Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Chapter 258 The New Crusade
In Kaffa on the Crimean Peninsula, the Genoese not only had a strong fortress city, but also had a complete port, where at least hundreds of large and small warships and merchant ships were moored.

If these ships are snatched into his hands, Wang Baobao can put the Mongolian navy in place in one step and become the number one naval force in the Black Sea and even the Mediterranean Sea.

Therefore, conquering Kafa City became Wang Baobao's top priority.

However, Kafacheng has been operated by the Genoese for decades, and it can be said to be extremely strong. They have a double-layered city wall, equipped with a large number of catapult crossbows and cannons, and thousands of troops from Europe and Anatolia. Elite soldiers hired by Leah.

Relying on the solid defense of Kaffa City, these Genoese have repelled several attacks from the Golden Horde.

Wang Baobao said that wanting to quickly conquer Kafa City is definitely a very difficult task in the eyes of Paul Gale.

Wang Baobao has great confidence in conquering Kafa City.

Because the spies he sent have obtained a lot of information about Kafa City.

Kafa City is located on a flat land near the sea, and there are no other defense formulas or natural barriers around it, only the city wall connecting the port is guarded.

From Wang Baobao's point of view, this is very simple. As long as the huge artillery newly cast by the Mongolian Kingdom is transported to the city of Kaffa, the Genoese city can be completely broken.

That's right!

The current Mongolian army already has giant artillery that can destroy city walls.

After Wang Baobao eliminated the Golden Horde, he gathered all the craftsmen in the city of John Sarai to cast a new type of artillery for him.

After spending a lot of money and countless materials, the Mongolian Kingdom finally cast a qualified siege cannon.

These cannons weigh several thousand catties and require dozens of war horses to drag them forward.

But the power of these artillery pieces is also very satisfying.

Wang Baobao personally tested the power of these cannons not long ago. It only takes one shot to destroy the rammed-earth city wall wrapped in bricks and stones.

According to the information obtained by Mongolian spy spies, although the walls of Kaffa City were built with stones, they were not very thick.

After Wang Baobao left Wuyun City, he immediately gave orders to the Meng Yuan army under him.

He plans to launch an attack on Kafa City after the spring of next year and before the snow melts.

The siege cannons of the Great Mongol Kingdom are too heavy. Once the ice and snow completely melt, the roads on the Eastern European Plain will become soft, and these heavy cannons will be stuck in the mud and unable to move forward.

According to Wang Baobao's estimate, the Mongolian Yuan army will take one to two months to conquer Kafa City.

Then, he can capture the Genoese ships in Kaffa, strengthen the Mongolian navy, and finally march towards Constantinople!
.........

Constantinople.

After a blizzard, the entire city was covered in silver.

This city, which was already gradually becoming lonely, seemed even more depressed and silent after the snow accumulated.

But under this silence, there is actually an undercurrent surging.

The 10,000+ residents of Constantinople are now in a series of panics.

Recently, a series of things have happened in the Eastern Roman Empire that all citizens of the empire do not want to see.

First of all, the Genoese blocked the ports of the Eastern Roman Empire. Many supplies necessary for the residents of Constantinople were blocked, completely cutting off the supply.

In order to solve this situation, the Emperor John V of the Eastern Roman Empire went to the city of Rome regardless of the objections of the Orthodox Patriarch of his subjects. He wanted to use his own way of changing religious beliefs to obtain the support of the Pope. , making many people scoff.

Subsequently, the Roman navy in the port of Constantinople left the port without any order and disappeared.

It was rumored by many that the Roman navy went and surrendered the Genoese.

There are also rumors that the Roman navy went to the Mongols.

Anyway, no matter what kind of result it is, it also represents the last naval power of the Roman Empire, which no longer belongs to itself.

In addition to these, just a few days ago, an even more shocking news was exposed.

There are gossip rumors that the patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Alexios, has sent a secret messenger to contact the Mongols, intending to ask John Timur to enter Constantinople and replace John V as the emperor of the Roman Empire.

This is even more shocking news.

Although the Roman citizens in Constantinople had a lot of dissatisfaction with John V.

But if a legendary barbaric and bloodthirsty Mongol becomes the Roman emperor, it is almost impossible for everyone to accept it.

Even if this John Timur had converted to the Orthodox Church and claimed to be the protector of the Orthodox Church in the Ross region, that would not allow the proud Roman citizens to accept him as the Emperor of Rome!

All of a sudden, Roman citizens in Constantinople gathered to protest, wanting Patriarch Alexios to give a reasonable explanation.

However, Patriarch Alexton was noncommittal and did not respond to any of this.

He hasn't shown up at various gatherings recently.

The news quickly spread to Europe.

After hearing the news, John V, who was in Rome, suddenly fell into panic and fear.

Before he left Constantinople, he already knew that Patriarch Alexios would never let it go, but he never thought that Patriarch Alexios would come up with such a brilliant idea!
Let a barbaric Mongol take over Constantinople and replace himself as Roman Emperor God?
God, what a ridiculous decision!
However, John V had no good way to do this.

Because after he came to Rome, although he met Pope Innocent VI, he didn't get the result he wanted.

Although the Pope verbally promised to mediate the dispute between the Genoese and John V.

He also promised to send a new crusader to support the Eastern Roman Empire and fight against hostile forces such as the surrounding Ottomans.

but.

All of this requires the Roman Empire to first agree to its own conditions, that is, to complete the integration and unification of the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

This integration and unification is naturally dominated by the Catholic Church headed by the Pope, which is equivalent to allowing the Roman Catholic Church to annex the Orthodox Church.

Pope Innocent VI's conversations from beginning to end adhered to the principle of "If you don't see a rabbit, you don't scatter an eagle".

No matter how much John V pleaded for assurances, he refused to grant them.

Anyway, as long as the subjects of Eastern Rome and the Orthodox Church do not accept the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, the Pope will not send a single soldier, nor will he mediate the dispute between the Genoese and the Eastern Roman Empire.

For such a tyrannical request, John V himself could agree, but the citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire would definitely not agree.

Let them abandon their hundreds of years of Orthodox beliefs before receiving any substantial assistance, only a fool would do such a thing!

John V was stumped in Rome.

Now we get the bad news that the Orthodox Church and the empire are about to abandon themselves and welcome a Mongol to serve as Roman emperor.

He could not stay longer in the city of Rome.

but.

At this time, John V had no way to leave and return to Constantinople.

Because, now not only the Genoese are against him.

Even the Republic of Venice, another powerful sea force in the Mediterranean Sea, has issued a wanted order for John V!
That's right, it's a wanted warrant!
John V had previously borrowed a lot of usury from the Venetians to support his war military expenses to restore the glory of Rome.

However, these several wars all failed under the attack of Ottoman and other hostile forces, and did not achieve the slightest result.

The poor Roman Empire's finances were not rich, and there was no money left to repay the Venetians.

The Venetian merchant's loan has always been known for its unscrupulousness. After several years of delay, the interest rate has doubled several times.

John V simply lay flat and started his own life of reneging on the Venetians.

Based on the principle of "why do you have to pay back the money you borrowed based on your ability", he has driven away the Venetians who came to collect debts several times in succession.

After coming to Rome this time, the Venetian businessman, who was already extremely angry with him, issued a warrant in the name of the Parliament of the Republic of Venice to arrest John V, the dishonest and old emperor.

On the sea outside Rome, there were already many Venetian ships patrolling back and forth. As long as they received information that Emperor John V was going to sea, they would immediately intercept with their powerful fleet and capture Roman Emperor John V back to Venice for trial.

According to the urinating nature of the Venetians who want money to death, if John V does not pay the money, I am afraid that he will spend the rest of his life in the water prison of Venice.

In this kind of internal and external difficulties, John V fell into deep despair.

He didn't understand that everything he did was clearly for the Roman Empire, but in the end he ended up with such a betrayal.

For several nights, John V fell into deep regret and fear, unable to sleep at all.

Just when John V felt that the future was gloomy and he was in a desperate situation.

Things suddenly ushered in a turning point.

This morning, several subordinates of the Pope came early in the morning. They brought the news that Pope Innocent VI invited John V to meet, and these officials of the Holy See changed their attitude towards John V. The arrogant and rude attitude, the attitude towards him is full of kindness.

John V did not understand why all this happened.

After coming to the conference hall of Pope Innocent VI, John V saw the scene that greeted him was unusually huge.

Almost all the cardinals in Rome had already gathered together, and everyone looked at him with very kind eyes.

John V didn't understand the reason for all these changes, and he was extremely terrified.

He is now as frightened as a bird.

Any disturbance can make the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire tremble with fear.

However, Pope Innocent VI's subsequent words made John V instantly surrounded by surprises.

Sitting on his Pope's throne, Innocent VI first expressed his apology to John V for his poor hospitality, and then he said that, given that the Eastern Holy See was going astray step by step, he wanted to let a barbaric Mongol Be the Emperor of Rome!

As a Christian brother, the Roman Catholic Church naturally cannot sit idly by, so Innocent VI decided to convene a bishop's conference, preparing to organize a new crusade to help John V and consolidate his position as emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire!

It turned out that Pope Inlosen VI had also learned that the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Alexios, was preparing to welcome the Mongol John Timur to become the emperor of the Roman Empire.

Moreover, unlike those rumors, Pope Innocent VI had countless spies in the Eastern Roman Empire, and the information they sent was very accurate!

The despicable careerist Patriarch Alexios, in order to consolidate his power, already planned to choose a wrong path, trying to fight the Roman Catholic Church to the end!

If the Mongols became the emperor of the Roman Empire, then hundreds of thousands of Mongol warriors would instantly become supporters of the Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church will completely overwhelm the Roman Catholic Church in terms of force!

The Roman Catholic Church, also known as the Catholic Church, had three of its strongest supporters in the late Middle Ages.

One is the Kingdom of France, the other is the Holy Roman Empire, and the other is the Kingdom of Poland.

Under the attack of the Mongols, the Kingdom of Poland performed very poorly. Not only did it lose almost all Polish knights, but even King Kami III died in battle.

The entire Kingdom of Poland quickly became an insignificant second-rate power after this war.

After Innocent VI heard that the Kingdom of Poland was ravaged and destroyed by the Mongols, he became very ill at that time.

The Poles are the most loyal supporters of the Holy See, and once the Kingdom of Poland is not restrained, the Holy Roman Empire will not be as respectful to the Holy See as before.

just now!

A news that even more frightened Innocent VI came!
Once the Mongols entered the Eastern Roman Empire, they would inevitably expand to the surrounding Catholic countries, which was absolutely unacceptable to Innocent VI.

During Innocent VI's decades of papal career, his biggest goal was to integrate the internal forces of the Catholic Church and establish the absolute authority and orthodoxy of the Catholic Church in the Christian world with an absolute advantage!

So as to achieve the ultimate goal of unifying and annexing the Orthodox Church.

Now the dish is broken!
The Orthodox sect didn't talk about martial arts directly, and recruited powerful Mongols as foreign aid.

Once Patriarch Alexius is allowed to complete this plan, Innocent VI's decades of hard work will all be in vain.

The desire to unify the Christian world will also be completely hopeless.

Therefore, Innocent VI decided to help John V consolidate his position as emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire before the Mongol John Timur entered Constantinople.

Relatively speaking, John V, a mediocre emperor with little talent, was more in line with the interests of the Catholic Church.

As for the merger and unification of the Holy See, that will have to wait until later. As long as the Mongols cannot take over Constantinople, there will be a chance after the merger of the Eastern and Western Holy Sees.

Once the Mongols became the rulers of the Roman Empire, Europe would inevitably fall into a major civil war in the Christian world.

When Innocent III said this, it can be said that he was playing double standards.

Crusades organized by the Catholic Church to attack the Orthodox Romans are not considered civil wars.

It would be a shameful civil war for the Orthodox Romans to attack the Catholic Church.

In order to make the Crusaders famous, Pope Innocent VI announced that the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Alexius, and the Yuan Dynasty, who had just converted to the Orthodox Church, were hypocrites!
Hypocrites, for Christianity, are almost as serious as excommunication.

This completely trampled on the legitimacy of the Orthodox Church.

John V still had many supporters in Constantinople.

After all, although many Roman citizens didn't like Catholicism, they didn't like having a Mongol as their emperor either.

(End of this chapter)