For Europeans in a certain time and space, after the Black Death pandemic that swept through Europe in the mid-14th century and caused 20 million to 30 million deaths, the following 15th century turned out to be another "plague century" of catastrophe and death.

In the early autumn of 1453, in the town of Carlsidon on the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, the imperial residence of the Eastern Roman Emperor

The fragrance of tea permeates the mosque-turned-palace, and sunlight shines through the carved window lattice, giving the white porcelain teacups a jade-colored sheen.

Looking at the porcelain cup and tea soup in his hand, Emperor Constantine XI couldn't help but be a little distracted.

――While he was leisurely sipping tea here, Shijie outside was already turned upside down.

On the whole, however, everything was moving in favor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

At present, the small area of European land east of the "radiation line" has now been recovered - in fact, the Thrace region on the border of Eurasia has long since been reduced to a radioactive wasteland where human beings cannot live, except for a narrow strip along the Sea of Marmara. No shili could have crossed the land of death, cursed by nuclear waste, to compete with the Eastern Roman Emperor for his "absolute domain" on the shores of the Sea of Marmara.

And across the Sea of Marmara, in Asia Minor, the Eastern Roman Empire had already gained several footholds. For example, the Castle of Anadoli Hissar, which guards the exit of the Bosphorus at the end of the Black Sea, and the Karlsedon and Chrispolis, which are separated from Hagia Sophie by a Bosphorus across the Bosborus from Constantinople and no more than five kilometers in a straight line - they were originally satellite towns of Constantinople during the great days of the Eastern Roman Empire. After the reconquest of Carcedon, the emperor moved his palace and court here to avoid the intervention of the Genoese and Venetians in the Constantinople Concession...... This is also an expedient measure in the dilemma of the Empire's lack of fleet and sea dominance.

However, although the recovery momentum of the territory is quite impressive. But even if all these newly recovered lands are added together, the entire territory of the Eastern Roman Empire is still only a few thousand square kilometers, at best, the area under the jurisdiction of a prefecture-level city in later China.

As of today, most of the small towns that lack defense and are easy to get hold have been taken by the Eastern Roman Empire again, and the next targets to attack are some difficult bones to deal with - first of all, the city of Nicaea, which is famous for its difficulty and has resisted 60,000 crusaders in history. Then there was the core stronghold of the Turks on the coast of the Sea of Marmara, Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Next up is Canakkale on the other side of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Only these three cities were captured. The Sea of Marmara can once again become the inland sea of the Empire.

Given the current military strength of the Eastern Roman Empire, it would be difficult to achieve this strategic goal. At present, Constantinople does not say 60,000 troops, and even 6,000 regular troops cannot be gathered. However, the emperor was not very worried about this, because time was on his side.

-- The Great Plague. Almost every moment is constantly devouring the life of this shijie, helping the emperor to reduce the number of enemies.

First of all. Long before bacteriological weapons were put into service. The epidemic in the city of Constantinople had already spread to the Aegean islands by merchant ships. Next, Turkish refugees munching on dry food with cholera and tuberculosis germs, dressed in plague-soaked garments, and followed by fleas and rats, crossed the choppy Dardanelles. brought the plague to their homeland in Asia Minor. Zuihou, an Italian city-state merchant ship active in the Eastern Mediterranean, brought the disease back to Italy from the East, and then spread it further throughout Europe.

In just a few months. The terrifying phantom of the black-clothed god of death holding a scythe enveloped the entire Mediterranean in an instant.

- Plague, smallpox, cholera, dysentery...... All kinds of terrible epidemics broke out all over the European continent at once, from the bustling port cities to the most remote villages. In some cases, the tenant farmers even died altogether.

In medieval Europe, the towns were generally small in size, the population density was naturally high, the city was full of garbage, sewage flowed, and the citizens knew almost nothing about the prevention and control of infectious diseases, which was simply an excellent breeding ground for plagues. To make matters worse, after the last Black Death, Europeans searched everywhere for the cause, and Zuihou came to the unbelievably wrong conclusion that the plague was caused by excessive bathing!

According to the theories of the European quacks of the time, water weakened the function of the organs, and when the pores were fully opened in a hot bath, toxic air would enter the body. Therefore, the more you take a bath, the more likely you are to get sick, and only if you don't take a bath can you be healthy, and if you have a thick layer of dirt on your body, you can resist the invasion of disease...... As a result, the once thriving public baths were all shut down quickly, and people never got wet unless they had to. By 1453, Europeans in most regions had entered a "stinking age" in which the whole people did not bathe for life!

As a result, the plague took a toll worse than the Black Death of the previous century, when Europeans were still bathing and more hygienic. And the Europeans now...... Their rooms are generally cleaner than their bodies......

Thus, from Crete to Sicily, from Venice to Genoa, from Rome to Spain, from Marseille to Paris, and further afield to London, Copenhagen, Bremen and Vienna, corpses were strewn everywhere, and countless people were dying black and swollen at every moment. The once thriving trade routes of the Mediterranean were almost completely halted in a very short time. It is said that there are also many "ghost ships" whose sailors have all fallen ill and died violently, with tattered sails, floating on the foggy sea, thus creating countless horror legends.

In order to escape death, doctors in Europe tried to use all the treatments they could think of, from laxatives, emetics, bloodletting, smoking rooms, burning lumps and pustules with fire, and even bathing with urine, but death continued to befall the world. Other devout Christians chose to pray to Emperor Xiangshang, even lashing each other with iron-tipped whips and humming, "I am the most sinful...... But apart from hastening death from the disease, few people can be saved.

As time passed, the ubiquitous shadow of death filled the population with hysterical madness, and many unlucky Jews and gypsies were burned alive as spreaders of the plague. And the few people in their right minds, as if aware that animals are spreading diseases, organized themselves to kill all the domestic animals, from cattle and horses to cats and dogs, and especially rats that were burrowing everywhere.

I have to admit that they did the right thing at this point, and many infectious diseases are spread by animals.

But the problem is that even these European "wise men" only think of killing these diseased animals, but forget to bury or incinerate them, and as a result, the streets of the city are full of rotting dead bodies of cats and dogs, the smell of decay is suffocating, and from time to time a panicked domestic cat jumps over the pile of cat corpses, behind which a group of people wrapped in cloth with wooden sticks are chasing after them...... The insects and flies bred by the carrion of domestic animals, in turn, further contributed to the spread of the plague......

In short, during the hottest month of 1453, European Christianity ushered in one of the darkest and most terrifying summers of the century. (To be continued.) )