A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

He also understands the meaning of closing the door and beating the dog.

Almost all the troops had already reached the beach to join the attack on the Byzantines, with only the poorly disciplined armed civilians remaining there to besiege the remaining Rus and Bulgarians.

In fact, under normal development, these armed civilians are enough.

Because the enemy had suffered huge losses and consumption in the previous battle, it was difficult for them to launch a counterattack and they could only defend.

In this meticulously planned operation, Smyrna's role was to delay and deplete the enemy, a task it accomplished admirably.

But now, suddenly the situation changes.

The unit that had previously been responsible for protecting the artillery flank was suddenly deployed into the battlefield.

Previously, this Byzantine force had been on the edge of the battlefield and had been ignored by the enemy. Of course, from another perspective, their formation was relatively well-organized and had not been depleted, so no one was willing to take on this tough challenge.

But now, they rushed towards the encirclement at an incredible speed, and with a fierce attack, they cut through the Star-Moon Cult's line as easily as a hot knife through butter.

When fighting with the wind in their favor, the performance of armed civilians is no worse than that of real troops, but when fighting with the wind against them, their true nature will be revealed.

They neither had the ability to change their formation in the face of sudden changes in the battle situation, nor did they have the fighting will to quickly adjust their deployment when faced with setbacks.

This is the downside of armed civilians. They were immediately scattered by a mere 800 men charging from behind.

Chapter 112 Escape 3

The remaining Bulgarians and Russians numbered no more than a thousand, while the Crescent Moon followers who besieged them numbered several thousand.

Logically speaking, even with the addition of these hundreds of mercenaries, the situation would only improve slightly, and there would be no fundamental change.

But in reality it was a short but ruthless massacre.

Civilians are civilians. Their fighting spirit is simply not up to par and they collapse at the slightest setback.

Then, they were killed in large numbers while escaping.

The young follower standing on the high ground made a disdainful comment in his heart.

In fact, the city was not defensible.

But the cult secretly sent reinforcements here, mixed in the city, including a large number of elite soldiers.

Not to mention the elite, there are even a few who are half a step away from protecting the country.

Without these powerful warriors joining in, the Smyrna people would not be able to resist at all.

The Order paid a heavy price to withstand the Byzantine siege, causing the Byzantines to suffer heavy casualties but gain nothing.

Of course, from start to finish, this was a trap planned by Sir Ferdinand and executed by the Order. It took months of patient planning and waiting.

It is highly likely that the Byzantines will step in.

However, victory in this local battlefield is no longer important, because this is a closed-door beating game.

As long as the battles at sea and on the coast are won, then defeat or victory under the city itself is irrelevant.

He turned his gaze away from the defeated battlefield and turned towards the seashore.

Although the battle here is in full swing, the outcome is no longer in doubt.

The Crescent Moon Cult's fleet, like a noose, engulfed the Byzantine warships one by one.

Slow, but unstoppable.

The battle on the coast was also a foregone conclusion. The Byzantines gathered together, relying on several stranded warships for defense. But this was meaningless, because as long as they could not escape, they would be trapped by the battle.

He turned his gaze to the distant sea.

The fleeing Byzantine fleet was now reduced to a few tiny dots.

Even with a telescope, only the silhouettes of the dozen or so fleeing ships could be vaguely seen. In fact, in just a moment, they would disappear from the horizon.

The small boat that was chasing the fleet was still a long distance away.

The young attendant focused his attention on the fleeing fleet, and then he noticed a commotion aboard the fleet.

The remnants of the Byzantine army had obviously discovered something.

Seeing this scene, a smile appeared on the follower's face.

He knew why the Byzantines were in turmoil—because they had discovered a fleet approaching.

A fleet composed of regular large and medium-sized warships, rather than light pirate ships that can only use shallow waters for sneak attacks.

At sea, the prince looked pale.

What appeared before him was a whole row of warships with a hull size of more than 30 meters, spread out in a goose shape from left to right.

Oars were deployed neatly from either side of the ship, striking the waves in an orderly fashion. Sails hoisted high, absorbing the full force of the wind. The entire fleet lay across the sea, advancing at breakneck speed, its masts adorned with flags depicting the star, crescent, and scimitar.

With nearly thirty warships, their military strength is obviously superior to ours.

And there are no light ships, all are medium-sized or larger warships.

Half a year ago, these ships all belonged to the Knights of Rhodes Island and were the core force of the Knights' control over this ocean.

But now, they have fallen into the hands of the Star-Moon Cult.

The other party came with great momentum and was well prepared. Anyone could see that there was no way to escape.

"Pass on my orders," the prince said, a faint blush rising from his pale face. "The fleet is ready for battle!"

If his military was intact, such a fleet would be nothing to him.

But now it's like this...

Near the coast, two ships were engaging in a boarding battle.

One was a Byzantine warship, the other was only a light vessel.

Although this type of ship was chosen by many pirates as their flagship due to its speed, it was somewhat vulnerable when actually fighting against a warship.

But this ship is unique - it has very few sailors on board.

Naval warfare in this era was primarily based on boarding, and bows, crossbows, muskets, and cannons could only weaken the enemy without having a decisive effect. This is precisely why ships were often heavily crewed.

After all, only when there are more people can we be qualified to fight on board.

But on this ship, there were few people on the deck.

There were probably about ten sailors, armed with bows and muskets.

But even with long-range weapons, they were actually watching rather than shooting.

Because the battle over there doesn't require their fire support at all.

The warships were already covered in the blood of Byzantine sailors.

Broken limbs and debris were scattered all over the battleship.

Amidst the blood and corpses, a tall and burly bald man was walking across the deck.

He was wearing a very common and ordinary sailor's short coat and shorts, without any armor, but he held a sailor's cutlass in his hand.

Soon they found a wounded man who had one leg chopped off and was still groaning.

With a flick of his hand, the knife slashed and immediately relieved his pain.

The man looked around again, but could no longer sense any signs of life. There was no one left on this Byzantine warship.

So he turned around and walked to the side of the ship. Without any help, he jumped more than ten meters and landed back on his boat.

The sailors on the ship looked into his eyes, but it was not like they were looking into a human being.

But you are looking at a hero, a legend.

The feeling of fear, envy and admiration is difficult to describe in any language.

But the bald man didn't care. He looked around, looking for suitable prey.

The remaining Byzantine fleet had already fled with all its might, ignoring its friendly forces on the coast. However, in this calm coastal waters, it could not escape the pursuit of the light enemy ships.

Often, a warship would be boarded by two or three enemy ships, forcing it to engage the superior enemy. On the other hand, if it resisted to the end, it would likely be a one-for-one trade, or at least sink one of the enemy ships. While the ramming power of warships in this era was limited, there was still a certain probability that a large or medium-sized ship could sink a lighter one.

The bald man looked into the distance, looking a little confused.

Because he saw several ships coming out of the port of Smyrna, and those ships were obviously not warships.

The warships and merchant ships of this era can be identified at a glance just from the right angle.

"What's going on?" He pointed to several merchant ships in the distance. How could merchant ships dare to leave the fortified port during the war?

Merchant ships and warships cannot be compared in terms of speed or sturdiness. If a real fight breaks out, the merchant ships can be toyed with to death.

"Sir, that's the Bloody Cross!" A knowledgeable sailor recognized the flags flying on the ships. "They're the Knights. They stormed back into the city, robbed the merchant ships, and escaped."

Backfighting into the city? That's an interesting option.

Indeed, the defenders in the city have all come out to join the battle, and the so-called defensive fortifications are useless without personnel to operate them.

"The bloody cross flag? It's the legendary..."

"Yes, the legendary gift given by Christ to mortals!"

The author says:

Author's words: Thanks to fellow reader Wudi Zhanlong for the reward.

Chapter 113 Escape 4

"Interesting!" The man showed a ferocious smile on his face.

At this time, although the Byzantines were already defeated, the battle continued and few people noticed the merchant ships that were setting sail to escape.

Even if I noticed, I wouldn't have the time to think about it. After all, the main battle was still going on.

But it doesn’t matter, he is enough to deal with these few ships by himself.

"Catch up!" he ordered.

The crew immediately adjusted the sails, turned the boat around, and chased in that direction.

On such a sunny day, this light pirate ship has an advantage in speed and is faster than the common medium-sized warships.

The other side was just a few bulky merchant ships.

It was also clear that the merchant ship was fully loaded - it was just that what was hitting it was not cargo, but soldiers.

Wearing heavy armor that was unwieldy in naval battles, they crowded the deck.

The pirate ship stretched out its two rows of oars, like a bird spreading its wings, and chased after the clumsy merchant ship in the distance.

The other side had the foolishness to retract their oars, apparently thinking they had nothing to fear from such a light vessel.

Don't be fooled by the large number of people, it's useless.

There are performance differences between warships and merchant ships. Even if they don't come into contact with each other, warships can still torment merchant ships to death.

The distance between the two sides was visibly decreasing.

He took a diagonal route and was supposed to cut off the opponent's escape route to the open sea, but the bald man unexpectedly discovered that the distance between the two sides was different from what he had predicted.

Now the speed is not enough, it seems that we can’t intercept it.

It just happened to pass by.

"What's going on? Quick, row hard!"

But it was no use. The crew on the boat were rowing hard, but the speed was still not enough.

This ship does not have many combatants, which means that it has a smaller load and is faster than ordinary ships.

But even so, the speed is just slightly insufficient.

"Sir, look, their sails!" a crew member reminded.

The bald man looked up and saw the other party's sails.

The strong wind blew the sails high, and every inch of the sails was filled with wind, which is why the boat was able to move so fast.

The sails of our own ship were only slightly moved by the wind, and most of the power still came from the oars.

Although wind direction is unpredictable, how could the wind in such a small area vary so much?

"Is it that flag?!" He finally came to his senses.