The gooseberry made a beautiful arc in the air, and then came to a steady stop on the bow of the ship. But if he didn't pay attention, the hake in his mouth was robbed by cloves.

  Constantine XI's voyage to John was at first vehemently opposed. Not to mention that the Ottoman fleet in the Mediterranean Sea has gradually become more frequent, and John's physical condition alone is not reassuring. In addition to the secular guards, who had long been responsible for John's security, Constantine XI sent two other galley ships as escorts. The total number of sailors and troops accompanying him also exceeded 800. Of course, in order to stop the loss, John still took the caravan of Venice and some speculators in the empire to go together, and collected a considerable commission from it.

  Alexandria did not seem to have been much affected by the defeat, and by noon the fleet had arrived in port, the sea market was quite lively. Bazaars can be found everywhere in Alexandria, and until now, Alexandria was an important trading port area for the Mamluks. Although in the near future, its status will be lost with the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope Passage.

  Although John had earlier informed the Sultan of Zahir of the Burgi dynasty, the pomp and circumstance of his arrival in Alexandria seemed to be very different from a year earlier. Or rather, rather shabby. The trade between the fishermen and the townsfolk in the harbor was not disrupted by the arrival of the Imperial fleet, and the only thing that greeted them in the harbor were two high-pitched eunuchs and some not-so-looking court ceremonial knights.

  "The ruler of Circassia, the noble Sultan Zahir of Burgi, welcomes you from afar! The carriage to Cairo is ready, so come with me. Oh...... By the way, for the sake of His Majesty John's health, our carriage is upholstered with fine long-staple cotton, and we have also modified it, so please rest assured. ”

  While John was still wondering where the Mamluks had come from and the news that he had been seriously wounded, Sophia tiptoed into his ear and whispered, "It seems that the Mamluks have been tortured in this battle. The last time the ceremonial knights came, they served as honor guards in the Sultan's Golden Horde. At this point, it looks like the body under the armor has been much thinner. Even the court knights were like this, and the lives of the common people were even more uncertain. ”

  "Do you remember that?" John glanced dumbly at the knights who seemed to be still mighty and majestic, but he didn't see any name, "Actually, maybe because of the existence of the Iqta system, the impact of this defeat on the people at the bottom may be a little smaller." If Zahir Sultan had not done anything that year, the Red Sea coast, North Africa, including the Arabian Peninsula, would have been largely controlled by disobedient nobles. I guess that's the main reason for their defeat. It was absolutely impossible for the nobles to do their best to help them in the war, and they were more interested in internal wars of secession than in fighting the Ottomans together. ”

  John did not shy away from saying this in front of the two eunuchs, mainly these two eunuchs who could not even speak Latin, and it should be more difficult for them to understand Greek. It wasn't until the leading eunuch opened the carriage door for John with a grim face that he realized that there might have been some misunderstanding about these seemingly uneducated fellows. It's just that they still try to pretend to be deaf, and they have to nod their heads along the way.

  Sophia blinked thoughtfully, and after getting into the car with John, she patted John on the shoulder and asked, "So, it is because these nobles who control a large amount of land have not been involved in the war that the order of life of the commoners has not been greatly impacted...... So in the case of a mistake, this Iqta system is still a good deed? ”

  "Of course you can't say that." John thought to himself that if the two eunuchs could listen to Greek, they would still have to avoid the risk of trouble coming out of their mouths, so he deliberately lowered his voice and said, "If these nobles of the Mamluks can work together, these events this year should not have happened." It is even possible to break through the Aegean Sea in one fell swoop and change the pattern of Asia Minor again...... It's a pity that these guys can't help it......"

  "If so...... In the last war with the Ottomans, the Mamluks had a large number of main Ottoman forces in the Balkans, and there was still a half-breathed Karachabei in Asia Minor as an ally, but even so, he Mamluks should be defeated or defeated. Can we still count on the Mamluks to curb the expansion of the Ottomans this time? ”

  John smiled noncommittally, then closed his eyes.

  He knew full well that as long as the empire remained in the Balkans, the people of Western Europe would never know what threat the Ottoman Empire would pose. Compared with the false Holy Alliance, sometimes the pope's lackeys are not as reliable as a group of infidels.

  After all, Rome is not willing to live in just half of the Balkans.

  ……

  "Your Excellency Agrippa, on behalf of our Grand Master, Mr. Rastik, I welcome you." Christo, Bishop of Rhode Island, stroked the rosary with the golden branch cross in his hand and bowed slightly towards Agrippa.

  The clergy often have a transcendent status in the Order, and Christo is certainly no exception. After the knights regained Cyprus, they were not subjected to the great pressure from the infidels as imagined. On the contrary, the Knights, who had been isolated in Rhodes for a long time, regained the attention of the French royal family and the Castilian royal family, respectively. The knights, who had been exhausted for many days, were like a rain after a long drought, and their manpower composition and weapons and equipment were also changed.

  Perhaps the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean has once again rekindled the hope of the desperate Western aristocracy to recapture the Holy City. With this in mind, Agrippa stepped into the fortress that the Knights had held for countless years. Although they were hereticals, the knights were also quite face-saving to the Imperial envoys, and Rastik sat casually around the round table with his henchmen. The sunlight shining through the transparent room made Agrippa slightly uncomfortable, but the knights seemed to treat it as enjoyment.

  "There's a lot of aging in the island's brewery, Mr. Agrippa, let's have a drink before we get down to business."