Chapter 353: Rear Penetration and Defense

Muhammad was already angry, and he swore that he would not be a human if he did not conquer this place.

Since there was no news from Rome, Muhammad believed that they were still as slow to react as the previous Palaiologos dynasty. Therefore, he did not pay much attention to the news sent by the cavalry who looted in the west. In fact, Rome had already begun to dismember this anti-Roman alliance.

Michael had recruited a lot of people, plus Rome's standing army in Ukraine, 15,000 people joined his team. These people were more than enough to deal with Trebizond, but they were a bit unbearable for Georgia. For this reason, Michael began to discuss the matter of sending troops with his good neighbors, the Circassians.

The Circassians gathered in the North Caucasus region and were neighbors with Georgia. Michael set out with his army from Azov, and arrived at the Circassian settlements on the Black Sea coast by water. He hired some people with money and also spread the news that anyone who attacked Georgia would be rewarded.

In the south, General Maurice of Cyprus led his army to attack the Ottoman territory, but he suddenly received an order from Peter to help the Patriarch of Antioch first.

In Peter's view, it was enough to recruit soldiers from Anatolia and the Balkans. Taking Antioch while the Mamluk and Ottoman forces were almost non-existent in the Levant would not only lay the frontier position for attacking Syria, but also threaten the rear of the Ottomans. Kill two birds with one stone.

Patriarch George V of Antioch had begun to order Christians to defend the city of Antioch. The city was built on the Orontes River and the mountains behind it. The First Crusade also besieged it for several months and defeated all the reinforcements before the defenders in the city surrendered.

After the fall of the Principality of Antioch, the city suffered a lot of looting, and Timur's conquest in Syria caused the city to suffer. In recent years, with the expansion of the Roman Empire, there have been more and more Roman merchants in Antioch, and with the recovery of Cyprus by Rome, the connection with Antioch has become closer.

But when everyone was ready to deal with the possible invasion, a voice of surrender appeared in the city. The Latin Bishop of Antioch of the Catholic Church said that in order to prevent the city from being slaughtered, they should open the city and surrender.

This was also a clergy position established during the Principality of Antioch. It had disappeared, but it suddenly popped up again. This made the people a little confused. What on earth was the bishop doing?

The bishop actually had his own ideas. Although it was uncomfortable to be governed by pagans, fortunately, the other party respected his beliefs, and he could still pray and preach in Antioch. But if Rome, which believed in the Orthodox Church, recaptured this place, would he still have a good life?

So, he would rather let pagans rule here than let Rome rule here.

But his actions stopped there. Maurice took his soldiers on board the ship to Antioch. The weather on the sea was good, and with a strong easterly wind, it took less than two days to reach the coast of Antioch, less than 20 kilometers away from Antioch.

"Tell the soldiers to hurry up and get to Antioch before dark."

"Yes"

The longer the time, the more changes there will be. Morris was worried that the longer the time, Antioch would be taken by others or something would happen. And things turned out as he thought, there was already a quarrel in Antioch.

The Orthodox and Catholics attacked each other. The bishop wanted to promote defeatist rhetoric, but was besieged by the Orthodox in the church and refused to come out. But the majority of the people were still the Orthodox.

The army led by Morris arrived in Antioch in the afternoon, and the patriarch asked the believers to open the gates to welcome the army into the city.

Morris ordered people to raise the double-headed eagle flag, announcing that Antioch had returned to the Roman Empire. As for those Catholics and bishops, they became coolies and contributed to the construction of the road between the city and the port.

————Dividing line————

Actions were also being carried out in various parts of the Balkans. Adrian, Sofia, Thessaloniki, Constanta and other cities and rural areas began to recruit soldiers. People signed up enthusiastically.

After Rome entered the war, the Illyrian region began to become unstable. In cities such as Salageb, many uprising teams demanded to secede from Rome, but the scale was small and they were all suppressed by the garrison.

On the Austrian border, they were on high alert. Archduke Albrecht of Austria and Count Tyrol were unwilling to take the opportunity to recover the lost territory. The Duchy of Milan was busy building a good relationship with the Duchy of Romagna. Everyone knew that Rome was behind him, so they were a little afraid of him.

Poland and Lithuania in the north had some ideas. Władysław and Vytautas wanted to join forces to annex the Cossack Emirate and restore the territory of Greater Lithuania. When the two countries merged, they would march north to Scandinavia, east to Moscow, west to the Holy Roman Empire, and establish a world-class empire.

Obviously, this is ideal. But the problem is that reality will not give you such an ideal environment. Rome has strengthened its control over the Cossacks. According to the new order issued by Mircea last year, the Cossacks can obtain Roman military ranks and official positions as long as they have merits. There were also many Cossacks in the army. The proportion of Cossacks in the garrison of the Crimean port city of Aaron reached an astonishing half.

Rome also incorporated the Cossacks into the empire's trade map economically, and a large amount of daily necessities and food were provided by Rome. It also used finance and diplomacy to obtain the right to build roads in its territory. A road from Iasi to Mircea Castle and then to Dehrim was started; before that, the main road from Aaron to Mircea Castle had been built.

Among the tribes inside, Rome adopted the policy of mutual checks and balances and gradual annexation to infiltrate the ruling class. As the control of the northern government continued to strengthen, it was only a matter of time before the Cossacks were incorporated into Rome.

At this time, Ukraine did not have the productivity praised by later generations. It was not the granary of Europe, the essence of European land, or even the womb of Europe. Except for Kiev, Mircea Fortress and the small eastern area controlled by Rome, the rest were open grasslands and closed farms. The Spear of God and the Head of the Orthodox fought secretly here, and their figures were everywhere from Lviv to Kiev.

Poland and Lithuania not only had to face Rome in the south, but also had to guard against Moscow in the east and Teutonic in the north. After Samogitia was occupied by Teutonic, they always wanted to take it back. In addition, the Knights also controlled the lower reaches of the three main rivers of Poland and Lithuania (Neman River, Vistula River and Daugava River), which had a great impact on the export trade of the two countries.

Poland wanted to have an outlet to the sea. Emperor Lajos the Great made Poland have outlets to the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea at the same time, but now it has become a landlocked country. Therefore, the northern Baltic Sea outlet is very important to him, and Teutonic must spit out the occupied Pomerania region.