king of ros

Chapter 486
Constantinople, Queen of Cities.

It is the most dazzling pearl on the Sea of ​​Marmara, and also the most dazzling pearl in the entire Mediterranean and the Christian world.

In the dark age after the fall of Rome, this city represented civilization, luxury and supreme glory, and represented the continuation of Roman civilization. Countless people are full of infinite yearning for this place.

While many countries established by the barbarians on the ruins of the Western Empire were still struggling in the dark, as the orthodox successor of Rome, the Eastern Empire became more and more prosperous, and this city named after Constantine the Great Cities are also grander.

But it has also experienced dark times, in that era surrounded by Arabs.

In that era when the entire Mediterranean Sea was sluggish, the territory of the Eastern Empire shrank, the population decreased, and it became less and less glorious. The Balkans were full of Slavs, and the Greeks could only maintain control of coastal cities, while Asia Minor was always facing threatened by the Arab armies.

Even many areas of Constantinople have been turned into ruins, and the once prosperous culture has turned into gray. The Roman Empire and everything it represents seem to be over immediately, and become only remembered by historians. Get ancient civilization.

But with the end of the Arab siege, the threat to Constantinople was lifted, the empire ushered in a new life, and Constantinople also ushered in a new life.

In the era of the Macedonians and their descendants, it was restored to its former prosperity, the status of the center of the world was unquestionable, and the city was able to develop further.

But as the blood of the Macedonians was severed, emperors came and went on the throne one by one, and the imperial system became more and more exhausted. Although it looked huge, it was still the world empire, but something was wrong inside him.

And finally, the struggles that came and went led to a bloody civil war, and that's when the Turks marched west, and almost all of Asia Minor was lost in a chaotic decade, while the Greek emperors were still fighting each other.

The ship is sinking, but no one is going to repair the hole in the bottom of the ship. Instead, they continue to focus on snatching control of the ship. For this reason, they can do anything, and colluding with outsiders is already the most basic operation.

Although the imperial territory in the Balkans is still there, everyone is ready to move, and the Slavs are becoming more and more unstable. They unite as leaders and prepare to settle accounts with the empire.

The most important thing is that new conquerors are also eager to try. On the other side of the sea in southern Italy, the legendary Norman conqueror Robert Guiscard has been preparing for three years, and an army of [-] is eager to try...

The mighty Eastern Empire has turned into a huge chessboard. The collapse of traditional power has brought about changes in all parties, and this land will soon turn into a war.

Under such circumstances, Constantinople presented a deformed prosperity. Nobles and wealthy businessmen from the region flooded the streets and alleys of the capital. They spent a lot of money and continued to wrap up their decadent and luxurious life.

As for the dark corners that no one cares about, there are ordinary refugees lingering on their last legs, relying on odd jobs and a little charity from the rich to live. Although the life is quite difficult, they can still live on, and there is no place that can be as safe as here .

For these Greeks, only Constantinople is safe. This is the eternal city of the entire empire. Only here can they feel at ease. The idea that "this city will never be taken" will arise.

The chariot party in Constantinople still revels in the racetrack, and they are the extreme embodiment of the indifference of the citizens of Constantinople to the outside world.

No matter how much the outside world changes, Constantinople will still stand proudly. It is the new eternal city. No matter what happens, the prosperity of Constantinople will remain the same. There must also be a Tandoori.

This is the experience summed up in the past hundreds of years. To a certain extent, he is correct. After all, what happened in the past ten years is just another reincarnation.

Now, beneath Constantinople, an ugly imperial melee ensues once again, as an army of challengers surrounds the Queen of Cities, a reenactment that has been performed countless times.

However, the mood of the citizens in the city did not fluctuate much. Over the years, Constantinople had experienced several coups and sieges, and the hearts of the citizens were numb.

The biggest impact is that the supply of materials has affected a little, but it is still not big after all.

After these years of melee, both the government and the people in this city are consciously saving food, so the short-term siege will not affect the normal operation of the city.

But if the time is long, the form will be different, but this is especially true for the encirclement party. For the coup party, the longer the time, the more unfavorable it is.

"How on earth are we supposed to take this city?"

The young Alexios Komnenos looked at the tall city wall, his words were full of distress.

The young challenger to the throne has black hair, eyes of the same color, and a classic Greek face. His medium height makes him look a bit unremarkable, but he still exudes a strong majesty to make up for his height.

He and his brother Isaac escaped the emperor Nikephoros, managed to join their supporters outside of Constantinople, and then, with the support of the Ducas family, in Thrace Gathered a large army and besieged Constantinople.

Meliseno, who rebelled in Asia Minor, also succumbed to Alexios and brought him an army, as well as Suleiman's acquiescence to all this from the Turkic leader of Asia Minor. It can be said that his power has already After completely surrounding Constantinople, there was only one problem, and that was the walls of Constantinople.

It stands to reason that the situation is extremely favorable to him. The throne of Constantinople can be said to be in front of him, but the problem is that there are still walls of Constantinople away from the throne, and countless challengers to the throne have fallen. Before the city wall, he now seriously lacks siege equipment.

His rebellion was too hasty, a purely forced rebellion under Operation Nikephoros, and although it succeeded in sweeping many areas, no siege engine was no siege engine.

The vicinity of Constantinople was also devastated by rounds of wars. There are no buildings that can be easily dismantled to assemble siege equipment. If you want to repair the things necessary for siege, you can only do it from logging. But the construction period is too long, and the last thing he has now is time.

And most importantly, based on Russell's experience in attacking Constantinople, even if all the siege equipment is repaired, it is still difficult for them to conquer the walls of Constantinople, and that city has never been conquered .

In this regard, Alexios' solution was to buy the city wall defenders. The Praetorian Guards and the Varangian Guards directly under Emperor Nikephoros obviously could not be bought, but he found a group of Germans. Willing to open the gates to Alexios for a suitable reward.

If everything went well, Alexios would have driven straight in like this, took the city and became the monarch of Constantinople, but on the day it was agreed to open the gate to enter the city, things changed.

The Germans were attacked by the Varangian guards, and the northern barbarians wiped out the guarding German mercenaries with extreme violence. A small number of German mercenaries escaped from the city and told Alexios all about it.

And Alexios understood that it was impossible to enter the city today, and he had to think of another way.

Next, he can only continue to besiege the city. On the one hand, while building the siege equipment, on the other hand, he continues to test the defending generals. The army carried out a purge of disloyal and suspected disloyal and replaced him with his cronies.

This is why Alexios was so distressed, because if he remained trapped under the walls of Constantinople, his army would disintegrate sooner or later under the bath of time.

Just like those rebels in the history of the empire, he didn't want to end up like that, but he really couldn't come up with other methods.

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(End of this chapter)