European modulation mode

France was also extremely depressed. There were more than just Venice on the sea. Castile, Aragon, and Portugal also had a sizeable navy after decades of exploration of the New World. It was already the limit for Hayreddin to hold back the Venetians.

With the Mediterranean offensive blocked, the Portuguese and Castilian fleets began to move in the Atlantic, attacking France's Atlantic coastline like mad dogs, looting large amounts of supplies to make up for the war losses. In fact, one of the main ethnic groups here: the Visigoths and the Vikings are of the same clan, both are semi-giant descendants from Northern Europe, and they are very familiar with coastal looting.

The land war was at a stalemate and the naval war was at a standoff. Both sides were in urgent need of a new ally, a powerful ally to break the deadlock. However, looking around the map, except for Britain which was still fighting a civil war, all other countries nearby were involved in this catastrophe and no one was spared. Looking further ahead, the only country that had the ability to change the current situation and possessed a large navy and the ability to deploy soldiers across the sea was the Roman Empire.

There was no other way, so France and the Holy Roman Empire sent envoys at the same time to win over Aina.

Ryan, they knew that facing this emperor who emerged from the war, talking about holy war and glory was useless, so they directly offered the biggest chip.

The Holy Roman Empire stated that as long as Aenarion was willing to send troops from Egypt to sweep across North Africa and cooperate with the Venetian navy to annihilate Hayreddin's Muslim navy, the entire North African coast, including Tunisia, would be promised to the Roman Empire. It was even willing to cede part of Iberia so that the entire land south of the Mediterranean would fly the red eagle flag of Rome.

The French envoy also stated that as long as Aenarion was willing to send troops from Greece to sweep across Italy, cooperate with the Hayreddin navy, and destroy the Venetian navy, then all of Venice's colonies would be promised to the Roman Empire. If you have the energy to continue helping after solving this annoying problem of Venice, then we are also willing to cede to you the Kingdom of Aragon's overseas lands in Sicily and Sardinia.

Aenarion was once again faced with a difficult choice and decided to return to Constantinople to convene a meeting of elders to listen to their opinions.

"Your Majesty, do we have to get involved in this muddy water? This choice is too difficult."

An elder frowned.

"The Holy Roman Empire takes on France and the Ottoman Empire alone? The Roman Empire is sandwiched between the Habsburg territories and the Ottoman Empire. No matter who we choose to help, there is a possibility of violent conflict breaking out on the border of the empire, causing this war that has spread across half of the European continent to fall into an even more uncontrollable situation. If I have to choose, I would rather help France and the Ottoman Empire and join the encirclement of the Habsburgs together. After all, the only border we have with the Holy Roman Empire is the Balkan Peninsula, and most of it is blocked by natural barriers such as the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube River, and there are also strong fortresses like Belgrade.

If we go to war with the Ottomans, we will have to deploy heavy troops in Constantinople, Egypt, and Cyrenaica just in case. The empire's financial resources cannot support you to fight on three fronts for a long time. The Ottoman armies in Asia Minor, North Africa, and Palestine are not something we can deal with in a short time. If we are not careful, we may even be defeated by the enemy's sword-wielding Viziers, not to mention the Bedouins in the yellow sands to the south, who are still making trouble."

"Let's help France and the Ottomans. North Africa is indeed rich, but the coastline is too long and has no depth. The enemy navy and the damn nomads in the Sahara Desert can attack any village in North Africa at will. The local population is all Muslims - they are not drow elves, and they will not willingly recognize Your Majesty as the orthodox king. There will be many rebellions. The benefits of taking over North Africa may not be as much as the military funds we spend in North Africa."

Caledo, who was in charge of financial management, made many calculations and felt that going to North Africa was not cost-effective.

"Your Majesty, I also think we should join the alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire."

Jiliman frowned. Even though she hated Osman, there was nothing she could do.

"The Habsburgs are too strong. If they win this time, they will gain the entire Iberian Peninsula and a large area of ​​southern France on the basis of their existing strength. They will even have the strength to launch another war of invasion of northern Italy. They will also have a stronger army, greater prestige, and will be able to subdue and integrate the disobedient princes in the Holy Roman Empire.

At that time, we were facing a giant country with a territory stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Black Sea in the east, Denmark in the Arctic, and Rome in the south. Your wife was even a Habsburg. Haven't you seen what happened to Austria and Portugal? Once such a thing becomes powerful, we will not be able to deal with it. "

"Yes, what the Prime Minister said makes sense."

Several Komnenos responded in agreement.

"Right now, the Holy Roman Empire is the most powerful in Western Europe. We are helping it grow. If they turn against us in the future, it will be hard to deal with them. France is still weak, and the Ottoman expeditionary force cannot maintain the rule of Iberia. At most, they can establish a bunch of vassal states in Iberia. Helping the King of France and Alauddin to grow is better than helping the Habsburgs to grow."

In the court, all the elders thought that they should not help the Habsburgs. They were surprisingly unanimous. It was not because they all accepted money from the French, but because fighting the Habsburgs was more profitable. The hatred of the Holy Roman Empire by these Greek elves was not a day or two. They even hated the Holy Roman Empire more than the Ottoman Empire. We are Rome! Why are you German barbarians pretending to be Roman orthodoxy?

"Since everyone agrees, let's join the alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire - but don't declare war on the Holy Roman Empire yet. Our two countries are still allies. If this agreement is to be torn up, then force the other party to tear it up first."

Aenarion looked at the highly unanimous Senate and issued the final decision.

"Let Warmaster Ryan take full control of the Greek legions, with Firus Manus and Chagatai Khan as his deputies.

Order the Serbian, Bulgarian, Albanian and Danube Corps to immediately be on standby and await the orders of the Warmaster at any time. However, before the Holy Roman Empire officially declares war, these corps cannot enter the Belgrade and Wallachia fronts to create a tense atmosphere and let the Habsburgs know that we have no plans to attack Hungary by land, so as to prevent the other side from becoming overly nervous and directly transferring their main forces from the French Western Front to us.

"Your will!"

Once he made up his mind, Aenarion methodically mobilized all his resources and troops to join the war. The Roman Empire, a war machine in the guise of a country, once again roared loudly.

Start running.

"Gilman, help me find a reason, whether it's a dispute over goods or a claim to territory. We will not declare war directly on the Holy Roman Empire, but on the Kingdom of Aragon. The naval fleet will head directly to the Two Sicilies, control the southern Italian regions, cut off the throat of the Mediterranean, and cut the Venetian navy that is heading to Spain and the navy defending the homeland in half, so that the two ends cannot take care of each other."

"Immediately write to Sultan Selim and contact Admiral Hayreddin to temporarily transfer the Black Sea Fleet, the Egyptian Fleet, and the Aegean Sea Fleet to the west to join the Adriatic Fleet. Concentrate all naval forces and cooperate with Hayreddin to destroy the Venetian Navy! Venice has been against us in business for too long. Our first combat goal is to cripple the Venetians."

"Don't move any of the legions stationed in Greece. Vienna and Budapest are in the north, and there's still a chance that the main force of the Holy Roman Empire will float down the Danube. All the legions of Thrace and Thessaly should stay in Greece as reserves and fight with all their might.

Egypt has allies on both sides, so there is no war pressure. This time, the main force of the army will be dispatched from Egypt - well... transfer 2,000 people from the Leman Russ and Clarks legions from Greece. I need some capable generals to conduct land combat. The drow generals were promoted from slaves. They lack actual combat experience and need someone to train them. "

"As you wish!"

After resolving the general strategic direction, Aenarion dissolved the meeting and told the elders to do what they should do. He then summoned all the staff to discuss what to do after the troops were assembled. Now the main force of the Venetian navy was fighting fiercely with Hayreddin on the Gibraltar line, but there was still a large fleet guarding the Venetian mainland.

The Black Sea and Egyptian fleets were the smallest, each consisting of only 10 caravels and 30 galleys.

The Aegean and Adriatic fleets were the largest, each with 15 caravels and 45 galleys. The caravels loaded with cannons and the galleys loaded with Greek fire were equipped in a ratio of one to three.

After some discussion, everyone came up with a final plan: send the Black Sea and Adriatic Sea fleets to blockade the Adriatic Bay, preventing Venice's domestic defense fleet from coming out.

The Aegean and Egyptian fleets, with ten legions of imperial guards and twenty legions of drow, captured Sicily at the fastest speed - the Mediterranean Sea was cut into two parts by the Italian Peninsula and Tunisia, and there were only two narrow straits connecting the two seas - the Strait of Tunisia between Tunisia and Sicily, and the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy.

All he had to do was cooperate with the Muslims in Tunisia, blockade the Straits of Tunisia and Messina, and trap Venice's main fleet in the western Mediterranean, without any support from the country. In this way, he could cut Venice's huge navy into two parts from the center, with the front and rear unable to take care of each other.

The next step is to coordinate with Hayreddin's troops to form naval superiority in the local battlefield and completely destroy Venice's navy - of course, the premise of all this is to force Shinra to tear up the contract and declare war on itself. This time we are only declaring war on the Kingdom of Aragon, and we have never meant to break the alliance. If you insist on helping your Aragonese brother to go to war with me, then go ahead.

As long as the Venetian Navy is destroyed, from then on, no force in the Mediterranean will be able to compete with the Roman Navy.