Invincible urban management

Accompanied by the sound of rhythmic drums and horns, the eight warships plowed through the blue waves of the Sea of ​​Marmara under the double impetus of wind and row of oars. .

The dark green waves kept beating against the wooden ship's side, and then turned into countless scattered white foam, which gradually subsided and disappeared without a trace.

On the masts and bows of these sailing warships, bright red golden lion flags are proudly waving in the wind in the twilight.

If this banner is placed on the computer network in the 21st century, the first reaction of most young Internet users after seeing it is that it is probably one of the protagonists in the classic Japanese science fiction novel "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", the Galaxy Emperor Laiying Hart Royankram's Golden Lion Banner.

However, in real history, this golden lion flag does symbolize a great country, which has been famous for a long time.

——If a warship flew this flag in the Mediterranean Sea in the fifteenth century, it would be like the Union Jack of the British Empire in the nineteenth century and the Stars and Stripes of the United States of America in the late twentieth century. and envious eyes.

Because, this golden lion flag with a red background represents the uncrowned emperor of the Mediterranean Sea, the "Bride of the Adriatic Sea" Republic of Venice.

This is a great city-state established by the remnants of the Western Roman Empire on the swamps and tidal flats of northern Italy, which lasted for thousands of years.

The people of this country seem to have salt water flowing in their blood, and they always proudly call themselves "people of the sea", and hold a grand "sea wedding festival" every year.Throw the ring into the sea.Symbolically marrying the sea, Venice was dubbed the "Bride of the Adriatic Sea".

In this era, the Republic of Venice was at its most powerful year. It completely defeated its old rival Genoa in the last century, and since then controlled the entire Eastern Mediterranean, and then subdued the Eastern Roman Empire. became its own vassal.From Athens to Crete, from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, no country can resist the Venetian fleet at sea!

Now, in order to prevent the route connecting the Black Sea from being cut off.The Republic of Venice intends to show off its muscles to the Ottoman Turks... Under the sky gradually shrouded in twilight, Gabriel, the commander of the fleet stationed in the colony of Crete of the Republic of Venice.Admiral Trevison, standing under the banner of a golden lion on a red background, stood firmly with his sword. .under his feet and to the left and right.The eight large sailing warships of the Republic of Venice, riding the southwest wind, filled their sails, and shot towards Constantinople, which was under siege, like sharp arrows off the string.

——After hesitating for a long time, the Venetians finally, like the Genoese, sent reinforcements to Constantinople.

In fact, during the period when the Turks were preparing to attack the city, there had been endless debates within the Republic of Venice on whether to risk their lives to support the dying Eastern Roman Empire at the risk of offending the Sultan who ruled the Eastern world.It's always hard to make a choice.

——For the Republic of Venice, which has always been careful about pennies and pennies and "used to paint copper coins yellow as gold coins", these merchants who enjoy gold coins are required to engage in "humanitarian rescue" and organize the army at their own expense. Crossing the sea to rescue Constantinople is really a bit inconsistent with the usual style.

However, after several heated debates, the alchemy wand, which for centuries had conjured money for the Venetians, was removed from Constantine by the Ottoman Turks in order to prevent the life-and-death trade route to the East. Forcibly breaking the irreplaceable key node of the Fortress, the Republic of Venice finally unified its internal thinking and voted at the Grand Council to reinforce Constantinople.

——As a famous orator said in his impassioned speech: today's misers who are reluctant to spend ten gold coins to extinguish the source of disaster.Tomorrow, I will be beating my chest for the loss of a thousand gold coins!

In various senses, this should be said to be a very wise judgment-provided that there are no traversers to disrupt the situation.

But the question is, how much power can the Republic of Venice squeeze out at this time to aid Constantinople on the other side of the sea?

To know.At this point in early 1453, the northern Italian mainland of the Venetian Republic was locked in a long war - beginning in 1425.In order to become the overlord of the whole of northern Italy, the Republic of Venice, which was at its peak, launched a brutal battle for hegemony with the Duchy of Milan, and soon involved many famous Italian city-states such as Genoa, Florence, and Naples. among.

Relying on the huge amount of money accumulated by Eastern trade and the overwhelming number of mercenaries, the Venetians originally thought they could win a clean and overwhelming victory. The Republic has transformed from a city-state to a territorial state... But the problem is, just as Genoa and Venice at this time had the strongest navies in Europe and were the maritime hegemons ruling the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the Duchy of Milan in this era also had The strongest army in Europe is the land hegemony that dominates the entire Italian peninsula.

The former Grand Duke of Milan, Gian Galliazzo Visconti, nicknamed "Jiangde", was an excellent military strategist, with the reputation of "Caesar reborn".He successfully revived the infantry battle formation of the ancient Roman legion, and forged an extremely powerful steel guard with strict discipline and strict rewards and punishments. He once defeated the invincibles all over Italy, and almost unified the whole of Italy... Although this sturdy The mighty Grand Duke of Milan has passed away long ago, but the powerful army built by him has been inherited by the Duchy of Milan.And now the commander of Milan, Francisco Sforza, who is leading the army against the Venetians, is also a very capable military genius, and a hero who is extremely skilled in political and diplomatic means, and it is very difficult to deal with.

The Republic of Venice is only known for its navy. Although it has the most powerful naval fleet in the Mediterranean world of this era, its army is almost the same as that of the medieval European feudal states of the same period. It is also dominated by mercenaries, with loose discipline and weak combat effectiveness. Loyalty is very problematic... Therefore, even if the Republic of Venice spared no effort to gather a large number of troops locally, it was always beaten to the head and blood by the Milanese with fewer troops in the battle.

As a result, the siege of Milan, which the Venetians originally thought could be resolved quickly, eventually developed into a long-term attrition war with no end in sight, like a huge black hole that lasted for more than 20 years, constantly devouring the wealth and wealth of the Venetians. Xing's life caused the country to lose blood for a long time.

In fact, just as the Peloponnesian War in BC ended the golden age of the ancient Greek city-states, this tragic melee that lasted for decades in the Italian peninsula not only caused heavy losses to the Venetians, but all the city-states, The principalities and kingdoms were all badly wounded.

Under such circumstances, although Venice finally made a decision to reinforce Constantinople, the number of troops it could muster was really limited.Although there were still fifty military galleys and hundreds of merchant ships in Venice itself, all the troops that could be put into ground combat fell into the front line of Milan——in the spring of 1452, the Venetian War Supervisor on the Milan battlefield was still sending letters Report to the country that due to the heavy loss of troops, the front line is on the verge of collapse, and requests that the country should send another 20 crossbowmen or spearmen anyway.But Venice, with a total population of only [-], has tried its best to recruit troops and search for strong men, but it has been delayed until the end of summer and still cannot gather this crucial reinforcement force...

In short, Venice's limited and precious troops are bogged down on the Italian battlefield, and the battle situation is tense everywhere, and they are gradually exhausted. Now they have to go ashore with armed sailors, and there is not even a single infantry that can be transferred to the east. Unable to cope with overseas battlefields.

Thus, Francesco, Doge of Venice.Foscari could only find a solution from the eastern colonies when the local troops were stretched.As a result, Admiral Trevison, who was ordered to assist Constantinople, could only gather eight large sailing warships even if he took time out of the Crete colony without local support. Light infantry as oarsmen, plus [-] experienced seamen.

However, in the eyes of the daring Admiral Trevesen, this power is enough to defeat the novice Ottoman Turkish fleet.

In the Dardanelles before, he had successfully crossed the Ottoman Turks' blockade almost unharmed.

At this time, on the Sea of ​​Marmara on the outskirts of Constantinople, looking at the Ottoman Turkish naval fleet that was in a mess ahead, bumping into each other and entangled with each other, every Venetian sailor showed contempt on his face With a look of disdain.

"... Admiral! We are already very close to the Turkish fleet! What formation are you going to use to launch the attack?"

A Venetian officer walked onto the bridge with the help of the gangway, raised his hand to Admiral Trevison as a military salute, and asked for instructions in a neither humble nor humble voice.

"...Hehe, what kind of formation is there to deal with these seasick idiots who haven't even learned how to swim?"

Admiral Trevison laughed contemptuously, then drew out his sword, pointed at the chaotic Turkish fleet ahead, and shouted confidently to his subordinates, "...forward! Venetians! These heretics are all going to the bottom of the sea! Teach them what naval warfare is!!"

Next, amidst the terrified screams of the Ottoman Turkish sailors and the cheers and gasps of the people of the Eastern Roman Empire, the eight Venetian galleys flying the golden lion flag on the red background were like eight agile and powerful warships. The ferocious Swordfish slammed into the array of the Turkish fleet with full sails along the strong wind, and set off a terrible bloody storm in an instant... rs