Chapter 114 Siege and Request for Help

Walachia began to create a core in the newly conquered land. After seeing the methods of Grand Duke Mircea, the Bulgarian nobles collectively pretended not to know. Especially when more than 70 nobles were executed in one breath, they felt that being with the king was like being with a tiger. They stayed in their own manors and did not ask about any political affairs.

In fact, as long as they were obedient, the Grand Duke would not take action against them. After all, this situation is enough once, and it will not work if it happens more.

For Wallachia, the Roman Emperor Manuel also began to pay attention to it. He not only sent the title of Despot, but also invited him to Constantinople, but was rejected by Mircea.

Because after the failure of Wallachia, Bayezid began to attack the villages and towns around Constantinople. The citizens of Constantinople could see the Ottoman Turks on the Asian side of the Bosphorus building castles from the city walls. It seemed that Bayezid was planning a raid on Constantinople.

This frightened Manuel. He asked for help from Venice, Genoa, and the Papal States, but received no response. Wallachia was his last hope.

Now, Manuel sent someone again. However, this time he sent his younger brother, Theodore, the Despot of Morea.

"Welcome to you, Roman envoy."

Facing Grand Duke Mircea, Theodore knew that he did not have much leverage to send troops, and could only use the Orthodox doctrine and pagans as reasons.

"Grand Duke, those pagans are defiling Constantinople, and His Majesty the Emperor hopes that your country can send troops to fight against them."

Mircea listened to his request, but declined it on the grounds that a treaty had been signed. Then he started talking about another thing.

"I heard that your Excellency has a daughter who is not married yet?"

"Yes"

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be better?"

Mircea told Theodore his idea to marry his princess to the Grand Duke's eldest son. Theodore soon realized that he wanted to seize the position of Roman emperor, because his emperor brother had no children yet, and he only had one daughter. If they married, not only Morea would be his, but Constantine might also be theirs.

"Think about it carefully." Mircea said to Theodore, whether to live or to sacrifice.

In order to make him make up his mind, Mircea also gave a lot of things as a betrothal gift. In addition to gold coins, there were also a lot of valuables, such as silk, glass, spices, etc. These were all things he could not afford in his lifetime. There was no way, he was poor.

From the coronation of John V, it can be seen that a Byzantine historian who recorded the coronation of John V once lamented: "Most of the emperor's crowns and robes only look like gold jewelry, but they are actually leather dyed with gold and decorated with colored glass to pretend to be gems. The high-footed gold cups decorated with rubies and pearls used by the previous emperor to taste fine wine have been replaced with tin cups or clay cups. ... Things like naturally beautiful gems and colorful pearls can be seen everywhere, but these cannot deceive the eyes of the people... The prosperity and glory of the Roman Empire have declined to this extent, and the glory of the past has completely disappeared..."

The emperor is like this, and these despotic princes naturally have a better life because they have territories. But it's just a good life. As for the army, there are only a small number of mercenaries and militias.

Theodore was tempted to get so much wealth through marriage. But it was just a heartbeat. He knew the ambition of Wallachia very well. Unless he could reverse it, he could only agree.

————Dividing line————

Bayezid's siege of Constantinople was Ali Pasha's idea. Since Wallachia was a bit difficult, he should start with the easy and then the difficult, take down Constantinople and connect the territories of Europe and Asia. Then go north.

Bayezid had already begun to build fortresses in the Bosphorus Strait and formed a naval fleet to prepare for a complete siege of Constantinople. And Manuel could only stare blankly, after all, he could not do anything.

In fact, there was no friendly country in the Roman Empire that was willing to really help itself. Venice and Genoa had strong economic strength, and their armies, especially the navy, had strong combat effectiveness, but they just wanted to take advantage of the empire's internal and external difficulties to obtain more promises from the other side, and to gain more benefits from the disintegration of Rome, and even wanted to share the spoils with the Ottoman Empire. For the Republic of Venice, it only considered its own narrow economic interests, and did not consider the changes in the military and political structure of the East and the West after the demise of the Byzantine Empire and the adverse consequences for Venice.

Inside the empire, court struggles continued, local forces were divided, nobles were corrupt and licentious, and the upper class was clearly divided into pro-Roman papal factions (or pro-Western European factions), pro-Ottoman Empire factions, and Orthodox factions that opposed both Western Europe and the Roman pope and the Ottoman Empire. They were so intriguing and incompatible that some people believed that it was against the will of heaven that the Roman Empire would not perish.

But no matter what, the Ottoman siege of Constantinople was a foregone conclusion. And Basilius could only watch, and it was useless to ask for help.

"Sultan, we have started building three fortresses, and another fleet is also under construction."

"Yeah"

At this time, Bayezid had already walked out of the fear of fighting Wallachia, and he was no longer afraid of anything.

"Anything else?"

"It's just rebellions in various places, and there are some confrontations on the borders with some countries."

The Sultan listened to the ministers' report and asked them to withdraw. Only Ali Pasha was left.

"Grand Vizier, do you think we can succeed this time?"

"Sultan, the glory of Allah will surely shine on the empire, and he will favor you."

Ali Pasha was also confident that as long as the siege lasted for a few years, Constantinople would surrender because of the depletion of food. They could occupy this place without spending a single soldier.

"Then I'm relieved. By the way, what is Wallachia doing?"

Bayezid asked about this mortal enemy again. He let him get an advantage last time, and he couldn't let them go this time.

"They don't seem to have any moves, but the Grand Duke of Wallachia dealt with more than 70 nobles in one go a few days ago, which made people panic."

Wow, more than 70 families, is this Grand Duke afraid that he will not step down?

Even Bayezid was stunned by Mircea's actions. What is the difference between such bold behavior and tyrants?

"They wanted to drive the Grand Duke out of power, but because someone informed on him, he was executed."

So that's the case. Bayezid is a bit of a pity. If they were still there, it would be nice to cooperate.

"We cannot stop attacking Rome now. As long as we drive them all into the city, it will be easy to capture it."