It took less than two weeks for all Hungarian reinforcements to arrive in Vidin, in the northwest of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and they quickly rushed to Sofia to rendezvous with Frederick.
This time, even the usually lazy Tielie had to take responsibility and personally lead the army eastward, planning to first retake his fief of Tarnovo, and then quell the rebellions in other regions.
The anti-rebellion army consisted of the Hungarian Border Guard and militia, a small number of noble levies, and the kingdom's remaining forces, totaling over 16,000 men.
Meanwhile, the rebel forces gathered around Great Tarnovo had already reached 20,000, and were still growing.
They caused severe destruction in the city and surrounding areas, and perhaps once these locust-like rebels had devoured this land, they would look for a new place to continue their rampage.
The Ottomans secretly provided weapons and other aid to these rebels, but the total amount was not large, as the Ottomans currently faced immense economic and military pressure.
Bilal Ahmed, who had been defeated twice by Mehmed II, once again launched an attack on the Karaman territories occupied by the Ottoman, and taking advantage of the Ottomans's insufficient defenses, recaptured many towns and fortresses.
Clearly, Austria and Genoa had increased their aid, allowing the Karaman's fighting strength to quickly recover and create more trouble for Mehmed II.
Thus, Mehmed II soon could no longer concern himself with these Bulgarian rebels attempting to restore their kingdom, and instead devoted all his energy to the conquest of Asia Minor.
On the other side, news of the domestic rebellion could not be hidden from the Bulgarian army fighting on the front lines.
Voices quickly emerged within the army, hoping to withdraw and return home to suppress the rebellion.
Not only the serf soldiers conscripted from areas occupied by the rebels, but even knights and higher-ranking nobles began to entertain thoughts of retreat.
After all, compared to fighting to the death with the Venetian in Greece, preserving one's property and family was clearly more important.
However, Grand Master Martin, who commanded the allied forces, could not agree to their requests. To prevent a mutiny, Martin could only slow down the march and await the latest news.
The sudden reduction in defensive pressure finally gave the Venetian a breathing spell. They intensified their offensive on Morea while consolidating several strategic strongholds near Athens.
In Athens Harbor, where the morning mist had not yet fully dissipated, the salty sea breeze, carrying a biting chill, swept in.
The usually bustling harbor was exceptionally quiet today, as city guards had already formed a cordon to maintain order.
Even Januli d'Aunay, the usually busy Governor of Negroponte, personally led people to the harbor to wait, drawing many onlookers.
On the distant sea, the pennant of the Venetian Aegean Fleet first broke through the thin mist, slowly approaching the harbor.
The St. Mark's winged lion flag, fluttering at the masthead, glowed warmly in the sunlight, as over seventy ships of various sizes sped across the sea, a magnificent sight that drew cheers from the crowd.
On the deck of the flagship St. Mark, at the forefront of the fleet, Venetian Admiral Canale was in excellent spirits.
The deck behind him was crowded with reinforcements transported from Crete.
These common citizens, after a few months of hasty training, boarded ships on Crete with less-than-ideal equipment and were transported to the Athens front.
Few of them could afford a half-plate armor themselves; most wore plate armor vests, and those with better conditions could also wear a chainmail underneath. In terms of weapons, apart from a small number of matchlock guns, they were basically all spears and short swords, which was essentially the standard configuration for cannon fodder.
In the eyes of top aristocratic elites like Canale, the Venetian government's handling of these commoners was a case of making the best use of resources.
It was the most correct choice to let the common cattle and horses fight for the power and interests of the Golden Book nobles.
As for the soldiers transported from Crete, most of their faces showed only numbness and dejection.
Although most of them did not understand the current war situation, it could be seen from the government's hasty termination of their training and their transfer to Athens that the current situation was probably not optimistic.
The enemy forces from the north had almost occupied the entire region of Thessaloniki in the past few months. Although the Venetian government intended to organize resistance, most of their Greek colonies were secretly seized during the Crusade years ago, and their rule was very weak, making it difficult to mobilize local forces for defense.
Ultimately, it was the atrocities committed by the Bulgaria-Serbia allied forces against the captured towns that terrified the Greek, prompting them to cooperate with Venice in resistance.
However, in the face of the allied forces' immense numerical superiority, these sporadic resistances were simply not enough.
Soon, the port of Pteleon was surrounded by the allied forces, and fishermen living on the coast of Negroponte, across the sea, could even see the massive siege camp on the opposite shore every day.
Once Pteleon fell, the allied forces only needed to bypass a small bay to drive south, with their vanguard pointing directly at Athens.
However, unlike other hastily acquired Greek colonies, the Venetian had managed this port for 140 years, making its defenses impregnable.
Furthermore, the Venetian navy still maintained absolute superiority in the Aegean Sea, capable of supporting the port from the sea at any time, making it difficult to capture.
Moreover, shortly after the allied forces arrived outside Pteleon, news of a rebellion in Bulgaria arrived, and the allied forces immediately halted there, giving the Venetian government more time to prepare.
At such a critical juncture, the arrival of reinforcements was undoubtedly excellent news for the Venetian.
This was evident from the smile on Governor Januli's face as he waited at the dock for the fleet to enter the harbor.
The first batch of ships furled their sails and slowly entered the harbor. As anchors plunged into the sea, splashing large amounts of water, the soldiers on board were driven off the ships like slaves.
They huddled chaotically on the dock until mercenary instructors yelled at them to form ranks in the open space, which finally restored order to the harbor.
More and more troop transports entered the harbor, and over three thousand soldiers quickly filled the open space by the dock. The Venetian watching them disembark from the periphery were overjoyed by the arrival of the reinforcements.
On a makeshift platform set up for reviewing the troops, Januli and Canale stood side by side, watching the soldiers continuously pouring out of the ships and forming relatively neat ranks in the open space before them.
"You've arrived just in time. This way, I won't have to argue with those idiots in the council about how to deploy the troops," Januli's mood was exceptionally cheerful.
Before this day, he had been plagued by fear and worry, barely able to sleep.
Now that the reinforcements had arrived, he could finally get a few good nights of sleep.
Canale had also led the fleet to patrol the Greek coast for a long time and was equally well-versed in the war situation in Greece, so he clearly understood why Januli had a conflict with the Grand Council.
"Some people in the council coveted the land and wealth of Morea, which is why they stubbornly disagreed with your proposal to gather forces to defend against the enemy from the north.
They probably also knew how risky doing so was, which is why they hastily sent the army trained on Crete for you to organize the defense."
"They are always so short-sighted and tend to overestimate their own strength.
Now the army in Morea is hunkering down like turtles in Mystras and Corinth, absolutely unwilling to leave the city and fight our army.
If we rely solely on siege and blockade, who knows when we will be able to take Morea?
And the enemy's two-hundred-thousand-strong army from Bulgaria cannot be stopped by just those small strongholds and city garrisons.
Even with these three thousand reinforcements, I'm still not confident.
Fortunately, a rebellion broke out in Bulgaria; this rebellion came at just the right time."
Although the root cause of Januli's loss of cities and territories was to accommodate the Republic and the Grand Council's strategy of first attacking Morea, it was not certain that someone would use this excuse to settle accounts with him one day.
Therefore, Januli still hoped to repel the enemy, recover lost territory, and even seize more land.
This was also the main reason he yearned for more military support.
If everything could truly go as he expected, perhaps the position of the next Governor of the Republic could also fall to him.
"The rebellion in Bulgaria was the work of Mehmed II, and the Republic paid a considerable price for it. We only hope this strategy achieves its intended effect."
Canale revealed the inside story he knew.
"Those fellows finally did something right, but the Ottomans were actually willing to provide such help?"
Januli was a little surprised. At the beginning of his tenure as Governor of Negroponte, he had clashed with the Ottomans several times, so he had always maintained an attitude of suspicion and wariness towards the Ottomans.
He never expected that in just over a decade, the Ottoman Empire would become the Republic's most reliable ally, which was truly astonishing.
"If the Emperor's power further expands, the Ottoman Sultan's life will not be easy either. Mehmed II's choice to help the Republic was out of necessity.
Moreover, the help he promised was not limited to inciting the rebellion in Bulgaria; he also agreed to send another two thousand Ottoman cavalry as mercenaries to Greece to reinforce the front line."
"When will those cavalry arrive!"
Januli's attitude towards the Ottomans underwent a complete reversal.
Compared to the aggressive Roman Emperor Laszlo, this Ottoman Sultan was practically their half-brother from another mother and religion.
With the military strength he currently commanded, if reinforced by the Ottoman cavalry, repelling the Bulgaria-Serbia allied forces would be a piece of cake.
However, Canale's next sentence immediately poured a bucket of cold water on him.
"Karaman Bey has once again led his army into the Ottoman Empire. Mehmed II has taken his army to reinforce the Eastern Front, so the promised reinforcements are naturally gone."
"Damn it, haven't the Genoese's maritime trade routes been cut off yet? How do those Karaman, forced into the mountain gully, still have the ability to launch a counterattack?"
Januli frowned and demanded, clearly dissatisfied.
As the Admiral of the Aegean Fleet, one of Canale's many tasks was to strike at Genoese maritime trade.
Facing his colleague's questioning, Canale sighed helplessly and said, "I only have seventy-odd ships in my hand right now. I have to escort the Aegean Sea merchant fleet, blockade Epirus and Morea by sea, and also strike at the maritime trade routes of Genoa and other hostile forces. How can I be comprehensive?
Instead of questioning me here, why don't you ask the fleet in the Gulf of Venice when it will finally annihilate the Austrian navy and return to reinforce the Aegean Sea."
Canale was initially a jurist, later serving as an important Venetian diplomat, ambassador to the Papal States, Milan, Portugal, and France. He also served as Venice's representative at the Mantua Alliance conference held previously.
He was very well-known internationally, had friendly relations with rulers of many countries, and was an intellectual elite himself. Therefore, he was quickly appointed Admiral of Venice's most important Aegean Fleet after the war broke out.
Canale himself was both delighted by this honor and overwhelmed by the heavy responsibility on his shoulders.
The naval officers under his command had previously split into two completely opposing factions.
One faction advocated for splitting the fleet, actively seeking combat, and fully cutting off the enemy's maritime supply lines;
The other faction was quite conservative, hoping to maintain the fleet's strength, avoid naval combat as much as possible, and only strive to ensure the safety of trade convoys and assist land operations.
The indecisive Canale himself leaned more towards the conservative view, and therefore hesitated in the process of blockading and striking Genoese and Austrian maritime trade, failing to achieve much in terms of results.
This directly led to the increasing prosperity of Genoese trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, allowing the Karaman to receive more aid, and the powerful figures in the Mamluk Sultanate gradually began to shift a portion of their spice allocation to the higher-bidding Genoese.
The negative consequences of this series of changes were slowly emerging, but so far, the members of the Republic of Venice's council had not yet realized that the "elite scholar" they had elected was completely unsuitable to be a naval admiral.
Perhaps only after experiencing the painful lessons brought by misjudging personnel would the Venetian's elite political thinking undergo some subtle changes.
Faced with the non-committal Canale, Januli could not continue to be harsh, after all, he had safely delivered so many reinforcements to Athens today.
It could be said that he had helped him greatly.
Since there were no more reinforcements from the Ottoman, Januli could only hope that the rebellion in Bulgaria would force the enemy to retreat, even if it was just to dispatch a portion of the army back to Bulgaria to suppress the rebellion, so that his pressure would not be as great as it was now.
However, his idea was destined to be in vain.
Shortly after the Venetian's last reserve troops were deployed to Athens, news came from Pteleon that the Bulgarian army was preparing for a siege, seemingly intending to quickly capture the port city.
News of the Hungarian army entering Bulgaria to assist in suppressing the rebellion had already reached the front line. Grand Master Martin, who commanded the allied forces, immediately seized the opportunity to stabilize the morale of the army and planned to lead the troops to continue attacking Venetian territories in Greece.
Seeing the Emperor's swift reaction, the Bulgarian lords involved in the war all put down their worries and began to consider how to plunder more wealth to compensate for the potential losses they might suffer from the rebellion that broke out in their homeland.