In Igoumenitsa, an important town on the west coast of Epirus, people were coming and going at the port, and there were bustling crowds everywhere. Although it was once just an ordinary town in the west of the empire, with the influx of refugees from the east, this place

As a result, it has become prosperous. Relying on the waterways of the Adriatic Sea, the city now undertakes most of the trade between Epirus and the Latin countries to the west.

However, this place that was supposed to be far away from the frontline of the war has always been far from peaceful. Although today's Epirus, as the successor of the Roman Empire, has gradually recovered from the pain of the war and launched a restoration movement, in fact, due to

The current situation of fragmentation is still somewhat inadequate to deal with. So much so that the Croatian pirates supported by the Venetians are wreaking havoc in the surrounding area, and Epirus can only choose to swallow its anger.

In the decades of the Angeles dynasty, armaments had already reached a shocking level. The army was extremely weak, and the navy was even more so. A large number of warships could not be maintained, and the local garrison navy was disbanded. The only remaining

The elite Praetorian Navy retreated to Nicaea after the fall of Constantinople and became loyal to the Laskaris family. Therefore, with only his own strength, Mikhail Dukas could not completely solve the threat at sea.

.This is why Epirus has been seeking cooperation with Genoa. But now everything has been resolved, because soon the Genoese delegation will arrive in Rusnina and form an alliance with Epirus, and

With the support of the maritime power of the Republic of Genoa, the disaster on the west coast will undoubtedly be greatly alleviated.

"Woo--Woo--"

At the port, the loud sound of horns dispersed the crowd on the pier, and a fully armed fleet was seen sailing towards here, which suddenly made everyone present nervous. However, when everyone saw the ship moving in the sea breeze,

The eagle flag was flying in the middle, and I suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that a navy garrisoned in Igoumenitsa had returned.

But when the dilapidated warship docked on the shore, the townspeople and merchants who were far away from the soldiers all noticed something was wrong. The scarred appearance looked as if it had just experienced a war. Unfortunately,

More and more garrison troops came to drive away the onlookers, and no matter how curious they were, they couldn't see what was going on.

"Hey, Simien, it seems you've hit a hard wall again this time!" Looking at his friend walking off the deck, Orsini, the garrison commander of Igoumenitsa, stepped forward and patted him half-jokingly.

Shoulder.

However, he was slapped away by the angry Navy Commander Simien. Seeing this, Orsini couldn't help but retracted his hand in embarrassment, looked at the damaged hull and asked: "What on earth is going on?"

"What else can there be? Of course it's the damn Venetians!" Furious in his heart, Simien punched the wooden pile next to the trestle, gritting his teeth so hard that his eyes almost burst.

"But even Croatian pirates are not like this. Your losses this time seem to be quite serious..." After learning about the casualties and losses counted by his men, Orsini couldn't help being shocked. Although the pirates were ferocious, after all, they relied on

It's a rogue-style harassment, and it's not like it would make the cooking navy even exhausted. There is obviously something hidden in this.

"Of course it's not the Croats, it's the Venetians, these shameless people, who actually rolled up their sleeves and pretended to be a pirate attack. If I hadn't retreated in time, there would have been a problem whether I could have made it back alive." Thinking of this, Shimi

En was furious, but the joy and lingering fear of escaping from death were behind him.

Looking at his old friend, Orsini breathed a sigh of relief and comforted him: "It's okay, it's okay... Oh, it's just that Corfu is in the hands of the Venetians now and we don't have the ability to recover it. Otherwise, how could we?"

Allow them to show off their power in front of our door!" They know the importance of Corfu better than anyone else.

Chu, it used to be the territory of Genoa, but it was taken away by the Venetians not long ago. It was like a dagger inserted in the main road from the Adriatic Sea to the Mediterranean, completely guaranteeing the sea control of the Republic of Venice. No matter how much they hated it.

, with the current strength, it is still unrealistic to openly go to war with the Venetians.

"Oh, why don't I know about this? But now that the country is in ruins, we don't know when it will be restored. Maybe we have to wait until our bones are old and rotten, and John and the others can hope to drive away the damned ones when they grow up.

Latins." Simien shook his head pessimistically. Many of his relatives were still alive.

After the death of Constantinople, it would be impossible to say that he was not eager to regain his homeland. However, several fierce battles with the Latins gradually cooled his mood. The rebelliousness and strife of the internal nobles made him even more dissatisfied, so not long ago

He then asked Emperor Mikhail to move his troops here, away from Rusnina, the place of trouble and trouble.

While the two men were talking to each other, the sentry on the coast blew a warning horn, which shocked everyone, because this horn meant that an unknown target on the sea was approaching here.

The soldiers immediately gathered together and stood ready. Seeing a large fleet approaching here on the sea, they had to feel uneasy.

I saw that the target was getting closer and closer, and the breathing Epirus soldiers stared at the fleet on the sea slowly entering their field of vision, and saw that the ship in the front was hanging on the merchant ship.

Flag. However, this did not make the Roman soldiers relax their vigilance, because it was not uncommon for them to launch attacks disguised as merchant ships. If such a large fleet was full of enemies, they would not be allowed to be careless in the event of a firefight.

"Interception at sea... or..."

"The damage to the ship is too severe, and the identity of the other party is unknown. Let's wait until it docks before making any calculations." The cautious Orsinya said, and finally the merchant ship on the other side finally entered the port of Igoumenitsa and stopped. But

At this moment, an unexpected scene happened. The merchant ship flag that the merchant ship originally carried suddenly fell down, and was replaced by a flag that even the coastal defense soldiers did not expect - Epiru

Sri Lanka's eagle flag.

How could this happen? Looking at this scene, Orsinia and Simien couldn't help but look at each other.

And just listen, above their heads, on the deck of the huge merchant ship that was stopped, a calm voice sounded in their ears at this moment. A young man dressed as an aristocrat appeared at this time.

In the sight of everyone, he bowed slightly and said:

"Long time no see, do you still remember me, General Simien, I am Justinian."

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Chapter completed!