A Balkan soldier on a skinny mountain horse swung his whip so much that when the soldier ran to a tent and pulled the reins, his mount at the crotch let out a loud moth of water after a neigh.

"Let the horse rest well, or it will be ruined," the captain looked at the horse distressedly, but at this time the soldier did not care about this, he hurried into the tent, and at the same time reported loudly: "Sir, the Ottoman army has stopped!" ”

Alexander was sitting on a stone covered with a sheepskin and looking at the map in front of him with several people.

Alexander did not expect much from the accuracy of the maps of this era.

It's just that since it's not far from Bucharest, you won't get lost.

The soldier who had suddenly broken in was the scout he had left behind the line to keep an eye on the Ottomans, and now he suddenly heard the news he had brought back, and Alexander only groaned for a moment, and he could roughly guess what was happening.

"The Cowardly Helva" finally showed a different kind of positivity and courage than his nickname, and although he had been told what to do before leaving Zagreb, Alexander was not too sure.

After all, Herva was indeed a timid and forward-looking character in his memory, even if Alexander's appearance prevented him from ending up in idleness as in history, but Alexander was not too sure that he would really confront the Ottomans.

After all, it is very difficult to completely change a person's personality through one or two things.

It's just that Herva is obviously more responsible than he thinks, or the moment he became the Duke of Zagreb, he also knew that he had no way out.

For the guerrilla war against the Ottomans led by Helva, Alexander was still very optimistic.

Helva abandoned the city of Zagreb and went into the mountains, but his army was not a rabble of farmers and mountain people.

On the contrary, the armies of the Croatian aristocracy, mainly Zagrebs, could not be compared with the fierce strength of the Black Army in Bohemia, but they were still not to be ignored.

Before that, the Ottomans, who were accustomed to head-to-head confrontation, obviously did not expect that a duke would lead his army to fight a guerrilla war, and it is not difficult to understand why the Ottomans suddenly stopped when they were about to reach Bucharest.

"Where are the Ottomans now?"

"Here, sir!" The scout searched the map for a long time, and finally pointed to a place: "Upper Tartary, the Sultan's royal camp is located in a grange in this place." ”

"It's only 2 days from Bucharest, right?" Alexander touched his chin and pondered, "But this is the point where the Sultan will stop, and it seems that our Duke of Zagreb has really caused him a lot of trouble." ”

"Yes, my lord, we noticed that the Ottomans didn't seem to be as well supplied as they used to be these days, and there was even a whole day when we didn't see anything coming from behind."

"That means their supply lines seem to be in real trouble," Gompati smiled, taking a sip of bitter ginger wine from his cup and frowning. ”

"The Ottomans stopped to replenish the cut off supplies, but also to prepare for a final attack on Bucharest, which was not as impregnable as Constantinople, but just think about how strong it was when even Mehmed II failed to conquer the city."

Alexander was not overly optimistic that the Ottomans had stopped marching, and looking at the location on the map, he began to wonder what he should do.

The Ottomans were already close to Bucharest, and his Montina army was not only closer, but his army had actually crossed the city, and now his position was east of Bucharest.

Alexander did not enter Bucharest with Montina's army, but passed directly next to the city and into the eastern part of the Wallachian plain.

The reason for this decision was that he suddenly realized that something bad was that Bucharest did not seem to be as tense and urgent as he had imagined, but that the news he had heard after entering the plains of Bucharest made him realize that King Ladislas II of Bohemia did not seem to be so interested in confronting the Ottomans.

This made Alexander change his mind temporarily.

He had come from afar to take Sophia with him, and he didn't care what would happen to the Eastern Roman nobles and Balkans.

The Ottoman rule over the Balkans would last for a long time, and now it was just beginning, and Alexander didn't think he had the power to stop it from happening.

But now Ladislas II's performance made him a little worried.

If Ladislas II had been determined to fight the Ottomans, it would have caused him a lot of trouble to take Sophia, but it was not a matter of worry, but if the king was to negotiate peace with Bayezid II, Sophia would be in a dangerous situation.

Whatever the true purpose of Bayezid II's expedition was, since he had gone on a crusade against the remnants of the Eastern Romans, it seems plausible to hand over Sophia in order to gain the Sultan's understanding.

Alexander had already inquired about the approximate number of troops in Bucharest, less than 40,000 men, which was not much compared to the Ottoman army, but it was enough to hold a fortified city.

The city of Bucharest has a short history, it was a large fortress 100 years ago, and even less than 30 years ago it was obscure, and it was only after Mehmed II withdrew from the fortress that Bucharest became famous.

It is a typical militarized city, with tall walls and strong fortresses built purely to defend itself against foreign enemies from the very beginning, making the city an impregnable wall.

Therefore, if Ladislas II was really willing to fight the Ottomans to the death, he might not have no chance of victory, but if the king had other intentions, then Bucharest would not only not be a castle to protect Sophia, but on the contrary, it might become an obstacle for Alexander to save Sophia.

Alexander did not know what choice Ladislas II would make, but he could at least guess that the Bohemian king's purpose in stirring up trouble in the Balkans was only to contain the Ottomans and thus keep his Hungary.

Now that he had the opportunity to negotiate terms with the Sultan, Ladislas II might not betray Sophia in exchange for a promise from the Ottomans.

"Looks like we're going to have to take the initiative to find some trouble," Alexander muttered to himself, noticing the puzzled look on Gompati beside him, and he raised an eyebrow, "Tell me Gompati, are you sure if you fight the Ottomans on the plains?" ”

"That's not a good idea," Gompati said, twitching at the corners of his mouth, "our cannons have already been lost by the Muresh, and even if they hadn't been lost, we would have too few troops to be wiped out if we fought the Ottomans on the plains." ”

"That's true, but what if we can make sure the Ottomans don't cross the Danube?" Alexander looked at the map.

The city of Bucharest is located in the middle of the Bucharest Plain, and the city is divided into two parts by the Danube River, which flows through it, and is connected by several bridges over the river.

When Mehmed II was attacking Bucharest, he tried to send his army to break into Bucharest by boat down the river, but because the defenders were prepared, the Ottoman troops who tried to attack along the river were met with a head-on attack and had to retreat in disarray.

Because of this, after the withdrawal of the Ottoman troops, the Bucharest people learned from the experience of the siege war, and deliberately built two very strong fortresses along the river not far from the upper and lower reaches of the city, and placed a lot of artillery in the fortress to hold the Danube River with powerful artillery fire.

"My lord, do you want to cross the Danube?" Gompati asked a little strangely, he didn't understand why Alexander didn't choose to enter the city, he believed that with their previous experience of fighting the Ottomans and their strength, the nobles of Bucharest would definitely welcome them as saviors.

"I mean take the north bank of the Danube as a base and then attack the Ottomans on our own initiative," Alexander scratched on the map, "if the Ottomans pursue us, then we will retreat to the fort area in the direction of Bucharest, and unless they can capture those coastal forts in one fell swoop, we can calmly cross the river with the support of the fort artillery." ”

Gompati looked at Alexander with some confusion, he couldn't understand why Alexander would rather take the risk than enter Bucharest, and he was also skeptical that the artillery of the fortresses on the banks of the river would really help them stop a possible pursuit.

Alexander sensed Gompati's concerns, and although he couldn't tell Gompati what he really thought, he decided to reveal some of them.

"We are here for the Hungarian copper mines, and before that we thought Ladislas II needed help, but now it seems that the Hungarian king is not interested in a full-scale war with the Ottomans, and if so, the expedition will be worth the cost for us, so I feel the need to help him make up his mind."

"So we're going to take the initiative to attack the Ottomans?" Gompati's lips tightened, he thought he was already a crazy person, but now he felt that he was actually quite ordinary.

In order to be able to obtain Hungarian copper mines, he did not hesitate to provoke a war.

At least Gompati thought it was a bit crazy.

Sensing Gompati's worried mood, Alexander waved his hand.

"Trust me, it's totally worth it," although he couldn't say anything about Sofia, Alexander felt that there were enough reasons to convince Gompati to agree to the adventure, "You know that the whole of Europe is crazy about the price of copper these days, the price of copper is constantly being renovated every day in the Roman Exchange, and Hungary has the largest copper mine, you should know very well what that means for us." ”

Gompati nodded silently, even if he didn't quite understand how the futures exchanges in Rome made money, but he at least knew that if he had enough copper, he could make the cannons that he had been obsessed with.

And to have a powerful artillery unit, or even to create an artillery unit that is completely capable of independence in the field, is what Gompati has always dreamed of.

If a war was to be provoked for this, Gompati began to feel that it was not so difficult to accept.

"But if we do, we have to let the people of Bucharest know about our coming, otherwise they may not be willing to help us in our time of need."

"Don't worry about this," Alexander looked at the map and poked lightly in the direction of Upper Tatar Desz, "all we have to do is let the Bucharestans follow our rhythm." ”

Upper Tatar Desh was about two days' journey from Bucharest, and even if the army was slow, it would take only three days to reach it.

Alexander was not wrong about Bayezid II, and although Herva had launched a series of sabotage and harassment in the rear of the Ottoman army, Bayezid II's decision to halt the advance of the army was not entirely due to influence from the rear.

Compared to his father, Bayezid II came across as somewhat negative, and seemed to be overly cautious except for the battle for the throne with Jem at the beginning of his reign.

Even when he had decided to go on an expedition, he was careful in choosing the route of his march.

Now that his army was approaching Bucharest, the Sultan decided to calm his overexcited generals and soldiers.

In the grange, which had been laid out as ornate as a palace, the Sultan looked through the latest information.

"Elup demands the right to mobilize the locals at will?" Bayezid II looked at the secret message sent by his favored retainer, and he knew that if he agreed to this request from Elup, he would probably make Rois?? Not happy, after all, that would touch Roy?? But thinking of the trouble caused by the Duke of Zagreb, Bayezid II decided to accede to Eyrip's request.

It was only in reply to his cronies that the Sultan gave another order to Elup.

"If you're going to take advantage of the locals, you need someone who can be recognized, so I decided to let Roa ?? I'll join you in dealing with the roaming Helva, who, given his current situation, must be more hopeful than you are to clear the rebellion as soon as possible. ”

The Sultan wrote letters slowly, and from an early age he was in the habit of handwriting important orders, which were merely transcribed by clerks.

The Sultan carefully found the seal with Eyrip's name in the secret chest he had brought with him, and pressed it on the edge of the secret letter.

The seal was divided into two halves, the other half in the hands of the governors he had sent the Pasha or the generals of the army, and the seals in the hands of each general had a completely different pattern, and only when the patterns of the two halves of the seals were matched correctly could it be ascertained that the secret orders were given by the Sultan himself.

Bayezette carefully lifted the seal to prevent the ink from staining it.

At this moment, he faintly heard a sudden noise.

Not long after, an attendant hurried into the room.

The attendant knelt on the ground and reported urgently: "My master, our camp is under attack. ”

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