Eagle Flag of Epirus

"The Eagle Flag of Epirus (

Thessaloniki under the moonlight, under the cover of night, a huge fleet is slowly marching from the sea towards the defenseless sea wall of the Greeks.

The defense here is not as lax as other southern Greek towns. The contemptuous Venetian sailors lowered their sails and stretched out their long oars to quietly row towards the sea wall of Thessaloniki. Like a shark in the sea slowly approaching its prey, the Venetians have already opened their mouths of blood, even the indestructible Constantinople will not end up falling apart under their warship, let alone being devastated by the war. Terrible Thessaloniki! Thinking of this, the Venetian navy mobilized from the Southern Islands couldn't help but mock in their hearts the worrying fighting power of the Epirus and Bulgarians. They clearly have a huge army and they still need their assistance.

The commander of this fleet is Ranieri Dandro, son of the former consul Enrique. He was degraded due to unauthorized actions in Constantinople and Wallachia, and was ordered by the Senate to go to New York. The occupation of Crete suppressed the resistance of the Greeks. And this time he finally had the opportunity to commit crimes and meritorious service. Although this opportunity came from the Vernier family who was very uncomfortable with him, Ranieri came up with arrays in his heart when he thought that he could avenge his enemy, Justinian. Delightful.

"Continue to sail faster!" the Governor of Crete ordered.

"But my lord, the sight is too bad at night. We should be careful to prevent being discovered by the Greeks." A cautious subordinate suggested.

But Ranieri dismissed it, "Discovered? The Greeks don't even have a navy, even if it's a daytime aggressive attack, what's the fear!"

The proud and arrogant Lions of San Marco did not pay attention to the city at all, just as they had broken Galata. Originally, they had no intention of being involved in this mess, after all, after the capture of Constantinople, their goal had been achieved. Therefore, the Venetians did not stay in the cities surrounded by the Greeks like the Crusaders. They wisely chose to take their share of the reward, and they chose to devour the legacy of the Byzantine Empire in the Mediterranean. Ritter Island, and Rhode Island, these important strongholds on trade routes quickly became their fortresses for survival. From then on, a large amount of wealth will not enter the Golden Horn, but will fill the lagoon of Venice. As for the anger of the Romans, the former consul Dandolo wisely rejected all the grants from the Latin emperor Baldwin. Although the Republic could not directly manipulate Constantinople, it also allowed most of the hatred to be concentrated in the so-called Romanian Empire. Body.

Everything went smoothly in this way, even if the Roman butcher Karloyan was born and captured Baldwin I, the situation is still favorable to the Venetians, and they can still reap the benefits. But in just two years, the changes that took place on the old frontiers of the Roman Empire deviated from their expectations. The first is the sudden rise of Epirus. When they thought that the barren mountainous area was insufficient, the crusaders feudal princes in Achaia, Athens, and Thebes in Moria were wiped out. When Venice reacted and prepared to counterattack, then, in 1206, the original Crusade commander King Boniface was defeated and killed in his capital city, and the Latins lost the entire Macedonia. At this time, the old guys in the Senate panicked completely. It was only now that they began to work hard to intervene in the situation of the Roman Empire.

Thinking about it now, Ranieri Dandoro sneered. If his opinions were adopted at the beginning, a lot of troubles would be resolved now. He increasingly regarded the young man named Justinian as the most dangerous enemy of the Republic of Venice. Ranieri was determined to conquer Thessaloniki this time and pull out a nail on Macedonia.

Because of this, this time, the Venetians are also considered to have a lot of strength, not only sent a navy of two to three thousand people, but also gave up a lot of benefits to form an alliance with Bulgaria and Mikhail Dukas, but Ranieri was dissatisfied with the performance of the allies.

Hmph, the stupid Bolgars and the weak Greeks are really unreliable.

Very disgusted with the thoughts of the earth, but Ranieri still needs them. On the entire fleet, the sailors who are in charge of sailing are naturally unable to act as the main combat forces. The combat troops led by the Vernier family are all sent to Agrigni. Weng, the task of these people is to assist the landing of the Bulgarian and Epirus coalition forces.

In the cabin of the Venetian three-board paddle boat, it is Epirus and the Bulgarian coalition armed with weapons to sharpen their swords. After the previous day’s assault failed, they could only choose to attack the Thessaloniki’s defenders from the sea by surprise. .

Although the sea is still calm, some soldiers already feel uncomfortable. Most of them come from the Bulgarian army. The general who is in charge of the landing troops can't help but worry~www.wuxiahere.com~ Is it right to attack the sea wall of Thessaloniki rashly Some are too risky. But his suggestion obviously fails to convince the arrogant Lion of San Marco. The speeding Venetian navy is only a few minutes away from the sea wall of Thessaloniki. As long as the huge warship approaches, the landing troops can directly kill the wall. .

...

But everyone didn't know that all of this was in the eyes of the defenders lying in the city of Thessaloniki. Arslan, who had already been arranged for a long time, was leading his troops to hide behind the sea wall. Because of Antonia's reminder before, although he and Baptiste were dubious, he and Baptiste finally decided just in case.

In order to avoid leaking the news, and to demolish all the buildings on the side of the port and wharf, what was originally a joke has become a reality, and the nobles of related industries are ordered to be controlled.

But because of this, in order to guard against the nobles' rebellion and the counterattacks of the enemies outside the city, the number of troops next to Arslan defending the sea wall this time is still small. This will be another fierce battle, but they also have their own assassins.

The Turkic man quietly poked out half of his head and looked out of the city wall, only to see that in the dim moonlight, the darkness was overwhelming. Twenty or thirty Venetian paddle boats were about to arrive at the port of Thessaloniki. There was no one in the harbor. Before, the surrounding civilians and their property were all arranged to be on guard. The only thing left was two merchant ships quietly anchored in the harbor.

This is the property of the nobleman, Earl Joanis, who always troubled them. Due to the absence of duty while defending, the Queen Odosia personally ordered her to surrender his two ships for confiscation. Now Arslan thinks of it. The face that looked like constipation wanted to laugh.

Only now he must remain silent, waiting for the Venetian fleet to approach the merchant ships anchored in the harbor.