Chapter 665 Undercurrent

Late at night.

In the Hagia Sophia, candlelight illuminated the magnificent murals and shrines. A group of Roman nobles, Latin nobles, mercenary leaders, and clergy 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.

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

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

As for the name of Greeks, in the eyes of the Romans, it was limited to the ancient Greek civilization that had not converted to Christianity and maintained polytheism thousands of years ago.

Whether to convert to Christianity is regarded as a symbol of civilization or not, so the name of Greeks is more like pointing at others and scolding them as barbarians, although in terms of blood, they are indeed barbarians.

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

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

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

The emperor ignored the dissatisfaction of both sides, rested his hands on the table, and raised his chin slightly:

"Everyone, in today's battle, we successfully repelled the Ottomans' attack, causing them to leave thousands of corpses. This is a glorious victory, the will of God, and the credit of everyone present."

The crowd smiled a little, and someone said: "Constantinople has been besieged by the Ottomans many times, but just like before, she will still hold on."

Lothar smiled and nodded, and then his tone turned serious: "But you must know that today the Ottomans are still tentatively attacking, he sent The elite troops sent out are only the warriors of the Brotherhood and Sisterhood, and their number is quite limited. In the eyes of Mahamu II, those Ghazis are just insignificant cannon fodder that can be summoned with a slogan. We cannot underestimate the strength of the enemy because of this. "

Losa paused slightly and said: "You must know that the progress of the Pope's call for a crusade in Europe is not smooth. The defeat of the Varna Crusade has greatly reduced people's enthusiasm for participating in the Crusade. "

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

"And what we have to do is to reawaken their enthusiasm. In Constantinople, we will achieve a shocking victory that will scare the pagans, make them afraid, and make them attack each other and fall apart. "

Losa's tone was very serious, giving people a strong confidence. If it were someone else, even a general with outstanding statements like Hunyadi, they would only regard it as a crazy raving.

"Today's battle to defend the city has many people who have made great contributions. 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 saying this, Lothar looked eagerly at the nobles.

They were silent for a moment. That was the wealth they had accumulated and kept at the bottom of the box.

To put it bluntly, if Constantinople fell, that would be their reliance for escaping to Europe.

What would the nobles who had no money have left?

Would they go to those distant relatives in Europe to beg for food? Such humiliation would be better than begging for mercy from the Ottoman monarch.

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

"Why not distribute the land of Constantinople to meritorious people?"

Losa 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 group of fools who can be easily fooled?"

"Why not melt the tableware and decorations of the church to reward the army."

As soon as this was said, a voice of opposition was immediately aroused.

"No, this is a blasphemy."

"Will the pagans not do more blasphemous things when they break into the city? They will convert 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 the sacred church, isn't it 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 the 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.

Melting the holy vessels to reward the soldiers, those pious soldiers may not be very grateful, but more panic.

What belongs to God belongs to God, what belongs to Caesar belongs to Caesar, breaking the rules will cost you.

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

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

Anyway, only 10,000 florins could not do anything for the "restoration cause".

Following this, several nobles close to Lothar came forward to express their willingness to donate. Some said with anger on their faces: "Even Prince Orhan, who has just become a strange believer for a few days, is willing to donate all his wealth for the cause of God. The way you hold your money bags tightly, are you still worthy of being a Roman? You are just like a group of Jews!"

Many nobles were ridiculed and blushed, and had to say: "I am willing to donate."

"I will not forget your dedication. After repelling the pagans, the recovered territories will be given priority to the meritorious officials this time."

Lothar made a big promise. With the template of the Sun King and the blessing of dragon energy, his ability to bewitch people is so strong that he can be called the succubus of Constantinople.

"In that case, everyone should return to their respective posts. This battle has just begun. Although the Ottomans have temporarily ceased fighting with us, we should not take it lightly. Their brotherhood and sisterhood have taken advantage of night attacks more than once to earn city gates for the pagans."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Everyone responded with a stern look.

...

On the other side, in the Ottoman camp.

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

As a young, ambitious monarch who will win the title of conqueror in the future, his patience is definitely not very good.

"When the truce period is over, send the sand giants to fight. Tell their leader that as long as he takes off the head of the Greek emperor, I will promise him a piece of territory to settle his people, and all the sand giants can get rid of their slave status."

Yesterday, the world of giant ships was a world dominated by humans.

The rest of the races, unless they are like the wolf tribe, with a large number, strong fertility, good individual combat power, and an antique with top combat power as the bottom of the box, cannot develop at all, and can only migrate to remote areas to avoid becoming slaves of human countries.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

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

"Not necessary tonight, I will let them take action when it is their turn."

Mahamu II tried not to let his eyes see the tall towers standing like a forest in the dark night.

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

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

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

His father Murad II also controlled a dragon, but didn't he still fail to conquer the city?

He could vaguely recall his father's teachings.

"A ruler can be cruel and violent, or kind and generous, but he must not be arrogant, impulsive, or impatient. This is the motto left to our Ottoman family by our ancestor named "Lightning."

...

Lothar's defenses were in vain. The Ottomans' night attack did not come until the sky was white.

On the contrary, many defenders were in poor spirits because they had been on guard all night, so they were arranged by Lothar to take turns.

This signal was not good.

Constantinople's military strength was still sufficient, but if the brutal offensive and defensive battles continued, sooner or later, Constantinople would find it difficult to prepare sufficient troops for nighttime vigilance.

In this way, the fact that the city gates were forgotten to be closed in history was not necessarily because someone cooperated with the Ottomans from inside and outside, but it was probably because the defenders were really stretched and too exhausted.

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

Osman's corpse collectors came up again.

In just one night, the corpses had already exuded a faint stench of decay, mixed with the bloody smell in the air, which was very 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 corpses to observe the current situation of the walls of Constantinople.

Some people even stretched out their hands and tried to touch the walls, but were stopped by the guards on the top of the city.

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

This kind of ancient magic array, if you want to repair it with current technical means, or re-operate it to make it more powerful than passive protection, the difficulty is definitely not the same as destroying it.

Mahamu II's motive for collecting corpses was indeed not pure.

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

"Send someone to tell Mahamu II that if you go beyond the rules again, it will be regarded as a unilateral violation of the armistice agreement. We will immediately launch a counterattack."

While Losa informed the enemy's body collector, he also decisively passed the order down.

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

In the eyes of many people, their emperor is like a tireless machine. Obviously, he also stayed up all night and fought with the enemy for a long time on the city wall yesterday, but no matter when you look at him, he still looks so energetic and enthusiastic.

Losa walked on the wall, tidying up the soldiers' clothes 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 took out a golden medal and pinned it on his chest.

These medals of honor, which were made overnight last night, were only gold-plated, with a simple sketch of the angel Michael painted on them. The Book of Revelation records that this deputy of heaven had fought against the seven-headed and ten-horned dragon representing Satan.

And the Ottomans' greatest reliance, the three-headed and six-horned dragon, how similar is this image?

"You are Titus Polo, I know your name, your father once served my brother, and your battle yesterday also impressed me."

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

"After the victory of this battle, with this medal, you can obtain a 200-hectare estate in the suburbs of Constantinople, with no limit on the number. This is the promise your emperor made to you."

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

It was difficult to come up with any tricks in a city defense war.

Although the "reward after the victory of this battle" that can be exchanged for the medal sounds like an empty check, it is really disheartening if they are too lazy to even give the promise after the victory.