Chapter 20: Death Quietly Descends (I)

In the middle of the night, on the outskirts of Constantinople, besieged by 160,000 Turkish troops, the dark waters of the Golden Horn rippled on the microwave. Come on,.!

The sprawling city, which is located on a coastal headland overlooking a triangular shape, has been completely blocked by the enemy on the land. In the Sea of Marmara to the southwest, the Turkish fleet, with a total strength of 20,000 troops, also completely controlled the sea area with white sails that covered the sky and the sun. Only on this section of the city wall bordering the Golden Horn can there be no trace of the enemy for the time being.

Because, at the entrance to the Golden Horn, there was a thick black and hard barrage chain, which firmly blocked the Turkish invasion by sea.

In the cold wind of the night, Constantine XI, wearing a golden crown and a purple robe, stood at the northernmost point of the land side of Theodosius' wall, on a tower that extended directly into the Golden Horn, silently overlooking the dark and deep empty water below.

In times of peace, the Golden Horn, adjacent to Constantinople, has always been crowded with sails and masts, and it is still bustling even at night. But at this time when the Turks were besieging the city and preparing for a great battle, the merchant ships of all countries had already taken advantage of the Turkish fleet to block the shipping routes, or retreated into the Galata concession of the Genoese on the other side - these men had succeeded in obtaining the assurances of the Turkish Sultan through the sale of intelligence and the deterrence of the sea fleet that they would be able to remain neutral in this imminent war - so that their goods would not be destroyed in the war.

Thus, on the coast of Constantinople at this time, except for a number of pilot boats. Only a dozen warships remained in the harbor. And the 15-ton sailing yacht "Shiratori" brought by the traversers from the modern Shijie unknowingly pulled anchor from the shore and came to anchor in the open waters in the middle of the Golden Horn, even with the help of infrared telescopes, only a faint small white dot can be seen in the night.

Where people on the shore can't see, there is a space-time wormhole that connects different shijie. It is quietly suspended above the water.

It was the dead of night, and due to the martial law that had already been issued in the city, there was not a single figure to be seen on the beach of the Golden Horn. The defenders on the walls were few - it was determined that the Turks could not attack the city at night. The four- and five-story city walls could not be climbed at all without siege towers, so except for a very few sentinels, most of the defenders were ordered by the emperor to rest in peace. Prepare for the bloody battle in the coming days. Tens of thousands of citizens of the city, and even foreign nationals stranded here, gathered at Hagia Sophia, the landmark of Constantinople, at the call of Patriarch Gregory, to celebrate the greatest Mass of thanksgiving, and Emperor Xiangshang prayed for the victory of the battle and the peace of his homeland.

Therefore, the walls of Theosido were silent at the moment, and the soldiers and civilians defending the city were either resting at home or going to Hagia Sophia to seek solace. Even the dozen or so battleships did not arrange for sailors to stay behind. Instead, the Emperor's Imperial Guards were in charge of the care - of course, these people were all mentally manipulated by Kotori Yu Mashiro with her "Evil King True Eye" with the cooperation of the Emperor......

- What no one knows is that the Emperor is deliberately trying to spread people apart as much as possible in order to cover the actions of the traversers.

At this moment. The dilapidated city of Constantinople is dark at night, with only a few lights looming. But in the distance, Hagia Sophia, hailed as a medieval architectural wonder, was brilliant and brightly lit - thousands of terrified and worried people gathered in the most palatial cathedral of the time, kneeling in silence and awe in front of the cross beneath the majestic vault. In the solemn chant, in the dim candlelight. They folded their hands and muttered to themselves, and Emperor Xiangshang recounted his sorrows. The never-ending sound of prayer, like a surging wave, reverberated and swirled through the vast hall until it rose above the high vault......

When the crown of the double-headed eagle of the Eastern Roman Empire lost its majesty, the Hagia Sophia became the spiritual sustenance of Zuihou, a subject of the empire.

The emperor knew very well that if it were not for the cohesion of the Orthodox Church, the empire, which was left with only one isolated city, would simply not have been able to hold on until now.

However, he also knew that devout faith is a double-edged sword that can strengthen the cohesion of nations and nations, but it can also create destabilization and chaos...... Unfortunately, in the process of the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire, the positive role of the Orthodox Church may not be worth the negative effect.

In general, at the end of the Eastern Roman Empire, any leader who was determined to save the empire was faced with the paradox that for most Greeks at this time, they were united by the Orthodox Church, not by the central government of Constantinople.

In this way, if the Orthodox Church were to be truly communed with Catholicism and subordinated to the Roman Church, it would lead to the alienation of the majority of the Greeks. Failure to unite with Catholicism and rely on the help of the Pope for Western European reinforcements would lead to the complete destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople and the complete alien domination of the Greeks.

In the original history, the subjects of the Eastern Roman Empire struggled and hesitated, and finally chose to maintain the independence of religious beliefs, leaving the spark of national revival for future generations, and for this reason, they preferred to destroy the empire completely...... To this day, there are still different opinions on the merits of this historic choice, and it is difficult to reach a conclusion. However, during this period of repeated hesitation, the fierce quarrels and mutual attacks within the Orthodox Church, especially the brutal sectarian struggle to the death, further accelerated the division of the subjects' ideological life, and led to the almost collapse of the internal cohesion of the empire.

In contrast, the policy of religious tolerance and national autonomy pursued by the Turks in this era was much more civilized and progressive - the Turks were quite tolerant of religious beliefs in the early days, and even Christians were able to hold high positions. Many heretics who were shouted and beaten on all sides in Christianity found a home on the side of the Turks...... Although most of them were subtly converted to Allah

In addition, the early Turkish sultans imposed taxes on their subjects. It was also far less than the decaying and depraved Eastern Roman Empire, which led to a large number of Christians from Eastern Europe and West Asia who could not bear the extortion of imperial tax collectors, and even willingly served the Ottoman Turks. At the same time, very few Muslims were willing to serve the Eastern Roman Emperor, even before the empire was completely reduced to a city-state.

As a result, under the invasion of the Turks, not only the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire was shrinking dramatically. Orthodox adherents are also rapidly decreasing. More than 200 years after its fall, most of Asia Minor has been Islamized. Even many parts of Eastern Europe have been converted, if not so. There will be no more brutal Yugoslav civil wars.

Armed with this information, the Emperor of the Travelers suddenly became even more pessimistic about the future of the Eastern Roman Empire - even though the current group of powerful Travelers had barely repelled the Turkish offensive with the help of the current group of powerful Travelers. But in the face of a country where the people are already highly Islamized, how can he, the Orthodox emperor, recover the rivers and mountains and work hard to govern the country?

As we all know, it is easy for a land and a people to become an Islamic country, but it is even more difficult to get an Islamic country to abandon its faith. Throughout history, countless Christians have converted to Muslims, but few Muslims have converted to God.

(The exception is the untouchables in India, whose religious outlook is more akin to that of the Chinese, who believe in Buddhism and worship Christ.) One moment they convert to Allah, the next they return to Hinduism, but no matter how their faith changes, they remain untouchable untouchables in the eyes of others. ）

In short, for this Orthodox Church, which cannot resist the invasion of the Islamic faith. The emperor didn't have much affection, let alone piety.

The most important thing is that he knows very well that the almighty god who can really save the fortunes of the country and needs to be worshipped is now by his side.

“…… Miss Birdie. How is the situation now? Is everything in place? ”

Looking at the petite figure that came out of the night, Emperor Constantine XI asked with some urgency.

“…… Heh - pretty much that's it. Birdie Yawned listlessly, "...... The sentries on the walls have all been tricked by my suggestion and hypnotism, so they don't have to worry about them noticing something unusual and talking a lot afterwards. The planes for the night raid were all ready, but since there was no proper runway in the city, we had to use bulky seaplanes......"

“…… Is there really only air strikes, and not preparation for ground operations? The Emperor shook his head and smiled bitterly, "...... Although I also know that modern shijie is popular for non-contact combat, it is also all about air raids in this era, which is a bit unreliable! Can't you just pull an army from the modern Shijie? ”

In this regard, the little bird Yu Mahaku, who was using the true eyes of the evil king with all his might, immediately looked at him very strangely: "...... You seem to have underestimated how terrible modern weapons of mass destruction are, not to mention how difficult it is to mobilize troops on a large scale in modern society, and how high the risk of leaking secrets is. Even if I did bring a Japanese Self-Defense Force, the Chinese People's Liberation Army, or the Russian special forces to help, how would you, the emperor, explain it to your subjects? Say we are God's messengers? My Evil King's True Eye can't affect too many people! ”

“…… Yes...... That's true, yes, I didn't think it through just now, thank you very much for your advice......"

Seeing that the little bird You Zhenbai turned her golden demon pupils around and looked straight at herself, Constantine XI suddenly looked like a little white rabbit being targeted by a big bad wolf, his legs trembled for a while, and he quickly lowered his head respectfully like a schoolboy.

-- Ever since he saw with his own eyes this seemingly delicate Japanese loli, her ability to violently manipulate the human mind, and learned of her shocking and great title of "former Japanese prime minister", this time-traveling emperor has been deeply stressed......

At the same time, with a wave of silent space disturbances, one seaplane after another passed through the wormhole of time and space, and fell on the sea surface of the Golden Horn Bay at night, and the cylindrical pontoons rose and fell among the waves of the Golden Horn, splashing countless fine waves.

――The Grim Reaper, who is about to take away countless lives, has quietly descended on this chaotic and turbulent shijie............)

!