Chapter 270 Tearing the Encirclement

Naples and Rome are separated by the Strait of Otranto. If the two countries jointly blockade Venice, it will be dangerous. Therefore, Venice sent people to Naples to persuade the king to remain neutral.

Such a situation is very useful to Laszlo. It is really comfortable to rely on the special geographical location to make two powerful countries beg him. So he began a policy of false neutrality and was ready to end at any time.

Mircea also gave Peter a new title: Illyrian Despot. This was Peter's first despotic title. Mircea also gave him the power to conclude treaties and foreign wars, that is, to allow him to expand. This is also what Peter needs.

Stanitsa also joined the conquest, and the Duke of Arga also supported his son's actions. Peter appointed him to be responsible for the management of some areas and gave him some noble manors. Other generals and soldiers divided up the remaining land.

After briefly appeasing the people, Peter began to carry out a conquest strategy against Croatia. Croatia is stronger than Bosnia, but not much stronger. However, in order to reduce casualties, he had better ask Prince Bozzoni of Hungary for help. (I beg myself?)

After obtaining Bosnia, Peter ordered some soldiers and part of the navy to attack Venice's islands in Illyria. These islands were occupied by Venice, which ensured the safety of Venice's homeland to a certain extent. Now occupying here can allow the Venetian navy to split its forces and relieve the pressure on the empire.

Rome seemed to be in a panic against the alliance, but it was actually as steady as an old dog. Both sides have suffered defeats many times in history, but Rome has withstood this time. It is not only because of the strength of the soldiers, but also because the people are united around the rulers, and the power of the country is fully allocated.

For the serious imbalance of naval power, Nikephoros took other ways to deal with it. That is, everyone is not easy, constantly setting out from Athens and Cyprus to harass trade routes, from Alexandria to Antioch, Venice to Latakia, no business, let's go crazy together.

Rome issued 100 privateering licenses, which not only can obtain all the looted goods, but also get two-thirds of the gold coin bonus based on the value of the goods. This made the entire Eastern Mediterranean lively, especially the merchants of Venice and Genoa. Everyone knew that there would be a huge reward for killing the merchant ships of these two countries.

Venice continued to look for allies, and even thought of going to Samarkand to find Timur to solve Rome. The governor looked for allies in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Archduchy of Austria became his choice again.

At this time, Austria was already in a mess because of the ransom. 600,000, it would be possible to get it together by selling the whole of Austria. Now pay the first batch of 150,000 to redeem the Archduke and then get the rest.

Albrecht really didn't want to go to the East to fight. These days are simply hell. When he thought of life there, his neck hurt. Such a big piece of wood was placed on his neck. Is it a human thing to do?

So when he heard that Venice asked Austria to send troops to fight Rome, he directly refused. Even if he was a general, he was unwilling to continue fighting.

The envoy persuaded Albrecht to join the war at the appropriate time. But now he needs to rest, and Austria still has a lot of things waiting for him to deal with.

Austria couldn't do it, so Venice tried to persuade its neighbor Milan to send troops, promising to give him part of the Veneto region as a reward. Duke Gian was itching to expand his territory, but he didn't want to fall out with Rome. If there had been no war, his son Filippo would have married the Roman Princess Elena this year, but now it can only be delayed.

Mircea also noticed Milan's wavering. Naples was understandable, but Milan still had to consider it. He offered a price for Milan to join the war. Except for the eastern part of Venice Island and overseas areas, all of Venice's land in northern Italy belonged to Milan. Genoa could also be given to him. Didn't he want an outlet to the sea? Now it's here.

But Milan's uncertainty made Mircea reconsider the necessity of marriage. The marriage contract can also be torn up, but the question is which country can compare with Milan?

Rome also suffered some losses due to maritime traffic harassment, but much less than Venice, because Roman merchants could still transport goods by land, while Venice relied almost 100% on sea transportation. It did not have a vast territory like Carthage. If it were not for the trade between the Holy Roman Empire and the states within its territory, it would be a problem whether it could maintain basic needs.

Two months after the outbreak of the war, Croatia and Durkadir joined the war against Rome, Moscow and Lithuania remained neutral, and the most frightening thing, especially for the Austrians, was that Hungary joined the Roman side. And began to transfer troops to the border between Croatia and Austria.

The joining of a behemoth like Hungary to the Roman side crushed the alliance on land. At the same time, it also made the relationship between the two countries closer, and Croatia, which was caught in the middle, was in danger.

Prince Bozzoni's troops were transferred to the border between Hungary and Croatia. At the same time, the Chamber of Commerce Bank stationed in Buda loaned 100,000 ducats to the queen as a reward for her.

Venice saw that the other side had such a big ally, and it couldn't fall behind, so it took the gold directly to Rome and asked Boniface IX to call on the Crusaders to attack Rome. Anyway, they were heretics, so it didn't matter if they did it again.

Peter was also ready to go. He planned to take 16,000 people to attack Croatia, and in the communication with Hungary, he learned that there were 10,000 people who could help him. So he was not afraid at all and was ready to capture Croatia in one go.

In April, the Venetian admiral Alvio and the Roman navy led by Nikephoros fought in the Ionian Sea. The Venetian side had 65 warships and 110 armed merchant ships, while the Roman side had 42 warships and 102 armed merchant ships.

The warships of both sides were mainly caravels, but at the tactical level, Venice mainly boarded enemy ships. The Roman fleet mainly used artillery to attack from a distance.

Nikephoros began to adopt a new combat method to play the role of artillery and Greek fire. That is, the combat fleet was arranged in a long linear formation. Before this, the form of naval combat was usually two ships approaching and fighting alone. In contrast, the fleet formed a battle line to fight, allowing each ship to use its own broadside firepower to attack without worrying about accidentally injuring friendly ships. Therefore, in a unit of time, the entire fleet can output more firepower. Another advantage is that after maintaining a battle line, even if a certain ship of the enemy has moved a certain amount, there are still other ships that can replace it, making the battle line relatively static for a certain part of the enemy's ships, so as to carry out continuous concentrated attacks.

Nikiphorus has no idea about this tactic, but maybe a miracle will happen.