The Eagle of Eastern Europe

When some Genoese and Venetian merchants saw that the Dardanelles Strait was no longer free to pass, they felt that a fight was about to start, so they honestly accepted the inspection. But there were also some who were not short-sighted and just sailed away, and the castle fired directly, but it was only deflected.

All the merchants knew that Wallachia was not just talking about it, they were serious about it.

The 62 warships of the Black Sea Fleet are heading towards Castle. It has been a long time since there have been so many ships in the Black Sea heading to Castle. Even Genoa only has more merchant ships. The warships were all roaming the Mediterranean.

The Venetian Parliament discussed matters in Constantinople, and they felt that they needed to consider the Roman Empire's request for help.

After ten days and ten nights of marching, Mircea finally led his troops to Constantinople. The city that the world desires has survived more than a dozen sieges and two falls, but it still stands here.

The Walls of Constantinople were originally built during the reign of Constantine I to surround the new capital in all directions and to defend against attacks from land and sea. As the city expanded, construction of a new wall called Theodosius began in the fifth century. Although some parts of the walls were slightly less sophisticated, when properly deployed, the walls of Constantinople were impregnable against any siege, effectively holding back the Avars, Arabs, Rus', Bulgarians, etc. Protected Constantinople and the Empire under siege.

Before the siege, Mircea sent a message to the city for the last time, saying that as long as they surrendered, they would all be spared their lives, but the other party did not reply. Subsequently, on February 8, 1399, Mircea, the Archduke of Wallachia, ordered an attack on Constantinople.

On the Wallachian side, there were 30,000 troops, 10,000 auxiliaries, 70 cannons, and 62 battleships; on the Roman side, there were 6,500 defenders, two cannons, eight muskets, and 24 battleships. The Queen Mother ordered the chains at the Golden Horn to be raised to prevent enemy warships from entering.

Since Constantinople was too big and the Wallachian army was small, Mircea decided to concentrate his attack. He targeted the weakest Lycas Valley as the end point of the attack and ordered artillery to concentrate bombardment here.

The once majestic walls of Theodosius withstood many attacks, but when more powerful artillery came, its defenses had to weaken somewhat.

Wallachian artillery fired continuously, which put great pressure on the defenders. They counterattacked with two bronze cannons, but they were far less powerful than the Wallachian cannon. Then the Cossacks couldn't control their thoughts and began to advance towards Constantinople. Their fighting power was very strong, and the defenders fought hard to fight them back.

For two days, Wallachia made no progress. Mircea understood the importance of quick action, and he had to capture Constantinople before Venice could recover.

He asked people to bring in information about the Crusaders' attack on Constantinople in 1204. After understanding it in detail, he decided to focus on attacking a section of the Berachnai wall in the northwest. Previous artillery fire had already caused some damage to it. This section of the city wall was built in the 11th century and was much weaker than other walls. In 1204, the Crusaders invaded the city from this section of the city wall.

For the defenders, Wallachian artillery was too terrifying. Such huge power and range are something they have never seen before. The rubble under the city wall in the Lycas Valley has filled the ditch. If this continues, it is not impossible for the city wall to collapse.

At night, the Orthodox people quietly came out of the church, preparing to mobilize the guards of St. Romanus Gate to welcome the Wallachian army into the city. But he was discovered by Constantine and the conspiracy was shattered.

Mircea asked his engineers to use tunneling tactics to gradually approach Constantinople. At the same time, he ordered his fleet to attack the city wall on the Sea of ​​Marmara in an attempt to disperse the defenders in this way. Constantine continued to mobilize the city's residents and put them in charge of more defenses.

"As expected of a holy city, it has been unscathed despite so many attacks."

"Grand Duke, we must capture Constantinople as soon as possible, otherwise Venice will send a fleet soon."

Mircea was also anxious. It had been ten days and there was no movement from the other side. Does the siege really have to last for several months?

He set his sights on the map. This city founded by Constantine had nothing to say about its geographical location or defensive capabilities. how should I do it?

"The city walls are strong, and the Golden Horn is blocked by iron chains. It's difficult!"

Hearing the chains on the Golden Horn, Mircea suddenly thought that Galata was not controlled by Constantinople. This important place was already a colony of Genoa. If you can bribe them, it should alleviate some of the difficulty.

Just as Mircea was preparing to bleed heavily, the Orthodox sect in Constantinople began a counterattack. The leader was Patriarch Theodosius, who directly told the believers that the late emperor was killed by the current Queen Mother and other nobles, and that the Grand Duke of Wallachia was here to save them and avenge the emperor. Let them open the gates and welcome the Wallachian army into the city.

The words of the Patriarch resonated with many people. They picked up everything around them that could be used as weapons, took control of part of the city, and marched towards the Romanus Gate. The defenders had to send out another 500 people to suppress the attack, which made the originally weak defense force even more tense.

After learning of the riot in the city, Mircea temporarily gave up bribing Genoa and gathered all his troops to prepare for a charge. There was a lunar eclipse that night, which the defenders thought was a bad sign.

On the morning of February 23, Wallachia attacked again. The first wave of offensives was carried out by auxiliary troops who were poorly trained and equipped. The failure was expected, and they were only used to weaken the defenders. The second wave of offensive was mainly carried out by the backbone troops, focusing on a section of the Beraknai city wall in the northwest, which had been partially damaged by previous artillery fire.

They made a breakthrough but were quickly repulsed by the defenders. The third wave of offensive was carried out by Mircea's elite new army. The defenders were able to hold on for a while at first, but later the Serbian general responsible for defending one section of the city wall was seriously injured in the battle and left the city wall, causing the defenders to begin to panic.

There is a small gate between the three walls of Theodoschi Wall and the single-story wall surrounding Tikfar Sile Palace and Blanche Palace, commonly known as the Hippodrome Gate. In 1204, Emperor Isaac built it It was clogged and only recently reopened. During this attack, the Wallachian army rushed through the ditch and occupied the outer open space. More than fifty "new troops" suddenly found that the city gate was undefended and rushed in from there, followed by others. . Once they reached the inner clearing, they attacked the defenders from the side, allowing the Wallachian troops outside the city to scale the wall. After they entered the city, they took down the flag of St. Mark and raised the flag of Wallachia.

Mircea outside the city took advantage of this favorable factor. With his encouragement, the Guards successfully scaled the ramparts and hung the Wallachian flag over the tower. For a while, all the defenders who saw the flag thought that the city If it falls, Rome's defeat is certain!

Seeing that there was no way back, Constantine made a last-ditch struggle with the Serbs who were unwilling to be prisoners. Since then, no one has seen any trace of them. It can be said that "no people are seen alive, and no corpses are seen dead." Of course, in such chaos, his fate can also be imagined: he must have been killed by some unknown person, and then his body was buried under a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.