eastern european eagle

Chapter 583 The Fastest Battle at Sea
The Crown Prince's wedding brought joy to the entire empire, and after that, they returned to their posts, including the Tunisian pirates.

He had made good money robbing merchant ships in Rome and Naples before, so he had not continued robbing recently. But now that his money was gone, he naturally had to go back to his old ways.

"Get ready, boys. We are going to make those Romans pay."

"OK!!!!"

Everyone was surprised and prepared to head to the vicinity of Sicily to see who the unlucky person was today.

This time they also planned to visit Sicily, so most of the people were dispatched, with a total of 70 ships and more than 10000 people.

They set out from Tunis and headed directly north to Catania, which is close to the Strait of Messina and has frequent ships, so they will definitely have a better harvest.

"Strange, there should be a lot of ships here, why is there not a single one?"

The leader felt incredible, wondering if the intelligence was wrong. But his doubts were soon dispelled because a ship appeared in the east.

"Tell the little ones that business is coming."

Just as he finished speaking, the four or five large ships that were moving slowly suddenly sped up. Before he could react, he saw a mast emerging from the farthest part of the sea level.

"Another one? What good day is today?" the leader thought happily, but just as this thought came to his mind, another mast rose up...

One... two... three... five... ten...

"I've never heard of so many merchant ships going to Iberia. What's going on?"

"My Lord, could it be that these are coming from the East, carrying goods to Iberia?"

His deputy's words suddenly enlightened him, "That makes sense. Let's get everyone up here. If we can grab this once, we won't have to worry about the next twenty years."

The Eastern merchant ships naturally transported spices, gold and other things. They felt that they would have no worries about food and clothing in the future.

"Oh my god, what's wrong with them? They just went out to fight. It seems like they are confident."

Nikephoros, who was already 62 years old, looked at the enemy fleet rushing towards him and thought that they were really brave. It was rare for them to rush to their deaths so eagerly unless they were absolutely sure.

"Sir, they are coming," said Leopold, the commander-in-chief of the Neapolitan navy, to Nikephoros.

"Then come on!"

In just a moment, countless masts jumped out from the sea level one by one. When he saw a huge fleet suddenly appearing on the sea, the smile on his face had long disappeared, replaced by incomparable astonishment. "This... is it dazzled?" The captain couldn't help rubbing his eyes. He picked up the telescope again and looked into the distance. He still had a little luck in his heart, maybe it was a large merchant fleet. But when he saw the flag flying in the wind on the fleet that was coming towards them with great momentum and like a tidal wave, he was so scared that his whole body trembled and the telescope in his hand fell to the ground.

The Roman flag with a double-headed eagle is nothing special. But the problem is that the double-headed eagle is only in the upper left corner of the flag, and the rest of the flag is red and blue. This is the Roman naval flag.

"Turn around! Turn around quickly!" The captain held onto the side of the ship with both hands and screamed heartbreakingly, his face full of horror. At this time, the lookout climbing on the mast also saw the flags of the fleet clearly, and his face also showed a look of having seen a ghost.

There was no problem in robbing a merchant ship, but if the Roman navy attacked, would they still have a chance to survive? They had to run away quickly.

The warships hurriedly turned around and tried to flee back to Tunisia, but the first few ships had already increased their speed to the maximum, and their bows were like a sharp blade splitting the turbulent sea water, approaching them at a very high speed.

"Hurry! Turn around! Why are you still standing there? Turn around!" The captain was so anxious that he was about to cry. He didn't have the courage to engage in a battle with a fleet of this size. Now he just wanted to escape back first.

It was not easy for warships of that era to turn around, let alone the panicked Tunisian fleet. When they finally turned around and hurriedly raised the sails, the Romanian warships had already appeared in front of them. There were more than 120 warships from the combined navies of Rome and Naples, plus more than large troop transports. From a distance, they looked like a dark mass, giving unprecedented pressure to those who saw them.

The warships that appeared first to explore the way were now not far from their warships. With a few dull thunder-like cannon shots, the Roman navy's warships opened fire. When several shells fell into the sea not far away and the captain saw the huge waves splashing, he was even more frightened.

Then, Nikephoros saw the most difficult scene in his life: the other side raised the white flag of surrender.

"Isn't it true? They surrendered?"

"Maybe, or they have an ambush. We should fire first to deter them."

Nikephoros ordered the vanguard to take control of all the ships and transfer them to Sicily after confirming their surrender.

This joint naval attack was not just to solve the pirate problem. Peter knew that to solve it fundamentally, he had to attack Carthage, their base.

Since the Roman period, Carthage has rapidly become wealthy due to its geographical location and has become a trade center in the western Mediterranean. In addition, it is close to the Mediterranean, so the arable land here is second only to Egypt, especially the Bagrates River Valley in the inland area, the land is very fertile.

The Hafsid dynasty that has ruled here has a history of 200 years. Although the current ruler is not very good, it is not easy to maintain a balance among several surrounding countries. After the revival of Rome, he also sent people to Constantinople to congratulate the emperor. Trade between the two countries has also increased.

But for Rome, Tunisia was more important because of its geographical location. Together with Sicily and Malta, it formed the middle line of the Mediterranean Sea. The Roman navy could find more supplies here and also transport them to Malta. Peter did not intend to add more territory, as long as there was a tributary state here.

But even if it is tribute, you can't talk to the other party. You should use your fists to subdue him. The current Sultan seems a little ignorant, maybe it was instigated by his close ministers. Just punish him and it should be enough.

Therefore, the scale of this fleet is even larger than the expedition to Iberia. After punishing Carthage, the local situation needs to be stabilized. In addition, there is no land connection with Rome, so the sea route becomes particularly important.

Nikephoros once again became the commander of the operation. He received authorization from the emperor and was free to do whatever he wanted as long as he completed the emperor's task.

(End of this chapter)