The marinas of Calybo are still busy, and the warm Mediterranean climate keeps winters from getting too cold, and while locals consider this season to be the hardest day of the year, the southern tip of Sicily is actually more comfortable than the rest of Italy on land in the north.

However, although it is still busy, it has shown a lot of depression compared to the past.

Many people look at the sea with a little apprehension in their eyes, and now the Kalibo people have a real sense of threat from a distant and foreign land, compared to hearsay a year ago.

Just a dozen days ago, a Venetian fleet had visited Calibo temporarily, and although the fleet was not large, when they heard that they had been sent by the Venetians as a patrol fleet to guard against a possible Ottoman attack on the Mediterranean coast, the Calibo people were truly aware of the crisis.

The Venetian fleet soon left Calibo, but their influence and subsequent speculation sent Calibo by shock.

Rumors of a possible Ottoman fleet raiding Sicily had plunged the southernmost port town into unease and panic, and the Kalibo were beginning to really think about what to do a year ago, compared to the riots that had been caused in the city by accident.

Some have decided to leave Calibo, because legend has it that when the Saracens invaded Sicily centuries ago, Calibo was one of the first places they landed, and then Sicily began to be ruled by paganism for more than two centuries.

But more people remained, but they also became cautious, and the lookout towers on the hillside outside Calibo, which had been abandoned for many years, were used again, and coincidentally, many of the fishermen who had previously gone far to the depths of the Mediterranean to fish became much more cautious, and although it was certainly not very profitable to fish in the shallow waters near the shore, few people would venture too far to make more money.

In addition, the port of Calibo has become much stricter, in order to prevent possible Ottoman spies, tax collectors and magistrates have also done their duty, some people of unknown origin will be repeatedly interrogated, and for those who cannot tell their identities, the small prison in the city of Calibo will be a good place for them to live temporarily.

So at such a time, when a man wearing a turban and a sabari, with a Kili scimitar peculiar to the Ottomans at his waist, appeared on the deck of a ship, the whole dock seemed to freeze in an instant, everyone stopped what they were doing, all eyes were focused, and some people were so nervous because of this person's sudden appearance that they forgot about the goods handed by others, and let things fall to the ground without reacting at all.

For a moment, the people in the port of Calipo looked blankly at the Ottoman nobleman who was standing on the gangplank beside the boat and watched the scene in front of him interestingly, and then the eyes of the people slowly moved forward with his steps, until the pair of ornate boots with intricate patterns stopped at the end of the springboard, and then the owner of the boots took a tentative step forward and stepped steadily on the ground of Calipo.

When the foot landed on the ground and raised a faint amount of dust, all who saw it seemed to hear the dull sound of the boot hitting the ground, which made their hearts tremble, when in fact the Ottoman nobleman did pause after taking the first step, as if to feel the different sensation of the Sicilian soil under his feet, and then he took the other foot, and by this time the man was completely standing on the soil that belonged to Kalibo, and to Sicily, or to Europe.

A tax collector stood there licking his lips, he had imagined more than once how brave he would be if a pagan stood in front of him, and even imagined that in the battle with the infidel he was finally captured because he was outnumbered, and then he was steadfast in the face of the infidels' torture and temptation, and finally when he died, he must have held the cross in his hand and shouted the holy command of the Lord to be unyielding martyrdom, and his death must have awakened and inspired everyone like the French knightess, Eventually, inspired by his great image, Christendom triumphed over the infidels, and he was canonized by the Holy See for his great deeds of bravery, loyalty, and defiance of death......

Such a fantasy made the tax collector even secretly hope that the Ottomans would come as soon as possible, and only then would he have a chance to realize his noble dream of martyrdom and canonization, but when a real Ottoman appeared in front of him, the tax collector realized that the only thing he could do was to tremble on his legs, and the hand holding the pen in his hand kept knocking on the writing board because of the trembling, leaving a series of messy ink stains.

"Please be careful, that's my entry paperwork." Hubert van Groening reminded the tax collector with a slight dissatisfaction that his face was already pale with fright, and he might pass out in the next second.

"Moor, Moor, there's a Moor on your ship!" The tax collector finally came to his senses, and he almost yelled at Groganin, and then he threw away the writing board and ran to the port sentry post not far away, "Moors, here are Moors!" ”

Grogenin looked a little helplessly at the back of the tax collector who had gone away, and then it didn't take long to see several figures with bright knives and guns running towards him.

"Is this how your people welcome the messengers of peace?" Despite the menacing menacing, the Ottoman showed no signs of trepidation, and he slowly walked up to a worker with the same panicked face, grabbed the wheat from the gap in the grain bag that had been accidentally spilled on his shoulder in a panic, twisted it twice, picked up a crushed husk, put it in his mouth, and tasted it, "This wheat is good, it is newly harvested." ”

As he spoke, he looked at a grain ship leaning against the shore in the distance, and his jaw with a thick black beard moved, revealing a meaningful smile.

"It seems that we did scare a lot of people, and this grain can testify, doesn't it?"

Looking at the smiling look on the Ottoman's face, Grogenen continued to look at the dock soldiers running towards him with a blank face.

He knew exactly what the words of the Ottomans meant.

Sicily, the Ottomans are no strangers to Sicily, which was ruled by the Arabs who were then known as Saracens, and whose rule lasted for nearly two centuries left many traces of the Orient, including many crops from the East.

Therefore, as long as they pay a little attention to the various ancient texts that have been handed down, the Ottomans can easily know that Sicily is a huge crop paradise on the Mediterranean, and people here will not worry about food most of the time, and due to the climate, there will be no shortage of food in various parts of southern Sicily.

And now there is a sudden appearance of ships carrying large quantities of new grain in Calibo, which may not seem particularly strange to others, but Grognin knows that the Ottoman beside him, because of his unusual insight, must have been inspired by that grain ship and discovered something unknown.

Although the soldiers were nervous at first, they were obviously much better than the stimulated tax collectors, so when they rushed in front of them, they were actually much calmer, especially when they saw that there was not only one Ottoman, but also that this should be a noble man of no low status from his steady bearing, the soldiers chose to put away their weapons first, and then stared at the heretic vigilantly.

It had been a long time since there had been pagans in Europe, but the huge figure of the terrible pagan empire that suddenly appeared from the east was now looming over the heads of the continent, and even the power of the Ottomans had begun to invade Greece, and with the fall of Constantinople, the Black Sea, which was separated by the Strait of Borprarus, was slowly turning into an inner lake for the Ottomans.

Of course, these soldiers did not know this, but the fear of the infidels was evident on their faces at this time, although there was only one person, but looking at the richly dressed Ottoman in front of them, the soldiers obviously felt unspeakable oppression.

"Don't be rude, unless you want to start a war." Gragenin shouted to stop the soldiers from "Listen to my advice in the name of God, put away your weapons, or you will be severely punished for offending the Sultan's messenger!" ”

"Sultan's emissary?" A soldier's leader replied with a dry mouth, a term he had heard many times from merchants from the East.

Sultan, a formidable honorific title, was the ruler of those Eastern Empires.

And although there were many Eastern monarchs who were called "sultans" in history, there is only one person who can be remembered when they hear this honorific title, and that is the ruler of the vast empire that now lives in the palace of that great capital.

After the great conqueror Mehmed II, who completely destroyed Eastern Rome and conquered the thousand-year-old capital of Constantinople, the current Ottoman Sultan is his son Bayezid II.

And the person in front of him could be the messenger of Bayezid II?

The soldiers looked at the infidel in front of them with horrified expressions, they knew that if the person next to them had not lied, then they were indeed on the verge of a serious crime punishment now, and just thinking about the charges that might have been sent by the powerful Sultan for offending the messenger sent by the powerful Sultan, the soldiers' expressions became even more nervous than before, especially the leader soldier, whose face was already blue with despair because of fear.

"I am the noble, the supreme, the only messenger of the great sultan in the world who enjoys the honor of the supreme title of Rome."

The Ottoman's casually-looking face became unusually serious, he stood up straight, and his figure, which was obviously taller than the others, looked like a formidable giant because of the huge turban.

When he chanted the honorific titles of the Sultan aloud, the expression on his face was solemn and solemn, although he sounded a little strange because of his Latin accent, but the people around him were still infected by his solemnity and solemnity, so that some people had involuntarily bowed slightly, as if as he pronounced the series of titles, the Sultan in the thousand-year-old capital on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea had appeared in front of them.

"Please, please forgive me, we didn't know your identity before." The soldier in the lead had already put away his weapons, and he bowed in alarm, and then looked at Groganin with a little pleading, hoping that this man would say a few kind words for him, otherwise they would be punished for offending the Sultan's envoy.

"I'm Hoassan Folgazi Ashulk," the Ottoman smiled at the soldier, a look that calmed the man's heart a little, and it was better to see a smiling face, and the Ottoman continued, "I will stay here for a while, and then go to Rome, so I hope to be treated here in accordance with my status." ”

The soldier immediately let out an "oh", and he bowed recklessly to the venerable messenger, then turned and hurried off into the distance.

"The people here are all interesting," the Ottomans who called themselves Hoassan Forgazi Ashurk said to Groganin, "don't you think they seem to think of me as your legendary terrible devil from hell?" ”

The Ottoman's words made Groganin's face move slightly, and he cast his gaze on the soldier who had already run far away, and then turned to the group of sailors who followed him and said: "Okay, go to work, I know you have been drifting at sea for a long time, so you can play in the city for a few days when you are done." ”

Groganin's words caused the sailors to burst into cheers, and while shouting "Long live Lord Groganin", they rushed to the ship, and began to rush to clear the deck and pack the cables, as if Gragenin would regret it at any moment.

"A group of happy sailors." Ashulk smiled as he looked at the sailors who were shouting as they worked, "Also a bunch of shameless rascals, I believe that by giving them a few gold coins, they will be willing to lead my fleet anywhere they know, aren't they?" ”

Groganin looked at Ashulk, he was clearly not afraid of the Sultan's emissary, and even had a hint of mockery in his eyes.

"Do you think the Ottomans could really conquer Europe?"

"I remember that the Romans described their emperor as saying, 'The Roman emperor ruled Constantinople with Jesus Christ, and the emperor sat next to Christ,'" Ashulk did not answer directly, but suddenly changed the subject, "but now there is no Constantinople, and the Sultan of Istanbul has the supreme throne alone." ”

Listening to the metaphorical words of the Ottoman envoy, Grogenin gave him a deep look, then turned and walked towards the ship.

On deck, Jonini, who was waiting, saw Grogenen approaching and greeted him.

"Master, I'm going to go around the city." Jonini spoke.

"What, you want to go for a walk?"

"No, it's my home, and there's a lot of fun going on."