Eagle Byzantium

The arbitration agreement not only recognized Bohemond's current power over Syria Gate, Latakia, Tartus and the river plains under the city of Antioch, but also sternly condemned Tancred de Tver's previous " blasphemy against the Catholic Church, including his use of Ame The ceremonial wedding ceremony of the Nian church was actually full of nitpicking, but in the end the arbitration mission’s ultimatum was very clear: Tancred must hand over the entire city of Antioch by Easter Day next year at the latest. Returning to the Apulian countryside with a guilty conscience.

The poor and angry Tancred's current territory only left Antioch itself and the fields around Lake Antioch, but this was the essence of the entire territory, so he did not give up his stoic resistance.

At the same time, Bohemond never gave up the oppression and attack on his nephew. He imitated Gawain's "sacrifice system" on the land he occupied and established a settlement called "Althing" (ancient Viking fiefdom). National Assembly, reform towards This was an almost unimaginable innovation for the Normans who were accustomed to feudal fiefs: but Bohemond still insisted on implementing it. He measured and inventoried all the territories and divided them into one piece. One piece, move Recruiting Syrians, Saracens, and Armenians to farm and share the harvest with them; Bohemond also hired Syrian Greeks as tax collectors and account bookkeepers in the city and port, and formulated a detailed and complicated "Auching Brocade" , including Part of the proceeds was distributed to the 10,000 soldiers under his command, among which the ratio of archers, spearmen and gunmen was 1, the ratio of heavy armored infantry to light cavalry was 3, and the ratio of Norman sergeants and cavalry was 3 4. The proportion of nobles is 10.

Among Bohemond's subordinates, there were actually not many pure Normans. Most of them were recruited by him from all over the world, so the resistance to the implementation of the "Oxing Fief" reform was much smaller. Then Bohemond instructed Estus to help him reorganize and train his army, and prepared to follow Gawain's example in forming an artillery regiment after recovering the city of Antioch. Under this situation, Bohemond successfully used bribery to occupy the city of Edessa behind Antioch. The local defenders surrendered, leaving Tancred with a lonely land to survive.

In order to expand his financial resources, Bohemond cordially received Molitor Russell, the Venetian Consul General in the East, at the port of Latakia.

Molitor was very frustrated in the past two years, because Assur and Jaffa, the two most important coastal cities of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, were occupied by the Red Duck people and became forbidden areas, while Amalfi expanded with Gawain's strong support. After Gawain recently captured Lydia, he continued to award the rights to the port of Smyrna to the merchants of Smyrna and Pisa in a chartered manner. In general, the entire Venice was in the Levant. Failed to use their hands and feet to obtain benefits commensurate with their efforts.

Bohemond's proposal to Molitor was that he was willing to open the ports of Latakia and San Simeon to the Venetian Chamber of Commerce, allowing them to enjoy exclusive rights, but Venice must provide him with large quantities of sulfur and nitrate; in addition, if Venice can send If the fleet assisted him in capturing Tripoli, Sidon, and Tyre before Gawain, he would also give Venice full advantage there.

This made Molitor feel very tempted, but he did not dare to make a decision on his own, so he also wrote a secret report to the elders of the Venetian city-state and sent it to the distant lagoon city.

As a result, Molitor's secret letter set off two diametrically opposed arguments among the "Venetian pigs" who had always claimed to be united.

The debate took the lead in the consul chapel. The old consul Feleye Mochenigo, who had served for many terms, advocated accepting Bohemond's proposal and giving priority to projecting colonial and naval power to the Levant. It can not only comply with the call of the Holy See of Rome, but also rely on the power of emerging princes like Bohemond, Baldwin or Gawain to establish a foothold and enjoy rights and interests in the coastal cities of the Levant as soon as possible. "Otherwise, it will take a hundred years In the end, it will be us who lose the future!”

However, the strong contender for this term's consulship, another prominent Venetian nobleman, Piero Corna, was aggressive. He said that he should sympathize with Emperor John's request (at this time, John had sent an emissary to borrow troops to help in the suppression), and the city-state wanted to Prioritize organizing a capable mercenary army and sending it to Crete. Help the emperor put down the rebellion. In return, the emperor promised to cede several key ports in Modon and Crete to us. "After that, we will control the trade routes of the entire Sea of ​​Arches (Aegean Sea). Of course, we will be at a disadvantage when it comes to hot duck or pizza." Invincible, there is no need to compete with them in the Levant.”

"The riots in Crete now involve too many big countries. At least Gawain of Tarsus and his wife are the masterminds behind the scenes."

"So what? The fleet of Tarsus is very weak. Even the pirates who besieged Rhodes Island had to rely on large ships begging for hot ducks and pizza - and once we establish fortresses in Crete and Moria, Gawain can't do anything to us at sea." Piero Corner is very confident.

No wonder, the whole consul's chapel was full of veteran captains, and their minds and eyes could automatically visualize the entire eastern seas, islands, and routes: once Piero's goal was achieved, the galleys sailing from Venice would first arrive at Zara to replenish supplies, and then go directly to Corfu, and then bypass the Peloponnese Cape from Modon as a transit point. As long as there was the protection of Modon, the number of ships lost due to cape storms and reefs would be reduced by at least 70%, and then the ships could go directly to Constantinople, or go through Crete's northern ports such as Gandiya and Chania, and directly sail to the Levant, Egypt, or Cilicia for trade, and a round trip could be completed in two weeks.

So in the minds of most people, Piero's suggestion was more tempting, not to mention that once they helped Emperor John to quell the rebellion, the Venetians would not only get Crete, but also get more privileges and benefits in the Holy Sea, and gradually seal off their old enemy, the Reykjavik, which was really the best.

In comparison, the proposal of the old Consul Fellaye made people feel that it was decadent and had no enterprising spirit.

However, Fellaye was still stubborn.

The young and vigorous Piero Cona replied politely and confidently, "The upcoming Consul election will put an end to our argument."

In the end, the Consul election of this year was just as Piero expected. The Golden Ball fell into his hands. He put on an embroidered shawl and a hat that symbolized status and power, stepped on a long yacht, and circled the magnificent Piazza San Marco to receive the earth-shaking cheers of the nobles and the people, becoming the "new husband of the Adriatic Sea."

In the mansion by the sea, Feleyer was wearing casual clothes, squinting his mature and depressed eyes, looking at the crowded celebration in the square. At this moment, his sons came over to comfort their old father and said, "You must give a powerful family like the Kona family a chance."

"But I feel that the times will no longer give Venice a chance. Intervening in the Cretan rebellion war is the beginning of its overturning route." Feleyer said slowly.