Capital Datang

Theodore Sigan didn't want to kill Mertan, because he knew very well that if Mertan died in his own hands, it would only cause a greater blow to his reputation. At the same time, Chalele and Mertan's direct navy also It is impossible to surrender again, and they will definitely resist to the end.

But the development of the matter was beyond everyone's expectations. Theodosius and Thickogan did not expect that Mertan would be so stubborn, and would rather "suicide" than surrender. Feel a little off guard.

But Theodosius is indeed an excellent general. He quickly calmed down from the shock, then analyzed the current situation, and immediately made the fastest and most sensible choice, that is, before the news of Mertan's death came out. , ordered Xi Kedo to lead his navy to attack the Mertan direct line navy stationed in the Sea of ​​Marmara.

Facts have proved that Theodosius' judgment is correct. The navy in the Sea of ​​Marmara did not expect that Sigurd had defected at all, so Sigurd's fleet easily mixed into the station, and then suddenly started to attack. As a result, Mertan's These lineage troops suffered great losses, and finally had to withdraw from the Sea of ​​Marmara. Even if Chalele hadn't seen that the situation was wrong and sent a fleet to meet them, the entire army of Mertan's lineage navy would probably be wiped out.

When Chalele learned the news of Syctor's betrayal, he was also furious. At the same time, he also had a premonition that his teacher might have died. Er was able to send troops to attack Sigurd and avenge General Mertan.Capital Datang 708

But Chalele is a very stable person after all. He told the officers that it is not clear whether General Mertan is still alive?If General Mertan is alive, then Sigurd will definitely put forward conditions to them, and even "coerce" them to surrender, and they choose to attack at this time, which may put General Mertan in a dangerous situation.

In case General Mertan has been killed.So the most important thing now is not to avenge General Mertan, but to inherit the legacy of the old general and guard the important exit of the Black Sea Strait, so that Theodosius' power cannot extend to the Mediterranean Sea, while waiting for the arrival of Queen Irina, At that time, unite with the Queen's power to take Theodosius and Sykto in one fell swoop, so as to truly avenge General Mertan.

Chalele's calm analysis finally convinced most of the officers, and they withdrew their forces at the exit at the western end of the strait to act as a defensive force.Firmly guarding the exit of the strait made Theodosius very annoyed. He had indeed thought about taking advantage of Chalele's attack before.He opened up the entire Black Sea Strait in one fell swoop, but it's a pity that Chalele is smarter than he imagined.

When Li Ke and his fleet arrived at the Black Sea Strait, this was the situation in front of them. Two-thirds of the entire Black Sea Strait had been occupied by Theodosius, and Chalele occupied the western end of the Strait.waiting for their arrival.

"Saburo, what are we going to do now?" Irina asked worriedly.Although she knows about politics, she doesn't know anything about military affairs. Moreover, as a woman, she suddenly loses her mind when faced with such a major event, and she even retreats in her heart.

Looking at Irina's worried expression.Li Ke smiled and said: "Irina, although I did not agree with your return at the beginning, but now that we have all come to the entrance of the Black Sea Strait, it will be too late to back down, so now we only have one The method is to lead the army to defeat Siketor, and then go to Constantinople with his strength, and force Theodosius to plead guilty!"

"Your Majesty the Emperor is right. The current situation does not allow us to back down, otherwise it will not only disappoint the nobles of Rome, but also boost Theodosius' reputation, and he will definitely sit on the seat of Roman Emperor by then. , At that time, it was definitely not good news for us!" Ophron also said.

This is the benevolence room where Li Ke was on a boat. Apart from Li Ke and Irina, Ofron and Chalele were also there.Chalele is a middle-aged man in his 30s. He is not tall, but he is very strong. His facial features are very three-dimensional, and he looks very stable.

It was Li Ke who looked at Chalele who had been silent all this time, and then said with a smile, "What do you think of General Chalele?"

Chalele couldn't understand Chinese, so Irina temporarily acted as an interpreter. After hearing this, he thought about it, and then said: "His Majesty the Emperor of Wu, I am a soldier and I don't care about political matters. All I know now is that Theodosius and Sixtus conspired to kill my teacher, so now I just want to take revenge, and the rest has nothing to do with me!"

Hearing what Chalele said, Li Ke and Irina looked at each other, because they both heard some other meanings from Chalele's words. The other party emphasized that he was a soldier who didn't care about politics. They, no matter what Irina does in the future, he will not interfere, that is, maintain a neutral position, but there is a prerequisite, that is, the two people who killed his teacher, Theodosius and Syktor, must be caught. murderer.It can be seen that this Chalele is also an extremely shrewd guy, and he has already guessed something from the fact that Li Ke accompanied Irina back.

Conversations between smart people are always very pleasant. After listening to Chalele's words, Li Ke glanced at each other meaningfully, and then said with a smile: "General Chalele is indeed a real soldier." , I decided to launch a general attack on Xi Kedo's navy in three days. With the strength of our Wu navy, it will not be a problem to defeat them. However, I hope that General Chalele will pay more attention and don't let Xi Kedo escape. .”

Charlere's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, as long as Your Majesty can defeat Sigurd's navy, he will definitely not be able to escape!"

"Very well, when we surround Constantinople, Theodosius will have nowhere to escape. At that time, his blood must be used to honor the spirits of Constantinople II and the old general Mertan!" Li Ke also resolutely assured that Mertan has a huge reputation in the navy. Now that he is dead, Chalele will definitely become an important figure in the navy. Now he can get the neutral position of the other party. Lena is all a huge good thing.

After three days of rest, Li Ke finally decided to launch an attack on Syktor. Among them, Li Ke's [-] main warships were used as arrows, and hundreds of warships from Athens and Charlere were behind. mara sea.

Before that, Charlene had blocked the news of Li Ke and Irina's arrival, so Xikdo hadn't got any news at all, so when he saw the fifteen strange and familiar Great Wu battleships, he was scared for a while. Suddenly, when Li Ke asked the navy to test the artillery in the Golden Horn Bay, he and Mertan were also there. They knew the horror of the artillery, and the thought of fighting these terrifying warships made Xi Kedo feel a little bit uncomfortable. The son has no certainty of victory.

Facts have proved that Syctor is still too optimistic. The Roman navy, which is still stuck in the boarding battle, has no power to fight back when it encounters the Wu navy, which has already used artillery as its main means of attack, especially in the Sea of ​​Marmara. In such a relatively narrow sea area, the warships on Xikdo's side had no place to hide, and one after another was sunk by artillery.

Seeing this bad situation, Xi Kedo also knew that if he continued to fight like this, the hundreds of warships under his command would only be wiped out. Therefore, not long after the battle, nearly one-third of the warships were lost. , He immediately ordered the entire army to retreat, preparing to return to the strait east of Constantinople, where his navy was stationed, which could be defended with the fortifications of the station.

But Xi Kedo obviously overestimated the speed of the oar-seat warship. Although Da Wu's warship is an old-style warship that was eliminated from the Daqi Navy, it has excellent operational performance and is very flexible, so When he saw Sictor retreating, Li Ke immediately ordered the battleship to speed up to catch up, and kept biting the opponent tightly to shoot, which caused Siketo even more losses, and finally fled to the east of Constantinople There are more than 708 warships left in the strait, less than one-third of the original number.Capital Datang [-]

This war, known as the Battle of Marmara by later generations, lasted only two days, and finally ended with Sigurd fleeing back to his lair.Coupled with Li Ke's sudden attack again, Theodore Sigan in Constantinople had no time to react. When he learned that Sikhto was defeated, Constantinople had been captured by Li Ke and Charel's navy. Surrounded.

However, Li Ke was not in a hurry to attack Constantinople, but concentrated his forces to attack Sygram's lair, because he had promised Chalele before that he would capture Sygram to avenge Mertan.In addition, Syketor's navy occupies the east side of the Black Sea Strait, which allows Theodosius to have a channel to communicate with the Asia Minor peninsula. The other party may escape to Asia Minor through Syketor at any time, so they want to catch him. This channel must be knocked out first.

In the technical arm of the navy, the advantages of firearms are more easily revealed, especially when attacking.For example, in this battle, no matter what kind of fortifications Xikdo hid in, he couldn't stand the salvo of hundreds of artillery pieces, especially since the opponent lacked effective long-range attack means, the only thing that could pose a threat to Li Ke Yes, there are only ballistas similar to crossbows, but this kind of ballista is not as powerful as a bed crossbow, so whether it is a spear or a stone, it will not do much damage to the hull.

In the end, Xiketuo's fortifications were destroyed by artillery, and most of the warships in the garrison were also destroyed. Xiketuo jumped ashore with his men and wanted to escape to the Asia Minor peninsula, but was ambushed by Charel who had already ambushed on the shore. , causing the loss of more than half of his men, and the Sikhs were also taken prisoner.

As a result, the mutiny of the entire Black Sea Strait Fleet was finally quelled, and the entire Strait once again fell into the hands of the side that supported Irina.The next step is to deal with Theodosius in Constantinople.