At the end of November, the clouds of war were getting closer and closer, and Baldwin I could no longer bear it. Boniface's problem had been temporarily solved, and he could finally free his hands to deal with the enemies across the Bosporus.

On the morning of November 28, Baldwin I walked out of the dilapidated Brachenay Palace, accompanied by his subordinates, to test his army for the last time.

A hundred years ago, Alexius I also walked out of here to the Central Avenue that ran through the city. The Roman army was ready to listen to the emperor's orders at any time. They passed through the Central Avenue to the Golden Gate and finally left the city to capture and liberate those who had been abused by the pagans.

A pinch of land.

At that time, the citizens of New Rome would line the streets to welcome their king, and send flowers to wish the Roman warriors a strong rival; but now, the city is lifeless, with ruins everywhere, and the citizens are hiding in fear.

In the ruins, the city's new owner was secretly cursed.

At the scene, only the Franks and Venetians who had just moved here were willing to extend an olive branch to ensure that the "Roman" army would be invincible in the next battle and completely destroy the remaining power of the Greeks, because in this way they could earn more money and have more

Greek slaves came to serve him.

"Your Majesty, you are here." Henry rode a war horse in front of Baldwin. Although Baldwin and he were brothers, Henry would consciously call Baldwin "Your Majesty" in public places.

Baldwin ignored Henry and asked, "Is the army finished?"

"It has been completed a long time ago." Henry nodded, "The knights are eager to continue to make contributions and contribute to your Majesty."

"Very good, I will fulfill my promise and I will never take more (land)."

Henry was a little confused: "What are the conditions of the Venetians? We need Dandolo's ships to safely transport the knights to the other side."

"Several coastal port cities, including Smyrna and Bursa, Dandolo just wanted to maintain dominance of maritime trade, he was not interested in land."

"Your Majesty, I must tell you that the Venetians and the Empire only have a cooperative relationship. If one day they turn against the Venetians, I'm worried that the Empire's territorial waters will be completely trapped by their warships, and the Empire's economy will suffer a fatal blow."

"No, we have given them enough benefits."

"But a hundred years ago, the Greeks and the Venetians were important allies. Didn't they eventually part ways and become hostile to each other? The Greeks also gave them great benefits."

"Humph, the imperial cavalry will easily drive them into the sea and severely punish the Venetians living in this land."

"But..." Henry just started, and was interrupted by a knight next to him:

"Shut up, Henry, His Majesty's will is sacred and you don't need to refute it. Is it possible that you don't take His Majesty seriously?"

"Okay, stop arguing." Baldwin waved his hand impatiently, "Henry, if you have anything to do, let's talk about it after the war. Dandolo is wearing the same pants with us now. You just need to execute the order and be ruthless."

Attacking those Greeks who don’t know the heights of heaven and earth is what worries me.”

"yes……"

"Your Majesty." A knight came on horseback from the direction of the harbor and stopped ten meters away from Baldwin. "Dandolo told you that he has gathered enough ships and all the expenses will be paid after the Greeks are dealt with."

Let’s talk about it later.”

"Very good." Baldwin was delighted, "Henry obeys."

"I'm here."

"I order you to take 70 knights and 5,000 infantry. According to the plan, the troops will be divided into two groups to attack the Greeks on the other side! I look forward to your triumphant return."

"Your Majesty, are the troops too small? I beg your Majesty to add 6,000 more infantry."

"No need." Baldwin shook his hand, "The Greeks don't have a decent army now. You can easily destroy Theodore's defeated army. What's more, the Bulgarians in the north are also dishonest. Damn Kaloyan actually

If he refuses to surrender to me, I will still be on guard against his kingdom."

"Then it will be difficult for me to suppress the local Greek rebellion in time with this small amount of troops..."

"Well, the empire has just recruited and surrendered many Greek nobles. They are very willing to serve me. I will add another three thousand servants to you."

"Your Majesty is wise." Although he did not achieve his goal, it was better than nothing. Henry did not dare to ask for more, otherwise it would probably make Baldwin suspicious.

Even though Henry was his biological brother, it was "hard to guard against domestic thieves day and night." As the emperor, Baldwin would be more or less wary of Henry, so it was impossible to send more troops to Henry, even if Henry rebelled

The heart is also incapable of rebellion.

At the port, Henry turned to look at his army, once again looking at the imperial army composed of French, German and Venetian warriors, as well as the Greek servant army led by the surrendered nobles who arrived later. The attack launched by this army was enough

Destroy all remaining power of the Greeks.

In Baldwin's view, this is a war without any suspense. In the following days, everything will be settled. The reason why the imperial army can quickly capture other Greek lands is because there are four magic weapons to win -

"Cavalry", "heavy armor", "battleships" and iron will, relying on these, Baldwin and his men almost never encountered opponents; however, Baldwin's arrogance could not calm Henry's worries, because he knew very well that he

What kind of enemies are we facing - two steely men, Theodore Laskaris and Alexios Komnenos.

Neither military threats nor the promise of large sums of money to surrender could break the fighting spirit of the Greeks. The Greeks had long been determined to fight Baldwin and his empire to the death.

If the Romanian Empire could not quickly defeat the resistance forces in Asia Minor in a short period of time, the empire would not be able to stably control the newly conquered lands, and the local Greeks would never be able to quickly succumb to foreign rule.

But what Henry has to do now is to lead his army to attack the Greek forces in Asia Minor, while the latter's foundation is not yet stable and its army is not yet strong.

After Henry put on his armor, he led part of the army and boarded a transport ship built by the Venetians, aiming directly at the province of Bithynia on the other side.

The remaining soldiers formed another army, which set out from Kinmen, arrived at Gallipoli, and then attacked Abydos on the other side. Venetian ships also helped cross the sea.

(The flat-bottomed landing ship specially designed and built by the Venetians for landing warfare could be said to be the most sophisticated amphibious vehicle of that era. It was about thirty meters long, equipped with iron armor, and used large sails and oars to fight.

After the boats were towed to the battlefield, they were rowed by a hundred oarsmen. Each boat could carry 600 infantry or 100 cavalry and docked. The gangplank was lowered so that the officers and soldiers could directly go ashore to fight. At the same time, the Venetian sailors dismantled the galleys.
Chapter completed!