War with Sicily

In battles and in every action against the enemy the wise general, even the most courageous, will keep in mind the possibility of failure and defeat and will plan for them as actually occuring
Strategikon
Emperor Maurice

While we are besieging Antioch, the Pope calls a crusade on it. What will happen when we take the city? Will the crusading armies already assembled continue on us?
Will we end up at war with most of Christendom?
Regardless we steel ourselves to persevere with the siege, but to speed up our intended timetable for the storming of the keep, to minimize the likelihood of there being many (or any) crusades being launched.
Then we will just have to rely on the common sense of monarchs and of the Pope to cancel their ill-conceived crusade.



As soon as word reaches Rome that we have succesfully taken Antioch, the Pope cancels the crusade, as all enthusiasm for it dies out amonst the Latin Kingdoms.
With peace in the West, The Emperor continues his efforts to restore our frontiers to the Euphrates, as in ancient times. With the conquest of Aleppo he rests a while and considers the Turks to the north and the Egyptians to the south, who seem the easier target, with the added incentive of Holy Jerusalem.



Back in the Adriatic, we are suspicious of Papal troops movements by sea. and we wonder who could be the target of this attack?



The Moors join our alliance, requesting this in addition to trade rights, but we have no time to be pleased with this, for the Sicilians have shown their true colours and have declared war on us with a concerted blockade of our ports and by landing an army near Ragusa.



Our first naval engagement does not go well for us, but our fleet takes refuge near Corinth and repairs itself for another battle, the Sicilians are much further away from their ports and that will be decisive.



Meanwhile, our good servant Maleses has reached the great northern fortress of Caen and we are in alliance with England also.



While our plan with regard to Sicily is forming - we will launch attacks on their cities Naples and Palermo with our two armies from Zagreb and Constantinople (which we had intended to sail into the Black Sea to take control of Chersonesus.

These plans are threatened by our suspicions of Turkish activity near Antioch and Adana, as we wonder where these troops can be going?



A young Princess from the Danes arrives in France, and our good emissary Maleses takes this opportunity to throw our influence further into the world. Truly the known world recognises our power and righteous role as Emperor!



A nobleman of some talent presents himself to us as a candidate for adoption, and we gratefully accept, he may lead our armies yet.



The first prong of our attack lands on Sicilian territory, surely they must be regretting their decision to pull our beards now!



The Sicilians have just sent an expedition towards Ragusa to reinforce their army there, but we are in a good position to intercept it with our strengthened fleet.



Almost with pity we attack the weakened Sicilian forces outside Ragusa, our Prince has marched from Zagreb and shown patience with their presence as we hope for a diplomatic intervention from the Pope.



They have no hope, and many of their brave number are dead before they charge our lines



We wonder as the Pope calls Crusade on Tunis, as this land is held by the Venetians. That must have been the destination of the Papal fleet we noticed previously, but what help can the Pope expect in his warmongering from good monarchs across Christendom?



Indeed we feel that the Venetian have little hope of holding out against that army, but we secretly hope that the Pope's army comes to grief.



Another Sicilian army lands in Ragusa, but they must wonder where our Prince is!
We trust in the current garrison to drive them off in any case. But now the Sicilians should worry for their own country, rather than concern themselves with conquests.



For now, our armies have reached both the Sicilian fortress at Palermo, and the grand city of Naples. Both are now under siege, and with little hope of relief.



Meanwhile in the East, with the Turkish threat in mind, our Emperor begins a scheme to restore the Limes to their former strength, building a series of watchtowers and forts along the frontier.



But what is this madness!?



The Germans have struck at us, blockading our Greek ports with their strong fleets, and ambushing several of our small squadrons on the high seas. Suddenly our provinces in the north look vulnerable...