Chapter 660 Siege War
Then, the two sides started a long confrontation.
Before Murad II died, Mahamu II ascended the throne once, but unfortunately, he achieved little. Many ministers criticized him for being impulsive and immature and incapable of governing the country.
This young monarch who grew up under the shadow of Murad II, after ascending the throne for the second time, seemed to be reborn from the ashes. He was no longer eager for success, but built his siege camp in a methodical and patient manner.
A steady stream of supplies flowed into this camp, transformed into huge siege weapons that could be seen clearly even from the towering towers of the Theodosian Wall.
Countless conscripted civilians and pack animals praised the name of the holy fire, pulled the huge siege artillery, and placed it in artillery positions under the command of engineering technicians.
The defenders on the city wall could only watch helplessly as the enemy grew stronger day by day. Their originally high morale also began to decline as time went by.
"This guy is really tricky. He was so clumsy when he first ascended the throne, but after only a few years, he has completely changed?
Losa murmured in a low voice, and his sight seemed to have passed through thousands of meters of obstacles, and saw Mahamu II who was personally drawing sketches in the tent.
Although Constantinople has declined, it does not mean that her 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 take long for her to regain the style of the queen of cities and become the head of a huge empire and a world-famous financial and tax center.
Apart from these visible and tangible practical interests, taking Constantinople also represents great fame.
The prophet of Zoroastrianism once predicted that the monarch who conquered Constantinople would be the greatest monarch in the Zoroastrian world, which is for the current situation that depends entirely on his father Yu Zeshang. It is conceivable how important it is to Mahamu II, who is in urgent need of establishing his authority.
But Mahamu II is calm.
With 200,000 soldiers in hand and riding a three-headed dragon, he is still calm. Lothar doesn't know what he is afraid of. Could it be that he didn't control it well and leaked some breath, causing him to be afraid?
He turned his attention back to the city wall that was being repaired urgently. The sandbags, wood, bricks and stones piled on the inside of the city wall, as well as the city defense equipment, were placed in their proper positions in an orderly manner.
From low to high, three towering city walls arranged in a stepped manner, plus a moat, a total of four defenses. Once the enemy's preparations are not particularly sufficient and the attack is launched rashly, the losses will definitely be heavy to an extremely exaggerated level.
"Captain, are we just watching the Ottomans prepare here and indifferent? "
Viviana asked uneasily.
Her participation in the battle that day won her great reputation. When the citizens were holding the holy image and praying in the streets, many people would praise her name with admiration, which made her feel a heavy pressure.
The preparations for the defenders have been almost done. These are the only resources left in Rome. No matter how intensively they prepare for war, the upper limit is here, and the strength of the Ottomans is increasing day by day.
Faced with such a situation, no one will remain indifferent.
"What else?"
Losa smiled bitterly and said, "Early before I came here, the Ottomans began to demolish churches and villages outside Constantinople, and took 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 they were indifferent. "
Losa had no intention of leaving the city to attack the enemy. Although the Sufi mystic monks and the Brotherhood were mixed, the large number of clergy were experts in small-scale encounters.
Even if he and Viviana could contain the enemy's spellcasters.
Their side also lacked the cavalry needed to raid the enemy camp.
Although the reclassified Qiexue Army was a powerful armored cavalry of the same level as the Empire's armored cavalry, they only got a full set of equipment, even horse armor, but no good horses to ride.
Viviana was silent, feeling more and more insignificant.
"Wait a little longer."
Losa comforted: "Wait for a time that is suitable 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 caused the Genoese in Galata to fall into panic.
Galata is located on the other side of the Golden Horn, and one end of the iron chain defense line across the Golden Horn is in the hands of the Genoese.
The original "dry land sailing" in history was because the Ottomans could not break through the joint fleet relying 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 then defeated the joint fleet and threatened the sea wall of Constantinople.
Today, Genoa has gradually declined after many wars with the Venetians. There are only more than 3,000 garrisons in the Galata city area. If the Ottomans turn against them, they will be unable to stop their troops.
At this time, in the council of the Galata city area.
The mayor took out a letter with a solemn 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 Galatans will no longer be guaranteed. "
As soon as the words fell, someone said righteously: "We cannot 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 surrenderists are ready to move. They don't think Constantinople has the possibility of holding on.
"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 previous treatment."
"How stupid people are to think that the Ottomans will not attack us after they take Constantinople?"
"Rumelia Castle and Anatolia Castle have strangled the throat of our Black Sea trade route. Once Constantinople falls, if the Ottomans attack us, we will not get any support."
"You cowards, the lowly and cowardly Venetians still know the truth that the lips and teeth are cold, but you are scared 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 indignant.
Although their actions were contradictory, they were reluctant to give up the trade privileges promised by the Ottomans and did not dare to turn against the Ottomans, but they still retained a part of their perseverance as Christians in their bones. Of course, the more reason was that they had invested too much in Constantinople and it was too late to recover.
Over the years, Constantinople has been so poor and desolate because too many benefits have been taken away by them.
Once the Ottomans occupied Constantinople, no matter how rich the benefits promised now, the Genoese, who had lost their bargaining power, knew that the Ottomans would definitely turn against them in the future, as long as they were not stupid.
But that being said, who really wanted to face the terrible Ottoman army?
The city council was arguing endlessly and the voices were noisy.
The mayor raised his hand several times in succession to make people quiet down temporarily: "Clear, quiet! Next, we will vote by raising our hands. Those who agree to accept the conditions of the Ottomans, please raise your hands."
Only five people raised their hands, which immediately attracted countless people's angry glares.
"Then, those who think we should stand with the defenders of Constantinople and fight against the Ottoman army together, raise your hands."
This time, there were not even five people who raised their hands.
"You cowards!"
"Our brothers are fighting the pagans on the other side, and we are standing by and watching. God will punish this behavior!"
Some people slammed the table and cursed, but no one refuted.
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 tentative attacks.
The first to launch the attack was naturally not the most elite Janissaries among the pagans, but the Rumelian Legion.
Rumelia is actually the "Roman region" in the Ottoman population, that is, the Balkan Peninsula. The source of the Rumelian Legion is mostly Orthodox Christians, including Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, etc.
Serbia was once prominent and assassinated the Ottoman king, but now it has weakened into a small vassal state of the Ottomans, married with the Ottoman royal family, and jumped between Hungary and the Ottomans.
It is said that in the Battle of Varna, it was a Serbian soldier who killed the leader of the Crusaders, King Władysław III of Hungary and Poland.
In the Battle of Kosovo, the 20,000 troops led by Hunyadi were defeated, and the Serbs also defected. After that, Hunyadi was captured by the Grand Duke of Serbia and paid 100,000 florins to regain his freedom.
Many of these soldiers who were driven to carry sandbags and fill the moat were wearing the amulets of the Orthodox cross. While filling the moat, they cried and asked for Christ's forgiveness.
Lothar had no intention of taking action. These cannon fodders who tried to attack were just unlucky people used by the enemy to consume the arrows of the defenders.
Most of them did not respond to the war voluntarily, but were forcibly recruited.
If the empire was still strong, most of them would be the most loyal subjects of the empire.