The Eagle of Eastern Europe

It took a total of 15 days for Constantinople to be destroyed. If preparations were included, it took more than a month. It should be the second fastest city to be destroyed. (The first speed was in 1204, which took five days)

Of course, if the city is broken, there will be no escape from killing and looting. When they first entered the city gate, the Wallachian army marched neatly, but after entering the city, some people immediately broke their formation, fanned out and poured into the streets and alleys of Constantinople, and began to kill people. Loot. After Mircea learned about it, he immediately sent his personal guards to stop them, and it took a lot of effort to hold them down.

In the evening Mircea held his entry ceremony into the city. Accompanied by the guards and ministers, Mircea rode slowly through the streets, with cheering people on both sides of the streets. Then he rode all the way to Hagia Sophia.

Patriarch Theodosius, who had been waiting for a long time, announced to everyone that the Messiah had come. Everyone cheered and Mircea enjoyed the moment.

Then the Patriarch prepared to invite Mircea into Hagia Sophia, but Mircea thought that there was one more important thing than this.

The Royal Palace of Constantinople has been surrounded by them. Mircea led the troops into the palace of John VIII. Queen Mother Jelena was also there. At this time, she was hugging the little emperor tightly and not allowing anyone to get close.

"Don't come here. I am the Queen Mother and my son is Basilius. If you dare to do anything to him, you will definitely be punished by God."

Mircea walked in. Facing the half-mad Queen Mother, he had no sympathy at all.

"Come here, the Queen Mother is already talking nonsense. Hurry up and ask a doctor to come over and treat her."

On the Archduke's order, the soldiers separated Jelena from John and sent her to a doctor for "treatment."

In the following days, Mircea conducted a large-scale search for the opposition in the castle. In addition to those who lost the city, there were also some people who ran to Galata to seek refuge, but were sunk by the Black Sea Fleet when they were leaving by boat, and their whole families were killed at the bottom of the sea.

Regarding John VIII, Mircea first wrote to Theodore asking if he wanted to be emperor. Before sending it, the other party directly sent someone to Mircea with a letter refusing to become emperor. He would not go to Constantinople, nor would he become Basilius.

Now that the most promising person has withdrawn, John VIII is still there, but there is no Queen Mother, and all the ministers around him have changed.

Mircea proclaimed himself the highest officer of Constantinople, the senior palace commander, the supreme person, etc., and named his son Peter the senior leading military governor, taking all military and civil affairs into his hands.

At this time, the population of Constantinople was less than 50,000, industry and commerce were depressed, and agriculture was declining. Upon seeing this, Mircea allocated some funds on the one hand, and on the other hand, moved some farmers to nearby villages to resume food production.

The chief executive of Genoa was the first to receive the news. He came to the palace of Constantinople where he received foreign ministers. John VIII was sitting on the throne, with Mircea beside him. The envoy understood that the only person in charge of the affairs was the Wallachian. Grand Duke.

Out of etiquette, he saluted first John VIII and then Archduke Mircea. Then he said a bunch of beautiful words, and then withdrew.

Mircea knew that the rest of the conversation would be between the two of them. He asked people to take the little emperor down to rest, and he talked to the Genoese in person.

"The Great Prince of Wallachia, Most High, Genoa congratulates you on your success."

"The Genoese are really fast. It seems that Galata is well managed by you."

The Galata Administrator of Genoa thought this was a compliment, and quickly stated that it was all benefited from the prosperous Black Sea trade, and said that without the kindness of Constantinople, it would not have been able to reach such heights.

In fact, Genoa was nervous because they were afraid that the other side would suddenly lead troops to attack Galata. Now the garrison of Galata is less than 2,000, and suddenly there are tens of thousands of soldiers standing next to you. But if you want to rely on your own sharp tongue to make them retreat, it is too much.

Today's Genoa has lost its former glory. Galata and Kaffa are their only colonies on the Black Sea. If they are gone, it will be a disaster for Genoa, which started out as a trade.

Wallachia refused to set aside a separate piece of land for Genoa as their colony, and only recognized that they had preferential policies in trade. Now that Mircea controls Constantinople, he is afraid that he will suddenly take back Galata. Although Wallachia's navy is not as good as Genoa's, their army is not a little bit behind, and they are afraid that the other party will use their strength to consume them. .

People in Genoa expressed that Galata was willing to give up its previous tax-free policy and instead hand over 2% of profits every year and allow Wallachian merchants to enter. Mircea did not expect the Genoese to be so generous suddenly, so he agreed to this condition. In exchange, the Genoese could continue to manage Galata for five years, and then consider whether to continue to maintain it after five years.

Genoa is now a vassal state of France. Although its navy is still second in the Mediterranean, it only has a few dozen capital ships and will soon be surpassed by Wallachia.

When the Venetian Parliament was preparing to send 800 people to assist Constantinople, it received news of the Wallachian army's capture. Both the parliamentarians and the governor were regretful for not paying enough attention to this matter. Now that Wallachia has occupied the castle, it is a foregone conclusion. If they want to continue to maintain their trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, they must have a good relationship with him.

What's more, the market in Wallachia is also huge. Many Venetian merchants had great interests here. In addition, they also obtained Western Anatolia and Smyrna. Their territories in the Aegean Sea were under great pressure, so reconciliation with Wallachia was the only option. Method.

In Wallachia, the people were once again excited after learning that the Archduke had occupied Constantinople. Although some people thought this was treason, most people thought it was just to protect the holy city from being controlled by infidels. Behavior.

Mircea once again became a myth or threat in the eyes of monarchs, especially King Władysław of Poland. He now felt that Wallachia was Poland's biggest opponent and needed a blow to force it out of the threat. . But his conflicts with the Teutonic Knights and Lithuania hindered the implementation of the plan.

The small countries that were divided by the Ottomans were shocked when they heard the news. Before, Wallachia relied on the permission of Constantinople and the encouragement of the Patriarch to attack the Ottomans. Now they have become the masters of the castle. Then You can blatantly launch jihad, which is not good news for the now divided Ottomans.

Fortunately, those Catholic nobles will not look at Wallachia as a single family. They can join forces with the Catholic principalities in the Aegean Sea to form a Wallachia encirclement. Plus Wallachia needed to stabilize the interior of Constantinople, and they had plenty of time to do so.