Constantine understood that eggs could not be put in one basket, and therefore, in addition to the troops of Laszló and Giovanni, he himself was preparing to cross the Aegean Sea and land from western Anatolia,

But before that, the first thing Constantine had to solve was the problem of sea supremacy in the Aegean Sea, and only by ensuring the security of the Aegean region could it be possible to transport troops to the Anatolian plateau,

"The terrain around Ephesus is relatively flat, and although the sediment accumulation is relatively serious, it is indeed a good place to land on the beach."

Cecipe explained to Constantine.

Ephesus can be said to be famous, the city was once only located in the Roman Empire under the city of Rome, it is located at the junction of the Kester River and the Aegean Sea, the river and sea trade is extremely developed, before Constantinople was developed, it was one of the trade centers of the East, at that time, all the known goods in the world can be found here, it can be called the city of wealth,

The most famous building in the city is the Temple of Artemis, one of the twelve main gods in the era of the polytheistic Roman Empire, a shrine for the Romans, but unfortunately it was destroyed during the time of the Roman Empire of Christ.

Before the Ottomans came in, Byzantium's strategy was to radiate Macedonia and Asia Minor as the center, centering on the three cities of Constantinople, Thessaloniki and Salonibinsky, forming a triangular circle that would lead to the development of the whole country.

It must be mentioned here that the rise of the Ottomans was not an invasion by foreign powers: like the Arab Empire or the Persian Empire, which had their own administrative apparatus and was as civilized and literate as the Roman Empire, the Ottoman invasion was a silent and slow infiltration, supplemented by the incompetence and infighting of the Byzantine rulers.

In 1071, after the Turkmen Sultan Alp Arslan defeated the Byzantine Emperor Romanus IV at the Battle of Manzikert north of Lake Van at the Battle of Manzikert, the migration route of the Turkmen nomadic tribes to Anatolia was unimpeded, and a large number of nomads and Sunnis settled on the Anatolian plateau, transforming the originally predominantly Christian Anatolia into a predominantly Sunni "Roma", which refers to the Anatolian part of Byzantium.

Even at this time, the Byzantine Empire still controlled Asia Minor and crushed these Turkmen tribes, but this was the foundation for the rise of the Ottomans when the Byzantine Emperor Romanus I Komnenos defeated Kilij Arslan II at Mileosepharon in 1176, and the nomads saw so many rich cities and regions for the first time.

Soon, one of the Turkmens, the Seljuk Turks, rose up, united most of the tribes and formed the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, which was the predecessor of the Ottomans.

The Ottomans were one of the Seljuks, and after the Sultanate of Rum was divided by the Mongols, the Ottomans wanted to inherit the legacy of the Sultanate of Rum, and one of the important reasons was to learn and get the help of the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine civil war lasted for a long time, from the end of the eleventh century to the middle of the fourteenth century, for nearly three hundred years, the struggle for the throne was endless, during this period, the Ottomans accepted the request of the Byzantine governor, participated in the Byzantine civil war in the form of mercenaries, obtained a lot of technology and money, and then used these obtained technology and money to conquer other Seljuk tribes, and soon almost unified Anatolia, and marched into Europe, setting foot on the Balkan Peninsula, Slowly encroaching on the territory of the Byzantine Empire, achieving its goal of strengthening itself.

In the process of long conquest, the Ottomans learned a lot of Byzantine politics and land systems, and combined the characteristics of the Arab world to create their own culture, which played an important role in the process of world history.

Ephesus is located in the south, close to Athens and Thessaloniki, taking Ephesus as the domestic support, Cilicia with the Mamluks as the support, the east and west corresponding, as long as the Ottomans can not defeat one of them, the Byzantine army can be flanked left and right, and the situation of encirclement.

Of course, the shortcomings are also obvious, the Cilician army can still withdraw into the territory of the Mamluks if it can't win, and if the Ephesian army loses, the enemy will block the sea again, then it can only wait for death, so for the safety of the rear of the army, the navy must also control the Aegean Sea.

"Well, the navy is based on the Princes' Islands and separates the Sea of Marmara from the Aegean Sea, and it just so happens that the Ottomans didn't build a choke fort before? Also use, I want to make it impossible for a single ship to reach the Aegean Sea from the Black Sea. ”

Constantine said categorically that in this regard, the Ottomans can be said to have helped a lot, the Cut Throat Fort can indeed block the sea, and the cannons in the fort can still be used, saving Constantine a lot of effort.

"The navy uses the Black Sea as a battlefield, and uses more tactics of luring the enemy, outflanking, and encircling and annihilating, so that the Ottomans cannot take care of the south, and when we successfully land, the navy can shrink the defensive line."

Constantine's words set a grand strategy for this war, the navy was the main force in the early stage, but its general positioning was still an auxiliary role, and the army was the protagonist of the war.

"The landing will be carried out after the victory of the Battle of Cilicia, and as soon as it is found that the enemy is beginning to dwindle, it is possible to send troops as soon as the information is confirmed, and in addition, it is necessary to do a good job of propaganda work, so that the Ecumenical Patriarch will come forward and proclaim that this is a holy war, and the cabinet and any government departments should not express any opinions, so as to minimize the contradictions in the country."

Constantine added that to this day, there are still some Sunnis in the Balkans, and these are all with the Ottoman conquest into the Balkans, since the Ottoman Sultan is willing to accept Christians, then the Roman emperor should also be able to accept Sunnis, because at this time, human resources are very important,

After the Black Death, the population of the whole of Europe dropped greatly, and it has not yet eased up, and the demand for population in various countries is quite large, and the war activities have not stopped, which makes the population resources even more important.

At this time, Constantine still cared if he was a Christian or not, why did the Ottoman Empire allow the existence of Christians in history, did they really not care about faith at all? If you really don't care, then there will not be so many wars launched in the name of religion, the reason is that there is only one reason, the empire needs military resources and financial resources, the Ottoman Empire obtained a large amount of taxes and soldiers through the method of increasing taxes and labor for Christians, and through these conquests, the number of Christians in the country was increased, and so on, as long as the conquest did not stop, the Ottomans did not have to worry about the problem of depletion of financial resources.

In fact, in some wealthier regions such as Thrace, Constantine instructed the local government to reward those who have more children, which has been effective, but it is still not enough to promote it to the whole country.

"Pass my edict to the Houssepe, I don't care what method he uses, what means he uses, from this day onwards, not a single Ottoman ship will be allowed to pass through the Bosphorus, and the fire of the Cut Throat Fort will also be at his disposal, let the mayor of Constantinople fully cooperate with him, if this is not good, then he is the only one who asks."

With a wave of Constantine's hand, the black eunuch immediately received the order (no discrimination, mainly because most of the historical documents write about the black eunuch, and the same is true of the Ottoman Empire), and turned around and left the place.

Constantine asked the mayor of Constantinople to cooperate with Husseppe, in fact, he was given great power, the mayor of Constantinople managed the administration, economy, public health, etc. of the capital, and at his peak he could even discuss legal issues with the imperial justices, which the emperor proposed to limit the justices, but now he has lost so much power, and his main task is to manage public land and the like, but he is still very powerful in Constantinople.

Everything is ready on Constantine's side, and Mehmed II is also planning nervously, this time Mehmed II intends to respond to all changes with the same, see what Constantine does, and then see the move,

"Lord Sultan, the Roman navy is attacking our small fleet, do you think we are going to deal with these people first, and then lay siege to Trabzon?"

Mahmoud Pasha asked respectfully to Muhammad II.

"Are there many casualties?"

Mehmed II raised his eyebrows and looked at Mahmud.

"The casualties weren't very large, but the people we sent out were almost... Dead. ”

Mahmud Pasha replied that this answer pleased Muhammad II.

"You mean, the people in Khalil are dead?"

That's right, it was not only religious fanatics who were sent to die, but also Khalil's henchmen, some of whom were attached to him, and since Khalil liked to go against Muhammad II, then Muhammad II was not polite, anyway, this was a normal war loss, and Khalil could only suffer this loss.

Mahmud Pasha nodded, confirming Mehmed II's thoughts.

"Since it's over, there's no need to send people anymore, just teach Khalil a lesson, the most important thing now is the Romans, except for the other party's navy, it seems that the other side hasn't seen any action, what's going on? How can you fight a war without a clue? ”

Mehmed II was puzzled and spoke in a very unceremonious tone.

Mahmud Pasha lowered his head and was silent, he didn't know these things.