People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 660 Siege War

Then, a long standoff ensued between the two sides.

Mahamud II ascended the throne once before Murad II's death, but unfortunately he achieved little. Many ministers criticized him for being impulsive and naive and for not being able to govern the country.

This young monarch, who grew up under the shadow of Murad II, seemed to be reborn after he ascended the throne for the second time. He was no longer in a hurry for success, but built his siege camp methodically and patiently.

A steady stream of supplies flowed into the camp, transforming into huge siege weapons that could be clearly seen even from the towering towers of the Theodosian Wall.

Countless conscripted laborers and pack animals praised the name of the sacred fire, pulled the huge siege artillery, and under the command of engineering technicians, placed them in artillery positions.

The defenders on the city walls could only watch helplessly as the enemy grew stronger day by day. Their originally high morale began to decline as time went by.

"This guy is really tricky. He was so clumsy when he first ascended the throne, but after just a few years, he has completely changed?

Losa murmured softly, and his sight seemed to have passed through thousands of meters of obstacles, and he saw Mahamu II who was drawing a sketch himself in the tent.

Although Constantinople has declined, it does not mean that its status is no longer important. It overlooks Europe to the west, Asia to the east, and controls the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. As long as the Ottomans take this place, it will not be long before it will regain its glory as the queen of cities, becoming the head of a huge empire and a world-famous financial and taxation center.

Putting aside these tangible practical benefits, taking Constantinople also represents huge prestige.

The Zoroastrian prophet once predicted that the monarch who conquered Constantinople would be the greatest monarch in the Zoroastrian world. It is easy to imagine how important this was to Mahmud II, who relied on his father's influence to come to power and urgently needed to establish his own authority.

But Mahamu II remained calm.

With two hundred thousand soldiers at his command and riding a three-headed dragon, he still managed to keep his composure. Lothar didn't know what he was afraid of. Could it be that he lost control and leaked some of his aura, causing him to be wary?

He shifted his attention back to the city wall that was under urgent repair. The sandbags, wood, bricks, and city defense equipment piled on the inside of the wall were placed in their proper places in an orderly manner.

From low to high, there are three towering walls arranged in a stepped manner, plus a moat, a total of four lines of defense. If the enemy is not well prepared and rashly launches an attack, the losses will surely be extremely heavy.

"Captain, are we just going to sit here and watch the Ottomans prepare and do nothing?"

Viviana asked somewhat uneasily.

Her participation in the battle that day won her great fame. When the citizens were holding the holy image and praying in the streets, many of them praised her name with admiration, which made her feel a heavy pressure.

The defenders have almost completed their preparations. This is all Rome has left. No matter how intensively they prepare for war, the upper limit is here. However, the Ottomans are becoming more powerful day by day.

Faced with this situation, no one can remain indifferent.

"if not?"

Losa smiled bitterly and said, "Even before I came here, the Ottomans began to demolish churches and villages outside Constantinople, taking their stones and wood to build Rumelia and Anatolia castles that blocked the Black Sea trade route. From then on, the Romans could only watch the Ottomans prepare for the siege and did nothing."

Lothar had no intention of leaving the city to attack the enemy. Although the Sufi mystical monks and the brotherhood were of varying quality, the large number of clergy were all experts in small-scale encounters.

Even if he and Viviana could hold back the enemy's spellcasters.

We also lacked the cavalry needed to raid the enemy camp.

Although the transferred Qiexue Army was a powerful armored cavalry on the same level as the Empire's armored cavalry, they only received a full set of equipment, even horse armor, but had no good horses to ride.

Viviana remained silent, feeling even more insignificant.

"Wait a minute."

Lothar comforted him, "Wait for a suitable opportunity for you and me to take action. As long as we get rid of the three-headed dragon, the victory of this war will belong to us."

The Ottomans' massive preparations for war also threw the Genoese in Galata into panic.

Galata is located on the other side of the Golden Horn. One end of the iron chain defense line that spans the Golden Horn is in the hands of the Genoese.

The original story of “marching on dry land” in history was that the Ottomans were unable to break through the combined fleet that relied on the iron chain defense of the Golden Horn, so they transported ships from the northern area of ​​Galata to the Golden Horn by land, and only then did they defeat the combined fleet and threaten the sea walls of Constantinople.

Today's Genoa has gone through many wars with the Venetians and has gradually declined. There are only more than 3,000 troops stationed in the Galata city area. If the Ottomans turn against them, they will be powerless to stop their troops.

At this time, in the Galata district council.

The mayor took out a letter with a serious expression and showed it to everyone: "The Ottomans sent a messenger, asking us to dismantle the iron chain and let the Ottoman fleet enter the Golden Horn, otherwise the safety of the Galatians will no longer be guaranteed."

As soon as the words fell, someone said righteously: "We can't collude with pagans!"

But then someone reminded them: "If we disobey the Ottoman monarch, it will not only be the Greeks who will be destroyed by the three-headed dragon's magic fire. Do we have to be buried with the Greeks?"

"Oh, in my opinion, the Republic's homeland has abandoned us. Now the only way to survive is to surrender to the Ottoman monarch and serve them. Even the pagan king needs merchants!"

The surrender faction was ready to make a move, and they did not think there was any possibility that Constantinople could hold out.

"We don't need to surrender to the Ottomans, nor do we need to participate in this war. The Republic has signed a contract with the Ottomans. As long as we remain neutral, we can still enjoy the same treatment as before."

"How stupid does one have to be to think that the Ottomans will not attack us after they take Constantinople?"

"Rumelia Castle and Anatolia Castle have strangled our Black Sea trade route. Once Constantinople falls, if the Ottomans attack us, we will not be able to get any support."

"You bunch of cowards, lowly and cowardly Venetians know the principle of the lips and teeth being cold, but you are frightened by the son of a Greek slave girl (Mahamu II's biological mother was a Greek slave girl) and want to lay down your weapons and beg for mercy?"

Many Genoese were outraged.

Although their actions were contradictory and they were reluctant to give up the trade privileges promised by the Ottomans and did not dare to turn against the Ottomans, they still retained a bit of Christian perseverance in their bones. Of course, the more important reason was that they had invested too much in Constantinople and it was too late to reverse the losses.

Constantinople has become so poor and dilapidated over the years because too many benefits have been taken away by them.

Once the Ottomans occupied Constantinople, no matter how generous the benefits they promised now, the Genoese, who had lost their bargaining power, would know, as long as they were not stupid, that the Ottomans would definitely turn against them in the future.

But having said that, who really wants to face the terrifying Ottoman army?
There was a lot of debate and noise in the city council.

The mayor raised his hand several times to signal for people to quiet down temporarily: "Clear, quiet! Next, we will vote by raising hands. Those who agree to accept the Ottomans' conditions, please raise your hands."

There were only five people who raised their hands, which immediately attracted countless angry glares from people.

"So, raise your hands if you think we should stand with the defenders of Constantinople and fight against the Ottoman army together."

This time, there were not even five people raising their hands.

"You cowards!"

"Our brothers are fighting the pagans on the other side of the river, and we are standing here watching. God will punish us for this!"

Some people slammed the table and cursed, but no one said anything to refute.

The mayor looked at the faces with complicated expressions and sighed, as if he had aged a dozen years. "Then, we will continue to maintain our principle of neutrality in this war and not provide any support to either side."

...

On the fifth day of the Ottoman siege, the enemy finally launched the first round of exploratory attacks.

The first to launch the attack were naturally not the most elite Janissaries among the pagans, but the Rumelian Legion.

Rumelia is actually what the Ottomans called the "Roman region", that is, the Balkan Peninsula. The source of the Rumelian Legion was mostly Orthodox Christians, including Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, etc.

Serbia was once prominent and had assassinated the Ottoman king, but now it has weakened into a small vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, intermarrying with the Ottoman royal family and jumping back and forth between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.

It is said that it was a Serbian soldier who killed the leader of the Crusaders, King Władysław III of Hungary and Poland, in the Battle of Varna.

In the Battle of Kosovo, the 20,000-strong army led by Hunyadi was defeated, which was also due to the rebellion of the Serbs. Afterwards, Hunyadi was captured by the Grand Duke of Serbia and paid 100,000 florins of gold coins before he regained his freedom.

Many of the soldiers who were driven to fill the moat with sandbags wore the amulets of the Orthodox cross. They cried and asked for Christ's forgiveness while filling the moat.

Lothar had no intention of taking action. These cannon fodders who were trying to attack were just unlucky guys used by the enemy to consume the arrows of the defenders.

Most of them did not respond to the call to join the war voluntarily, but were forcibly conscripted.

If the empire were still strong, most of them would be the empire's most loyal subjects.