What was discovered by the lookout post on Yan'er Village was a naval fleet that could be called a huge Roman Empire in the "small pool" of the Black Sea!
This fleet was sent by the current emperor of the Roman Empire, John II, nicknamed "The Beautiful Man" and "The Good Man".
In fact, this "beautiful man" John is not beautiful at all. He is not white and rich, but short and dark. However, in the eyes of the subjects of the Eastern Roman Empire, this emperor of the Roman Empire was definitely the number one Yushu Linfeng, a standard handsome man, a male god who would even make Venus flutter after seeing him... ...Anyway, no one in Castle Castle would say that "Beautiful John" was ugly, so maybe this short, dark man was the standard for handsome men in Rome in the 12th century, right?
In addition to being recognized as good-looking, John is also recognized as a "good guy." This was not a nickname given to John by the subjects of the Eastern Roman Empire, but a nickname recognized by the monarchs, politicians, and warlords of his contemporaries in Europe and West Asia. Because John was generous and righteous, had a noble character, was very religious, and could be just and merciful to his enemies. He never executed or maimed anyone...no matter he was a corrupt official in Eastern Rome or a pagan robber. , or profiteers from Venice and Genoa.
His enemies could be killed if they encountered him and his troops on the battlefield. But once he captures him alive, there is no need to worry about losing his life.
Of course, Good Guy John is not a bad guy either. He has outstanding political, diplomatic and military abilities, so he also has the ability to be a good guy just to gain fame.
During his more than 20 years in power, he formed an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire in the West and defeated the Pechenegs, Hungarians and Serbs in the Balkans. He also personally directed a huge offensive against the Turks in Asia Minor, reversed the situation on the eastern front of the empire, and recovered a large number of Byzantine towns, cities and fortresses occupied by the Turks. Moreover, he also obtained the allegiance of the three Crusader monarchs, the Prince of Antioch, the Count of Edessa, and the Count of Tripoli, and at least nominally extended his tentacles to the vicinity of the Holy City of Jerusalem.
In short, under the governance of John the Good, the national destiny of the Eastern Roman Empire had an Indian summer, and there were some signs of revival.
However, the Eastern Roman Empire, which was showing signs of revival, now encountered two huge challenges!
One of the challenges came from the direction of Syria. When John the Good led the Eastern Roman Empire towards revival, the Syrian Christians also welcomed an outstanding person, namely Imaddin Zanji, the founder of the Zanji dynasty. He was originally a vassal of the Seljuk Sultan and served as governor of Mosul. Later, taking advantage of the civil strife in the Seljuk Turks, he broke away from the Seljuk dynasty and established his own Zanji dynasty. After about 10 years of expansion, starting in 1137, the Zanghi Dynasty became a powerful enemy of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Crusaders!
Moreover, Good John recently received a piece of news that made him extremely uneasy. The Zanji Dynasty had reached an agreement with their original suzerain, the Great Seljuk Dynasty. The Crusader countries in the region launched an attack!
Another challenge comes from the Rakshasa region. It is not that there are some outstanding people among the eighteen Rakshasa princes, but that a "golden dynasty" from the east conquered the Kipchak grassland and the Alan Kingdom and then invaded the Rakshasa region. The territories of the ten feudal lords of the Rakshasa region were so slaughtered that the Rakshasa princes threw away their armor and surrendered to this golden dynasty of the East.
After defeating the Rakshasa princes, this Eastern Golden Dynasty did not return to the East. Instead, it went south to the Crimean Peninsula and captured Roman cities in the southern part of the Crimean Peninsula, and then settled in the Crimean Peninsula. .
Now I'm stepping on good John's painful foot!
Because the eighteen Rakshasa princes are the granary of the Eastern Roman Empire! The Roman cities on the Crimean Peninsula were commercial strongholds where Rome imported Rakshasa wheat and at the same time dumped Roman handicrafts and Greek silks to Rakshasa.
Now that this golden dynasty occupies the Crimean Peninsula, it is equivalent to cutting off the Rakshasa wheat input channel, and at the same time, it also prevents the handicrafts of Eastern Rome from being exported to the Rakshasa.
This is tantamount to killing Rome economically!
In addition, in Europe and the Levant, a rumor has recently emerged that makes good John scold his mother. It is said that the golden dynasty that defeated the eighteen Rakshasa princes and occupied the Crimean Peninsula was the Three Wise Men of the East. The descendants of the priest are the descendants of John the Priest!
Isn't this nonsense?
If this golden dynasty were the descendants of Prester John, then they should attack Baghdad instead of going to Crimea to threaten Constantinople!
But good John also knows that there is no reason to argue with those ignorant Western European fools. The only thing that can convince them is "divine judgment"... He must defeat this golden man who is rumored to be after Prester King John. dynasty!
As long as he defeats the Golden Dynasty and takes back the Crimean Peninsula, then even if the Golden Dynasty is really after Prester John, it won't be a big deal. That they will be defeated means that God does not support them!
If Good John is defeated by this golden dynasty...then there will be big trouble!
Food prices in Constantinople have nearly doubled during this period!
John II's own income dropped a lot because the trade routes to the Rakshasa Eighteen Route princes' territories were cut off... This meant that he did not have enough financial resources to increase the wages of his mercenaries.
And the high food prices made it impossible for the mercenaries in Eastern Rome to feed their families!
Just when Good John was troubled by rising food prices and reduced income, he received a report from spies - the two profiteer countries, Venice and Genoa, had actually colluded with the Golden Dynasty and were helping the Golden Dynasty build the Black Sea Fleet!
This is great!
What does this Golden Dynasty want to do by building a Black Sea Fleet? It’s clear that they want to raid Anatolia from the sea!
According to intelligence, the Golden Dynasty has more than 100,000 troops, which are well-equipped, well-trained, and possess a very powerful secret weapon. If they were allowed to cross the Black Sea to Anatolia (Asia Minor), then the territory in Anatolia that John II had worked so hard to regain would be lost.
By then, the "Rome Renaissance" situation that John II had finally created would be completely over.
Fortunately, John II still had a navy that could dominate the Black Sea and even fight against the two profiteer countries of Venice and Genoa. It's not that his navy is huge, but that his navy possesses a powerful weapon - Greek fire!
Therefore, John II planned to strike first. Before the Golden Dynasty's naval fleet actually formed an army, he launched a surprise attack on their naval base, Alta Bay, and burned the warships built for them by the Venetians and Genoese.
Composed of forty-three dromon galleys, eighteen heavy dromon galleys, one of the emperor's ships (the super dromon galley), and some carrying the Varangian Guard A huge fleet of merchant ships, taking advantage of the southeasterly wind blowing on the Black Sea, suddenly arrived near the Bay of Ya'erta!
The secrecy before this raid was so good that even the officers of the Varangian Guard did not know that their destination was the Crimean Peninsula when they boarded the transport ship.
The emperor's naval generals, before setting off, only knew they were going to support the Crusader countries in the Levant.
Therefore, this naval battle is very likely to turn into a surprise attack. Perhaps without paying a high price, the Roman navy can teach the "Golden Family" from the grassland a lesson... They may be able to teach the "golden family" from the grassland a lesson... Be king and dominate, but no one can challenge the Roman navy on the waters of the Black Sea!
"Your Majesty... the enemy fleet has been spotted ahead, and they have formed a formation in the Yulta Bay!"
Just when John II was dreaming of a raid with minimal losses, loud shouts and jingling bells suddenly came from the lookout post of the emperor's ship he was riding on.
John II and his commander Aksukh looked at each other, both looking a little surprised.
Aksukh was a handsome Turk who was captured by John's father Alexios I when he was young. He later became a playmate of John II and grew up in the Eastern Roman court. John II trusted him very much, and after becoming emperor, he promoted him to the position of commander-in-chief, in charge of the imperial army.
And this Turkic man did not disappoint John II. Over the years, he conquered east and west for the Roman Empire and made great achievements. This raid on Crimea was also planned by Aksukh.
Aksukh immediately nodded to the emperor, then quickly walked to the watchtower of the battleship, and climbed up quickly. Soon he reported to the Roman Emperor in a very cheerful tone: "My Majesty, we will win this battle soon! Because the enemy's warships are not many in number, and they are all smaller Dromon double-deckers. The galleys, and they were completely ignorant of naval warfare, did not take advantage of the speed of the Dromond galleys, but lined them up in two lines with their backs to the bay, still against the wind..."
Sure enough, we will definitely win! God is indeed blessing Rome! The enemy didn't understand naval warfare at all, and they didn't know the power of Greek fire. They actually dared to line up against the wind with their backs to the beach... and there would be no place to run when it burned down!
The Roman Emperor laughed, thinking: God still loves me... Amen!
Then the emperor loudly ordered: "Put all the fire-breathing ships to the front...let them use the wind to set fire to burn all the enemy ships!"
"As you command, my lord!"
At the same time, in Yan'er Village, Wanyan Xiebao was also laughing: "It seems that God is still blessing us... Those Romans thought we were ignorant prairie barbarians. Burn us with fire oil ships... but we have golden bullets that can shoot arson bombs!
They...are dead! "
