Francisco, who received the order, of course, did not dare to slack off, and in order to maintain the stability of the Ebius Brilliant during transportation, he also deliberately dismantled the ammunition of three heavy guns and a large number of side guns in the Golden Horn.

And in order not to arouse the vigilance and suspicion of the Ottomans. The Phoenix fleet did not make a move, and the flagship only returned to port under the guise of maintenance and refurbishment. In the port of Piraeus, this is already a no-surprise.

Of course, John, in order to make sure that everything is foolproof, certainly does not notify just one Francisco. The Ebius Radiance also carried Publius of the Holy See Guard and hundreds of members of the Guard. Together with the city defense forces, they will protect the land security of this transport.

The first is to empty the port area. The port area of Piraeus is densely populated and has a complex demographic. But to bring out these difficult businessmen for a short time would cost a lot of money by peaceful means.

"So be it, let them get out of the port of Piraeus, and then give them a certain amount of tax relief depending on the size of their own estate. Anyway, everyone is looking for money, is there really someone who will go against the empire for the sake of decency? ”

"Brother, I don't rule out this possibility." Standing on the top of the Acropolis, Sophia could clearly see the crowds of people in the port of Piraeus, "Not every merchant is willing to sell the face of the empire. I'm afraid these Venetians are already used to our territory......"

"Then go to jail. The current level of law and order in Greece is such that I think the prison officers are starving to death. "About

"Then the Doge of Venice is probably coming to Constantinople again."

"Unless...... They haven't had enough of it. ”

John wasn't too worried about the Merchant of Venice. A group of guys who only have money and interests in their eyes are the least necessary to worry about. What John was really afraid of was Muhammad's remnants of the Balkans.

No matter how powerful Pedro is, it is impossible to establish a counter-espionage network in all the Empire-controlled areas in a short period of time. And Athens, the most difficult area to control in the entire Aegean Rim, will undoubtedly be the focus of Ottoman spy infiltration.

The curfew had been fully ordered the day before. The reason given by Latius is that he has recently captured the eyes of many pirates in the city of Athens, and it is likely that there will be more pirates attacking the city in the near future. In order to prevent pirates from breaking the deployment of the city's defenses, Athens entered a temporary curfew. Lasts three days. And in order to facilitate the capture of pirates, and in order not to cause misunderstanding among the city guards, any citizen of the empire and civilians with temporary residency were forbidden to leave their houses in the middle of the night. As for the wanderers on the streets, they need to leave Athens before dark, or go to a temporary concentration point, or they will be dealt with as pirate accomplices.

The same proclamation was repeated countless times in the city of Athens. However, Latius had repeatedly implemented a curfew system in order to rectify the rampant foreign thieves in the city of Athens, and the citizens of Athens were not uncommon to curfews. It didn't cause a commotion among the civilians, the big deal was just going to bed early.

"Your Majesty, the Ebius Radiance has docked in the port of Piraeus. General Publius' guard is waiting in the outer city! ”

"Wait? Nothing to wait for. Our people are piled up here, and others will be suspicious. When they first went to stay in the barracks of the city defense army. When the curfew starts, we will make additional arrangements for the defense of the port area. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Because of the curfew, the city of Athens is quiet after nightfall, especially on the stretch from the port of Piraeus to the factory in Urban. Because anyone who makes a noise will be caught red-handed by the city guards.

The urban cannon was made up of a huge copper plate, mounted on a special roulette wheel, and pulled by a dozen bulls and soldiers, and such a force could only make the heavy cannon move at a moving speed. The distance from the factory to the port is not too far, but it has already taken three hours to reach the port gate.

"Let the city defense army set up a defensive line in the port area, there should be no accidents......"

Before John could finish speaking, a sudden roar was heard in the distance. In the middle of the night, the loud noise was especially abrupt.

The nerves of the city defenders immediately tensed. This is obviously not good news. And when the beacon fire on the tower reflected the silhouette of the other party, John could barely believe his eyes.

A small fleet.

"Tunisian pirates?" Francisco was undoubtedly the most nervous at this time. The main forces of the Phoenix fleet are still scattered today in the ports of the Golden Horn and Epirus. The coastal defense of the port of Piraeus is rather limited. The Ebius Radiance, which had all its main guns and a large amount of ammunition unloaded, had almost no means of resistance at this time.

"It's not like ...... The Tunisian fleet was probably not so bold as to attack the Empire's ports. Latius was also involved in the escort, and he knew the Tunisians on the other side of the river well. They may be more willing to plunder the coast of the Iberian Peninsula than to take action against the Empire. Even though the ships were under pirate flags, Latius thought they were more like a small fleet of Ottoman ships.

"Anyway, the port of Piraeus, it should be lively tonight...... Francisco, you go and sail the Ebius Radiance into the inner harbor first, if this ship is robbed by pirates, the losses of the Phoenix fleet will be too great. Because of the darkness of the night, John could not judge the fighting strength of this group of pirates. However, the sea wall and near-shore artillery in the port of Piraeus at least ensured that the pirate fleet could not easily dock in the port area.

The only possible way for them to land would be to rely on dinghys or simply swim ashore. In the end, how to face the defenders on land is another serious problem.

It seems that this group of pirates did not expect that it was late at night, and a garrison close to a legion would appear out of thin air, and the entire port would be lit up in an instant.

The price to be paid for shaking the near-shore artillery, and the luck is slightly worse is the ship's destruction and death.

"Your Majesty...... They...... Their ship is now out of range of our sea wall artillery and no longer moves? ”

"Huh?" John and his commanders climbed the wall of the sea, where they could see the motionless pirate fleet from a distance of 100 meters.

"They probably just want to take advantage of the lack of imperial defenses in the middle of the night, and force their way into the port area and leave after sacking it...... John guessed.

"We can't keep people stuck in the door like this, can we? I'm afraid the heavy artillery won't fly to the Cut Throat Fort on its own. ”

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Lewen