Consequently he deemed it wiser first to attend to maritime matters and Tzachas, and to leave strong garrisons on the mainland and a large enough fleet to restrain the Turks’ sallies and repel them, and then afterwards with the rest of the army take the road to Antioch and fight with the barbarians on his way to the best of his ability. Accordingly he sent for John Ducas his brother-in-law and handed over to him troops recruited from various countries and a fleet large enough for besieging the maritime towns.
Turkish satraps and barbarians
He also entrusted to him Tzachas’ daughter, who had lately been taken captive at Nicaea with others, and ordered him to proclaim the capture of Nicaea everywhere, and, if it were not believed, to shew Tzachas’ daughter to the Turkish satraps and barbarians in the sea-coast towns, so that the men, who held the towns we have just mentioned, on seeing her and being assured of the capture of Nicaea would in despair give up the cities without striking a blow. After supplying John fully with all necessaries he sent him forth.
And now I will proceed to set forth how many trophies he erected over Tzachas and how he drove him out of Smyrna. This Duke, my maternal uncle, took leave of the Emperor, then quitted the capital and crossed to Abydus; there he summoned a man called Caspax and entrusted him with the command of the fleet and the whole conduct of the naval expedition. He promised him that if he fought well then, when they succeeded in taking Smyrna, he would appoint him Governor of Smyrna itself and of all the towns on its borders.
So he sent him away by sea, as ruler of the fleet, and he remained on land in command of the troops. Soon the inhabitants of Smyrna saw both Caspax approaching with the fleet and Ducas over land, and then Ducas pitching his camp at a short distance from the walls, and Caspax anchoring in the harbour. Since they had already heard of the fall of Nicaa, they had not the slightest wish to resist Ducas, but preferred to confer about making peace. On condition that John Ducas was willing to swear that he would allow them all to depart to their own homes without suffering any harm, they promised to surrender Smyrna to him without shedding blood and without striking a blow. Ducas thereupon agreed to Tzachas’ proposal, and promised to carry out everything to the letter.
Read More about Silence part 10
