eastern european eagle

Chapter 207
Some Venetian merchants in Genoa saw that the Dardanelles were not being able to pass freely, and they thought that a fight was about to start, so they accepted the inspection honestly.But there are still some who don't have eyesight and sail away directly, and the castle fires directly, but it's just crooked.

All merchants know that Wallachia is not just a joke, they are serious.

The 62 warships of the Black Sea Fleet are headed for Junbao. It has been a long time since so many ships have set off for Junbao in the Black Sea. Even Genoa has only a large number of merchant ships.The battleships are all roaming the Mediterranean Sea.

The Venice Parliament discussed the affairs of Constantinople, and they felt that they needed to consider the Roman Empire's request for help.

After ten days and ten nights of marching, Mircea finally brought his troops to Constantinople.The city of longing in the world has survived a dozen sieges and two falls, and it still stands here.

The walls of Constantinople were originally built during the reign of Constantine I, and surrounded the new capital in all directions to defend against attacks from land and sea.As the city expanded, a new wall called Theodosius was started in the fifth century.Although some parts of the wall are somewhat less refined, when properly deployed, the walls of Constantinople are impregnable under any siege, effectively defending against Avars, Arabs, Rus, Bulgarians, etc. Protect Constantinople and the Empire under siege.

Before the siege, Mircea sent a letter to the city for the last time, saying that as long as they surrendered, they would all be spared, but the other party did not reply.Subsequently, on February 1399, 2, Grand Duke Mircea of ​​Wallachia ordered the attack on Constantinople.

On the Wallachia side, there were 70 troops, 62 auxiliary soldiers, 6500 artillery pieces, and 24 warships; on the Roman Empire side, there were [-] defenders, two artillery pieces, eight muskets, and [-] battleships.The Empress Dowager ordered the chains of the Golden Horn to be raised to prevent enemy warships from entering.

Because Constantinople is too big and Wallachia's army is small, Mircea decided to concentrate his attack. He used the weakest Likas River Valley as the end point of the attack and ordered the artillery to concentrate on bombing here.

The once mighty walls of Theodosius withstood many attacks, but when more powerful artillery came, his defenses had to weaken a little.

Wallachia's artillery fired continuously, which put a lot of pressure on the defenders.They fought back with two bronze cannons, but they were far inferior to the Wallachian guns.Then the Cossacks couldn't bear their own thoughts and began to advance towards Constantinople. Their combat effectiveness was very strong, and the defenders fought them back desperately.

For two days, Wallachia made no progress.Mircea understands the truth that soldiers are expensive and fast, and he must take Constantinople before Venice can recover.

He asked people to bring the information about the Crusaders attacking Constantinople in 1204, and after learning about it in detail, he decided to focus on attacking a section of the Beraknai city wall in the northwest, which had been partially damaged by the previous artillery fire.This section of the city wall was built in the 11th century and is much weaker than other walls. In 1204, the Crusaders entered the city from this section of the city wall.

For the defenders, Wallachia's artillery was truly terrifying.They have never seen such a huge power and range.The rubble under the walls of the Likas River Valley has filled the trenches. If this continues, it is not impossible for the walls to collapse.

At night, people from the Orthodox Church came out of the church quietly, preparing to instigate the guards at the St. Romanus Gate to welcome the Wallachian army into the city.But it was discovered by Constantine, which shattered the conspiracy.

Mircea ordered the engineers to gradually approach Constantinople by digging tunnels, and at the same time ordered the fleet to attack the city wall on the side of the Sea of ​​Marmara in an attempt to disperse the defenders in this way.Constantine continued to mobilize the residents of the city and put them in charge of more defenses.

"As expected of the holy city, it is still safe and sound after so many attacks."

"Grand Duke, we must occupy Constantinople as soon as possible, otherwise Venice will send a fleet to come soon."

Mircea was also anxious. It had been ten days since there was no movement on the other side.Is it really necessary to besiege for several months?

He set his sights on the map. The city founded by Constantine had nothing to say about its geographical location or defense.how should I do it?

"The city wall is strong, and the Golden Horn Bay is blocked by iron chains. It's difficult!"

Hearing the chains in the Golden Horn, Mircea suddenly thought that Galata was not controlled by Constantinople, this important place was already a colony of Genoa.If they can be bribed, it should ease the difficulty a little.

Just as Mircea was about to bleed heavily, the Orthodox Church began to counterattack in the city of Constantinople.The leader was the patriarch Theodosius, who directly told the believers that the late emperor was killed by the current empress dowager and other nobles in partnership, and that the Grand Duke of Wallachia came to save them and avenge the emperor.Let them open the gates and welcome the Wallachian army into the city.

The patriarch's words resonated with many people. They picked up everything around them that could be used as weapons, controlled part of the city, and marched towards the Romanus Gate.The defenders had to send another 500 people to suppress it, which made the already weak defense force even more tense.

After learning of the riots in the city, Mircea temporarily dismissed the bribery of Genoa, and he gathered all the troops to prepare for a charge.And there was a lunar eclipse that night, which made the defenders think it was a bad sign.

On the morning of February 2, Wallachia attacked again. The first wave of offensive was carried out by auxiliary troops with insufficient training and equipment. The failure was expected, but they were used to weaken the defenders.The second wave of offensive was mainly carried out by the backbone troops, focusing on a section of the Beraknai city wall in the northwest, which had been partially damaged by the previous artillery fire.

They made a breakthrough, but were quickly repulsed by the defenders.The third wave of offensive was carried out by Mircea's elite new army. The defenders were able to hold out for a while at first, but then the Serbian general who was in charge of defending a section of the city wall was seriously injured in the battle and left the city wall, causing the defenders to panic. .

Between the three walls of Theodosius Wall and the single wall surrounding the Tikfar Sirai and Blanche Palaces is a small gate, commonly known as the Hippodrome Gate, which was opened by Emperor Isaac in 1204 It was clogged and only recently reopened.During this attack, the Wallachian army rushed through the trench and occupied the outer open space. More than 50 "new troops" suddenly found that the gate was undefended, and rushed in from there, and others followed suit.Once they reached the inner empty field, they attacked the defenders from the side, so that the Wallachian army outside the city could climb the city wall.After they went to the city, they tore down the "San Marco" flag and hoisted the Wallachia flag.

Mircea outside the city took advantage of this favorable factor. Encouraged by him, the guards successfully boarded the barrier and hung the Wallachia flag over the tower. For a while, all the defenders who saw the flag thought that the city was Lost, Rome's defeat is set!

Seeing that he was powerless, Constantine took the Serbs who were unwilling to be prisoners to make a final struggle.Since then, no one has seen their traces. It can be said that "there are no people when they are alive, and no corpses when they are dead."Of course, in such chaos, his fate can also be imagined: he must have died at the hands of some unknown person, and then his body was buried under the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood.
(End of this chapter)