1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 136 Before the Expedition
"So, your Emir is ready to turn from evil to good?"

In the Black Castle, Isaac was neatly dressed and sat high on the throne, gently flipping through the exquisite letter of credence and looking at the Muslim envoy kneeling on the ground.

The envoys came from Tripoli, bringing letters from Emir Nasirlan.

A few years ago, after a long period of forbearance, he wiped out the Merchant Council that controlled the city of Tripoli at that time, appointed himself Emir, and monopolized power.

Later, during the Battle of Constantinople, Nasirlan officially obtained the recognition of the Hafsid Caliph Yahya, allowing the Hafsid army to pass through Tripoli and providing them with food, fresh water and other supplies.

After the Battle of Constantinople, Nasirlan immediately sent envoys to Yahya, stating that he would no longer provide supplies to the army and tactfully asked them to leave.

After the Hafsid dynasty withdrew its troops, Nasirlan continued to walk a tightrope, sending envoys to pay tribute to the two major powers in the east and the west, while maintaining its fragile independence.

However, in recent years, the Hafsid dynasty continued to weaken, while the Eastern Roman Empire revived and formed a joint stranglehold on Tunisia from both land and sea.

Nasirlan was no fool. For the sake of his own independence, on the one hand, he began to frequently contact Yahya, hoping to gain the support of his Muslim fellows when they were attacked. On the other hand, he became entangled with Isaac, trying to exchange superficial submission for temporary peace.

In 1455, the news of the formation of a new round of Crusades spread like wildfire. Nasirlan was immediately panicked. He quickly wrote a letter and sent envoys to Birinchi to meet Isaac.

In the letter, the thoughtful Emir flattered Isaac to the utmost, expressed his loyalty to Isaac, gave up the road south of Tripoli, and provided food and supplies to the Crusaders along the way.

"The situation in Tripoli is very unstable. The Sunni forces and the remnants of Hafs' diehards are still strong, so I hope Your Majesty will allow me to retain my Islamic faith for the time being until the situation changes."

"I will guard the city of Tripoli and wait for your Majesty to return victoriously..."

When Isaac saw this passage, he couldn't help but snort and threw the letter aside with contempt.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The envoy seemed to be affectionate and confident, with an attentive smile on his face and meticulous diplomatic etiquette, but his constantly moving eyes and the bead of sweat on his forehead betrayed his panic.

"Since he has pledged his allegiance to me, how many troops is he prepared to send in the Crusade?"

"Uh... three hundred?"

The envoy raised his head and probed cautiously.

"What about military funds? How many ducats will be contributed?"

"Twenty thousand or thirty thousand?"

"for this I……"

"So, since he said he was willing to support the Crusader cause, the city of Tripoli should be open to my army, right?"

The messenger lowered his head and remained silent.

In fact, due to the coup in previous years, many merchants stayed away from Tripoli. The looting by pirate forces and the diversion of the trans-Sahara trade route caused the city of Tripoli to continue to decline. His Emir simply did not have the troops and money to satisfy the greed of the Roman emperor, and even if he did, he was not very willing to give.

As for the city of Tripoli, it is the apple of Nasirlan's eye. It is impossible for him to hand over the fruits of victory that he obtained after years of forbearance and humility.

"So your emir is actually willing to offer nothing, and is trying to buy my goodwill with these hypocritical words in order to bypass Tripoli?"

Isaac looked normal and spoke in a calm voice, but his sharp eyes were fixed on the trembling messenger, making him feel very uncomfortable.

"We are willing to provide food and water, and give several settlements in the south to the army for garrison..."

The messenger whispered, lowering his head even lower.

He himself understood that these conditions might have impressed the eager Caliph Yahya two years ago, but they would never make this famous emperor let go of Tripoli.

"Remember, I am not Yahya, who has absolute strategic advantages and plenty of time."

"The entire Christian world stands behind me, and I have an army of 200,000 men and 500 warships under my command."

Isaac slowly stood up and tore the letter to pieces.

"Go back and tell your master to give up Tripoli and surrender completely. I will guarantee him the wealth and status he deserves."

"If he is attached to the poor city and wanders on the wrong path, then he should be prepared to face my wrath."

Isaac waved his hand, and the burly guards rushed forward and carried the stunned messenger out of the palace.

"Your Majesty, I think you might as well agree to Nasirlan's loyalty on the surface to lower his vigilance, and lead the army to the city of Tripoli first to force him to surrender the city. If not, it will not be too late to turn against him later."

After the messenger was kicked out, Prime Minister Isult spoke up, and several other military and political officials also nodded, somewhat puzzled.

Isaac shook his head and had his own plans.

"Nasirlan is very smart and would not fail to think of this. Regardless of whether we agree to his false loyalty or not, he will definitely be prepared to resist to the end in advance."

"If we go back on our word, we will be at a moral disadvantage, and Nasirlan can also take this opportunity to incite ethnic and religious sentiments. The soldiers and civilians in Tripoli will feel cheated and their will to resist will be even stronger."

"After seeing what happened in Tripoli, the rest of the local forces of the Hafsid dynasty have become even more distrustful of us, which will bring great harm to our subsequent plans."

"Besides, I drove the envoy out of the Black Castle today and completely broke off relations with Nasirlan. He will definitely side with Yahya of the Hafsid Dynasty."

"The strategic location of Tripoli is extremely important. Excluding the desert in the south and the ocean in the north, the Tripoli Corridor is the only channel connecting the Sirte region and the Tunisia region. Yahya is not unaware of this."

"Whether for political or military reasons, he will not sit idly by and watch Tripoli being besieged by us. He will definitely come with a large army to rescue it."

"This is our opportunity."

Isaac explained this to the ministers.

As his own strength grew, Isaac obviously could no longer care about his reputation as he did before.

Furthermore, attacking the enemy where they must be rescued is the most effective war strategy.

The Hafsid Dynasty was more of a federation of Berber nomadic tribes than a Muslim feudal regime. The central authority was extremely limited, and the emirs and tribal shaikhs in various places still retained a lot of military forces.

If they break up into small groups and use the speed of their cavalry to turn the entire Tunisia region into a hunting ground, and instead of engaging in a frontal war, attack the army's transportation supply lines, it will cause great trouble to Isaac.

Isaac's ultimate goal is to use Yahya to gather the tribal forces and the military forces of local princes and capture them all in one fell swoop.

If this goal could be achieved, the military strength and morale of the Hafsid dynasty would suffer a severe blow, and his way to Tunisia would be unobstructed.

As for the independent forces in the southern desert, we can just deal with them slowly.

In order to achieve this goal, I started preparing several years ago, taking a two-pronged approach in military and diplomatic efforts to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Occupy the Saint Simon Islands, support pirates, contact the Pope, win over the Kingdom of Aragon, support Karaman Bey, and provoke a civil war among the Mamluks...

It can be expected that the war that takes place under the city of Tripoli will determine the fate of the entire Hafsid dynasty and the political landscape of the central Mediterranean.

The first battle is the decisive battle. "Prime Minister, how is the preparation of supplies?"

Isaac looked toward Iseult.

"The first batch of food and fodder has arrived in Misrata, weapons are on the way, and the livestock will take time to assemble."

"We have sent professional engineers to Misrata to dig wells to ensure drinking water supply for the army."

"According to your request, the military rations will mainly consist of salted meat and meat floss. In addition, we will gradually purchase or recruit a large number of livestock to accompany the army. It is estimated that there will be more than 40,000 sheep, more than 20,000 camels, and cattle..."

Even though this was all his own work, Isaac still felt a little strange when listening to the report.

The production process of bacon and meat floss is very simple. You just need to drain the moisture from the meat, add a lot of salt, and then simply add some other seasonings.

In the dry environment of North Africa, this kind of food can be stored for a long time without worrying about spoilage. It can also be eaten quickly without making a fire. When the war is tense, it can be swallowed whole with cold water. It is a high-quality wartime military ration.

Salted pork, meat floss, and livestock accompanying the army were all the specialties of the Mongols, who once dominated the Eurasian continent. They were invincible in the semi-arid and open areas dominated by grasslands, and now Isaac had also learned these skills.

Oh no, it’s really become the Roman Khanate.

Ever since Isaac announced the mobilization for war, the cries of cattle, sheep, horses and camels could always be heard outside the Black Castle. Livestock from all over the territory were driven westward by quartermasters.

Now the grasslands along the entire North African coast have not yet completely degraded, and with advance preparation, they can barely support the grazing of livestock and the supply of the army.

Whenever this happened, Isaac would always sigh that it was fortunate that he lived in the 15th century instead of the 20th century.

After the 19th century in the original time and space, due to population increase, overgrazing and climate change, the grasslands along the entire North African coast degraded rapidly. The Sahara Desert expanded northward by one third in two hundred years, and three quarters of the grasslands disappeared.

Now, according to statistics, including the population of subordinate tribes, Isaac's North African territory already accommodates nearly 600,000 people, and some areas have reached their carrying capacity limit.

If we want to continue to strengthen our strength, we must expand outward.

"What about the artillery?"

Isaac came to his senses and looked at Urban.

"The three Spartan heavy guns have been dismantled and should be on their way to Cyrenaica soon."

"With the two we forged in Billinge, you'll have five Spartan heavy artillery batteries by the time the war comes."

Isaac calculated the time in his head and nodded.

In order to pull these heavy cannons from the Morea Peninsula to North Africa, Isaac put in a lot of effort. Not only did he modify special transport ships for the cannons, he also specially chose a season with calm winds and waves to carefully transport them back along the coast and island chains.

"What about the navy?"

"We organized the navy into three squadrons, with the three carracks, Duke Morea, St. Nicholas, and Constantine the Great, as flagships. Each capital ship has several three-decker large galleys and small galleys under it."

Captain Fidel stepped out and answered.

After the Morea War, Isaac incorporated parts of the Venetian squadron that had not yet been sunk into the sea, including the flagship, the Enrico Dandolo, a giant ship with a displacement of nearly 1,500 tons.

As the fleet flagship, Captain Boniface planned to save the Enrico Dandolo for last, but it ended up being a bargain for Isaac.

Isaac thought the ship's name was too unlucky and renamed it Constantine the Great, making it the flagship of the entire Mediterranean fleet.

The Grand Duke Moria has been in service for nearly ten years. It has been constantly repaired and has encountered several dangerous situations. Its performance has been somewhat outdated.

In a few years, she will officially withdraw from the combat sequence and become a monument next to the Naval Academy for future generations to admire.

Taking this opportunity, Isaac reorganized his fleet again, eliminating some old ships and selling them to more loyal pirate groups and several colonial trading companies as the second-line force of the Imperial Navy.

The navy is an expensive branch of the military, and there are too many ships to maintain.

Now, naval expenditure accounts for two-fifths of Isaac's military expenditure. Among all the countries on the European continent, only commercial republics such as Venice can compare with it.

"The three squadrons used Bilinchi, Soult and St. Simon Islands as their home ports, cooperating with Christian pirates, cruising along the coast of North Africa and undertaking different tasks."

Captain Fidel said briefly.

Isaac had always been more confident in Captain Fidel and didn't say much.

"Where are the tank troops?"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the courtiers present turned their eyes to Georg Gerschka in the corner. Some were curious, some were indifferent, and some were jealous.

In the past few months, this unknown boy has become the new rich of the Black Castle with his chariot. In addition to a lot of wealth, the Emperor also gave him a mansion in the southern part of Bilinchi.

In order to form a chariot unit, Isaac vetoed Marquis Mikhail's military expansion plan and reduced the number of ships to be retained. A steady stream of funds flowed into the chariot factory in the valley southwest of Bilinchi, and various Roman chariots were manufactured.

Hard work pays off. After nearly five months of intensive preparation, the first chariot unit of the Eastern Roman Empire gradually took shape from scratch.

Isaac devoted a lot of effort to this chariot unit and often stayed in factories and proving grounds to provide experience and inspiration from future generations for the subsequent use and modification of the chariots.

Including auxiliary troops, this chariot unit has a full strength of 1,500 people and a total of 50 chariots of various types.

Isaac named them the Riorea Legion, hoping that they would be like the mythical fire dragon, spewing deadly fire and lead at the enemy.

"Your Majesty, the Riorea Legion is ready and awaiting your orders!"

Georg puffed out his chest and spoke loudly.

"Everyone is doing their job, very good."

Isaac stood up slowly and looked at the ministers around him.

"We have been preparing for this war for more than half a year, and the groundwork in the early stages is far more than that."

"Just yesterday, I received a letter from Baron Abel. He has successfully arrived at the Saint Simon Islands with the gathered jihadists and is ready to fight in the soft hinterland of the Hafs Dynasty."

"The Mamluk Empire is in civil war, the Ottoman Empire is deeply trapped in Anatolia, and the Republic of Venice has just been defeated by us."

"The foreign pressure we face has never been as easy as it is today."

“This is our best chance.”

Isaac raised the scepter in his hand high and gave the order.

"I declare that from today on, we will officially go to war with the Hafsid dynasty."

"For God, glory and land, march west!"

(End of this chapter)