Makedonios smiled and nodded at Vissarionas.

Your right, Antioch is a priority. I'm just afraid we might not be able to take it first.

We have only a small force on Cyprus. Maybe 3 or 4 regiments of soldiers and the 7 of us with our personal guards. That leaves us three choices.

1.) We wait until we can build facilities on Nicosia that can field and equip a large advanced army.

2.) We recruit mercenary regiments both on Nicosia, and over in the Levant.

3.) We look at provinces that we can take with what we currently have.

The downside of choice 1 is that it will take years, maybe decades before Nicosia is capable of fielding a large army.

The downside of choice 2 is that it is very expensive to hire mercenaries. And persuading the Baslieus to spend thousands of florins when so much of the Empire needs money will not be possible.

The downside of choice 3 is that it limits our options. Basically only Adana and Tortosa can be taken quickly with the force we have. But the upside is that it is cheap. By being cheap, it is more likely that the Emperor will let us go through with our plans this term. All we really need is for the navy off the coast of Cyprus to shuttle us over to the Levant. At most, we might ask to hire one or two regiments of mercenaries to bolster our forces.

If you guys believe Antioch can be taken with the forces we have, and maybe a regiment or two of mercs, then I am certainly open to the possibility. Lets keep throwing ideas around and we'll see if we can hash out a plan.