In the midst of intense and orderly preparations, the time came in the spring of 1453, and the Sultan, according to the tradition of the Turks, erected a horsetail banner in front of the Great Tent, summoned *** from Anatolia, gathered Christians from Wallachia, Serbia, Moldavia and other places, and the knights, servants, warriors, and cannons from all over the country were assembled in the Ottoman capital of Edirne, and the war came.

At this time, the emperor had just returned to Constantinople, and after learning the news that the Sultan was about to march, reinforcements from all over the city had also entered the city to assist in the defense, the most famous of which was Giovanni, as well as the three Bokia brothers of Genoa, the seamen of Catalonia, and the nobleman of Castile, Francisco, etc., nearly 10,000 people were distributed on the twelve-mile-long city wall (one mile is equal to one hundred and sixty-one kilometers), of which the four-mile-long land wall was the main defensive direction.

At sea, three hundred yards of iron chains have been fastened to the walls of Galata, sealing off the entire Golden Horn to relieve pressure from the sea, and to the south is the turbulent Sea of Marmara, where no other city in the world has such unique conditions, and the whole city is impregnable.

The defense of the land wall is even more perfect, the emperor knew that this would be the main direction of attack of the enemy, and began the repair work very early, the dense towers stand here, from the outer wall to the inner wall higher and higher, the spacing is very small, the top of the inner wall, the lion flag of St. Mark and the emperor's double-headed eagle flag flutter in the wind, the marble cross is inserted in the city wall, bringing people spiritual encouragement, anyone who crosses the Thracian plain to Constantinople first sees the gloomy and tall city wall.

The walls were a hundred feet high from the moat to the tower, two hundred feet wide from the outermost tower to the inner wall, and two new trenches five meters wide and eight meters deep were dug outside the wall, and there were gates on the walls, and some of the gates had bridges over the ditches to the villages, and now they were all blocked with stones, and whoever was faced with such a perfect and strong fortification could only sigh.

The Sultan apparently knew this, and he painstakingly searched for weak points in the walls, and easily, he found two potential weaknesses, in the middle of the walls, which descended along the valley and rose again after crossing the Rikas River, and the peaks on the opposite side of the walls apparently provided excellent firing sites for the cannons, which could be easily spotted by almost everyone.

The other was close to the Golden Horn, where the walls were in disarray, because an extra shrine to the Virgin was added at that time, and in any case, the Sultan had to find a way to break through the land wall.

The emperor not only Constantinople, outside the city, there are several fortresses, relying on some fortifications, but neither the emperor nor his ministers could not have imagined that the Ottoman artillery technology is so developed, this is mainly due to the advanced technology brought by merchants and engineers from some other European countries, in the roar of artillery, several fortresses outside the city were destroyed in the case of all the fortifications, the defenders surrendered, and the sultan in order to break the fighting spirit of the Byzantines, these people were pierced on the stakes, in order to deter the enemy.

In March, the army from all over the country was assembled, and the Sultan led his army through the Thracian plain with great pride, which brought a great shock, the Sultan had an army of about 100,000 people, including more than 60,000 infantry and more than 30,000 cavalry, and the figures were overwhelming, and the dust raised by the horses' hooves seemed to dye the whole Thracian plain gray and yellow, and the morale of the army was high, and everyone coveted the treasures of the legendary city.

In April, the Sultan's army had arrived outside the city, and at this time, the Sultan was inspecting his army.

The Sultan rode a tall Arabian steed and wore armor, strong and powerful, and heroic.

"The morale of the army is very high and they are ready to give their lives for Allah and His Majesty." Khalilwizi reported to the Sultan.

The Sultan knew in his heart that this was for the spoils of the city, and according to tradition, on the day the city was broken, the soldiers could plunder for three days, which was a gift from Allah to them.

"Build camps, dig trenches, build earthen walls, and prepare for a long siege."

Constantinople suffered from many wars, and it was obviously unrealistic to take it in a short time, and the Sultan recognized this.

The enthusiasm of the Ottomans was very high, and a tent city was quickly built on the flat ground outside the city, trenches were dug, and artillery firing positions were opened, and after doing this, the Sultan led his army to a mile away from the city, and the army in the middle was white-clothed and white-capped, dressed in iron armor, riding high-headed horses, and it was the Sultan's guards, and the troops on both sides were red clothes and red hats, carrying all kinds of weapons, and under the Sultan's signal, they shouted together, and the cry shook the heavens and the earth.

This situation is very common in history, such as Wu Wangfucha and the Jin army, and Mao Dun used this trick when he besieged Emperor Gao in Baideng, in order to break the enemy's will and reduce the resistance of the enemy army.

Although the Sudan's army is large and the morale is high at the moment, this is only temporary, and it does not mean that they are not afraid of death, and if they suffer too many casualties and delay for too long, they will still collapse.

"The strength of the enemy is very strong." The emperor looked at the army outside and thought to himself, looking back, his subjects were obviously shocked and speechless, this is normal, after all, most of the emperor's army is not a professional army, only a few veterans have natural expressions.

The emperor was shocked, this is not a good sign, he was frightened before the war, so can he still fight?

"My subjects, don't worry, our walls are the strongest in the world, and the heretics will not want to invade our lands."

Seeing that the faces of the people did not improve much, the emperor knew that words could no longer play a big role, and that only victory could bring hope to his subjects, and that the situation would improve a lot if he could hold on for a day.

The emperor did not personally arrange the city defense, and the professional things were still left to professional people to do, although the emperor had led soldiers several times before, but compared to Giovanni, there was still a bit of a gap, and the city defense was handed over to Giovanni and Cecipe, and the emperor walked down the city wall.

Although the current situation looks dire, the emperor is not unable to do anything, he has a secret weapon that has not been revealed, and the Sultan will have to pay the price for his arrogance and arrogance.

"Is the cannon tuned?" This is the Sultan asking his vizier Khalil.

"It is being commissioned, the fifteen-hundred-pound cannon is too heavy, it will take some time to move to the designated position, other types of artillery are already ready."

The Sultan did not bring all the large artillery this time, but also brought a lot of small artillery.

"The siege will officially begin tomorrow." The Sultan commanded.