Water Margin people

Strait of Otranto.

The Byzantine Empire's navy came in full force.

"General, are we a little late? The Vatican..."

A general asked with a worried look on his face, they were five or six days behind the time required by the Holy See.

"How can you say we are late? The Vatican itself said that we should wait for the Vikings, saying that those barbarians are not familiar with the Mediterranean sea routes. We have been waiting for several days, otherwise we would have arrived long ago!"

Theodore, dressed in gorgeous robes, stood at the bow of the ship facing the wind and spoke.

"It's almost time to go now. Our mission is to guard the entrance to the bay and prevent the enemy from escaping!"

"Besides, with just a few thousand people, can't more than 200,000 Crusaders solve the problem?"

Theodore pointed to the strait in front of him and said that he had received news long ago that only a few thousand people from Qi had gone to Venice, while the Holy See had organized an army of 250,000.

"General, the Pope's order is for us to rush and encircle the pagans!"

A general spoke up and said that Byzantium had been separated from the West for too long. If they did not obey the order of the Holy See this time, it would be difficult to ease the relationship with many Western kingdoms.

"Humph, what are you thinking? We are the orthodox Roman Empire! Those kingdoms in the west are just vassals. Now they are ruled by the Germanic people in the north. It's a shame!"

"The Vatican's navy is also useless. They were defeated by a few thousand Qi people. It is said that those Qi people used warships converted from cargo ships!"

Theodore spoke up. He was the son-in-law of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III and the empire's naval admiral. All his actions were for the Byzantine Empire.

Although the Holy See offered the condition of Roman orthodoxy this time, the Byzantines knew very well that if they won, the orthodoxy would not fall to them, but would most likely go to the Germans.

Therefore, Theodore was not willing to contribute at all, and was even unwilling to go to war with the State of Qi. They could not get any benefits, but they were unwilling to get into trouble.

"Besides, it's a fact that the Vikings were late! It's not our fault!"

Theodore spoke up.

"General, there's a situation!"

Suddenly, a sailor on the mast shouted.

Theodore and others immediately looked to the other side of the bay. The sea surface was dark and full of ships.

"Vikings?"

Theodore frowned as he looked at the blurry fleet. It was so far away that he could only see some black dots.

"No, Viking ships don't look like this, do they? They don't have sails!"

Some experienced sailors said that the Vikings' ships were completely different from those on the Mediterranean side. The winds in the north were strong and the waves were high, so the ships were taller and larger.

"Not a Viking?"

Theodore became puzzled. From what he saw now, the incoming fleet was very large. Who else could it be if not the Vikings?

"What about you? Do you know this fleet?"

Theodore looked at the Greek generals around him. There were only a few countries with navies in the Mediterranean.

The Greek generals all shook their heads to indicate that they didn't know him.

……

"Are these also enemies? These ships are so fragile."

Li Jun used a telescope to look at the fleet in the distance. Having seen many large ships, he really looked down upon the ships in front of him. These old-fashioned ships were simply not strong enough to withstand the wind and waves at sea.

"All troops attack! Surround the enemy!"

Ruan Xiaoqi gave the order, it doesn’t matter who is on the other side, here anyone who is not one of us is an enemy.

As the horn sounded, the Qi ships spewed white steam and moved forward rapidly.

"What is this!" Theodore looked at the steel behemoth rushing towards him with horror, his heart filled with fear.

"That flag belongs to Qi!"

A general saw the flag on the Qi ship, and they were familiar with the dragon flag with the word "Qi" on it.

"Qi! How is it possible! How could their ships come here, and there are so many of them!"

Theodore didn't believe it. The Sea of ​​​​Arab and the Mediterranean Sea were not navigable. How could so many huge ships fly over?

"No! No! Qi is still digging a canal! They can't possibly come here! That canal...it will take at least ten years!"

Theodore murmured that he also knew about Qi's plan to dig a canal in the Red Sea. The canal had been planned a long time ago, but the project was huge and it was impossible for it to be completed so quickly since Qi had just taken over.

"General, retreat! Those ships are terrible!"

The generals said in panic that although they had never fought against the Qi fleet, based on their experience, they knew they could not win just by looking at it.

Naval battles are all about ships, and their ships are just toys compared to Qi's ships.

The Byzantine navy quickly turned around and tried to escape, but the speed of their ships was no match for the Qi ships, and they were directly surrounded.

"So fast!"

Theodore was terrified by what he saw. They were surrounded before the naval battle even started. This was at sea, how could they be surrounded?

"General, what should we do? I see there are not many people on the Qi ship. How about we charge out?"

A general spoke.

"Rush out? Where can you run to? The Qi navy has come to the Mediterranean! If they can come here, they can go to Byzantium!"

Theodore said that he was afraid of the speed of the enemy's ironclad ships. If the speed of a ship is not as fast as that of the enemy at sea, it is almost impossible to win.

"Go over there, I'll talk to them. They haven't started a war yet, so we should be able to talk!"

Although Theodore was afraid, he knew that he couldn't just be afraid at this time. He needed to stand up, because the life and death of the entire army depended on him.

Theodore's flagship slowly moved towards Ruan Xiaoer's flagship.

Several frigates immediately surrounded Theodore's ship, preventing it from moving forward.

"Get off the boat!"

The frigate stuck straight to it. Although it was smaller, it was an ironclad ship after all. A slight collision caused Theodore's flagship to shake violently.

"We are the Byzantine navy, and we don't know who the admiral is!"

Theodore was so frightened that he quickly held onto the side of the boat and shouted to the frigate.

"Get off the boat!"

The soldiers on the frigate immediately rushed onto Theodore's flagship and pointed their guns at everyone on the deck.

Theodore did not dare to resist and followed the Qi soldiers to Ruan Xiaoer's flagship.

"I never thought there would be someone like you. I thought you would sink dozens of ships!"

Ruan Xiaoer looked at Theodore and smiled. He really didn't expect these people to stand still and look like they were ready to surrender. He felt like he was missing something if he didn't fight.

"I am Theodore Laskalis, the Admiral of the Byzantine Empire. I wonder if you are from the State of Qi!"

Theodore looked at Ruan Xiaoqi and asked.

"Yes, we are the Qi Navy. It looks like you want to deal with our Qi vanguard?"

Ruan Xiaoqi asked.

"This... is an order from the Holy See, not our intention. We dare not..."

Theodore didn't expect the person in front of him to speak so directly, and he didn't know how to respond. (End of this chapter)