Constantine rode to Hagia Sophia, looked at the people gathered in front of the church, turned over and strode to the bronze statue of Justinian, in the past few decades, he has made countless speeches, the audience has been kings, nobles, popes, patriarchs, but not as much as this speech made his heart flutter, because he knew that this was the mission given to him by history, he was destined to lead the Roman people back to glory, to inherit the great cause of Emperor Justinian and Constantine the Great, before that, He needed to first eliminate Mehmed II's ambitions and make him understand the meaning of the word Rome.

"My subjects," he shouted

"The time of life and death has come, our neighbor, the Ottoman Sultan, is ambitious, he is trying to destroy us in order to fulfill his doomed dream, and we can see that from the beginning of his accession to the throne, he has been preparing for this war, which is clearly visible to everyone - whether Christian or ***, he is trying to destroy us."

At this point, he paused,

"Some people will say that the Ottomans did not slaughter Christians, but I will say that what is more cruel than the physical slaughter is the annihilation of the soul, although they did not kill our body, but they killed our soul, they forced Christians to convert, they tried to drag our souls into hell."

There was an uproar below, and the people of the empire were clearly frightened by the emperor's words.

"Quiet, my subjects, quiet. Their purpose will not succeed, we are not without a chance of winning, and I have two good news for you. First of all, we have procured enough food, and our Christian allies, although they cannot support us directly, have given us material aid, and I can say that we have enough food until the end of the war. And one more thing, I asked the Lord and my subjects for forgiveness, and I asked the Pope of Rome for help, and although the Pope promised to do so, he asked us to make concessions on the religious question, and in any case wait until the war was over. ”

As soon as the words fell, the square that had been a little noisy just now was silent, and people couldn't believe that the emperor would say such a thing, but the people could see the pleading on the emperor's face, and people looked at each other.

Finally, Patriarch Ellis of Constantinople stood up: "May the Lord bless you, Your Majesty the Emperor. Then the people shouted in unison: "May Allah bless you!" The emperor was greatly moved, but still controlled his emotions well: "In this case, from today onwards, the empire will enter a state of total martial law, the grain will be distributed in a unified and centralized manner, and the repair of the city walls will be accelerated, the iron chains will be pulled up to block the sea, not a single Ottoman ship will be allowed to pass through the Sea of Marmara, and simple military drills will be carried out every day, regardless of men and women, children under ten years old will be sent to Galata." ”

Finally, the Emperor said, "The light of the Lord shines forever on the earth, and the empires of Justinian and Constantine are immortal." ”

At the end of the speech, the emperor came to the council chamber with several of his henchmen and patriarchs.

"Cesipe, you will command all the troops in the city, arrange for them to defend and drill, etc."

"Calvo, you're in charge of the distribution of food in the city."

"Sito, you go and contact László V and Casimir IV, Sultan Karaman."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The three of them stood up and saluted back.

"Your Majesty, the Genoese nobleman Giovanni Giustiniani has sent someone to ask if you need help?" Cecipe said as he sat down.

"Of course, but not now." The Emperor raised the sleeves of his wide purple robe, "Please contact the other nobles as much as possible, and we can give them all the islands in the Aegean Sea afterwards." ”

"Your Majesty, the Pope insists on removing the Patriarch first, and Bishop Gregory taking over as Patriarch." Seeing that no one spoke, Calvo stood up helplessly and said.

"Hmph, it's too much of a deception, I agreed to it, can I still regret it?" The emperor's face was angry, but there was nothing he could do.

"Drag it out first, try to bypass the pope, go directly to the monarchs of Western Europe, and see if it works, he still thinks this is the Middle Ages?" Hearing this, everyone tacitly did not answer.

"Alright, that's it, you all go and get busy." After the depression passed, the emperor shook his hand, and the ministers saluted and left the chamber.

The emperor took a cup of coffee, walked to the balcony, took a few sips, turned his head and asked the chamberlain: "What is the origin of that Giovanni, why does it sound so familiar?" The chamberlain replied, "He was a mercenary, known for his bravery in battle, and he had not heard of anything else." ”

"A mercenary? Giovanni? The Emperor took a sip of his coffee, "Why would he want to join our war?" ”

"Maybe it's because of the fief, Your Majesty," replied the chamberlain, "I heard that Giovanni's fief is in the Aegean Sea. ”

"Well, whatever you may say, any little bit of power is important to us." The Emperor put down the fine ceramic cup, shook his head, and walked into the council chamber to go on with his day's work.

-------------------

Prague, inside a humble castle

Laszló V walked into the empty castle that seemed to have been empty for a long time, and the only thing that could be used in the hall was a table and two stools, and at this time, a man was already sitting on one of the stools, with his head bowed and not knowing what he was doing.

"Hey, who are you? "Laszlo said in a loud voice, perhaps because he had grown tall since he was a child, "I went to great lengths to bring me here, not to see you pretending?" As if these words had inexplicably struck his laugh, he actually laughed out loud, and so far, there was no aristocratic etiquette and elegance in him, as if he had never learned it.

The man sitting in the chair suddenly laughed as well, and Laszlo saw him smile, but narrowed his eyes instead, "Funny?" Laszlo asked, only to see the man sitting in the chair stand up, revealing a plain face, "It's a pleasure to see you, Your Majesty Laszlo." ”

At this time, Laszlo recognized the man's identity, "Sito? Why don't you come to me all over the world to find your support? ”

"That's what I'm here for, Your Majesty." Cito smiled.

"Hahaha" Laszlo laughed louder, but Cito never spoke, just smiled, "You all came to laugh at me?" Thought I was a good bully? Do you believe it or not, as soon as I denounce you, you will be cut off by Mehmed II and stuck on a stake? Laszlo looked a little crazy.

"No, no, of course not, I'm here to help you," Cito said with a smile.