The Bosphorus is cold but lively in winter, and the strait is known as one of the world's busiest waterways.

The Bosphorus never seems to be deserted at any given time, and even without the merchant ships that travel between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, the Golden Horn is full of ships enough to bustle the strait.

The morning sun rises slowly, and the golden red of the sea makes this cold winter day look a little warmer, and the morning light shines on the tall palace wall in the middle corner of the Golden Horn, and the buildings that stretch upwards with the mountain behind the palace wall are also reflected in a warm color.

Two black servants dragged a small boat to the small pier in front of the gate at the lower corner of the palace wall, and the boat contained several large baskets, in which the jumping fish flicked their tails from time to time to try to escape from this hell.

On the stone paved road of the small wharf stood a eunuch of the same dark complexion, and the fat eunuch picked the fish in the basket with a wooden stick in his hand, and at first picked at it with a little disgust, then nodded reluctantly with satisfaction, and waved his hand to let the servant follow him to the corner gate.

The eunuch walked in front of him, and at the same time turned around and kept telling the servants who followed him: "Be careful, know that if the fish tastes bad, we will all suffer." ”

The servants who followed immediately kept nodding, they knew that it was not that this eunuch was deliberately embarrassing their own people, but that if they made a slight mistake, they might lose their lives.

Just a few days ago, two careless servants sent a basket of shrimp and mussels into the palace, and if this was usual, it might have been a very severe punishment, but this time the two men were unlucky, they were strangled by the necks with ropes, put in sacks, and thrown into the sea from the front of the palace.

And a few of them took their lives.

All this was only because the Sultan's chariot happened to pass by the servants.

Since returning to Constantinople, Bayezid II's temper has become unusually irritable, and although his injuries have been healed and saved by the power of many imperial doctors, he has been completely paralyzed.

The Sultan could no longer leave the palace, and even in the palace there were so few places where he could move, and the slightest movement would have made him miserable, and if it had not been for the doctor's repeated reminders that being paralyzed in bed all day could lead to bedsores, Bayezid II might not even be able to leave the palace door.

And even if it was just a "walk" in the palace, Bayezid II would have enough guards with him, in fact he hardly trusted everyone around him now, in his opinion everyone was ready to oppose and murder him, everyone in the palace could be an undercover agent bought by Mehmet or Selim, so even his closest guards, he would order them to stay away from him, and even when he went out, he could only turn his back to him and move sideways.

It was not for nothing that the Sultan was so suspicious, Mehmet and Selim were almost already in rebellion, and with the strength in their hands, not only had they openly turned against each other, but both of them clearly wanted to use coercion Bayezid II to gain an advantage in this battle for the Sultan.

Bayezid II was very worried that he might become a prisoner of one of his sons, and at the same time he was more worried that some of the generals of the new army stationed in Constantinople would collude with them to rebel, so he had been dragging his ill body for a long time and frequently issuing various orders for the transfer of troops and the transfer of generals, but the Sultan himself was well aware that it was unknown whether his orders could still be carried out in this situation.

Therefore, in order to protect himself, the Sultan locked himself in the palace and kept an eye on the signs of possible rebellion.

His orders were sent to the front palace by the eunuchs, and the vizier and the Pasha would pass them on to the people who received them, a process that had not been a big deal before, but now the vizier and the Pasha were the key figures who could decide whether the Sultan's orders could be carried out at will.

The power of those men was rapidly expanding, and it was a great threat to Bayezid II, but he could not afford it now, and he had neither the convenience nor the courage to leave the palace and inspect his army as he had done before, and to use the majesty of the Sultan to deter any troubles that might arise.

A eunuch cautiously walked through the draperian corridor to the two closed bronze doors, knocked lightly, and waited until there was a sound of the bolt opening before pushing open the heavy door with the people inside.

A strange smell greeted him, mixed with herbs and a certain foul smell, which made people smell very unpleasant, but the eunuch seemed to walk in without noticing, and stood cautiously a little away from the bed and said respectfully, "My master, Ellup has arrived. ”

"Really, so fast?" The Sultan's voice came from the bed surrounded by a veil, and he did not make the eunuch wait long before ordering the men to be brought in, and then he beckoned to the servants who were waiting around him to raise the cushion he leaned on a little.

It wasn't long before the former Bosnian governor Eleup, still dressed in flamboyant attire, walked into the room, and although the governor had lost his place to the Ottomans in the Battle of Bucharest, he was clever enough to find a way out in advance.

Today's Eleup is the "Vera" of southern Bosnia and Macedonia in the Ottoman Empire.

Despite being a puppet of the Ottomans, at least nominally both South Bosnia and Macedonia now have their own kings, so Elup can only be "wronged" to serve as Vera, a position with more authority than the king in the name of prime minister and governor.

The servants cautiously withdrew, closing the door tightly, and for a moment the room fell silent.

"You still look like that," Bayezid II's voice was a little weak, although he had tried to make himself look good, but it was too difficult for him, so that the Sultan simply stopped pretending to be "Doesn't it look pathetic now?" ”

Lyup groaned slightly, as if considering how to answer, and then he said respectfully, "You are the Sultan." ”

Listening to Eyrip's seemingly non-answering reply, Bayezid II smiled bitterly.

He wanted to move his body, not because he wanted to pretend to be okay in front of Elope, but because he did feel a little uncomfortable, but now there was no one around him, so he could only sigh secretly.

The Sultan would allow Elop to be in a room with him without a guard, not out of trust in him, but because he knew that Elup would not put himself in danger for the sake of others.

So it was impossible for his sons to bribe this man to assassinate him for them.

"What happened?" Bayezid II looked at Elup, if it weren't for some special reason, Eryup would not have left his work and rushed back to Constantinople, so Bayezid II knew that he must have something very important to do this time.

"Great Sultan, I may have brought you news that will upset you, and it may even cost me my life." Elop replied in a calm tone, as if completely unaware of the consequences of what he was saying.

"Tell me what it is, maybe I won't be in a hurry to cut off your head."

The Sultan's promise seemed to reassure Elip a little, and he moved forward a little closer to the bed: "My Sultan, the queen of Wallachia has sent her terms. ”

Bayezid II's face, which had been fat and puffy from his long inactivity, trembled, and the nightmares that Bucharest had brought him made him uncomfortable when he heard about the people and things about this place, and now hearing Eyrip mention the name of one of the culprits who had caused him to be in such a situation, the Sultan's already terrible mood was even worse.

"It might make you lose your head," said the Sultan a little stiffly, lying down in the thick cushions, a little stiff and straightening his neck upwards, but quickly leaned back weakly, "Say, what news did that woman ask you to bring her?" ”

"Sultan, the Queen of Wallachia wishes to let her fleet pass through the strait," said Elup to Bayezid II, who was hiding behind a curtain in the bed, and from his point of view, the Sultan's figure was a little blurred. ”

Bayezid II did not speak immediately, for through the curtain Eryup could not see the sickly look on the sultan's face, but he could feel the oppression in the silence.

It was a dangerous task, but Elup was not very worried, for he had known for a long time that the Sultan was a very cautious man, and he may have hated those who had let him fall into such a field, but he also knew what was good for him, and it was in this way that Bayezid II was able to finally defeat his brother Jem and enter the Grand Golden Palace.

Now the Sultan was not in a good situation, and his two ambitious sons took advantage of his serious injuries to eat away at his power, and with the strength at their disposal, they openly bribed the ministers in Constantinople to entrap the generals of the Guard, and at the same time they vied with each other to make wishes to the governors of the various places, the Pashas, in the hope of their support.

They were secretive at first, but when they discovered that Bayezid II's health was deteriorating, they became bolder, and later they simply became unscrupulous.

Eyrip was well aware of these things, and he himself had seen the envoys sent by the two princes more than once.

The two princes still valued Elup, and they knew that this Balkan Vera was very shrewd, after all, after the defeat of Bucharest, many generals were punished and stripped of military power, some of them were even veterans of the time of Mohammed II.

It's hard to say whether Bayezid II was taking the opportunity to eliminate potential enemies he thought might pose a threat to him, but everyone knew that at a time when someone was unlucky, the former governor of Northern Bosnia, Eleup, was not punished for losing his territory, but he quickly took up the post of Vera in South Boschia and Macedonia, which forced many people who had not previously been optimistic about him to look at him differently.

Because of this, Ilup became the object of competition between the two princes, both in terms of his personal status and the important geographical position in the Balkans, for which Ilup was a key figure who could play an important role.

Historically, Selim actually launched a rebellion against his father from the Balkans, trying to get into Constantinople before Mehmet took control, but his rebellion was subsequently quelled by Bayezid II.

At this time, Salim also took a fancy to the important location of Macedonia and southern Bosnia, and he kept sending envoys to try to persuade Eleup, and it happened that Mehmet also had this idea.

Neither of the two princes seemed to be interested in the courtship of the two princes, so when he came to Constantinople to meet the Sultan, many of the spies who had been placed in the city by the two princes immediately sent the important news to their respective masters.

However, no one knew why the Vera had suddenly left his satrapy to meet the Sultan, which made his move seem unusually mysterious.

I don't know how long it was, but a dull sigh came from behind the curtain.

Seeing that the Sultan seemed to beckon to him, Eyrip carefully lifted the gentle curtain and leaned half of his body inside, and in the dim light the sickly face of Bayezid II appeared before him, which made him sigh softly.

"Don't I look pathetic?"

Hearing the Sultan say this again, Elip sat sideways on the edge of the bed, reached out and grabbed the hem of the Sultan's fat robe, and kissed it softly, despite the stench on it.

"You know, I can't even urinate and urinate myself now, although I've never done anything like this, but now ......" The Sultan lifted the corner of his robe, revealing a bulging cow's stomach pouch, which was attached to a tube made of sheep's intestines, and the other end of the pipe disappeared under the Sultan's robe, "I am like this now, maybe I am really useless to my sons." ”

"The army remains loyal to you, especially the new ones," Eryup whispered, "and they will always have your back as long as they can get enough loot and rewards." ”

"But what can I give them now?" Bayezid II smiled wryly, "I know that my sons are generously promising them all kinds of conditions, and they can now use this verbal favor to attract those people, but I can't, I must use practical benefits to ensure that they don't betray me, but now everything is really bad except for the fleet at sea, which is going well." ”

"So this is a good opportunity for you," Elip smiled at the Sultan, "your army is eager to take a large city like Krakow, and the Polish army has been weakened after several setbacks, and if we attack Poland at this time, we may be able to inflict heavy damage on the Polish army without waiting for the Bohemians to help." Such a victory for Your Majesty is enough for the new army to continue to follow you. ”

"You're a good idea, but we all know that the war between Wallachia and Moldova has caused us a lot of trouble, and that Stefan is old, and he can't control his disobedient nobles, and that Rova?, he's also very ambitious, isn't he?"

"So it's up to you," Eleup bowed to the Sultan, and then simply sat cross-legged on the bed and looked at Bayezid II face to face, "The queen wants to send her fleet across the strait, her destination is Sicily, we all know that our navy can't threaten there yet, so why not let the infidels kill each other themselves, let alone ......"

"What's more, if I agree to her terms, will she really stop the conflict with Moldova?" "If the Wallachians break the treaty, they may cut off the retreat of my new army, and they will be trapped in the interior of Europe, and it will be the second Bucharest defeat." ”

"I don't think so," Eryup thought for a moment and shook her head, seeing the Sultan's cloudy but still nervous gaze in the light, Elope continued, "From the time I've been dealing with her, I can sense that the woman's mind doesn't seem to be on expanding the kingdom or fighting us, and even the Greeks have been clamoring for a return to the kingdom she doesn't seem to be so interested, but this time she does want to go to Sicily, and for this she took the initiative to send someone to me, He offered to restore peace with Moldova, and also promised not to intervene in our attack on Poland. ”

Eryup's words made Bayezid II's seemingly powerless eyes suddenly brighten, and he motioned for Alysp to sit more comfortably before he could continue.

Outside the room, on either side of the closed bronze door, stood several eunuchs, who watched warily at the people coming and going in the corridor, and soon they were sure that several of them seemed to be a little too interested in the Sultan's room.

The arrival of Southern Bosnia and Balkan Vera did attract a lot of attention, but it soon became clear what Ilüpp's purpose was for returning to Constantinople.

On 12 December, a Wallachian convoy crossed the Strait of Peropous and entered the Mediterranean.