Chapter 545: Saint Marco In Action
Twenty fourth of December 1464, Christmas,
Piazza San Marco
The sixty Seventh Serene Doge of Venice is here addressing the people of Venice celebrating this Christmas Eve together as an annual tradition in the Republic since hundreds of years ago. Although it is Christmas eve today, but the atmosphere here in the square today is rather tense, as the Venetians, being native sea faring folks, do have their channels of passing news and information around the population, and they know that a few days ago, the Republic’s possession of Korfu has come under attack by the newly raised warlord of Greece.
But till today, no official announcement has been released by the Serene Doge’s office yet, nor from the Serene Senate. This came to the rise of a few rumours among the population, some say that the Serene Doge deliberately ignored the aggression from the East because he is uncertain whether the Serene Republic is able to win a land war with the Thessaly Barbs which might end up with greater lose. Some say that the Serene Doge deliberately turned a blind eye towards this invasion because the isle of Korfu is one of the major settlements belonging to his political rival, the House of De Tocco. Letting the invaders take this isle shall greatly lighten the power of the Doge’s political rumors.
Of course, these are just rumours.
The Serene Doge, as usual, began his speech with telling the Venetian population about the achievements they have this year, what are they going to do next year and describing the new trade route and market that have just been recently explored by Venetian, which is just equally boring as usual, no one will even really bother listening to these long winded speeches, even for the merchants as these news are either exaggerated, or outdated, the young couples in the square have already began their celebrations of the eve actually, dancing around in pairs with masks hiding their identities and elegant dresses.
The old Doge raised his head and took a glance at the crowd and continued slowly but steadily. "Last week, the Serene Republic was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the troops from Thessaly, led by the Rex of Greece, they have launched a naval invasion on the republic’s overseas possessions of Korfu, posing a serious threat on all free trade of the Adriatic and Ionian."
Many citizens sensed that things are getting serious and stopped what they are doing at the moment.
"If the tyrant has successfully fulfilled his evil attempt of controlling the isle of Korfu, the republic’s trade with the free cities shall be greatly endangered, and the tyrant shall be able to reach his hands out to rob away the freedom, wealth and independence of many other numerous democratic city states in the Aegean, Serbia and Croatia, he will attempt to form feudal regimes in these regions just like the old Roman king Manuel of Komnenos. We, Venetians, as the leader of the free city states and democracy, cannot tolerate such atrocity from happening. Moreover, hundreds of honourable Venetian citizens, who are just carrying on with their peaceful trade on the isle of Korfu, are now endangered by the evil aggressions from the east."
"I, as the Serene Doge of the Serene Doge, shall not tolerate such violations and aggressions by anyone. And thus, with the grace of God, I have asked the Senate two days ago to declare that since the day when Greek boots have landed on the shores of Korfu, a state of war has existed between the Serene Republic of Venezia and the tyrant of Thessaly."
"Our brave sailors have already embarked just half an hour ago, ferrying one thousand and five hundred finest mercenaries we could assemble in a week setting sail for Korfu. Our fleet is capable of sealing off the straits of Korfu completely, making it a dead trap for all aggressors that dared to invade our territory. Our fleet, victorious as always, shall make sure that not a single piece of wood is able to sail into a five hundred meters range of Korfu, and we have officially informed all our Allies on the other side of the Adriatic about the state of war to raise an united standing army of multiple nations, and launch a counter offensive onto the heartland of the tyrant."
"Sic semper tyrannis, Aut cum scuto aut in scuto."
After that, the old man went down the stage with the aid of his steward, and the mood of celebration within the mass population, is now entirely extinguished.
Not the most special Christmas eve that the Venetians ever had, but indeed a memorable one.
...
The siege of Kanali is still ongoing.
Abraham has captured almost one third of the island in just three days’ time, ever since he landed on the south coast of the island, swiftly marching his army all the way northwards while establishing a series of supply depots along the way transporting supplies from mainland Epirus. The Venetian colony governor of the island well knows that his army is no match for Abraham, and thus chose to pull back all the troops back to the fortified city of Kanali, where he can hold back for a little longer waiting for the reinforcements to arrival.
But certainly, he knows that he can’t hold for much longer, as the invaders chose to sail their ships into the strait, each ship has six to eight artilleries loaded at the sides that is able to fire rock projectiles up to a range of one Roman mile. These artilleries have been pounding the sea walls of the fortification nonstop for two days, and the governor have no idea when these walls shall be entirely torn apart. These walls are mostly built in the last century when the Venetians first arrived here to defend against the rise of the Serbians.
Sometimes he envies his friend, the head governor of Candia, ruling over the biggest island of the Eastern Mediterranean being the centre of all trade flourishing with the gold from Palestine, pastures from Anatolia, wheat from Aegyptus , silk from Thessaly, woods from Crimea, Porcelain and glass from Persia, literally anyone who has a post there in the governor’s office Candia can be one of the richest man walking the streets of Venezia in jut a year’s time.
The governor patrolled the walls of the fortification for one last time of the night before the sun rises, he has not slept for more than two hours ever since the invaders arrived under his doorstep. Similarly for the citizens of Kanali, who are all forcefully drafted to either produce arrows, or repair the holes on city walls blasted by enemy artilleries. No one has the freedom to sleep in this city.
The governor climbed onto the city tower to enjoy a moment of peace and observe his enemies, which is originally built to commemorate the feast of Saint Mark a few decades ago for the citizens to enjoy the view and converted for military usage now. Of course, nothing have changed, the enemies have encircled the city from both the seas and the land like a python strangling its prey to death. He can even see the patrol ships leaving the fleets in a distance to watch out for Venetian reinforcements. The governor clumsily sat down on the ground laying his enormous belly to rest trying to enjoy some cool sea breeze here to wake up his mind, he might seem to be an entirely incompetent governor here, but most people in the city knows that the governor once participated in the Battle of Soncino and the Battle of Nish when he was young, which is one of the reasons why the citizens have not gave up defending yet.
According to his past experience, the Greek invaders shall begin bombarding the city just slightly after the first glimpse of sunlight for thirty minutes, firing a total of around twelve shots per artillery, then shall be followed by the archers suppressing the defenders on the eleven-meter-tall walls, then finally followed by an attempt by the enemy infantries to storm the walls. It is a practise for him to sit here and wait for the start of the enemy attack ever since the battle began.
The governor awaited, almost dozing off for several instances, but bizarrely speaking, the enemies seem to have diverted their tactics today, as it is already long past dawn, and the enemy artilleries have not fired a single shot yet.
He clumsily got back up on his feet and looked a far, and to his shock and surprise, it seems like the Greek ships are... pulling out from the straits, one by one. Similarly for the enemy troops outside of the city, as it seems like many of them are tearing down tents, packing up their bags and preparing to leave. Immediately the rich in military experience governor came to realise one thing: His reinforcements from Venezia have finally arrived.
