1453: Revival of Byzantium

After the meeting back in Thessaloniki concluded, hundreds of riders, messengers and ambassadors rushed out of the city carrying letters to their respective destinations. Some of these letters are written by Antonius, some letters are written by Anna, and some are written by both of them like the one Skanderbeg received earlier. They are all part of the broader strategical plan for the next two decades discussed by the war council and senate, to befriend the distant states that has little to no conflict of interest to them, and united as one they shall deal with a common enemy that they all have together, that is the merchant Republic of Venice.

Just like what Antonius has joked about after the meeting, saying that this upcoming war is not like a war between Thessaloniki and the Epirus war lords, more precisely the Venetians. Based on this idea, a massive network of diplomacy is being spread out on to the vast areas of southern Europe. The ambassadors, diplomats and messengers starting showing up in the courts of various states in the entire region at almost the same time;

They showed up in the palace of Blachernae in the long missed Constantinople, they showed up in the court of the Athenian duke Francesco II Acciaioli; They showed up in the courts of the two brothers in Achaia; They showed up in the court of legendary widow of Serbia; They showed up in the court of the Bosnian king Stephen Tomašević; They showed up in Hwnyadwar of Hungary; They showed up in Wallachia; They showed up in Moldovia; They showed up in various cities of Sicily including Bari, Messina, Taranto, Brindisi and others; They showed up in Roma; Within the time span of a month the diplomats from Thessaloniki are almost every where, spreading words of a coalition for a new round of crusade, a new war of 'Reconquista'.

However, the results, sadly to say, are indeed disappointing to Antonius.

Constantinople is now plunged in to chaos following the capitulation of their Basileus to the bed; The Athenian duke said firmly that he wants no war, he has lost all of his ambitions within the high walls of Athenia and would not want any unnecessary trouble brewing; The two brothers in Achaia are all preparing for some thing following the events in Constantinople; The Bosnians and the Serbians are busy dealing with each other due to the Bosnian king's scheme to claim the Serbian throne; The Pope in Roma agreed to help, but insisted to send a group of cardinals to Thessaloniki as the supervisors and coordinated instructors which of course, got rejected.

While in Moldova things are a lot more complicated; Abbas Pasha of Bulgaria released a man called Radu, who is rumoured to be a calvary wing leader carrying the blood of Vlad II, in to Wallachia leading an army. He soon became the challenger to the Wallachian Voivode Vlad III, who some how miraculously managed to acquire aid from John Hunyadi to counter this pretender's challenge. No one knows what deal is made between the two, but Hunyadi seemed to be serious as he led an army in to Wallachia, which means acquiring support from these three men is basically impossible.

The Voivode of Moldavia Stephen III promised to send five hundred men through ship despite him still being stuck in the plains of Chilia, but that is all the help he can afford to send; The various city states under the governance of Naples sent some monetary aid; They received a promise from Skanderbeg though he refused to send his troops, only a vague promise of intervening only if the Venetians intervene, and that is all the help and promise they received.

A month later, just as the overall in charge of these diplomatic missions, Abdullah is thinking that this is all the help they shall get, they acquired messages from four parties that they did not contact at all. One is the help from the first Greek Sultan of the Mamluks Sayf ad-Din Khushqadam, sending Antonius' old partner Mamsriqwe with three hundred cavalries. The new Grand Duke of Moskva Ivan III Vasilyevich sent four hundred footmen led by his brother Andrey Bolshoy, making Abdullah awe in surprise as he had no idea how this newly coronated Prince knew about this event and reacted in such a short period of time. The third one turned out to be even more surprising for Abdullah, as it came from the so called 'Hospitallers' who are often associated to as pirates in Eastern Mediterranean, sending a hundred crusaders, ten boats and a group of so called 'field medics'.

The forth one is the most surprising one out of the others, three months after the words of the new crusade is being spread out to the outer world, a bunch of landless knights, riders, land owners, church owned guards from Poland and Lithuania embarked on a journey all the way from their homes to here upon hearing the call for a new round of crusade. Abdullah roughly calculated the route they took on their way here, and found out that they travelled for a total seven hundred Roman miles in a two month's time, and this calculation is based on the fact that these people set off the day they heard about this crusade, without any hesitation.

Nevertheless, Antonius still declared to his faithful citizens that they have just achieved a diplomatic victory, unifying the states stretching from the Northmost boundaries of the known world and the Southmost boundaries of the known world. As the world entered Autumn, seven new flags and banners representing the various states that joined the coalition are being hang all over the city of Thessaloniki, a military parade is being held within the same old Hippodrome of Thessaloniki. All the forces representing the eight nations marched past the crowd wielding the colours and banners representing their nations and monarchs. 

The crowds cheered and roared , for they have never seen so many allies coming to their aid even when the city fell to the Ottomans a few decades ago. The priests from the local Orthodox churches cheered too, because they think that these people are here to help them liberate the lands and the people of an ancient Orthodox empire. But the person who cheered the most here today, is of course our admiral Antonius. He had never expected himself to have such a high diplomatic influence with so many people, so many foreigners coming to his aid with just a few letters. His lieutenant Abdullah standing by the side was kind enough to not spoil his fun by mentioning that all of these is because of the enthusiasm for crusades in the minds of the Europeans have not yet faded away, passed on to them through the legacy of the ancient holy warriors.

Still, Antonius signed a treaty with the seven delegates and representatives on behalf of their monarchs, stating the objective of this crusade, the reward they are going to get, and the military laws they need to abide by. At the climax of the atmosphere, Antonius expressed his concerns to the other parties saying that they shall need to face Catholic forces such as the Latins and Venetians. However, most of the representatives mentioned that they actually have no psychological burden killing their own Christian brothers, especially for the Venetians whom they have believed are not 'true Christians' as they have sunk themselves in the sins of lust and greed for coins.

The sand of time slowly sipped through the hour glass, and within four month of the time when Antonius made that speech to the mass public, the preparations for war is already finished with the chains of logistics fully prepared, supply stations for troops along the way being set up, and the maps of the targeted enemy areas being drawn. People started urging Antonius to initiate the operation before the winter comes and Alexios admitted that they do not have enough stock of winter clothing for the entire army, but after some thinking Antonius rejected this urging proposal.

He mentioned to the various governors and commanders on the monthly military meeting. "It is already the autumn season, I cannot mobalise the civilians in this season, it shall leave their crop fields deserted and their whole year of work being wasted. It would mean problem, a lot of problem, not only for them, but for us"

The representative of the troops from Moskva is a man who say what ever that comes in to his mind. "But! Have you ever considered the feeling of our troops? My brothers are stagnating every day sitting in the camps refraining themselves from disobeying your so called laws to go to barns and find local girls, they would stagnate like this! And besides, have you considered the pressure your own logistics department is facing? Have you considered how much rations and grains are needed to feed this massive army? Have you?"