August 1, 1014. The siege of Constantinople has been going on for almost two months. And the Norman Empire's series of conquests of Hungary, the Balkans and Greece has passed for more than half a year. Although the beginning was quite smooth. But in Constantinople. The Norman offensive suffered a major setback. This encouraged the Greeks. Then it was a little fluttery.

Barbarians are still barbarians after all. Can't get on the table. In the end, Constantinople could not be breached.

Guided by this thinking, small disturbances began to occur in the Greek region. Although it was quickly crushed by the hussars stationed in the Greek region. But if this idea continues to circulate. I am afraid that it will have an impact on the rule of the Norman Empire.

So, we need to act faster.

Originally, Emperor Egil wanted a few more days. A little more preparation, a few more feints, to make the defenders of Constantinople even more relaxed. But after receiving a report from a Norman spy, such a report. The Emperor changed his mind. It was decided to get your hands dirty on this day.

Late at night, the new moon. Dark clouds rolled in the sky, obscuring the starlight - it was dangerous to send a navy in such a situation. However, the Black Sea Fleet has already discovered all the routes in this vicinity. So no problem at all.

On the orders of the Norman Emperor, the Norman army was about to launch a new offensive to break the unfavorable situation in the war against Constantinople that had been going on for two months. A total of 40,000 Norman infantry, carrying engineers, covered with cowhides, parts of towering siege towers, and light artillery continued to board the transports. Guided by a group of specially built and recently completed caravels in the direction of the Golden Horn.

And the entire Black Sea Fleet. Except for a small number of troops blocking the Sea of Marmara, the rest were gathered together - a total of two hundred and twenty warships surrounded the entire entrance to the Golden Horn!

"Let's get moving!"

One o'clock in the morning. When all the ships were in place, on a huge first-class flagship, the commander-in-chief of the Black Sea Fleet, General Ushakov, gave an order. A dull horn sounded as the battleship boarded! The ten special clippers at the forefront of the entire fleet left the array and headed for the Golden Horn. These small ships were filled with fire oil and flammable materials such as thatch and sulfur. In addition to this, the sailors on board carried huge two-handed battle axes, saws and hammers. This is exactly what the Norman Emperor used to deal with the chains that blockaded the Golden Horn!

In another world, Mehmed II bribed the Greeks and anointed the land with oil. The tactics of pushing the battleship into the Golden Horn were different in order to cross the chain blockade. The methods of the Norman emperor were more brutal, violent, and forceful. It is to imitate the tactics of the Western Jin Dynasty Navy Division to destroy Wu and crack the Eastern Wu Iron Cable Hengjiang. There is a poem as proof:

Wang Junlou went down to Yizhou, and the king of Jinling was gloomy. The iron chain of Qianxun sank to the bottom of the river, and a piece of the flag descended out of the stone.

And this time, the Norman navy raided overnight. But it's a different story. Countless stacks of hay soaked in fire oil burned violently on the chains. The flames outside the Golden Horn were blazing! And the iron cables, which were constantly burning and heating, gradually became softer and softer little by little.

"Melt! Surely, cut these cables!!" the Norman officer on the boat knew it was time to see the chains burn red. Immediately ordered so. So the soldiers first moved the haystack with the shaft of their spear. Immediately after that, the rowing boat approached. He rounded the axe and hammer and slammed it against the chain. In three or two strokes, the softened iron cable will be broken. The sailors on the ten boats moved in unison. The chain was smashed into pieces. Soon sank to the bottom.

In this way, the Norman fleet burned and smashed constantly. Most of the iron cables were quickly destroyed. Seeing that the fleet was about to enter the Golden Horn. It took a while for the Greek fleet in the Golden Horn to react! The admirals and captains of the Eastern Rome immediately roared angrily to send the battleship out and fight the Normans to the death.

However, despite the courage of all the admirals. But it was impossible to set sail for a while, because of the previous feint tactics of the Norman Emperor. and the chain blockade tactics of the Golden Horn. As a result, ordinary Greek sailors thought that this place would not become a battlefield. Sailors who were therefore willing to spend the night in cramped, dirty, and shaky cabins. The number is less than half of the total crew. More sailors slept in the barracks of the port. Some even went to the prostitute's house to spend the night.

After understanding the situation, the generals and officers roared angrily. They asked the sailors around them to go ashore quickly and find their comrades to prepare for battle. But how can it be done for a while? I heard chaos on the docks in the Golden Horn. The busier it is, the more chaotic it gets. A moment is incomplete.

And after hearing the noise on the other side. The Norman sailors were also in a hurry. Some of them didn't wait for the chains to burn red, and they cut them desperately. Hopefully, we will be able to completely break the rope before the enemy reacts. Let your fleet attack.

However, as I said before, the busier and more chaotic it is, and the more urgent it is, the more it will not work. Before the iron chain was burned, the thick iron chain of the bowl could not be cut by human power alone. The Norman sailors were dumbfounded for a moment. Immediately after that, the eyes turned red. Without saying a word, he made a last resort - several small boats rowed backwards for a while. Then all the sailors rowed together, and the little clipper slammed into the chain like an arrow from a string!

Then I heard a muffled "bang!" sound. The violent tremors made the Norman sailors on the clipper dizzy. The specially reinforced bow of the ship collided violently with the iron chain. But it was a lose-lose situation! A crack appeared in the chain, and a hole was opened. And the hull also made an unbearable "crunch" sound.

"Quick! hit it a few more times, hit it a few times and crash away!" roared the sailors of the boat, and then stepped back and slammed over—and so on three times. Finally, the hull could not withstand the force of the impact, and with a "click", it broke into two sections in the middle!

"This is the last chain! Long live Egil the Great!" Many of the sailors who fell into the water fainted directly from the impact. Some were caught in the whirlpool of shipwrecks. There is no escape. In the last moments. The sailors cheered loudly! Eventually, a total of four small clippers sank. More than fifty Norman sailors were killed. In this battle, however, it was all worth it! In this battle, the Norman navy gained the upper hand. One step ahead and entered the Golden Horn before the Greek battleships were ready!!

"Fire!Fire!Kill them all!!"

Huge Norman battleships rushed in. Search and rescue the surviving Norman sailors. At the same time, more than 200 Norman warships fired a salvo from one side and nearly 800 naval guns of various types opened fire at the same time.

At such a close distance, such a dense firepower produced an incomparable power! In an instant, the entire harbor area became a sea of fire! Greek warships anchored in the harbor. On the battleship, a large number of sailors on the dock were wiped out in this round of volleys!

"Oh God!"

Seeing the Normans round of artillery, it was like a fire from the sky, thunder and lightning. In an instant, half of the poor hundred small warships of the Greeks were destroyed. The surviving Greek sailors were stunned. Both generals and soldiers. There was no movement for a moment except the exclamation of God, Our Lady, and Jesus! Only this time it was the turn of the Greeks.

Immediately after that, the battleships of the Norman army were busy for a while. A few minutes later, the second round of broadside salvos blasted over. Still, wood chips, sails, and severed limbs were scattered in all directions. Quite a few more battleships slowly sank at this moment - after this round of shelling. The morale of the Greek Navy was completely destroyed. The ghost on the battleship cried wolf and jumped to the shore, and the fart on the shore ran in the direction of the city wall.

And not far from the city walls. All the Eastern Roman heavy infantry also woke up at this moment - the movement of the naval artillery salvo was so big. Unless it was the dead, they would lie still - in fact, after this salvo of naval guns, most of Constantinople was thrown into chaos......

"Sir...... Are we going to help?" watched as the group of naval soldiers fled in the direction of the city walls. Some of the soldiers asked—and then they were slapped hard by the commander.

"Help your mother! If you want to die, go yourself! It would be nice if we could take care of ourselves!"

In this way, a crowd of nearly 5,000 Eastern Roman troops looked in horror at the port area not far away, which had fallen into chaos. Immediately after that, Norman transports were seen entering the harbor. Large numbers of soldiers and baggage were continuously transported out of the ship's hold. When those parts are assembled, they become siege trucks. In the blink of an eye, an offensive position appeared in front of the soldiers......

At the same time, in the Grand Palace of Constantine, Lilianu quickly jumped out of bed. Recently the show was urgent. The empress sleeps in her clothes. So I don't clean it up. Immediately pushed the door open. He asked the Imperial Guards soldiers, who were guarding the outside, with the same anxious faces:

"What the hell is going on?!" the empress was also confused. Two Royal Guards at the gate were on duty all night. How could it be known what was happening in the direction of the Golden Horn? Then the Empress reacted, stretched out her hand, and stopped the two Imperial Guards soldiers from talking. Then he continued to stride towards the door of the dormitory—and when he was halfway there, a herald hurried over, and when he saw Lilianu, he fell to his knees and shouted:

"Empress, the Norman fleet has entered the Golden Horn!"

Upon hearing this, Lilianu's face turned pale......

(To be continued)