Chapter 271 Ionian Sea Battle

"God bless, I hope this works."

Nikiphorus prayed to the statue of Jesus in the cabin. This was the first time since the navy was founded that it had fought against the powerful Venetian navy. If it failed, it would be a big blow to the empire. At the same time, this was the first time the new tactics were used. I don't know if it would work.

"My lord, they are coming."

Nikiphorus finally waited, and he was ready to let the Venetians see the new situation in Rome.

Alvio was also a senior naval commander in Venice. He had made many military achievements in the Kiziau War. He was also confident about this war against Rome. After all, the dozen small boats of Rome could not pose any threat at all.

Obviously, they did not take the navy developed by Wallachia seriously. So when he saw the other fleet spread out in a straight line, he thought it was just Rome's dying struggle.

"God is really helping Venice, ordering the fleet to charge forward."

"Yes"

The fleet led by Alvio charged directly at the enemy. Their best skill was boarding. Although they were the first to use artillery, they had not yet equipped it on a large scale, and their long-range firepower was still bows and crossbowmen.

"They are coming!"

The scouts on high ground reported the situation of the Venetian fleet. Seeing that this inexplicable tactic was indeed underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly, Nikephoros ordered a red flag to be raised. This was his signal to other ships to follow his command.

When the Venetian fleet entered the range, Nikephoros ordered to open fire. Hundreds of artillery fired at the Venetian fleet. Fortunately, the Venetian fleet was all in one go, otherwise the hit rate would be low.

Several ships were hit by too many shells and sank first. The enemy's firepower was fierce, which made Alvio serious. But it has not deviated from the original plan, and boarding operations are considered correct.

However, in order to reduce losses, Alvio ordered the fleet to disperse, but the order took a long time to spread, and temporary changes also took time. While they were adjusting their formations, the enemy's artillery did not stop. They changed from the original straight line to a crescent shape, gradually surrounding these fleets.

The Roman fleet moved, and Alvio quickly adjusted the tactics and prepared to board the ship for battle. All soldiers picked up bows and arrows and shot at each other, while preparing weapons for close combat.

But just when the ships were about to collide, the middle part of the Roman ship directly sprayed a fire dragon, which scared some Venetian soldiers into the sea.

"What is this?" A Venetian sailor was scared to death, he had never seen such a thing. The flames that spewed out all of a sudden set the hull on fire, and both the Venetian and Roman fleets began to put out the fire.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

A Venetian soldier was accidentally burned, and he screamed heartbreakingly. The soldiers around him stayed away from him. It was a brave man who poked him into the sea with a stick, which avoided greater casualties.

"Get ready, it's time to fight the Romans to the death."

The Venetian soldiers and sailors picked up daggers, short swords and other melee weapons, ready to have a naval exchange with Rome. Rome has been using artillery, Greek fire, bows and arrows to prevent them from close combat.

Just as Alvio was about to continue the charge, his men reported to him in horror that they were surrounded.

This made Alvio unbelievable, but it was the fact. The armed merchant ships on the Roman flag attacked from behind, gradually forming an encirclement of the Venetian fleet.

"Quick, break out, break out quickly."

Alvio panicked directly. He ordered the fleet to break out to the southwest, but it was too late. The artillery of the rear fleet also began to fire, and more than a hundred ships became turtles in a jar.

The once invincible Venetian fleet was surrounded by the now weak Roman navy, and the other side made full use of the artillery to strike the Venetian fleet continuously, and the more they struggled, the heavier the casualties.

After a day and night of fighting, the Roman Navy sank 34 Venetian warships, 72 armed merchant ships, and 4,200 casualties at the cost of 11 warships, 23 armed merchant ships, and 400 casualties. And captured Admiral Alvio, which broke the myth of the invincibility of the Venetian Navy and proved that the new tactics of the Roman Navy were useful.

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While the naval battle was going on, Prime Minister Angel and Patriarch Anthony followed Mircea's orders and began to instigate an uprising of believers on the Aegean Islands. Many islands, including Chios, have protested, and the two city-states have to maintain their rule first, which makes them exhausted. Especially Genoa, the already scarce funds are even more scarce. This made the parliament, which had just declared war, move the idea of ​​peace talks.

Florence and the Republic of Siena paid close attention to this war. They wanted to see if they could get some benefits from this war. The Papal States stood on the side of Venice. After all, they were of the same religion, and it was also good to allow Venice to continue to expand the territory of Catholicism.

Before the news of the naval battle spread, the Knights Hospitaller, under the influence of Venice and some of its members, declared war on Rome and blocked the nearby waters, which directly restricted the use of the port of Smyrna. This gave the Dragon Knights an opportunity to directly attack Rhodes together with the Andrews, and the Anatolian Church also allocated part of its not-so-rich church property to fund them.

In addition to the Romans, naturalized Turks and people of different faiths in the empire also joined in, because compared with the Western regimes and Eastern pagans, Rome was already their paradise. (Jews: I *****)

The religious policy adopted by Mircea and Peter was actually a summary of the policies of the previous regimes, which not only collected more taxes, but also allowed them to settle down. If large-scale assimilation is not possible, this is the only way for the time being.

The Armenians are the most enthusiastic about fighting except for Rome. The bishop of the Armenian Church called on believers everywhere to resist and welcome the Roman army into the city. There were sporadic resistance movements from Cilicia to Yerevan. But most of them were suppressed by local sultans and emirs, and so was Muhammad. Faced with such danger, he decided to take a risky move and sent troops to Konya to destroy Karaman.

At this time, Karaman had declined rapidly. After the death of the previous ruler, his sons fought because of the uneven distribution of spoils. The entire country was divided into several places, which also gave Muhammad an opportunity. He wanted to use the mobility of the cavalry to quickly capture Karaman, which would not only expand the territory, but also absorb the local population to expand its strength. Kill two birds with one stone.