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In the depths of the night, the New Year's bells echoed over Constantinople, but instead of bringing a touch of joy to this depressed and sparsely lit city, it sounded as bleak as the death knell of death, chilling from the heart to the soles of the feet. [.guanm.]

In the cold evening breeze, Constantine XI wrapped his purple robe tightly and walked alone in the empty corridors of the palace.

The military parade held in the evening did not bring him the slightest good mood.

-- Rome is a militaristic state built on legions, and the history of Rome is a magnificent history full of wars and killings.

From Rome, the eternal city on the banks of the Tiber River, to Jerusalem, the holy land of Palestine, from the vast desert of North Africa to the towering Germanic Black Forest, there have been footprints left by Roman legions holding the golden eagle mark everywhere. Over the course of time, this great army has witnessed the decline of the phalanx, the iron hooves of war elephants, the invasion of barbarians, the birth of firearms, the furious expeditions of desert peoples, and the ultimate charge of the Manknights...... It has been defeated countless times because it is behind the times, and it has been reborn like an immortal bird countless times because it has adapted to the times.

They are the ultimate embodiment of discipline, training, and tactics, the light of the dark medieval battlefields.

This is the Roman legion, the great army that fought against the Carthaginians, Germans, Huns, Persians, and Arabs.

However, by the time there was only one city left in the Roman Empire, the Roman legions had come to an end.

The domineering and flamboyant spirit of the past has long since withered. Only the deep twilight and lingering desolation remained.

At this moment, the Roman army under Emperor Constantine XI, not to mention a legion, did not even have a thousand-man brigade.

-- As a result of last year's battle for the castle of Rumili Hisar, the poor miniature standing army of the Eastern Roman Empire suffered more than three casualties, and then more than two more escaped because of financial and manpower difficulties. So far, it has not been replenished by any soldiers.

Although, the Turkish army, which behaved arrogantly and negligently on the battlefield, lost more troops because of this battle. But the problem is that today there is only one city left in the Eastern Roman Empire. There is no longer the capital to fight with the enemy.

So, on the site of the Colosseum, which was designed to accommodate tens of thousands of troops, Constantine XI saw only a few more than five soldiers. Gathered in the middle of the open arena, they flapped their swords against their shields and greeted the emperor with cheers. In the audience, which was already overgrown with wild grass all around, there were also few people. A cold wind whistled and blew, which soon overshadowed the faint cheers, making people feel cold in their hearts.

And the imperial council held on this evening made the emperor even more frustrated.

-- All the latest information gathered was spread out on the table, but there was hardly a single piece of good news to be found, except bad news and bad news.

First of all. Although the Turks have only blocked the Bosphorus to the Black Sea, and the Dardanelles Strait, which connects the Sea of Marmara to the Mediterranean, is still passable for the time being, a large Turkish fleet has been assembled in the Greek harbor on the Aegean Sea. Once the fleet had completed its marshalling and training, it set sail into the Sea of Marmara. Then Constantinople's maritime lifeline would be completely cut off.

Then, the Turkish army also appeared outside the city, and although it has not yet been assembled, it is expected that the total number of troops will reach more than 100,000. And the terrifying urban cannon was still slowly moving towards Constantinople - the roads were muddy and slippery due to the rain and snow in the spring. This slowed down the bronze beast's journey even further, but no matter how slow it went, it would arrive at the battlefield one day.

Zuihou, and what annoyed the emperor the most, was that even in this desperate situation, the Orthodox Church was still unwilling to bow to the Pope, and refused to let the two churches merge and accept the leadership of the Holy See - and in today's Europe, the attitude of the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice is all polar and uncertain, and only the Pope is willing to organize the Ten Armies to rescue Constantinople!

Obviously, the reason why Pope Bixia was so zealous about the crusade must have been to collect compensation from Constantinople. And the dying Eastern Roman Empire, apart from the Orthodox Church, has no other bargaining chips to exchange or sell.

However, the monks and believers of the Orthodox Church refused to sacrifice their faith for the sake of their country, and even in danger of being completely exterminated by the Turks, the subjects of the Eastern Roman Empire resolutely opposed the surrender to the Latin Church in Rome - at the height of the quarrel at the Imperial Council, Archduke Lucas, the most trusted commander of the Imperial Navy of Constantine XI, a devout Orthodox believer, appallingly declared in public: "...... I'd rather see the Turbans of the Turks in the capital than kneel to the Latins with the triple crown again! ”

At this point, the Imperial Council did not know how to proceed - and the Emperor was not unaware of the Orthodox Church's sufferings: from the point of view of faith, bowing to the Pope would mean that the Orthodox Church would have to change a lot of scriptures and liturgies, and cause serious confusion and loss of believers. From a practical point of view, the Eastern Roman Empire was at this point, and the vast majority of the imperial subjects, or the Greeks, were already under the rule of other shili, relying solely on the ties of the Orthodox Church to Constantinople. Since most Orthodox Christians followed the teachings of the Patriarch and not the Eastern Roman Emperor, how could they be forced to convert in order to save the empire?

Of the more than 70 archbishops who were still under the leadership of the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, only a dozen were still in the map of the Eastern Roman Empire (including Moria), and the remaining archbishops were either under the rule of the Turks and other infidels, or far away in Russia on the other side of the Black Sea, and they were all full of antipathy and hatred for Catholicism, and would never sacrifice their dioceses to the Pope in order to save the empire.

As soon as the Orthodox Church in Constantinople changed course and surrendered itself to the Church of Rome, the Patriarch would probably immediately lose four-fifths of his archbishops - so the Orthodox Church refused to sacrifice itself for the survival of the empire!

Truth be told, the only way to preserve the Orthodox Church in the face of the Eastern Roman Empire's accumulated power seems to be to accept the enslavement of the Turks...... Therefore, the clergy did not organize a rebellion, and cut off the emperor's head to flatter the sultan, which was already considered very modest.

But it still meant shameless betrayal for the Eastern Roman Empire and for Constantine XI. (You are welcome, your support is my biggest motivation.) )

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