People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 665 Undercurrent
late at night.

In Hagia Sophia, candlelight illuminated the magnificent murals and shrines. A group of Roman nobles, Latin nobles, mercenary leaders, and clergymen were lined up on both sides of the long table.

The combat meeting that could not be held during the day had to be moved to the evening.

In fact, before Rome was divided into East and West, the Latins and Greeks were the two most important components of the empire.

Of course, this division is only in the eyes of later generations. The current Eastern Roman subjects have only one conception of themselves, that is, Romans, or Romans living in the Greek region.

As for the term "Greeks" taken alone, in the eyes of the Romans it only refers to the ancient Greek civilization which existed thousands of years ago and had not yet converted to Christianity and maintained polytheism.

Whether or not one converts to Christianity is seen as a symbol of civilization, so calling someone Greek is more like pointing at someone and calling them barbarians, even though they are indeed barbarians in terms of their bloodline.

On the contrary, the originally orthodox Latins of Rome had lost their orthodox heritage due to the invasion of barbarians. People often jokingly called the Latins at that time a group of Lombard barbarians.

Although in terms of bloodline, they are more authentic Romans than Greeks.

The two sides sat on either side of the long table, and the candlelight reflected some reluctance on their faces. The Latins looked down on the Greeks for their cunning, cowardice and incompetence, while the Greeks looked down on the Latins for their barbarity, cruelty, stupidity and recklessness.

The emperor ignored the dissatisfaction of both parties, placed his hands on the table, and raised his chin slightly:
"Ladies and gentlemen, in today's battle, we successfully repelled the Ottoman attack, causing them to leave thousands of bodies behind. This is a glorious victory, it is God's will and the credit of everyone present."

A few smiles appeared on everyone's faces, and someone said: "Constantinople has been besieged many times by the Ottomans, but just like before, she will still hold on."

Losa nodded with a smile, and then his tone turned serious: "But you must know that today the Ottomans are still making a tentative attack. The elite troops he sent out are only warriors from the Brotherhood and Sisterhood, and their number is quite limited. In the eyes of Mahamu II, those ghazis are nothing more than insignificant cannon fodder that can be summoned with a slogan. We cannot underestimate the enemy's strength because of this."

Losa paused and continued, "As you all know, the Pope's call for a crusade in Europe has not been smooth. The defeat of the Varna Crusade has greatly dampened people's enthusiasm for participating in the crusade."

Lothar did not intend to tell a white lie. Once the defenders placed all their hopes on reinforcements, the day-to-day expectations would sooner or later turn into deep disappointment.

"What we have to do is to reawaken their enthusiasm. In Constantinople, we must achieve a victory that will shock the world, frighten the pagans, terrify them, and make them attack each other and split apart."

Lothar's tone was serious, giving people a strong sense of confidence. If it were someone else, even a general as outstanding as Hunyadi, they would just think it was the ravings of a madman.

"There are many people who have made great contributions in today's battle to defend the city. They fought bravely for God and Rome. We must not treat these warriors unfairly, but the bad thing is that we have no money."

After Lothar finished speaking, he looked eagerly at the nobles.

They were silent for a moment, because that was the wealth they had accumulated and kept at the bottom of their chest.

To put it bluntly, if Constantinople fell, that would be their only means of escaping to Europe.

What is left for the nobles without money?
Go to those distant relatives in Europe to beg for food? Such humiliation is better than begging for mercy from the Ottoman monarch.

"All of our territory outside has been robbed or burned by the pagans, Your Majesty."

"It would be better to distribute the land of Constantinople to meritorious people."

Lothar sneered: "The soldiers fought for Jesus Christ and were trapped in an isolated city. In your eyes, does this only mean that they are a bunch of fools who can be easily fooled?"

"It would be better to melt down the tableware and ornaments of the church and use them as rewards for the army."

As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately aroused a wave of opposition.

"No, that's blasphemous."

"Will the pagans not do something even more blasphemous when they break into the city? They will turn the church into a pagan altar, which is the real blasphemy!"

"No, the majesty of Christ is inviolable. If we take the initiative to trample on the sanctity of the church in order to protect it, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?"

The clergy and the nobles argued endlessly.

After weighing the pros and cons for a moment, Losa decisively rejected this tempting proposal. This was what Constantine XI did in history. It was a helpless move, but it undoubtedly deepened the conflict between him and the church.

Even if the holy vessels were melted down to reward the soldiers, those devout soldiers might not be very grateful. Instead, they would be more fearful.

Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's. There is a price to pay for breaking the rules.

Lothar coughed lightly, and Orhan, who had been sitting in the corner and remained silent, suddenly spoke up: "Your Majesty, I am willing to donate my property of 10,000 florins of gold coins to support the resistance against the invasion of the pagans."

This was the wealth he had originally prepared for his "restoration cause", and now was the time to take it all out.

Anyway, ten thousand florins alone could do nothing for the "restoration cause".

Soon after, several nobles close to Lothar came forward to express their willingness to donate. One said angrily, "Even Prince Orhan, who has only been strangely orthodox for a few days, is willing to donate all his wealth to the cause of God. The way you hold your money bags tightly, are you still worthy of being Romans? You are just like a group of Jews!"

Many nobles were ridiculed until their faces turned red, and they had to say, "I am willing to donate."

"I will not forget your contributions. After we defeat the infidels, the recovered territories will be given priority to those who have made contributions this time."

Lothar had painted a big picture. With the template of the Sun King and the blessing of dragon energy, his ability to bewitch people was so strong that he could be called the Succubus of Constantinople.

"In that case, everyone should return to your respective posts. This battle has just begun. Although the Ottomans have temporarily ceased hostilities with us, we should not let our guard down. Their brotherhood and sisterhood have taken advantage of night raids more than once to gain city gates for the infidels."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Everyone looked stern and responded one after another.

...

On the other side, in the Ottoman camp.

Mahamu II rode a horse with dragon blood and inspected his army with a team of Janissaries. He seldom looked at the northern city wall, but every time he looked up, there seemed to be a fire burning in his eyes.

As a young, ambitious monarch who will be known as a conqueror in the future, his patience is definitely not very good.

"When the truce is over, send the sand giants out to fight. Tell their leader that if he takes off the head of the Greek emperor, I will promise him a piece of land to settle his people, and all the sand giants will be freed from their status as slaves."

Yesterday, the world of Battleship was a world dominated by humans.

The other races, unless they are like the wolf tribe, which has a large number, strong fertility, good individual combat capability, and also has an antique with top combat capability as a backup, they cannot develop at all and can only continue to migrate to remote areas to avoid becoming slaves of human countries.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"The Brotherhood proposes to launch a night raid on the enemy tonight"

"Not tonight. When it's their turn, I'll let them take action."

Mahamu II tried hard not to look at the tall towers standing like a forest in the darkness.

The boiling blood in his heart always wanted to drive him to ride the dragon and turn those towers into giant candles burning in the middle of the night, bringing destruction and death to those pagans who remained guarding the city walls.

But as a monarch, such reckless behavior is a taboo.

He looked down on the impoverished Emperor Constantine XI, but he would not underestimate the thousand-year-old Roman Empire.

Didn’t his father Murad II also ride a dragon, but still failed to conquer the city?

He could vaguely recall his father's teachings.

"A ruler can be cruel and violent, or kind and tolerant, but he must never be arrogant, impulsive, or hasty. This is the motto left to our Ottoman family by our ancestor named "Lightning."

...

Losa's defenses were in vain, and the Ottoman night attack did not come until the sky turned pale.

On the contrary, many defenders were in low spirits due to being on guard all night without sleep, so Losa arranged them to take turns.

This signal is very bad.

Constantinople's military strength is still sufficient now, but if the brutal offensive and defensive battles continue, sooner or later, Constantinople will find it difficult to prepare sufficient troops for night guard.

From this perspective, the historical incidents of forgetting to close the city gates were not necessarily due to someone colluding with the Ottomans, but more likely because the defenders were simply overstretched and too exhausted.

As the defenders finished their breakfast, the sun rose and the sky became bright.

Osman's body collector came up again.

In just one night, the corpse had already begun to emit a faint stench of decay, which mixed with the smell of blood in the air and was extremely unpleasant.

The new corpse collectors were obviously not so honest. Many of them would stop from time to time to pretend to talk while carrying the bodies, in order to observe the latest situation of the walls of Constantinople.

Some people even stretched out their hands and tried to touch the city wall, but were sternly stopped by the defenders on the city wall.

Lothar could sense that there were definitely enemy spellcasters among these people, and their purpose was most likely to observe the situation of the magic array in the walls of Constantinople.

Using current technology to repair this ancient magic circle, or to re-operate it so that it could exert a greater power than passive protection, the difficulty is absolutely incomparable to destroying it.

Mahamud II's motive for collecting the bodies was indeed not pure.

Losa sneered. He didn't expect that Mahamut II was really afraid of the plague to this extent. Otherwise, after every day of attacking the city, he would have to stop for a day to collect the bodies. Even if the Ottomans were given a year, they would not be able to capture Constantinople.

"Send someone to tell Mahamu II that if you overstep the boundaries again, it will be regarded as a unilateral violation of the armistice agreement, and we will immediately launch a counterattack."

While Lothar informed the enemy's body collector, he also decisively passed the order on.

After doing all this, Losa began his routine patrol again.

In the eyes of many people, their emperor was like a tireless machine. He had obviously not slept all night and had fought with the enemy for a long time on the city wall yesterday. But no matter when you look at him, he still seemed so energetic and enthusiastic.

Lothar walked on the city wall, tidying up the soldiers' uniforms from time to time, and sometimes he would smile and say a few words, "You fought well yesterday, I witnessed your bravery with my own eyes", and then take out a golden medal and pin it on his chest.

These medals of honor, which were rushed out overnight, are simply gold-plated and feature a sketch of the angel Michael. The Book of Revelation records that this deputy of heaven once fought against the seven-headed, ten-horned great red dragon, which represents Satan.

And the Ottomans’ greatest reliance, the three-headed, six-horned dragon, is so similar to this image?
"You are Titus Polo. I know your name. Your father served my brother. I was also impressed by your battle yesterday."

The soldiers who were called were immediately flattered. This was His Majesty the Emperor. Even though there was only one city left in Rome, the emperor was still regarded by them as God's spokesman on earth.

"After you win this battle, with this medal, you can obtain a 200-hectare estate on the outskirts of Constantinople. There is no limit to the amount. This is the promise your emperor has made to you."

Lothar thought he was not a war genius like Jeanna and the Lionheart.

It is also difficult to come up with any fancy moves in a city defense battle.

Although the "reward after victory in this battle" that can be exchanged for medals sounds like a blank check, it is really disheartening if they are too lazy to even give the promise after victory.