It's a pity that those were more than ten years ago......

In the years since Andrew became governor of Genoa, Genoa has indeed flourished!

But the good times were short-lived, and what followed was nearly a decade of continuous war.

Genoa fought several major battles with Venice, and then the rise of the Barbary pirates in North Africa, and Andrew led the Genoese navy around the Mediterranean, clearing out batch after batch, but these pirates were like leeks that could not be understood.

Genoa's strength was also worn out little by little in such endless wars.

Complete one's misery! Genoa was involved in the war between the Holy See and Constantinople last year, although Eastern Rome was under the banner of destroying the Papal States, but the truth of cold lips and teeth, Andrew still understood, if he wanted not to die, he could only continue to fight.

A series of wars have brutally turned a middle-aged man in the prime of life into an old man covered in wounds, and Genoa has also begun to decline from its heyday, with the army now only tens of thousands, and the navy even more miserable.

In December last year, the Venetian Genoese coalition and the Eastern Roman Mediterranean Fleet fought a bloody battle in the Aegean Sea, and was finally burned by the Greeks.

Although Genoa has not yet reached the point of exhaustion, it is not far behind, as a country that is supreme in the sea and relies on maritime trade, no navy is equivalent to no sea power, and no sea power can only wait for death, and all Andrew's backbone naturally cannot stand up.

Two months ago, the Eastern Roman Empire sent an envoy to persuade him to surrender, and Andrew almost agreed.

Speaking of which, Narciss, the governor of the Eastern Roman Empire in the Two Sicilies, was also a talent.

After obtaining the authorization of Emperor Basil II, he actually took a copy of the federal city regulations dug up from the pile of paper, and slightly modified it became a condition for the surrender of Venice and Genoa.

Truth be told, it's a very forgiving condition!

It was stipulated that the governors of Genoa and Venice could be canonized as hereditary noble dukes, while the two states were allowed to retain most of their political, military, and economic rights, all they had to do was to recognize Basil II as their suzerain, convert to Orthodoxy, and pay a certain amount of tribute each year.

Although it has the sign of a federal city, it is actually a vassal, which is very self-occupied, and its status is even higher than that of the five vassal states in the Balkans.

In fact, Andrew has been tempted, and even decided to surrender, but the plan can't catch up with the change, he has just decided to surrender to Eastern Rome and convert to Orthodox Christianity, and there are subordinates on the back foot to report that Marseille has been broken, the two thousand defenders have been wiped out, and the four-nation coalition led by the Norman king Randy has been advancing towards Genoa.

The situation is stronger than people, and Andrew directly withered! Without saying a word, he sent an emissary to Randy to offer a surrender table, promising to join the coalition and work with Randy and other kings to uphold the right path and maintain peace in the holy Catholic world.

Randy naturally doesn't do it for himself!

Although it is very tempting to plunder Genoa, the richest city in northern Italy, it is really unwise to push an enemy who can be an ally to the enemy, and Randy now advertises himself as the savior of the Catholic world everywhere, but he does not want the Italian people to regard themselves as a heinous invader, so he can win over as much as he can.

Now that Genoa has come to vote, the coalition forces have discussed for a while, thinking that adding another chair is not a big deal, just to fill Edward's vacancy.

In particular, Genoa was also a landowner in northern Italy, and his presence could largely solve the logistical problems of the coalition forces.

March 5, 1103 A.D.......

In the city of Genoa, Governor Andrew carefully prepared to show off the riches of Genoa, the excellent soldiers of Northern Italy, and the fact that he surrendered because he was afraid of you, for the peace of the world, the truth of the universe, the peace of heaven, and the Almighty God.

The conditions of Northern Italy are indeed unique, starting from the Roman Empire, to the Western Roman Empire, Northern Italy has undergone a thousand years of cultural influence, and Venice, Genoa, these city-states are very rich, Andrew made up his mind so that he wanted to deter this group of native buns from the north, and he was also very well prepared for this, although it was not as extravagant as when Emperor Yang of Sui held silk to wrap trees, but it was also unique in his style.

But Randy doesn't care about that, as usual, Randy says something at the banquet, and after two glasses of wine, he runs back to his room and prays with Joan of Arc.

Philip II, who has been under a lot of pressure recently, only barely drank a drink, and then went back to his room to smoke and play, perhaps because Randy suffered too much, this fox learned to torture in order to vent his frustration, and it happened that a new slave girl just bought from Italy tried his hand at him.

Throughout the banquet......

Norman, France, Burgundy, the three giants, and in the end, only Charlie was left to eat and drink heartlessly, but looking at his appearance, he didn't seem to have any feelings about the so-called wealth of Genoa, which made Andrew feel a little disappointed.

What Andrew didn't know was that the reason why this group of guys didn't think it was strange was because there was a person who was more extravagant, had more money, and could achieve a more flaunting role of wealth, that is, Randy!

Not to mention Gothburg, the capital of Normans, and Oslo, which is the largest military base of the Norman Kingdom, even Rennes, the capital of Breton, which Randy has just arrived, is not much worse than Genoa after throwing a lot of gold, Randy is really not rare These things, Norman soldiers are naturally not rare, and some people even think that the wine provided by Genoa is not as good as Scandinavian spirits.

is serving with good wine and meat, but he still does not satisfy this group of masters.

Andrew felt very aggrieved in his heart, and decided to spill this breath on the Greeks, and prepared a whole army of 10,000 to follow the coalition army south to aid Rome.

But the coalition forces did not go south!

Three days later, the coalition forces still did not move......

Five days later, the coalition forces still haven't moved......

A week later, when the Genoese treasurer approached Andrew and said that if the coalition continued to eat like this, Genoa would be eaten, and Andrew became anxious.

It stands to reason that although Genoa has a tendency to go back and forth in the sunset, the background is still very sufficient, and there is absolutely no big problem in raising more than 100,000 coalition troops for a year and a half, the problem is that Andrew in order to show off, every meal every day is a big fish and meat hospitality, and a lot of spices are used for the banquets of the nobles, and the money is gone.

Andrew finally couldn't sit still!

If it is not necessary, Andrew will never want to face this behemoth in his life, but now it is related to his own wallet, and it is a matter of urgency.

Andrew is not a fool either, he can naturally see that the behind-the-scenes boss of this coalition army is the Randy who stays in the room all day and night fooling around with the nun, as long as he can get him out, the coalition can open it as soon as possible.

But Randy's thoughts are different from Andrew's, whether Genoa's finances will be eaten by the coalition's hundreds of thousands of mouths, he can't care about this kind of thing, anyway, the coalition army has a solid back, and it is really impossible to cross the Alps and go to Frederick in Bavaria, the other party is also Randy's ally, an ally who can manage food.

Randy is still waiting, waiting for the moment when the Holy See can't support it, and only at that moment can he reap the greatest benefits, so Andrew's opinion, Randy completely ignores it.

It was only the next day that an urgent message from Venice made Randy dismiss the idea of waiting.

The Governor of Venice, Enrique Dandoro, announced his surrender to the Eastern Roman Empire, became a vassal of the Eastern Roman Empire, and converted to Orthodox Christianity.

As soon as Venice surrendered, the eastern barrier of northern Italy was completely gone, and the Eastern Roman Empire, which had already controlled the entire Balkan Peninsula and most of Hungary, could enter the Apennine Peninsula by sea, either by Venice, by land, or by sea across the Adriatic Sea.

In other words, the Eastern Roman Empire could immediately open a second battlefield, march from northern Italy, and eliminate the Holy See from the north and south.

When Randy received the news, he was stunned for a moment, but soon felt that this situation was normal, and if the coalition forces entered the Apennine Peninsula in the evening, maybe Genoa would have surrendered.

Now the Genoese side of 100,000 Catholic troops arrived.

But the Venetian side of the Eastern Roman army of four legions arrived.

In this way, it is not difficult to predict where Venice and Genoa will fall.

The two rivals of Northern Italy eventually parted ways and became enemies of each other.

Actually, there are some things that Randy doesn't know.

For example, the Governor of Venice, Enrique Dandoro, the old fox, actually thought carefully before surrendering to the Eastern Roman Empire.

After all, surrender, conversion, and vassalization, such a very shameful thing, it is easy for people to look down on.

Venice also has many Catholic believers, two days after the announcement of this decision, from Venice to Bologna, and then from Bologna to Ragusa, the entire Republic of Venice in these two days, six riots, and even once the regular Venetian army directly defected, three centurians of Venetian hoplites, together with two thousand units of Italian spear militia, changed their flag and announced that they had joined the Crusaders.

Although such a riot was finally bloodily suppressed by the old and strong Dandoro, Dandoro knew that Venice today was like sitting on a volcanic crater, and the slightest disturbance would end up with no bones!

This made him regret it a little!

But even if Dandoro regretted it, he wouldn't blame himself, complaining about why he didn't hold on, maybe tomorrow he would be a hero of the Catholic world.

He complained about the Crusaders, the Catholic coalition led by the Normans!

Why not act sooner? As long as I make a gesture and go south to rescue Rome, then I can naturally raise troops to respond, and even if I don't, as long as I reply with a letter to reassure me, I will not surrender to Eastern Rome so quickly.

Randy, you're such a scumbag!

That's it, the fall of the Republic of Venice has a lot to do with Randy, but Randy will never admit it.

The war has expanded a lot here......

Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Italy, these two battlefields, finally brought together because of the surrender of Venice, a total of hundreds of thousands of troops gathered under different banners, fighting for their own beliefs, territories, hegemony, and money.

After receiving information about Venice, Randy made a quick decision, and the 100,000 army quickly attacked, and ordered Philip II, King of France, and Andrew, the governor of Genoa, to lead their own troops and horses and the rabble who volunteered to participate in the crusade, a total of 13,000 troops went south, opened a second battlefield, and supported Rome, while Randy himself, together with Charles, Duke of Burgundy, led an army of 65,000 to the north to fight a big battle with Venice and Eastern Rome.

Such a layout looks uneven!

The rescue of Rome is so important that it should come first. The other 40,000 troops attacking Venice and Rome should be in second place.

Now counting the Papal State army that Rome is hard to force, the Catholic front-line army is only more than 30,000, and the Eastern Roman Empire heard that the coalition army entered Italy and was a burst of troops, and now the Eastern Roman troops gathered under the tent of Narciss, the plenipotentiary governor of the two Sicilies, include four regular legions, two garrison legions, a total of 50,000 troops, almost all of them are professional troops, at least twice as high as the combat effectiveness of France along the way.

On the contrary, there were only four regular legions fighting Randy along the way, barely plus the newly annexed Venetian people, which was also 50,000 men, while Randy and Charlie's army had 65,000.

What's going on here? Only a small number of troops were invested in the important battlefields, and large armies were invested in the secondary battlefields, which is really the same as the Genoese aristocratic officer who was shot dead by Robin Hood last month said, Randy seems to want to do a big deal.

Venice, the city-state republic that claims to be the richest Catholic country in all of Europe, is the best target.

But rescuing the Holy See and being the savior of the Catholic world is also very tempting for Randy, so what should he choose?

Philip II, who did not like himself and also saw himself as unpleasant, and the insignificant governor of Genoa, who had just been annexed, kicked into that battlefield, anyway, his order was just for them to contain Narsis, to contain 120,000 troops, let Rome hold out for an extra season or two, and then they could go to harvest.

Of course, there are still many people who oppose this kind of shameless thing.

Take Philip II of France, for example!

But the objection was ineffective, and Randy said righteously at the military meeting:

"If you want to get rid of the big tree, you must first cut off the branches, weaken the roots, and finally break it with the power of thunder, which is why I have set such a battle plan, first remove the branches of Venice, and then rescue Rome."

Philip II really got on the thief ship, or the kind that once he got up, he couldn't get off again.

The strategy was thus decided, and Randy and Charlie ran to rob in high spirits, while Philip II and Andrew went to save Rome with sad faces.

This book was first published from 17K, the first time to see the genuine content!