A new round of night descended after the Ottomans removed the stones under the walls and carried away the wounded soldiers and corpses. Valleollio's royal banner still stands above the tower, and despite the crumbling banner, the morale of the imperial army is still high.

Ossini stood in the middle of the city wall with the command flag in his hand, looking down on the battlefield. After the offensive frenzy subsided, there was only one night to give the empire a respite. The Ottomans' ability to fight at night was not outstanding, and it was not a mistake for the relatively calm Karacha to choose to trim before the advantage was crushed.

He could see that the sparks and sharp bed crossbows on the walls meant that the Romans had not been able to abandon the city ruthlessly, as if the long tug-of-war and siege had reached the point of inevitability before the walls were completely useless. - Even without sea supremacy, they cannot even complete encirclement.

In the evening, after a brief meal, John gathered the people into the antechamber of the fort, as was customary.

The corners of Latius's coat were stained with dust, and the rock chips had scratched his armor: "It seems that the pressure is greater than I thought. As soon as the Ottomans' siege equipment existed, the walls were threatened at all times. Our soldiers are not afraid of swords, spears, swords, and guns......"

"Their camp is far out of range of any of our weapons. Caracha would not make such a low-level mistake. It also doesn't give the Empire a chance to attack the supply lines at night. "Orsini had just come down from the walls, and he had imagined the possibility of letting the light cavalry out of the city and set fire to it, but no matter how it was arranged, it seemed that in the end it would turn into a worthless massacre.

The camp guard is airtight, and the distance between the joints is also reasonable. It can not only ensure that the company camp will not be burned, but also prevent the end from being unable to look at each other when attacked. After it became clear that the Romans had once again applied weapons similar to Greek fire on land, the issue of fire prevention in the barracks and armies was also re-emphasized again and again.

"The Romans should not have plans to attack at night, the previous raids were to leave a few corpses in vain, and the past two days have been a lot of peace." The Ottoman army also included a number of mercenaries, some of whom were armed with the old aristocracy who had retreated in Serbia. In view of the complex relationship between Cyprus, Rome, and Austria, many of them chose the direction of speculation on the battlefield in Asia Minor.

But Karacha doesn't seem to see this group of fleeing reinforcements as hope. In addition to saving a certain amount of money, their combat ability is not very high, and they are even more different from the real professional mercenaries, and it is only a compromise made by the internal strength of the loss of Balkan soldiers.

"We can't underestimate them...... But our great sultan had prepared a small gift for the Roman emperor in the city. Karacha's eyes gradually darkened. In his hand, he held a letter that had just arrived urgently from Ankara.

"I'm afraid these two days are their last chance to evacuate. If glory and faith had pushed them to continue to stubbornly defend the fortress, John would not have been as lucky as the Greeks had been on this occasion. ”

……

"Baron Tucelli is still elected, Your Majesty."

An edict with a gilded seal was sent to Constantinople by an emissary of the Holy See and passed into the hands of Constantine XI. Even if it is a high probability event, the fact that Baron Tucelli becomes the new pope is not a good thing for the empire. This may have been a compromise between the old clerical and the humanists, but it also meant that the relatively conservative Baron Tucelli would do everything in his power to prevent and persecute the Hussite reformers and other religious reformers in the pseudo-Roman territory. In addition, Valenttucelli seems to have mediated between Venice and Milan and other Italian states, so that Venice, which was completely free, would become more and more difficult to control.

"His title is Nicholas V, and it is said that behind his election was the activity of a large number of Venetians and Florentine scholars."

"Something that makes sense. Compared to the current troubles of the Empire, the more they toss, the more trouble will not reach us. Constantine XI rubbed his eyes a little tiredly. The perennial reminder is to work the government affairs of these three points of land, and I really can't get a moment of rest. Although the empire symbolically sought aid from the Catholic world, it received little response. "Agrippa, how are the others doing? If there is no movement on Egypt and the South Caucasus, we should have John retreat immediately...... I always have a bad feeling that it is not only the ambiguous attitude of the commercial republics so far, but also the recent changes in the Holy See......"

"Venice...... That's fine. But we do need to pay attention to the movements of the Genoese in particular. The hatred between us is not shallow. This time they made no surprises. It is necessary to strengthen the defense of the coastline. Old Agrippa twisted his beard and said with some concern, "In addition, the Empire's recent recruitment of soldiers should be almost to the limit of what the country can bear." The rule of the Balkans was not stable, and if local conflicts in Wallachia, Trasylvania and other places intensified, the entire empire could be dragged down. ”

Jin Qi also nodded with a sad face: "At this point in development, whether it is supplies or soldiers, it can be said that the future of the empire is being overdrawn. Even if it is a victory, it will be a crushing victory, but if our army retreats...... When the Ottomans were able to withdraw to Anatolia, we had no way back. ”

In fact, as early as the beginning of the month, after the brief jihad frenzy in the empire had subsided, and especially when some polymath had come to their senses, the outlook for war began to change to pessimism. Perhaps it was a recollection of the successive defeats of the empire, or perhaps it was still the fear of the Turks, and after the panic spread, Constantine XI and his courtiers. The clergy had to devote a great deal of energy to pacifying the populace.

But the effect of pacification has become worse and worse because of the increasing war taxes and the continuous exploitation of human resources. Now that the Giovanni offensive has stalled under Smyrna, there have been some discordant voices within the court, shaking the decision of the Imperial Council and even His Majesty the Emperor.

"You say, is John too radical...... Is it to give up the Cut Throat Fort and recuperate for a while......" After nightfall, Constantine XI returned to his bedchamber. Evie stroked her bulging lower abdomen, her smile calm and peaceful.

"You shouldn't let gossip interfere with your judgment, let alone make the top commanders on the front line shackle when they give orders." Evie was not accustomed to heavy gold ornaments and overly warm shoulder clothes, and she was mostly dressed in gauze skirts in the deep palace, and the court etiquette was no longer so complicated, and after Barcelissa was pregnant, His Majesty the Emperor could not help her.

"Really......"