He failed to do so, and Palaiologos launched an unsuccessful assault on Galata instead.[2][3] To further his plans, Michael concluded an alliance with Genoa in March 1261, and in July 1261, as the one-year truce concluded after the failed Nicaean attack was nearing its end, the general Alexios Strategopoulos was sent with a small advance force of 800 soldiers (most of them Cumans) to keep a watch on the Bulgarians and spy out the defences of the Latins.[4][5]