Chapter 63: Urgency

Almost at the same time, another convoy carrying a large number of provisions, together with the second echelon of the task force of about 1,000 people, arrived in the semi-frozen port of Media. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info now six detachments of infantry and five or six hundred Oghuz volunteers, some of the task force artillery finally picked up the regiment and concentrated in the area around Wiseburg, sandwiched between Roger's team and Constantinople, like a hard walnut.

On the surface, Roger Jr. did achieve victory, and in a short time he relieved the threat of the Volunteers to Adrianople and expelled him back to the corners of Wiese and Media.

But it was then that little Roger realized that he still had to capture Vizeh and Medea, which Tetisius had asked him to do a month earlier.

In the course of this month, although Roger Jr. regained several lost fortresses, he did not succeed in capturing and destroying the main force of the Thracian volunteers, and he did not even capture a few of them, because they came and went freely by relying on the river in light boats, while his own troops had to disperse the garrisons everywhere, which was equivalent to "losing" nearly a quarter of the soldiers without any fierce fighting.

Two weeks before Christmas, 400 Oghuz cavalry of the Volunteer Army, led by a group of Pronian cavalry who had defected to Tarsus, raided and sacked the northern suburbs of Constantinople in the snow, burning down many barns, mills and houses, and the entire imperial capital was once again in terror. When John hurriedly ordered the Venetians to arm themselves and climb the city wall, he found that the cavalry of the opposing party was rapidly moving away.

John hurriedly delivered the order and demanded sternly from the Empire. Sicily. The Venetian coalition marched south and annihilated the Thracian volunteers based at Fort Vesese.

On the other hand, the lawsuit went to the Lateran Papal Palace in Rome.

But Gawain, who spent the winter in Prussa, argued very cunningly that the fighting in Thrace was a rebellion of the local lords against John, and that it belonged to a "civil war" on John's side, and that we would never interfere with it, nor would we be able to deal with a single soldier of the Tarsus army sent to the region, and urged both sides to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible and settle the dispute with diplomatic peace.

But secretly a large number of skua light ships carrying all kinds of things, digging ice floes from the small ports of Bithynia, and risking all kinds of dangers in the winter to supply the port of Medea.

In the face of such a situation, little Roger was a little unstable, and after consulting everyone's opinions, he led the whole army south, trying to find the main force of the Volunteer Army in Fort Wiseger. This time, little Roger kept an eye on it, and he sent Gounletto with an additional thousand Magyar mercenary cavalry to attack the port of Media from the flank.

Who would have thought that Merlot discarded Vizer again and shrank directly back to Medea.

On their positions west of the port, the Magyar cavalry of Goonletto was met with a strong resistance and returned in vain.

So the Imperial coalition forces "recovered" Wiezer and besieged the last port of Media.

All the volunteers began to build a defensive line around the port of Medea, and laid out many perfume bottles, shrimp cannons, and muskets; On the other hand, Roger Jr. also commanded the whole army to build a longer blockade of the port, but Roger knew in his heart that the blockade by land would not help: if the maritime connection between Medea and Bithynia continued, the war would be endless.

So little Roger sent a letter to Constantinople, in which he claimed:

"In any case, the ships of Venice and Sicily at Gallipoli must be brought in, and in the form of a memorandum granting them the right to cross the Bosphorus, so that we can defeat the hateful wolves of Gawain in the Sea of Yukchen, and put the port of Media in a desperate situation, so that we can achieve a final victory."

However, when he sent the letter, Tetisius still expressed his opposition, but this time his opposition was unwarranted, and the argument that he repeatedly said that "His Majesty should abandon the imperial capital as soon as possible and take refuge" made the vast majority of soldiers unbearable and even angry.

Sometimes things turn out to be paradoxical – what you all thought was wrong and cowardly at the time often turned out to be the only one that was correct.

In the end, little Roger's letter was delivered.

The apprehensive John once again summoned the Consul General of the Venetians, Molito, whose young emperor had red eyes and heavy breathing, and said to Molito: "I need to get your ship through the strait at once, so there is no clear answer to your previous instructions!" ”

Molitor also felt a chill down his spine, and he thought that he, like Emperor John, was forced into a corner from which he could not escape, "The echo of the contempt is to tell me to take the opportunity to deal with it myself." ”

"Then swear your allegiance to me now, and then take three thousand sailors from the city of Pera and send the fleet into the Yukxing Sea."

Molitor was silent.

John took a memorandum from Axepocaus and handed it into his hands, with the intention of not allowing the other party to refuse and sign it directly.

The memorandum also records John's more radical measures - he believed that the time had come for the Men of Pisa and Amalfi in the imperial capital to have an affair with Gawain and that it was time to settle it once and for all - John was prepared to "recover the merchant port of the two city-states in the imperial capital, expel the common people among them, and put all the dignitaries in custody so that they would not be brought against the empire in a crucial war", "I will grant greater power to Venice and Sicily as soon as the Tracian rebels are defeated and the whole territory of the port of Media is restored", "and when your ships transit, The flag of San Marco should be taken down so as not to provoke misunderstandings and disputes with the people of the capital. ”

Molitor only felt a little faint at the almost crazy entry, but John pressed himself like a storm, and in the end he could only reluctantly agree to choose a suitable date for the six large warships of Gallipoli to secretly pass through the channel.

But John insisted that he must set a date on the spot, as soon as possible.

Molitor made a promise to pass the fleet on the night before the feast of the Feast of the Feast of the Initiation of the Virgin Mary (the 21st day of the 11th month in the ancient calendar).

"It was the time for Patriarch Maastas to hold a prayer service, so it would be better for you to advance or postpone it a few days." Otherwise, John demanded, the Venetian fleet and the innumerable populace happened to meet each other at the seaside walls, and the scene was unimaginable.

After the arrangements were made, John felt a little at ease, but he did not dare to run to his mother to say goodbye, because he was afraid of leaking the news, so he walked directly back to his bedchamber.

As usual, his little queen Piloska was sitting in a chair, somewhat reverently waiting for her husband's return.

Later, Piloska told John the news: "On the feast of the Feast of the Initiation of the Blessed Virgin, the Venerable Priest will invite me and you into the Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom to witness the whole procession of prayer, and to give me an official Orthodox name during the ceremony. ”