"Keep your spirits up, all of you! Don't let the Venetian find an opportunity!"
"Yes, General!"
Near a shoal on the western shore of Cres Island, Guards Commander Ester was inspecting the Guards' camp.
As Croatia's second-largest offshore island, the long and narrow Cres Island boasts an extremely long coastline, dotted with numerous small ports and shallow areas suitable for landing.
The Venetian had occupied this place for hundreds of years, and most of its residents were Venetian immigrants, whose attitude towards the Austrian occupation forces could only be reluctantly called respectful.
After determining that the local civilians were completely untrustworthy, Ester led his troops and spent a lot of effort to ensure Austrian control over the entire island.
Before the Venetian regained naval supremacy, most of the Guards had withdrawn from the island and returned to the mainland, leaving only Ester to command an infantry squadron to strengthen the defenses here.
They were to remain here until the garrison organized by Croatia and Austria arrived. During this time, Ester mobilized soldiers and island residents to build many watchtowers and small fortresses along the coast facing the sea.
Most of the defensive and warning facilities left by the Venetian were on the side of the coast facing Croatia, including the island's only castle.
Now the side of the island facing Croatia would no longer be threatened, but the coast facing the sea had become particularly dangerous, so new watchtowers and camps had to be built.
The soldiers and conscripted islanders sourced materials locally, obtaining timber from the island's lush forests, and could quickly build a simple watchtower.
However, Ester knew very well that such facilities would at most provide psychological comfort.
From Venice to this island, troop transports full of soldiers would only take one day to arrive. Unless the Austrian Navy could maintain naval supremacy, the Venetian could send troops to reoccupy the island at any time.
Fortunately, the Emperor did not truly monopolize Cres Island. In return for the Frankopan Family's strong support, he granted half of Cres Island as a fief to Duke Ivan Frankopan of the Frankopan Family.
That Duke, who controlled Krk Island, had a fleet and an army, and he was the island's greatest safeguard.
"General, look over there!"
A soldier's exclamation interrupted Ester's thoughts. He looked up at the sea, where several Venetian warships were patrolling, seemingly conducting reconnaissance.
Before long, a large fleet sailed from the south, consisting of both warships and merchant ships.
After the loss of Cres Island, the Venetian lost an important transit point, forcing merchant ships using the eastern Adriatic Sea route to sail longer distances, which greatly increased the risk of encountering privateers.
For this reason, the Venetian had to send more escort warships.
However, there seemed to be too many warships in this fleet. Ester quickly realized that this might be a reinforcement fleet that the Venetian had transferred from the Aegean Sea.
"Continue to maintain vigilance. If any abnormal situation is discovered, immediately send someone to Cres Town to report."
"Yes!"
After giving instructions to the person in charge of the camp, Ester immediately led his men back to Cres Town.
If his predictions were correct, the navy's cowards would once again retreat, putting him under immense pressure. While the Venetian had not yet launched a counterattack, Ester quickly dispatched messengers to inform the Emperor and Ivan Frankopan of the enemy's situation.
At this time, Laszlo was leading the main forces of the Guards, stationed in Rijeka, an Austrian free city at the border of Austria and Croatia.
This place once belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary, later becoming an independent free commercial city-state, politically dependent on the Republic of Venice.
A few years ago, Rijeka submitted to Laszlo and became an Austrian free city.
Laszlo had a very good idea for this special port located on Austria's southeastern coast.
He planned to draw a circle here and turn it into Austria's first free trade port.
All countries friendly to Austria could conduct duty-free trade here freely.
All goods could be transported to Austria, to Croatia, or even deep into the heartland of the Kingdom of Hungary.
Previously, Cres Island was occupied by the Venetian, and Rijeka's potential as a commercial port was almost capped. However, its value is now highlighted again.
Of course, before implementing this bold plan, Laszlo must ensure that Cres Island and other important islands are under complete Austrian control, which will probably have to wait until the war ends.
Laszlo could afford to wait; he could contend with those Venetian for three to five years, or even more than ten years.
It was just unknown if the Venetian, currently facing enemies on multiple fronts, could withstand it.
After inspecting Rijeka, which had declined to little more than a small fishing village, Laszlo encountered the messenger sent by Ester as soon as he returned to the Guards' camp.
"The Venetian reinforcements have arrived?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, we personally witnessed a large Venetian fleet sail into the Gulf of Venice."
Laszlo "snorted." He quite enjoyed the feeling of having his fleet ride roughshod over the Venetian in the Gulf of Venice, but unfortunately, he couldn't do that now.
Most of the Austrian fleet was currently undergoing maintenance and repairs in the military port of Trieste, and several new ships were about to be launched, with only a few light warships performing privateering missions abroad.
If they encountered the Venetian fleet, they would naturally retreat to the military port, so Laszlo was not worried about the fleet's safety.
However, in the coming days, the entire Austrian fleet would probably have to shrink back into the military port, just like when it was first built.
Avoiding the enemy's sharp edge was certainly a wise choice, but it inevitably made Laszlo feel disheartened. However, what was more important now was to hold Cres Island.
"I understand. Reinforcements and supplies will arrive on the island later. Tell Ester to hold the fortresses on the island for me.
As for Cres Town and the surrounding villages... I allow them to requisition all available supplies. There is no need to defend the vulnerable Cres Town."
In Laszlo's view, Cres Town had no city walls for defense, and the local populace was not trustworthy, so it was better to directly extract its value.
Once the Venetian re-landed on the island, the local residents would probably quickly fall back into the embrace of Venice.
And when the Imperial Army reoccupied Cres, he could dispose of those Venetian civilians as he pleased, relocating them inland, or even selling them into slavery, and then finding immigrants from Austria and Croatia to settle on the island.
"This... Yes, Your Majesty."
The messenger was somewhat surprised. As a member of the Guards, he was naturally well aware of the strict military discipline the Emperor had established for the Guards.
Their salaries were higher than those of ordinary local soldiers, so in most cases, they were not allowed to plunder indiscriminately. On the contrary, they also needed to protect the spoils of war that should belong to the Emperor during plundering.
However, since it was the Emperor's order, they were naturally happy to accept it.
Although Cres was not large, as an important transit port for Venice, there would certainly be no shortage of spoils.
Thinking of earning some extra money, the messenger excitedly went back to report.
Laszlo then dispatched an infantry squadron and several cannons to the island, and also requested the Frankopan Family to assist in the defense.
Ivan Frankopan, who had obtained half of Cres Island and another large port on the island, was naturally willing to contribute to defending his family's new territory.
He directly conscripted an army of over a thousand men from the Frankopan Family's mainland territories and transported a large amount of supplies to the island, bringing the island's defensive forces to nearly three thousand men.
For the Venetian to chew through such a tough bone, it would likely not be so easy.
After staying in Rijeka for two days, Laszlo led his army back to the Port of Pula. He wanted to ensure the safety of the entire Austrian coast to prevent the Venetian from turning into pirates and landing on Austrian soil to cause any damage.
It was in the Port of Pula that Laszlo met the special envoy sent by the Pope.
What annoyed him was that the special envoy was actually a Venetian.
This was not surprising, as the Pope himself was also a Venetian.
After reading the letter from the Pope, which clearly favored the Republic of Venice, Laszlo's expression also became gloomy.
"The Pope wrote me such a letter. Is he planning to declare war on me to aid Venice?"
The wording in the letter was stern. The Pope urged Laszlo to fulfill his promise to launch a naval Crusade while also dissuading him from continuing to fight the Venetian.
It was ridiculous that the Pope's reason for a ceasefire was to defend their common faith.
How much was faith worth in the eyes of the Venetian? Did Paul II, this Golden Book Noble, not know?
"Noble Roman Emperor, the Holy See has no such intention. He merely believes that your current war, uniting many countries against Venice, which also believes in Catholicism, is detrimental to the cause of fighting the Ottomans."
"How can that be? All my actions have been carefully considered, and everything is for the purpose of fighting the enemy of faith.
The Venetian once betrayed the Crusade and caused heavy losses to the Pope's fleet. Have you forgotten?"
Laszlo demanded in a stern voice. He still harbored resentment over being betrayed by the Venetian back then, a grudge he would remember for life.
The special envoy had clearly anticipated Laszlo bringing up old matters and explained rather helplessly: "Your Majesty, haven't you already punished Venice in the war seven years ago?
Does the large territory of Venetia still not appease your anger?"
The special envoy spoke the latter half of the sentence with a hint of gritted teeth.
His birthplace, Treviso, was now the capital of Austria's Venetia province. In his opinion, the Austrian were invaders.
Can that even be called punishment? When Venice colluded with the King of France to attack the Empire, it was perfectly reasonable for them to pay the price for their defeat.
I indeed hoped to use this to admonish the Venetian not to collude with the Ottomans again, yet they still ignore my warnings.
Venetian banks have provided large amounts of loans to the Ottomans, and the Venetian government has also helped the Ottomans transport supplies, and even troops.
Tell me, should the Venetian be punished for colluding with infidels?"
This world is filled with just and unjust wars, with sufficient or insufficient reasons, but ultimately everything will be judged by the rulers.
And usually, both sides of a war claim to be on the side of righteousness.
For Laszlo, the reasoning was simple: as long as the war was necessary, then the war was just.
He could find ten thousand reasons if he wanted to, but these few charges against the Venetian were indeed well-substantiated.
When he was stabbed in the back by the Venetian previously, he had already resolved to destroy Venice, and he was only now beginning to implement it.
As the saying goes, to fight external enemies, one must first pacify internal ones. If there were traitors at home, he would not be able to devote all his strength to the war against infidels.
Therefore, how could dealing with the Venetian who colluded with infidels not be part of the Holy War?
"But I heard that you are cooperating with the Genoese, also providing arms and other aid to the infidel Karaman. Isn't this also colluding with infidels?"
Facing the Emperor's sophistry, the exasperated Papal envoy immediately blurted out Laszlo's secret, speaking without thinking.
The atmosphere instantly became tense. Laszlo stared menacingly at the special envoy, who realized he had misspoken.
"You are mistaken, Mr. Special Envoy. This only involves the trade competition between Venice and Genoa.
Austria merely sold goods to Genoese merchants. As for where the goods went after leaving the port, how could we interfere?
Ultimately, even when the Venetian did business with infidels, they often broke their word, which is why the Karaman transferred the port to the Genoese. I believe the Venetian should be ashamed of such a disgraceful failure."
Laszlo's expression returned to calm, as he openly demonstrated his ability to lie through his teeth.
Even if the other party pressed him, he had a reason to say that it was a small trick to make the infidels fight among themselves.
Look, after he sold arms to the Karaman, within two months, the Ottoman and Karaman had lost a total of over five thousand soldiers on the battlefield, which could be said to be remarkably effective.
The special envoy gave a dry laugh and did not pursue the matter further, otherwise he feared he would not leave Austria alive today.
"Then, is the new Crusade you promised the Holy See also a deception and a perfunctory act?"
"Of course not!" Laszlo vehemently denied, "Go back and report to the Pope, tell him that as soon as I eliminate the Venetian who disregard faith, I will immediately launch a Crusade."
"But the Holy See hopes that you can restore Constantinople as soon as possible. He will try to persuade the Republic of Venice to cut off ties with infidels and invite them to participate in the next Crusade."
"Do you think I'm easily fooled?" Laszlo was directly amused. "If the Pope insists on believing that his motherland will not betray the faith, he might as well ask the Portuguese, who formed a joint fleet with the Venetian last time.
If the Pope can persuade the Portuguese to join this Holy War, I can consider making peace with the Venetian."
"This:"
The Papal envoy from Venice, of course, knew what the Portuguese had experienced in the last Crusade, and thus his face also showed some embarrassment.
However, he still did not want to give up this last hope.
If diverting the trouble eastward could save Venice, he was willing to try.
"If the Portuguese agree to join the next Crusade, are you truly willing to make peace with Venice?"
"Peace, that is, of course - impossible. The Venetian are inherently difficult to change. Only by destroying them can I deal with the Ottomans with peace of mind.
Mr. Special Envoy, I remember you seem to be from the Balbo Family, right? A relative of the Pope from the same family...
1
"W-what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just hope you go back and tell the Pope that Golden Book Nobles are not true nobles after all.
Why not let the Balbo Family come to Austria? I can grant the Balbo Family a true noble title.
You have immense influence in the Church, there's no need to decline along with a dying Venice."
Laszlo's words made the Papal envoy's eyes widen. The Emperor's open recruitment left him at a loss for a moment.
"I will convey all your replies to the Holy See, and I still hope you will carefully consider whether this war is worth it."
"I will certainly consider it. I hope the Pope can give me a reply as soon as possible. Austria welcomes a truly prominent family."
Laszlo secretly chuckled as he bid farewell to the Papal envoy. He wanted to see what the Pope valued most: his family, his own reputation, or Venice.