1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 75: Barbarossa's Origin
blow--

An arrow flew across the sky, hit the bull's eye, and kept shaking in the air.

Yergubai put down his bow, feeling somewhat proud, and turned to look at Isaac with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

"Not bad, not bad, keep up the good work."

Isaac stood aside, and the little earl smiled happily.

Whistle--

The strong bow vibrated three times in succession, and three arrows were shot out and hit the target one after another, forming a standard equilateral triangle.

Murci turned his head and smiled at Yelugubai and blinked.

Yergubai pursed his lips and turned his head away.

One of them is ten years old, the other is fourteen years old, and they are currently studying at the Royal Knights Academy.

Currently, the first batch of knight students of the Royal Knight Academy have graduated and joined the Knights of Saint Simon as knight squires.

After Isaac designated Bilinchi as the capital, Andronikos Paleoloos, the executive dean of the Royal Knights Academy, was invited by Isaac to set up a branch here and appointed instructor Di Lin as the dean.

In addition to selecting local brave young men, the Bilinqi Knight Branch will also recruit tribal chiefs and noble sons to strengthen the central government's control over the local areas, while increasing their centripetal force towards the principality.

At Isaac's order, local forces in Cyrenaica and Surt sent their children to Birinchi, where, in addition to training in riding and swordsmanship, they also learned Greek writing and theology.

Yelugubai and Murci are both students.

One of these two men was Count Bairdi, and the other was the son of Count Ugu. They were of noble status and were secretly divided into two factions in Isaac's court. The sons of tribal chieftains from the Autocratic Principality of Surt were led by Murcha, while the sons of merchants and gentry from Cyrenaica were united around Yergubai.

Isaac watched the two men fighting, a smile forming on his face.

Isaac would often hold small tournaments in the Black Castle. The content of the competitions varied, sometimes it was swordplay, sometimes it was horsemanship, and more often it was archery.

After each competition, Isaac would give some exquisite weapons or armor to the tribal children with outstanding performance to satisfy the young men's vanity.

Overall, this policy is very useful when managing territories with complex ethnic situations and intertwined local forces.

The lack of some national sentiments can be compensated by personal feelings.

The Ottoman Empire loved to use this method to interfere in the internal affairs of its vassal states, and there were many noble children from the Balkan countries in the Sultan's court.

Of course, if the ruler insists on doing things like Muhammad II did, ordering princes from various countries around, or even taking other people's brothers into the harem, this kind of diplomatic means will instead become the fuse of conflict between the two countries.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Isurt sent me here. He said there is urgent information!"

A young man came running up and handed Isaac a letter.

"Thank you for your hard work, Neville."

The boy's name is Neville. He is the eldest son of the Sheikh of the Ahmed tribe. He is currently studying with the prime minister and serving as an attendant and clerk.

As Isaac's rule over the Autocratic Principality of Surt lasted longer, many tribal chiefs who had initially resisted had begun to get used to the new order and participated in it.

There is no way. The tribes that do not want to participate will either gradually die out or be completely wiped out. There is no third way.

Isaac took off the gold-inlaid dagger from his waist and gave it to Murci, who had performed well today. Then he mounted his horse and rode away under the enthusiastic gazes of the crowd.

These teenagers are between 10 and 15 years old, and are at the age when they are developing their outlook on life and values. Showing kindness to them at this time will be far more useful than after they become adults.

After entering the large conference room of the city hall, Isaac discovered that the place was already full of people.

"Albert? Why are you back?"

Isaac looked at Albert, who looked a little embarrassed, and had a bad feeling in his heart.

"Your Majesty, I am sorry to disturb your pleasure, but the situation is urgent and I have no choice but to do this."

Isurt stood up and led Isaac to the main seat.

"Your Majesty, the failure of this mission is my fault. Please punish me."

Albert knelt on one knee and lowered his head.

"No need to do that, let me tell you the situation first."

"On July 7, four days ago, Prince Nasirlan of Tripoli and the Tunisian envoy Payer launched a coup d'état under the cover of night."

"The envoy Payil brought three warriors loyal to Nasirlan into Zakaria's manor under the pretext of visiting him,"

"Three? Where are the weapons?"

"Their weapons were confiscated and their bodies were searched, but no one thought that their goal was not to assassinate."

"These three assassins sent the servants away and sneaked into the stable. I don't know what method they used, but they angered all the usually docile horses and made them run around in all directions."

"With no other options, Zakaria ordered his guards to go out and hunt down a dozen frantic horses."

"Immediately afterwards, more than a hundred elite soldiers who had been ambushed in a nearby tunnel immediately rushed into Zakaria's residence, burning and killing people everywhere, and almost slaughtered the entire family."

"Kill them all?"

"That's what Nasirlan said."

Isaac nodded and motioned for Albert to continue.

"It happened so quickly that the city guards and other merchants' guards did nothing during this process."

"Then, the emissaries Nasirlan and Payir took Yahya's edict and went straight to the city guards' station and obtained their loyalty."

"Afterwards, some merchants who had close ties with Zakaria suffered bloody revenge. The rest of the merchants had either already defected to Nasirlan or acquiesced to Nasirlan's actions and watched this scene unfold in fear."

"When the first rays of sunlight hit the city hall in Tripoli in the morning, the city had already changed its owner."

"Nasirlan claimed that he would only punish the main culprit and spare the rest. He took all the merchants' guards into the city guards, accepted a large sum of money from them, and allowed them to continue to exist."

After hearing this story, Isaac could only smile bitterly.

The inherent compromising and profit-seeking nature of the merchant class determines that they will never be loyal to a certain regime or organization. When the benefits are big enough or the losses are too great, they will sell out anyone without hesitation.

Question: How to get a businessman to open the window voluntarily?
Answer: He threatened to tear down the ceiling.

Zakaria has been in power for many years, which must have caused dissatisfaction among many people. In addition, as life and death are at stake, these people will not care about the collective interests of the Merchant Council, and betrayal is as normal to them as drinking water.

"They didn't try to hurt you?"

Albert shook his head.

"Nasirlan sent someone privately to inform me to leave Tripoli."

"He doesn't seem to want to break up with us."

Isaac stood up and paced back and forth, feeling somewhat anxious.

"By the way, how come you know what happened so clearly?"

"On the way, I met Hofen, a Bedouin who had a close relationship with President Urda. He was also on Nasirlan's kill list. He went to New Belefa to buy slaves that night and luckily escaped."

"The remaining forces of Zakaria's party are now secretly led by him. A surviving black servant in Zakaria's mansion escaped from the city under the cover of darkness. Hoffen learned the whole story from him."

"That means Zakaria's life or death is uncertain now?"

Albert nodded.

"Your Majesty, it is no longer important whether Zakaria lives or dies."

Prime Minister Isult reminded.

This is true.

Isaac sighed heavily.

This Nasirlan has tricked everyone.

The walls of Tripoli were strong, and it was impossible to attack from under the deep trenches and high ramparts.

If he could mobilize his troops, attack by land and sea, regardless of casualties, he might be able to forcefully break down the walls of Tripoli, but this would inevitably drag him into a protracted war with Tunisia. Even if he could eventually gain the upper hand, he would suffer heavy casualties and run out of steam.

Then what will I use to deal with the war three years later?

"Do you have any good suggestions?"

Isaac calmed himself down and looked at his staff.

"Your Majesty, I think there is no need to continue this war."

"Your looting fleet has plundered the area around Misrata. Now it cannot support a large-scale army for a long time."

Prime Minister Isurt was apparently still bothered by his own pirate decree.

Isaac ignored him and looked at the map, forcing himself to calm down.

"First, order Count Mikhail to occupy Misrata and threaten Melfa at the same time."

"It's meaningless to continue wasting time."

"Second, send someone to Tripoli to contact Nasirlan secretly,"

"I just don't believe that he would hand over the city that he had spent so much effort and years of planning to obtain so easily to the Tunisian central government."

"Third, gather the remaining fleet and pirate forces and prepare to go to Djerba Island for support."

"Do it right away."

Isaac waved his hand and drove the ministers out of the meeting room.

If Tripoli's plan fails completely, then Djerba Island must be taken.

Giovanni, please don't let me down!

……

Djerba, a small island located in the Gulf of Gabes, is connected to the North African mainland by a small landmass. It is submerged by sea water at high tide and leaves behind a patch of silt and salt marsh at low tide.

Djerba Island is not very large, with scarce arable land. Most people make a living by fishing. Dates and palm trees can be grown in a few areas. There is an excellent harbor in the north for large ships to dock and resupply.

The island itself was of little value, but its geographical location was of great importance to Isaac, who wanted to continue bleeding the Hafsid dynasty.

If this place could be used as a naval base, the entire Gabes coast would be exposed to direct attacks from Isaac's privateering fleet and would be impossible to defend.

Several decades later in the original time and space, a pirate family acquired the island, accumulated wealth step by step, and eventually controlled most of North Africa with unscrupulous looting and the support of the Ottoman Empire.

Djerba Island is the first base of the famous Barbaros Hayreddin and the dreaded Barbary pirates, and the starting point of all legendary stories.

According to incomplete statistics, during the decades when the Barbary pirates were most active, more than 20,000 Christians living on the coast of southern Europe were captured and enslaved every year.

"General, the village ahead has been cleared, please move."

Giovanni Giustitiani nodded and walked into the village where the fire was still burning.

"What are the casualties?"

"This village is not big. There are only about a hundred people in total, which is less than the number of our troops."

"We lost one person and more than a dozen were injured."

"The unlucky guy who died happened to step into the hunter's trap and died from excessive bleeding."

The deputy handed Giovanni a report.

"This is the information we got from the villagers, and it is basically consistent with the previous two villages."

Giovanni took the information and glanced at it.

Djerba Island has little water source, no rivers, and a small population. There are nearly ten fishing villages like this one.

There is a small castle near the mainland of Djerba, which houses troops and administrators from the Hafsid dynasty.

There are several ancient wells around the castle, which are said to date back to the ancient Roman period.

With the help of these wells, a small town was built next to the castle, which was mainly responsible for supplying the castle garrison.

Every spring, tax collectors who usually lived on the mainland would visit the villages and collect dates and pickled fish as tribute.

Apart from that, these gentlemen would not even look at this poor and dilapidated island.

Until the Barbary pirates took over, no one realized the importance of this island.

"How many soldiers are there in the castle?"

"It's not clear. Some say 100 people, some say 200 people."

"It should be about the same. The local supply situation simply cannot support a large garrison."

Giovanni picked up the crude map he had stolen from a local villager and tried to orient himself.

After looking at it for a long time, I still couldn't make any sense out of the ghost paintings.

"Where are the prisoners?"

“Some are still alive.”

"Go and see if there is anyone willing to lead the way for us."

"Also, inform Captain Fidel as soon as possible. We need the assistance of the naval fleet."

"Detain the prisoners first, they will be useful later."

"The castle is surrounded by the sea on both sides. With the help of our fleet, it will not be difficult to take it down."

Giovanni frowned.

"After taking it, build fortifications on the spot to defend against possible enemy counterattacks."

"Yes!"

……

On July 1449, 7, after four villages had been razed to the ground, the sluggish garrison finally began to respond.

Giovanni deliberately disguised the Marines as southern Italian pirates and hid part of his forces in order to confuse the enemy.

Seeing that Giovanni's men were few in number, the garrison gathered three hundred soldiers and marched towards Giovanni's station in a mighty force.

Giovanni led a hundred sailors to engage the enemy first, fighting and retreating towards the coast.

The garrison was overjoyed and immediately gave chase, trying to wipe out the southern Italian pirates on the coast.

When they happily caught up with the beach, they discovered that what was docked here was not the small paddle boats commonly seen by southern Italian pirates, but a row of majestic large warships.

Suddenly, the morale of the garrison began to decline.

Giovanni turned and moved forward, desperately chasing the enemy who was trying to escape. Captain Fidel led the remaining troops to provide rapid support, defeated the garrison, and killed more than a hundred people.

On July 7, Giovanni went to the castle with the captured broken military flags and enemy prisoners, but failed to persuade them to surrender.

The next day, with the assistance of the fleet, Giovanni led the captives to attack the city, gradually wearing down the enemy's morale.

There were only a few dozen enemies left, but they fought tenaciously, and at one point Giovanni was extremely anxious.

On August 8, as the enemy's casualties continued to increase, the defenders could no longer fill the entire castle defense line, and the castle was captured that night.

Giovanni entered the castle, where there were few people left, in the dark, and urged the captured slaves to build fortifications, naming it Castello La Spezia in memory of his hometown.

In the next few days, while the local troops of Hafs had not yet responded, Giovanni led his troops to continue sweeping Djerba Island, suppressing those who disobeyed and supporting those who were loyal. At the same time, he ordered people to survey and map the island, focusing on marking the water sources.

On August 8, Giovanni basically wiped out the local forces on Djerba Island and ordered a clipper to deliver the victory report and map to Birinci.

(End of this chapter)