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

The morning begins with the haunting quarter-beat rhythm of the hymns, the sounds of mourning, the smoke of incense, and the traditional prayers to Our Lady of Refuge.

"Save your city, as you know it and want it. You are our weapon, our fortress, our commander: fight for your people who believe in you."

At this moment, Alvin also followed the icon. He looked at the praying citizens with sarcasm, and looked at Constantine beside him with pity.

He used to be very puzzled by the iconoclasm movement initiated by Leo III, who saved the empire from disaster, but now it seems that it is better to smash these things.

Isn't what these citizens are begging for exactly what the emperor is fighting for? He has done his utmost to ensure the continuation of the empire. Even if Caesar, Octavian, the Five Good Emperors, Justinian, or Manuel were reborn, they would not necessarily be more competent than him.

It was just that fate arranged for this ambitious and capable emperor to appear in the empire's final days and gave him an impossible task.

In this tense atmosphere full of fear and piety, a sudden and serious disaster occurred: the holy image suddenly fell from people's hands and fell to the ground without any explanation, reason, or intervention from any tangible force. People could not help but rush forward with horror and shouting to pick up the image of the Virgin Mary.

But for some reason, the statue of the Virgin Mary was stuck to the ground and could not be lifted up, as if it was pressed heavily by a lead block. The priests and citizens knelt down on the roadside and prayed hard.

"I have to go check it out."

The emperor hurried forward and pushed through the crowd. He could see clearly from behind that the statue of the Virgin Mary was not impossible to pick up, but that the crowd was trembling and trying to pick it up with their heads like a leaf flying. In the end, the statue of the Virgin Mary was picked up by the emperor himself and placed back on the tray, but some people were shocked by this ominous sign.

Worse things were yet to come. The people trembled and reorganized the parade, but before they had gone far, a thunderstorm suddenly broke out. Lightning and thunder flashed, and heavy rain and hail hit the embarrassed team hard. They could neither stand up nor move forward.

Finally, they had to abandon the procession. The crowd dispersed, with the unmistakable explanation for their predicament in their minds: the Virgin had rejected their prayers; the rain must herald the imminent destruction of all creation, like a fierce, annihilating flood that would destroy everything.

On the third day, people woke up to find the city engulfed in fog. There was no wind on the quiet streets; the air was still, and the fog enveloped the city all day. Everything was shadowy, silent and invisible. This strange atmosphere made people more hysterical. It seemed that the weather was also against the defenders, wearing down their will. There was only one explanation for such an unreasonable fog.

People were reluctant but eventually had to believe that God had left the city and completely turned away from and abandoned Constantinople. This new Rome, known as the heart of the empire, was abandoned by God just like its predecessor.

As dusk approached, the air seemed to become increasingly turbid, and a darkness began to gather over the city. Others witnessed something even stranger: in the center of the city, the dome of the Hagia Sophia was lit up with fire, as if there was a fire. People ran to see what was going on in panic, shouting loudly, and then they looked up and saw a strange light flickering on the dome of the church.

The light burst out from the top of the window like a flame; it surrounded the entire neck of the church for a long time. The flames gradually merged into one as they burned, and the light was indescribable. Then it flew up to the sky. Those who saw it were stunned; they began to wail and pray for forgiveness, and for light and hope to return to the city. The believers thought that God had obviously abandoned Constantinople.

"It's just a volcanic eruption."

In the Ottoman camp, in the little dome house, in the Hagia Sophia where only two people were, all the Chaldeans said this.

But the difference is that Fujimaru Ritsuka has made up his mind to join the battle, El-Melloi II and Leonardo da Vinci sighed helplessly, and the most stubborn Alvin and Constantine seemed to accept their fate.

Yes, it was just an ordinary volcanic eruption, but it became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the Roman Empire.

That day was September 5th.

Chapter 189 Constantine's Reply to Fatih

"Look, they ran away, Constantine. In the end, they gave up on her, even though the scales were on our side."

In the Golden Horn, more and more people were leaving. Some of them fled the Golden Horn by boat, some fled to the Genoese Galata on the other side, and some were desperately looking for a safe haven in the city.

"...Can you tell me what the eruption is? If it's Vesuvius, then obviously all of Europe will know about it."

Constantine sat on a chair, looking sideways at the entire Golden Horn, with no emotion in his eyes.

"The volcano in Vanuatu erupted. This eruption directly split the island where the volcano is located into two. If you have paid attention to it, Constantine, you will find that the whole of Europe is not peaceful."

In his opinion, the mere presence of the halo in Hagia Sophia was enough to overwhelm them. If the Fire of St. Elmo appeared...tsk tsk.

“I want to ask where Vanuatu is?”

"Further west than the Iberian Peninsula, according to your words, that is the legendary Elysium."

"That wouldn't happen in Elysium. Atlantis would be a more appropriate name."

It wasn't just the people of Constantinople who were enthusiastic about the omen. By the last week of May, Fatih was also facing a serious crisis of morale collapse. Between the crescent-shaped banners, the jihadists whispered their dissatisfaction. It was the fifth month of the year according to the Arabic calendar, and they had been attacking the city for seven weeks. Hundreds of thousands of people had endured the bad spring weather and suffered heavy losses within the city walls.

The black smoke of the funeral pyres rose daily over the plain. But when they looked up from the sea, the walls still stood tall; where the cannon had destroyed them, long earth ramparts blocked the gaps, mocking the enemy. The double-headed eagle flag that marked the emperor still flew over the walls, and the St. Mark flag above the palace indicated that the empire had the support of Western Catholics and that reinforcements were likely on the way.

No other heavily armored army in the Western world could sustain a long and siege as efficiently as the Ottomans. They understood the basic rules of military life far better than any Western army - burning the dead quickly, protecting their own water sources, cutting off the enemy's water sources, and disposing of excrement in a sanitary manner were key disciplines in the Ottoman army.

In some ways, there were some benefits to suffering the Black Death first.

但苏丹面对的困难也越来越大。据估算，在中世纪，一支2.5万人的攻城军队（这也是奥斯曼安纳托利亚军团的标配）每天需要40吨水和30吨粮草才能维持生存。在60天的围城战中，这样一支军队还需要处理掉100吨人畜尿液和4000吨固态生物垃圾。

Not only that, the logistical problems that Fatih had been carefully concealing finally reached the brink of explosion. When a person can't even get enough food, it is difficult to ask him to continue fighting for his beliefs - in fact, even the Sultan himself was lucky to have one meal a day.

In fact, after seven weeks of fierce fighting, both sides were exhausted. Both Constantine and Fatih realized that the final outcome could not be delayed any longer, and people's nerves had reached the critical point of collapse.

Against this backdrop, the struggle for Constantinople became a battle between the Sultan and the Emperor to maintain the morale of his men. As the Emperor watched the morale of the city crumble, the Ottoman army suffered a similar, mysterious blow. The exact sequence and date of these events is no longer certain.

On May 5, the Venetian brig returned to the city, and the Ottoman army may have taken the ship as a sign that the Holy Roman Empire was moving out. The next day, the rumor quickly spread in the Ottoman camp: the Holy Roman Empire's army was advancing towards Serbia, and the Second Varna Crusade, led by the White Knight, had successfully crossed the Danube and was heading towards Edirne.

Regarding the authenticity of this rumor, the Holy Roman Empire was definitely false, as Frederick III was worried about the issue of his posthumous child, but Varna was telling the truth - the Winged Hussars and the Black Army defeated Zagan Pasha's light cavalry in Varna and had already crossed the Danube.

Under the influence of rumors, many jihad fighters recalled that the caliphs and sultans in history had once aspired to conquer Constantinople and had also assembled and equipped huge armies, but no one could reach the equestrian statue of Justinian the Great to pick the glorious red apple. They all retreated with wounds all over their bodies and in despair.

A mood of discouragement settled over the camp, and the Jihad, whose discontent had reached its limit, began to speak out against their sultan. Doubt and a sense of danger once again tugged at the commanders, and old disagreements over the siege began to resurface.

For Fatih, this was a dilemma: if he failed to capture the city, not only would his prestige suffer a fatal blow, but his hometown in Anatolia might also be wiped out in one fell swoop, but his army was running out of time, patience and logistics.

Religion serves the purpose of war, as evidenced by the great Arab conquests of the past. The mullahs and dervishes who were urgently called in did not disappoint the Sultan’s expectations. Their high religious enthusiasm ensured that optimistic explanations for the future spread quickly in the military camp, and morale began to slowly recover, but the decision to continue the siege could not be made easily.

Because the Sultan knew that he only had one last chance.

......

"Constantine, your life is hanging by a thread, so why don't you send an envoy to make peace with me? If you entrust your fate to me, I will forgive your sins of rebellion, allow you to keep your faith, and continue to live a life of food and clothing in the Morea. Otherwise, your city will be enslaved, your wife and children will be sold into slavery, and you will be destroyed."

"Fatih, you can demand tribute, no matter how much it is, and then sign the treaty and leave, because our Theodosian Wall is still standing here, and you have been besieging for seven weeks but can only wander outside the city like a wild dog. If you don't leave, you will only be disappointed. I will not, and no citizen will hand over the city to you. We all prefer to fight to the death rather than live in disgrace."

The attempt to persuade him to surrender failed again, and the final battle is about to begin.

Chapter 190 July 5

"pity."

After receiving Constantine's reply, Fatih shook his head with regret. In his opinion, it would be best if Constantinople could surrender on its own - he planned to make this city the capital of the empire.

If the Byzantines surrendered voluntarily, they could save the city; but if they conquered by force, according to Islamic law, he would have to allow his soldiers to plunder the city freely for three days.

The question is, what else can be looted from this city? Don't burn down the church, I plan to transform it into a mosque.

Originally, he thought that after he had Attila, he would be able to easily conquer the city, so he sent Attila to the Golden Gate, which was the starting point for the Roman Empire's victorious army to parade. It was most appropriate to enter the city from that gate.

But the problem occurred precisely here - Fatih did not expect that there was also a hero in Constantinople who could exchange sons with Attila. Judging from historical allusions, it was probably Aetius.

Therefore, he decided to call Attila back to participate in the most important battle, and he also had to go to Chaldea in person.

Sometimes, you have to bow your head.

Although he had sent the main force of the war faction to resist the fronts in Albania and Varna, the power struggle between the two major factions in the Ottoman court had been going on for nearly 10 years since his father's death, and now it had finally reached a critical point at this moment.

The outcome of this struggle would not only have a huge impact on the future of the Ottoman Empire, but it was also a fight for their own lives.

“Perhaps, it also symbolizes the end of an era.”

Fatih has decided to pursue the great dream that has been in his heart for more than 20 years, the glory of conquest that he longs for, and deliberately ignores the possibility of defeat or mutiny.

Unfortunately, the final state of the general offensive was not perfect - the army finally ran out of food, and the food supply was cut off at just the right time.

On the night of May 5, bonfires were lit everywhere in the Ottoman camp, and the flames were as bright as day. The defenders of Constantinople looked down from the battlements in amazement and confusion, and saw the flames gradually spread outward in a circle, covering the entire horizon, from the camp in front of the city wall to the mountains around Galata, and bonfires were also lit on the opposite bank of Anatolia.

As the night sky was illuminated by the bonfires, they beat drums and cymbals, the sound slowly increasing, the shouts were so deafening that it seemed as if the sky would be shattered. In the Ottoman camp, Jihad cheered and was full of fighting spirit for the final all-out attack.

"Fatih hoped that with this last great offensive, the empire would be crushed in one fell swoop, like a crumbling city wall finally collapsed under the bombardment. But if they could survive this offensive, the Ottoman army would retreat and the church bells would ring in celebration of victory."

At the top of the Valley of the Fountains, Emperor Justinian looked down at the final siege of Constantinople and spoke in an emotionless tone.

"They all clearly realized this and tried their best for the final battle... Constantine of Palaeologus should not have met such an end."

"Do you really believe that he would give up for the sake of history if he had a better hand than before, Bashir?"

"I don't know, but it's hard to say about Chaldea. Fatih has already asked them to go out. I hope these girls won't vomit on the spot after seeing the battlefield."

"That's not something you would say if you had poached 25,000 Bulgarians."

"Didn't you personally execute the Visigoth prince? Not to mention the racetrack."

The Sultan naturally didn't know about the content of the conversation between the two Roman emperors. He started to get busy now. He seemed to be running around non-stop, riding a tall horse to shuttle back and forth between the various military formations, meeting with his subordinates in the golden and red tents, boosting morale, issuing orders, promising rewards for meritorious officials, threatening to severely punish those who were ineffective in the battle, and personally supervising the final preparations.

Most importantly, he needs to be seen by everyone.

Now, Fatih, wearing armor and riding on his beloved horse, led by the Sultan, was ready to fight and die. He knew that this was the critical moment of his fate. The glorious dream was about to come true; otherwise, it would be an unimaginable failure. He was determined to personally supervise every detail and make sure that the war preparations were perfect.

"Wealth is now within our reach, just a wall away. Untold amounts of gold and silver are hidden in palaces and cathedrals, and sacred objects made of gems and pearls are piled in the streets."

"Rejoice, brave Jihadists, for tomorrow we shall capture many Christians. Those vile Greeks shall be sold as slaves, two slaves for one ducat, and we shall all be rich and covered with jewels. We shall use the Greeks' beards as leashes for our dogs, and their wives and children shall become our slaves. Beautiful mansions are waiting for us. Take courage, and be ready to die for our red apples!"

"I didn't expect it to be so exciting. I can understand the feelings of those jihadists a little bit now."

Lixiang looked at these excited warriors and felt that she had a new understanding. This was her first time to participate in a war of religion and belief.

Originally, the sixth singularity had a chance, but...

"Although Fatih made an impassioned speech, an endless attack is impossible; in practice, a full-scale offensive is limited, which is often compressed within a few hours. The tenacious defenders can cause serious losses to the attackers who rush up; and if the attackers cannot quickly overwhelm the defenders, retreat is inevitable."

"And don't forget, this army is actually out of food."

The wisdom of the magic world has allowed Scathach to see through the biggest weakness of this high-spirited Jihad, but Fatih has to face more problems than these: the Balkan coalition in the east and the Mamluks and Aries who are advancing rapidly in the west are all tough nuts to crack.

——To be honest, it is rare for the majority and minority countries to fight together. The Fatimids and Abbasids only signed a non-aggression treaty.

Should we say that it is indeed a benefit?

Forget it, let’s first see which of these girls will vomit all over the place after the war starts.

Scathach thought so and looked at the girls who were still talking and laughing.

“Why do I always feel like it’s not working…”

Under Fatih's command, each commander received specific orders. The troops from the Fountain Valley were to move out in full force and attack the end of the land wall along the pontoon bridge. Karaga Pasha was to lead his army to storm the Blachernae Palace, but it was only a feint.

At the center section of the city walls, at the Gate of Saint Romanos, the Sultan and Grand Vizier would lead a general assault on the damaged walls and earthen ramparts in the Lycus Valley.

In 669, when the Arabs attacked Constantinople for the first time, a strange prophecy book appeared: The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Medotius

You, the Roman Empire, will no longer be eternal, and every batch of Arab war horses will pass through the city walls, break down the wooden hippodrome doors, and march all the way to Justinian.

This is what the book predicts, but this is also what the book predicts:

When the capital of the Roman Empire fell, the last emperor would be taken away by an angel after his death in battle, hidden in a cave, and turned into a marble statue.

When the descendants of the Roman Empire recapture Constantinople, he will return like lightning.

PS: It still didn’t end...

By the way, today we successfully rebuilt Rome with Carolingian

It still needs the injection of Charlemagne's martial virtue.

Chapter 191 May God bless you

"here it is?"

"The Yerebatan Water Palace, which supplies water to everyone in Constantinople."

Only their voices echoed in the empty underground space. This water palace is 140 meters long and 70 meters wide. 336 9-meter-high Corinthian stone columns support the huge brick vault, which is said to have been moved from the temple in the Antatolia region.

"So that's it. Ever since I came to Constantinople, I've always heard the sound of gurgling water underground at night. It turns out it all flows from here."

Alvin took the lead and took a few steps, blocking the emperor's path.

"So, Constantine, what do you want from me?"

"Leave here, take your people and leave here. The end of the water palace leads to the Sea of ​​Marmara, there will be no Ottomans there."

"What about you? Basilius, who is so stubborn?"

He sarcastically said that from the perspective of later generations, Constantine, who could have chosen to go to Morea to continue fighting, chose to stay in Constantinople.

"Theodore I was able to make a comeback in Nicaea, so why can't you go to Morea and become a despot and continue to fight?"

"That's Nicaea, my friend."

"Then go to Odyssey! Go to Elysium! It's better to be alive than dead!"

The two men just looked at each other, neither willing to lower his head first, until the shouting sounded again, Constantine opened his mouth.

"Haven't you noticed that I haven't worn the imperial crown that symbolizes Basilius's identity for a long time?"

"What--"

"Let's go back first. How can we not take part in the final battle?"

While Constantine and Alvin were arguing, bad news came from the front line of the battlefield: Giovanni, known as Aetius of the Eastern Empire, had fallen.