MetallicaFan100: I have about 9K on the Ethiopian border, they have about 12K that I can see.
morningSIDEr: Thankfully I get lucky with the enemy alliance setup, so it’s a bit easier to focus on eliminating them as necessary.
Boris ze Spider: This is covered in the update.
Thanks for the replies!
The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Twelve: Trial by Greek Fire
The numbers were definitely not in Alexandria’s favour. In terms of troops they were outnumbered three to one, and the Byzantine naval superiority was so great that there was basically no point leaving port. Notably however, Ethiopia led the alliance as they were actual allies of Trebizond.
Nonetheless Ptolemy was surprisingly optimistic. He left defence of the homeland to General Argyros and marched straight into the lands of Trebizond with the main Army of Alexandria. For once he seemed to be making the correct strategic decision as the armies of Byzantium were far out of position and would take months to reach the front.
Meanwhile, Argyros ordered the rapid assembly of forces to defend the capital and reinforce the other fronts if necessary
Some pressure was relieved when news came of an invasion of southern Ethiopia by distant pagans. While they didn’t divert much of the Ethiopian forces, it meant that only the ones already within Alexandrian lands were an issue. Ultimately the seized some land along the African coast and then withdrew from the conflict.
Trebizond fell rapidly and was forced to submit to Ptolemy, however the campaign had taken just a bit too long as now a large Byzantine and allied force was blocking any retreat from the region with more forces on the way. Ptolemy ignored them and continued along the Black Sea coast with the intention of marching on Constantinople and showing his opposite number just what he could do.
General Argyros’ foresight paid off as a large Byzantine army arrived from Western Europe. The defenders stood their ground and prepared to fight off the invaders.
To the south, the Armies of Arabia and Nubia were moving through Ethiopia. Large regions of the nation were not properly fortified, making their job much easier. However with a large intact Ethiopian force in Arabia they had no intention of making peace.
Ptolemy’s ‘glorious’ march on Constantinople was cut short when the Byzantine Navy prevented his crossing the Bosporus. With a large force of Greeks pursuing him, he had no choice but to retreat east.
Apparently something changed in Portugal, as they were now willing to join in the war effort and get a chance at regaining their lost lands. With their naval support the tide would no longer be completely in Byzantium’s favour.
As expected, the new invaders had not learned the lessons of the past ones and were now starving themselves in the deserts of Egypt. Once they had been sufficiently weakened, General Argyros moved in and crushed the survivors. The threat to the capital was no more.
But that was the case only for the time being, as another massive army was on the move along the Syrian coast. Soon Jerusalem would be threatened and with the Emperor and his army hiding in Armenia there was nothing to stop them except a hastily assembled militia.
With no recourse and no way to contact the Emperor, Argyros emptied the treasury to pay off the Ethiopians and end the war. He fully expected to be executed upon Ptolemy’s return, but the Emperor was just happy to return to the luxuries of the capital. Having seen what life was like on the campaign trail and after hiding out in poor Armenia he decided that perhaps he wasn’t cut out for leading troops after all.
Peace descended on Alexandria as the Empire quietly recovered from the war. Things were not so peaceful elsewhere though. In Europe, the Pope called a council in Augsburg regarding the spread of Klatovism and ways to combat it. Battle lines were being drawn across Europe.
The peasantry were not happy regarding the levying of extra taxes during the war, but any complaints were brushed aside.
Years continued passing quietly until tensions flared up over border regions of the Syrian Desert. For a long time the Muslim state had been seen as a stain on the region but it had been kept as a buffer against the Timurid hordes. With Iraq now around to serve that function and a proper excuse, they could be removed from the map.
No one really bought Ptolemy’s excuse of boundary disputes for the total annexation of Syria, but he didn’t really care. Conversion efforts began immediately once the brief and easy war was concluded.
However, the addition of this extra territory finally brought the Empire’s bureaucracy to breaking point. The costs of administering large regions of hostile (in all senses) Arabic lands were beginning to threaten the Empire’s stability.
On top of that, Portugal decided to resume its reclamation efforts. The Greek Empires were once again at war, but this time Ptolemy had no desire to back down before showing which was strong.
The year is now 1514.
To be continued…