The return of the fallen king

Chapter 76: Sicilian affairs (1)

Corrado has been on the island of Sicily for nine days, following the commands of his king Conradin. His objective was to organize the cities and revolt so that Conradin could sail to Sicily and join arms with the Sicilian rebels after dealing with the northern front.

Corrado traveled around Sicily over the course of many days, gathering significant support for Conradin's cause. He had inspired the people to fight for their rights sort, and they were anxiously awaiting Conradin's arrival to unify their forces and fight for better conditions under the Hohestaufen reign.

This was a significant step forward for Conradin and his army, as it meant that he would now have some powerful supporters in his struggle against the French and Provencal. These allies would be able to give him reinforcements and supplies as needed throughout his war to reclaim the throne of Sicily.

Conradin's plan had been a complete success, as they were able to take control of Sicily fast and effortlessly. They had successfully smuggled in supplies and weapons and had garnered enough native support to enable a quick and relatively painless conquest of the island, which was a big advantage for Conradin's cause.

The conquest has also been made easier by the fact that most of the city guards were locals and, as such, did not have much interest in dying for some foreigners. This was a huge victory for Conradin and his cause, as they had managed to take control of the island and make it a stronghold for their cause.

Only in two cities did the rebellion fail; both Messina and Palermo were heavily garrisoned by French troops, and as such, the organized mob was broken by them, preventing the two strategic cities from going under Conradin's banner. This was a huge setback for Corrado, as these two cities were of crucial importance to their campaign and controlling the island as a whole. They were now faced with a big problem: they had to decide what to do moving forward. They could either try to bring those two cities back into their cause or ignore them and instead concentrate on different objectives. Corrado had to make a tough choice and decide how he would proceed from here, but either way, it was clear that things had just become much more difficult than originally thought. (look at the comment for visual help)

Corrado was currently seated in his power base in Catania, which had deserted Charles the Usurper along with the remainder of the island. 'I gained control of the majority of the island, but Messina and Palermo remain on the French side. This is a major issue as it would allow the French troops left behind by the usurper to disembark in the center of the island. I don't have a large enough army to stop them, so all I can do is fortify the cities and force the French to besiege them. My army, however, is still too little to ensure that every city is well-defended. As a result, I would lose too much of what I had accomplished.'

Corrado pondered as he gazed at a map giving a rough outline of the island and the locations of its settlements. Corrado was in a pickle since he had to determine what to do about Messina and Palermo. The French army posed a severe threat, and if they were able to disembark in these two places, they may endanger their campaign and the overall success of their conquest. Corrado needed to figure out how to keep the French troops from disembarking, and it was evident that he would need to think strategically to do so.

'Calm down, think it over. The French navy is currently underwater; but, some ships must have survived, and it would not be surprising if the French seized some merchant ships to serve as transport vessels. They would be far too weak to destroy the fleet currently provided to us by the Genoese and almost certainly lose; yet, they do not need to win to avoid the fleet and get their troops across the strait. What can I do to put a stop to it?' Corrado needed to devise a strategy to either prevent the French from sailing through the strait entirely or to degrade their forces sufficiently so that they would be unable to pose a danger by the time they arrived. He knew that his options were counted but he had to choose the best option he had, else everything he gained would be lost just like that.

'I could try to seize Messina and Palermo, but it is completely impossible; my army is too small, and I lack siege weapons and even engineers.

As a result, regaining them is impossible. What I can do is shorten as many of the feasible routes that a French fleet may take to cross. They could either travel from the strait (Reggio-Messina; see the comment for visual support), which would be the shorter and safer route, or from Naples to Messina and Palermo, which would be the longer and riskier option.'

He thought long and long until he understood what he had to do:' I will cross the strait and liberate Calabria, so that Charles can only employ the route Naples-Messina or Palermo; in this way, I can use the Genoese fleet to navigate around the northern part of Sicily, preventing Charles from ever getting across.' Corrado knew that his army would be too small to seriously besiege a walled city, however, he did not need to conquer all of Calabria but only get there, since It is highly probable that just like the majority of the island also Calabria will be largely defended by locals, it seems that the army that Charles left to defend his usurped kingdom, remained in the north to stop any force from getting through the northern border leaving the south undefended, Charles probably thought that Conradin would not try anything in his backyard which would explain the Sicilian situation .

'Apart from that when my army will get there the Muslim community of Girifalco will without a doubt desert the French along with many Calabrian cities that will be more than rejoiced to get Conradin to rule them once again since the image of the Frenchs they had was really an all-time low following the increase in taxes and the not so popular reform Charles made' .

This was an incredible approach, and Corrado felt it had the potential to be hugely successful. He would be able to seize control of Calabria and prevent the French troops from crossing the strait and landing on the island's eastern edge. It would also provide the ghibellin with additional supplies and local support, allowing them to continue their war. This was a high-risk strategy that would necessitate meticulous planning and execution. After all, if the cities did not yield to him, he would have simply wasted his time there. Nonetheless, if it worked, there was a chance that the French army would choose to besiege Calabria rather than the island, since to get there they would need to cross the sea that was dominated by the fleet loaned by the genoese to Conradin.

To achieve that, he would need to rally as many men and as many supplies as possible in order to equip his new army. This would be a difficult task, but it was an essential part of the campaign and one that could not be overlooked.

' I will use the current armaments I currently own to arm as many people as I can. I should also send word to His Majesty to report the current situation and ask for reinforcements and more equipment. The army that I will be having will probably be a puny one, though; it will be composed of only infantry, apart from the 200 gifted to me by his majesty. I would in fact prefer If he were not to send me more men in the form of horsemen; after all, I do not need them as much as he does, for the infantry are the ones that are used during a siege, and knights and horsemen would not really be of much use apart from improving the image of the army to outside eyes, to deliver messages and to maybe attack individual small contingent of enemies, which can already be done by my 200 heavy cavalries .' This was definitely something that Corrado needed to focus on, as he would have to find a way to recruit and train as many infantrymen as possible in order to reinforce the men at the walls of the cities he will liberate and to use them in defensive sieges as effectively as possible. So in short, and also strangely from common medieval sense, recruiting horsemen would be a secondary priority compared instead on recruiting infantrymen and equipping them as well as possible.

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