"Morey, what about the Sophia?"

"Her Royal Highness will get up early in the morning and go to the palace, and she said that she will not return to Slou today."

"This girl...... What are you doing with all this mystery? ”

After getting a top-notch guard like Morey, and having taken control of the Phoenix Legion, John's pursuit of force suddenly became much smaller. In addition to the daily routine discussion with Giovanni on the skills of military formation, the training of the armed forces gradually transformed into physical exercise.

But yesterday, in the conversation with Giovanni, a ghostly operation appeared in the minds of the two.

Since the Empire did not intend to return the Ottoman and Venetian firearms seized in the port of Athens, they might have been used as a surprise against the Ottomans.

The musket is a weapon that is the product of the collision and change of the times, and will be used on the battlefield on a large scale in the future. But at the moment, the advantages of such firearms are far less obvious. The high explosion rate, low hit rate, and embarrassing lethality make him unable to replace the absolute position of the bow and arrow for the time being. Relatively speaking, with the exception of wealthy countries such as Venice and the Ottomans, and the city-states of Italy, the awareness of this weapon in Europe is very weak.

Moreover, the Empire simply does not have the capacity to build a relatively good ammunition production line, nor does it have enough technology to support the maintenance of firearms that are very vulnerable to damage. This is a trade-off, and John is not yet able to make a final decision.

Of course, Constantine's expedition could not have gained only a little.

The triumph of Athens exhilarated the citizens of Constantinople, and more importantly, a large number of former subjects of the empire, who had lived under the oppression of the Ottomans, came to Constantinople every day to ask for asylum, regardless of the dangers.

Constantine XI, of course, did not refuse to come, and since Mehmed II was sent back to the inner city of Edir, he did not dare to act rashly for the time being, then the Gate of St. Romanus and the Gate of Fountain were now open day and night to welcome every former Roman citizen.

Of course, the busiest were the priests and a few patriarchs of Hagia Sophia.

Ever since the Ottomans failed that night in their pursuit of Wallachia, the clergy have been on the front line of persuading the captives. As the population of Constantinople also increased steadily, the patriarch, who had been idle day by day, had to spend the whole day cleaning the icons and holding worship.

The persuasion was carried out very slowly, but at least it was restoring the vitality of the garrison of Constantinople.

It wasn't until the expeditionary corps captured Thebes that the busy clergy had to send out a group of missionaries. Fortunately, the Ottomans did not have long rule over Thebes, and the faith spread more quickly than expected.

At this time, the patriarchs finally realized that they needed to recruit new clergy to meet the growing needs of the faithful.

Constantine XI certainly did not so easily hand over the funds of the treasury to the religious class, and after a day of arguing with Constantine XI, a new law was brought out early in the morning as a substitute.

Constantine and the Patriarch of Hagia Sophia signed the Act of the Church and the Icon at the same time. The religious class, which had no status, once again had certain rights, and the authority of the patriarch, which had long since disappeared, was slowly being restored at this time.

Everything is moving in a direction that is beneficial to the Empire.

Another thing is to appease the anger of Venice. Constantine didn't really take this matter to heart. As long as the Crusaders existed, the Venetians would not take great risks to retaliate against the Empire for some petty gains. Merchants are naturally shrewd, but that doesn't mean that John and Constantine XI fooled the matter.

Having taken so much of Venice's equipment in vain, Constantine XI assured Venice in the form of an official letter of state that Venice would have absolute autonomy in any port of the Eastern Roman Empire except the Golden Horn for five years. Forty to sixty percent of the trade tax on the Venetian caravans was exempted, and Venice was granted a free lease of the area around the port of Athens for five years for trade from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.

Although there is a suspicion of using the Venetians as free Aegean guards, in this way, the Venetians do have a certain interest and can better suppress Genoa in the Aegean trade.

"Your Highness, Your Majesty invites you to visit the Imperial Palace."

"Oh, I see." John put down the other manuscripts that Sophia had sorted out, and there was no information about how to deal with Trabzon, it seemed that this time, his genius sister was planning to surprise the empire alone, "Morey, let's go." ”

……

In the past few days, there has obviously been a lot of excitement in the palace. In addition to the secular clergy and a few new-faced nobles who went one after another to lick Constantine's boots, there were also a number of new eunuch maids who had just been recruited.

"John, look at this."

John took the paperwork from Constantine's hand, and signed it in the name of Giovanni Giustiniani. Could it be that this Genoese general is more anxious than himself?

After looking at it carefully, it was really unexpected. Giovanni submitted the matter of the musket unit that had been discussed the previous night directly to Constantine. The Genoese even opened his mouth in the hope that the treasury would allocate some money for the purchase of equipment, ammunition and daily training.

"Father...... This matter does not need to be considered for the time being, the musket is still not given priority to this extent...... Rashly forming a musket corps for the empire is likely to outweigh the losses, and it ......"

"Okay, okay John, I know what you're worried about. Are you afraid that I won't have the money to pay for the expensive military? Constantine smiled and took out another document for the chamberlain to hand it to John.

"Look at this."

"It's ...... Father, we ...... Not so much money, right? ”

John put down the paperwork with some shock, it was a commercial agreement for Venice. The content of the agreement is precisely the acquisition of a large number of muskets, ammunition and related equipment.

"The Ottoman merchant ships in the port of Athens can be regarded as a great gift to the empire, and these things are wasted in the treasury, so it is better to take them out to the Venetians in exchange for a powerful legion." Constantine said with emotion, "Back then, the imperial fleet could call the wind and rain on the sea, do you know why? ”

"Greek fire?"

"That's right! I know how important it is to have an advantage in equipment! The recipe for Greek fire had been lost during the Fourth Crusade, but I saw the folding cannon under the city of Thebes, as if I had seen the heroic appearance of the Greek fire fleet back then! ”

"Father...... If the Empire's finances recover well now...... Then I would like to recommend someone to you. ”

"Oh? Who is it? ”