But the power of the Holy See is too great, and anyone who dares to oppose it too fiercely will be punished by the Pope for expulsion from Catholicism, and become the public enemy of everyone in Christendom.

The powerful Holy Roman Emperors were excommunicated by the Pope, and finally came to the Pope in person, knelt on the ground and shouted Dad (really Dad, European monarchs call the Pope Father), only to save himself and the dangerous monarchy.

Therefore, the kings and lords of various places were powerless to balance the Holy See, and in the end they could only pinch their noses and admit their nests, allowing the Catholic Church to issue indulgences in their own territories to collect money.

Naturally, all the money obtained through indulgences went into the hands of the Holy See.

This time, the indulgences planned by Pope Innocent VI were issued with unprecedented intensity.

In order to ensure that the military expenses for maintaining an army of 100,000 in a short period of time for the war can be gathered, Pope Innocent VI personally signed this batch of indulgences.

In other words, the indulgences issued this time are all the highest level of "pope merit vouchers".

The Catholic Church claims that these indulgences are so beneficial that criminals can buy them to atone for all their sins.

After ordinary people buy it, they can accumulate merit on themselves, and if they commit any sins in the future, they can offset it in advance, and if they buy enough merit vouchers, they will go straight to heaven when they die!

Although the Black Death raged not long ago, it has become clear that the Catholic Church is not as holy and spiritual as they preach.

But these medieval Europeans were still very religious and superstitious.

Both the poor and the rich, after seeing the Holy See's promotion of the issuance of indulgences, all enthusiastically bought them.

Even if they only have one copper plate on their body, they will buy a coin of the smallest denomination to save some merit for themselves to be able to enter heaven after death in the future.

By selling indulgences, the Holy See soon amassed a very considerable amount of money.

The crusaders organized by Pope Innocent VI also sprang into action.

This time the Crusades were divided into two routes, one consisting of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, the Kingdom of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Hungary, which marched overland from north to south through the territory of the Kingdom of Serbia and into the Balkans of the Eastern Roman Empire.

On the other hand, the Kingdom of France, the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Pisa, the Duchy of Savoy, and the Republic of Genoa marched by sea, meeting first in Rome and then on to the Eastern Roman Empire.

Eastern Roman Emperor John V returned with the fleet of the Duchy of Savoy to defend his throne.

This crusade against the Mongols kicked off with a mighty prelude.

The news reached the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire and caused a great panic.

Although Pope Innocent VI declared the Mongols to be the enemy of this crusade, the area of the war was entirely within the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire have not forgotten how these barbarians from Western Europe burned and looted their land during the Crusades more than a hundred years ago!

Even the capital city of Constantinople fell under the attack of the Crusaders, and the property of hundreds of thousands of residents in the city was looted, leaving an indelible and tragic memory for the citizens of Rome.

So, this time the news of a new crusade came, and countless residents of Eastern Rome began to try their best to flee their homes.

They had to flee the prosperous towns, because the more prosperous and wealthy the towns, the more they were the first targets of the savage and greedy crusaders.

Faced with the chaotic situation in the country, Alexios, the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, was already as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

He never imagined that Innocent VI of the Holy See would be able to launch another crusade without saying a word.

At present, the native army of the Eastern Roman Empire is not less than 30,000 men, and the Roman army is extremely lacking in training and unified command.

When the governors of the various military districts heard the news of the imminent return of the Crusaders, they all expressed their support for John V and avoided becoming the target of the Crusaders' attack.

Only the Patriarch Alexios himself sat in the region of Constantinople, which still held its ground.

Obviously, the final destination of the crusaders this time is the thousand-year-old city of Constantinople!

Patriarch Alexios was so anxious that he immediately sent an envoy to the Crimean Peninsula to see John Timur, asking him to come to Constantinople as soon as possible to preside over the overall situation, comply with the wishes of the Roman citizens, become the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and maintain the sacred and inviolable orthodoxy of the Orthodox Church!

This is a matter of life and death for the Orthodox Church!

Patriarch Alexios was ready to be martyred.

If the crusaders had arrived in Constantinople before the Mongols, then everything would have been finished!

At that time, Patriarch Alexius could only face the preparation of being humiliated to death by Roman Catholicism!

Crimean Peninsula, Kaffa City.

Tens of thousands of Mongol troops drained the waters surrounding the city of Kaffa.

Wang Baobao personally led the army of Meng Yuan to arrive outside the city of Kaffa, preparing for this offensive battle!

In this war, the main force was still 20,000 Mongolian Janissaries.

There were also 50,000 servant armies of Slavs, Kipchaks, and Caucasians.

After a month's march, the Mengyuan army led by Wang Baobao slaughtered from the banks of the Volga River to the Crimean Peninsula at an astonishing speed!

Pedro, the commander of the Genoese army in the city of Kaffa, had no idea that the Mongols would be able to attack the city in such a short time.

However, thanks to its strong walls and elite mercenaries, the commander of the city, Pedro, was not very worried about the city's security.

In particular, when he saw that these Mongols had come outside the city of Kaffa, they did not build siege engines, but placed all their forces outside the city of Kaffa.

It seems that the Mongols are preparing to attack the fortified walls of Kaffa with their flesh and blood.

Pedro scoffed at these barbaric Mongols and Slavs.

In his opinion, in order to attack Kaffa City, in addition to a large number of troops, it is necessary to have a giant catapult.

Otherwise, I'm afraid that even the first wall of Kaffa City will not be able to be breached.

The city of Kaffa has two walls, the first wall is made of stone and volcanic plaster, although it is not very high, but it can completely block the enemy from approaching the core of Kaffa City, even if the attackers capture the first wall, then they will face the condescending fire of the defenders on the second wall.

The second wall is twice as tall as the first, and it is possible to shoot the attacker's soldiers at will with the advantage of height.

With the sound of trumpets, the Mongols began to capture all the small fortresses and strongholds outside the city.

These small fortresses and strongholds were insignificant to the Genoese in Kaffa, and they were only some checkpoints set up by the Genoese outside the city, and the Genoese soldiers inside had already abandoned their defenses and retreated into the city.

Pedro, the commander of the defenders of the city of Kaffa, although he looked down on these barbaric Mongols and Slavs, was still cautious and did not relax in the slightest in his defense.

He personally patrolled the walls in armor, supervising the defenders of each section of the wall and preparing his soldiers for battle.

For Europe at this time, the most common way to attack fortified cities and fortresses was to use trebuchets to smash the city walls first, and then use elite soldiers to rush up through the gaps, and fight the defenders through fierce hand-to-hand combat, so as to achieve the goal of capturing the city.

So, in order to defend the city, the Genoese defenders prepared a large amount of grease and boiling water on the city of Kaffa.

Any enemy that comes close will be attacked by hot oil boiling water from overhead.

However, the enemies outside the city behaved very strangely!

Standing on the walls of Kaffa, Pedro saw that instead of cutting wood to build trebuchets, the Mongols outside had rolled out three huge wagons.

These carriages were very large, and each carriage was pulled by forty powerful horses.

Because of the distance, Pedro couldn't see exactly what was being transported in these wagons.

He could only guess what was inside by the shape of the cloth covering the carriage.

"Such a heavy big guy, is it artillery?"

Pedro has a lot of experience on the battlefield, and after making a comparison of the general outline and shape, he has his own judgment.

However, as soon as the idea came to him, Pedro shook his head and dismissed it himself.

Because he thinks it's a ridiculous idea.

How could there be such a large artillery?

For Europe in this era, casting artillery is still very advanced and high-tech, because their casting process has always been not up to par, once the volume of artillery casting is too large, then there will be many problems.

For example, the distortion of the shape of the artillery, the internal trachoma cracks, and so on.

Either way, once the problem arises in the casting, it is declared that the cannon casting has failed, and the huge consumption of the previous one will be lost.

Therefore, on the European battlefields of this era, artillery was often dominated by small artillery, and most of its role was to kill infantry and cavalry.

As for the large artillery that destroyed the city walls, no European country had ever made them.

Or rather, they have this idea, but they don't have the strength yet!

However, for Meng Yuan and Wang Baobao, the use of artillery to siege cities was a very important war experience they learned from the Ming army.

】

The artillery in the hands of the Ming army can be called a magic weapon.

Under the large-caliber artillery bombardment of the Ming army, no matter how strong the city wall is, there is no way to hold it.

Therefore, the siege artillery cast by Wang Baobao this time is as powerful as he can!

As the sun reached the highest point in the sky, under the harsh sunlight, the Mongols finally pulled the three large artillery pieces into the right position.

Hundreds of strong gunners coordinated with each other to position the guns on the wagon.

When these brand-new cannons glowing with metallic light suddenly appeared in front of the defenders of Kafacheng, it caused a great commotion among the defenders of the city.

They never imagined that the Mongols would put out three such terrible oversized artillery!!

Pedro was also shocked!

As a Genoese man, Pedro has traveled all over Europe and is well-informed.

He had fought Muslims on the Yomberian Peninsula, and Pedro knew that Muslims had a knack for forging large artillery and had experienced first-hand the power of Muslim artillery bombardment.

However, compared to the huge artillery of the Mongols in front of them, the artillery of the Muslims of the Yomberian Peninsula was only a few burning sticks.

"Oh God! How is this possible! ”

"This is a weapon that only the devil can have!"

Pedro was shocked.

However, in order to calm the emotions of the defenders, Pedro still pretended to be calm.

He smiled and explained to the Genoese soldiers around him, "These Mongols don't know how to make artillery at all, it's not that bigger is better, such a big cannon needs to be loaded with a lot of gunpowder to be powerful!" However, if there is too much gunpowder, there will inevitably be a terrible explosion! ”

The casting artillery technology in European countries has not yet ushered in an era of great development.

The larger the cannon they cast, the more likely it is to explode.

Therefore, large artillery is easy to blow up sugar, which is almost a consensus of European soldiers such as Pedro.

But not long after Pedro's words were finished, he was slapped in the face!

Wang Baobao looked at the three giant cannons that were pushed to the front of the battlefield, and there was a fascinated look of appreciation in his eyes, as if he was looking at a peerless beauty.

Wang Baobao has high hopes for these three giant artillery!

He gave an order and ordered the Mengyuan artillery to start an attack on the Kaffa city wall.

With a series of preparations, the three giant guns roared in turn!

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Three guns were aimed at the same position on the walls of Kaffa.

As all three shells hit the walls of Kaffa, a loud bang followed.

The walls made of solid granite and volcanic ash were reduced to ruins in an instant!

On that section of the wall, there were a few poor unlucky bastards, who didn't have time to escape, and disappeared along with the collapsed wall!

"Oh God!"

"The devil's artillery!"

"Messenger of Hell! What is this? ”

The power of these cannons was too great for the Genoese walls to resist.

In less than two hours, the first wall of Kaffa was bombarded by Mongol artillery.

"Oh God!"

"We've lost the first wall!"

"Commander, what are we going to do?!"

The defenders of Kaffa City are already in disarray.

Most of them were not Genoese, they were just mercenaries who were paid to work, and they must have panicked in the face of a mortal situation.

After all, there are no property or families to protect in Kaffa.

"Completely abandon the first wall, I don't believe that the Mongols will be able to bombard the second wall!"

Commander Pedro immediately gave the order.

The defenders of Kaffa City had no chance of defending the first wall, and could only hope to rely on the second wall.

The second wall was taller and stronger, and should have been able to hold for a longer period of time.

Moreover, Pedro felt that by giving up the first wall of his own accord, he would definitely be able to lure the Mongols to capture the wall, and he would be able to kill and wound a large number of their soldiers.