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But his appearance was too conspicuous. The pursuing Mongolian cavalry knew at first sight that this was a high-ranking official. Dozens of cavalrymen waved their whips desperately, urging their mounts to charge forward. When they were nearby, they took out lassoes or hunting nets. Large nets covered the opponent's body with overwhelming force. Ropes blocked his rat legs and skinny arms, causing his rat head to let out panicked screams.

At this moment, a green-skinned orc who was about the same size as Walter, wearing heavy Mongolian armor, rode a mighty wild boar, and raised the blood-stained scimitar in his hand high. With a dazzling flash of the knife, he chopped off the head of the mutant giant rat. The dirty blue-pink blood gushed out from his broken neck, turning the clothes and armor of the nearby orcs into the color of hell.

"Well done! Shandan!"

Seeing the huge target's head fall to the ground, the Mongolian orcs cheered, picked up ropes and long needles, passed the ropes through the uncle's eyes, tied a knot, hung it on a pig as a trophy, and continued to chase other targets.

Chapter 181: Grass on the Wall

Aenarion raised his banner high, pursued the enemy in victory, and rushed straight into Heraklion, seizing the capital of Crete and the entire southern Aegean region, the most prosperous city: Heraklion.

The local governor was also caught by the neck by a Mongolian orc's lasso in the chaos. He was dragged for several miles behind the horse's buttocks before being captured and captured while he was dying.

Those soldiers, covered in blood and murderously holding spears and muskets, entered this prosperous city, and then found that, apart from friendly forces, the entire city was basically left with only unarmed civilians who could not resist them. Now, this prosperous and beautiful seaport city was like a young girl who had been stripped of all her clothes and defenses and handcuffed to the bed, and they had entered her body and could do whatever they wanted.

I don't know who opened it first.

At the beginning, the devil-like soldiers, armed with sharp weapons and covered in blood, rushed into the homes of civilians and looted. After a whole afternoon of bloody fighting, the extremely tired soldiers suddenly burst into a fighting spirit that was even stronger than on the battlefield, as if they were venting the fear they faced in the war, or as if they were cheering for their victory and defeating the enemy, and began to loot the whole city.

At first, it was just a group of soldiers, then it spread to a company, and later, even the commander Francisco himself began to loot according to the Crusader tradition.

The lich Dandor looked unhappy, but he didn't say anything. Looting after the city was captured was an old rule. If you can't make money in war, why should the soldiers work hard for you? The feudal monarchs might not know this, but the governor of the commercial republic could not be unaware of it.

Aenarion did not want to take things too far, so he issued an order allowing them to plunder for only one day and two nights, and to gather immediately the next morning. They could only plunder and were not allowed to kill.

At the same time, he also discovered a problem. He only tied the army to money, honor, and discipline, and it seemed that something was missing.

Twenty or thirty years ago, the French could abandon their homes and careers to follow Joan of Arc, correct old laws, face national crises together, and defeat the British with a common hatred of the enemy. The tiny Albania could repeatedly defeat the Ottoman army with its tiny territory, all because they pointed out the "national and national identity". Joan of Arc and Skander turned an originally boring conflict between dynasty nobles, which suffered greatly from the ordinary people but was not interested in, into a passionate holy war to defend their country, which promoted the awakening of national consciousness.

And his army was completely mobilized by his own greed for money and power. It cannot be said to be bad, but it can only be said to be incomplete.

Originally, the 19 training items of the Janissaries were completely applied to the training of their own soldiers. By the way, relying on their modern knowledge, they added "Firearms Tactics" and "Sand Table Simulation". Now it seems necessary to add a cultural course to enhance their sense of identity with the nation and the country, and expand the 19 training items to 21.

However, this was a huge project that could not be completed overnight. Aenarion first looted the treasury of Heraklion and obtained two hundred tons of stored grain and treasures worth 20 grosso silver coins, which was almost half a month's silver mine income. He took all the treasures and left half of the food for the lich.

When he came back, he found the lich was interrogating the local captured governor. His rotten and shriveled throat uttered cold and hoarse words, which were full of disappointment.

"Sarion, the captain of the Aquinia, the flagship of the First Fleet of the Aegean Sea. Your father accompanied me in battles all his life and died for me in a foreign land. To thank him, I supported all his family members. You were three years old at that time! My child, I proudly watched you grow up day by day and trained you to be an excellent captain. But why did you kill the former governor and take his place, and obey the rule of my son and Osman?"

"I, I can't help it, sir!"

The local governor knelt on the ground with bruises all over his body, crying bitterly.

"My family is in Venice. My mother, my wife, and my children are all held hostage by your son. The former governor refused to surrender, so they killed all his family members and sent his head to me. They demanded that I kill the governor and lead everyone to surrender. If I don't do as they ask, my family will be killed by your son!"

“How many governors of other islands are like you?”

Looking at the former captain crying bitterly, Dandolo frowned and the blame in his words was less.

"Everyone surrendered for this reason. Only a few were tempted by money. Those governors who had no worries and no scruples basically ran away like Aleri in Evia under the threat of the Ottoman pirate navy, seeking help from other Christians and waiting for an opportunity to regain their territory."

"I see. You are all afraid of this, right?"

Dandolo sighed, pulled Salien up from the ground, and hugged the child he had raised. As the child trembled and was afraid, he took out an exquisite birdcage made of gold from his dimensional bag, which imprisoned three wisps of purple mist.

Looking closely, these ghostly winds actually transformed into human-shaped souls, kneeling in a birdcage, holding the bars of the cage with their slender hands. The ethereal clouds and mist formed very delicate facial features, and they were crying for their fate of being captured.

"This is a soul that has been extracted from a human body... This face is the wife of your rebellious son, as well as your eldest son and daughter? You extracted their souls and imprisoned them here???"

Salien looked at the three souls imprisoned in the birdcage in surprise. He didn't expect that the lich would be so cruel.

"Don't worry. He has your hostage in his hand, and I also have the rebellious son's hostage in my hand. If he wants to take back the souls of my daughter-in-law and grandchildren and let them be reborn, he has to exchange your family. In this way, you have nothing to worry about."

Sarien nodded quickly.

"That's good. As long as you surrender, you will still be the local governor! I want you to write a letter to the remaining governors in the name of the Governor of Heraklion, telling them not to worry about the hostage issue. I also have the hostage of that rebellious son! I have guaranteed it in the name of the Governor of Venice! As long as they surrender, I will retain their governorship, forgive their past betrayal, and even make them

All the families and hostages left in Venice will be exchanged back."

Salien hurried down to carry out the governor's order, and a few hours later, all the governors received the terrifying news.

The most powerful governor among them, Sarien, was defeated by Aenarion in a few hours, and the Ottoman Tzeentch navy was completely annihilated! They were about to attack the remaining islands with the power of a great victory! Sarien was defeated, how could he succeed?

Another piece of news was that the old Governor Dandolo was willing to pardon their crimes, retain their governorship, and hold the souls of the new governor's families as hostages, willing to use this as a bargaining chip to redeem their families.

Under this suppression and the enticement of the Ottomans, these fence-sitters defected again. They killed the officials sent by the Ottomans to supervise them, regrouped their troops and ships, and once again united under the banner of their old governor to confront his rebellious son.

The author says:

Author's Note: Orange is Venice

Chapter 182: Offensive and Defensive Alliance

After resolving the threat of Ottoman pirates in the Aegean Sea and gaining an ally, Aenarion returned to Athens and began to compile textbooks. It was not difficult to find a sense of national identity in this magical world. There were elves, dwarves, orcs, ogres and all kinds of people in this world. Everyone could clearly see the differences between their own nation and other nations, and it was relatively easy to establish a sense of identity.

In fact, it is not too difficult to establish a national cultural identity. Later, Europeans would claim to be the successors of Rome and recognize the Roman Empire as their ancestor. However, this group of Greek high elves were much more orthodox than them. Aenarion followed suit and made a Roman history book, which recorded all the great achievements of Rome.

From Scipio leading his army to defeat Hannibal and spreading salt on the land of Carthage; to Caesar conquering Gaul and bringing the Gallic chieftains back to Rome in chains; to Octavian becoming the first emperor and making the Mediterranean an inland lake of the Roman Empire.

Afterwards, Trajan defeated the Persian Empire and brought Rome to its peak; Aurelian reunified the fragmented empire, and Justinian and Belisarius launched the reconquest movement; Bashir II, the Bulgarian butcher; Heraclius, who recaptured Syria and Egypt for the empire, but ended up with nothing in his later years after a lifetime of mediocrity... What flows in the Mediterranean is not water, but the endless blood of heroes for thousands of years.

The soldiers were fascinated by the magnificent lives of legendary emperors and marshals and the epic wars. Now, the Roman Empire, which had lasted for more than a thousand years, has fallen into their hands. Should they let this devastated and declining empire regain its former glory, or will it be completely destroyed and ruined?

The future of the Roman Empire lies in the hands of all the soldiers present!

Aenarion's new teaching materials slowly established a strong sense of cultural identity in the hearts of all the soldiers. Whether they were half-giants or elves, they were once members of the Roman Empire. The Ostrogoths, who also belonged to the Viking culture, also helped the Romans fight the Scourge of God in Chalons.

They fought not only for the generous bounties and titles of military merit, not only for the protection of their military fields and land, not only for the extremely strict discipline and military law of militarism, but for an illusory concept, country, nation, and belief.

Although it was slow, Aenarion worked hard to awaken the national consciousness of the more than 200,000 people under his rule.

While he was compiling history books and training his army with twenty-one training methods, which exceeded the 19 training methods of the Janissaries, messengers sent to Albania and Epirus brought answers from Skander and Komnenos.

Bad news came from Epirus: Queen Anna of Komnenos refused to send troops to fight against the Ottomans.

Although the Komnenos family was still devout Orthodox Christians and did not surrender to the Ottomans like Angelos, they also hated the Basileus family who stole the throne. These Komnenos elves kept to themselves and remained neutral, unwilling to participate in the war, especially a war between a bunch of hopeless loose alliances and the powerful Ottomans.

Aenarion sighed and looked at the letter from Skander. This rebellious Janissary, the powerful gold dwarf, was willing to form an alliance. He proposed an offensive and defensive alliance - the Thracian Basin was the center and crossroads of the entire Greek world, connecting Macedonia in the north, Athens in the south, Sinai Albania, and Thrace in the east.

If the First Army attacked Albania, Athens would have to send troops north to contain the enemy.

If the Dark Angels attacked Aenarion, Skander would surely send his forces eastward to contain the enemy.

This treaty was relatively fair, and Aenarion felt that he could agree to it.

But the second one surprised Aenarion. Skander proposed a condition: Albania lacked everything except blacksmiths. Dwarves were natural masters of forging and mining. They could provide a group of 3,000 golden dwarf blacksmiths, and a full set of blast furnaces, bellows, anvils and other tools to provide Aenarion with the foundation of the blacksmith industry. Aenarion's current blacksmiths totaled only 1,000.

One hundred and thirty people, plus these dwarves, my blacksmithing skills can be truly developed.

However, the wages of these blacksmiths would have to be paid by Aenarion in the future, and Skander also demanded 420,000 silver coins and a large amount of black powder - Albania, like the rest of Europe, had no saltpeter mines, and they did not know how to make saltpeter from saltpeter fields. After falling out with the Ottomans, their firearms were strangled, and even if they had more guns and cannons, they had no black powder to fire them.

Aenarion thought about it and felt that this deal was very profitable. It takes a long time to train a blacksmith. He got the extremely scarce blacksmith, and the other party got the extremely scarce silver coins and gunpowder. The strength of both friends was enhanced, which meant that the strength of the enemy Osman was weakened.

I can come up with 300,000 silver coins, but the saltpeter fields are not ready yet. I started working on it in July, and the first batch of saltpeter will be smelted around February next year.

The two sides sent messengers to each other, and after some discussion, they made concessions on the second condition. Skander immediately dispatched 3,000 blacksmiths to Athens, and Aenarion immediately handed over 420,000 silver coins to Skander. As for saltpeter, they could wait until February of next year, as he really did not have any extra gunpowder now.

Aenarion looked at the blacksmiths with satisfaction and ordered them to start making more armor immediately - however, these dwarves did not know how to make chain mail, which was a Western European craft. Before the collapse of Rome, Albania had always been the domain of the Eastern Romans. They were armorers and could only make Eastern Roman, Persian, and Central Asian armor.

The three thousand dwarves had different divisions of labor. Some of them cut the whole iron ingots into thin pieces of armor.

Some people beat, roughly grind, punch holes, make holes, cut, cut edges, and fine-grind the iron sheets.

After the armor pieces are processed, they are handed over to the third group of dwarves, who use leather strips to weave the pieces into armor. Some leather lining is also hung inside, and a set of armor is considered successfully made. The speed is very fast, and it is obvious that you are an old hand or even a master.

Considering the average body height of elves, which is over two meters, if it is just a chest armor to protect the chest, more than five hundred armor pieces can be woven, plus the skirt armor, which is one thousand one hundred, plus the shoulder armor, a set of armor only requires about two thousand armor pieces.

The defensive power of ziplock armor is between chain mail and plate armor. Although its defensive power is not as good as that of finely crafted plate armor, it is abundant in quantity, easy to make, and inexpensive. Because these dwarves have standardized the size of armor plates and rope specifications, it is very convenient to repair. If any armor plate is broken, the rope can be removed and repaired in just a few minutes and it can be used again.

Aenarion nodded. From now on, they would use a mixture of chain mail and oriental armor. All the chain mail they bought couldn't be wasted. They would just wear whatever they had. The unification of armor was not something they should consider at this stage.

A few days later, his officials helped him check the population and land of the three islands of Evia. Since these three places were isolated from the mainland, they were not too exploited by the Ottomans. Together, they gained another 30,000 people, raising his total population to 254,000. Aenarion gritted his teeth and, relying on the extra land he had stored and the land of the three new islands, he recruited a thousand troops for the fourth time. He had them wear the armor that the dwarf craftsmen had just made and formed his fourth regiment.

Chapter 183: The Sultan's Death (Part 1)

Aenarion built schools, promoted education, trained new troops, and expanded the army. With the help of silver mines and dwarven craftsmen, he managed to train a professional army of more than 4,000 people on a population of 250,000. Each of them wore a red robe, silver chain mail or zip-mail, and the kite shields in their hands were painted scarlet. Pheasant feathers, also dyed red, were inserted into their pointed helmets. They looked very majestic.

Hundreds of these people standing together looked like a silver-red metal ocean! The captains of each company wore conspicuous red capes, and the tassels on their helmets changed from towering pheasant feathers to the red mane crowns of centurions in ancient Rome. The flag bearers beside them wore a complete wolfskin on their helmets to show their special status, and held up a four-meter-high red eagle flag, asking the soldiers of the entire company to march in an orderly manner and follow them.

The leader of a thousand men wore double or even triple armor, and the horizontal crown on his helmet became a vertical crown, symbolizing his identity.

By the time they got through the winter, in February 1451, Aenarion had trained a 2-man army. Many of them had risen from civilians to first-class warriors in half a year of training. At least they had gone from being heavily armored, money-built conscripted cannon fodder to real heavily armored soldiers. Most of the officers were professionals of levels three or four. Allari the Souleater, a Nurgle demon hunter, had also become a captain of his own regiment.

Although not as perverted as the Janissaries, with soldiers qualified at level four and company commanders starting at level eight, they are still considered a bully in the Aegean Sea. All of their members put on the zircon armor forged by the dwarves in the past four or five months. Some of the strong men with high strength and physique even wore two or three layers of zircon armor, as intimidating as silver iron towers.

The previous chain mails were not idle either, they were either given to the garrison guards or were modified in size with iron armor, two pieces, four pieces changed into one, and then rewarded to the orcs, turning all 500 of them into heavy armor sequences, and every war pig was covered with chain mail, completing the horrific transformation from heavy armored cavalry to armored cavalry.

In the past few months, Enari

Most of Ang's taxes were used for the army. Just paying the salaries of the 60 infantrymen cost silver coins, and the Mongolian mercenaries cost silver coins. Repairing ships, maintaining weapons, and the bullets and gunpowder for musketeer shooting training also cost silver coins. He only earned more than silver coins a month, of which more than % was spent on the military.

Now 60% of his men are spearmen and 40% are musketeers. A volley of 1,600 musketeers would cost 1,600 silver coins.

But it was all worth it. With large amounts of ammunition, the shooting frequency and accuracy of these 10 musketeers were improving every day. Their previous shooting frequency was one shot every seconds, but now it has gradually increased to seconds, speeding up by about %.

And in February of this year, Aenarion received two good things.

First, the two bastions of Martinum and Delphi were completed, and water was diverted to build moats and trenches. The Principality of Athens completely sealed the pass of the Pindus Mountains, truly keeping the enemy out of the country and guarding the throat of its own country's destiny.

Second, the first batch of saltpeter fields finally took shape after ten months of burial - a large amount of wheat straw, fallen leaves, and dirty cloth were buried in these lands for bacterial growth, and then lime and water were poured in to keep them warm - later it was discovered that the winter in Greece was not cold, but very warm, and could even be omitted, and finally the urine of all the citizens of Athens and Thebes was poured in, and after October, what was dug out was saltpeter soil.

Workers mixed the potassium nitrate-rich nitrate soil with wood ash, soaked it in water at a ratio of three to one, and finally boiled the nitrate water to obtain extremely pure nitrate! The first wave of production was as high as one ton! After that, it was mixed with charcoal and sulfur to produce granulated black powder.

Charcoal can be obtained by burning trees. As for sulfur, the Aegean Sea is located in an earthquake zone and there are many volcanic islands. Aenarion has no shortage of these two resources. As long as he can solve the problem of saltpeter, he will never lack gunpowder again.

In July last year, Aenarion began to collect urine from 16,000 people in two cities every day to make saltpeter. He never stopped afterwards, and the scale grew day by day. What was harvested today was only the saltpeter buried on the first day. The saltpeter fields on the second and third days were all waiting for their harvest.

Now, not only did he not have to worry about gunpowder, he could even send a large amount of gunpowder to Skanderbeg as agreed. He had previously used his own money to purchase a large number of muskets, cannons, and special one-pound cannons that could shoot shotgun shells. He had upgraded all the gold dwarfs' crossbows into firearms, and had unleashed amazing results in the narrow ravines and tunnels.

And now, with Aenarion's gunpowder, Albania's defense system has been directly improved to a higher level than last year. Although the two people whom the Ottomans hated to the core had never met until now, they were closely united under the threat of death.

On February 1451, 2, a bigger incident broke out just before the First Legion was about to march south to Athens.

That night, Murad II, who had regained the old Ottoman territory, killed the King of Hungary and Poland, suppressed the rebellion of the royal family at home, and made the Ottoman Empire great again, died suddenly in his sleep after a lifetime of military service due to scars, overwork and a sudden stroke. Countless attendants and servants knelt beside the body of the late emperor and wailed loudly. The sorrow was like a tide, drowning everyone's heart.

This news was also spread spontaneously through the mouths of the imperial guards and servants...

"My Lord, Lord Hallely?! Are you asleep? There is urgent information from the palace!"

A golden dwarf wearing three layers of armor, the outermost layer of which was plated with gold, strode to the outside of an elegant and simple mansion, accompanied by the sound of thousands of armor plates colliding, and knocked hard on the door.

"Who is it? It's in the middle of the night."

Hallely yawned and opened the door sleepily. The ogre was only two meters eighty centimeters tall. In the ogre culture, anyone with a height below three meters was considered a fourth-level disabled person. Two meters eighty centimeters was considered very short. He was not fat, but rather well-proportioned. He wore a simple grey robe that covered his huge body of fat and muscle, and had a huge psychic amplifier device on his neck.

"Golden Dwarf, your Seventh Legion, the Janissaries of the Sultan's Fist, are not in the Edirne Palace to protect His Majesty the Sultan. Why are you looking for me in the middle of the night?"

"My Lord, I am here to inform you of a piece of sad news. Just a few minutes ago, Sultan Murad was summoned by God and his soul returned to the eternal paradise of Allah."

The fat and strong golden dwarf, who was 13 meters tall and wide at the waist, saluted respectfully to the ogre in front of him. The ranking of the Ottoman Diwan Thirteenth Council was very special. They used a round table made entirely of gold. The most honorable thirteenth seat always belonged to the Sultan, while the first and twelfth seats, which were closest to thirteen, had the greatest authority, and the fifth seat, which was farthest from thirteen, and the sixth seat had the lowest authority.

The first seat of the Thirteen Diwan Council is held by the Ottoman warlord who holds the military power of the empire.

The twelfth seat is Khalil, the seal holder and grand vizier whose power is comparable to that of the prime minister of Zhendan.

Chapter 184: Twins Fight for Succession (Part 2)

"What???"

Khalil's entire body seemed to be struck by lightning. His pupils trembled violently, and his face turned extremely pale due to the loss of blood color. His huge body staggered back two steps, as if he was trying to get away from the terrible news brought by the Imperial Guards.

His trembling legs could no longer support the huge body, and he suddenly grabbed the door frame to avoid falling. Sorrow and pain flooded his body and mind like a tide.

The Sultan whom he had assisted for thirty years just passed away like this???

No! Now is not the time to be sad. The Ottoman Empire cannot be without a master. Now, there are only two candidates for the throne. Prince Ahmed, who is of noble origin and a pure-blooded cannibal, but is only a baby; and Prince Muhammad, who is of low origin and even looks like an elf slave girl, but is an adult.

"Immediately gather the four Seal Keepers! The Ministry of Justice, the Inquisition, and the Spymaster. I, as the Grand Seal Keeper, order all the Imperial Guards to return to the palace and impose martial law! Block any news of His Majesty's death!"

The Great Vichir Khalil suppressed his sorrow and roared loudly in anger.

"But, my Lord, we have been ordered to spread the news of the Sultan's death immediately, so I have come here to inform you."

The Janissary, wearing triple armor, said hesitantly.

"Ridiculous! I don't care who gave you the order, cancel it immediately! The Seventh Legion will act immediately, and anyone who heard the news will be brought back to the palace. Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy! This news cannot be leaked!!!"

Khalil roared, not even wearing a headscarf, and strode towards the palace in a gray robe to take control of the overall situation on behalf of the Sultan.

The will of the Grand Vizier was faithfully carried out by the Janissaries. The spread of information stopped immediately. A large number of golden dwarves rode a special kind of mountain goats as mounts and rushed into the city. All those who knew the truth were brought back to the palace. Several people who wanted to escape for unknown reasons were hacked to death on the spot by the gold dwarves with hammers and axes. The information was blocked among the bloody corpses and the towering and closed city walls.

The four seal holders, Viciel, who were in charge of personnel, finance, diplomacy, and household registration, and the Ministry of Justice, the Tribunal, and the spy chief, who were in charge of maintaining religion, all came and gathered under the seal holder. The eight people sat under the magnificent dome, in the light of the stars, the moon, and candlelight.

Among the eight people, there are four ogres, three dark elves, and one Slavic beastman.