May 1453, Peloponnese, Greece, Monemvasia Castle

The castle was the coastal defense town of the Eastern Roman Empire. The fiefdom capital of Prince Palaiologos, it was also a castle in all of Europe except Constantinople that hung the banner of the Eastern Roman Empire's double-headed eagle.

Monemvasia Castle is located on a small peninsula on the east coast of the Peloponnese. The entire peninsula is 300 meters wide and 1 kilometer long, and is connected to the mainland by a short embankment 200 meters long. Built on the slope of a rocky hill, the walls are perched high above the bay and have always been known to be easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Over the past century, the Crusaders, Venetians, Turks, and the remnants of the Eastern Roman Empire have fought many battles to the death around the castle. Although it has been defeated countless times, the Greeks who built this castle have persevered.

However, at this moment, the double-headed eagle flag, which symbolizes the Eastern Roman Empire, is about to fall from the city of Monemvasia.

- In the governor's chamber in the castle, the youngest brother of Emperor Constantine XI, Thomas of the forty-fourth year. Prince Palaiologos, lying in bed, sometimes unconscious, sometimes awake, was on the verge of running out of oil.

At first glance, the prince had the same black curls as the emperor, black and white eyes, and a standard Greek face. But it seems that because of the lingering relationship on the sickbed, his body looks skinny, his eye sockets are deeply sunken, and the whole person is so thin that he is out of shape.

Over the past six months, the Roman prince has experienced the most ups and downs of his life.

When his eldest brother Constantine ascended the throne four years earlier, Thomas and his second brother Demetus were given the title of Moriah, and the cities of Monemvasia and Mistra were the capitals respectively. Divide the territory of the Peloponnese Peninsula equally and defend this Zuihou enclave for the Empire.

For the fief he owned, Thomas was basically satisfied. Who knew that his second brother Demetus was not greedy enough, and planned to seize the fief of his younger brother Thomas all day long. Even before the Turks attacked, the two Eastern Roman princes were already in conflict with each other, fighting each other as enemies.

In the autumn of last year, in order to cooperate with Sultan Mehmed II's attack on Constantinople, Turakhan Pasha broke through the Isthmus of Corinth with tens of thousands of troops and entered the Peloponnese, Prince Demetus sacrificed the city of Mistra without restraint. He took refuge in his old enemy, the Turks, and tried to eliminate his own brother with the help of the Turkish Sultan's Liliang!

By this time, Thomas's fiefdom in the Peloponnese had been war-torn and desolate. In addition, his second brother, the number one leading party, is powerless to resist the enemy outside the country...... Thereupon. After a fiasco in the field of resistance. He had to take the remnants of his defeated army and retreat into the easily defended capital of Monemvasia, giving up all the rest of the land outside the castle.

What followed was a three-month battle of attack and defense, with a small force of just over 300 men, as well as the treacherous terrain and strong walls of the city of Monemvasia. Prince Thomas managed to hold on very hard.

Later, the astonishing news that the Turkish Sultan and his 140,000-strong army had died overnight outside Constantinople finally reached the Peloponnese. The Turks on the battlefield suddenly had no intention of fighting again and withdrew from the front line one after another. Most of them followed the commander Turahan back to the capital Adrianople to fight in the civil war, and the remaining Turks, who had not left, seized the fiefdom of Demetus, the leading party, and seemed to intend to settle down there.

However, just as Prince Thomas was relieved to see the enemy soldiers retreating from outside the city walls, and was determined to regain the lost territory, the Venetians, who also belonged to the Christian camp, gave him a fatal stab in the back again, just like the Fourth Crusade in 1204!

-- Seeing that the Turkish prince was not in a good position, not only did he fail to destroy his younger brother Thomas's shili, but he also occupied his Mistra Castle and refused to return it, leaving him homeless. Prince Demetus, who had failed in his speculation, was terrified for a while, fearing the revenge of his younger brother Thomas and his eldest brother Constantine, and fearing that the Turks would unload and kill the donkey. In order to protect himself, the unscrupulous Demetus actually went to the Venetians again, promising that as soon as he ascended the throne of Moria's ruler, he would pay tribute to Venice and cede all the good ports of Moria......

It just so happened that the Cretan detachment sent by the Republic of Venice to rescue Constantinople had just returned from the Sea of Marmara with a large amount of booty, so it was ordered to go directly to the battlefield of Moria...... As a result, the Turkish army had just withdrawn from outside the city, and the Venetian mercenaries surrounded it again.

In the face of such a big and up-and-down fate of hitting the streets, Prince Thomas, who was overjoyed, was furious for a while, and he couldn't afford to fall ill.

What's more, while the defenders of the city were panicking, the Venetians outside the city also brought from Constantinople a weapon to destroy the city wall - the urban cannon, designed by the Hungarian engineer Urban and cast by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II at great expense, fell into the hands of the Venetian fleet after the Turkish army was destroyed by Soman's gas, and then dragged outside the city of Monemvasia.

- Due to the troubles of the traversers, the shells of the Cannons of Urban failed to cut through the walls of Constantinople, but then they made their debut outside another city of the Eastern Roman Empire.

In any case, when the seventeen-ton bronze cannon made its first roar on the beach outside the city, the defenders of the Eastern Roman Empire trapped in Monemvasia Castle had already realized that the castle would definitely not be able to hold it......

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“…… Boom—"

In a daze, a sudden violent shock suddenly brought Prince Thomas's chaotic mind back to his senses.

The brass candlestick beside the bed was buzzed, and dust spilled down from the roof, causing the dying patient to cough.

Although the flame of life was about to be extinguished, His Royal Highness was well aware that the shock came from the shelling of the Venetians.

Although he had long since lost the strength to get up and look out the window, he could fully imagine that, accompanied by the light of fire and gunsmoke, a granite cannonball weighing 1,200 pounds erupted from the mouth of a bronze beast called the Great Cannon of Urban, and under the gaze of countless people, flew over the short embankment connecting the castle with the mainland, and smashed into the stone wall of Monemvasia's castle in a dull manner, carving a huge and shocking gap...... The dust that rose up enveloped the small seaside fortress in an instant, and even the fresh sea breeze could not blow away the choking dust and mist. (To be continued.) )