Year: 659 AD
Eastern Roman Empire
Syracuse
A weekago
After the Eastern Roman defeat at the Battle of Ad Decimum, the Rashidum Caliphate takes Carthage and with that, the Arabs began an invasion to take Sicily and advance straight to Rome, this news was hushed up to avoid hysteria in the Western Romans and detractors of Emperor Constans II in Constantinople.
The Caesarian Empire was fighting this war to maintain control of the Western Mediterranean with the Eastern Romans and to maintain trade between the two empires. Most of Caesar's war efforts were spent on sending supplies to the Eastern Romans and protecting the Mediterranean Sea from Arab piracy.
The Caesarian Emperor Leo I and the Legatus Legionis Lucius Belissarius, were discussing with the Eastern Roman military and Emperor Constans II to contain the advance of the Rashidum Caliphate and he said:
"Our reinforcements will arrive in a week, in the meantime, hold out against the siege of the Caliphate, we are close to winning this war and containing the Caliph's ambition." Leo said.
Some Eastern Roman military men were in the room with their heads bowed, as the Caesarians were dictating what tactics would be used to recapture Carthage from the Rashidum Caliphate.Then Lucius Belissarius gets up from his chair, looks at the map of the Mediterranean and explains how he would reconquer Carthage and expel the Arab threat to Egypt:
"From now on, we Caesarians lead the war, our impetuous and brilliant Emperor Leo I, created a plan to end this war.The plan consists of an invasion by land and sea, we control the Strait of Gibraltar and so the Legatus Legionis of the 4th Caesarean Legion, Commodus Favarus and the auxiliary army will lead the attack by land, from the city of Sebta to Hadrumetrum. The naval invasion will be focused on retaking Carthage, the Classis Nova Romanorum Tiberius Claudius and the Classis Nova Latium Claudius Theodosius will be responsible for the invasion,this is the first phase of the plan, if it works, the next phase of the plan will begin, which involves something much bigger." explains Lucius.
The other leaders agreed with Leo I's plan to recapture Carthage from the Rashidum Caliphate and did not seem to have any better proposals as it was either that or lose North Africa altogether.
Leo I, gets up and leaves the room with Lucius and he hears an Eastern Roman general cursing him and yet it only when he looked at the general that all his anger was erased like a torch that crackled blazingly and was extinguished by a heavy rain, after which the Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II, stands in the room and insults the general in particular.
Syracuse
Now
Finally, the Romulus ships arrive and the naval siege of the Rashidum Caliphate is broken and the port of Syracuse is reopened, bringing with it supplies for the soldiers and the population of the island.
The sailors were resting after long days in the Mediterranean Sea, however the experienced Classis Nova Romanorum Tiberius Claudius and Classis Nova Latium Claudius Theodosius were talking to Emperor Leo about the Caesarian Empire's new naval invention:
"My Emperor, the new weapon is being kept secret, far from suspicion by any possible Eastern Roman traitor or spy of the Rashidum Caliphate who may be here.The Palatine bombards has been tested and it was approved in our tests, this new weapon can reach up to 1500 meters in maximum range and 750 meters in distance in terms of impact effectiveness." says Tiberius.
This news was something that would drastically change the history of the Caesarian Empire, because if before the battles in Europe were fought by ramming, but as soon as the Destructors were created the battles naval forces have changed a bit, now the ships are made of slightly more resistant wood to withstand the Caesarian proto-cannons, but now the Caesarian Empire had something even more innovative as it would be in the future HMS Dreadnought made by the British Empire in response to the German Empire, but for now both the British and German futures were nothing more than divided micro-kingdoms far removed from what would become in the future.
Leo, upon learning that the invention they had in their hands was something that would make him powerful before any kingdom in the Old World, not even the Eastern Romans could defeat him even if they had 2 million of soldiers at their disposal to defend the Caesarian Empire, they would still lose, so he said:
"This invention has just confirmed that we are the only Romans who will survive for centuries, we have the key to making the Caesarian empire last for centuries, now let's show the "The world knows our power, keep it a secret until we reach Carthage." Leo said.
The Classis Nova Romanorum Tiberius Claudius and Classis Nova Latium Claudius Theodosius,agreed to keep such revolutionary weaponry secret.
MediterraneanSea
NearCarthage
Now
Leo and Emperor Constans II were on the main Romulus ship, the Nova Ebesus, a diplomat from the Rashidum Caliphate had arrived trying to establish a white peace, in exchange they would leave Carthage but would have who had to pay a large sum of gold to have Carthage back which they denied and prepared for the naval battle of Carthage.
And meanwhile, reports arrived that the Legatus Legionis Commodus Favarus, took the city of Hadrumetrum and with that the army of the Rashidum Caliphate was broken in Hadrumetrum, opening a chance for a probable reconquest of the Levant for the Eastern Roman Empire.
After this event, the Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib,was having internal problems with the governor of Syria Muawiya, the first Fitna was taking place at the same time that his best trained army was massacred in Hadrumetrum, so he made the a choice that sealed the end of the Rashidum Caliphate and gave rise to the largest Islamic empire, the Umayyad Caliphate.
Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib sent the entire fleet of the Levant and Egypt to defeat the Romans, even taking merchant ships into battle, as he had a premonition that someone was going to kill him, but he thought that those who wanted to kill him were the Romans and not certain internal problems that he was denying, with this he tries to unify the different interpretations of Islam so that he can be the new Khalid and have a Yarmouk to call his own.
At Nova Ebesus, Leo looks at Carthage and says to Emperor Constans II:
"This is probably your first time on our type of ship, this ship is the Romulus Omega, it carries about 10 thousand people, more than 800 kilos of loadable cargo, 150 meters high, 40 meters wide, the Romulus Alpha is still used to transport people and goods, it is the pride of our people, If everything ends well, and I'm sure it will, as Caesarian Emperor, I invite you to visit the New World and see with your own eyes the civilization we are creating there. It will be an honor to have an Old World Roman emperor in our lands." says Leo.
Emperor Constans II, for his part, was not so averse to traveling to the land of the Sons of Theodosius,then he said:
"Honestly, I have no reason not to visit that place, if everything is okay, I will let my son rule for a few months and get to know the place where you are the emperor of that place." said Constans.
After this short conversation, hundreds of small and medium-sized ships could be seen arriving at sea, which meant that the battle of Carthage had finally begun.
Leo looked at the Classis Nova Romanorum Tiberius Claudius and ordered him:
"Use the Palatine bombards" Leo ordered.
A blue flag with the symbol of the seven hills of Rome was used to give orders to Romulus's other ships to attack with full force.
Thousands of stones are thrown by the Palatine bombardments, what was supposed to be a difficult battle became the greatest Islamic defeat until the Battle of Diu and Alexandria, both in the 16th century.
The Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II and his military leaders were astonished by what was happening, they had seen a proto-cannon in action for the first time in their lives which shook them their psychology when hearing similar noises of thunder coming from the Palatine bombards, then the Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II asks if he still has to recover his psychology:
"S-s-so this is the weapon you call Destructors?" asks Constans II.
And Leo, with a smile on his face seeing that the new weapon was extremely useful, he replies:
"No, that's not the Destructor, the Destructor was made for land battles, while the Palatine bombards will for now only be for naval battles." Leo replies.
The Eastern Roman military, along with their emperor, stood paralyzed by the hail of stones that were being thrown by the Palatine bombards, while Leo looked at the naval battle and spoke in classical Latin:
"Cartago Delenda Est" spoke Leo.
The Battle of Carthage lasted about 5 hours, in which 10 ships Romulus Alpha and 5 Romulus Omega defeated 300 ships of the Rashidum Caliphate, in which about 45 thousand soldiers on the Caliphate side died, while on the Roman side there were only three lightly wounded with no sign of death.
On that same day, citizens of Carthage rebelled against the soldiers of the Rashidum Caliphate and opened the city gates for the Romans to enter the city and managed to recapture the city and it was at that It was at this point that Leo's plan advanced even further, a month later a naval force invaded Alexandria and the city of Kufa was bombarded by the Caesarians and Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib had to humiliatingly apologize for starting the war and had to pay a large sum to the Eastern Roman Empire and the Caesarian Empire.
With this defeat, the Eastern Roman Empire recovers Tripolitania and Cyrenaica from the Rashidum Caliphate and for the time being the Islamic threat is contained.