Eagle Byzantium

Axepochus, who was helpless, sent a letter to Crete, "Your servant suggests that Thebes and Athens cannot be defended at all. You might as well withdraw your troops to defend the Isthmus of Corinth. When necessary, your servant can only do his best to protect your Majesty's living forces and withdraw them safely to Crete."

John was immediately desperate after receiving the letter, but his eyes were red, "Why can't I defeat my sister and Gawain once?"

What made him even more painful and desperate was that the Venetians in the Gandiya Castle began to evacuate by boat one after another. No matter how he used soft and hard tactics, this group of profit-seeking guys still said, "There is no need to hold on. The city-state has reached a level with Constantinople. We have reached an armistice agreement, and our route has changed. His Majesty promised us to give us two commercial ports in Durazzo and Eubia, so we can no longer be enemies with the emperor of the empire on Crete and Rhodes. "

Looking at the group of people packing up their bedding, John's eyes were red and he was extremely angry. He swayed his body, holding his sword and roared at them, "Who is your Majesty?"

But no one answered him. The Venetians sighed, looked at him coldly, and evacuated: the sails were raised in the port of Gandia, and a fleet also came from Rhodes. After the two fleets merged, they obediently sailed northwest, leaving John alone in the castle.

John, who was ruthless, jumped directly onto a messenger ship and sailed to Moria with 300 soldiers. He didn't know what his purpose was, but he knew that he was unwilling to go to destruction like this.

When he arrived in Mistra at the end of June, the situation had deteriorated to the point where it could not be worse.

Acropolites' left-wing army used several cannons to knock down the walls of Cadmea within half a day. Three days later, they took advantage of the situation and captured Thebes. Five hundred silk weavers in the city were captured. Most of them were valuable human resources during the reign of Emperor Alexius. Now all of them belonged to Gawain, "sent to the imperial capital immediately to revive the silk factories in Constantinople."

After General Lekapenos' right-wing army landed on Eubia Island, it also swept across the area. The main town fortresses such as Edipsos, Persimmons, and Christos surrendered one by one. Only the city of Chalcis at the southern end of the island connected to the Attica Peninsula where Athens is located (that is, Negroponte, which was later occupied by Venice in the history of this plane) was still resisting under the death defense of five hundred "princes".

Chalcis is small but strong. It is almost entirely built on the sea, surrounded by rivers, harbors and capes. There are only two bridges connecting it to the main island of Eubia, and a small town connecting it to Attica.

On the one hand, Lekapenus' army surrounded it, and on the other hand, after capturing Thebes, Acropolites' left army advanced to the southwest of Chalcis. Then the imperial envoys sent a letter to Chalcis, which was surrounded by a large army, to surrender, but were rejected.

Soon, Gawain's fleet arrived.

This fleet was not an inland shallow-sea warship like a skua and a car ship. It was a real sea fleet. Some of them were second-hand refurbished galleys provided by vassal city-states, and some were brand-new warships made in the naval frontier areas of Attalia and Mysia - there were 20 large galleys, 30 Pamphylian light warships, 10 fire ships, and eight gunboats that frightened the city of Chalcis.

These fleets were extremely fierce, flying blue and white swallowtail flags embroidered with the image of Saint Nicholas, and sailed from the port of Abydos, announcing the existence of their power in this sea area. After arriving at the coastal camp of their own army, eight gunboats were dispatched first. They were all made of solid oak. Although the hulls were not large, the bows were raised high, like a bracket slide, with a short, thick and sturdy copper mortar erected on it. The eight gunboats were connected in series, and bundles of firewood and wooden fences were placed in the sea water. Soon, a large floating siege artillery fort was built, which bombarded the water wall of Chalcis.

In the smoke and fire, the water wall was shattered in about two days. Fifty members of the prince's party rushed out in a small boat with incendiary fuel, trying to burn down the siege fort. However, the sailors and gunners were lying on the towers and decks of the ship, firing bullets like rain. The boat of the death squad was sunk before it reached the target. The people on it were either drowned or killed by muskets.

Then, taking advantage of the high tide, the large paddle boat rushed directly to the edge of the city wall. The soldiers stepped on the ladders extending from the cabin and rushed directly into the Karski Castle on the battlements, killing all the defenders.

The Battle of Karski is almost the only bloody battle worth mentioning in the southern line strategy.

Because after it fell, when the vanguard cavalry of Gawain's southern line legion rushed to the city of Athens, the city had no soldiers and fortifications to resist, and the city sent representatives to surrender to the two generals.

Next was the city of Corinth. Axepochus was worried and worried, but he couldn't find a solution. He was even more shocked when he heard that Emperor John had arrived in Mistra to supervise the battle. He hurriedly sent a letter, "The Vilziti in the northwest of Moria are rising up to cut off your way back. If the thousands of fresh troops in Corinth are destroyed after the city is captured, Your Majesty will have no soldiers to use even if you return to Crete. The tragedy of Prusa must not happen again, so your servant hopes to be allowed to abandon Corinth and then return to Crete by ship!"

John was furious: the natural barrier of the Isthmus of Corinth was not used. As long as the muskets and elite troops were used to hold on, even if the enemy had 40,000 troops, it would be difficult for them to cross it for a while. So he quickly wrote back to the city of Corinth, "We used defensive walls and some muskets on the Isthmus before. When the enemy approached, we fired muskets from a distance and engaged in close combat. We held on for half a year without any problems. Why did we retreat in a hurry? Moria is rich in various materials. We must not lose them, otherwise my power to restore the country will be reduced by half."

Axepochus, who received John's letter, could not bear it. He was determined to disobey orders. He first sent 4,000 soldiers and many craftsmen directly to the city of Mistra to prepare for escape, and then stayed in the city to supervise the 500 more reliable soldiers who stayed behind to hold the cross wall built in advance at the Isthmus and observe the situation of Gawain's army.

Axepochus's plan was that if the enemy attacked fiercely, he would not sit still and wait for death, but would rather escape - although he was only the emperor's slave, he was still useful after all. If the emperor lost him again, he might not be able to hold on for even three years and would be completely destroyed by Gawain.

A correct version was found in the 16-9 book forum!

As a result, Axepochus, who climbed up the horizontal wall, saw that the enemy on the other side of the isthmus was overwhelming, accompanied by many craftsmen and technicians temporarily recruited from Thessaly. They first set up camp and then began to cast cannons on the spot to bombard the wall.