Eagle Byzantium

Almost at the same time, another fleet carrying a lot of supplies and about a thousand people from the second echelon of the task force arrived at the semi-frozen port of Media. Now there are six infantry detachments of the task force, five to six hundred Oghese volunteer cavalry, and part of the task force artillery finally formed a regiment and concentrated in the area of ​​Wezeburg, sandwiched between Little Roger's team and Constantinople. , like a hard walnut.

On the surface, it seemed that Roger Jr. had indeed achieved successive victories. In a short period of time, he eliminated the threat posed by the volunteers to Adrianople and expelled them back to the corners of Wiese and Media.

However, it was only then that little Roger realized that he still had to capture Weize and Media - something Tatisius had asked him to do a month ago.

During this month, although little Roger recaptured several fallen fortresses, he failed to capture and destroy the main force of the Thracian volunteers. He did not even capture a few stragglers, because they came and went in light boats relying on the river. However, because his troops had to disperse their troops everywhere, they "lost" nearly a quarter of their troops without any fierce fighting.

Two weeks before Christmas, four hundred Ogus cavalry of the Volunteer Army, led by a group of Plonian cavalry who had defected to Tarsus, raided the northern suburbs of Constantinople in the snow and burned many buildings. Barns, mills and houses, the whole imperial capital was once again in a state of panic. When John hurriedly ordered the Venetians to arm themselves and climbed onto the city wall, he found that the opponent's cavalry quickly moved away again.

John hurriedly conveyed the order and sternly requested the imperial, Sicilian and Venetian coalition forces to go south and annihilate the Thracian volunteers with Wizeburg as their stronghold.

On the other hand, the lawsuit reached the Lateran Palace in Rome.

But Gawain, who stayed in Prusa for the winter, cunningly argued that the war in Thrace was purely due to the local lords' rebellion against John and was a "civil war" on John's side. We would never interfere or interfere. It is impossible to send a single soldier of the Tarsus army to the area, and urge both parties to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible to resolve the dispute through diplomatic and peaceful means.

But secretly, large numbers of Skua light ships carried various items, carving out ice floes from many small ports in Bithynia, and risking all kinds of dangers on the Uxian sea in winter to supply supplies to the Median port.

Faced with such a situation, little Roger was a little uneasy. After consulting everyone's opinions, he led the entire army south, trying to find the main force of the volunteers for a decisive battle at Wizeburg. This time, Little Roger kept an eye out. He additionally asked Gonletto to lead a thousand Magyar mercenary cavalry in an attempt to directly attack the Median port from the flank.

Who would have thought that Melo abandoned Weize again and shrank back to Media.

On the position west of the port, Gonletto's Magyar cavalry encountered a powerful blockage and returned without success.

So the imperial coalition "recovered" Wiese and surrounded the last port of Media.

All the volunteers began to build a defense line around Media Port, and deployed many perfume bottles, shrimp cannons and firecrackers; in addition, Little Roger also directed the entire army to build a longer defense line against the port. Blockade, but little Roger knew in his heart that a land blockade would be of no use: if the maritime connection between Media and Bithynia continued, the war would continue endlessly.

So Roger Jr. sent a letter to Constantinople, claiming in it:

"In any case, we must mobilize the Venetian and Sicilian ships from Gallipoli and sign a memorandum to grant them the authority to cross the Bosporus. In this way, we can defeat Gawain's ships in the Eucyon Sea. The hateful wolf pack of light boats has put the port of Medea in dire straits, so that we can achieve the final victory."

But when sending the letter, Taticius still expressed his opposition. However, this time his opposition was unfounded. His repeated argument that "Your Majesty should abandon the imperial capital as soon as possible and take refuge" was unbearable to most of the soldiers. Even angry.

Sometimes the situation is so paradoxical - what you all thought was wrong and cowardly at the time often proves to be the only correct one later.

In the end, Little Roger's letter was sent.

The worried John once again called Molitor, the Venetian consul general. The young emperor showed his cards to Molitor with red eyes and heavy breathing: "I need your ships to cross the strait immediately, so in the end Is there any clear response to your previous request?”

Molitor also felt a chill running down his spine. He thought that like Emperor John, he seemed to be forced into a corner from which he could not escape. "The response from the poor country is to tell me to choose the opportunity to kill myself."

"Then you swear allegiance to me now, and then bring three thousand sailors from your country from Pella City and send the fleet into the Uxing Sea."

Molitor said nothing.

John directly took a memorandum from Aksepokos and handed it to this person, with the intention of not allowing the other party to refuse and directly signing it.

The memorandum also recorded John's more radical measures - he believed that the royal capital Nabiza and the Amalfi people had been having an affair with each other before, and it was time to resolve it once and for all - John was prepared to "take back the relationship between these two city-states." From the commercial port area of ​​the imperial capital, ordinary people among them were expelled and all dignitaries were detained. Confined, so as not to harm the empire during the key war." "As long as the rebels in Thrace are defeated and the entire port of Medea is restored, I will give Venice and Sicily greater interests and rights." "In addition, your ships will transit the border. At this time, the San Marco flag should be removed to avoid causing misunderstandings and disputes with the people of the capital.”

Looking at these almost crazy items, Molitor felt a little dizzy, but John still questioned him like a storm, and finally he could only reluctantly agree to choose a suitable day to let the six large warships of Gallipoli pass through the strait secretly.

But John forced him to confirm the date on the spot, the sooner the better.

Check out the correct version in 1619 Book Bar!

Molitor promised to pass the fleet through the night before the Feast of the Incarnation of the Virgin (November 21st in the ancient calendar).

"That is the time when Patriarch Masdas holds a prayer event, so you'd better advance or postpone it for a few days." John asked, otherwise the Venetian fleet and countless people would meet each other at the seaside wall, and the scene was unimaginable.

After the arrangements were made, John felt a little relieved, but he didn't dare to run to greet his mother, because he was afraid of leaking the news, so he went directly back to his bedroom.

As usual, his little queen Piroska was sitting on a chair, waiting for her husband to return somewhat devoutly.

Later, Piroska told John a piece of news: "On the day of the Feast of the Incarnation of the Virgin Mary, the respected Patriarch will invite you and me to enter the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom to witness the entire procession and prayer, and at the ceremony, he will formally grant me an Orthodox name."