1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 79 Lord of the Black Hawk

Chapter 79 Lord of the Black Hawk
On the eastern shore of the Strait of Otranto, in the southwestern Balkan Peninsula, in the Ohlone Military District of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Late at night, the villages and towns fell into sleep, with only the occasional lights of the night watchmen casting a dim light.

On the country road, the sound of horse hooves could be heard, coming from far away and getting closer.

Dada, Dada——

A row of knights were fully armed, wearing armor and holding swords. The clashing sounds of armor and the sound of horses' hooves pierced the silence of the night.

Suddenly, the leading knight's eyes flashed, he raised his right hand, and the knights reined in their horses and stopped.

"Come out, I see you."

From the grove by the roadside, two men in tattered leather armor came out in a panic, looking terrified. They dropped their weapons and raised their hands.

"Why here?"

The Knight Commander signaled with his eyes, and a knight jumped off his horse and kicked the weapon that had fallen on the ground away.

"Sir, we are the militia from Lardu Village, patrolling at night..."

When the two saw the knights rushing towards them, they immediately extinguished their torches and hid in the woods, but they still could not escape.

How can a coward like this be a soldier?
The knights all smiled disdainfully, but the Knight Commander looked serious.

Compared with the knights who were professional soldiers, he, as a political creature, saw more and thought further.

After entering the Ohlon Military Region along the western coastal plain of Albania, the number of patrolling militia and cavalry teams nearby immediately increased, and checkpoints were set up on the main roads to intercept and verify identities.

The civilians nearby seemed to have become accustomed to this and even joined in.

The new rulers brought new life, and commercial associations from North Africa took advantage of the gaps in the Albanian-Venetian War and quickly occupied the local market, adding it to their trade network.

Cheap furs, strong slaves, exquisite books, and precious sugar came from the south along the Mediterranean trade routes and gradually became part of the lives of the locals.

At the same time, the rulers also took advantage of the lower classes' nostalgia for Orthodoxy and resistance to the Latin Pope to vigorously stir up religious sentiment and thus ease ethnic conflicts.

Nearly three years have passed, and the situation here has become stable.

It seems that the administrators of the Oron Military Region are quite outstanding.

He had met Baron Maruna before, he was just a rough man, it was impossible for such extremely brilliant political skills to come from him.

Could it be the new military district administrator?
The Knight Commander thought about it.

The militiamen raised their heads and glanced furtively at the emblems on the knights' banners.

Double-headed Black Hawk.

The militiamen were somewhat surprised.

They had seen the emperor's gold-and-red double-headed eagle emblem, Baron Maruna's black bear emblem, and the shield emblem representing the military district's garrison.

The two-headed black eagle, could it be coming from the north?

"We are going to Emperor Isaac's Castle. You lead the way."

The Knight Commander came to his senses, took out two shining silver coins and threw them in front of the militia. The coins bounced on the stones and spun around.

"Keep it on us!"

The militiamen immediately pocketed the silver coins, dusted off their bodies, trotted to the knights' horses, bowed and knelt with fawning smiles on their faces.

……

East of the city of Auron, Emperor Isaac's Castle.

Emperor Isaac's Castle is located at a strategic pass between the mountains, firmly guarding the road leading to the city of Aulon from the east.

A long time ago, this place was a military fortress of the Eastern Roman Empire. Later, the empire declined, local princes emerged, and the defense focus of the city of Ohlone moved to the northern plains. This place was abandoned and became a den of thieves and bandits.

After the establishment of the Aulon Military District, the commander of the military district, Baron Maruna, conducted a large-scale sweep of the surrounding bandits, renovated this strategic pass, and named it Emperor Isaac's Fort as a forward base for the military district's garrison troops.

"Baron, Commander Morris has arrived."

In Emperor Isaac's Castle, Maruna was sitting in his room, reading a letter. The table next to him was piled with a thick stack of official documents.

"Tell him to wait, I'll be there soon."

"Don't forget to call Hamsa as well."

Maruna nodded and put the letter down.

After dressing neatly, putting on his coat and sword, Maruna walked into the reception room in the castle.

The reception room was not big, and its walls were made of icy black rocks with torches stuck on them, emitting flickering light.

The room was filled with a solemn and murderous atmosphere. Apart from a flag with the shield of the Aulon Military Region hanging on the wall, there was no other decoration.

There were already people in the living room.

"Friends from the north, welcome."

"Maruna, now that you are so successful, you don't recognize me anymore?"

The Knight Commander smiled and looked at Maruna.

"Of course not, Hamsa darling."

"I still remember the days we fought together a few years ago."

"But now, please allow me to introduce you to the administrator of the military region, Morris from the Klepas family."

Maruna turned his head and nodded to Officer Morris beside him.

Maurice was originally the governor of the city of Jufra. He performed outstandingly in the implementation of the slave law and was promoted to the administrator of the Ohlone Military Region.

"It's my pleasure."

Hamsa bowed slightly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hamsa of the Castrioti family."

"Your uncle made the family name famous, and I believe you have done the same."

Hamsa was obviously very happy, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

"Hamsa, since Commander Morris is here, you might as well retell your purpose for coming."

Morris turned his head slightly and looked at Maruna.

"Gentlemen, I come here on behalf of my uncle, George Castrioti Skanderbeg, to ask you to fulfill your promise and send troops to help us fight against the Ottoman invasion."

……

In a flower-filled manor in Prague, the Kingdom of Bohemia, a beautiful girl sat on the edge of the bed, her hair a little disheveled and her face slightly pale.

"Princess, are you feeling better?"

The maid came in and brought a sumptuous breakfast to her master.

"Better now, thank you."

Leonor Avish spoke, her voice still a little weak.

Combined with her delicate and slender figure, it can actually arouse people's desire to protect her.

"Put it here."

Leonor pointed to the exquisite dressing table beside her.

"Your Highness, there is a letter for you."

Leonor frowned slightly.
Ever since she started traveling, every time she arrived at a place, she was always amazed.

She is of noble birth, knowledgeable, elegant and beautiful.

The local noble sons were jealous of each other and were willing to fight each other just to win the beauty's smile.

Every day, there are always many suitors who send various letters to his residence.

I bought some exquisite stationery, sprayed some expensive perfume on it, gritted my teeth and pondered over it over and over again, then wrote love poems in cursive script.

"You have beautiful eyes."

“I can see stars in it.”

From childhood to adulthood, Leonor has heard countless such low compliments.

Whenever this happened, she would always give a designed formatted smile, say thank you and bow, then look at the other person's excited expression with contempt.

Later, she no longer showed up casually, and she handed the letters to her trusted maid, with a brief reply on the letters.

Only important letters would be presented to the princess by the maid. "Whose is it?"

The maid blinked and handed a letter to Leonor.

The envelope is simple and elegant, with a huge double-headed eagle emblem painted in the center, and the Constantine Cross on the eagle is particularly eye-catching.

Leonor curled her lips, opened the envelope and took out the letter.

Compared to the ostentatious envelope, the letter seemed sloppy and hasty, with the handwriting being illegible and even a little shaky.

Obviously, the other party was excited.

She stretched out her upturned nose and took a gentle sniff.

Sharp and salty, like blood scattered in the sea breeze.

This kind of feeling is often found in Uncle Enrique's letters.

She sighed helplessly and read the letter.

"My dear Leonor, you may not know the emotion with which I write this letter to you."

"I believe that with your intelligence, you have already deduced that this letter was written at sea."

"I sat on the Santa Maria, with the victorious soldiers standing beside me and the tattered enemy flags under my feet."

"My fleet was singing the song of victory, and behind them were the surrendering enemy ships and the transport ships that were full to the brim."

"I am happy to tell you that, with God's blessing, I won this crucial naval battle. From now on, no one can stop my plan."

"You are probably the first person in Europe to share my joy."

Leonor looked at the date and then at her maid.

"Your Highness, this letter has been through many twists and turns and took quite some time to arrive. It just recently arrived from Vienna."

Leonor nodded, somewhat regretfully.

Obviously, the sender's wish was not fulfilled and the news had spread.

The naval battle at Kerkennah shocked the entire Mediterranean world.

The moment the Mediterranean Fleet set sail despite Venice's warnings, everyone was gloating and waiting to see the joke.

However, things changed so quickly that people had no time to react.

The Mediterranean fleet of the Kingdom of Cyrenaica gathered pirate forces and did not head to the Venetian Eastern Mediterranean at all. Instead, it turned west and swept across the waters of the Hafsid Dynasty.

At the same time, veteran general Count Mikhail led his troops to Misrata.

In just one month, the southwestern coast of Gabes suffered unprecedented looting. Christian pirates from the east burned, killed, looted, and razed countless villages and towns to the ground. Countless refugees were displaced, and countless gold and silver treasures were transported back to Birinchi.

Then, Tripoli underwent a dramatic change, the Merchant Council fell, and Nasirlan regained control of the authorities, making the situation even more confusing.

Then, the long-lost main force of the fleet suddenly appeared on Djerba Island, occupying the place and showing a defensive posture.

Tunisian Caliph Yahya urgently assembled a fleet in an attempt to drive the Christians out of their lair and protect the safety of the core waters.

Neither side gave in, and a war was about to break out.

On September 1449, 9, a skirmish broke out between the two fleets south of the Kerkennah Islands. Both sides put all their efforts into the battle, deploying more than one hundred warships of various types. The naval battle lasted from the afternoon to the evening.

The end result was that the main fleet of the Hafsid dynasty was completely wiped out and buried in the flames.

The remaining small ships either surrendered or fled in all directions.

"The enemy commander is very experienced. He is holding on to the main fleet and trying to wear us down with sheer numerical superiority."

"However, thanks to my wise decision, the enemy finally fell into my trap and was completely defeated by my fire attack."

Reading this, Leonor couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The whole paragraph is full of vigor and vitality, vividly expressing the proud yet reserved psychological state of a commander who has returned victoriously.

She seemed to be able to see a young hero, full of ambition and high spirits, standing proudly at the bow, with a smile on his face and his eyes looking straight ahead.

It seemed like nothing could stop him.

Then, the proud boy walked towards her and looked into her eyes expectantly.

Am I awesome?
A blush suddenly appeared on Leonor's delicate cheeks.

"I am about to return to Billinge to deal with the aftermath."

"Are you still in Vienna? What are your impressions?"

"Looking forward to hearing from you."

"Yours forever, Isaac Palaiologos."

Leonor put down the letter and covered her hot cheeks with her hands to calm her excitement.

After a while, she climbed out of bed and sat at the table, holding the quill in her slender fingers.

……

"Your Majesty, this is the plan of our Admiralty. Please take a look."

In Bilinchi, in the Black Castle, Captain Fidel hands a document to Isaac.

After the Battle of Kerkennah, the Hafsid dynasty's naval power was wiped out, and there was no force in the entire central Mediterranean that could stop its looting plans.

When Isaac arrived at the Kerkennah Islands with his victorious fleet, they offered little resistance.

After the Kerkennah Islands changed hands, Isaac set about establishing the Governorate of Saint Simon, which included Saint Simon Island and the Kerkennah Islands, and used it as a naval base and the jurisdiction of the Knights, so that the two could check and balance each other.

Isaac opened the file and glanced at it.

"You have taken over all the good ports."

"Your Majesty, there aren't many people in this archipelago to begin with, and you've given the largest island, Chergui, to the Knights, so there really isn't much left for us."

"Besides..."

"Okay, okay, let's do it."

Isaac closed the document and agreed with Captain Fidel's statement.

The purpose of occupying these sparsely populated islands was to rely on the power of the navy and pirates to rob trade routes, gain profits, and weaken the enemy.

"Let's talk about the ship."

"Your Majesty, in this naval battle, we lost a total of four small and medium-sized galleys. The Duke of Morea and St. Nicholas were both damaged to varying degrees and urgently needed repairs."

"It's hard to count the number of pirates following us, but the losses should be about the same."

That’s right, he ran away halfway through the fight.

Isaac pouted.

"After the naval battle, a total of nine galleys of various types surrendered to us, but their quality varied greatly."

"After inspection by consultant Mansreti, four of them can still be used after modification, but the remaining five have serious problems."

As he spoke, Fidel took out a piece of paper with the names of several galleys recorded on it.

"We are going to sell the remaining galleys to pirates who are loyal to us."

"Where is Captain Demir who made such a great contribution?"

"The Ichel sank, but Demir survived by chance."

After thinking for a moment, he looked at the row of ship names on the paper.

Isaac pointed to the Abu Aziz, which was ranked first on the paper.

"The ship was renamed the Ichel, with Demir remaining as captain."