florence. He felt that his life was like a cycle, going around and around, and finally returned to this land.
At dusk, Pauli's eldest son Martin·Di Maggio came over and reported the situation on the front line.
"Uncle, the town in front has surrendered. There is also no food in the city. The residents are looking forward to our relief."
In this battle, Vitus brought a Florence Battalion, five hundred people, composed of exiles and prisoners of war, and the commander is Martin.
In the future, they will expand into the new standing army of Florence and consolidate the rule of Di Maggio family.
For the next ten miles or so, the army still encountered no resistance and successfully arrived at the shore of the Arno River.
This river merges into the Mediterranean Sea from east to west. The river surface is tens of meters wide. The original Pontoon Bridge was dismantled and the boats from nearby fishing villages were also taken away in advance.
Pauli·Di Maggio took off his shawl hood and stroked his gray hair, "At first, the Naples army went north to attack Florence and came all the way to the south bank of the Arno River. Now the situation has reversed and it is our turn to attack."
Vitus: "I know that they failed to cross the river at that time. It was not until French Army captured Pisa and Naples's army to the north of the Arno River that they could cross the river."