eastern european eagle

Chapter 206 Advance to Constantinople
Constantinople changed overnight.The Western Europeans hunted and killed the Orthodox Church, and the rest could only seek refuge in the Hagia Sophia.But some escaped and went to Selymbria, intending to tell the Grand Duke of Mircea what had happened.

But what happened in Junbao quickly spread to Kizikus through another channel. Peter just wanted to talk to Sophia about the next generation when the information arrived.

A note was handed over, with only one sentence on it: Emperor Manuel died, and the eldest son succeeded him.

This directly made Peter lose his other thoughts, Manuel was gone, his son was only five years old, and it must be the Serbian regent.She is from the Western European school, and now the old man's consul should be lost.

"Are the two castles in Canakkale ready?"

"Needs one final touch, but works fine."

In order to completely control the Dardanelles, Peter began to build two castles on both sides of the strait, which he called Salemburg and Anatolia Castle respectively. Thousands of craftsmen worked tirelessly, and the basic construction was completed a year later.And equipped with some coastal defense guns and flamethrowers, the blockade ability is greatly enhanced.

"Let the Thessaloniki fleet move to Constantinople, where they should be looking for assistance from Venice and Genoa."

Peter guessed right. At this time, the Queen Mother Jelena was negotiating with representatives of Venice and Genoa, and proposed to use part of the palace jewels as collateral in exchange for money.The other party agreed, who made Junbao so poor that he couldn't even pay the salaries of the soldiers, so he could only sell the jewelry he had collected for many years for emergency, not to mention that the Grand Duke of Wallachia would not let it go.

Within a few days, Mircea, who was advancing, got news from inside Constantinople.

"What did you say, the emperor is dead?"

"Yes Grand Duke, the great Basilius has returned to the kingdom of heaven. Basilisa said that he died of a sudden illness, but in fact he was killed by those nobles."

"Grand Duke, those people are killing people everywhere now, only you can save Constantinople and save the empire."

Hearing the other party's cry, Mircea fell into a state of confusion for a moment, and he never expected that the emperor would disappear like this.His plan had been disrupted, he had to either withdraw his troops and go back, or he would raise the knife and attack Luo Tongchen.But the walls of Constantinople put him back.

Seeing that Mircea hesitated, he said to the other side. "Grand Duke, as the guardian of the Orthodox Church, do you have the heart to watch Constantinople fall into the hands of heretics again, do you have the heart to watch the Hagia Sophia be desecrated again, or are you ready to surrender to the heretics in Rome?" gone."

"shut up!"

Mircea was angry. He would never allow his beliefs to be misunderstood.Although a little impulsive, he understood that this was the closest he was to Basilius, and he had to seize the opportunity.

"Order, the vanguard troops attack Serimbria, and they must take this place down."

"obey"

Mircea quickly made a decision, and at the same time recruited [-] troops to supplement it.Ordered the Black Sea Fleet into the strait in an attempt to siege Constantinople.

Everything changed within three days, and the businessmen in Galata stared wide-eyed and prepared to eat melons.They couldn't wait to see if the city would fall again, and some even bet on it, with amounts ranging from 100 to 2000.

At the same time, Mircea also issued a declaration, saying that Emperor Manuel did not die of illness, but was killed by the current queen mother and the nobles around him.He called on everyone to rise up against the Queen Mother. As the Grand Duke of Wallachia, he was awarded the position of Consul by Manuel (although it was not officially awarded), so he naturally had to shoulder the heavy responsibility.

Such words are like a gust of wind, causing waves on the originally calm water.For a while, the news was true and false, and no one knew which to believe.

Those Roman armies were no match for Wallachia's well-trained regular army. It took only one day to conquer Selymbria, and tightly suppressed the opponent in Constantinople and the nearby land.The queen mother asked Venice and Genoa for help, but Genoa was insolvent and unable to send troops. If Venice, I don't know what else to give him.

Mircea also thought of this biggest change factor, so he met with the envoys of Venice, and proposed that their power in Constantinople would remain unchanged, and further concessions would be given.

Such conditions make the other party tempted, but the messenger will not believe it easily.He proposed that Wallachia set aside a piece of land in Constanta and other cities as a Venetian colony. If he disagreed, he would ask the Venetian Parliament to send troops to assist Constantinople.

"Oh dear emissary, you are looking for the wrong person about the land assigned to Constanta. This land is managed by the co-ruler of Wallachia, my son Peter. You should go to him."

"I'm sorry, but I will ask the parliament for your request. Please wait for the news."

The envoy withdrew, and Mircea angrily scolded the Venetians for their insatiable greed.Once you promise them, will Wallachia still have a good life?

He directly ordered Nikephoros to take most of the navy to the Sea of ​​Marmara to see if his navy could stand the test.As for the siege battle, Mircea moved his cannons and delivered them as quickly as possible, even if he spent a little more money and needed more people.

Wallachia's artillery has also changed a lot, because the technology is not yet mature, and it is easy to explode the chamber directly using cast iron cannons.Therefore, most artillery adopts the method of copper core and iron sheet, which can not only ensure the power but also reduce the cost.And how many cannons are there in the Roman Empire on the opposite side? The answer is: two, and this is the wedding gift from Venice to Manuel.

Then, as in 1204, the Wallachian army gradually surrounded Constantinople, and the Queen Mother summoned 6000 people to guard the city.The vanguard first sent a letter asking them to surrender and investigate the cause of the emperor's death, but the other party refused.

If so, come on.Wallachia began to blockade Constantinople and sent a letter to Morea asking Theodore to send troops.The entire Balkans are once again fluctuating, and all diplomatic activities on both sides have failed.

The Venetian Parliament had not received the news yet. Taking advantage of this gap, Mircea led the army to advance rapidly, and Peter also let Canakkale and the two fortresses on the opposite bank block the strait, preparing to use the advantages on land to hold back the Venetian navy.

The country's naval confrontation will definitely fail, so it can only look for other countries.Genoa was still the second largest naval country in the Mediterranean at this time, and Galata was also their colony, so it should be no problem to find them.

(End of this chapter)