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But Aenarion has almost recruited the entire Ultramarines, and he has a newly formed Third Legion. There are also two legions in the country ready for battle. He is fully capable of fighting against four legions alone. Aenarion needs to worry about whether he will suffer heavy losses when fighting against four legions. The four legions also need to worry about whether they will suffer heavy losses if they break off relations with Aenarion now.

Moreover, what he did was not excessive. At least he gave all of Edirne's wealth to himself, which seemed acceptable on the surface.

After much deliberation, the coalition forces disbanded in Edirne, and the four legion commanders divided the spoils among themselves again. Bulgaria and Chagatai Khanate, which were close to Girimm, got the land, and Macedonia and Wallachia, which were far from Girimm, divided the wealth equally. Everyone left either satisfied or angry.

Looking at the disintegrating allied forces, Aenarion breathed a sigh of relief. Although the Thracian Plain was fertile and rich, it was also flat and indefensible. The only fortress was Edirne.

This fortress has guarded the Thracian Plain and Constantinople for thousands of years. Enemies from the north must first capture this place before they can bypass the mountains and the Meritsi River, gallop on the Thracian Plain, and then head towards Constantinople, the heart of the empire. Its status is like Hulao Pass defending Luoyang, or Tongguan defending Guanzhong.

And now, this fortress has finally returned to the hands of the Romans.

When some are happy, some are sad.

In this battle, the Eastern Roman Empire took a large amount of land, including the most fertile Thracian Plain in all of Greece and the old Ottoman capital. Nearly two million people returned to the Eastern Roman Empire, allowing the empire's strength to continue to soar. Moreover, these people were all high elves of the core race, so there was no problem of indigestion and rebellion.

Filus of Bulgaria and Chagatai of the Ogre Kingdom were quite satisfied. After all, they had taken some of Gilman's land. Bulgaria also recovered the land it lost last year, and its strength increased greatly.

.

Sanguinius of Wallachia is also okay, after all, his undead kingdom does not need land. She obtained a large number of corpses and money in this battle to replenish her own strength.

The only unhappy person was Leman Russ. He only gained a lot of money from this expedition, but not a single bit of land. The size of the Macedonian province was not enough to support a Janissary Legion. This war was originally intended to expand the territory and seize some fertile land in Thrace to strengthen his strength so that he could support himself.

As a result, the lands ceded to him in the agreement before the war were all occupied by the Eastern Roman Empire. He only gained a lot of money, and his territory did not expand at all. He got a lot of money, but what could he do after spending it all? He licked his face and handed the collar rope to Aenarion, sticking out his tongue and continuing to be his dog? ? ?

Leman Russ was very mad. Looking at the pile of cash, she fell into despair. A crazy and bold idea gradually emerged in her mind...

--------------------------

In May of 1455, Aenarion was very busy. He first became the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire and changed his name to Augustus according to the old system. He then conquered Edirne and suppressed the unrest among conservatives and nobles at home, allowing the Eastern Roman Empire to complete the coup with the least turmoil and bloodshed possible.

But in June, Leman Russ immediately took the Sixth Legion and the Kingdom of Macedonia to declare war on the Eastern Roman Empire.

Aenarion was somewhat surprised. This dog that had escaped from its chains would not come back, but it wanted to bite him? How dare it?

Afterwards, the Republic of Venice and the Knights Hospitaller also declared war on the Eastern Roman Empire! Grand Master Herpane of the Knights Hospitaller led the elite Pegasus Knights out, with sharp spears pointing at their friends who were fighting side by side.

Allies who had fought alongside Aenarion in the past now stood against him. The other Ottoman states had just finished fighting and were not facing the crisis of Leman Russ, so they did not want another war to break out in the short term. They all watched the Greek war situation with an attitude of watching the show.

Aenarion quickly sent his spies into action, wanting to know what was going on. What was going on with Venice and the Knights Hospitaller in the south? Why did his iron ally suddenly betray him?

Half a month later, he got the answer.

Theoretically, the Republic of Venice did not declare war. Leman Russ simply used all the money she got from the war last month to purchase the services of Venetian mercenaries. She directly bought Venice's regular navy to fight for herself. So this powerful and elite navy temporarily put away Venice's St. Mark's flag, raised the wolf flag, and began to attack the Romans on the sea in the name of mercenaries.

Behind the Knights Hospitaller, there is the shadow of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Pope did not want to see the Eastern Roman Empire destroyed by the Ottomans and the Muslims, so he organized several crusades to rescue these Orthodox Christians.

But they were even more unwilling to see the Eastern Roman Empire become stronger! The Pope and the Roman elves knew these Greek elves too well. Their biggest ideal was to recover Rome and return it to the old capital, and then pull themselves down from the position of Pope and become one of the patriarchs of the five major Christian dioceses, turning Catholicism into Orthodoxy. They even succeeded once in Belisarius' expedition.

In the calculations of the Pope of Rome, it would be best for the Eastern Roman Empire to convert to Catholicism and become a barrier and vassal state in the southeast of the Catholic kingdoms, defending against attacks from the Muslim world and becoming the shield of God.

If it really doesn't work, we can just not change God and become the shield of Christ, standing in Greece to prevent the Muslim countries from further penetrating into the European continent.

But now Aenarion's momentum is too terrifying. He fought a civil war in Athens for six years, took over Lion, swallowed up Crimea, and recovered half of the Aegean Sea. In the past two years, he took advantage of the collapse and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire to almost take over the entire ancient Greek territory!

What’s the next step? Will he conquer the entire Balkans?

Now, the Ottomans and Muslims pose no threat for the time being. The biggest threat now is the Eastern Roman Empire, which is on the verge of revival.

If the Ottomans come, I will at most become the leader of the Catholic Church among the many religions in that universal empire. If the Eastern Roman Empire comes, I will directly become the Patriarch of one of the five major Christian dioceses. It is best for pagans and heretics to fight to death, which is in the interests of Catholicism. No one can be too strong.

Chapter 357: Anti-Roman Alliance

Although he understood the reasons of these Catholic knights, the two families were Christian brothers after all. Aenarion could not understand how they convinced these berserkers to declare war on him.

Then, the spy brought up the reason. The Pope announced that Aenarion had married a bunch of Muslim wives, and even married two Christian wives, which was a serious violation of Christian teachings. This was a challenge to God! He even condoned the existence of Muslims in the country - look at the Muslims of the Janissary Legion and the Tatars in Crimea! They actually believed in Allah on God's land!

This kind of religious tolerance was intolerable to Christ. The purpose of this Crusade was to eliminate heretics within the sect, kill all pagans within the Eastern Roman Empire, help the Eastern Roman emperor "correct" his beliefs, or simply replace him with an obedient one - in other words, the Crusaders felt that they represented justice.

"The army has just finished its Thracian expedition. How long can our food last?"

. "

Aenarion looked grim, and immediately asked the Chancellor of Finance Caledor.

"It's barely enough. Thrace is one of the largest granaries in Greece. We have seized a large number of granaries stored in Edirne by the Ultramarines and the Ottoman Empire. Crimea has been managed by you in recent years and has thousands of acres of fertile land and fishing ports. A Thracian expedition only consumed one-third of the reserve grain. The Empire is not short of food."

Caledo was also a little worried.

"But the problem is that it is May now, and next month is the harvest season. The farmers are busy taking care of and harvesting crops. We cannot mobilize civilians who are several times more than the army to transport food and supplies for the expedition. Those Venetian merchants don't need to grow crops. The Knights Hospitaller are essentially a group of pirate leaders who issue privateering licenses. They don't have to worry about farming at all. They targeted this critical node and launched the attack."

"So, in other words, the reason why the Greek countries that split from the Ottoman Empire did not respond to the three-nation alliance is because they also need to cultivate the land and harvest?"

Aenarion frowned.

"Once the harvest season is over, the Roman legions can be mobilized, and the legions of the Greek countries can also be mobilized. At that time, they are likely to respond to Leman Russ and try to tear a piece of meat from the Roman Empire, right?"

"That's right. You recaptured Gilman, took over as the head of the Angelos family, and annexed the Thirteenth Legion. Right now, the empire has enough strength to unify the entire Balkans. Facing such a behemoth and such a threat, no Greek country will stay out of it."

Thomas also said worriedly.

What a sweet distress. A few years ago, my brother and I were thinking about how to make the Eastern Roman Empire great again. Now, we are thinking about how to make the Eastern Roman Empire tear apart the siege.

Aenarion said nothing and made three moves. First, he transferred the Black Sea Fleet back to Constantinople from Crimea, blocked the Bosphorus Strait, and trapped the sea battlefield in the Aegean Sea to prevent the war from spreading to Crimea.

The second is to send the Black Sea Fleet and the Aegean Fleet to patrol various important ports and investigate the locations of the main forces of the Venetian and Crusader navies.

The third was to send envoys to various countries to test the waters, especially the two kingdoms of Serbia and Albania. Aenarion tried to use the division of Macedonia's land as a gift to induce Serbia and Albania to stand on his side.

As time went by, envoys who went to various countries sent news back to Constantinople. The Christian Alliance, which was once united, had completely disappeared with the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The golden dwarves of the Seventh Legion returned to their hometown in the mountains of Albania. Skander declined, saying that he was too busy dealing with this matter and had no time to spare. At the same time, he hated the Janissary Legion that joined the Eastern Roman Empire. The blood debts that Ryan and the First Legion had committed against Albania were all recorded in the Book of Hatred.

The old king of Serbia was dealing with the issue of inheritance rights for his children and also had no time to take care of it. However, the envoy keenly discovered that the Kingdom of Serbia was expanding its military and preparing for war.

As for other Janissary states, their attitudes were very ambiguous, and an encirclement against the Eastern Roman Empire had gradually formed.

Aenarion understood that with the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the strength of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Greek states' fear of the Ottoman Empire had shifted to the Eastern Roman Empire. The Christian Alliance that he had worked so hard to build was gradually becoming ineffective with the policy of religious tolerance. They now viewed the rising Eastern Roman Empire in exactly the same way as they viewed the previously dominant Ottoman Empire.

The logic of these European monarchs was very simple: no one could unify Greece except themselves. If someone showed such a trend, they would unite with other kingdoms and defeat him as soon as possible! Either I unify Greece, or everyone will split the land and claim the throne. There is no third option. I cannot be annexed by others.

This situation is very serious. The attack and defense of the three alliances is just the beginning. If the war is not handled well and shows signs of decline, the Eastern Roman Empire that has just recovered may very likely be unable to recover!

He is now surrounded by Venice and the Knights of Rhodes to the south, the Janissary States to the north, and the even more terrifying Ottoman Empire to the east. There are no enemies in the west, so he can only take a break for a while. His strategic position is too poor.

Aenarion took his staff and began to seek new allies. This time, he set his sights on the long-term. Adhering to the diplomatic strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones, he tried to form alliances with some countries that were too far away from him, attack together, and divide up these small Greek countries sandwiched between the two forces.

Unfortunately, the effect was not good. Poland had no territorial ambitions in Greece and they were focused on expanding eastward to the Baltic Sea.

Although the Holy Roman Empire is somewhat interested, the current emperor has no intention of breaking up with the Pope now, and naturally will not unite with the Orthodox heretics.

As the situation became increasingly worse, Aenarion absorbed information from all sides, made overall plans, and made a final decision: he organized an envoy delegation to Ankara, the current capital of the Ottoman Empire. To show his sincerity, he even let Caledor, the Lord of the White Tower, lead the delegation.

Facing this culprit who caused half of the Ottoman Empire's legions to betray and split, the ogres did not look kindly upon the elves of the Eastern Roman Empire, but they still adhered to the principle of not killing envoys when two armies were at war.

According to the good tradition, Caledo and his party were led into the palace of Ankara.

After all, any force in Central Asia that dared to engage in hostilities or kill the envoys first was basically slaughtered by the Mongols hundreds of years ago.

Caledo looked at the royal palace in Ankara and the cathedral not far away, and found that it had changed a lot. There were four minarets at the four corners of the cathedral, which were red, blue, green and pink, and exuded ominous and blasphemous demonic energy.

"Hello, Roman messenger."

After entering the palace, an ogre who looked very young, even immature, wearing a green robe inlaid with gold edges and a white turban inlaid with jewels and gold chains, sat upright on the Sultan's throne and stared at the envoys below the stage with suspicion. He could not understand why the Eastern Roman Empire sent envoys to find him.

"My father Selim led the Janissary Legion to the Mesopotamian region. I, Suleiman, took over as regent on behalf of my father. The Ottoman Empire is listening to your voice."

"The Eastern Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire were originally brothers. Sixty years ago, when the Roman Empire was at its most exhausted and weak, Emperor John VII recognized Bayezid as his father and called himself the child emperor.

Fifty years ago, in order to end the Ottoman interregnum created by Timur the Lame, your country's Sultan Muhammad I also recognized our Emperor Manuel II as his father and called himself the Son Sultan. The friendship between the two sides has been very strong since ancient times, and we should continue to walk side by side in the future.

However, due to some misunderstandings, we have fought each other. I am here to represent the Eastern Roman Empire, Augustus, and am willing to establish a lasting friendship with the Ottoman Sultan and share what we have with each other. I, Augustus, married the mother of Muhammad II, and am the great-grandfather of your father, Sultan Selim. However, I, Augustus, am willing to lower my status and call Selim I my brother."

Caledo reviewed the few peaceful periods between the two countries in the past century, envisioned a bright future that was not guaranteed at all, and then expressed the desire for peace today.

Suleiman felt so absurd that his brain stopped working for a second. Is Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire crazy? He is the one who hates the Ottoman Empire the most, but now he wants to form an alliance with the Ottoman Empire, the country that hates the Roman Empire the most? And they are brothers?

He was about to refute it, but as an excellent political animal, the young Suleiman keenly realized that this thing seemed really feasible.

According to the intelligence he had, after the Ottoman Empire withdrew from Europe, the country hated by the Greek countries became the Eastern Roman Empire. The Second Legion, Varyag, was stationed in Crimea, and the Third Legion, the Sons of the Emperor, was stationed in Constantinople. Half of the army did not dare to act rashly, for fear that the Ottoman Empire would suddenly attack from the east.

In order to guard against the Eastern Roman Empire and the rebellious Janissary Legion coming from the west, the Empire still deployed heavy troops on the western defense line even when it was fighting hard with the Timurid Empire at the most critical moment.

If this alliance is successful, both sides can remove the defense forces on the eastern and western fronts and devote all their troops and energy to the battle in the Mesopotamian and Greek battlefields!

"Well... Your Excellency's request is reasonable, but the Roman Empire must share its shipbuilding technology, naval training tactics, and a group of naval officers to help the Ottoman Empire build a navy."

Suleiman was a little excited and itchy for a moment, but he still put on a reluctant look and made additional requests.

"Yes, but you must provide something equivalent to shipbuilding technology and naval officers."

Caledo didn't care. The manufacturing technology of galleys and caravels was not exclusive to Rome. There were many people who knew how to fight naval battles in Venice, Spain, and the Netherlands. Around the Mediterranean, only nomadic empires like the Ottoman Empire, which started from land, didn't know how to fight. Sooner or later, the Ottoman Empire would learn about naval warfare, as long as it didn't leak the Greek fire technology.

"Well, let me share with you a technology and military force that the Ottoman Empire has only recently learned."

Suleiman clapped his hands, and two maids in the palace came out in response. Their faces, bodies, and even clothes, with the mirage-like changes in light and shadow and their light steps, gradually became exactly like Caledo.

Caledo didn't care. It was just the most basic two-ring transfiguration. What was there to brag about? The most basic detection magic could break it.

However, when he took a closer look, he was shocked to find that there was no magical aura emanating from these two people - they did not become like this through magical means! His detection magic method was ineffective on the two maids!

In other words, these two maids are now the Lords of the White Tower. Even Caledo, as the Lord of the White Tower, cannot tell them apart by their appearance, let alone others?

Under Caledo's extremely solemn and shocked gaze, the two maids changed back into elf form. They were very petite and had ordinary faces, most of whom were ordinary people. The only thing that impressed people was their bald heads and the nine-headed green python tattooed on their ears.

"I am Alpharius."

"I am Alpharius too."

Caledo looked solemnly at this undetectable transformation method, immediately realized its strategic value, and nodded without hesitation.

Chapter 358: Sacrilegious Alliance

The Eastern Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire, a century-old feud, shook hands and made peace

The fact that Augustus and the Sultan called each other brothers immediately shocked the European continent, and its bad influence shocked everyone. Selim I even used teleportation to rush back to Asia Minor single-handedly in the Mesopotamian region, and rushed to Constantinople day and night with messengers. In the palace of Constantinople, Augustus and the Sultan hugged each other warmly like brothers who had been separated for many years, and called each other brothers. The red star and crescent flag of the Ottoman Empire also entered Constantinople for the first time in another form.

Unlike Western Europe where Catholic influence was deeply rooted, most of Greece had been ruled by the Ottomans for nearly a hundred years and had long been accustomed to the religious tolerance unique to Islam of that era. They had no resistance to Aenarion's policies and were not as extreme as Catholics - after all, Orthodoxy was still the only state religion.

While other countries were still shocked by the alliance between the two, the situation had already begun to change dramatically.

The several Janissary Corps stationed in the west of the Ottoman Empire set out at full speed towards the Mesopotamian region, vowing to quickly defeat the divided Timurid Empire and the separatist force that emerged in northern Persia, a strange kingdom called the Safavid Kingdom.

The Eastern Roman Empire's Second Legion stationed in Crimea and a large number of elite Tatar cavalry were directly transported by the navy to various passes in Thessaly and Western Thrace, forming a siege on Leman Russ. Aenarion himself led the Third Legion, the Emperor's Sons, guarding Constantinople, and the two naval fleets of the Aegean and Black Sea, and headed towards Rhodes!

The two Roman Empires, which were once irreconcilable, now turned their backs to each other like brothers, and then struck hard at their enemies!

Aenarion had just been out to sea for half a day when a letter from the Pope arrived. The Pope was frightened by this blasphemous alliance and hurriedly explained that Venice was doing this for money and that he had no control over the matter, but that it was already being resolved. He scolded him to withdraw his troops and that the Crusaders had been deceived. He was willing to mediate in this civil war between Christian brothers, but he must immediately tear up the alliance with the Ottoman Empire.

Aenarion just thought the Pope was talking nonsense, and used "already rebuked" and "willing to mediate" in exchange for "tearing up the alliance letter". Was he trying to fool people like fools?

He took his huge fleet and sailed south along the coastline of the Asia Minor Peninsula. The Ottoman port cities along the way opened their markets to provide supplies to the Romans. Sea transportation was dozens of times faster and more convenient than land transportation, which greatly alleviated the problem of population shortage during the harvest season. It allowed Aenarion to cross 536 kilometers in three days and reach Rhodes in the early morning of the fourth day.

The Venetian Navy occupied half of the islands in the Aegean Sea, and I really didn't know where their main naval force was for a while.

But the main force of the Knights Hospitaller must be in Rhodes Island!

Faced with the Roman fleet with its sails covering the sky and flags obscuring the sun, the Hospitaller fleet did not dare to fight in the field and quickly retreated back to the port of Rhodes, relying on the port and coastal artillery to deploy defensive fortifications.

Aenarion's army did not rush into the heavily guarded port full of artillery. Instead, they used some ships to quickly complete the blockade and siege of the port, and sent some small but fast boats to spread around Rhodes to detect the situation of the Venetian naval fleet. Then, they landed on the northern coast of Rhodes with the Third Legion of 10,000 people.

Soldiers wearing armor and holding spears and shields gathered under the red eagle flags as bright as blood, and walked down from the landing ships in an orderly manner. They were lined up in strict square formations with hundreds of people in a team, waiting for the emperor's inspection. Thousands of armor plates protected their chests, shoulders and thighs tightly, and the shiny armor and weapons sparkled in the sun.

Those carrying the red eagle flag are auxiliary soldiers.

Following them came the emperor's sons and noblemen, dressed in heavy armor, stepping onto the land of Rhodes Island under the fluttering purple eagle flag.

Compared with the basic protection of the auxiliary soldiers, these noble sons were defended to the teeth. Steel armor covered every part of their bodies, and even their faces were covered with steel masks, revealing only a pair of bloodthirsty and warlike purple eyes. Some of the burly noble sons were even equipped with a chain mail inside, or directly put on two or three layers of armor to protect their lives.

The wealthiest heirs of the nobility wore plate armor tailored for them by Italian craftsmen, and were clad in red, gold, and purple cloaks and robes. They were equipped with a large number of magical weapons, and swords and shields purchased at huge sums of money, which emitted a frightening magical halo. Among them were Komnenos, whose body was wrapped in immortal purple flames, and Palaiologos, who had transformed into a dragon.

There were a total of 600 of these top noble sons, plus 200 Phoenix Guards who protected the former emperor, 200 elites transferred from the Ultramarines, and some Double-headed Eagles of Angros. These 1,000 people were organized together to form the most prominent Imperial Guard Battalion in the Third Legion and became Aenarion's direct guard.

The captain of this battalion and the commander of the Royal Guard was Aenarion's wife, Indrognir Palaiologos herself. Joining this army was both a great honor and a hostage handed over by the nobles and ministers of the court to the emperor.

The auxiliary soldiers, who inherited the Roman Republic's civil engineering, first dug a trench parallel to the castle on the land outside the range of the city defense artillery fire. The Knights Hospitaller sent some light cavalry to harass them, unwilling to let the Roman civil engineering

The operation was going so smoothly, but they had no artillery cover, let alone harassing the engineering works. Before they could get close, they were repelled by the extremely intensive artillery fire of the Emperor's Children. Several tentative attacks only left broken corpses on the ground.

Under the cover of the extremely fierce artillery fire of the legion soldiers, the auxiliary soldiers dug the trenches and then slowly dug forward. Under the artillery fire of the knights, they began to establish artillery positions. In front of the designated artillery positions, they built wooden fences to prevent the Knights' cavalry from leaving the city to cause disturbances. They built siege positions step by step in an orderly manner, leaving the Knights Hospitaller with no omissions or opportunities.

After they finished their work, horses pulled the artillery along the trenches to the designated position. Under the cover of the city walls and trenches, the gunners on both sides began to bombard the city walls. Shells screamed and tore through the sky, and blasted the ground and the city walls into pieces! The shells covered the sky and even blocked out the sun's brilliance!

PS: Woohoo, I was overtaken in the monthly ticket list~ Please encourage me with monthly tickets QAQ, your support is the biggest motivation for the author to update~

Chapter 359: Midnight Attack

The fierce artillery fire continued until nightfall. The solid fortress built by the Knights Hospitaller on the mountain was blown up with many cracks and damage, and two sections of the city wall were directly blown up. Hepans mobilized the knights and citizens to carry out emergency repairs overnight, and she couldn't help feeling terrified in her heart.