1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 44 Undercurrent
Milan, the leading commercial and handicraft city in northern Italy, is the pearl of the Lombardy Plain.

It was once the capital of the Western Roman Empire and the center of northern Italy. Its developed infrastructure enabled it to control the entire Po River Plain.

During the reign of the Visconti, Milan, as the capital of the principality, gathered all the essence, had a large population, prosperous industry and commerce, and dominated most of the country's silk, textile and metallurgical industries, making it the heart of the entire principality.

The people here are wealthy and prosperous, peaceful and harmonious.

For them, neither the Marquisate of Monferrato, which rose and fell like a comet, nor their arch-enemy Venice, which gradually extended its hand inland, nor the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, who were close yet distant, could disrupt their wonderful life.

However, they soon discovered that the reason their country was able to maintain peace was not because of its good geographical location, but because it had a powerful monarch.

As soon as Visconti died, foreign forces coveted their wealth and swarmed in.

The newborn Ambrosian Republic was weak and shaky, with constant internal struggles and entanglements between internal and external forces. It was not until the external enemies tightened the rope around their necks that they began to declare the defense of the capital.

People's hearts are broken, it's too late.

The three forces have surrounded the capital of the principality from the east, west and south, leaving only room in the north.

The three forces took turns to launch tentative attacks on the city, often launching sneak attacks in the middle of the night with lights on, with the aim of constantly wearing down the defenders' will.

In this way, the low-intensity siege lasted for a whole month.

The people in the city were demoralized. When they heard that the Republican Congress was considering crowning one of them, everyone began to discuss the candidate for the Duke.

Sforza? Palleoliu?
Fortunately, no one is willing to leave their fate to the Venetians.

Generally speaking, more people favor Sforza, because he is the husband of the former duke's illegitimate daughter, and the mercenary group he brings is also the most elite.

Outside Milan, Monferrato Camp.

It was late at night, and Isaac and John lit a candle and sat together discussing what had happened during the day.

Earlier, in Sforza's camp, the three forces held a third round of negotiations.

In fact, the Venetian envoys were not bad. Apart from extorting a lot of money on trade issues, they only demanded a few small towns on the border.

They knew that occupying Milan's land would not be easy and would result in more losses than gains.

These black-hearted businessmen simply wanted to see their former enemy, the Duchy of Milan, fall into decline so that they could take over the trade territories they left behind.

Therefore, the main struggle at the negotiating table took place between the two major families of Paleologio and Sforza.

At the beginning, the mercenary leader Sforza insisted that John IV withdraw from all occupied areas and demanded that he inherit all Milanese lands, but was flatly rejected.

You must be kidding. The emperor, the pope, and all the major powers have not yet recognized your title of duke, so don’t take yourself too seriously.

During the next few negotiations, both sides were arguing with each other, and Venice just sat back and watched the show.

Just three days ago, news finally came from the Albanian battlefield, which had been silent for a long time.

On December 1447, 12, Skanderbeg ended his repeated attempts with the Venetian army, pretended to be short of food, and retreated to Kruye Castle.

The Venetian commander, eager to make a contribution, led his army to follow, but was ambushed by an army of unknown origin in a valley. Skanderbeg immediately rode back to fight.

Under the double attack, the Venetian army suffered a great defeat.

The remaining troops retreated to coastal castles and waited for reinforcements.

On December 12, Skanderbeg gathered a large army and besieged the city of Dania.

Initially, the siege progressed slowly due to a lack of siege weapons.

On Christmas Day, the artillery purchased from Hungary finally arrived.

On December 12, the city of Daniya fell.

On January 1448, 1, the Venetians, who had been watching the show, finally could no longer sit still and began to demand the restart of the tripartite talks.

"John, are you saying that the Venetians are putting pressure on us?"

"Yes, the Venetians do not want to see the chaos in northern Italy continue."

John paused.

"It seems that Skanderbeg has tipped off the Venetians about your secret financing of the Albanian War in an attempt to tie you to his chariot."

"So the Venetians are somewhat hostile to us now?"

John nodded in affirmation.

In fact, Isaac had anticipated this outcome when he first intervened in the Albanian War.

There is gain and loss, this is common sense.

"Don't worry about this for now. The Venetians are very pragmatic. When they find that they can no longer occupy Albania's land, they will quickly negotiate peace with them and even take the opportunity to demand a lot of trade privileges."

In the original history, this group of merchants was beaten up by Skanderbeg and retreated to the castle. In the end, not only did they not mobilize an army to take revenge, but they also signed an alliance with Albania.

"How do the Venetians wish to deal with the Milan incident?"

John took out a piece of paper with the content of today's meeting recorded on it.

"They seem to be quite conflicted. On the one hand, they hope that the war will end as soon as possible and trade will resume as soon as possible. On the other hand, they don't want to see the Duchy of Milan retain too much vitality."

Isaac thought for a moment.

"What do they say about the territory we have already captured?"

"Sforza insisted that we surrender the city of Pavia, and the rest of the country could be taken by default."

“The Venetians are equivocal on the issue.”

"I have a few suggestions, do you want to hear them?"

Isaac looked John in the eyes.

"Our interests are tied together. Please speak, dear brother."

"First, we must not give up the occupied territories. Pavia is an important city, and it is the gateway to Milan. If we lose Pavia, we will not be able to defend the rest of the occupied territories."

"You told me last time that the local forces in Parma City seemed to be in contact with you. Try to stabilize them and take over Parma City."

"Second, you can send people to the Vatican and the Vienna court to test the two of you."

"Visconti previously supported Felix V as the false pope, and believed that Nicholas V would not support his son-in-law, so he would ensure that he remained neutral."

"Frederick III hated Sforza, but your father, the late Marquis of Gian, had fought for the Holy Roman Emperor and made great contributions. Frederick III naturally liked you."

"You can send your confidants to the court of Frederick III to ask for the title of Duke of Parma."

John was visibly worried.

"What if Sforza insists on going to war? Their army is almost as large as ours."

"Then let's fight."

On January 1448, 1, after the forces in the city clearly rejected John IV's olive branch, Monferrato's army withdrew from Milan and headed south to Parma.

On the same day, the Venetian-occupied areas rebelled and the Venetian army withdrew.

On January 1, the Milan Parliament could no longer endure the long famine and surrendered to Sforza, agreeing to crown Sforza as Duke of Milan.

On January 1, Frederick III announced that he no longer recognized Sforza's title of Duke of Milan and conferred the title of Duke of Parma on John IV.

The next day, Duke John, holding the edict of Frederick III, opened the gates of Parma, and the forces in the city surrendered to John.

On January 1, the humiliated Sforza led his troops south and stationed them in the city of Pavia to confront Monferrato's army.

As the Italian War was about to enter its second phase, envoys from the Emperor and the Pope arrived in Pavia to begin mediation.

……

Saladin Citadel, Cairo.

The Saladin Citadel is located on the outskirts of Cairo, standing on a mountain. Since the castle was first built by the great lord Saladin in the 12th century, it has served as the palace of the sultans of the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties.

Countless famous sultans have made their mark here, from Saladin to Umm Khlil, from Baibars to Barsbay. They issued edicts that made the world tremble from here and reviewed their powerful armies here.

In the meeting room, there were a few nobles dressed in Islamic attire standing sparsely. On the throne, an old man slowly opened his eyes.

The Sultan of Egypt and Syria, the guardian of the two holy cities, and the highest secular authority in the Islamic world. Mamluk Sultan Chakmak

His cloudy eyes swept over the ministers below the stage. He moved his body tiredly and tried his best to straighten his back.

In 1438, Barsbay, the last Mamluk ruler, died. During his reign, he tried hard to integrate the emirs from various places, strengthen the Red Sea trade, suppress disobedience, and make this country, which was dying from the Black Death, sprout new leaves.

After his death, his weak son Yusuf ascended the throne. Less than a year later, he was overthrown by the powerful minister Chakmak at the time and was driven to Cyrenaica west of the desert.

After Chakmak Sultan came to power, he was forced to give up a large part of his power in exchange for the support of emirs from all over the country, which led to the growth of local forces.

At the same time, the emirs of Syria rebelled directly and no longer obeyed the orders from Cairo.

The Nubian blacks in the south continued to cause chaos under the instigation of Abyssinian Orthodox Christians. Karaman Bey harassed the northern border from time to time. Even the Kafirs from Europe gained a foothold in Surt and forcibly spread paganism.

During his ten years in power, he traveled around and patched up gaps everywhere, but he was unable to unify the entire fragmented empire like Barsbe had done.

As he grew old, his body gradually became weaker, and he could not do many things himself, so he could only leave it to the local authorities to handle.

He glanced at the ministers below the stage and stopped at a familiar figure.

This was his incompetent son and successor, Mansur.

Can he keep the throne of Sultan after his death?

Chakmak looked at the others, all of them were unruly and ambitious, just like himself in the past.

He closed his eyes tiredly.

"Sultan, the Hafsid dynasty sent us a note inviting us to join forces to attack the Kafirs of Surt and drive them out of the Maghreb."

"Emir Yusuf of Bilinchi advised us to act as soon as possible and request assistance from Cairo."

Prime Minister Ashriver reported from the audience.

Chakmak opened his eyes.

This Ashriver was once his best comrade-in-arms and a strong supporter of his becoming the Sultan.

After becoming Sultan, Ashriver also benefited greatly and became the most powerful local emir.

However, Chakmak knew that his ambitions were as big as his own.

"The Hafsid dynasty? Where did the note come from? Who signed and stamped it?"

"Tunisia? Kairouan? Tripoli? Sfax? Misrata?"

The old Sultan stared at the prime minister fiercely.

"Misrata..."

"Oh? Dear Ashriver, when will Misrata represent the will of Tunisia?"

"Is it possible that any Emir of any place is capable of making the decision to go to war on behalf of his monarch?"

The old Sultan finished his speech almost in a roaring tone.

The ministers did not say anything, but looked at the old Sultan coldly, as if they were accustomed to his anger.

"Tell me about the Grand Duchy of Soult."

Chuckmark eventually calmed down.

The intelligence chief stepped forward.

"The Principality of Surt was established by Isaac Palaiologos in 784 AD. He defeated the local forces and has now established a firm foothold."

"The Palaiologos carried out forced conversions in Surt and sold all Muslims into slavery."

"They once pretended to be a fleet from Rhode Island, attacked our merchant ships, and robbed our coastal villages."

"In addition, they also purchased a large number of white slaves, indirectly stealing our military resources."

"so……"

"So you agree with your prime minister's in-laws and want to fight a war, right?"

Chakmak cursed fiercely at the intelligence chief.

“Where exactly did the white slaves they purchased come from?”

"Most of them are Slavs, with a few Goths. They don't seem to want to offend us, and they obviously avoid the Circassians and Caucasians."

The intelligence chief had no choice but to tell the truth and dared not smuggle any more private information.

Chakmak Sultan looked a little better.

"If Yusuf wants to send troops, he can contact Misrata himself and attack from both sides. That should be enough."

"You guys go down."

Chakmak waved his hands feebly.

The prime minister and the intelligence chief looked at each other with annoyance in their eyes.

Everyone left.

"Father!"

Mansur, his son, did not leave and woke up his old father who was taking a nap.

"how?"

"You cannot allow those Kafirs to do evil in Allah's territory. We must drive them away!"

"Your Royal Mamluks have not been deployed for a long time. It's time for the world to see their might again!"

Chakmak looked at his son who was extremely serious and his face turned red with anger.

"Oh? If we attack, who will lead the army?"

"Yusuf, son of Barsbeh?"

"The Prime Minister Ashriver who is eyeing you covetously?"

"Me in my seventies?"

"You are still incompetent!"

"Do you know how many people are drooling over my Royal Mamluks? During the last rebellion in Damascus, the Vizier and the Intelligence Chief, those two bastards, urged me to hand over the Royal Mamluks to them, just like this time!"

"Don't you know how I got this position?"

"Yusuf is just like you, a complete fool, but he is smarter than you, at least he knows how to read people's expressions!"

"idiot!"

He rushed forward and scolded his son.

Mansoor looked grim, turned around and left the hall without saying a word.

Sultan Chakmak staggered to the throne, and his attendants rushed up to support him.

"Even you cannot see your Sultan?"

Chakmak threw the attendant away and kicked him in the neck.

"Your Majesty, I..."

"Drag him away and behead him!"

The old Sultan watched the poor servant being dragged away by the guards and listened to his miserable howls which suddenly stopped after a scream.

It was getting dark, but none of the servants around dared to come forward to light a candle.

Chakmak sat in the empty hall, letting the darkness devour his hunched body bit by bit.

(End of this chapter)