In the afternoon, the first siege troops of the Ottoman Turks had assembled outside Constantinople.

In anticipation of the upcoming great battle and to inform Allah of his determination to take Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II excitedly dressed in his most splendid attire and set up an open-air altar in front of the walls of Constantinople and spread out a carpet for prayer.

Then, Sultan Bixia stepped forward, bowed three times in the direction of the holy city of Mecca, and then touched the ground with his forehead and prayed loudly to Allah for victory in this battle. Behind the Sultan, tens of thousands of armies were also bowing and prostrate in the same direction, reciting the same prayer to Allah in the same rhythm, asking him to grant them liliang and victory...... For a time, the scene was magnificent, and the onlookers on the city wall were deeply shocked.

Next, after praying, Sultan Mehmed II stepped off the altar, got on his horse again, and galloped in front of the troops to the sound of earth-shattering drums and trombones, and held a grand military parade in front of the army. Hundreds of royal heralds, wrapped in turbans and dark silk robes, rushed back and forth between the murderous phalanxes, shouting: "...... The Holy War (Jihad) has begun! ”

In order to boost the morale of the army, Mehmed II solemnly promised the soldiers at the parade: "...... After the storming of Constantinople, all I want is the buildings of the city, and all the prisoners of war, the booty, the gold and silver treasures, and the Greek beauties in the city, all of them will be used as prizes for you, and everyone will be guaranteed to have money and happiness! The first brave soldier to climb the city walls. He will also be appointed governor of the richest province in the country! ”

The Islamic monks who accompanied the army visited every Turkish soldier and instilled in them the most fanatical religious conviction that if they died for the Sultan and Allah in the midst of this great holy war, and became glorious martyrs, they would surely ascend to heaven surrounded by seventy-two beautiful virgins, and enjoy eternal pleasure in a courtyard of fine wine, good food, birds and flowers, and elegant and beautiful music......

Under the temptation of wealth in the city of Constantinople and "seventy-two virgins in heaven". The easily fooled Turkish soldiers were in a state of madness, and in an instant the collective morale was high, and the cheers of "Allah is the only Allah" and "Muhammad is his messenger" resounded throughout the world.

The sound of the tsunami is so imposing. So much so that even the towering walls of Theodosius, in the distance, seemed to be trembling slightly and falling into the dust. In the face of such an aggressive momentum. The soldiers and civilians defending the city couldn't help but feel deeply frightened, and even those knights and mercenaries who had been trained in the battlefield for a long time and were accustomed to life and death were shaken and panicked in their hearts.

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That night, after ordering the soldiers to be fed in preparation for the next day, Sultan Mehmed II convened a pre-war meeting in his tent to prepare for the upcoming siege of Constantinople.

At the meeting, Sultan Mehmed II announced the basic strategy for the battle, which was to use the Cannons of Urban to destroy the towering walls of Theodosius. Open one or several gaps, then drive tens of thousands of troops along the gaps in the walls into the city, flooding the city in one fell swoop.

At the same time, the newly established Turkish naval fleet will carry out a blockade mission in the Sea of Marmara - Sultan Mohammed II realistically does not want his rookie fleet to break into the Golden Horn. The army in front of the battlefield launched a strong landing battle, but they were only ordered to intercept any European reinforcements that might appear on the sea, and not a single ship or grain of wheat was allowed to enter the besieged city.

-- Since the Turks were not seafaring peoples, they had few sailors of their own nationality, and until recently they relied entirely on Genoese merchant ships to travel between Europe and Asia. So. The siege of Constantinople by the previous Turkish sultans in the past was all confined to the land route, resulting in the Eastern Roman Empire defenders trapped in the city still receiving food supplies and reinforcements from the sea, which eventually made the siege protracted and ineffective.

In order to change this passive situation, starting last summer, Sultan Mehmed II spent a lot of money to forge the Orban cannon, and at the same time spent a huge amount of money to organize a huge naval fleet to launch a land and sea attack on Constantinople on both sides of the sea.

On paper, the Turkish Navy has more than 150 warships, and the total strength of the whole army is as high as 20,000, but unfortunately the combat effectiveness is really a drum in people's hearts - because the Sultan is too urgent, and the preparation time is too hasty, some of the Turkish warships are new ships that are urgently produced, and the timber has not even dried; Another part of the Turkish "warships" were even scrapped old ships purchased from various places, and they were hastily treated to prevent water leakage. The sailors were all rookies, and the oarsmen were all prisoners and slaves, unwater-savvy, and often linguistic.

To make matters worse, the fleet had only been completed in January of this year, and before the paint had dried, it was about to lift anchor and sail to meet the reinforcement fleet from Genoa. By February, the frustrated fleet had been deployed outside Constantinople and was ready for blockade operations.

The commander-in-chief of the Turkish Navy, the Bulgarian Suleiman, who had just converted to Allah, was obviously very worried about the poor state of his fleet, especially the inferior quality of the sailors. Then, in the process of entering the Sea of Marmara after the war and enforcing the blockade of Constantinople, a series of collisions, landings and water leaks occurred one after another, which made Commander-in-Chief Suleiman deeply anxious......

At this point, the first commander-in-chief of the Turkish Navy had no choice but to report to Sultan Mehmed II - even though he had the financial resources to do so. Without the seafaring traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation, a fleet that is truly strong and warlike in just a few months will not be able to pull in a few months. Today's seemingly large Turkish fleet is only a superficial appearance, and it is still far from truly forming combat effectiveness, and can only scare and frighten people, and cannot fight bloody and tough battles at all. If the Venetian or Genoese navies did come to their aid, the Turkish fleet, which was confused with its orders, would probably collapse on the battlefield.

-- Although he was deeply disappointed by the lack of morale of his own navy. However, because it was outside his own field of expertise, Sultan Mehmed II had to pinch his nose and accept the explanation of the naval commander Suleiman, and gently soothes him. Let him just carry out the blockade mission with peace of mind.

However, it seems to have been inspired by the commander of the Navy, Suleiman, and then next. Hariel, the Grand Vizi (Prime Minister of Turkey), who had always adhered to pacifism and had secret contacts with the Eastern Roman Empire, once again put forward his anti-war admonition in a very sinister manner:

“…… Bixia, although it may be too late for me to say this, do you think again about the peaceful route? Despite the fact that we have such a weapon as the Urban cannon, the siege is still destined to be costly. Moreover, the Europeans will not sit idly by and watch the fall of Constantinople, as long as the war drags on for a few months, the Italians and Franks will organize a reinforcement to relieve the siege, leaving you like your ancestors in vain.

What's more, once this costly siege fails. It will seriously weaken our strength and prestige, stimulate the ambitions of those conspirators, and lead to a rebellion throughout the territory...... Bixia, if you really want to get Constantinople, the Eastern Roman Empire has also sent people to negotiate the terms of a peaceful surrender of the capital. We could have found a place in Greece that didn't matter much. Make a deal with their emperor. ”

At this point, the gray-haired, short, and stocky Grand Viqi fell to his knees and bowed deeply to the disparate Sultan Mehmed II, "...... Bixia, the grand military appearance you show during the day. Presumably it has brought enough deterrence to the enemy, and this pressure is enough to shake their will to resist! If you are willing to nod your head, you are willing to take the role of an envoy in person, go into the city to negotiate, and get the most favorable agreement for you, and get Constantinople at the lowest price! ”

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Hearing the repetition of the same old tune by the Prime Minister of the Lord and the faction, Sultan Mehmed II immediately felt a pang of annoyance.

In a sense, Harrier's view of "avoiding war as much as possible" is not entirely unreasonable.

-- Since ancient times, war has been a huge gamble that costs people and money, and even if you win, you will not necessarily end well, and the kind of poor guy who wins the war despite everything but loses the fortune of the country, or even loses his head, is not uncommon in both the East and the West. If the unfortunate defeat is lost, then it will be doubly unlucky, and any land cession, reparations, loss of power, and humiliation of the country are still light -- the real ones who lost the most will have to go to the history books to pay respects to their remains.

Therefore, maintaining the status quo for the time being, or taking Constantinople peacefully in the form of a bargain, should be a good and sound idea in the eyes of the prime minister.

On the other hand, the price offered by the Eastern Roman Emperor was indeed not very high - exchanging the only Constantinople still in his possession for a slightly richer port or island to settle his Zuihou subjects - this pitiful condition was far less than the price the Turks had to pay for the storming of Constantinople, which Mehmed II, as the supreme sultan of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, could fully afford.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire, founded by nomads, never had a "fight for every inch of land" - almost all of their current territory was stolen from the wreckage of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Turks had ceded land when the situation was unfavorable.

But the problem is that Sultan Bixia Mehmed II, who was eager to prove his military talent to everyone, built a high prestige by merit, needed a thrilling brilliant victory, and not a boring and tedious exchange of territories!

If Constantinople was to be taken through a bargain, even if it succeeded in "entering the city without blood", it would not help to increase the prestige of Mehmed II, and if it was not done well, it would be counterproductive - this is the fundamental reason why the Sultan stormed Constantinople despite the huge casualties.

For rulers during the war years, factors they needed to consider when making decisions. It includes not only the actual interests of the state, but also one's own personal prestige and influence. The latter is often more important than the former, especially for newly ascended rulers with shaky roots, because these invisible "soft powers" can effectively unite subjects and allies, deter potential opponents, and maintain their dominance.

-- There is no shortage of positive and negative examples on this issue in the history of the Mediterranean.

Take, for example, in the second half of the twelfth century. John the Lionheart, the "Lionheart" of England, who led the Third Crusade, led the mighty British, French and German forces to fight Saladin in the desert of Palestine. They were beaten all over the field, bloodied and paid a terrible price, but in the end they were not able to see the walls of Jerusalem. Strategically, it should be regarded as a big defeat.

However, when the "Lionheart" John had no choice but to return to Europe, he was still widely praised in the West as a "jihadist hero", and was deeply loved by the common people and soldiers because of his heroic achievements in slashing and killing a large number of infidels in Palestine. Even if he ultimately failed to retake the Holy City, it did not affect his reputation much, let alone weaken his dominance in England, as well as his influence and cohesion with his subjects.

On the contrary, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, who later led the Sixth Crusade, was due to the lack of troops under his command. Through a series of clever diplomatic mediations, exchange of interests, bribery, and bluffing, Emperor Frederick II signed a fairly favorable treaty without a single soldier, easily reclaiming Jerusalem, which had been lost for more than forty years from the Sultan of Egypt (although the holy city of Jerusalem was lost again fifteen years later). But this can only be said to be due to the incompetence of the successor, and cannot be blamed on the emperor).

No matter how disgraceful the process was, at least the emperor was a great success strategically.

However, when the emperor returned to Europe triumphantly, he was shocked to find that instead of earning the reputation of "savior of the Holy Land", he had made deals with infidels without permission. Angry denunciations and lawbreakers from the Holy See (excommunicated the emperor from the Christian ranks)! Worse still, almost all Christians in Europe at that time accused the emperor of not defeating the infidels on the battlefield, but a shameful coward with no honor to speak of—the recapture of the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the pagans without bloodshed not only did not leave a glorious mark on Frederick II's resume, but caused a great disaster to his reputation.

In short, the land that was not obtained through bloody battles was completely meaningless to the warlike kings who wanted to make a name for themselves in history.

After all, not everyone can annex most of Europe by weddings and marriages, as the Habsburgs in Austria did.

At this time, the Turks were in many ways a nomadic people who admired war and fighting, and if a sultan only possessed noble blood and could not prove his wisdom and decisiveness on the battlefield, his throne would be forever shaky and difficult to stabilize.

So, Harrier Davizi's repetition of the same old tune made Sultan Mehmed II deeply depressed - doesn't this old thing understand? Only the heroes on the battlefield who are good at bloody battles can easily control the tiger and wolf division under their command, and the sinister villain who only knows how to play tricks will never be able to win the sincere love of the soldiers! What he needs is a victory that will go down in history, not just a ruined city!

In order not to disappoint the hundreds of thousands of troops who were ready to fight, Sultan Mehmed II might have spared the life of Emperor Constantine XI - even if only temporarily - but could not accept any conditions other than surrender!

So, in response to the "weak performance" of Harril Grand Vizi, the swept away Mehmed II was furious, "...... Harrier! When did your guts become more cowardly than a lamb?! Not to mention that we have the intervention of Liliang to defeat the Christians, and when have the Christians in the West ever been united? Locally, Italy is fragmented, and on the whole, it is the same for all Christian nations.

At least at this time, it is impossible for these heretics to unite against us!

Indeed, the Pope of Rome said a lot of harsh things to us. But those Christians have always thought too much, talked too much and explained a lot, but Zuihou has done very little. When they decide what to do, they always waste too much time before they start acting. Suppose they are already doing something, they will never be able to stick to it, because they will still be arguing about what to do! ”

Speaking of this, Sultan Mehmed II could not help but smile contemptuously, as if he were mocking the Roman pope who could only use his mouth but no soldiers, and as if he was targeting the cowardly and incompetent Harrier Grand Vizi......

Then, in the next moment, his face suddenly became as resolute as iron, and his eyes were even brighter, "...... Harrier, Izuihou say it again! Constantinople was not impregnable, and the failure of several sieges in the previous half century was mainly due to external factors. Indeed, the cost of conquering Constantinople must have been very heavy, but unless we have Constantinople, our empire will never be at peace!

Today's Eastern Roman Empire, though extremely weak, does not seem to pose a threat to us. But precisely because of the weakness of the Eastern Roman Empire, the possibility that the emperor would give the capital to such maritime powers as Venice and Genoa cannot be ruled out! In that case, it will be a terrible disaster for us, whose land is divided by the sea...... In short,"

He said categorically, "...... If I can't have Constantinople, then my life is meaningless, and no amount of territory can make me lift a single spirit! ”……)

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