The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 356 Did the Sultan run away?

The Ottoman Sultan and the Grand Vizier were determined to continue the resistance to the end.

They all knew that escaping to the inland to organize supplies and personnel to resist the Ming Dynasty again would be a game with huge costs.

The longer they resist and the larger the scale of the resistance, the more difficult it will be for the Ming Dynasty to completely conquer the Ottoman Empire, which may lead to the Ming Dynasty giving up the idea of ​​complete conquest.

The more independence the Ottoman monarchs and ministers will ultimately be able to retain, the more likely they are to continue to exist in a complete independent state.

However, if the Ming Dynasty had not given up the conquest and the Ottomans had eventually conquered the Ming Dynasty completely, the retaliation and punishment they would have suffered would probably have been heavier.

Conversely, the sooner you surrender, the lower the chances of remaining intact and independent, but the less retaliation and punishment you will receive.

The key lies in the extent to which the Ottomans can resist, how high the cost of Ming's forced conquest will be, and whether it can reach a critical point that the Ming's national strength cannot bear.

If it is a vassal state of Shenzhou, after suffering a desperate defeat and confirming that the strength of the two sides is sufficiently disparate, they will usually surrender decisively.

But European monarchs may choose to continue the challenge and test the true strength of their opponents.

Due to the completely different historical and social environment, the way Europeans think is also very different from that of the Chinese in some aspects.

It was common for the people of Shenzhou to have one emperor and one court truly unify all regions of the world.

When the world is in chaos, the people of Shenzhou will naturally believe that the world will be unified sooner or later.

They all knew that if there was a small-scale rebellious force or a resistance force that refused to surrender within the territory of an orthodox dynasty.

The emperor and the court would usually choose to conquer at all costs, even at the risk of financial collapse.

Because if they were emperors themselves, they would do the same.

Those feudal lords and all the rebel kings would do the same after they became emperors.

In the core area of ​​Shenzhou's territory, no hostile forces can exist, and in the peripheral areas they must at least pay tribute and submit.

When the Central Empire has the power, it will not allow any institutions or individuals within its sight to openly refuse to submit to it.

Even if it is not possible to take it down immediately, one must accumulate strength in order to take it down. Becoming the undisputed ruler of the world is the natural goal.

This is a common cognition that is jointly shaped by the geographical environment, historical memory, cultural tradition, political system, and social reality, and continuously strengthened in the historical cycle.

But Europeans on the other side of the continent did not have this concept, and European monarchs felt that there was no need to do so.

If small states on the edge of a big country's territory, or even semi-independent states within the core area of ​​a big country, are difficult to conquer, then don't conquer them.

If the cost of conquest is too high, then just let it continue to exist.

Because Europe had never been completely unified, there were independent and semi-independent states of all sizes everywhere, and the relationship between the monarch and his vassal was extremely complicated.

After the status was reversed, the local feudal forces in Europe did not feel that the monarchs would have a very strong motivation to reduce their power.

The small independent states in Europe do not believe that the big powers next to them will pay the price of vomiting blood or even collapse in order to conquer them.

Because after a big country conquers a small country at all costs, other big countries may take the opportunity to attack it.

When Europeans use their own inertia of thinking to consider their relationship with the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty's determination to conquer them, they are prone to misjudgment.

But on the other hand, the Shenzhou people may also make misjudgments when facing Europeans.

The generals of the Ming Dynasty would not understand why the Europeans did not surrender under such circumstances and why they were so inclined to confrontation.

However, when the Ming Dynasty eliminated all external forces and focused on dealing with the remaining resistance forces, these Europeans would begin to doubt their lives after a overwhelming pressure was formed.

The Grand Vizier began to personally help the Sultan prepare for his escape.

The Grand Vizier did not consider leading the army to break out, as he believed that the situation in Constantinople was irreversible.

The Ming Dynasty's air and naval forces had too great an advantage over coastal cities.

Under the cover of continuous bombing and artillery bombardment, the Ming army could easily defeat the Ottoman new army.

In this situation, breaking out would be tantamount to seeking death.

Now fighting on the ground is meaningless, and the Ottomans can only fight the Ming Dynasty on the ground.

The Grand Vizier asked the soldiers to bring all of the Sultan's close relatives and royal family members, and had them all dress up and leave together and not stay in the city.

If they were not brought along, after the Ming army entered the city, they could cooperate with the nobles and officials of Istanbul to re-establish a sultan and surrender to the Ming.

He also had to find a servant who looked like Selim to pretend to be the Sultan, and under the protection of the new army, he could resist the Ming army and buy time for the Sultan to escape.

While these orders were being carried out, the Sultan could not help but interrupt:
"Our officers and soldiers cannot stay here; it would be hard for them to survive the Ming bombing and artillery fire.

"And if we don't have them, even if we flee to Ankara, we won't be able to quickly form a combat-ready army."

The Grand Vizier nodded helplessly:
“Your Majesty, I understand this. I will first arrange for a group of officers and veterans to leave with us.

“But we have to make some sacrifices as well.

“If there is no force sufficient to contain the Ming army, let him order the army to believe that the one he is protecting is the most important target.

“Then the Sultan and other officers might not have a chance to leave.

“But I will not ask them to resist to the end. They can surrender after the Sultan and his companions leave the city.

“Or just disarm and change into civilian clothes.

“After the war, find a way to leave Constantinople as a civilian.

"If they are loyal enough, they can find a way to go to Ankara, join His Majesty, and help His Majesty rebuild the army."

The Sultan knew that this was the only way, so he sighed softly and didn't say anything else.

At the same time, the Ottomans' direct opponents and generals responsible for commanding the war against the Ottomans were Nelson and Tian Yiming.

Neither of them is a traditional Shenzhou general.

At dawn on August 8, the Ming navy and air force had completely controlled the Aegean Sea, the Sea of ​​Marmara, and the surrounding land outposts.

The city of Constantinople had been breached, and the next step was naturally to occupy the entire city.

Therefore, the two commanders, Tian Yiming and Nelson, also took a boat to the front line early in the morning of that day. Both of them planned to move their headquarters directly to Constantinople.

Constantinople has a very good location. Whether it is continuing to carry out military operations in the Balkans and Anatolia, or launching attacks on the areas around the Black Sea, it is much more convenient here than on Crete.

On the deck of the battleship on the sea outside the city, Tian Yiming looked at the situation on the shore with a telescope and thought about saying to Nelson beside him:

"After this battle, the entire Ottoman Empire should have surrendered directly, and the fighting on the Ottoman battlefield may have ended directly.

"Our future combat targets should be placed deep inland in the Black Sea and Caucasus regions."

Nelson shook his head slightly after hearing this and said:
"I don't think so. We'd better be prepared to continue to fight them to the end and continue to suppress bandits throughout the Ottoman Empire... at least be prepared to fight a security war in Anatolia."

Tian Yiming immediately asked back in confusion:

"This is impossible. The Ottomans did not understand the situation of the Ming army before. Now that they know the gap between the two sides, why should they continue to fight?

"This will do them no good. If they continue to fight, they will definitely end up with nothing. If they surrender now, they might even be able to earn a title and live on in their old age.

"Do they think that, given the gap in national strength between the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty, they can continue to fight against the Ming Dynasty for dozens or hundreds of years?"

Nelson thought for a moment:

“The Ottomans may have realized the strength of the Ming army, but they certainly knew that the gap between their national strength and that of the Ming was huge.

"But they certainly don't know how big the gap is." The most crucial problem is that he does not have a very clear understanding of the Ming Dynasty's determination to unify the world.

"They don't think that the Celestial Empire would pay a particularly high price to conquer them.

“They don’t have the concept of world unification.”

Tian Yiming thought about the history of the Japanese shogunate and feudal states, and seemed to have some understanding of the situation. He then frowned and muttered:

“I see, it looks like we need to put a little more thought into this.

"They don't have a unified understanding, so we should start shaping it for them now."

Tian Yiming and Nelson waited on the sea until noon, and the army that entered the city sent a messenger out to report specifically.

The army's vanguard defeated the Ottoman palace defenders, then completely occupied the palace and captured the Ottoman Sultan.

But they immediately discovered that the Sultan was actually a soldier in disguise.

The real Ottoman Sultan and Grand Vizier, as well as all the royal family members in the palace, are now missing.

The fake Sultan was stubborn, but according to the testimony of the palace servants, the real Sultan, royal family members and the Grand Vizier might have already escaped in disguise.

After hearing this, Nelson spread his hands to Tian Yiming:

"Let me tell you, even though it has come to this, and the situation is already hopeless in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, they are still thinking about running away and regrouping."

Tian Yiming also shook his head speechlessly, and then gave a rather gloomy order:
“We will continue to maintain a complete blockade of the city and build temporary walls at the collapsed gaps.

“The entire city remains under military control, and no civilians are allowed to enter or leave the city.

"We started to apply for temporary household registration for citizens. After obtaining the household registration, they can move around in a limited area and time, and after obtaining the road permit, they can travel between the city and the suburbs.

“Before registering your household registration, those who have houses must all stay at home, and those who don’t have houses will be thrown into government offices, prisons, temples and other places for temporary detention.

“All residents inside and outside the city must be carefully screened and photographed, and have servants from the palace identify them on the spot.

“Anyone who discovers the Ottoman Sultan and the Grand Vizier will be rewarded with ten kilograms of gold.

"For other important nobles and cabinet officials, if they are found and their identities are confirmed after absconding, they will also be rewarded with a minimum of 100 grams of gold."

Tian Yiming asked his subordinates to draft the orders, sign and seal them, and then send them out for execution.

Meanwhile, Tian Yiming continued to discuss with Nelson:
"Based on the Admiral's understanding of Europeans, if we continue like this, what is the probability that we can capture the Ottoman Sultan and the Grand Vizier?"

Nelson had already considered this when he drafted the order for Tian Yiming:

“I think the probability is at least over 60%, the key is to see when these two people decided to escape.

“If the two had escaped right at the beginning of the war, when the Ming Dynasty had just begun its attack, they might not be in the city now.

“Then we can’t find them even if we turn the whole city upside down.

“If they think the situation is hopeless and then try to escape after our army lands and blocks the land route, they will most likely not be able to escape.

“That way our chances of catching them would be more than 80 percent.

“Europeans have never seen the household registration management system of the Ming Dynasty, and have no idea how to circumvent it.

"The officers of the Ming Dynasty could read and write, and they could also perform basic personnel management and screening work according to the orders of officials, which was something they could not imagine."

Tian Yiming's mood improved a little, and he analyzed the situation carefully:

“Before the war, they probably did not have a clear understanding of the Ming army’s combat effectiveness, otherwise they would not have stayed in Constantinople from the beginning.

"They probably won't realize at the start of the war that they need to flee directly.

“Even if we wanted to evacuate the city from the beginning, we probably wouldn’t have realized right away that the situation would become as serious as it is now.

"They probably wouldn't be too nervous in the early stages, and would probably first think about packing up their gold, silver, and valuables, then leave the East City and take a boat across the sea to the Anatolia region.

“By then they will find that the Ming navy has already blocked the sea and occupied all ports.

"They needed to turn back to the city, then cross the entire city to exit the city from the west. At that time, the entire Constantinople was under continuous bombing by the Ming Air Force.

"It will definitely take them a lot of time to go through so much trouble. It might be dawn by the time they reach West City.

“We had completed the siege before daybreak, and they could no longer leave.

"So they are most likely still in the city."

Nelson nodded when he heard this:

"Yes, it is most likely still in the city. As long as we search carefully, we will probably be able to find it."

While the two were discussing, one of Tian Yiming's staff couldn't help but speak up:

"Governor, I think that we must look for the real Sultan and the Grand Vizier, but we don't have to do it publicly. We can do it directly but without much publicity.

“As for the fake Sudan we caught, it may not be completely useless. We can use it as if it were the real thing.

“The ordinary soldiers outside the city, other ordinary residents in the city, and officials who were not present at the scene of the false Sultan’s identity being exposed, all knew only that the Ming army had entered the palace.

"They all knew that we encountered extremely strong resistance in the palace and then captured a "Sultan".

“Who would have thought at the first moment that there was definitely no real Sultan in the palace? Who among the ordinary officials and people in the city had ever seen what the real Sultan looked like?
“Because this fake Sultan acted like the real Sultan in order to attract us, and the palace guards were all high-level new troops.

“These outside observers will naturally think that the person we caught is the real Sultan, and they have not yet formed the concept of a fake Sultan.

“As long as we publicize and issue orders based on the fact that we have captured the real Sultan, then for ordinary Ottoman people, the person we captured is the real Sultan.

“Even if the real Sultan has fled to another place, the first thing he has to do is to make others believe that he is real.

"Otherwise he will be regarded as a liar, and the truth will become a lie."

Tian Yiming and Nelson were both visibly stunned, and then both showed expressions of sudden enlightenment.

This is also because the authorities are confused. They know that there is a fake Sultan, so they will instinctively distinguish between the real and the fake and want to find the real one.

People outside don’t know, they have no sense of distinction.

At the same time, social influence, court authority, laws and morals, and even the basic logic of the entire social operation are essentially "common cognition."

If a group of people believe in a rule, then this rule will continue to operate and in turn affect social reality.

Anyone who violates this rule will be excluded or even punished.

This is actually also the "reaction of social consciousness to social existence". If it is changed to the supernatural realm, it is the path of "using the false to cultivate the true" or "becoming a god through incense and worship".

After Tian Yiming came to his senses, he immediately modified his previous orders, changing the public bounty and screening to a covert one.

At the same time, another new order was issued to arrange follow-up actions according to the situation of capturing the real Sultan. It should be said that the scene was even more grand than that if the real Sultan was captured.

"Immediately arrange personnel and organize a ceremony to enter the city. Let the Sultan lead the Ottoman officials out of the palace to surrender, kneel down and present the map and seal.

“We took good photos and videos on the spot, organized people to watch them in crowded areas inside and outside Constantinople, and then broadcast them everywhere in major Ottoman cities for propaganda.

“Now if that fake speed doesn’t cooperate, then let’s replace it with someone who is willing to cooperate.

"Of course, the actual situation here must also be written into a special report and sent to Shuntian Prefecture via the Western Factory's confidential telegram to explain the true situation to His Majesty."

(End of this chapter)