Recaps

Vitus’s forces besieged Smederevo while preparing to isolate Hunyadi’s army in Belgrade, and Hunyadi faced mounting shortages of niter despite reinforcements arriving. The chapter ended with Vitus’s commanders considering the limits of using the lower Danube fleet as they prepared for the next stage of the campaign.

• Vitus assigned Damien to command the siege of Smederevo and sent Constantine to capture territory east of the Great Morava River, including Golubac Fortress.
• Roman shore guns damaged two Hungarian warships, while Vitus corrected faulty maps, strengthened his defenses, and learned that Maximus’s troops had routed a disguised enemy force.
• After Roman bombardment breached Smederevo’s inner wall, Irene fled across the Danube, and Damien proposed using auxiliary troops and a blockade rather than a costly direct assault.
• Hunyadi received Polish and domestic reinforcements but discovered that his niter supplies could support only one major battle.
• Vitus gathered his commanders and planned to surround Belgrade, cut its supply routes through Šumadija, and force Hunyadi either to withdraw or fight.
• Constantine noted that the lower Danube fleet could not safely reach the middle river through the Iron Gate Gorge.

After Hunyadi realized Vitus was isolating Belgrade rather than entering the Šumadija Hills, Vitus sent Boranov’s forces to seize western Serbian strongholds. Boranov captured Rakova Fortress and took another castle by force, while the chapter ends with Sanggebu watching a large enemy army cross the Sava River into Serbia.

• Hunyadi learned that Vitus had blocked the routes through the Šumadija Hills and ordered his ambush forces to withdraw, concluding that Vitus would focus on western Serbia.
• Vitus assigned Boranov targets in western Serbia, and Boranov marched southwest with troops and grain wagons as reports emerged of raided villages and a burned manor.
• Boranov persuaded Borupa to surrender Rakova Fortress after the garrison heard that Smederevo had fallen and cannon fire began.
• Boranov captured a second castle after a costly siege, then left a detachment to guard it and its prisoners.
• Sanggebu hurried to the Sava River after enemy troops began crossing, but watched their pontoon bridge near completion as thousands of soldiers entered the south bank.

Vitus held his main force south of Šumadija and refused to take Hunyadi’s bait, while his troops harried the Hungarian advance and later drove enemy forces north of the Sava River. The allied army’s failed operation, unpaid soldiers, and empty treasuries left Hunyadi arguing that peace was their only option.

• Vitus judged that Hunyadi might be using the Sava crossing as a feint, kept his main force south of Šumadija, and sent troops west to delay the enemy.
• Hungarian cavalry pursued the Dragoons but was slowed by caltrops, then fought Tatar cavalry and captured eight cannons at a stream crossing.
• Hunyadi concluded that Vitus had refused to move his main force and called off his plan to lure the Roman army out; László relayed the failure signal to Belgrade.
• Władysław rejected the commanders’ advice, and after an allied probing attack failed, he challenged Vitus to a duel, which Vitus ignored.
• After reinforcements raised the Eastern Roman army in Serbia to eighty-three thousand, Vitus drove more than ten thousand enemy troops north of the Sava and his forces pacified the surrounding regions.
• As Hungarian and Polish troops demanded overdue pay, Hunyadi told Władysław that neither kingdom could afford to continue the war and that they needed to negotiate peace.

Vitus rejected Hungary’s proposed ceasefire until the two sides negotiated a settlement over Belgrade, Ragusa, and the Kantakouzenos family. They signed a ceasefire in late July, and Vitus began organizing the conquered Serbian territories while Constantine arrived at Belgrade.

• Vitus rejected the Jagiellon envoy’s offer to keep the existing lines of control and demanded Belgrade as the Roman army intensified its offensive in Šumadija.
• Orlando’s brigade captured woodland, and the Tuna Legion drove the Polish troops from the farmland before the enemy retreated to a northern hill.
• László negotiated with Vitus, who demanded suzerainty over Ragusa and the Kantakouzenos family; the talks failed when László refused to hand over the family.
• Władysław told László to negotiate once more, saying the Kantakouzenos family could leave Hungary by their own choice but would not be surrendered.
• Vitus signed a ceasefire in late July, and both sides withdrew their troops; the allied army’s departure from Belgrade took a month.
• Constantine arrived at Belgrade on September 1, while Vitus divided the conquered lands into two planned provinces and assigned new lands and duties to nobles and the Dragases heir.

Vitus returned south, avoided a costly campaign in Albania, and observed the recovery of agriculture and livestock trade in Northern Thrace. Back in Constantinople, Phil expanded his business in livestock before deciding that he would settle in the Eastern Roman Empire and invest in textiles.

• Vitus waived Ragusa's taxes for two years, set its future annual tax at twenty-five percent, and reinforced the Albanian border with seven thousand troops instead of launching a campaign.
• Vitus traveled through Trajan's Gate and Northern Thrace, where he saw restored irrigation systems, rice harvests, and rising livestock prices.
• Vitus returned to Constantinople with Otto, while Pauli and Phil argued over whether Vitus owed them help reclaiming Florence.
• Phil went to Burgas to receive livestock shipped from Chersonesus and ordered the weakened animals fed before they were sold.
• Phil weighed the costs of his livestock venture, decided to sell his pasture and invest in a textile workshop, and resolved to live in the Eastern Roman Empire.

Vitus assessed the depleted treasury, Iberia’s defeat, and preparations for the coming war with France, while Thomas traveled to Austria to learn whether Frederick III would help drive the French from Italy. Frederick revealed that he intended to keep his forces in the Alps and let Vitus and France fight over Italy.

• Vitus learned that Aragon had surrendered Sicily and renounced its claims to southern Italy, while Castile’s limited support left it facing France without a dependable ally.
• Vitus inspected the unfinished sixty-eight-gun warships and new close-range naval cannon being prepared for the Italian Wars.
• Vitus discussed the Holy See’s request for aid and the empire’s pledge not to expand into Italy, but maintained that he would need islands as naval bases if war began.
• Vitus sent Thomas to Austria, where Thomas met Ladislaus V in Vienna before traveling to Wiener Neustadt to meet Frederick III.
• Frederick told Thomas that his limited forces would remain in the northern Alps and that Vitus would have to drive out the French, while Frederick focused on his own territories and silver prospects.

Marshal Rimon assigned Venice, Milan, Genoa, and other Italian states troops and expenses for France’s planned war against Greece, while Young Loredan accepted the demands and chose to withhold Venice’s indemnity to the Eastern Roman Empire. On the eastern frontier, Marcus inspected battered forts after the White Sheep Army withdrew for winter, and Gregory Kamsarakan returned home with a recommendation to attend the Army Higher School, leaving his decision open.

• Rimon ordered Venice to pay forty percent of the Po Valley garrison’s expenses and provide four thousand soldiers for the campaign in southern Italy, while assigning obligations to Milan, Genoa, and other city-states.
• Young Loredan divided France’s demands among Venice’s territories, then decided Venice would stop paying its indemnity to the Eastern Roman Empire until Charles VII’s fortunes became clear.
• Marcus received news that the White Sheep Army had withdrawn for winter and inspected Black Crow Fort, where Gregory Kamsarakan described the siege and the garrison’s losses.
• Gregory left Black Crow Fort after the reinforcements arrived, passed the battered defenses at Fir Fort, and returned to his family’s estate.
• Gregory showed his father George a recommendation from Marcus to study at the Army Higher School, and George told him to decide for himself.

Marcus reported on the eastern frontier’s defenses and shortages before reflecting on retirement, while Vitus reconsidered the planned Italian campaign and began drafting a new offensive plan. Vitus ended the chapter pondering Charles VII’s ambitions in Italy as Agnes urged him to eat.

• Marcus wrote a report on the frontier army’s losses, achievements, defenses, and supply needs, but avoided requesting a firearms workshop because he feared it would arouse suspicion.
• Marcus considered retiring to Anros Island, where he hoped to hunt deer and fish by the sea.
• Vitus judged that the Privy Council’s battle plan for Italy would cause excessive casualties and began developing an alternative.
• Vitus approved selling a thousand matchlocks to the Knights Hospitaller for Rome’s defense and continued marking a preliminary offensive plan on his map.
• Vitus read a Florentine newspaper praising Charles VII and wondered whether the French king sought greater authority over Italy or the Western Mediterranean.
• Agnes interrupted Vitus’s thoughts and urged him to eat before the food grew cold.

Phil surveyed Constantinople’s markets, watched the new battleship’s first sea trial, and arranged to sell his ranch to fund his textile mill. The chapter ended with Ilya inspecting the unfinished warship Trikka and explaining why the emperor had rejected grand names for the fleet’s flagships.

• Phil gathered textile and commodity prices, told merchants that his mill outside Balm would open the following spring, and noted the competing bond issues of the empire, Charles VII, and Cosimo Medici.
• Phil watched Trikka’s first sea trial, briefly missed its single cannon salvo, and calculated that each broadside cost nearly a hundred florins before accounting for gun wear.
• Phil decided to sell his Tauris ranch to fund the textile mill, despite his wife’s suggestion that wartime demand might raise livestock prices.
• Phil welcomed Pauli’s children to dinner while reflecting on Pauli’s financial troubles and the burdens of assisting Florentine immigrants in Constantinople.
• Ilya inspected Trikka with naval officers and heard that technicians needed to correct the ship’s list and foremast sails before further trials.
• Ilya told Cohen that the emperor had named the new ships Trikka, Gothis, and Serdica rather than after the imperial family or capital, to avoid the public blow of a flagship’s loss.

Władysław struggled to fund his promised war against France until the Church provided money, and he ordered preparations to begin. Meanwhile, Cohen’s fleet seized most of Malta and began besieging Birgu, while Felix landed troops on Pantelleria to blockade and besiege its castle.

• Władysław borrowed from Hanseatic merchants to pay his army, then received 150,000 florins and a promise of further support from the archbishop.
• Cohen led the Roman fleet past Syracuse and landed forces on Malta, where they secured most of the island.
• Xerxes took Melita Fort after its defenders surrendered and began besieging the garrison at Birgu.
• Cohen planned raids on enemy shipping and sent Felix with a squadron to capture Pantelleria.
• Felix landed 600 marines on Pantelleria and began besieging Barbacane Castle while the fleet blockaded its harbor.

Felix captured Barbacane Castle on Pantelleria and received orders to patrol the waters near Sicily and Naples. In Slovenia, Władysław’s duel challenge was canceled, his army captured a fortress, and news of Ulrich II of Celje’s death disrupted the Hungarian campaign, leaving Thomas to warn Constantinople that the Eastern Roman Empire must rely on itself against France.

• Felix negotiated the surrender of Barbacane Castle, left a company to garrison it, and returned to Malta for orders to patrol east of Sicily and south of Naples.
• Władysław challenged the commander of a Slovenian castle to a duel, but the marshal canceled the duel and the defenders insulted him from the walls.
• Władysław’s army bombarded the castle for a week, breached its defenses, and captured it after Władysław fought through the fortress.
• Frederick learned that Ulrich II of Celje had died while hunting, and he ordered available Habsburg forces to intensify their offensive in Slovenia.
• Thomas wrote to Constantinople that the northern armies would not meaningfully pin down France and that the Eastern Roman Empire would have to rely on itself.

Felix patrolled the waters near Sicily before reaching Malta, where the fleet prepared for a possible decisive battle against the enemy. On isolated Black Coral Island, Horace feared a Portuguese attack and arranged for a few residents to hide in the mountains if the settlement fell.

• Felix's squadron patrolled the Strait of Messina, checked a merchant ship carrying pilgrims, and continued south to Malta.
• Felix arrived in Malta as the battleship Trikka joined the fleet, and Cohen chose to wait before launching an offensive.
• Felix reported that enemy cruisers were avoiding battle, while officers described the strengths and weaknesses of Portuguese and French crews.
• Horace worried that the homeland would not send help to Black Coral Island and reviewed the settlement's militia and defenses.
• Horace rejected hiding the whole settlement in the mountains and arranged for several quiet, unmarried residents to hide there if the Portuguese attacked.

The Roman fleet prepared an invasion of Sicily, overcoming a drought that ruined its planned water supply before landing near Sciacca. Xerxes and the Tuna Legion came ashore, beginning the campaign while the local inhabitants watched without recognizing Vitus as their emperor.

• Cotivi received Charles VII's approval to recruit more Venetian sailors and continued avoiding a decisive naval battle while escorting supplies to Naples and Sicily.
• At a war council on Malta, Xerxes chose the Verdura River as the landing site, and the Tuna Legion and two marine battalions prepared to capture Sciacca.
• A reconnaissance report revealed that Sicily's rivers had nearly dried up, so Cohen arranged for the fleet to carry extra fresh water and promised to help seize Sciacca if necessary.
• On July 14, Cohen led nearly a hundred ships from Birgu, and the fleet reached Sicily the following morning.
• Because the Verdura River could not supply water, Cohen landed the army near Sciacca, where its garrison stayed behind the walls as the marines assembled on the beach.
• Xerxes came ashore and declared that Rome had returned to Sicily, while nearby peasants regarded the Palaiologos banner and its emperor as foreign.

Xeros ordered the Hermes Brigade to secure Mount San Calogero’s springs so the Roman army could sustain its Sicilian offensive. Orlando captured the mountain fortress at heavy cost, secured the water source, and learned that Ektor Perollo controlled the Sciacca area and might be persuaded to surrender.

• Xeros sent the Hermes Brigade toward Mount San Calogero after scouts reported that its springs supplied drinking water to Sciacca.
• Orlando led the First Battalion north, learned of a nearby noble’s estate, and continued toward the mountain rather than diverting to it.
• Orlando’s soldiers found undrinkable hot springs, then learned from the spring keeper that cold springs higher up supplied the army’s water needs.
• Orlando ordered a night assault on the mountain fortress; after the first attacks failed, his troops built breastworks and captured the walls, suffering four hundred casualties while killing the remaining defenders.
• Orlando discovered that the monastery above the springs was held by a small French force, but the arriving Hermes Brigade’s main force prompted the French Army to surrender.
• Orlando questioned the monastery priest, who explained the rivalry between the Luna Family and Perollo Family and said Ektor Perollo controlled the Sciacca area.

The Roman army captured Sciacca after Perollo negotiated its surrender, giving Xerxes a port and the supplies he needed. Cohen then ordered intelligence staff to identify a deeper, more spacious Sicilian harbor as the campaign and naval buildup continued.

• Orlando surveyed the plain from Mount San Calogero and noted how estate owners had diverted the river water into their irrigation channels.
• Xerxes besieged Sciacca, rejected Perollo's offer to rule western Sicily, and warned the messenger that the first noble to surrender would receive favorable treatment.
• After the Roman guns breached the wall, Perollo opened Sciacca's western gate before dawn on July 21, and the Roman army quickly ended resistance.
• Xerxes took control of the port and arranged for artillery and supplies to be unloaded, but delayed an open-field fight until more horses arrived from Malta.
• Cohen inspected Sciacca's granaries and the Luna Residence, then ordered intelligence staff to find a suitable deep-water harbor for the fleet.

Xerxes’s army intercepted and routed a larger French force while Orlando’s Mountain Infantry fought its way out of the woods and into the battle. With Palermo still holding about fourteen thousand enemy troops, Xerxes considered how to contain the defenders as reinforcements arrived.

• Xerxes left Sciacca with the Tuna Legion, cavalry, and Mountain Infantry, planning to intercept eastern reinforcements at the Three-Way Junction.
• Orlando led twelve hundred Mountain Infantry through the woods, captured a poacher to guide them, and discovered more than three thousand enemy soldiers resting beyond the forest.
• Orlando ordered his troops to drive the enemy from the woods and sent a messenger to Xerxes, while the fighting spread into the road and surrounding fields.
• Tatar cavalry pursued fleeing troops as the French formed wagon forts; the next morning, the Tuna Legion’s heavier cannons suppressed the French guns and helped force a surrender.
• The Eastern Roman Empire captured two thousand enemy soldiers and seized supplies, after which Xerxes called the Varangian Legion to assemble and considered how to contain Palermo’s defenders.

Vitus discussed the Italian campaign, Pauli Di Maggio’s plans, and the political consequences of László Hunyadi’s exile. On Socotra, Michael evacuated Suq Harbor as a Portuguese fleet arrived, while Tristão’s landing force suffered an ambush that foreshadowed a difficult siege.

• Vitus offered Pauli Di Maggio the chance to manage captured Florentine prisoners, and Pauli chose to send Martin to Sicily while Phil remained in Banma.
• Pauli told Vitus that Italy’s city-states could no longer resist interference from powerful foreign monarchs, and Vitus reflected that Florence could not quickly recover its lost prosperity.
• Vitus learned that Władysław had exiled László Hunyadi, stripped him of his titles and fiefs, and taken the Count of Celje’s Hungarian estates.
• Michael received warning of a Portuguese fleet near Socotra and hurried the residents of Suq Harbor inland before the enemy could land.
• Tristão landed Portuguese troops and cannons on a beach, then lost soldiers when mounted musketeers ambushed his men in a date grove and escaped on camels.

Michael and the defenders of Suq Fort endured a prolonged Portuguese siege while Tristão's expedition struggled with Socotra's barren terrain and dwindling morale. By September 25, the rainy season had begun, giving Michael hope that the weather and the Red Sea Fleet might help the fortress hold out.

• Tristão's troops found the island's wells unusable, dug a bitter, salty well, and began bombarding Suq Fort on September 9.
• Michael organized the defense, rejected a premature night raid, and watched Portuguese soldiers dig siege trenches outside the fortress.
• Tristão led a thousand men into the mountains to capture Terry, but attacks along the route and a fortified pass forced the expedition to retreat to the coast.
• As the siege dragged on, Tristão kept the demoralized army digging trenches while Michael maintained his patrols and cared for Terry, whose mind repeatedly wandered.
• On September 25, rain halted the bombardment and gave Michael hope that the wet season would delay the siege and allow the defenders to hold out.

After French forces attacked Cefalù with rockets, Marco Caboto waited for a chance to strike their fleet and convoy at Palermo. His night assault tore through the crowded anchorage, but the damage and fate of the enemy ships remained unclear as his battered squadron withdrew.

• Orlando found Cefalù's port damaged by a rocket attack, while the mountain packhorses he had come to collect had survived.
• Marco Caboto learned that a French-led fleet was sailing from Naples to evacuate Palermo's garrison and sent word to the main fleet at Malta.
• Caboto assigned his ships to attack Palermo's harbor at night and use Lagoon Rockets against its docks and piers.
• The Pelusium and Caboto's squadron entered the anchorage, fought past patrol ships and defenders, and fired on the crowded transports and warships.
• Caboto's ship escaped the anchorage with two battleships, and he ordered the remaining ships to withdraw while fires lit the harbor.
• Caboto suspected that the Anjou had been among the damaged ships, but he waited for daylight reports to learn what the raid had accomplished.

Caboto returned to Palermo with a small squadron, captured a French cruiser during a rainstorm, and later joined the Roman fleet as it pursued the withdrawing French. The operation inflicted heavy losses on French ships and transports, but the enemy fleet escaped and might remain sheltered in port.

• Caboto prepared Trapani’s ships for another raid, endured a rocket attack that damaged empty warehouses, and received reports on the losses and repairs from the Palermo operation.
• On October 24, Caboto sailed toward Palermo with Felix’s Malta reinforcements, lost most of his escort to enemy interceptions, and fled from France’s larger battleship formation.
• As rain disabled many guns, Caboto used the Pelusium’s lower-deck guns and grappling hooks to defeat and capture a French cruiser while a Portuguese ship escaped.
• Caboto met the delayed battleship squadron, and the Roman fleet pursued the French as they withdrew from Palermo and abandoned transports.
• On October 27, Cotivi retreated toward Naples after the French lost two galleys, while the operation’s final tally included seven warships and nine transports lost or destroyed.

Perollo and other surrendered nobles waited in Constantinople for new fiefs, while Vitus planned how to divide Sicily Island between hereditary lords, direct administration, and the Agricultural Company. Vitus also discussed Romanus’s planned inspection tour of the fighting, which he had approved.

• Perollo arrived in Constantinople with his family and learned from Borupa that Serbian nobles had waited over a year for reassignment.
• Perollo’s eldest son Roger squandered his money on a singer and argued with his father about making useful connections.
• Perollo attended the imperial banquet, where he sat with other nobles awaiting land and heard that the food in the side halls was much like that in the main hall.
• Vitus planned to grant the Perollo Family land around Sciacca, assign Serbian nobles other Sicilian fiefs, and manage the island’s cities and farmland through the Central Administration and Agricultural Company.
• Agnes asked Vitus about Romanus’s wish to visit the front, and Vitus said he had agreed to the inspection tour.

Vitus learned that Michael and Terry had survived the Portuguese siege of Suq Fort, then left the theater rumor in Constantinople unresolved. In Sicily, Romanus led a fleet to invade Corsica, where the army landed near Porto Vecchio and prepared to capture its harbor batteries.

• Vitus received a report that the Portuguese had withdrawn from Socotra after failing to take Suq Fort, where Michael and Terry had survived.
• Vitus rejected closing the Theodosius Grand Theater despite rumors that he visited it, and Pelato warned the theater owner to remove the supposed private box.
• Romanus arrived in Syracuse, met Maximus, and traveled with the army to the stalled siege of Catania.
• Romanus explained that the campaign would avoid costly assaults on mountain defenses and that the fleet would seize Corsica as a base for raids on southern France.
• The Roman fleet reached Corsica and bombarded a Genoese castle near Porto Vecchio before landing nearly three thousand soldiers.
• Romanus backed the army's plan to capture the bay's batteries within a week, and Caboto ordered the troops ashore to establish camp.

Romanus secured southern Corsica while limiting the rebels’ prospective gains, and Caboto’s fleet began raiding the French coast. After learning of the Greek landing, Charles VII recognized Vitus’s coastal strategy and ordered increased food supplies from the Italian territories.

• The northern and southern batteries surrendered, and Romanus directed the army to occupy southern Corsica while leaving its rugged interior alone.
• Romanus learned that the Bank of Saint George governed coastal Corsica and told Caboto he would accept some rebels but keep their territory below thirty percent of the island.
• Baron Chernado presented the rebel alliance’s demands, which Romanus deferred while he waited for a truce with the French camp.
• Caboto’s fleet passed Genoa and Toulon, then landed the Marine Battalion on the southern coast of France on April 19.
• A hunter reported the Greek landing to a castle, and the news reached Charles VII at Tours on April 27.
• Charles VII identified Vitus’s plan to seize ports and blockade France, then ordered the Italian territories, especially the Holy See States, to provide more grain and other produce.

Romanus returned from Sicily and took on government duties while Vitus waited for the right moment to attack Italy. Leo returned from North Africa and visited a popular playhouse, then realized Romanus had expected him to get into trouble.

• Romanus returned to Constantinople after visiting Sicily, troubled that his former friends treated him with fearful deference.
• Romanus advised Vitus to have the Army clear Corsica of resistance before distributing fiefs, and Vitus entrusted him with government affairs while he left for his country estate.
• Leo returned from North Africa and told Romanus he planned to enjoy the city’s theaters; Romanus let him go without warning him further.
• Leo visited the Theodosius Grand Theater but left when he learned its serious plays began only in the evening, then attended a cheap open-air theater instead.
• Leo watched Stella perform as Zoe in a melodrama, tipped the theater generously, and declined an actress’s invitation afterward.
• Leo realized Romanus had anticipated that he might get into trouble at the theater, so he decided to behave until the fuss surrounding the emperor faded.

Boranov met the retired soldier Ratmir, who was seeking payment for a wool shipment, then learned that Ratmir had died under suspicious circumstances. After discovering his medal and business papers were missing, Boranov attacked a suspected accomplice and headed for the Fish Stall, while police hurried after him.

• Boranov met Ratmir outside the theater and heard that Ratmir had come to Constantinople to collect a debt for Merino wool.
• Boranov attended a play, then spent several days in Army Department meetings about military training and organization.
• Boranov visited Ratmir's room at the Wild Olive Inn and learned Ratmir had drowned three days earlier.
• Boranov found that Ratmir's medal, money, contract, and transaction papers were missing from the belongings held at the Police Station.
• Boranov overheard the inn's new lodger speaking with a dagger-wielding man, then threw the man through the shutters and went toward the Fish Stall.
• The detective suspected Ratmir had been murdered and ran after Boranov as the Police Inspector followed.