Winter at the castle of Alijoe is a bit dull, and the streets of the already rudimentary streets are even dirtier because the snow has melted recently, but the city doesn't have too much of a disgusting smell of open defecation because it's winter, and it looks shabby and lifeless.

The news of the arrival of the Ottomans made the locals seem terrified, and they could see people preparing to leave everywhere, although they knew that even if they went elsewhere, they would soon be driven away by the Ottomans, but the luck of being able to escape the pagans for a while still urged them to try to find a refuge from the war.

Soldiers could be seen passing by in the streets, but most of them looked numb, and neither they nor their lords apparently thought they could resist the Ottomans.

There are also some mercenaries who don't know where they come from, and these mercenaries who have different destinations but are only fighting for money are not optimistic about Zagreb.

Whether a city will pay a lot of money to hire mercenaries to defend itself depends not only on how much wealth they have, but also on whether the city dares to stand up to their enemies.

Zagreb does not seem to have such courage, as evidenced by the fact that even the nobles who could hear on the street were planning to negotiate with the Ottomans.

After the killing of Duke Signaci of Zagreb, the city did not have a second duke, because it was only after the murder of Duke Signaci that the nobles discovered that no one wanted to see anyone else who was the owner of the city.

There was an offer to nominate a side branch of Duke Signacci's family to succeed to the title, and although this man was supported by the local rebellious nobles because of his Orthodox faith, he was eventually locked in a stalemate due to strong opposition from the Catholic nobility in other places.

It was only then that it became realised that, despite the silence on the death of Duke Signacs, the Croatian aristocracy, who were also Catholic, would not tolerate the emergence of an Orthodox Christian, who was likely to get his hands on the Bosnian crown, become the Duke of Zagreb.

The rebellious nobles could not accept the emergence of a Catholic Duke after the overthrow of Duke Signacs, let alone allow Viscount Herva to return to Zagreb.

They are well aware that if Helva returns, what awaits them will surely be the most brutal revenge.

As a result of the stalemate, the title of Duke of Zagreb remained vacant, and the local nobles, although they were unable to elect an Orthodox duke, took control of the city.

It was only that such a stalemate was broken with the news of the Ottoman invasion, and the nobles of Zagreb were well aware of the fact that they could not resist at all, which made them decide to send emissaries to the Ottomans without much struggle.

Rumors of negotiations, or more precisely surrender, circulated in the streets of Zagreb, which made the locals even more panicked.

In addition to the locals, some of the mercenaries who originally heard the news were also disappointed, they originally thought that they could take a good business here, and many such cities would try to arm themselves first in order to protect themselves, even if they finally chose to surrender, which gave the mercenaries a good opportunity to make money.

But they didn't expect that the nobles of Zagreb chose to negotiate without even thinking about it.

So when the news came, many people began to find a way for themselves, because they had already heard of the heavy taxes of the Ottomans, and many merchants began to sell their goods cheaply and prepare to leave, while the peasants who could not leave began to find ways to hide their valuables from their homes.

Every day people leave the city, but there are also people who want to enter the city.

A few people passing by on the street casually stepped on the dirty stagnant water under their feet, splashing mud on their boots, and Alexander frowned and looked down at the stains on the boots.

The men kept cursing under their breath as they went, and though they spoke quickly and with a rather strange accent from the locals, the scout captain who was following Alexander could barely make out a few words.

"Sir, they're scolding the great nobles," the scout explained to Alexander, "I didn't understand it, but that's what it meant. ”

Looking at little Cacho, Alexander smiled, he didn't expect that this soldier from Agri still had a good talent for languages, at least he had mastered more local languages in less time than the others.

However, it also made Alexander hope that Nashan would come to Bosnia as soon as possible, thinking of the Balkan mountain people who were waiting to train, he had never been so eager to see his husband as soon as he was now.

"The locals seem to be unhappy that the nobles are ready to surrender because they don't want to resist," Cacho Jr. explains, "and these people seem to be the little nobles near Zagreb, who are ready to help defend the city, but now there is news everywhere in the city that the nobles are preparing to negotiate with the Ottomans and then surrender, and these people are angry about this." ”

"Of course they will be dissatisfied, and they will not only be angry because of this, but they will do very bad things because of this." Alexander sat in the corner of a tavern and looked around, not because of the remoteness of the place, but because people were no longer interested in coming back to it.

Zagreb is actually a city full of joy, and the Aríhoe Castle and the Right Bank Castle form the two centres of the city, which makes Zagreb two different districts from the beginning.

Because of this, Zagreb has gradually formed the habit of competition between the north and the south, and the locals like to use cider to see which of the north and south makes the best of the city, like to use the meat patty mixed with choking seasonings to see whose food is sweeter, and also like to use more other things to compare who is higher and which is lower in the two cities.

All of this makes the people of Zagreb happy, and it makes them love their hometown even more.

"They're going to do terrible things," Alexander affirmed, smiling at the puzzled looks on his men's faces, "and even if they don't do it, I'll do it." ”

Alexander bewildered his people with his strange words, but he knew exactly what he was talking about.

Historically, Zagreb was eventually ruled by the Ottomans, and for almost three centuries, until Zagreb, along with other cities in the Balkans, was freed from Ottoman rule with the rest of the country after the failure of the Ottoman Empire's last siege of Vienna.

But Zagreb did not surrender.

Historically, even after the arrival of the Ottoman army in Zagreb, the people of Zagreb did not surrender on their knees, and they were finally conquered after fierce battles and even brutal street fighting.

But now these Zagreb nobles are going to surrender, which Alexander did not know.

"How can it surrender," Alexander said, looking at the city outside the door, "believe me, at least this time this time the city will not surrender, and may become another swallow." ”

The long sound of prayer echoed over the long, empty church, one after another, as if the prayer had become a river that no longer flowed because of this prayer, and it had completely come to a standstill.

Alexander stood outside the church and listened quietly, and it was the time for the second prayer of the day in the church, and the first time it was before dawn.

The loud sound of the bell came from the towering bell tower of the church, and the sound was so loud that it shook people's ears with a dull pain.

The streets in front of the monastery are not wide, and in some places they are even very narrow, because of the topography, the houses near the monastery are much lower than those of the monastery, and the sloping streets lead to the forest behind the monastery not far away.

Somehow, Alexander remembered Quasimodo, and he thought that if there was a bell-ringer in such a church, he must be as ugly as Quasimodo, otherwise how could he endure the deafening bells and such a monotonous life every day.

Having spent some time in the monastery, Alexander knew that a man could not stay in such a place if he could not bear the loneliness, or he would eventually choose to leave, as he did, or he might go completely insane in the high prison walls.

The church is tall in front of you, with many carved solid walls that look like castles, and faint lights and swaying figures can be seen in the open doors of the church.

Behind the church is a cluster of buildings of varying heights that rise to the back along the topography and is home to the monastery of Arijoe in Zagreb.

Alexander looked at the monastery carefully, he knew it, and he knew that the outer walls of the monastery were unusually strong, because in a dozen years there would be a terrible battle under the walls of this monastery.

The Ottomans would eventually conquer the land completely, and Northern Bosnia would not be spared, and Zagreb would be surrounded in the war of conquest, and the final resistance would take place and end in this monastery.

Alexander walked slowly along the tall courtyard wall, stroking the sturdy tiles, believing in the fierce battle that had been attacked here, and then smiled softly.

Looking at the puzzled eyes of the hunters not far away, Alexander smiled, of course, he did not come to this monastery to rely on a guard battle that had not yet taken place, but to see with his own eyes whether the buildings of this monastery were as impregnable as the legend suggests.

After all, it is said that the defenders of the monastery who retreated from the battle actually held this place for four whole days, and because of the terrain, the Ottomans could not use artillery at all, until four days later the Ottomans demolished the building opposite the monastery, made room for the erection of artillery, and then blasted open the courtyard wall of the monastery to finally capture the fortified building.

The bell finally stopped, and Alexander came to the church gate not far in front of the monastery, and looked at the group of priests in dark linen robes slowly coming out of it, and his eyes kept searching, until he saw a voice in a bishop's robe.

The figure stood out to the crowd of men in dark linen robes, and even though he was accompanied by several high-ranking monks dressed in dark red trimmed robes, Alexander immediately noticed the man.

Although I haven't seen it, it should be the abbot of the Arijoe Monastery.

Alexander waved his hand slightly, and seeing the hunters slowly approaching, he slowly walked towards the abbot who was surrounded in the middle.

The abbot apparently did not know that someone was staring at him, and he walked down the narrow street, all barefoot, accompanied by several high-ranking monks.

This is a custom of the local church in Zagreb, but it is more of a pagan custom from the early days when there was no conversion to Christianity, but it was retained and given a new meaning by the monks of the time when they converted to Christ hundreds of years ago.

On special days, the priests of the monastery walked barefoot through the icy ground into the forest, foreshadowing Christ's barefoot walk through the wilderness and valleys and eventually to Jerusalem.

The monks of the monastery have been on this path for hundreds of years, and each generation of them has memorized this ritual by heart, so they do not find anything particularly unusual today.

The forests of Zagreb are very dense, or rather, the city was built in the forest, so it didn't take long for the monks to enter the forest.

The ground was cold, but the monks reverently tread the path they had traveled so many times, until they saw a troop of cavalry appear on the road not far ahead.

In the past, even the nobles had to make way for the monks, but this time the cavalry stopped and just stood on the road and watched them quietly.

The monks looked at the cavalry in front of them with some surprise, and the monks who were walking in front couldn't help but slow down and finally stopped.

The abbot noticed something unusual, and he looked up in surprise.

A long neighing of horses came from the depths of the slightly oppressive and dreary forest, and Pagasus walked slowly out of the shadows of the dark woods to a place where the canopy above him was thin and shining through the sunlight.

Looking at the man on the horse, the abbot and several deacons beside him felt vaguely uneasy.

"God forbid, if you want to grab anything it is wrong, we have nothing but this sacred robe that God has given us." The dean walked out slowly, he looked down at Alexander who was looking down at him and said, seeing that the man was just looking at him silently, the dean stopped and suddenly asked, "You are not robbers, so what do you want to do?" ”

Alexander slowly hurried his horse forward, passing past the monks until the end of the group, and back the way he came, and finally returned to the abbot, bent down and whispered, "I want to talk to you, Abbot." ”

Hearing this, the abbot opened his lips in surprise, for he heard that the other party was not talking to him in the native Bosnian, but in Latin.