"It's finally here!"

Standing in the drizzle, Prince Menshikov held a naval lookout and looked at the hazy city in front of him, and Constantinople in the lookout looked like it was in front of him, and he could touch it as soon as he stretched out his hand.

We must conquer this place and let the Roman flag fly over Constantinople once again.

Looking at Constantinople in the distance, Menshikov secretly made up his mind that he must recover Rome and fulfill the dreams of successive tsars.

No one has ever been so close to this fantastic city.

However, Menshikov seems to have forgotten that the Rome in his heart was not the only one in his mind, the Russian Empire.

Far from it, the Ottoman Empire also claimed to be the Roman Empire.

Although the HRE, founded by the Austrian Empire next door, has dissolved, Metternich himself in London preached that the Austrian Empire had inherited the universal values of the Roman Empire.

The Third Rome of the Russian Empire was the least legitimate of all Romes, and could forcibly claim itself Rome simply by marrying a fallen Byzantine princess.

However, it is now the era of the imperialist powers of the 19th century, and all legal principles have to give way to naked rifles and artillery.

The same is true of the name of the Roman Empire, and it has been the consensus of all patients in the late Roman dream that the strong man is Rome.

Prince Menshikov, who had been looking at Constantinople through the lookout glass for a long time, turned the lookout back to the port of call located not far from Constantinople, and then put down the lookout again and pointed to the port of call to Vladimir, the chief of staff of the Black Sea Fleet, who was accompanying him. Lieutenant General Kornilov said: "See no, that's the target you want to destroy!" You have to know it well enough. ”

Lieutenant General Kornilov, like Prince Menshikov, picked up the lookout glasses, looked at them carefully, showed a rebellious face, and said: "Your Excellency, please forgive me! With the ability of those warships in the harbor to make a move with the great Russian Empire. ”

"I certainly understand the level of the Ottoman Navy. I ask you to destroy as many warships and buildings in the harbor as possible, and to weaken the Ottoman navy as much as possible! Only then will we be able to complete the landing mission with minimal cost! Prince Menshikov said as he slowly stepped into the cabin of the warship.

Kornilov followed Prince Menshikov into the cabin.

Under Menshikov, Kornilov came to his room in the ship's cabin.

Upon entering the room, a striking map hangs near the porthole, showing the country of the Ottoman Empire.

Menshikov took down the map and laid it on the table, and Kornilov approached the wooden square table.

"Look, the Ottoman Navy is here and here!" Menshikov pointed to the location on the map of the port near Constantinople and the location of the port of Sipno and said to Kornilov in a serious tone: "These two places are the places where the Ottoman warships are moored, especially the port of Sipno, where a large number of Ottoman warships are parked. Once war breaks out, the Imperial fleet must destroy the port of Sipno as soon as possible, so that most of the Ottoman Empire's military forces on the sea can be destroyed in preparation for our landing! ”

"Understood!" Kornilov said to Menshikov scrutinically: "The fleet is already equipped with the latest types of shells, and we are confident that even naval nations like Britain and France will defeat them!" ”

The new artillery shells in Kornilov's mouth refer to explosive bombs, which can increase the destructive power of the fleet in priority.

Previously, the battle between the naval fleets was nothing more than the artillery firing at each other, and then the people on the ship occasionally used the back-and-forth to fire at each other.

The blows of warships against warships are far inferior to the bombing of port cities by warships.

Now with explosive bombs, the backward warships of the Russian Empire have a much more destructive power against the backward warships of the Ottoman Empire, and they can also have a more powerful destructive power against port cities.

"Your navy must end the battle as soon as possible! There must be no time for the fleets of either side of the British and French to intervene! Menshikov told Kornilo again.

Although the negotiations are still ongoing, Menshikov needs to plan in advance for many things after the negotiations break down.

Menshikov also knew the gap between the Russian Imperial Fleet and the Anglo-French fleet.

Menshikov did not want a large-scale conflict with Britain and France unless it was a last resort.

The current Russian Empire has always harbored a conflicting diplomatic message.

He wanted to gain control of Constantinople and the Balkans, but he didn't want to offend Britain and France too much.

Under the influence of this ambivalence, Menshikov even had the way of thinking of a junior staff officer of the Showa Showa.

Menshikov believed that Britain and France would make concessions to the Russian Empire's conditions, and that the Ottoman Empire would agree to his conditions.

As long as the Ottoman Empire agreed to his terms, it would not matter to Britain and France for a long time.

This is the act of the two countries, Russia and Turkey.

Even if the negotiations broke down, as long as Russia could eliminate the Ottoman fleet and land in Constantinople as soon as possible, Britain and France would definitely recognize the Russian Empire.

In Menshikov's script, the Russian Empire would only march from one victory to another, and thus march victoriously into Constantinople.

"My subordinates understand!" Kornilov replied with the same solemnity.

Just as Menshikov wanted to discuss with Kornilov the sudden problems of the raid on the port of Sipno, a warship appeared in the porthole of the steam warship.

Seeing this, Menshikov hurriedly put the map back away, and then went to the deck.

Kornilov also followed Menshikov to the deck.

"I am Generalissimo Mahmud of the Ottoman Empire! Is there a special envoy for Menshikov on board! "The battleship, which was located to the left of the steamship of the Russian Empire, came fluent in French.

"I am the Tsar's envoy Menshikov!" Menshikov also responded in French.

"Then ask the envoy of the Russian Empire to come to our ship! I will lead the envoy to Constantinople! Mahmoud shouted at Menshikov.

"No need!" Prince Menshikov glanced at the crew beside him and said to Mahmoud on the Ottoman warship: "I am confident that my crew will be able to get me safely to the port!" ”

After a brief moment of silence on the Ottoman warship where Mahmud was located, he continued to shout: "Since the envoy is unwilling to come to our fleet, then we will personally escort the envoy into the harbor!" ”

"Old fox!" Menshikov cursed quietly, knowing that Mahmud Pasha on the other side did not want them to see the situation in the Ottoman port.

"Thank you very much!" Even Menshikov, who already understood Mahmood's intentions, had to agree to Mahmood's request for an escort.

From the time Menshikov made a vexatious request for the Russian fleet, which was about to go to war, to enter the port, the secret war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire had begun.

Escorted by Ottoman warships, Menshikov entered the port near Constantinople.

Menshikov and his team carefully disembarked from the steam fleet of the Russian Empire.

Although it is still raining lightly in Constantinople today, the port of call is still crowded with people of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian descent to welcome Prince Menshikov.

Some of these people are for their own Orthodox faith, and some are for the independence of their own nation......

Although the Russian Empire was disgusted by the Ottoman Empire, it gained popularity among many Balkan peoples.

These people sincerely hoped that the Ottoman Empire would collapse and that it would be liberated.

However, welcome to welcome, their basic demand for independence has not changed.

If the Russian Empire wanted to take the place of the Ottoman Empire in its niche and carry out an occupation operation, the people who welcomed the Russian Empire would immediately become the vanguard of opposition to the Russian Empire.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Menshikov's face couldn't help but smile, and he waved his hand gently, and the cheers of the Balkan people for Menshikov were even louder.

Surrounded by the Balkan ethnic groups, Menshikov entered the Russian embassy in the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Gate, who had already received the news of Menshikov's arrival in Constantinople, could not help but feel apprehensive after seeing that Prince Menshikov was very popular.

Once again, the Ottoman cabinet was convened and attended by everyone from within the religious leaders of the Peace Religion.

The meeting was divided into three factions on the question of whether or not to slip the slippers of the Russian Empire, one of which was the hardliner faction of the religious leader of the Peace Religion and former Prime Minister Rashid and others, and the other was the opposite faction of appeasement, represented by Mohammed. Ali, Rifat Pasha, etc. The last one is the centrists, represented by Generalissimo Mahmoud Pasha, Supreme Governor Omar Pasha of Rumiriva, and Celesque (Commander-in-Chief) Lezapasha.

The hardliners advocated that all demands made by the Russian Empire should not be acceded to, and that as long as the Ottoman Empire remained intransigent, Britain and France would not sit idly by.

The appeasementers advocate an appropriate compromise with Russia, which can be delayed. If the conditions of the Russian Empire were excessive, then they could also tell Britain and France about the conditions, and then consider other things.

The centrists were not interested in the hardliners' war, and they also agreed with appeasement.

As long as they are not held accountable, it will be fine.

After almost a day of discussions, it was decided that Muhammad. The appeasements led by Ali suppressed the hardliners led by Reshid.

At the end of the meeting, Foreign Minister Fouad Brown Effendi accepted the Prime Minister's order to invite Menshikov two days later to a welcoming ceremony specially prepared for him.

Menshikov did not meet with Fouad, and the ambassador in the embassy agreed to the invitation of the foreign minister in place of Menshikov.

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