The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1449 Recapture of Athens
Ionis Macrorianos was no mediocre person to have risen to the position of commander of the Athens defense force. At least he was definitely one of the best in the Greek army.

After losing his family and property, he decided to fight a desperate battle and exerted 120% of his strength to face the rebellion of the people in the city and the loyalist troops pouring in from all directions outside the city.

Ionis Markorianos calmly analyzed the situation and then made what he thought was the most reasonable judgment.

However, the Athenian defense force was limited, and even with the private armed forces of the powerful, it was still a drop in the bucket. Moreover, facing the constant uprisings in the city and the countless enemy attacks outside the city, there were only a few people who were truly loyal to the city.

At this time, the powerful people in Athens were either partying in their own mansions or hiding in churches to seek refuge from God. Some of the smart ones even chose to revolt again and turned themselves into loyalists.

The incited nationalists, no matter how extreme they were, now realized that they had boarded the wrong ship.

Even if Ionis Markorianos had great abilities, he could not reverse the situation. Finally, the city of Athens was breached by the end of afternoon tea.

Friedrich was looking at the city of Athens not far away on the flagship. He really wanted to fight a battle. After all, there were not many military merits that could be easily obtained.

Friedrich still cared about his subordinates, but he knew that Franz's orders were more important.

What Friedrich didn't know was that the situation in Athens at that time was exactly what Franz expected, and the Greek problems were best solved by the Greeks.

At least Austrians shouldn't play the role of butchers
The city of Athens was engulfed in flames, and a fierce battle broke out between the rebels, rioters, and the loyalist troops who had entered the city.

After a night of fierce fighting, no one knew how many people had died in the city, and the smell of burning was everywhere.

Inside the Athens defense headquarters, Ioannis Macorianos leaned against the wall, in front of him were two of his subordinates who wanted to hand him over to surrender, but by now they had already turned into cold corpses.

"Marshal! The city has been lost, and the enemy has surrounded the city defense headquarters."

The messenger was shot in the head by Ionis Macorianos before he could finish his words.

"You want to betray me too, don't you? Don't you!"

Ionis Macorianos kicked the messenger's body hard. In fact, the more than one hundred people in the city defense headquarters were all his diehard followers, otherwise they would have surrendered long ago.

On the other hand, it was useless for these people to surrender. There was no policy of preferential treatment for prisoners at this time, and international law was a dead letter. Most importantly, this was the Balkans, and killing prisoners was a common occurrence.

At this time, the army of the Austrian Empire also began to enter the city, led by General Gabrenz. The first thing he did when he entered the city was not to besiege the Athens defense headquarters, but to restore order in the city of Athens.

Gabrenz had seen many battlefields and even more deaths, but the wars in the Balkans shocked him more than the last.

At this time, the streets and alleys of Athens were full of corpses, including men, women, young and old. Some women and children were stripped naked. The salty sea breeze could not dispel the burnt smell.

Rebels, loyalists and civilians, no one is immune from this war. What is more hateful than the war itself are those who try to take advantage of the situation.

They took advantage of the chaos caused by the war to indulge their desires, committing murder, arson, robbery and rape.

As Gabrenz was riding his tall horse and passing by a ruin under the escort of many soldiers, he stopped and found a small charred corpse that seemed to be the same size as his three-year-old daughter.

Gabrentz carefully took off his cloak and wrapped it in it, then spoke to the military priest beside him.

"Please say a Mass for her for me."

The chaplain hesitated and then nodded.

"We will seek the opinions of the local church." In fact, it was not the turn of the military chaplains of the Austrian Empire to do this, but the local churches and clergy in Athens were not spared.

Many churches were looted, and some buildings dating back to the Byzantine era were destroyed by fire. Priests, nuns, and the people who sought refuge in them were reduced to charcoal.

Gabrenz also had another purpose for this trip, which was to find the whereabouts of the Greek queen. After much investigation, they only found a female corpse that was unrecognizable in the soil of the central garden of Athens.

Since the identity of the deceased cannot be confirmed, the queen can only be temporarily classified as missing.

It was Ioannis Macorianos' turn at this time. The Austrian and Greek coalition forces had surrounded the Athens defense headquarters.

The black muzzle of the gun was facing the ruined building. Melisses had organized two assaults before, but the results were very unsatisfactory. Ionis Macorianos's men resisted fiercely.

"General Gabrentz, this old dog Ionis Macorianos is quite capable. Give me two more hours, and I will definitely capture him alive!"

"Marshal Melisses, why are you so persistent in capturing him alive? Enough people have died. Think more about your subordinates.

It's not worth sacrificing more soldiers' lives for such scum."

Whether or not Ioannis Macorianos was captured alive was not important to the Austrian Empire, or rather, Franz had no requirement for whether he was captured alive or not.

The generals at the front will naturally choose a more reasonable and less costly way of fighting.

For enemies hiding in bunkers, the best approach is naturally to destroy the bunkers.

"You mean by bombardment?"

"Yes, fire away."

Melisses hesitated briefly, but then he figured it out.

"That bastard got away with it! Fire!"

Following a command from Melisses, dozens of artillery pieces fired at the same time, completely burying the ruins of the Athens city defense headquarters.

The Austrian and Greek coalition forces then spent an afternoon digging out nearly a hundred bodies and a few prisoners who had managed to survive.

Ionis Makrianos was also among them. At this time, he had completely lost his former gentlemanly demeanor. His face and body were dyed white with brick and stone powder all over his body.

His eyes were dull as if he had not recovered from the bombardment. In fact, Ionis Makrianos had never expected to be bombarded. He thought the enemy must want to capture him alive, after all, he was a big shot.
"You have today too!"

The new and old grudges in Melisses' heart were burning his reason, but he just kicked Ionis Macorianos to the ground.

"Killing you like this would be too easy for you!"

Ionis Markorianos sat on the ground and looked at Melisses in a daze. He didn't know why this happened. His family, property, future, and everything he had were ruined.

He didn't understand what he had done wrong.

“Am I guilty of loving Greece?”

Ionis Makrianos expressed the doubts in his mind.