Chapter 206: Marching Towards Constantinople

Constantinople changed overnight. The Western European faction hunted down the Orthodox Christians, and the remaining people could only seek refuge in the Hagia Sophia. But some people still escaped and went to Serenbria, ready to tell Grand Duke Mircea what happened.

But what happened in Constantinople was quickly passed to Cyzicus through another channel. Peter was about to talk to Sophia about the next generation when the information arrived.

A note was handed over, with only one sentence on it: Emperor Manuel died and the eldest son succeeded to the throne.

This directly made Peter have no other thoughts. Manuel was gone, and his son was only five years old. It must be the Serbian regent. She was a Western European faction, and her father's consulship should not be kept.

"Have the two castles in Çanakkale been built?"

"It still needs the last bit of improvement, but it can be used normally."

In order to completely control the Dardanelles, Peter began to build two castles on both sides of the strait. He called them Serenbria and Anatolia Castle respectively. Thousands of craftsmen worked tirelessly, and the basic construction was completed a year later. It was also equipped with some coastal defense guns and flamethrowers, greatly enhancing the blockade capability.

"Let the fleet of Thessalonica move to Constantinople. They should be looking for assistance from Venice and Genoa."

Peter guessed correctly. At this time, Queen Mother Jelena was negotiating with representatives of Venice and Genoa, proposing to use part of the royal jewels as collateral in exchange for money. The other party agreed. Constantinople was so poor that it couldn't even pay the soldiers' salaries. It could only sell the jewels that had been collected for many years for emergency. Besides, the Grand Duke of Wallachia would not give up.

A few days later, Mircea, who was advancing, got the news from inside Constantinople.

"What did you say, the emperor is dead?"

"Yes, Grand Duke, the great Basilius has returned to heaven. Basilisa said he died of a sudden illness, but in fact he was killed by those nobles."

"Grand Duke, those people are killing people everywhere now. Only you can save Constantinople and the empire."

Listening to the other party's crying, Mircea fell into a state of confusion for a while. He never thought that the emperor would be gone like this. His plan had been disrupted. He had to either withdraw his troops or go to Rome to complain. But the walls of Constantinople made him back off.

Seeing Mircea hesitate, the other side said again. "Grand Duke, as the guardian of the Orthodox Church, can you bear to see Constantinople fall into the hands of pagans again? Can you bear to see Hagia Sophia desecrated again? Or are you ready to surrender to the heretics in Rome?"

"Shut up!"

Mircea was angry. He would never allow his faith to be misunderstood. Although he was a little impulsive, he understood that this was the closest he had ever been to Basilius and he had to seize the opportunity.

"Order, the vanguard troops will attack Selimbria and must take it down."

"Yes, sir."

Mircea made a quick decision and recruited 20,000 troops to supplement. He ordered the Black Sea Fleet to enter the strait and try to besiege Constantinople.

Everything changed within three days. The merchants in Galata stared with wide eyes and prepared to eat melons. They were all waiting impatiently to see if the city would fall again, and some even made bets on it, with amounts ranging from 100 to 2,000.

At the same time, Mircea also issued a declaration, saying that Emperor Manuel did not die of illness, but was killed by the current queen mother and the nobles around him. He called on everyone to rise up against the queen mother. As the Grand Duke of Wallachia, he was granted the position of consul by Manuel (although not officially granted), so he naturally had to shoulder the heavy responsibility.

Such words were like a strong wind, stirring up waves on the originally calm water surface. For a time, the news was true and false, and no one knew which one to believe.

The Roman troops were no match for the well-trained regular army of Wallachia. It took only one day to conquer Serimbria and tightly suppress the opponent in Constantinople and nearby lands. The queen mother asked Venice and Genoa for help, but Genoa was insolvent and could not send troops. As for Venice, I don’t know what else she can give him.

Mircea also thought of this biggest factor of change, so he met with the envoys of Venice and proposed that their power in Constantinople would remain unchanged and they would give further concessions.

Such conditions tempted the other party, but the envoy would not easily believe it. He proposed that Wallachia should set aside a piece of land in cities such as Constanta as a Venetian colony. If he disagreed, he would ask the Venetian Parliament to send troops to aid Constantinople.

"Oh dear envoy, you have found the wrong person about the land in Constanta. This land is managed by my son Peter, the co-ruler of Wallachia. You should go to him."

"I'm sorry, but I will ask the parliament for your request. Please wait for the news."

The envoy withdrew, and Mircea then angrily cursed the Venetians for their greed. Once they agreed to them, would Wallachia still have a good life?

He directly ordered Nikephoros to take most of the navy to the Sea of ​​Marmara to see if his navy could stand the test. As for the siege, Mircea brought his own cannons and delivered them as quickly as possible, even if it cost more money and required more people.

Walachia's artillery has also changed a lot, because the technology is not yet mature, and the direct use of cast iron cannons is easy to explode. Therefore, most of the artillery uses copper core iron sheet, which can both ensure power and reduce costs. How many cannons does the Roman Empire have? The answer is: two, and this is Venice's wedding gift to Manuel.

Then, just like in 1204, the Wallachian army gradually surrounded Constantinople, and the queen mother summoned 6,000 people to guard the city. The vanguard first sent a letter asking them to surrender and investigate the cause of the emperor's death, but the other party refused.

In this case, then come on. Wallachia began to blockade Constantinople and sent people to send letters to Morea, asking Theodore to send troops. The entire Balkans was turbulent again, and all diplomatic activities on both sides failed.

The Venetian Parliament had not received the news yet. Taking advantage of this gap, Mircea led the army to advance rapidly. Peter also ordered Canakkale and the two fortresses on the opposite bank to block the strait, preparing to use the land advantage to delay the Venetian navy.

The country's naval confrontation would definitely fail, so it could only look for other countries. Genoa was still the second largest naval power in the Mediterranean at this time, and Galata was also their colony, so it should be no problem to find them.