Seeing Grimaldi so incoherently insist on his own views, the meeting ultimately ended on a sour note.
But Spinola, the Vice Consul of Matrega's partition slot, had already secretly made up his mind not to entangle with him any further.
After leaving the meeting, Spinola found his confidants and said, "I want to return to Matrega."
"Sir, why? The Consul is still in Cheleki," a young male servant who had just started following him asked.
"Every decision he makes drags us deeper into failure. I truly don't understand how such an incompetent good-for-nothing became Consul. Is it just because of the Grimaldi family's status in Genoa? Although I also became Vice Consul because of my family's status, I'm not that stupid."
"Sir, with all due respect, if you had encountered so many unexpected situations during your tenure, you might also have lost your mind like the Consul," the male servant said rashly.
"You're right," Spinola nodded, then stroked his chestnut-colored short beard and sneered, "You're fired. Someone, throw him out."
As soon as he finished speaking, the rashly speaking male servant was immediately restrained by the Vice Consul's remaining confidants and thrown out the window.
That night, Spinola secretly left Cheleki with his confidants and personal guards, and specifically ordered the troops under his command: do not die for Cheleki; if the situation turns bad, immediately retreat to Matrega and hold the line.
After the order was given and carefully considered, those soldiers also retreated to Matrega half a day later.
The next day, upon learning that Spinola and his army had privately returned, Grimaldi was so enraged that he directly threw a fit in the town hall, ordering the entire city to be sealed off, but it was to no avail.
That night, Gattuso, seeing the unfavorable situation, also bribed the naval guards and slipped back to Tana with his taxi soldiers.
As a result, by the third day, if not for commercial exchanges, the entire city of Cheleki had become virtually isolated politically and diplomatically.
The distressed Grimaldi finally began to seriously consider seeking aid from Genoa.
It was also on this day that the main force of Theodoro began to gallop across the plains and grasslands along the way.
Because they had already requested military passage, the Tatar tribes on the road did not obstruct them too much, or rather, they dared not obstruct such a large army.
Coupled with the short distance, less than two days later, the Theodoro Army approached Cheleki City.
Incidentally, Kaffa and Cheleki were originally connected, but after Timur's army ravaged the Crimean Peninsula half a century ago, the land between the two cities was controlled by Tatar tribes.
Cheleki City, being the most affected, lost its affiliated villages and towns thereafter, with only its suburbs changing with the Tatars' range of activity.
This is also why the Tatars did not obstruct them along the way, allowing Theodoro to penetrate directly.
The movement of the Theodoro Army was not detected until it was less than 3 milia (μ ί λ ι ο ν, i.e., Greek/Roman mile, 1 milia is approximately 1574 meters today) from Cheleki, when the scouts outside the city realized the crisis and informed the high-ranking officials within the city.
Upon learning this, Grimaldi fainted once again.
After a while, he finally regained his spirits, fortunately without resorting to the physician's bloodletting therapy this time.
"Are these heretics crazy? They actually dare to actively attack us, who are subordinate to Genoa? And they came by land from Kaffa, and they look quite spirited? Haven't they been plundered by the Tatars?" the Consul roared.
"Your Excellency, it seems all this is Theodoro's scheme. I don't know when they started planning to seize Kaffa City," Melo said, gritting his teeth, informing Grimaldi of his thoughts.
At this moment, his black curly hair looked dull and lifeless due to lack of care.
"What should we do?" Asereto, the mayor, was almost in tears.
If Cheleki fell, his political career would be over.
Grimaldi stammered, clutching his hair, and after an unknown period, he finally said painfully: "Hold the line, ask for aid from Matrega and Tana, have the navy blockade the coastline, and ask for aid from Genoa."
Then he stared with his bloodshot eyes, doing his best to suppress the hysteria in his tone, "Hold firm, and there will be a way. Behind us is Genoa. In terms of war potential, they cannot defeat us."
This time his judgment was finally a bit accurate.
Indeed, without certain 3/8 Roman war aid, Theodoro simply could not sustain a military force of this scale.
Below Cheleki City, facing walls and fortresses much weaker than Kaffa's, Manuel couldn't help but worry about the defense after capture: "How can these walls withstand the army sent by Genoa?"
After observing from a distance in the army, Alexius dispatched a team of scouts for detailed reconnaissance.
After reconnaissance, it was found that the defenders in the city had no intention of engaging them in an open battle outside the city and only wanted to hold the city.
After the high-ranking military officials confirmed this, they gathered to discuss countermeasures: "Completely as expected," Patniko laughed.
"How many cannons do they have left?" Manuel asked cautiously.
"According to information from the vanguard, the cannons in the city are estimated to be no more than 10 loads," Patniko reported, "They will probably surrender without a fight after only a few days of siege."
"But we can't afford to wait," Alexius reminded him.
"Then a direct assault?" Olgierdovich of the Rus Heavy Axemen suggested.
"If the opponent were only the Kaffa Consul, then indeed we could disregard the cost, but behind them is Genoa.
We must preserve most of our living forces to deal with Genoa," Alexius rejected the proposal.
Everyone fell into a quandary.
At this point, Manuel carefully compared the information reported by the scouts and offered his insights: "Cheleki City is not indefensible, but the Genoese haven't even utilized the Isthmus here.
Father, our current navy can probably blockade the port, right?
So, after blockading them, perhaps we can try to deliberately feign a concentration of forces and a diversionary attack in the south where our troops are currently gathered, while simultaneously using our ships to transport suicide squads to harass them from the eastern port.
During this time, we can quietly transfer our elite troops and siege engines to their currently weaker northeast defense line and quickly seize the city."
"What do you all think?" Manuel raised his head and asked everyone in the military camp.