On the outskirts of the city of Nicaea, there was grass and dead bodies everywhere.

The walls were deserted, the copper-clad gates were open, and there was silence inside.

“…… Quack-quack-"

Black-pressed crows hovered over the city, making a piercing call.

Their ominous shadow is like a thick cloud that almost obscures the sun.

Seeing so many crows, Wang Qiu looked at each other with Ma Tong, Sonya, Ihonovsky and others, all suspecting that this was an empty city.

- In fact, Nicaea was not an empty city at this time, but it was already a dying city.

Perhaps it was the sight of the double-headed eagle banner of the "Varangian Praetorian Guard", and a moment later, a few trembling creatures walked out of the gates of Nicaea. From the mouths of these old men who claimed to be Nicene nobles, the travelers once again confirmed that the Turks had indeed fled.

Then, as the traversers silently walked into the streets of Nicaea with the double-headed eagle banner, they immediately discovered that although there had been no fighting in the city, there were still buildings that had been burned everywhere. One of the most striking remnants of the fire was the smoky-blackened mosque dome, which burned an entire swath of residential areas to rubble...... According to what Wang Qiuda heard, these houses were burned down by the Turkish governor and the citizens of Nicaea themselves—the most effective way to combat the severe plague in this era of medical development was to destroy the source of infection by setting fire to the sick and the houses they lived in. Interrupt the spread of the plague.

This is how the Turkish governor, having expelled the sick from the city, "disinfected" the city with a blazing fire. But when he discovered that even such a draconian method could not stop the spread of the plague. And after a large number of Turkish cavalry under his command fell ill, the fear in his heart finally overwhelmed his will. In order to get rid of the entanglement of the disease, three days before Wang Qiu and the others arrived, the Turkish governor of Nicaea took the remaining Turkish cavalry who remained healthy, and fled from the city cursed by the plague god in a hurry, and his whereabouts have been unknown since then.

And then. As the advance party slowly searched and advanced, scattered crowds began to appear on both sides of the closed road. These remnants of the citizens of Nicaea. It was supposed to come to show tame to the conquerors, but no one spoke, and no one came to compliment them. The small advance party walked through the crowd as if walking through a silent desert. Look at the double-headed eagle flag, which symbolizes the authority of the Eastern Roman Empire. Some of these citizens were silent. Tears. More of them are glazed over, like scarecrows. In the houses on both sides, there seemed to be someone peeping through the cracks in the windows.

In the square in the center of the city, a middle-aged nobleman, in accordance with the custom of the surrender of the Western shijie, handed the key to the city gate, as well as bread and salt, to Colonel Ihonovsky, who led the team. But looking at his already swollen black cheeks, even a communist fighter like Colonel Ihonovsky, who was not afraid of heaven and earth, felt shuddered. I can't help but want to go back. Others were so weak that they wanted to vomit.

Until Wang Qiu and others erected a military flag with a cross and a sickle and a hammer in the square. It was only when the "holy water", "holy oil" and "holy bread" that were said to contain miraculous powers and cures began to be distributed, and the dead city seemed to come to life at once—the streets were filled with cheers and cries of praise for God. The surviving citizens cried and hissed and poured into the square like a tidal wave, and after receiving the life-saving medicine, they fell to their knees with tears of joy and kept hitting the stones under the cross with their foreheads until they were dripping with blood.

“…… Thank you! Brave Varangian Guards! You are angels sent by God to save us! ”

“…… God, a miracle has finally happened! ”

“…… It's all because we have fallen that God has sent such punishment! Because we forgot the glory of Rome and surrendered to the infidels and became their slaves and obedient people...... From this day forward, we must follow the Lord's teachings and stand up to the wicked infidels! ”

The citizens of Nicaea screamed with a mixture of pain, sorrow, and joy resounded throughout the city. Diolena, who was exuding medicine, and the "women's support team" she brought from Constantinople, were naturally proud and excited, as if she had become a saint who rescued the suffering. And the traversers, who are the culprits, in the midst of this praise and cheers, seem to have been tortured by their conscience, and they bow their heads and remain silent for a long time......

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Two days later, Emperor Constantine XI also came to the outside of Nicaea with a main force of 10,000 troops. In order to defend against the plague, he did not allow his soldiers to enter the city for recreation, but ordered them to camp in the wilderness, and they must drink boiled water, prohibit open defecation, and take preventive medicine...... Although the plague was not very fatal to the army with large amounts of oral antibiotics, aspirin, and anti-inflammatory plasters, if a large number of soldiers unfortunately fell ill, it would somewhat weaken the army's combat effectiveness and delay the progress of this major counteroffensive.

If it were in normal times, the introduction of such cumbersome and harsh rules in one breath would definitely provoke a backlash from all the unhygienic soldiers, but at this moment, under the shock of the corpses piled up along the way, this ragtag army under the command of Emperor Constantine XI was quite obedient for the time being.

Then, standing in front of the open gates of the city of Nicaea, Emperor Constantine XI could not help but sigh with emotion.

Although he had imagined countless times that he would regain lost territory in Asia, he had never imagined that such a situation would occur.

-- The fierce enemy fled without a fight, the numb populace opened the door and surrendered, and the fortified city was crushed by the plague before a single battle.

Well, this feeling of emptiness...... How so? It's like ...... I haven't pushed it yet! Why did you fall?

As for the guilt of brazenly sowing plague in order to regain lost territory, through this tyrannical act against humanity and civilization, so many people have been killed without distinction between good and bad...... Well, the heavy pressure of destroying the country and destroying the country that he has been facing in the past few years has already forced Constantine XI into a person who lacks discipline, as long as he can save the fortunes of the country and his own life, not to mention sowing plague, it is to destroy Shijie, and he is not the same thing.

Of course, the first target, the city of Nicaea, had already been taken without a fight, but the next target, Bursa, the capital of the province of Bithynia, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire and the largest Turkish settlement in western Asia Minor, was not so easily subdued.

In order to seize the most prosperous city in all of Asia Minor, the emperor was ready for a bloody battle.

However, while the Eastern Roman Empire was triumphant, the Turks in Asia Minor had already quietly launched a counterattack...... (To be continued.) )