Let me introduce you, this is my girlfriend, the Israeli boxing champion

Then our army’s chance for a great victory has come!

"Don't think about it. He said that since he is dead, he will never go to Qishan six times again. Is there any story behind this?" El-Melloi II, who did not understand some of the stories in the Far East, looked at his students, hoping to get an answer from them.

"...Let's continue discussing the deployment of troops."

......

Each regiment had its own designated position. The Anatolian army was on the right wing, commanded by the Turkish general Ishak Pasha, and his deputy was a former Christian Mahmud Pasha who had apostatized. The Christian and Balkan troops were on the left wing, commanded by Karaga Pasha. Another large force, led by Zagan Pasha, a Greek convert to Islam, went to pave the road in the swamps north of the Golden Horn, control the mountains leading to the Bosphorus, and monitor the movements of the Genoese.

The Ottomans' battle preparations were well-organized, and their specific goals were kept secret, which was even more terrifying. The Sultan's army and camp were well-organized, with sufficient food and fodder. The order of the camp was quite beautiful, without any chaos or embarrassment.

Clusters of conical tents were arranged neatly and tidy. In the middle of each group of tents was the commander's tent, with a conspicuous flag flying on its main pole. In the middle of the entire camp, the soldiers solemnly set up the golden and red embroidered tent of Mehmed II himself. The Sultan's tent clearly showed his dignity and majesty, symbolizing his power and reflecting the Sultan's origin as a nomadic leader. Every Sultan would order a gorgeous tent to be made for him when he ascended the throne to show his specialness as a monarch.

The Sultan's camp was out of the crossbow range of the Byzantine defenders. According to the custom, wooden fences were built around the camp, trenches were dug, and shields were placed. With the Sultan's camp as the center, his most loyal troops were deployed like a halo around the moon. These soldiers were the best in the army. Their mission was to protect the Sultan like protecting their own eyes. The safety of the entire empire depended on them.

The entire camp was very meticulously organized. Tents were like an ocean, with flags of all sizes flying on top: the Sultan's gold and white royal flag, the red flag of his cavalry guards, and the green and red or red and gold flags of the infantry guards. Flags were a symbol of power and order in medieval armies.

We can also see the colorful tents of the main commanders, as well as the distinctive hats and costumes of the different troops: the Guards wear very distinctive white Bektashi hats; the infantry wear red turbans; the cavalry wears pointed turban helmets and chain mail; the Slavs wear Balkan clothing. A quarter of them wear chain mail or leather armor, many others are equipped in French and Hungarian styles, some wear iron helmets and are equipped with crossbows. Other soldiers have shields and scimitars.

"This can be said to be a wave for the whole family, your majesty."

"Hiss... This new Sultan is different from Murad II." Constantine XI quickly realized this. "He is serious."

"Your Majesty, the Ottomans have already made a fire and are cooking." A guard said to them outside.

As dusk approached, muezzins sounded the call to prayer from dozens of locations throughout the camp. Bonfires were lit and the day's evening meal was prepared. The two armies were only 250 yards apart, and the defenders on the ramparts could hear the sounds of the enemy camp: the murmurs of voices, the pounding of mallets, the whirring of sharpened swords, the snorting and neighing of horses, mules, and camels.

Worse still, they might even hear Christian prayers coming from the European wing of the enemy.

Although the Ottomans decided to wage a holy war, they were very tolerant of their vassals: "Although they were subjects of the Sultan, he did not force them to abandon the Christian faith, so they could worship and pray as they pleased."

The enormous help the Ottoman army received from Christian subjects, mercenaries, apostates, and technical experts has been the subject of repeated lamentations by European historians.

"I can testify to that!" Archbishop Leonard roared. "There are Greeks, Latins, Germans, Hungarians, Bohemians, and people from all other Christian countries on the Turks' side... What an abomination it is to abandon Christ in this way!"

The Orthodox Archbishop had behaved so improperly that Constantine XI had to order his men to send the old man back.

"Your Majesty, how many people do we have now?"

"It's all here."

PS1: During the religious wars, the Ottomans chose the Protestant alliance and stood against the Catholics.

PS2: Fight till death, give me back my vacation! （）

Chapter 110 The Last Romans

Compared with the aggressive Ottomans, it was much easier for Constantine XI to count his own troops. He only needed to count them. In March, he ordered a census of each district to record "how many able-bodied people there are, including monks, and how many weapons each person has that can be used for city defense."

"The Emperor summoned me and said: This task falls within your purview and you are the best person for it, for you have the ability to make the necessary calculations, to supervise the preparations for the city's defenses, and to keep them secret. Please take these lists home and study them, and make an accurate estimate of how many hand weapons, shields, bows, and artillery we have, not counting the help that Alvin has brought."

"I carried out the emperor's orders and presented him with a detailed estimate of our resources. The results were quite discouraging."

"Although our city is vast, there are only 7773 Greeks and only 2000 foreigners who can participate in the battle." In addition, some people who actually have nothing to do with it also took the initiative to join the war, including Genoese, Venetians and those who secretly came from Galata to help defend the city. The total number of these people added up to about 3000. Therefore, the city's garrison had only about 1.3 people, but they had to defend the 12-mile-long city wall and the newly built artillery towers.

"What's more serious is that most Greeks are not good at fighting. They use shields, swords, spears and bows and arrows completely by instinct without any military skills. The defenders are seriously lacking in people who are good at using bows and crossbows. It is hard to say how much help the Orthodox masses who are dissatisfied with the government can provide."

This was the result of recuperation with the help of El-Melloi II. Without them, the actual situation might be even worse. Therefore, the importance of the Venetians and the two knights brought by Mr. Alvin was even more prominent, and the following battle proved all this.

The emperor was worried that if the news of such a shortage of troops spread, it would seriously affect morale, so he decided to conceal the true situation. "The real number was kept as a secret, and only the emperor and I knew it."

It is obvious that there is a huge disparity in strength between the attacking and defending sides in this battle.

Constantine XI concealed the true situation and began to make final preparations. On April 4, the day the gates were closed for the last time, he ordered ships to raise the Golden Horn chain from the Eugenius Gate near the corner of the Acropolis to a tower inside Galata's sea wall. The project was led by a Genoese engineer named Bartolomeo Soligo. He was chosen perhaps because he was able to convince his fellow Genoese in Galata to allow the chain to be fixed to their walls. This issue was very controversial. The Genoese residents of Galata would have violated their strict neutrality by allowing the Byzantines to do so. If the war went badly, this would certainly incur the wrath of Mehmed II, but the Genoese agreed to the Byzantine request. For Constantine XI, as long as there was enough naval force to protect the chain, the four miles of wall along the Golden Horn would hardly need to be deployed.

While the Ottoman sultan was mobilizing his troops outside the city, Constantine XI held a war council with Giustiniani and the heroes from Chaldea to discuss how to deploy the 2.5 troops on a 12-mile long front. He knew that the Golden Horn would be safe as long as the chain was strong; he was not too worried about the sea walls in other areas. The currents in the Bosporus were so strong that the enemy could not easily land there by boat. The Marmara coast also had strong currents and the shallow shores were not conducive to enemy landing operations. The land walls needed the most attention, even though they seemed impregnable.

Constantine XI made specific deployments of his troops according to specific problems. He divided the 14 districts of the city into 12 military districts and allocated resources accordingly. He decided to set up his headquarters at the St. Romanus Gate in the Lycus Valley. The emperor and the sultan could almost face each other across the city wall. He deployed his most elite main force here. Giustiniani was initially stationed at the Blachernae Gate on the northern ridge, but later moved his Genoese soldiers to the center to meet the emperor and take over the daily command of this key section.

The various sections of the land wall were assigned to important figures in Constantinople. On the emperor's right, the commander of the Charissius Gate was Boudica of Britannia, a lady of beauty and grace.

The area further north, all the way to the right angle, was entrusted to the Hospitaller Knights and Teutonic Knights of Rhodes. At Alvin's lobbying, they came to participate in the war "at their own expense" and brought their own equipment, including muskets and powerful large crossbows. The tall Germans played an important role in this battle.

The weaker single wall around the Blachernae Palace was also largely handed over to the Venetians for defense. The Venetian admiral Barto personally moved into the Blachernae Palace, and on the palace tower, the flag of St. Mark flew together with the emperor's flag.

One of the gates of the palace, the Caligaria Gate, was commanded by El-Melloi II, who was also from Britannia. He was actually a Scotsman and a professional teacher. His other task was to manage the supply of materials within the city.

Near the Golden Gate, the point where the land wall meets the sea wall on the Marmara coast was guarded by a man from a prominent Roman family in Italy. The emperor was very secretive about his name, and I only knew that his name was Quirinus - what a great name, and he successfully resisted Attila's attack.

The commander of the section of the wall on his left was the hero of the city, Mr. Alvin Vasak, and his wife, Mona Lisa, a Jewish nobleman from the Promised Land, well versed in Roman and Greek literature, an expert in geometry, familiar with the Iliad, and even improved the structure of the wall - a decision that paid off, as the Ottomans soon paid a heavy price for it.

The emperor led a truly multinational army, but conflicts still existed due to differences in religion, nationality, and commercial competition. In order to reduce friction between Genoese and Venetians, between Orthodox Christians and Catholics, and between Greeks and Italians, he deliberately mixed the soldiers, hoping to strengthen their mutual dependence. He devoted his life's experience in combat and mobilizing troops to these deployments, but perhaps he himself did not expect how tenaciously these competing teams would fight in the days that followed.

......

"Ahem, I finally found it."

After a long battle, an old man finally found a thick book from his dusty basement. When he opened the page and saw the familiar notes on the yellowed paper, he could no longer hold back his tears.

"I found it, I found it, I found it, Your Majesty..."

PS1: George Franz, a close friend and most loyal minister of Constantine XI, was also the last person from the Byzantine Empire - if we don't count Sophia who went to the Third Rome.

PS2: The sideburns almost killed me...

Chapter 111 Is what I did really right?

On a night when flowers are blooming, the moonlight is especially like water. There are no stars in the night sky tonight, and the bustling city has fallen asleep under the deep night.

At the headquarters of the Charissius Gate, Alvin, looking tired, ran into George Franz, the most loyal friend and minister of Constantine XI, as soon as he came out.

"Mr. Franz."

"I'm here to report something to the emperor. Mr. Alvin, have you just finished the meeting?" Franz was talking to Alvin while holding a thick case file.

"Then go in quickly. Today is the last night you can have a good rest." After Alvin helped to support the case file, he went back first.

Cut the chain, close the gate, and when the long marathon combat meeting ended, it was already 11 o'clock in the evening. Except for the teams patrolling from time to time, there were few pedestrians on the street. Under the dim street lights, two men of similar build were seen walking slowly along the street.

"Your mood swings are more extreme today than they were in the classroom, Alvin."

"I know, teacher." He admitted the fact. "After all, when I set out from London that day, I myself would not have thought that I would actually have the opportunity to change history."

"But you should also know that there are some decisions that neither you nor I can change, Alvin. For example, his garrison on the other side of the sea wall is exactly the same as before."

When talking about this, Alvin and El-Melloi II sighed at the same time.

They were talking about the treatment of Constantine XI's garrisons on the Marmara coast. A detachment led by the purple noble Jacob Contarini was stationed in the village of Studion; the nearby section of the city wall was a section that the enemy was unlikely to attack, and was guarded by a group of Orthodox monks. Constantine XI deployed a detachment of apostate Ottomans at the port of Eleftherae, far from the land wall, and the commander was none other than Prince Orhan. Although these people were very loyal, they would not be well served if the city fell.

But the emperor had no intention of using this army.

The coast at the top of the city was guarded by a Catalan contingent, while the Acropolis was entrusted to Cardinal Isidore and his 200 men. Despite the protection of the sea, Constantine XI decided to equip each tower with two archers - an archer and a crossbowman or musketeer, which shows how unsure he was about the fighting power of the garrison in this area. The Golden Horn was defended by Genoese and Venetian sailors, commanded by the Venetian officer Trivisano; the crews of the two Cretan ships in the harbor were responsible for guarding a gate near the chain - the Beautiful Gate. Aluvexe di Aido was responsible for protecting the chain itself and the ships in the harbor.

To provide further support to his weak "Great Army", Constantine XI decided to keep a quick-response reserve. Two detachments were kept away from the city walls, ready to be deployed at any time. One of them, commanded by Grand Duke Lucas Notaras, a skilled soldier and second only to the emperor in importance in Constantinople, was stationed in the Petra district and had a hundred cavalrymen and some light artillery.

The second rapid reaction force, commanded by Nikophoros Palaiologos, was stationed on the central ridge near the abandoned Church of the Holy Apostles. These reserves totaled about 1000 people.

Although the composition of the army is extremely mixed, now is not the time to be entangled in the composition issue. The instructor and Chiang Kai-shek can cooperate again, but it doesn't work here.

"He entrusted many key areas to foreigners for defense because he advocated the union of the Eastern and Western churches. So he entrusted the keys of the four main city gates to us, the most important ones, and made sure that the other Greek commanders on the city walls were religious unionists. Grand Duke Lucas Notaras of the reserve may be against the union, so the emperor deliberately placed him in the rear to prevent him from being forced to cooperate with the Catholics when defending the city walls."

The same question that puzzled Alvin and El-Melloi II was extremely simple in front of Da Vinci. She looked at these two guys who were extremely smart on weekdays, but now they were nodding blankly like newbies.

"You are really not suited to politics. Who handled this aspect in the Clock Tower?"

"Lenice." ×2

"The head of the Archibald family? I heard from Olga Marie that she is indeed an expert in this field."

"That's natural. After all, we know nothing about this stuff."

The master and disciple not only did not mind their own poor performance in politics, but they raised their cups and clinked them against each other to show their approval.

"Come to think of it, Alvin almost went to the Law and Politics Department. Have you ever thought about the day when you really went to the Law and Politics Department? Racing with Goldruff every day?"

"No, I guess he is called to have tea by Barthelmero every day."

"Come to think of it, I didn't expect you would hold a combat meeting for so long." Da Vinci walked from the bar to the kitchen to prepare something, and the master and disciple, who couldn't sit still, started talking again.

"The original idea when the three-wall system was designed was to have a much stronger army that could defend in depth, with garrisons on both the higher inner wall and the lower outer wall. In the original world line, he did not have enough troops to defend both walls at the same time, so he had to choose which wall to resist. In the past sieges, the defenders had encountered the same choice and chose to defend the outer wall, and both were successful. Constantine XI and his own Giustiniani chose the same strategy."

In some quarters, the decision was controversial. “I have always been against this,” the archbishop, ever critical, wrote in his diary. “I have urged strongly not to abandon the defense of the higher inner walls.”

Alvin knew this story, and in his opinion, the archbishop's suggestion was too much to ask.

"But things are different now. We have not only repaired the inner wall, but also further improved the defense system of the wall. In addition, with the strategy of uniting the six countries you have achieved, it is not impossible to defeat the Ottomans at the next stop in Constantinople, but..."

At this point, El-Melloi II hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke out.

"If we really changed all this, then wouldn't that make us any different from the mastermind behind this?"

"Alvin, are we really right?"

The atmosphere became tense. Facing his teacher's questioning, Alvin remained silent. He wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Ah, I'm back."

Boudica, who arrived late, smelled a faint fragrance after entering the room, which came from the kitchen.

"What is Leonardo doing?"

"Ah, it's Boudica, she's preparing a midnight snack. Today I must have you come and taste the cooking of the Almighty!"

"Then I'd rather be respectful than obey."

Everything seemed to disappear into thin air, as if nothing had happened.

Chapter 112 The Legend Begins Here

When I am about to destroy a town, I command those who live in peace to obey me, but they are dissolute and therefore deserve to be punished. So I destroy them.

——"Quran, Al-Night Journey: 16"

Even though the war had already begun, Mamtim II still sent a small group of cavalrymen to the city gate with flags flying to negotiate with the defenders of Constantinople. According to the traditional requirements of the Quranic law, they first invited the Byzantines to surrender voluntarily.

"Emperor of Constantinople, if you surrender, you can still keep your title, wouldn't that be wonderful?!"

This was a common tactic used by the Turks. The Christian defenders could convert to Islam, surrender, pay a poll tax, or choose to resist. Once the city was breached, they would be looted for three days.

"They are worthy of being Turkic barbarians. They are still the same after so many years." Alvin listened to the arrogant tone of the envoys from the city wall next to St. Romanus Gate and wondered who made the rule that envoys should not be killed when two armies are fighting.

The Byzantines had heard this routine warning as early as 674 and several times afterwards. Their response, based on what the Turkic barbarians said, was always: "We will not accept the poll tax, Islam, or give up our fortresses."

After the request for surrender was rejected, the Ottoman army could believe that their siege was approved by divine law, so heralds announced throughout the camp that the siege had officially begun.

"The Venetians have started patrolling. Is this a plan you came up with yesterday?"

Da Vinci sat in the round hole on the city wall, kicking her feet uncontrollably. Judging from her clothes and temperament, she shouldn't be here.

"what happened?"

"Da Vinci, what are you doing here?" Alvin asked unhappily. "Are you here to be a hostage? Ritsuka and the others are not here."

Just this morning, Alvin and his men received intelligence from Leonidas I that Chaldea had already arrived at the city, but they were on his side.

"I am also a Servant after all. My fighting ability is much stronger than yours. Why, do those people's eyes still bother you?" Da Vinci said meaningfully. "I don't think you are the kind of person who will be affected by external forces."

"No, I mean your black technologies, don't they need supervisors?"

"It's not like you haven't seen my puppets before, idiot~"

......

"The emperor was determined to do everything he could to boost morale. Knowing that the sultan feared that the Catholic states would come to the rescue of the Orthodox city, he decided to stage a small show of force of his own. At his request, the Venetian troops would parade along the length of the land wall in their conspicuous European armor. This would make it clear to the enemy that they were not alone."

Leonardo saw at a glance the purpose of these patrols, but in fact the emperor was going to do more than that. He had decided to be present in person as much as possible in the battlefield, so that the soldiers could see him. His headquarters had been moved from the Charissius Gate to a large tent behind the St. Romanus Gate, and every day he set out from there, riding his Arabian mare, together with George Franz to encourage the soldiers, check the sentries, and search for those who had deserted their posts.

Wherever he went, he said Mass in the nearest church and made sure that each unit of soldiers had its own monks and priests to hear confessions and give the last sacraments to the dying on the battlefield. He also ordered that worship services be held day and night to pray for the salvation of the city; at the end of morning prayers, people would carry holy images through the streets and on the city walls to boost morale. Muslims outside the city could see the long beards of the Christians and hear the hymns echoing in the spring air.

Bad weather further dampened the morale of the defenders. Minor earthquakes aside, the onset of the rainy season also overwhelmed them. In a highly tense atmosphere, many people thought they saw omens and remembered ancient prophecies.

"The icons in the church, the columns and the statues of saints are sweating," Leonardo quipped. "I hope to live in an enlightened age. By the way, how did our emperor react to these prophecies?"

"The emperor himself was not much troubled by the prophecy, but was more troubled by the arrival of the enemy's artillery."

He still remembers the slaughter that followed the Ottoman artillery that destroyed his carefully built walls of Hexamilyon in five days in 1446.”

In fact, the emperor's pressure did not stop there.

Mamt II, with his excellent logistical ability, coordinated the equipment, supplies and strong manpower, was now ready for battle. His artillery shells, saltpeter, tunnel digging equipment, siege weapons and food were all collected, counted and deployed.

The Ottoman army cleaned its weapons, dragged its cannons into position, and the soldiers—cavalry and infantry, archers and pikemen, armorers, gunners, marauding hussars, and engineers—were assembled and ready to fight. The Ottoman sultans, still remembering their past as nomadic tribesmen, understood how to motivate their soldiers and channel their enthusiasm toward a common goal. The sultans knew how to inspire the fervor of holy war. Prophets came and went in the camp, reciting ancient hadith prophecies about the fall of Constantinople and its significance for Islam.