People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 662

Accompanied by a roar.

A stone bullet hit the tower. It seemed that the magic circles in many corners of the ancient city wall that had stood for thousands of years had become ineffective. The stone bullet did not fly away like before, but directly cut the tower in half.

The collapsed stones, the crossbows loaded in the tower, the small hand cannons, and the stationed garrison fell down with a loud bang.

A shrill scream was heard, and the enemies in the distance shouted excitedly.

The power of hundreds of artillery pieces was extremely terrifying. The whole of Constantinople was shaking, as if it had returned to the days of frequent earthquakes. Every soldier defending the city huddled under the protection of the stone walls, but from time to time stone bullets still flew into the city and collapsed houses.

But only a few towers collapsed like the one that just collapsed. In most areas, the city walls and towers remained standing under such fierce artillery fire, which greatly boosted the morale of the defenders.

Constantinople has always been a city with a strong religious atmosphere. As one of the five patriarchates, it was once the center of Eastern Orthodoxy alongside Rome.

Pick any passerby on the street and he or she can recite a few classic sentences from the Bible and debate the meaning of the scriptures with Latin missionaries.

What they feared most was being abandoned by God, not fighting against pagans. If Genoa's colonies were attacked by the Ottomans, even a miracle might not have been of any use.

The artillery fire stopped at some point.

By the time the defenders came to their senses, thousands of enemies had already rushed out from the smoke.

The civilian laborers who were openly building the tunnels packed tons of soil into bags, which were then carried by the conscripted soldiers who served as cannon fodder, and transported to the edge of the moat under a hail of arrows and muskets, where they dumped the soil into the moat.

The upper reaches of the moat have been blocked.

There was a small section of the river in the middle of the city wall, which had been filled up under the concentrated offensive of the Ottomans. The enemy pushed the siege tower and launched the first exploratory attack on the city wall.

But the defenders also responded strongly. The soldiers carrying Greek fire throwers aimed the special metal nozzles at the enemy. A dragon of fire swept out and immediately turned the siege tower into a torch.

The enemy troops pushing the siege tower fled in all directions, but even if they jumped into the moat, the flames on their bodies could not be extinguished.

Losa specifically memorized the formula of Greek fire, but the world was different, and the same formula might not necessarily produce the same effect, just like his attempt to develop usable gunpowder.

During the intense battle to defend the city, a knight came hurriedly to report: "Your Majesty, the enemy fleet has launched an attack on the Golden Horn."

"Vivianna, lead a team of Qiexue troops to the sea wall defense line!"

Lothar gave the order hastily.

Viviana was not good at naval battles, but the flames cast by the Spirit Candle spell were also a huge threat to enemy ships.

After the enemy stopped this round of attack, news came back from the sea wall that the enemy fleet was defeated, three small galleys and a large ship were burned, and hundreds of Ottoman sailors were killed, achieving a small victory.

Although the enemy was defeated in the end, Lothar could not be happy.

The Golden Horn Bay is an excellent safe haven with fast currents beneath the sea surface. It is extremely difficult for the enemy who is not familiar with the hydrological characteristics of the area to penetrate the iron chain defense line and attack the weakly defended sea walls and ports from the sea.

No wonder Anna specially tamed a sea dragon. As long as she controlled the sea power and the defenders of Constantinople were not too stupid, it would be impossible to capture the city even if her army was ten times stronger than the defenders in the era of cold weapons.

But now, Constantinople’s fleet can only rely on the iron chain defense line and home advantage to fight the enemy.

If you defend for too long, you will inevitably lose.

He didn't want to become the background of the classic battle of sailing on dry land.

...

There was a roar of artillery fire in the distance and the battlefield was filled with pungent smoke.

Mahamut II was still reviewing documents leisurely. He mobilized such a huge military force to attack Constantinople, and deployed a large number of troops on the eastern and western borders to guard against enemies such as Hungary, Albania, and Karaman.

Even the Ottoman Empire, which was in its heyday, still felt heavy pressure, and there were signs of rebellion in many places.

His prestige was no less than that of his father Murad II. Although the voices of opposition were silenced under his iron fist, if the price paid was too heavy, the voices of those opponents would immediately overwhelm the pro-war faction and become the mainstream.

A black eunuch approached cautiously, sweat dripping down his face, and whispered, "Your Majesty, Master Urban said that the barrel of the cannon is cracked and needs time to repair."

Mahamu II asked without even looking up: "Where is my navy? Has the fleet entered the Golden Horn?"

The black eunuch shook his head tremblingly: "Your Majesty, our navy suffered a minor defeat. Three small galleys and a large ship were sunk."

Mahamu II didn't say anything, he just put down the pen in his hand, but everyone who knew him knew that he was in a very bad mood.

The black eunuch's face was covered with more sweat.

"Wipe it."

Mahamu II threw a handkerchief to the ground. It was an old tradition for Zoroastrian princes to use eunuchs in their courts. Because Zoroastrianism emphasized polygamy, many Zoroastrian princes had hundreds of wives and concubines.

The castration technology at that time was limited, and many eunuchs still retained fertility even after castration, and could not be fully trusted.

Black eunuchs do not have this disadvantage. Firstly, no matter how hungry the wives and concubines of princes and nobles are, it is difficult for them to look down on black eunuchs whose appearance is so different from that of ordinary people. Secondly, even if an incestuous incident really occurs in the palace, the children born will have appearances very different from those of ordinary people and will be immediately recognized.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The black eunuch picked up the handkerchief on the ground with gratitude on his face. He was sweating profusely, not entirely because of fear of the young new king, but also because the tent where Mahamu II was was too hot.

The three-headed dragon is a high-level fire dragon. Wherever it resides, the climate there will change according to its preferences. Therefore, Murad II had previously raised the three-headed dragon in the mountains near Edirne.

But after Mahamut II ascended the throne, his suspicious nature made him unwilling to be separated from his greatest support for a moment. In Edirne, he built a huge underground palace specifically for the three-headed dragon, right under his own palace.

As a result, the camp where the three-headed dragon lived became extremely hot. Even if a magic circle was cast on the periphery, it could only prevent the heat from spreading to the entire army.

But Mahamu II was not affected by the heat. The Osmanoglu family rose from an inconspicuous Bey state to the overlord of Anatolia and Rumelia because of the dragon-taming blood in their bodies.

The so-called dragon taming bloodline, to put it simply, is a kind of dragon descendant, but the bloodline is relatively thin, and the improvement to one's own strength and lifespan is also very limited.

Perhaps after hundreds of years of continuous reversion and purification, it is not impossible for it to become a true dragon like Lothar.

Some down-and-out bards in Europe, after learning some secrets of the supernatural world, began to have divergent fantasies, claiming that the ancestors of the Ottoman royal family were prostitutes in brothels in Asia Minor, and only acquired the dragon-taming bloodline after their customers who were transformed into dragons left.

This fantasy was popular in some country taverns and was talked about by fools with great relish.

But the contempt and ridicule of Gouzi literature could not change the fear in the hearts of Europeans.

The Ottoman Empire, which hangs over the eastern part of the Christian world like a dark cloud, has become the new generation of God's scourge in the eyes of many Europeans, no less than the Tatars.

"Pass on my order. Suspend the bombardment. Send the Anatolian Legion and the Brotherhood to attack. The Sisterhood will provide support."

Mahamu II said coldly.

Compared with the Rumelian Legion, the Anatolian Legion is obviously more powerful.

The Brotherhood is an organization similar to a Christian order. Most of its members are merchants and craftsmen. In addition to some spellcasters who are good at blasting, there are also a large number of Ghazi warriors. Although they are not good at teamwork, they are more suitable for performing in complex environments such as siege warfare.

In addition to the Brotherhood, there is also a corresponding sisterhood in Anatolia, which is composed entirely of combat nuns and has made many contributions to the Ottoman Empire.

(End of this chapter)