"Brother, Your Majesty's letter has arrived."

"I chose Thebes...... Still can't eat the whole of Greater Greece in one go. Zhou Heng put the letter on the table with some disappointment, "But there is really no way, whether it is human or financial resources, it may not last long." After the capture of Thebes, my father was supposed to return to Constantinople...... At that point, we will have to prepare for a frantic counterattack by the Ottomans. ”

"By the way, brother, what did you write in your letter to the Venetians?"

"It's nothing more than a way to ease their emotions. promised their original benefits in Greece...... These things are all fake, and the important thing is that one Ottoman is too much for us to deal with, and we can't make more enemies for the empire. ”

"We and the Venetians were enemies in the first place......"

"Hatred can be remembered, but combined with reality."

Zhou Heng was also a little helpless, the empire's current relationship with Venice and other countries is very complicated, but in general, the empire that is actually lacking has always been on the disadvantage side of diplomacy. At present, the Empire does need a good foreign secretary to alleviate this problem.

"That's right...... What happened to the Crusaders? ”

"I didn't get any strength benefits. The Ottoman resistance was stubborn and yielded little except for the capture of a few cities that were not of much strategic value. Sophia shook her head, "Once the pressure on the Ottomans on the Western Front is eased a little, Your Majesty may be more than lucky." ”

"Sure enough, I still can't expect this group of ...... too much"

Zhou Heng was still sighing boringly, and suddenly, a hurried bell came from afar!

This is the alarm bell that only exists on the lookout of the city wall of Theodosius, and there is only one situation when the alarm bell rings in a hurry!

Someone is attacking the city!

"Really...... Afraid of what comes. ”

Zhou Heng still wanted to let Sophia take refuge in the Golden Horn like last time, but this time, the princess of this empire said that she wanted to go to the front line to "supervise the war". couldn't resist this girl, so Zhou Heng had no choice but to take her with him and let Morey protect her at any time.

At this time, the defenders in Constantinople, not counting the sailors on standby at the Golden Horn, totaled only three thousand five hundred. Although the Phoenix Legion is an elite legion, the real strength of this legion is in encounters and battles with the Grand Legion. In terms of defending the city, the role of shock cavalry and other units will be drastically reduced. Moreover, at this time, the troops in Constantinople that could cause long-range fire suppression were extremely limited, and the ability to defend the city was very weak.

"Ottomans?" When Zhou Heng arrived at the city wall, Giovanni, who was temporarily the general of the garrison of Constantinople, had already begun to arrange a defensive line on the city wall.

"That's right, but I don't know where the troops came from...... About 10,000 troops were gathered in front of the Golden Gate. Normally, this number should not have been possible to actively challenge the walls of Theodosius. What's more, right now, the Ottomans have just suffered a loss. ”

"How is that possible...... Wait, what do you mean? ”

"The interior of Constantinople has been leaked." Giovanni nodded, "At present, this is the only possibility that the Ottomans will use such an army to attack the city." ”

"Let's talk about it after this matter is dealt with, a legion of 10,000 people is not so easy to deal with...... Oh, by the way, who is the general of the other side? ”

"I don't know, but the person at the front of the formation seems to be about the same age as you......"

……

Above the city of Thebes, the Ottoman army seemed to have been prepared to defend the city.

"Constantine, go now. Allah will forgive you for your past sins! Otherwise, you will be an untouched corpse under the walls of Thebes! The soldiers at the head of the city, in broken Greek, taunted the Imperial formation.

The Ottoman defender was Larouch, who had performed well in the resistance to the Crusades, and at this time, he should have rushed to defend other cities in Great Greece after the Ottomans learned that the empire had attacked Athens, which meant that the defense of Thebes and Thessaloniki had been strengthened to a certain extent.

Although the walls of Thebes are not very high, they are very strong, and if you want to climb the tower, you usually have to use siege towers or ladders to fill the gaps. Until there was a hole in the defense of the city walls. However, even if Thebes were captured for the Empire, too much loss would make it impossible for the Empire to defend itself against subsequent Ottoman attacks.

Constantine, of course, would not make such a stupid deal, and must trade the least amount of losses for a real big victory.

This time, the empire is also prepared,

At the signal of Latius, dozens of soldiers, cooperating back and forth, lifted a behemoth from the rear of the entire army array.

"Heavy ...... Cannon? ”

The original noise of the city fell silent for a moment.

"They...... How could there be such a weapon? ”

In fact, it was a great gift from the Venetians.

In the port of Athens, there were two such heavy guns from Venice. Since the entire port has always been controlled by the Venetians, and the Duchy of Athens has established diplomatic relations with Venice, these weapons and equipment from Venice are stored in the port warehouse.

This was a windfall, as Constantine, who was just preparing to storm the fortress, unceremoniously "borrowed" a heavy cannon, but since the Imperial army was not widely trained in the practical use of firearms, other equipment such as smoothbore guns and siege guns were transported to Constantinople by a transport ship from Morea.

Right now, a heavy cannon is enough to make the Ottomans' scalp tingle.

The reason is simple: no matter how strong the walls of Thebes are, they are not as resistant to the bombardment of the Cannons of Urban as the walls of Theodosius, and the wooden gates of Thebes are so fragile that they can probably be toppled with just one shot.

Once the gates were lost, the chances of the Ottomans fending off the flood of Imperial troops were almost nil.

The only member of the army who could operate such a cannon was a Venetian mercenary who was captured during the Siege of Athens. Although this guy is usually only responsible for taking care of the warehouse, when the Imperial army came to him, he was able to disarm and surrender in a timely manner. was also taken by Constantine.

It takes a long time to reload the shells, and such a wait is undoubtedly a great ordeal for the Ottoman defenders on the city walls. At this time, they were already in a dilemma, and the high morale of a few minutes ago had also fallen into a trough at this time.

"Your Majesty...... And other brothers, take care of your ears...... This kind of cannon movement is a bit big......"

With that, the Venetian lit the fuse behind the barrel.

A thunderous explosion sounded immediately, and the solid shells of the heavy artillery fell on the city wall, and in the center of the Ottoman crowd, in an instant, the mixture of flesh and blood rose into the sky, and everyone was shocked by this terrifying lethality.

"Your Majesty, it's crooked...... Didn't hit the gates...... The crosshair of this giant cannon has always been very problematic. ”

"Okay, no nonsense, get ready for the next shot." Latius urged impatiently.

At this time, the mentality of the Ottomans had undergone some changes.