In June 1694, when 5,000 Ming soldiers from across the Caspian Sea spent two months building a fortress in the lower Kizliar Bay of the North Caucasus, because it was the only way to the Caucasus, and further north was the territory of the Kalmyk Mongols, while the Ming soldiers were building the fortress, thousands of tribal men were gathering in one direction throughout the Caucasus.

Towards Baku, these mountain people were responding to the emperor's call and gathered under the emperor's eagle flag, and after they received a simple queue training in Baku, they picked up and sent rifled guns from the arsenal of the Ming Dynasty, and began to march south under the leadership of the emperor.

An army of 200,000 men crossed Kazbek under the banner of the Roman Emperor's eagle and began the reconquest of Anatolia, which was comparable in importance to the Iberian "reconquest campaign", and even more magnificent, after all, the enemy they faced was more tenacious and stronger.

Correspondingly, however, this huge Roman legion was also more powerful than at any other time in history, and although they spoke dozens of languages that were spoken in a variety of languages, they had the upper hand from the beginning of the war by virtue of rifled guns and artillery from the arsenal of the Ming Dynasty.

This formidable army numbered 200,000 men, including more than 20,000 cavalry, 150,000 infantry, and other units such as artillery and engineers, as well as more than 80,000 mules and horses. The march of the Roman legions went very well, and the use of siege artillery from the Ming Dynasty completely changed the contrast between attack and defense in siege warfare, and those fortified cities and fortresses that used to hold out for a year under the siege of any enemy now fall in a week, or even a few days. In just two months, after conquering one city after another, the Duchy of Meskhet, which had been occupied during Timur's invasion 300 years ago, was recovered, and from this time on, the Roman legions finally arrived in Anatolia again after more than 200 years of absence from Anatolia.

On land, an army of 200,000 mountain tribes from the Caucasus marched towards Anatolia, while on the sea, mercenaries from the Ming Dynasty, piloting warships built in Batumi, began a final offensive against the Turks from both land and sea directions.

For the people of Anatolia, the enemy is approaching. They watched almost as Sudan's army was defeated on the battlefield in formation, after all, this was the hinterland of Turkey, and there were not many troops to defend it at all. How can we possibly pose a threat to Turkey when they are almost never faced with threats from foreign enemies, whose enemies are only European infidels and Persia, and the Caucasus is nothing more than a group of weak and worthless mountain people, who are only surviving in the shadow of Turkey? They had never one day rushed down a large corps from the Caucasus, and they were even somewhat caught off guard in the face of such an attack.

When Suldan's army was defeated, the imams preached there, encouraging the people to take up scimitars and engage in a holy war, and the imams kept talking. They will say how their ancestors defeated the Roman army hundreds of years ago, such as the conquest of Rome from here, the conquest of Constantinople, and now it is time for them to fight, and they will be as heroic as their ancestors, fighting here valiantly to stop the pagan army from attacking the Ottomans.

"Right here, our ancestors have defeated the Romans again and again, and now it's our turn, this is our land, as long as any pagan touches this land, I will definitely stand up and resist, even if it costs my own life......"

Then he was there to encourage the people who were listening to the speech.

"Brothers, brothers of Uthmans, do not flee, but come with me on your horses and take up your scimitars. Let's stop the cursed Romans......"

In front of the assembled crowd, the clergy cried out in this way. Dressed in an old black robe, he stood upright with his arms outstretched, in a standing position.

In the face of an attack that Sultan's army could not resist, the counterattack of the agitated farmers and shepherds was simply like a joke, and even not worth mentioning.

For Emician, he didn't even figure out what was going on, he fell down with his friends in the heavy artillery fire, and when his friends lost their lives in the shelling, he was dizzy by the shells, and he vaguely saw the Roman infantry advancing quickly with guns, in front of their bayonets, he had shouted to kill these Roman friends, one by one, he was killed, when he saw his neighbor being cut off by a Roman soldier, Emicon was dumbfounded for a while, Just as he staggered to his feet and ran away, the butt of a rifle was slammed on his head.

When he awoke again, he saw the monks with their guns and seemed to be there celebrating their victory, and he began to sigh and groan in pain as he tied up, thinking to himself that he had been taken prisoner, and that he had not even had time to kill a Roman.

Fortunately, the Romans did not kill him, but left him on the side of the road with the other captives, and more Roman soldiers advanced step by step, while others stayed next to him, guarding him, and he had to lie there like everyone else.

At that moment, he saw a man walking towards him, as if to say something, and everything that followed was like a dream for Emikan, who was lying on the ground moaning and sighing. The man crouched beside him, poured some liquor on his head, and bandaged his wounds.

Everything was as if in a dream, and Emikan looked with tears in his eyes at the large white armband on his left arm and the neat cross made of red cloth on the armband. When does a person have such disgusting and terrible nightmares. The red cross was like a very large ghost, which was reflected in his teary eyes in a trance, and obscured his entire vision.

When the man had bandaged his wounds, he bandaged the wounds of the other wounded. After a while Emician sat up wearily, and peeked at the Romans around him, who seemed to be very happy with their pipes in their mouths, and occasionally they would look at him, and that gaze seemed very familiar, like the one he gave to an animal.

Suffered!

I'm a slave to them!

Suddenly, Emikan remembered what many had said about the Caucasus, where the mountain people often plundered other people as slaves. And these Romans, all from the Caucasus, many of them mountain people, even if they have no contact with the Caucasians, Emikan can see their identity at a glance.

For the next few days, Emikan waited for an opportunity to escape, and finally, three days after his capture, the opportunity came - the Romans who were escorting him were attacked by the villagers, and when the Romans resisted the sudden attack of the villagers, he also took advantage of the chaos to escape, and everything was extremely chaotic on the battlefield, and no one noticed his escape at all.

After escaping, Emikan walked in the direction of his hometown, and in only two days he reached the bridge in front of the village, where he washed his face by the river, and then rested on the stone railing of the bridge. Only then did he slowly calm down and sober up.

At this time, he noticed that the village seemed to be very quiet. As he walked towards the village, he saw several Roman soldiers in the village, and they looked at him before continuing on his way.

A large piece of white paper was pasted on top of the stone monument at the entrance of the village. Although he was anxious to return home and see how his wife and children were doing, he couldn't suppress his curiosity and couldn't help but look at the poster.

It was a proclamation written in Greek and Ottoman and was issued in the name of the Roman Emperor. Because he had studied with the priests, he could read Ottoman, and his right eye, which was covered by a bandage, made it clear that when he read the Ottoman proclamation, he could only read the words in large letters:

"Residents of Anatolia!

The Roman Imperial army had re-arrived in Anatolia. This army did not conquer the land by force as an enemy, but restored the Roman Empire in Anatolia, which had been occupied by the Turks for many years......

The Roman Emperor could no longer sit idly by and watch his land occupied by outsiders, and he could not sit idly by while his people suffered poverty and suffering. His Majesty the Emperor, who cares about your well-being, feels that you should be placed under his strong protection.

…… The Roman Emperor ordered all the courtiers of the state to have equal rights under the law, and all life, faith, and property were protected.

……

Residents of Anatolia! Rest assured that you will be under the protection of the glorious banner of the Roman Empire. You should welcome our soldiers as friends, you should obey the orders of the authorities, live in peace, and the fruits of your labor will be protected......"

Emikan read it word for word, in fits and starts, and he did not understand every word, but every word pained him; And this suffering was not ordinary, and now from these words he clearly saw that himself, his people, and all that they had was finished, and forever.

From now on a foreign emperor ruled over them, and a foreign faith conquered them. This is evident from these high-sounding words, warm and ambiguous commands, that they have been conquered by outsiders. The words "Roman Emperor" on the proclamation added a sense of shame to his heart, could he have been conquered like this.

In this way, as he walked in despair, he saw two Roman soldiers standing in front of the courtyard of "Timario", who was the ruler of the village, who was also responsible for collecting taxes and maintaining law and order in the village, and managing the farming of the peasants. Of course, all the peasants were his sharecroppers.

Where did the lord go now?

Maybe they were killed in battle, or they were all killed by the Romans.

Emikan looked nervously at the two soldiers, and it was at this moment that he heard someone calling out to him.

"Emikan, Emmikan,"

Then he saw Ami running over, looked at him in surprise and said.

"You're still alive."

When he saw Ami, Emikan immediately asked nervously.

"Where did you go, master?"

For the people of the village, the lord will always be the lord, after all, they farm his land. None of the villagers had their own land, and all the land belonged to the Sultan, who gave the land to the "Timario", and the peasants cultivated it for him as tenant farmers.

"The lord didn't know where he had run for a long time, but now the lord has been replaced by another, yesterday, the lord has already gathered the people in the village and told us to farm with peace of mind, any rebellion will be severely punished, those who participate in the rebellion will be hanged, and wives, sons and daughters will be turned into slaves of the lord......"

"What about Aina?"

Emikan asked his wife nervously.

"Don't worry, no one said you went there, aren't you back now? From now on, you have to be honest, after all, although the master needs someone to farm for him, but the old man is very powerful, in the past two days, someone has been killed because he refused to hand over the musket and knife, now, we are not allowed to keep weapons, even if it is a knife to kill sheep, each family is only allowed to leave one ......"

Is this what is the rule of outsiders?

These outsiders are simply a group of robbers, and they have robbed the property that belongs to the old man in this way. How can such atrocities be accepted? He looked angrily at the Roman soldiers.

At this time, there was only one thought in his heart. That's when the old men will call back. These Romans were driven out from here.

While Emikian was full of anger in the face of the reality of foreign rule, and in his heart he was full of anticipation for the future liberation of the lords, in other parts of Anatolia, this huge Roman legion was still attacking everywhere, under the powerful artillery fire, the cities with empty defenses fell one after another, and the property of many lords became the spoils of the legions, as for their fiefs and fiefs became the fiefs of the legion generals and soldiers, the special military fiefdom system of the Ottomans, On the contrary, it is beneficial to the military and the reward, so that these occupiers from foreign lands can be effortless. You get a lot of loot. All that was needed was to kill their original master, and then the land and slaves he owned became the spoils of the victors.

Of course, this reward for the spoils of war that had just been obtained was not carried out immediately, because according to the order, the reward would not be given to each person according to his military merits until after the capture of Constantinople, and before that, all this would be in the direct control of the emperor.