"Look, Lord Ranieri, the Greeks in Thessalonika are still not moving at all." The Venetian sailors said, pointing to the quiet harbor. The sailors could not help but feel confused and uneasy when they approached the city so smoothly.

Ranieri Dandoro sneered slightly and said, "It seems that the victory a few days ago really dashed their minds and was completely unprepared. This seems to save us from trouble, but what if they have it? The sea is no longer the Roman sea, but our sea." In his heart, the Epirus and Bulgarians who collaborated with him seemed to be completely useless to deal with a mere Thessalonika.

Ranieri was full of energy at this time. Although he had to resign from his position as a veteran in the preparatory committee due to his previous political struggle, he was not discouraged. In the past year, as the Governor of Heraklion, the veteran in Crete, not only successfully quelled the riots of the Greek tyrants, but also wiped out the raging pirates in the area and cultivated a large-scale navy. This time he was determined to win and conquered Thessalonika was also to retaliate against Justinian, who had caused him great losses before.

Let’s wait and see, Greek boys, and those mediocre people in Venice who are ignorant of gratitude!

Ranieli looked at the walls getting closer and closer, and waves rose in his heart. After his father Enrique Dandoro successfully captured Constantinople with the crusades, the Senate respected and guarded their families. As the son of the consul, Ranieli thought he was qualified to compete for the new consul, but he repeatedly encountered walls. Now he has completely changed his mind. Since the lagoon in Venice cannot tolerate him, he has made a career in the entire Aegean Sea.

Perhaps it was because of this thought that Ranieri and the fleet he led made a very low-level mistake. Any experienced commander would never act like this. First of all, what to do is to send several clutches to reconnaissance, rather than rushing in rashly. However, Venice, who despised the Greeks, completely believed that there was no need to do this, but did not know that in the city of Thessalonika, neither the Turks nor the Greeks were the weak at the time.

Watching the enemy approaching, Arslan bowed down and ordered the soldiers to continue to remain quiet and waited in place for the Venetians to enter the range of their bows and arrows.

"Listen to my orders, no one is allowed to act rashly." The Turks whispered, and those who were waiting for dispatch under his command were all warriors from Peloponnese who had been through many battles. Although they were not large in numbers, they suffered considerable losses in the offensive and defensive battles two days ago, but they still maintained high morale and swear to guard the city for their lord Justinian.

...

"Play the horn, so that even if the guys in the city will not die in their dreams." The arrogant Venetian ordered his subordinates on the deck, and then on the sea of ​​Thessalonika, the trembling sound of the horns and drums rang through the sky, and there was also the sound of sailboats and wooden oars rising and falling to hit the water.

"Attack, prepare to land," Ranieri shouted. At this time, a strong wind blew from the sea, which was blowing from the south. As God helped me! I thought proudly, the man immediately ordered the soldiers to spread the sails again, but saw the canvas of dozens of warships opening, like huge sailfish sprinting towards the seawall of Thessalonika.

The sailors are now ready. The three warships arranged as vanguards act quickly. At the same time, their decks are lined with archers, aiming at the top of the city, and just waiting for a command to throw the arrow rain over to let the defenders in the city taste it.

The voices were getting closer and closer, but there was still no movement in Thessalonika City. Looking at this scene, the Venetians did not feel suspicious at all, because there were only two or three abandoned merchant ships in the harbor, and there were no houses inside, which meant that it was really depressed here, and the Thessalonika people did not organize defenses here at all.

At a close enough distance to the sea wall, the first three Venetian warships extended a ladder to put them on the city wall. The Epirus, who had been impatient, rushed to the front and launched an attack on the city of Thessalonica - they wanted to avenge their previous shame!

Unfortunately, Arslan, who had been waiting for them behind the city wall, would not give them this opportunity.

The Turkic man took the lead in raising an arrow, accompanied by his roar. Soon, a group of flying birds that fluttered the flames spread their wings out of the city: these were burning rockets, and in the dark, they were like countless meteors dragging their long tails shot towards the unprepared Epirus landing army. At that time, the Epirus infantry who were stepping on the ladder to climb the city was in chaos, and they were determined to win the first prize, so there was no shield in a hasty way. Such a structure was facing countless rockets shot from the city walls by Turkic archers. They could not hide, they could not retreat, and they could not even resist. The screaming soldiers hurriedly dodged and luckily retreated back to the deck of the Venetians, but the unlucky one sank into the sea, blood was soaked, and the corpse floated on the sea surface.

At this time, the Thessalonika defenders who were ambushing the city no longer needed any hiding. They raised the torch, and the fire illuminated the entire coast and dispersed the night.

I saw a familiar flag of Ranieri flying high on the battlements: Molia's black fox, the fearful Latins gave Justinian nickname. From the initial hatred, it has now become a well-known name that everyone knows. Rockets keep shooting, and because they get too close, the Venetian warship in front is even splashed with tinder oil, and fireworks are suddenly spread on the deck, and the soldiers are panicked.

Seeing this, worried that the fire would grow bigger and not care about salvaging the soldiers who fell into the water, the Venetian sailors quickly turned around and stayed away from the attack range of Thessalonika defenders. While ordering people to put out the fire, they asked the Epirus and Bulgarians to organize a counterattack.

"Shoot the arrow! Suppress the enemies on the city!"

"Shoot the arrow!"

The commander's command was intertwined with the wails in the harbor, but the coalition forces, whose attack was frustrated, suddenly became a mess.

On the side of the ship, the archers who were barely dispatched were huddled on the swaying deck, holding their bow high and shooting at the defenders at the head of Thessalonika. However, the center of gravity was unstable, so these ignorant Bulgarian archers could not maintain their center of gravity at all, let alone aim at them. They only watched the arrows flying in the city like rain, but they only jumped and fell from battlements, which had no killing effect at all, and were completely wasted bows and arrows.

In contrast, the Turkic archers were surrounded by Vadarites. Although there were not many people, they could hit the enemy's key points when facing the living targets in the harbor.

"Governor General, what should I do!"

Unexpectedly, the Venetians became a little panicked.

However, Ranieri Dandoro, who was standing behind, had no sensation on his face at this moment, but instead showed a sneer.

This is still interesting just now!

For the Epirus and Bulgarians who were killed during the landing, he didn't care about their lives and death. He just needed to be a stage that could prove himself. Ranieri immediately ordered the remaining ships to continue moving forward and initiate the landing as soon as possible.

"Let the iron-covered warships open the way in the front!"

Ranieri sent a killer weapon, and the huge Calais warship sailed out of the fleet. The warships armed to their teeth appeared, breaking the balance on the battlefield. The rockets shot from the head of Thessalonika could not do anything to the other side, and this was the magic weapon that the Venetians could land in Galata and capture Constantinople.

"Hmph, even the Greek fire can't do anything to us. Just rely on your little flame now." Ranieri said proudly. He ordered the subsequent warships to continue to approach Thessalonika under cover. The low city wall in front of him was completely incomparable to the city defenses in other places. As long as the sea control power is in his own hands, the sea wall will be conquered sooner or later.

Ranieri's move was indeed useful. The Venetian warships crashed towards the river bank. The wooden board of the cabin was opened, and the Epirus and Bulgarians who had been waiting for a long time immediately rushed to the shore and attacked directly towards the water gate.

It was the gateway to the Sea of ​​Thessalonika. It was better to say that it was a small drain gate than the city gate. It was very narrow inside and often flooded at high tides. Because of this, there was almost no defense there. The first choice of Epirus and the Bulgarian army was there.

But at this time, a defender in Thessalonika took the initiative to come out. They rushed to the bank of the river from the narrow water gate, and were the Vadarita cavalry who immediately crossed the shallows. The iron hooves stepped across the shallows and splashed. The riders rushed into the Epirus and the Bulgarian crowd. The tall horse easily knocked down a large number of unstable enemies and vowed to drive the other party back to the ship. But at this critical moment, on the tall tower ship, the archers of Venetian were heading towards Vadarita

The man shot at the deadly crossbow, and in an instant, more than a dozen soldiers of the guard regiment were shot down, including the man and horse. The originally great cavalry offensive was blocked. This also gave the Epirus a chance to breathe. The Varangi people in Mikhail's troops arrived quickly and resisted it with spears and battle axes. After an instant, the whole scene was full of flesh and blood. Seeing that the blocking was difficult to succeed, the Vadarita cavalry archer who retreated on horseback defeated the pursuers with his bow and arrows and retreated back to the city from the Water Gate.

How could this make the Epirus and Bulgarians willing? They reorganized their formation and the commanding nobles yelled, "Breaking open the city gate, Thessalonika is ours!" The coalition also shouted.

After landing on the land, Thessalonika was so close for the first time. After getting a heavy promise from Emperor Mikhail and Tsar Borier, the fanatical soldiers approached the sea wall one after another.

Some people climbed up the city wall directly, but the Turkic bows and arrows above were not decorations, and some people tried to detour from the side and rear, but the trap had been dug long ago. The coalition forces, who had no choice but to attack the water gate. Although it was narrow, there was only an iron gate that looked unsolid at the closed intersection.

Reluctantly, Epirus soldiers holding long spears pressed up, and what awaited them was the Macedonian militia who were waiting for them. Most of these newly recruited soldiers were poor farmers, who lost their homes due to the war and were taken in by the Queen of Odosia, so they were a fanatical and loyal force in the city. Although their combat effectiveness was not reliable in the field, the peasants who picked up weapons in the narrow area of ​​the Watermen area fought with the enemy who had already dispersed the battle lines, and for a moment they were equally matched. The peasants picked up their spears and pointed them in at the dense crowd of enemies. At the same time, the Epirus people also reached out to grab the gun and grabbed it back, but they screamed as soon as they started, followed by a burnt smell. The soldiers who had worked as blacksmiths specially placed their weapons in the fire and burned them red.

The two sides fought each other, with only a thin iron gate between them. Soon the number of casualties and injuries increased rapidly. The entire corridor of the Water Gate was stained with blood, but neither of the fanatical soldiers on both sides were willing to retreat.

Arslan, who was commanding the battle directly above, was still leading the soldiers to hold on. The stone bullets fired from the crossbows on the Venetian ship suppressed them and they were breathless. The broken stone debris splashed everywhere, scratching the Turkic man's face, dripping blood. But Arslan didn't have time to wipe it. He stared at the enemies constantly pouring in from the water gate below, and let the arrows and flying stones pass by him, he remained motionless. He was waiting for a suitable opportunity.

When he saw another Venetian warship docked on the dock, a large number of Bulgarian and Epirus coalition forces joined the battlefield. Aarslan, who realized that the time had come, ordered the engineers who had been on standby behind the city wall,

"It's time for you to go on stage! Don't let the princess of Odosia be disappointed." He turned his head to look at them, but he handed over the key to the victory and defeat on the battlefield to them.

"yes!"

As soon as a team of engineers got the order, they pushed out the trenchers that they had already debugged. Although theirs was far less powerful and range than the giant counterweight trenchers of Emperor Mikhail outside, the enemy outside was close enough to them. This was a scene that had been previewed many times in advance, and every action had been engraved into the minds of these soldiers.

"emission!"

With a command, the catapults in the city landed deadly ammunition towards the enemies outside the city, neither the asphalt-burning wooden barrels nor the heavy boulders. When several red fireworks passed by the dark night, the fiercely fighting Venetians, Bulgarians, and Epiruses did not even notice it.
Chapter completed!