ALL NOVEL
Chapter 53: Burn It All Down!
“Is there still no news yet?” Senator Vernier propped up her glasses.
Looking at the time, the envoy they had dispatched to the Eastern Romain Empire should have returned with good news for now.
Yes, good news. Vernier thought that her maneuver was flawless.
The Eastern Romain Empire would be foolish to turn against them now. Not only would they be surrounded on all fronts, but they would lose their sea imports too. That was not a blow a nation that had just started looking up could bear.
Even if Constantin XI wanted to put on a tough front, the nobles would be violently opposed to it. If pushed too far, the nobles might even rebel and drive him out.
As for the Khitans, they had no ships to get to them, and they had confiscated a huge chunk of their fortune.
This confiscated fortune would become an important chip for them to test the Khitans’ bottom line bit by bit, and eventually…
The thought of monopolizing the Khitans’ trade made Vernier tremble in excitement, as she knew huge money could be made from the Khitans’ trade. Even becoming their middlemen was massive!
This accomplishment was enough to propel her house to greatness!
“I have a report!” A profusely sweating messenger arrived outside.
“What is it?” Vernier put down her accounting book and impassively asked.
“I-I…” The messenger stuttered, struggling to get a word out.
“Get to it!” Vernier frowned in displeasure.
“Let me do the talking.”
An old man suddenly walked in from outside.
“Envoy?”
Vernier recognized the old man; the latter was the Venetian envoy to Athens. But what is he doing here?
“Senato…” The envoy had a tired look that made him look a decade older. “There has been a mishap in our plans.”
He proceeded to share a series of shocking, terrible news with Vernier.
“What?! The Khitan Caesar killed our envoy?! Not only so, but he also massacred nearly all of the nobles in Thessaloniki?! Does he not need to find a legitimate reason to kill the nobles?!
“He’s now purging all of our colonies in the Balkans?! How is he even doing that? Many of the powers there are on bad terms with the Eastern Romain Empire! Why are they granting him passage? Why are they allowing the Khitans to march right through their territory?!
“Ah? They have been killed by the Khitan Caesar? Those useless fools!”
“The Khitan Caesar has been destroying our warehouses, ports, and ships? And he hangs every Venetian that he comes across, not bothering to take even a single prisoner?”
The bombardment of bad news made Vernier stagger weakly. Her face turned completely pale.
She couldn’t care less about the fate of the other countries. The deaths of the Romain nobles didn’t bother in the least either. However, the razing of the Venetian colonies spelled a massive problem for them!
The destruction of those ports was a huge loss to the City of Commerce, not just in terms of assets but lost trade opportunities too. Venice’s strength and standing would take a nosedive due to this.
The economical damage they suffered from the Khitan Caesar’s attacks was inestimable!
Why would someone choose to destroy a lucrative city instead of occupying it?!
Vernier couldn’t make sense of it.
This was not the first time someone had attacked their colonies, but past enemies chose to carefully manage those cities so that they could profit off it. Venice was always able to rebuild its forces and reclaim those lands later on.
But now…
It’s useless! There’s no way to make a comeback! We can’t recover even if we dispatch our strongest fleets over!
And the losses aren’t just what it appears on the surface.
Venice’s dominant position in the Adriatic Sea didn’t go uncontested. Genoa and Milan had been coveting its spot for a long time now.
Vernier knew that those two countries would pop a champagne upon learning about Venice’s mishap, then they would begin scheming about how they should go about taking advantage of their weakness.
At this rate…
Just the impeachments coming from the Senate will be enough to drown me, and I’ll bring a calamity upon my house on top of that! Not even my cousin will be able to protect me!
“T-this…” Vernier was at a loss for words.
“Hmph! You politicians!” the ex-provincial commander of Constantinope suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sneered. “All you see is the profits ahead of you! You’re too blinded to achieve quick success that you fail to see the traps by the side. Even children know that there is always a dragon guarding the treasures, but you conveniently overlooked everything!”
Vernier felt weak in her knees. She still found it hard to believe.
“Isn’t the Romain emperor afraid of us locking down the sea routes to his cities, blocking their supply of rations and starving his people?”
“Let’s put aside the fact that the Romain emperor has secured a substantial amount of rations from the Ottomains’ warehouses,” the provincial commander said, “Even we don’t care about the Romains. What makes you think that the Khitan Caesar, someone who has little respect for life, would care about the Romains’ livelihood?”
“…”
There was something that the provincial commander had neglected to mention.
At the Khitan Caesar’s inconceivable rate of advancement, even if we lock down the sea routes, the chances are that we’ll crumble before the Romains starve to death.
“…” Vernier bit her lips.
At this point, she had to concede that she had made a grievous mistake here. Not only had Venice’s pressure failed to force the Khitans to bend their knees, but it had even compelled them to draw their blades.
She could already imagine all of Venice’s colonies in the Balkans being razed into ashes; their ports reduced to smithereens, and their ships smashed into shattered planks.
The blood twin-headed eagle truly sparked fear everywhere it went!
【My host, how many Venetian properties have you invested in?】
System 12345 came online with a yawn.
【Tsk. The feed is still stuck here. This crappy latency is going to be the death of me!】
【Woah, you’re making swift progress!】
To System 12345’s amazement, Shu Yichao had moved faster than it could have imagined. Coincidentally, the screen suddenly jumped to the scene of Shu Yichao galloping across the plains, as if he was in a rush to get to the next city.
【Aiyo, look at my host! So handsome and hardworking! You traveled to so many places in such a short time. I’m guessing that the Venetians must be awed by your generosity!】
【Ehehehe…】
【Hmm? That’s weird. My host, you don’t seem to have built up a favorable relationship with the Venetian merchants.】
System 12345 waited for a long time, but to its confusion, some of the information it was looking for failed to appear.
【Some of them harbor hostility toward you… but on the bright side, Vernier’s interest in you has been shooting to the moon! You’re making good progress on the whole.】
【At this rate, we might just be able to conquer our first target!】