In the early morning of March 28, 1452, on the luxurious velvet bed, a man slowly rubbed his head and sat up, and the waiter on the side hurriedly stepped forward: "Your Majesty, do you need to call the imperial doctor?" "No need", the man's tone was flat, as if he was not the one who had the headache.

The man is the last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire in history, Constantine XI, the eighth son of Manuel II, and the younger brother of John VIII.

Since he ascended the throne, headaches have flare-ups from time to time, and he didn't care much about it, only thinking that it was the cause of being too tired, but every time he saw something strange in his dreams, he knew some strange theories, and when he woke up, he didn't remember it very clearly, which made him very distressed.

"How's the Easter celebration going?" Sitting on a chair in the dining room, Constantine said, "All are ready, Your Majesty", and Constantine nodded and did not speak again.

After the meal, he made his way to the council chamber, where his henchmen were already waiting.

"Calvo, how are you talking with the Venetians?" The long-haired man named Calvo stood up, "The situation is not very optimistic, Your Majesty, the Venetians say that they have signed a neutrality treaty with the Sultan of Muhammad, and that selling us grain is not in line with their neutrality position. ”

"Raise the price by twenty percent, and let them be transported into Constantinople in the name of the Genoans." Constantine's face remained unchanged, and he continued to ask:

"Sito, what did the Pope say?"

"Again, we must agree to the unification of the Eastern and Western Churches and revere the Pope as the religious leader, and depose the Patriarch of Constantinople." Cito spread his hands, indicating that there was nothing he could do.

"Well, let's not talk about these things for now", rarely, Emperor Constantine showed a trace of bitterness, "Easter will be in three days, everyone will rest these days, and talk about anything after Easter." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty," they all got up and left the hall.

Although Constantine XI claimed to be the emperor of the Roman Empire, his influence was now limited to the Moria Peninsula and Constantinople, and since his accession to the throne in 1449, he has spent every day under pressure, especially after the Ottoman Sultan succeeded to the throne in 1451, the Mehmed Sultan, like his ancestors, did not want to expand his influence all the time, and made Constantinople his lifelong goal, trying to complete his great cause of world conquest. Due to the power of the Ottoman Sultanate, especially after the Battle of Varna, the European countries had lost hope of saving Constantinople, but as the successor of the Roman Empire, the city built by Constantine the Great was the center of the empire and could not be abandoned in any case.

Constantine beckoned, and one of the chamberlains walked over, "You take this drawing and go to General Husseppe and ask him to build at least 30 warships, the sooner the better." The chamberlain took the drawings and walked out.

Obviously, in the face of the huge Ottoman navy, 30 warships can only be said to be a drop in the bucket, and the imperial navy seems somewhat powerless to seize control of the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea. At home, taxes had been collected several times for the war, and only a few small city-states of Genoa and Italy had been aided abroad, and the aid given by Christendom as a whole was too little to play a crucial role in the war, and even in Constantine's own view, the hope of keeping Constantinople was very slim.

"Your Majesty, Lord Cesipe asks to see you." A waiter came in from outside and said

"Quick, please let him in." Constantine responded, and with a sound of footsteps, a strong man with a height of at least one meter eight walked in, and he stroked his chest and saluted: "Your Majesty Ten thousand years"

"No need to be polite, come and sit." Constantine pulled him to his seat.

"What do the Poles say? Did they promise to send troops? Constantine asked.

"No, Your Majesty, the Poles are not very interested in our proposal." Cecipe replied. "While the Polish nobility was not interested, the Polish king seemed to have a different idea."

King Kamiziř IV of Poland was a powerful monarch at this time, and his brother and predecessor, King Władysław III, was killed while fighting the Ottomans.

"The King of Poland seems to want to avenge his brother, but could not find a reason to convince the Council of Sem."

Constantine nodded, thinking about something, and suddenly, he said, "What if we cede the two principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia to them?" ”

The two duchies were located at the mouth of the Danube River, the land was fertile, and the proximity to the Hungarian plain also had favorable terrain when they seized the two duchies, and Władysław III was also the king of Hungary, so he had a claim to the Hungarian throne.

"I'm afraid it's difficult, Your Majesty, these two principalities are now under the control of the Ottomans." Cecipe replied with a wry smile. Constantine was silent, and then Cesipe said: "The most important thing now is food, and if the problem of food is not solved, even if the Poles agree to send troops, we will not survive the day when they come." ”

"Don't worry about food, the Genoans have promised to give us material aid, at least for half a year of siege, we don't have to worry about food." Constantine said, Cecipe wanted to speak and stopped, Constantine saw his concerns, patted him on the shoulder, "Okay, don't worry, if there is no rescue by that time, what is the use of our extra food?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Cecipe stood up and turned to leave the hall.

Watching Cecipe leave, Constantine's heart was not as calm as he appeared, although Constantinople is known as the strongest city in the world, but this does not bring him a sense of security, because he knows that talent is the most fundamental force, and now there are only five thousand people in the city who can fight, and the Ottoman Sultan can gather tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops at any time, and now the plan can only try his best to mobilize the people in the city and obtain foreign support, for this reason, the emperor not only asked the Pope and the European world for help, Even the Sultan of Cairo and the monarch of Timur received a letter from Emperor Constantine asking for help, and after the mobilization for the war, the whole country had to pay with all its might for this war.

Three days later, Easter arrived, the day of Jesus' resurrection considered by the Orthodox Christians to be the most important holiday, and Constantine watched the people parade through the streets in the Brecina Palace, holding up the statue of Our Lady of the Guide, and his inner hesitation and hesitation gradually disappeared, and he watched the people walk towards the Hagia Sophia, and he also rode out of the palace to the cathedral, where he was going to mobilize his people for war.