The operations off the coast of Croatia were only part of Emperor Laszlo's plan; the numerous Venetian ports in Greece, as well as the Corfu he yearned for, were all his targets.
Emperor Laszlo's ultimate goal was to eradicate all Venetian strongholds on the mainland, which would deprive their merchant ships of stopping points during long voyages.
In the current near-shore trade of the Mediterranean, there are actually not many ships capable of continuous sailing for multiple days.
Sailors need to replenish fresh water and other nutritious food during long voyages, and even require some special means to calm their restless desires.
If there are no ports to stop at during the voyage, coupled with the high risk of encountering pirates, slowly no one will be willing to do such a life-threatening job.
Indeed, Emperor Laszlo could not deal with the Venetian on the sea, but he could create more trouble for the Venetian on land.
As long as the Venetian merchants lose confidence, no matter how vast their Venetian trade network in the Eastern Mediterranean, if you can't ship goods back to Europe, you'll still be dumbfounded.
Moreover, the goods the Venetian couldn't sell, the Genoese could, which was unbearable for the Venetian merchants.
Since Emperor Laszlo forced all his vassal states to open their seaports to Austria and its allies, Austria and its vassal states' maritime trade has made significant progress.
This, in turn, led to increasing trade friction between merchants from Genoa and Austria, and Venice.
Even if Emperor Laszlo did not take the initiative, a war between Austria and Venice was inevitable.
There can only be one hegemon in the Adriatic Sea; in the past, it was always Venice, but in the future, it's hard to say.
As Emperor Laszlo's messengers galloped to Serbia, Bulgaria, and other countries, a new military operation was brewing.
In Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, a multi-party meeting, gathering forces from most of the Balkans, was held at the Regent's Palace.
Present were Frederick, the Regent of Bulgaria; Sigismund, the Serbia Regent; Cardinal Bessarion, the Grand Vizier of Morea; Leonardo III, the Despot of Epirus; and Grand Master Martin of the Order of Saint George.
Beyond them were many nobles from various countries observing, most of whom were very interested in war, and although it wasn't the war against Constantinople they hoped for, the wealthy Venetian were also a good target.
As the Crusade nobles who made their fortunes through war would say, they were fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
The remaining local land nobles of Serbia and Bulgaria, however, showed little interest, being largely content with their existing land and wealth, and unwilling to participate in such military adventures serving the ambitions of the Austrian monarch.
"Gentlemen, you must have all received Emperor Laszlo's decree, haven't you?
This is not an ordinary war, but preparation for the next Crusade, to punish the Venetian who conspired with the infidel Ottomans."
Frederick, who presided over the meeting, first characterized the war, hoping to stir the emotions of these nobles.
However, his weak tone failed to rouse much enthusiasm, and everyone could see that this notoriously 'sleeper' probably wasn't too keen on fighting this war either.
Even though Frederick was not elected Emperor in this timeline, he was still given a rather impolite nickname in Bulgaria.
Its origin was simple: Frederick rarely left his palace, and when handling affairs, he always appeared lazy, as if he hadn't fully woken up.
However, the Austrian advisors he brought with him helped him manage this primitive feudal kingdom very well.
Well, the cost of governance under the feudal system itself was surprisingly low; he only needed to manage his own principality of Tarnovo and concurrently oversee the management of the royal demesne.
The most difficult tasks were promoting the Roman Catholic Church and coordinating relations between foreign nobles and local magnates.
Fortunately, Frederick himself was a skilled negotiator, a 'talented good-for-nothing' with a diplomacy attribute of 5 points after all.
Under his appeasement and Grand Master Martin's military threat, the Kingdom of Bulgaria maintained ten years of peace.
If possible, Frederick was unwilling to break this peace; he enjoyed his current leisurely life.
Nominally a regent, he was actually a local Emperor; his own territory developed well, and occasionally he could secretly skim a little from his obedient nephew's tribute to improve his quality of life.
The only things he needed to worry about were the endless rebellions in Bulgaria and the Ottomans who might return at any unknown time.
Fortunately, both of these threats have recently been minimized.
The Ottomans internal situation is now even more chaotic than Bulgaria's, making a counter-attack on the European mainland impossible.
As for rebellions, whether religious uprisings or noble revolts, they would be easily suppressed; the Teutonic Order, which has firmly established itself, and a Bulgarian standing army of about a thousand men are sufficient to suppress this weak kingdom.
At such a time, one should enjoy life, and Frederick didn't know why Emperor Laszlo was so keen on waging war.
"Frederick, perk up, don't lose face."
The Serbia Regent, Sigismund, the 'Failed Duke,' who found it somewhat unbearable, cleared his throat and reminded him in a low voice.
Frederick glanced at Sigismund, sighing inwardly that this unfortunate child hadn't changed at all over the years.
Sigismund's father had once "violated heavenly laws"... that is, he offended Emperor Sigismund of the Luxembourg Family, Emperor Laszlo's maternal grandfather, and as a result, he was placed under an Imperial Ban, leading to the fall of Outer Austria, and his father died in exile.
At that time, Sigismund was still young and was entrusted by Albrecht II to Frederick to raise.
This child was lively and active from a young age, full of tricks, to put it plainly, he had a tendency for hyperthyroidism, full of energy like Emperor Laszlo, and his personality was completely the opposite of Frederick's.
He participated in the Zurich War at a very young age and nearly died in that war. Later, in Tyrol, he had constant friction with the Church and Venice; he encroached on Church lands, and even seized Venetian silver mines in the southern foothills of the Alps. He was also the first to conduct land transactions with Bregenz.
It wasn't until he later angered Albrecht II by marrying into the pro-French Scottish family, leading to a family civil war, and was finally exiled to Outer Austria to serve as border governor that he settled down for a while.
After arriving in Serbia, he soon followed the Emperor to quell the Hunyadi rebellion, and nearly lost his life in that war.
However, this young man, once healed, forgot the pain, and after recovering from the fear of war, Sigismund began to set his sights on Albania again, often writing to persuade Emperor Laszlo to send troops to Albania.
Fortunately, Emperor Laszlo was calm enough, otherwise the Balkans would probably still be plagued by continuous warfare all these years.
But what was destined to come could not be avoided; the naval struggle for supremacy between Austria and Venice eventually affected the Balkans.
"The numerous Venetian ports and strongholds along the Greek coast are crucial for them to maintain their eastern trade routes.
Our goal is these places, to block the Venetian's long-distance trade routes, forcing them to submit."
Frederick briefly introduced the current objective. Although it sounded simple, the Venetian had built hundreds of strongholds along the long and winding Greek coast, some of which were even formidable fortresses. It would not be easy to eradicate all of them.
"Your Excellency Frederick, although the Venetian suffered heavy losses in the previous war, their strength should not be underestimated.
Important strongholds such as Negroponte, Athens, Lepanto, and Modon-Coron are all guarded by strong fortifications and elite mercenary troops.
If we cannot blockade them from the sea, I fear it will be very difficult to conquer these strongholds."
Leonardo III, the Despot of Epirus, voiced his concerns. He had once allied with Venice and was the person among those present who best understood Venice's situation.
Even after he submitted to the Emperor's authority and swore allegiance, his controlled island of Cephalonia had repeatedly faced pirate threats from the Venetian.
In the previous Crusade, he wasn't the only one who benefited; the Venetian gained even more than he did.
Now, Epirus is bordered by territories directly controlled by Venice to both its north and south. The Venetian mercenaries stationed there are now restless, ready to attack Epirus and Morea at any time. His meager forces would be utterly incapable of withstanding a Venetian assault.
This was also why he had no choice but to rush to Sofia to attend this meeting—he needed reinforcements, otherwise Epirus might not be saved.
Morea was in a similar situation; they had previously lost Athens to the Venetian and now faced threats from Venice from both sea and land.
Frederick dismissed Leonardo's worries, waving his hand and saying, "His Majesty's intention is for us to compress the Venetian's overseas territories as much as possible.
Aside from the few ports that the Venetian particularly value, there are many Venetian territories with weak defenses.
We can first conquer these areas, continuously reducing the Venetian's tax revenue and manpower sources; they will eventually be unable to sustain themselves."
Leonardo had no objection to this; as long as Bulgaria could send troops, the pressure he faced would be greatly reduced.
"I hope Your Excellency Frederick's actions can be swift. Recently, the Venetian have been extensively conscripting soldiers in Crete, Athens, and other places, and there are rumors that the Ottomans have also dispatched some troops to land on the Greek coast.
If the Venetian take action first, the situation in Morea will become dangerous."
Cardinal Bessarion, who represented Morea, looked worriedly and earnestly at Frederick, the Habsburg Family's proxy ruler in the Balkans.
Even before Emperor Laszlo's orders reached Bulgaria, the Venetian had already begun preparing for war.
After losing their mainland territories, the Venetian became even more attentive to the management of their Greek overseas territories, and it seemed they intended to seize all of Greece once the war fully erupted.
Bessarion's eager gaze made Frederick somewhat helpless, so he could only nod and assure him, "I will obey His Majesty's command and gather the army to launch an attack as soon as possible. You must hold out and await reinforcements."
Leonardo and Bessarion both expressed their gratitude to Frederick.
"The Venetian territories on the Serbia coast were all lost in the last war, but Greece is too far from Serbia.
Those lords will not be willing to participate in such a thankless expedition; there must be some benefits to make them fight."
Sigismund's concern was very practical.
If he only rallied troops from the Serbia royal demesne, not only would their numbers be few, but their quality would also be worrisome.
If he then had to send the army all the way to the Greek coast to fight, let alone demonstrating combat effectiveness, it would be a blessing if they didn't become a hindrance.
And if he wanted to rally Serbia's Crusade lords and local military nobles to participate in the war, he would have to entice them with sufficient benefits.
"His Majesty's intention is that he only wants the ports; the other lands will be bestowed upon those who perform meritorious service, and the spoils of war can be freely distributed.
Think about it, those are the wealthy Venetian."
As soon as these words were uttered, they immediately sparked a heated discussion among the surrounding nobles who were listening.
However, some quickly realized that the truly rich ports would be difficult for them to capture, and the land territories they could conquer were all taken by Venice from the Ottomans.
To maintain maritime hegemony, Venice exploited the people in these colonies with extraordinary cruelty, leading to frequent rebellions, even more often than during Ottomans rule.
Even if there were any profits in those places, they would have probably been squeezed dry by the Venetian long ago, and it would be a question of how much would be left when they went to plunder.
Many also held out hope that if they could indeed capture those renowned wealthy cities and seaports, they would surely strike it rich.
The strength of the two sides in this war was simply unequal, so the risks they would bear would not be too great.
Especially those nobles who participated in the Crusade ten years ago—mainly German nobles—their enthusiasm for war was as great as their love for hunting and banquets.
Anyway, most of them were probably sent into the Crusade by their fathers, traveling long distances to the Balkans, and were fierce individuals who carved out a place for themselves through their own bravery.
Only war could demonstrate their value and potentially further elevate their status.
Seeing that the vassals within the kingdom were finally showing interest in the expedition to Greece, Frederick turned his gaze to the other major force for this expedition, Grand Master Martin and the Order of Saint George he represented.
"Grand Master, for this campaign against Venice, I'm afraid you will also need to lead the Teutonic Order and other armies into battle. Is that not a problem?"
"Since it is His Majesty's decree, I will naturally obey.
Moreover, the Venetian have repeatedly colluded with infidels and should have been punished long ago. I will lead the main force of the Teutonic Order to participate in the war."
Martin knew very well that although they were tasked with the duties of a religious Teutonic Order in Bulgaria, promoting the Catholic faith, they were in fact an armed Teutonic Order directly loyal to the Emperor. He would fight wherever the Emperor pointed.
In the past few years, the Emperor had successively granted the Teutonic Order two cities and several castles with their surrounding fiefs, and even established a branch of the Teutonic Order in Serbia, making the Teutonic Order's armed forces increasingly powerful, with an army size that had reached fifteen hundred men.
In this war, Martin was very much looking forward to how many more rewards the Teutonic Order would receive.
This brief pre-war military council quickly concluded, with the various Balkan powers reaching a consensus on confronting the Venetian and each beginning their war preparations.