1625 Summer(June-August)
Mid-June
“Most Serene Republic of Venice will not fall against the Greeks!”
‘Clash’
“Death to Venetians!”
After the East Roman Empire(=Empire for short from now) Navy occupied Crete with the help of native Greeks, it crashed with the Venetian fleet in the Adriatic Sea.
Of course, the result was the Empire’s victory. It was no wonder. Without a legendary admiral like Horatio Nelson or Yi Sun-sin, how can you beat the enemy that’s 10 times your size?
I almost held the urge to clap the courageous Venetian fleets that sank to the floor of the Adriatic Sea, who’ve fought till their death, without any surrender or flee.
Meanwhile
‘Sizzle’
“And that was the 3rd time my meal is poisoned.”
“B,basileus! P,please have mercy! I know nothing!”
“But I know that you’re an assassin, disguised as a newly hired maid. Aren’t you?”
“I..iyaaah, die, you devil!”
‘Ting’
“You should have gone for the head.”
Okay, she was neither the first nor the last assassin who tried to murder me. But, of course, nobody was successful. I didn’t survive from my late aunt Elizabeth(Not my late daughter, Lioness, the regent Queen of France, but my aunt, who would have been Queen Elizabeth in the original history.)’s followers’ numerous murder attempts during childhood for nothing, you know.
“I...I dearly hope that there's a special place in hell waiting for you, E...Edward!”
‘Thud’
“Ha! So, she killed herself, rather than being locked up in a prison cell and being tortured?”
“S...sorry, B...basileus. I, I should have stopped her, but she was too quick.”
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‘Shove’
“Never mind, get it out of my sight.”
Like her, who’s just swallowed an arsenic candy, all Venetian assassins killed themselves in prison before being tortured.
“My, my! The citizens of the Most Serene Republic of Venice are surely loyal to their country. But that would be in vain!”
My sneer soon became a reality.
Early July
Torcello, Iesolo, Malamocco, and other islands that consist Venice - with no naval force left to protect itself, - were surrounded by Empire’s Navy from all directions, with its’ connections to the Italian mainland were cut by Empire’s army which came all the way from Naples.
Soon Venetians suffered severe famine. Since they relied on their food supplies on Italian mainland crops, they had no chances of survival without any connection with the land.
Late August
“F...food!”
‘Slash’
“W...water!”
‘Swipe’
“Send those Venetian demons to hell!”
“Basileus Alexios V Doukas, are you seeing this in heaven?”
The marines - who were mostly made up of Greek volunteers - landed in Venice when starved Venetians were doing cannibalism – father eating son, daughter eating mother, etc.
The Greek marines wasted no time in burning, destroying, massacring, and looting everything – dead or alive - in their sight. And I let them have their way.
1625 Fall(September-November)
Sack of Venice lasted entire September, devastating
Torcello, Iesolo, Malamocco and other islands that consist Venice. The islanders were all either dead or forced to flee from their homes, with islands being so clean that you can see from stem to stern.
Yes, I gave a little mercy, providing ships to those who were trying to escape from the island, even though I backed the looting and massacre.
However, the last Doge of Venice didn’t get that chance. After he was captured along with his guards while he was resisting till the end, his body was ripped off.
His head was saturated with salt and delivered to Constantinople, where it was hanged on the Walls of Constantinople. Also, Enrico Dandolo – the Doge who caused the Sack of Constantinople - ’s corpse was hanged right next to it.
Of course, other nations gasped. However, most of them neither blame me nor took Venice’s side.
‘No wonder. They too had a bone to pick with Venice, whether big or small!’
The only exception was the Austrian Habsburg. But, they were merely expressing regret that such a massive military campaign was conducted right in front of their turf, not exterminating Venice itself.
Of course, learned men of Austria showed disappointment towards me, but who cares? I’m not the Archduke of Austria, but the Basileus of the New East Roman Empire & King of Greece!
Meanwhile
“Hooray! The devils have finally been dragged into hell!”
“God save the Basileus!”
“Let’s strew the ruins of Venice with salt so that those demons shall never rise again!”
“Long live Eduardo Ivlivs Caesar Avgvstvs!”
Thrilled by the Basileus – me – who’ve achieved their revenge, every cathedral and church in Greece chanted hymn, praising the benevolent emperor, while all Greek cities held festivals cheering the Sack of Venice.
The moment, the Greeks finally accepted the Norman&Iberian Basileus as their ruler with their heart.
Even I didn’t expect it to be this successful. On the contrary, I was ready to be blamed as a bloodthirsty monster from the scholars, since I’ve egged the massacre – which was conducted by the Greek marines - that happened in Torcello, Iesolo, Malamocco, and other islands which constitute Venice, let alone uneducated serfs.
However, the educated were the first in line to praise me, justifying the massacre as an act of revenge.
So, the royal-funded press which I’ve founded to manipulate the public opinion played no role except earning me pocket money, since joyful citizens fervently subscribed to papers, intrigued by the provocative and jingoistic articles.
“My of my, Greeks surely held a deep grudge against the Venetians till now. Well, no wonder. Even the Justinian I’s grave was destroyed, you know.”
Anyway, thanks to the sack of Venice, I’ve acquired a spare budget to do extra work.
“Restore the ancient Canal of the Pharaohs – the ancient Suez Canal, which follows Wadi Tumilat - with gold and silver acquired from Venice!”
“Yes, Basileus.”
“And for the construction, don’t expropriate citizens, but hire workers who receive a just wage!”
“It shall be done, Basileus.”
And the necessary construction supplies were to be provided by the Empire itself - not importing from the West Roman Empire or other states - which was to boost manufacturing in the Greek-Anatolian region.
1625 Winter(December)
230,000 workers were gathered in the construction area. The construction was expected to last from 3 to 5 years.
And just like Constantinople and a metropolitan area(Eastern Thracia), I’ve declared the old territories of Venice – like Crete and main islands of Northern Italy, etc – as Crown Dependencies, promoting immigration of Jewish bankers, merchants, and craftsmen from the British Isles and England, Iberian aristocrats, and the poor from Naples.