In 1457, less than four years before the treaty was signed, tensions arose again on both sides of the Sea of Marmara, and around Easter, at the behest of Constantine, the Byzantine army launched an attack on the few remaining Ottoman strongholds in the Balkans.

As pioneers, Giovanni and Laszlo had already boarded a small boat to Cyprus, where they informed Raoul Luzignan and set up an improvised command post in the jungle not far from Limassol.

"Heh... The"

Laszlo walked into the tent and cleared his throat,

"There is news from the Mamluks that the things have been placed in the designated place, and we can go and get them."

"Hmm..."

Giovanni replied, looking at the map in his hand without speaking.

"Eh, what are you looking at?"

Seeing that he didn't speak, Laszlo leaned over curiously to take a look.

"Oh... This, strategic deployment, you see, the enemy is densely populated in Cilicia, and as long as the mobilization is reasonable, it can pull out nearly 10,000 troops at any time, and I am afraid that this will have an impact on our operations. ”

Giovanni's face was full of worry, except for the part of the Anatolian plateau near the Aegean Sea, that is, the land of Cilicia is flat and suitable for farming, so it is relatively densely populated, and the Ottomans also attach great importance to this place, and its capital city Adana is very rich, providing logistics supplies for 10,000 people.

Laszlo, however, didn't really care, and said in a young and vigorous voice,

"How about we can drive the population, not kill the Turks, drive them to the rear, increase the pressure on the enemy, and drag the enemy down logistically?"

Laszlo now looks like a schoolboy who craves praise, but Giovanni doesn't give him face at all,

"Lord Caesar, your proposal will only make the enemy angry, the Ottomans will not be dragged down by such a small number of people, but the image of the Roman Empire will be completely discredited because of your actions, I advise you not to do it."

Laszlo smiled awkwardly and scratched his head,

"So what do you say?"

Giovanni pondered for a while, and slowly spoke,

"According to my idea, we will divide our troops into two routes, you will lead the musketeers to raid the enemy's city called Osmaniyeh, I will lead the cavalry to rush around Osmaniye to Adana, we will shoot our bows left and right, directly control the plains of Cilicia, and then use the Taurus Mountains as a defensive line, and we will fight steadily and win a complete victory."

Since it is very difficult to fight the enemy when he is ready, it is enough to let the enemy not be ready, the snake cannot be headless, there is no one to organize the people, and the scattered ranks are not effective against the regular troops, and there are no conditions for fighting guerrilla warfare.

In this way, the two waited for the arrival of the follow-up troops, and the two took only a few soldiers with them, and soon, the soldiers would appear on the battlefields of the Near East under various names, and the Mamluk mercenaries were ready, and this cavalry unit was the main force of Giovanni's raid on Adana,

At this time, the importance of Catona is reflected, and he is a godsend to Constantine, if it weren't for the conditions, Constantine would have given Catona several medals in recognition of his merits.

Laszlo and Giovanni stepped on the spot first, Constantine was not idle on his side, and Husseppe and his navy had already fought with the Ottoman fleet,

On the vast surface of the Black Sea, several fleets flying double eagle flags and cross flags can be clearly seen sailing downwind.

A thin figure was on the observation deck, alert to possible enemies in the distance, and Husseppe himself, as the captain, was discussing something with the first mate.

"Your Excellency, it stands to reason that we should be very close to the port of Constanta, why haven't we seen any signs yet?"

The first mate was sweating profusely, but it was clear that it wasn't hot.

This fleet, which was still nominally a merchant fleet, sailed from the Kherson region along the western coast of the Black Sea with furs, precious stones and other goods, passing through the port of Constanta, and finally ending in Constantinople, but now, this fleet is on the verge of getting lost,

"Don't panic, go, bring my cage crow."

Husseppe's face was serious, losing his way on the Black Sea was not a joke, a bad one was sure to have an accident, the Black Sea was stormy, it was still sunny weather, it was not good that the wind would start again soon, half of the afternoon time had passed, and if you could not enter the port of Constanta at night, the probability of an accident in the fleet would be greatly increased.

It didn't take long for the first mate to take the crows specially prepared by Husseppe and hand them over to Husseppe, who took them and opened the cage directly, and the crows circled over the ship one after another, and after a while, left in one direction,

Seeing this, Husseppe breathed a sigh of relief and pointed in the direction where the crow left,

"If you go there, you will be on land, and the whole army will turn the rudder and waive the flag."

As long as you get to the edge of the land, you will not be far from the port of Constanta.

"My lord! My lord! ”

At this time, the observer fell down from the lookout and shouted at Husseppe,

"There is an unknown black figure in the distance, rapidly approaching us."

Husseppe frowned, and the first mate said cautiously on the side,

"It can't be a sea monster, right? I heard that there are huge sea monsters near the Black Sea, and everyone who has seen them has no place to die. ”

The first mate's words made the crew nervous, and seeing this, Husseppe hurriedly interrupted him,

"Don't talk nonsense, there are any sea monsters in the world, and even if there are, Christ will bless us, don't worry."

While calming the crowd, he said to the lookout,

"Little Joannis, you climb up and have a look, and then come down when you see clearly."

Little Ioannis nodded, and his thin body climbed up the lookout like a monkey.

"First mate, you go and wave the flag for our teammates, so that they don't get too nervous and wait for our signal at any time."

The ships behind them also spotted a dark shadow in the distance, but apart from the panicked Byzantine ships, the Genoese was calm and quickly responded to Husseppe's flag.

This can't be helped, the Genoese are floating on the sea almost all year round, and the routes of the Black Sea have been traveled by them, so there is really nothing to panic about, and most of the Greek crews in the fleet are only active in the Aegean Sea, and they are not very clear about the situation in the Black Sea, so it will naturally have an impact.

As the dark shadow got closer and closer, the lookout clearly discovered the identity of the other party: Ottomans, no way, the red moon flag is really a bit dazzling in a blue sea, and it is impossible to recognize it if you want to.

At this time, Hussepe also discovered the identity of the other party,

"It's strange, how did the Ottomans come here?"

It stands to reason that the Ottoman fleet at this time was either besieging the city near Trabzon, or facing off against the Byzantine navy in the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, and the port of Constanta was close to Poland, which made the Ottomans' behavior look a little strange.

"How many ships does the enemy have?"

Husseppe shouted upwards, and soon there was a response from above,

"Four ships, two large and two small, but there are not many people on the deck, and I don't know the specific number of people on the other side."

Husseppe looked behind him, the merchant ships of Genoea were tall, and the sailing ship had a size advantage over the galleys, and a slap down could directly break the short galleys, but the galleys relied on their own power, were more flexible, less affected by the monsoon, and could pass at any time, which was the advantage of the galleys.

With five large ships and two small enemies, the Byzantine side had the advantage on the surface, but those who are familiar with naval warfare understand that sometimes victory in naval battles cannot depend solely on the number of ships, and the quality of the seamen is the most important thing.

"Collect the sails, slow down, notify the rear team, line up close to us, all pack the sails, and prepare to meet the enemy."

Husseppe made a quick decision and commanded the fleet to take on a posture to meet the enemy, and the two fleets slowly approached under the impetus of the wind.

Seeing that there were not many enemies, Husseppe ordered to build a gangway, the hook firmly hooked the enemy's side, and the soldiers jumped on the ladder to the Ottoman ship, and the two sides began hand-to-hand combat.

In fact, during the battle, Husseppe was already very puzzled, the Ottomans were not fools, how could they see that there were so many enemies and still rush forward, there must be something wrong with this.

The two sides have been fighting for a long time, and it can be seen that this enemy has a strong will to fight, but the equipment is not very good, and it is purely supported by spiritual will, but in the face of the absolute superiority of Husseppe's side, he can only die in tears.

"Long live the Sultan! You Greek dogs, you will die at the hands of the Sultan's army! ”

With a wave of his hand, the captured Turkic soldier was pulled down and died on the spot.

"Hey, that's weird, call another one, I'm going to see if they're all so hard-mouthed."

One by one, the soldiers were executed in public, which put great pressure on the remaining people, and finally, some people couldn't help it and fainted directly.

Husseppe winked at the first mate and motioned for him to drag the man down for a separate interrogation.

"All the rest, kill them all, and throw them into the sea to feed the fish."

With a wave of his hand, Husseppe's hand sent the Ottoman soldiers to their knees by the side of the boat, and as the sword light rose and fell, the soldiers lost their lives one by one.

After a little freshening, Husseppe came to the cabin and saw the first mate,

"How? Did he say that? Why are they here? ”

"Yes, these people are religious fanatics in the Ottoman country, and this mission was supposed to go to Trabzon, but I didn't expect to deviate, so they drifted to us, and on the way, because the food was eaten up, so... That's why there aren't many people on the other side. ”

The first mate hesitated to tell what he had learned.

In this regard, Hussepe was both helpless and shocked, helplessly because it was rare to be able to deviate so far, and shocked that the other party would do such a thing to his compatriots, which made him very ashamed.

However, as can be expected, Mehmed II's purpose was not simple, but the other side must also take the opportunity to purge the country of unstable elements, which is why Mehmed II sent religious fanatics to the battlefield.