"Your Majesty, Epirus's letter."

"John's?" Constantine XI struggled to open his eyes, and the plan of an attack on Galata was already on the agenda of the Imperial Council. However, due to the ensuing of troops, funds, siege firearms, and a series of follow-up problems, the plan had to be postponed again and again. The Imperial Council was also held for more than ten days one after another, leaving Constantine exhausted.

"It was sent by Princess Sophia, and Epirus needs support from the treasury."

"We need a lot of money to attack Galata and settle the rest of the business...... You can help me reply, there are no more ...... in the empire for the time being"

"Your Majesty, you better read the letter."

Constantine glanced at old Agrippa, but noticed a strange look in his eyes.

"Send it up."

Just by seeing the first sentence of the letter, Constantine's drowsiness had been dispelled.

"Gold mines?"

John recruited some experienced middle-aged miners in Fort Gombrigne, and after digging deep into the cave discovered by Giovanni, he found some mysteries. Due to a heavy rain, the Jili Festival River overflowed an iron ore vein that had been depleted and abandoned. Perhaps after a long period of erosion by the river, the mountain structure in the mine is no longer solid, and there are many landslides. It was these landslides that exposed the gold buried deep in the rocks, and part of it fell into the Gillijie River.

Sophia sought assistance from the state treasury not because of financial constraints, but because she wanted to be able to mine the gold mines as soon as possible. For the miners who prospect for gold, John has taken precautions to keep it secret, and when the experienced scholars and professional tools are in place, the empire will have an endless source of income.

"Your Majesty, Galata, you should put it aside for the time being. Now, nothing is more important than a gold mine. ”

"Wait, Sophia's letter has two pages."

Constantine XI opened the second letter with excitement, but it had nothing to do with the previous one.

Sophia and John hope to use the first pot of gold excavated from this gold mine for the construction of the academy.

"What do you think?" There was a hint of reluctance in Constantine's expression. So far, in his eyes, there is nothing that can compare to the capture of Galata. Constantine's safety could never be compromised.

But the people who remained at the Council had a different opinion from Constantine. Publius remained unrepresented, but Gingch, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer of the Empire, was unequivocally supportive of Sophia and John's proposal.

Immediately after, old Agrippa also spoke: "Your Majesty, the wisdom of the empire is superior to all the countries of the Eurasian continent, and this is the precipitation of the empire for thousands of years. However, when aggression befell the empire again and again, our superiority in knowledge and technology was gradually lost. Even so, the Renaissance in Europe was only developed by the wisdom of Constantinople brought by the defecting aristocrats and scholars, so it was urgent to rebuild some high-quality academies. ”

"Your Majesty, this short peace of the empire is not easy to come by, we cannot put all our bets on foreign expansion, education has always been a lucrative investment. Even if the new academy gives priority to military education, it can train us a good number of commanders in a few years. In the same way, in the acquisition of talents that are in short supply in the empire, there is only one way, education, which is safe and convenient. "In the future, metallurgy, architecture, trade, art, politics, and military affairs can all become the courses of the academy, which is also mentioned in His Majesty's letter. As long as the academy is large enough, it can even spread education to the common people. ”

In fact, John also had some selfish intentions at this point, and the reason why he did not want the academy to be established in Constantinople, but used the income from the gold mines to relocate the site in Gombrigne, was because he feared that the intervention of the Orthodox Church would derail the academy in his mind.

There are countless differences between theology and science, and the collision between the two can even directly destroy the germ of new knowledge.

There is already a lot of evidence for this in Western Europe, and he did not want a stake to be burned in the center of the academy to burn the so-called "apostates".

However, it also made John feel that the reform of the Orthodox Church was also imminent. After the gradual establishment of the new academy, the development of the productive forces will inevitably free the empire from the shackles of primitive feudalism. Before the outbreak of religious wars within the empire, it is better to reform the Orthodox Church first. History has proven that when the system of feudal production collapses, anti-theocracy and anti-feudal ideas will inevitably appear.

Before the Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory III had not been completely inflated by the expansion of the empire, the time was ripe for a move on the Church.

Constantine XI on the Holy See also clearly showed signs of relenting, and old Agrippa took another dose of fierce medicine.

"As long as the academy is completed, we can even study the protagonists of firearms manufacturing, ammunition manufacturing, musketeers, artillery, etc., which have just appeared on the stage of the times, so that the army of the Roman Empire will once again dominate the world. Our artillery could not reach the sea wall of Galata because the range of the artillery was not enough to support this siege. But sir, think about it, if one day we can bombard the Ottomans in Anatolia across the Bosphorus, or smash the walls of Edirne from a thousand miles away, who in this world will be an opponent of the Empire? ”

This exaggerated speech made the old Jin Qi on the side also laugh. Although Constantine XI knew that these visions would not be realized, he also understood that his subjects were desperate for the completion of a new academy.

Taking advantage of the Ottoman civil strife, the empire had to do not only watch the fire from the other side, but also strengthen itself as much as possible during this time.

"Since you've all decided, why bother asking me?" Constantine stood up from his seat and shook his wrinkled purple robe, "Evie, let's go, I haven't slept for days." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

In the early hours of the next morning, a transport ship, protected by two Clark battleships, secretly set sail from the Golden Horn.

This was the first "aid" delivered by Constantinople to Epirus - a group of experienced miners, several exploration specialists, an architect responsible for the construction of the new cadets, and tools and funds to fill the cabin with a personal letter from Constantine XI.

The empire would give full support to the construction of the new academy and gave the naming rights to John.