"If you were the Pope of the Holy See in the West, who would you choose to be the commander of this crusade?"

"What do you mean...... Hunyati? ”

"There's something even more incredible." Zhou Heng circled a place name on the map - Transylvania, a small town in Wallachia, "Do you remember the palace banquet held by your father last year at the beginning of spring?" On the surface, the father was enveloping some wavering aristocrats, but in reality, the father was celebrating, celebrating a great victory that would go down in history. An army of less than 20,000 led by Hunyadi easily tore apart 60,000 or 70,000 Ottomans! ”

"It seems like a big victory, but it can't be considered a good thing for the empire."

"Right...... Instead of being hurt to the bones, Osman turned his attention to us! Zhou Heng said with a little bitterness, "After that miraculous victory, just like the previous crusaders, the two sides began an infinite stalemate again, and even this spring, the Ottoman attack on us was a retaliatory attack. The Ottomans, they will pay more attention to our movements! Or rather, the bulldozing of Constantinople, which was already on the agenda of the Ottomans. ”

……

The two were silent for a while, looking at Sophia's tightly knit brows, Zhou Heng suddenly felt that this overly smart little girl was actually not much different from others. For now, at least, she realized that the Empire was in a worse situation than she had imagined. Even if they resisted the Ottoman spring offensive, what about the next time, the next time? How long could the walls of Theodosius protect Rome?

"This kind of long tug-of-war is what the Ottomans want to see, and they may soon decide to negotiate peace, and then settle themselves in the rear of Asia Minor." Zhou Heng paused, and turned his gaze back to the center of the empire, "Including their henchmen, Constantinople." ”

Sophia's face became even more heavy, and she asked, "Could it be that after they made peace with Germain, they watched us being ......?"

"So, they can't get along...... Soon a new war will break out, and the main battlefield of the war will probably be in the port town of Varna, not far from Constantinople. ”

……

Sophia finally let Zhou Heng go, and left the garden with a stomach full of questions and nervousness. Perhaps it will take a long time for her to digest these new insights, what Zhou Heng is looking forward to is that after a short period of depression, Sophia will no longer live day by day like before, with the citizens of Constantinople, but can become her assistant and pull Eastern Rome back from hell.

But there are still many things to be done before that, such as getting my father to stop putting all his chips on the Crusaders.

Zhou Heng only took a nap at the dining table for an hour, and then left the Slou Garden with a nervous mind and walked towards the palace of Constantine.

This is no longer the opulent palace of the heyday of Eastern Rome...... In order to maintain the expenses of the mercenaries, Manuel is said to have sold part of the royal collection. Today's Constantine Palace is only a dilapidated and depressed scene.

"Roman ......"

Glancing at the attendant who opened the palace door for himself and was still in good spirits, Zhou Heng could only sigh weakly.

"Father's ......"

"John? At this time, shouldn't you be studying with Alex? ”

"Half a day off today, father, I have something to tell you."

Constantine XI straightened up from his chair, straightened aside the table full of letters and letters, and then asked with some interest: "What's the matter, what has happened?" Or are you in trouble again? ”

Zhou Heng took a deep breath, then raised his head and looked directly into Constantine's eyes: "Father, do you want to save the people of Rome in the Balkans, Anatolia, the entire Mediterranean Sea and even the whole of Europe?" ”

Constantine frowned, and for a moment, he couldn't reflect the meaning of his son's seemingly blood-boiling dream words early in the morning.

This is something on the surface, but to be honest, even if Constantine was ambitious, his attention was only on how to keep Constantinople first. As for the rebuilding of Rome? Dream!

But for some reason, what he said was completely different from what he thought in his heart.

"Every Basilius has made it his mission to reshape the glow of Rome, and so will you in the future."

……

"If that's the case, then the barbarians on the continent will one day become our enemies."

Constantine's face changed, and standing in front of him, this little guy who was only a teenager, what was he thinking?

"It's not what you should be thinking about right now, I know you've read some books, but you ...... the situation in Rome as a whole"

"Nope! Father! Zhou Heng took a step forward, just a few steps away from Constantine's throne, "I know!" In order to receive the aid of the crusaders, the Empire has laid down all dignity! ”

"Shut up!"

Constantine stood up from his throne in anger, he could not deny Zhou Heng's statement, whether it was himself, Manuel, or John VIII, they had more than once begged for Western assistance and let the empire be discredited. But in Constantine's mind, all this was still to free Rome from its misery!

"You are a teenager, what can you understand!"

"Whether that group of people save it or not, in the final analysis, it is for their own interests! The scenes of the Fourth Crusade are still vivid! The originators of the burning fire of Hagia Sophia are also the Crusaders! ”

"You ......"

"No one cares about the rise and fall of empires, let alone the fact that we have different beliefs and different systems! On this day the Ottomans were driven out of the Balkans, and tomorrow it was the Varna Crusaders who invaded Constantinople! ”

Zhou Heng said this almost in a completely trembling voice, Constantine was already trembling, stretched out his hand and pointed directly at Zhou Heng, but he couldn't say a word.

"Lock him up for me! Guardsman! ”

Constantine sat back on the throne, and several guards in Constantine's palace easily subdued Zhou Heng, who did not have any struggle.

"John, you really...... I don't know the current affairs! ”

"Wake up, father, don't lock yourself up in this palace, think clearly! We and the Crusaders are just taking advantage of each other! To save Rome in the end, we are on our own! ”

"You're not qualified to tell me what I've done! Don't think you'll know everything after reading a few books! The salvation of Rome did not depend on the surging of blood in the moment! ”

In the end, several guards took Zhou Heng back to Slou Garden and put him under house arrest.

And in the palace of Constantine, Constantine XI, who had calmed down again, showed a completely different face.