The conquest of Greece by Artoria was still very successful. After leaving a team of three thousand people, monitoring the situation in Athens. She continued south with the rest of her forces.

When people from other parts of Greece, after seeing the army of Artoria. Thought their army had been wiped out. So I didn't resist much at all. Soon he surrendered.

Thus, in May and June of 1014, the Greek peninsula was staged in such a play: the Norman hussars howled like a wind. The foolish turn to powder, and the cowardly descend to the wind...... Because of Egil's advice before. So in this series of military operations, Artoria did not go on a killing spree. Something like a massacre or something. Of course, if there really were any blind idiots who jumped out to prevent the Empire from taking over Greece, Artoria wouldn't mind cutting off a few heads as a deterrent.

In this way, soon, except for the city of Athens, the Greek region has not yet been breached. The remaining two large cities are Suthronica and Corinth. All were captured by Artoria's command. Not to mention other small villages and towns. That's all up to the story. Artoria left a thousand hussars at Corinth to suppress the situation. He scattered more than 2,000 hussars throughout Greece. Patrolling back and forth to suppress misdeeds.

In times of war. A strict military management system will be implemented in these places. Wait until the end of the war, though. After the Normans defeated the Eastern Romans. The royal axe of Krakow will officially send officials to govern the place. Egil already has a concrete plan. He was to divide the newly conquered territory into three provinces. Hungarian provinces, Yugoslavia provinces and Greek provinces.

After doing this, Artoria returned with the rest of his army to Athens and make peace with the army there.

After the separation of 4,000 hussars, Artoria still had more than 5,000 elite cavalry under his command. Compared to the Athenian defenders, they still had a great advantage. And other than that. Artoria also caught—no, yes, please, Suseronica, Corinth, in. and people from other slightly larger Greek towns. Invite the nobles and wealthy merchants to her army. Then shouted at the defenders of Athens. At the same time, some of the trophies she plundered in these areas are displayed. And things like the city's flag.

Under this psychological offensive, the morale of the Athenian defenders became more and more demoralized. It can be said that it is already on the verge of collapse. But they still did not surrender. Instead, he barely held on. Artoria also tried to attack once. But look at the momentum of the other party. If you want to attack Athens, I am afraid that you will have to pay a great price. Artoria then gave up on the attack.

"Just wait a little longer. The Athenian army will surrender automatically. Artoria also understood that these Athenian defenders were still holding out. Nothing more than because of Constantinople. The city that had been deified supported their last bit of resistance.

"As long as Constantinople does not fall. Then the empire will not fail. There will always be a day of victory. "That's what those poor idiots seem to think. But soon they will realize. Constantinople is just a city after all. Since it is a city, there will be a day when it will be conquered.

"Just wait a little longer. Hongu promised that person. He who will take all of Greece. If I go back at this time, the man might laugh at me. Anyway, the situation has developed to this stage. It is only a matter of time before the other side surrenders or not. Just wait a minute. ”

In this way, under this mentality, Artoria and her hussars were stationed outside the city of Athens, besieging but not attacking. Hussars were sent to shoot a few arrows around the city every day. to continue to suppress the morale of the other side.

And it was during this time. The army led by Egil, 110,000 Normans, and the Balkan army reached under Constantinople.

On the first day of their entry into Thrace. There was some resistance. Those descendants of the ancient Thracians. Armed with a backblade, a sturdy warrior launched an attack on the Normans. Soon, however, most of the rabble were shot by the Normans' longbows. Then he fled in confusion. These men were poorly dressed and had little armor. There is no helmet. It doesn't look like it. So Egil didn't pay much attention to it.

"It should be the people of this area, who have organized a rebellion on their own. No big deal, though. This is no longer an era in which you can win with courage, courage, or a strong will. A professional army, a unified command system with sophisticated equipment and a system. This is the mainstream of future development. A rabble is just a rabble. ”

The emperor expressed such feelings. While ordering the only group of professional mountain infantry under his command. Those Balkan mountain people, who had been trained a little and had been equipped and combat effectiveness had been somewhat enhanced, led the way. Plus a group of Norman infantry, the longbowmen cooperated. They swept the whole of Thrace outside of Constantinople. Cleaned up the unruly Thracian mountain people. Let them know who is the boss in this world now.

After this, the Norman army went along and set up camp five miles outside of Constantinople. Then the baggage soldiers began to cut down trees in preparation for the manufacture of construction machinery. The engineers began to set up the camp defense. At the same time, the front-line positions for the attack on Constantinople were built. The craftsmen and blacksmiths of the barracks began to forge the giant cannon that Egil had envisioned would "blow Constantinople into the air".

These preparations will take some time. After everything is ready, the siege can be officially launched - of course. If it were to attack by sea, it would be possible to do it now. The Norman fleet guns were more than enough to take on supporting fire. Smashed the northern wall of Constantinople into a thousand holes. to support the army landing operations.

But the cunning emperor, after calculating, felt that with tens of thousands of defenders and hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of Constantinople. As well as strong fortifications. It is enough to deal with the attack of the sea alone. Moreover, the number of troops that can be transported in a landing operation is limited. Siege machinery is similarly limited. In addition, the emperor also wanted to use this trick as a trump card. People in this era are very limited to surnames. It is said that the trick of attacking from the sea can play a great role in using it at a critical moment.

So, because it takes a while to prepare. Until these preparations were completed, the Norman army had no combat mission. The city of Constantinople is high and deep, and it is not advantageous to draw a bow and shoot arrows. Therefore, it is impossible to "send archers to shoot two arrows from afar every day", as Artoria did.

But that's not to say that the emperor has nothing to do. In fact, the emperor was very interested. On the third day. He summoned several leading men of the Thracian hill people. Hard and soft. So that the Thracians had to obey him. Contributed nearly 10,000 cannon fodder to him. And on the fifth day. He took his army with him to the outskirts of Constantinople. Out of range of the crossbow, he boarded a first-made cart. Begin to observe the city defenses of Constantinople.

Speaking of which, this is not the first time Egil has been to Constantinople. Before that, however, he had come as an ally of the Eastern Roman Empire. Although I thought in my heart: one day I will break through this city, and then sack it...... But at the time, he was just thinking about it. And this time Egil really came here as a conqueror. Looking at the city of Constantinople again, there is a different feeling.

Before he looked at Constantinople. It looks at the heritage of the thousand-year-old empire of the Eastern Romans, culture and urban construction planning. The rich life of the inhabitants of Constantinople. And this time, he looked again. Look at the city defenses of Constantinople, the fortresses, the turrets and the garrison on the walls.

Egir looked at Constantinople as he looked into the distance, and at the same time recalled the map of Constantinople's defense structure that had been passed on by Norman spies that he had seen countless times.

Starting from the royal palace, the walls built by Constantine I split into two roads and extended to the west. Since Constantinople is bordered by the sea on both the north and south sides, the height of these two sections of the wall is only 12 to 15 meters, and at the western end of the city sits a third section of the wall, the 4.3-kilometer-long Constantine Wall.

Emperor Theodosius II built the Tiodonius Wall to the west of the Constantine Wall, which was designed to be a complex part of the city defense system because of the Thracian plain outside the city. From the outside to the inside, the walls of Theodosius are the outer retaining wall, the moat, the inner moat wall, the steep slope retaining wall, the outer city platform, the outer city wall, the inner city platform, and the inner city wall.

The outer walls are about 8 meters high, and the inner walls are about 12 to 20 meters high. The outer side of the city wall is steep, made of granite boulders, and the top of the wall is a walkway and a battle platform, and there are pheasant moats to cover the soldiers. The inner side of the city wall is a slope with a rock parapet, a cave and a storehouse. There are 96 towers, more than 300 corner towers and pillboxes on the outer and inner walls, and the towers protrude about 5 meters from the city wall, with an average spacing of more than 60 meters, forming a powerful fire support system. Outside the castle walls is a moat about 18 meters wide.

Compare it to such a huge system of urban defenses. In Western Europe, the emperor's generals conquered cities in France, Germany, or Italy. Not worth mentioning at all. And with such a tight defense system. No wonder the Greeks considered it to be impregnable.

"But that's all in the past. Egil said to himself proudly. Then his voice became louder. The emperor put his hands open to his lips in the shape of a trumpet, and then shouted in the direction of Constantinople......

(To be continued)