"About six ships, if they insist on landing, we should be able to concentrate our near-shore artillery before approaching the port area, and we may sink one or two." Francisco observed the wide coastline of the port of Piraeus, "It is not realistic to completely intercept this group of pirates. And even if the ship was sunk, this group of pirates of considerable size would have had the opportunity to get close to the coast by landing ships or even swimming, it was late at night, and at sea our archers could not easily aim at the target. ”

"Your Majesty, Your Highness the Princess, I suggest you stay away for now. If the pirates had decided, the port of Piraeus would have avoided a battle. "Publius mobilized the Holy See Guard to the sea wall. Although a little undermanned, if you add in the steady stream of Greek city guards, these pirates are not at all enough to pose a threat to the port area.

"What if they're not pirates?" John stared at the pirate fleet behind the curtain of the night, "It's too coincidental, it doesn't look like an accident......"

"Your Majesty, what do you mean ......"

"If they were pirates, then there must be Ottomans standing behind them, otherwise they would not have chosen such a stormy night to plunder by boat. And if they weren't pirates...... It can only be said that the Ottomans knew that today the empire would definitely send something important to the port area of Piraeus. ”

"Ottomans?"

John said in a deep voice: "The armistice agreement is no different from waste paper for two countries with extremely intensified contradictions and bitter historical hatred. Muhammad must have known in his heart that even if the Ottomans still suppressed the empire now, Asia Minor was the last chance for the Ottomans, and if they lost Asia Minor, with the large rotten land of the Armenian plateau, what chance did the Ottomans have to counterattack the Balkans? ”

Not far away, the warships of the so-called pirates really raised their sails again.

"You see, when you see this kind of coastal defense of the Empire, you dare to raise your sails and approach. If they did not have the support of the Ottomans behind them, who gave them the guts? General Publius, it's up to you how the battle of the Sea Wall is fought. ”

"Your Majesty, please rest assured."

Soon, under the watchful eye of the near-shore artillery, the pirate fleet rushed to the port area at maximum speed. Their ship is not an ordinary galley, judging by the appearance and outline alone, it should be much stronger than the old galley, and it is no wonder that they dare to attack the sea wall so openly.

Nearshore artillery had the same common problem as the guns of this era - the reload time was too long. It is necessary to carefully pour gunpowder first, then put in solid bullets, and finally ignite. This process can take a lot of time, even if it is quite skillful.

"Closer. Since we only have one salvo, we guarantee a hit rate. When the time comes, there will be a chance to blow up this group of pirates. ”

The pirate fleet had no intention of retreating after reraising its sails, and lined up as fast as possible towards the port of Piraeus. In addition to merchant ships and Greek fishermen's fishing boats, there were even several small Imperial warships that were docked for maintenance. In order to avoid the plundering of these fleets, Publius had to have some of his soldiers abandon the wall and form a first line of defense outside the wall.

Of course, the pirates are not stupid, and the city defense forces have not yet been fully assembled, and the pirates have already lowered their boats one after another. The only chance to fire a salvo from the near-shore guns was to seriously damage only one of the ships due to the huge probability of deflection. In contrast, the pirates who poured up like locusts increased the pressure on the city defense army.

Publius calmly ordered the city defense line to protect the sea wall, and then immediately dispersed the remaining city defense forces on the sea wall. The long and narrow coastline gave the pirates the opportunity to disperse and land, and as long as they could land, there were many ways to raid them. The sea wall of Piraeus is much shorter than the Golden Horn. It can only play the most basic role of interception, and even pirates can easily climb the sea wall with their hook locks.

The sea wall gate was the first to be threatened. The pirates' undisciplined principles of warfare can often feel overwhelming. Even pirates would light crude powder kegs to attack the soldiers defending outside the gates of the sea wall.

"This isn't any pirate, not to mention how a pirate could have such a large number of men. You see, the group of people who rushed up at the beginning were fine. Those chainmail chainmail infantry in the back are completely the configuration of the regular army! ”

The inshore artillery was already the highest rate of fire, but it was not effective in driving away the scattered pirates. Not to mention that their attacks were haphazard, and they didn't even engage in a head-on confrontation with the Athenian city defenses. The sea wall gate is completely dispensable to them. With hook locks and simple wooden ladders, it is easy to avoid defenses and invade the port area. The pirates were as nimble as monkeys in the forest, unable to catch their feet.

But the group of soldiers in armor was completely different. They will attack the Empire's defenses with reasonable tactics and arrays, and while this will cause attrition on their own forces, it will also distract the city defenders from stopping the pirates who have climbed the walls. Their purpose is quite clear, which is to storm the port area and plunder the wealth inside...... and, stealing important cargo that the Empire is preparing to transport out of the port of Piraeus tonight.

"Lord Admiral, I think we should be ready to shrink our defenses. These guys are a little harder to deal with than we thought. Let the city defense troops who are still on the road assemble outside the port area first. We'll look for an opportunity to give up the sea wall first. It is quite stupid to fight them to the death on the coastline. But as soon as they enter Minato, we have countless ways to make them regret launching this invasion! ”

There are still troops on the sea wall, but the city defense army is gathering and retreating in an orderly manner. It was easy to give the pirates the illusion that the Romans were not as strong as they thought, and that they could no longer withstand it.

Of course, perhaps the well-dressed regular soldiers would be able to maintain the rules of war in such a war. But for pirates, apparently not necessarily.

They had a common flaw similar to that of the Ottomans - they were extremely greedy for money, and when they entered the port area, their primary goal was definitely not to expand their superiority and occupy important strongholds, but to plunder more wealth. There are many treasures left behind by the merchants, enough for the pirates to spend a long time in some unknown harbor.

"Lord Latius, I'm going to ask you for the next."

Lewen