Sofia took the "letter of guarantee" handed to her by Chang Ning, and was so excited that the horizontal flesh on her face trembled, and a pair of big copper bell-like eyes were about to pop out of her sockets.

The so-called guarantee is actually a papal decree, which also includes the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, the Spanish Prime Minister Juan I. José's byline. The content of the edict was that Pope Innocent XI and the HRE Emperor agreed that if the Rakshasa could backstab the Ottoman-Turkish Empire and help the city of Vienna break the siege, it would have the right to liberate and occupy Constantinople and other lands that were originally occupied by the Ottoman-Turkish Empire and originally belonged to the Roman Eastern Empire!

In addition, although Louis XIV, the emperor of the United States and king of France, did not sign the papal edict, he allowed the pope to draft and sign the document known as the "Edict of Versailles" at his Palace of Versailles, which was in fact an endorsement of the edict.

The right to liberate and occupy Constantinople and other lands that were originally part of the Roman Eastern Empire occupied by the Ottoman-Turkish Empire means that the four big men of the Catholic camp all recognize that the legal system of the Rakshasa Kingdom comes from the Roman Eastern Empire!

Don't underestimate the "recognition" from the masters of Western Europe, this matter is very important to the Rakshasas who have always looked up to Western Europe, especially the Romanov dynasty!

This is the Rakshasa Romanov Dynasty that is regarded by the royal family in other parts of Europe as the king of the country buns, but it has suddenly become high-end and high-grade, and it is the Roman Empire!

The Romanov dynasty will be a Roman dynasty in the future!

This is equivalent to raising the flag for the Romanov dynasty, from the East Slavic barbarian princes, to the "Constantine Eastern Roman Eagle Banner" in one step! In the future, whoever dares to look down on the people of the Romanov Dynasty will be shy and brag about their ancestors: our ancestors were the first citizens of Rome, the chief of the Senate, and the eagle banner of Eastern Rome!

Of course, according to the provisions of the "Edict of Versailles", if the Rakshasa Kingdom wants to become the Eastern Roman Eagle Banner recognized by the masters of Western Europe, there must be a prerequisite, that is, it must backstab the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Helped the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither holy nor roman, to be finished, to relieve the siege of Vienna.

This is the Ottoman-Turkish Empire of 1684! Although its interior has been decayed and corrupted, the original invincible Sultan's personal soldier Chenyeri Legion has also lost most of its combat effectiveness due to the bitter slave scouting system gradually replaced by the hereditary veteran soldier system, and has changed from a first-class invincible heavenly soldier to a second-rate European second-rate. But the second-rate in Europe is also very profitable!

Without Fuquan's property and the support of Louis XIV, the current military strength of the Rakshasa may not even be as good as the third-rate in Europe, and it would be a bit bold to backstab the Ottoman-Turkish Empire.

But in order to recover Constantinople and become the Eagle Banner of Old Rome, Sofia, the regent princess of the Rakshasa Kingdom, is still ready to give it a go!

"It's done!" Princess Sofia's eyes widened, and a hairy "bear paw" slapped on the table, which scared Chang Ning - the Ao Bai Ao Taishi back then was also a deterrent!

Fuquan saw that Princess Sofia made a decision, and immediately nodded heavily, and agreed: "What the princess said is very true, our new army has been trained now, counting my 3,000 personal soldiers, we now have a total of 7 brigades with a total of 35,000 new troops!" ”

"In addition, I gave Guanyin a large sum of money to set up a trading company and build 150 galleys specializing in the grain trade on the Dnieper and the Black Sea. And Guanyin Bao also passed through the Crimean Khanate Khan Selim. Glai's relationship led to a large deal of wheat for the Turks' army. 120 ships have already been sent this summer, and according to the plan, another 150 ships will be sent next spring."

Hearing Fuquan say this, Chang Ning already knew what he wanted to do: "Second brother, you have to learn from Lu Zi to understand how to cross the river, ah, it's not to cross the sea and attack Junbao!" ”

"Fuquan, how does he know?" Sophia looked at her husband in astonishment, and then spoke in Russian, "Did you tell him our secret?" ”

It's a big secret!

In the name of counterattacking the Qing Dynasty, 35,000 troops were trained. In the name of selling wheat to the Ottoman Empire, he built 150 galleys that could sail on the Black Sea, and really took a large order from the Ottoman Empire and transported 120 ships of fine wheat to Constantinople......

It was all done so seamlessly that even Louis XIV didn't tell it!

In this world, there are only three people who know this secret, one is Princess Sophia, one is Prince Foquansky, and the other is Guanyinbao.

But how could Chang Ning know about such a secret thing?

"Sophia, you misunderstood, I didn't say it......" Fu Quan looked wronged, quickly waved his hand, and replied in Russian, "I just met Chang Ning!" ”

When Chang Ning heard the two of them speak Russian, he knew that he had really guessed for himself...... Chang Ning is also familiar with the Three Kingdoms! And he himself has led troops for many years, and although he always fails, his experience points are still quite high.

"Sister-in-law," Chang Ning explained for his second brother with a smile, "How could my second brother's plans be hidden from me?"

I'm the best general in the Qing Kingdom today! ”

Better than him is either treason or killed...... Therefore, Chang Ning's words are not bragging.

Sophia actually knows how powerful the Qing army is!

Although there was no fierce war between the Rakshasa Kingdom and the Great Qing Kingdom, small fights were inevitable!

During the years of peaceful coexistence between the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the Qing army under the command of General Ningguta uprooted the city of Yaksa with cupola cannons and parallel trenches.

The Qing army on the Khalkha Mongol side also drove the Cossacks north of Lake Baikal!

In the Kazakh steppe, Galdan, which was supported by the artillery of the Qing army, also attacked the city one after another, bulldozing all the castles built by the Rakshasas in the Great Yuz and the Middle Yuz.

Since the Qing army is so powerful, the most powerful general in the Qing army must be very good at fighting, right?

Now, the Rakshasa Kingdom is in need of such a general!

Thinking of this, Sophia asked, "Prince Changning, how many people participated in the biggest battle you have ever commanded in the East?" Who is the opponent? ”

"The biggest battle?" Chang Ning sighed, "That's the Battle of Linqingzhou...... In total, 2780,000 people took part in this campaign! ”

"Twenty seven hundred and eighty thousand?" Sophia took a cool breath.

"At that time, I only had seventy or eighty thousand men in my hands," Chang Ning continued, "and my opponent was Li Zhongshan, the great general of the Ming Dynasty, and he had 200,000 in his hands...... These 200,000 were only half of the total strength of the Ming Northern Expeditionary Army under his command. ”

"Two hundred thousand is just half? Wouldn't the total number of troops reach 400,000? Sophia asked, "Do these 400,000 people include those in charge of logistics and transportation?" ”

"No, counting them there are 800,000!"

"Eight hundred thousand? My God...... It's horrible! ”

"That's why I was defeated by him......" Chang Ning looked regretful and sighed, "Poor Daqing is also perishing!" ”

"There is no shame in being defeated by 800,000 enemies...... Sophia thought for a moment, "Brother Changning, after all, you have commanded a legion of 100,000 people and fought against the most powerful commander in the East.

This experience alone will surpass all the generals of the Rakshasa Kingdom! ”

Sophia thought for a moment and asked, "Then in your opinion, how sure are we that the raid on Constantinople will succeed?" ”

To be honest, Sophia was not very sure about the raid on Constantinople.

At that time, when Fuquan and Guanyin Bao proposed this plan to him, she was still full of confidence.

But as the date for executing this adventurous plan draws closer, Sophia feels more and more uncertain.

This is a gamble for the whole country!

If you lose your bet...... Then the Rakshasa Kingdom will add the Ottoman Empire as a mortal enemy!

And the "Rakshasa Braided Army", which was built with a huge amount of money, will also be wiped out! Because there is no way back for such a thing as a cross-sea sneak attack, it can only succeed, not fail, and failure is the annihilation of the whole army!

At that time, the Sultan's anger may plunge the Rakshasa into an unprecedented crisis.

And that's not the most terrible thing, the most terrible thing is that the Rakshasas don't like losers......

Now Sophia and Foquansky firmly hold the real power of the Rakshasa country with these 35,000 "pigtail army", and the big and small tsars are just puppets in Sophia's hands.

The nobles of the Rakshasa Kingdom either took refuge under Princess Sophia's door, or they hid aside, daring to be angry and not daring to speak.

But if they lose...... Retribution is coming!

"Sister-in-law," Chang Ning looked serious, as if he was really good at fighting, and said eloquently: "The success of the raid on Constantinople may be great...... And it's imperative! ”

He pointed to the Edict of Versailles, "Two emperors of Western Europe, a pope, and a Spanish prime minister all wanted the Rakshasa to stab the Ottoman Empire.

And they also offered the price that the Rakshasas wanted. Emperor Louis also gave enough support to the Rakshasa Kingdom...... Sister-in-law, do you think that the Rakshasa Kingdom can receive such a big benefit and not do anything? ”

Sophia shook her head......

The Pope and Emperor Leopold, the Rakshasa can still be ignored, but the Emperor Louis of France really can't be provoked!

"Since you can't ......," Chang Ning said, "then the Rakshasa must stab the Ottoman Empire." Since this knife must be stabbed, it must be stabbed in the heart of the Ottoman Empire...... So a sneak attack on Constantinople is the most correct! If you don't succeed, you will become a benevolent! ”

When Chang Ning said this, a bearded face that looked a little fierce was already full of murderous aura!

He is now a master of stabbing in the back, Kangxi was stabbed to death by him!

Seeing his murderous face, Princess Sophia completely believed in this person's military talent!

With this murderous face, no matter how you look at it, it has to be at the level of Dureni and Da Condé!

This time, the matter of stabbing the Sultan in the back was handed over to him, and he should not be wrong.

Thinking of this, she turned her head and said to Fuquan in Russian: "My dear, it seems that we have found a general who can command the raid on Constantinople!" ”

"You said Chang Ning?"

"Yes!"

Fu Quantou glanced at his brother, he was indeed murderous! It seems that there has been no shortage of killings in the east in recent years. Moreover, he did not come lightly this time, but brought hundreds of subordinates, including Ba Hai, most of whom were officers who had fought hard with Daming and Wu Zhou for many years, and in terms of combat experience, they were not much worse than the instructors sent by Louis.

And Chang Ning is his brother after all, a brother in battle, a father and son soldier in battle!

This brother must be reliable!

Fuquan nodded: "My dear, I also think that the rich experience he has accumulated in the Eastern Theater is enough for him to lead my army of 35,000 to take Constantinople for us!" ”

"Brother Chang Ning," Sophia looked at Chang Ning with "fierce eyes", "Are you willing to become the Field Marshal of the Rakshasa Kingdom and command the raid on Constantinople?" ”

Chang Ning hurriedly hugged his fist: "Chang Ning would rather serve his brother and sister-in-law!" ”

February 20, 1685 in the Western calendar, the Black Sea, near the Bosphorus.

A large "grain fleet" of 150 galleys is slowly approaching the narrow entrance to the strait.

And on a large galley headed by Aisin Jueluo. Cinnabar. Chang Ning was dressed in a white silk robe and a white melon skin hat, standing on the bow of the boat with his hands behind his back, looking at the entrance of the strait that was getting closer and closer to him.

A few months earlier, he had taken over the army built by Fuquan as an "Oriental Military Expert" and Prince Marshal of the Great Qing Dynasty.

Subsequently, he spent some time refining and upgrading this army, which was already quite good by European standards.

The pikemen were completely abolished, and all muskets were equipped with socket bayonets and longer-range cavity rounds - this kind of bullet had already appeared in Europe, but it was not so widespread that even flintlock muskets were not widespread in the Ottoman army, and of course there were no such bullets.

Chang Ning also brought a batch of rifled guns, which were assigned to the soldiers with the best marksmanship, and the old craftsmen created a batch of "cork shells" to distribute to those soldiers, and set up an elite "rifled gun battalion" to take the lead in the raid on Constantinople!

In addition, Chang Ning also ordered someone to build a batch of shovels and send them to the "Rakshasa Braided Army", and asked the accompanying Qing veterans to teach these Rakshasas to dig trenches and build breastwalks.

In the end, Chang Ning also brought the wooden-handled grenade to the "Rakshasa Braided Army".

After a few months of rectification, the strength of this already quite good Rakshasa new army has steadily reached a new level. Almost up to the best European standards!

However, first-class and second-rate, it is not enough to just look at equipment and training, you have to see the real chapter on the battlefield!

The entrance to the Bosphorus is, of course, fortified, with a fort on the left and right, on which cannons are erected, blocking the strait, which is only 3 miles wide. All merchant ships entering the strait are required to stop at the entrance to the strait, then be inspected and pay taxes.

Of course, the garrison of the fortress is not very tight, after all, the current Black Sea is still the inland sea of the Ottoman-Turkish Empire, and the Black Sea coast is surnamed "Ao", and the Rakshasa Kingdom has only expanded to Izyum, which is still far from the Black Sea!

Although there are docks and shipyards on the Dnieper, the galleys built by the Rakshasas are thin-skinned and slow-moving grain carriers, which cannot be used for naval warfare.

If the Rakshasas wanted to storm the Bosphorus with such thin-skinned merchant ships, they would be sent to death!

And, even if you are lucky enough to rush to Constantinople, what can you do?

With the little military strength of the Rakshasa Kingdom, is it possible to conquer the impregnable Junbao?

That's impossible!

Even if most of the soldiers in the fort led by Sultan Mehmed IV now went to Vienna, there would be enough more than 10,000 men left behind to defend the city until reinforcements from the Sultan arrived.

However, the size of the fleet of 150 galleys led by Chang Ning still seems to be a bit large.

If it weren't for the tight supply on the Vienna front during this time, the Sultan and the Grand Vizier would have sent people back to Constantinople every once in a while to urge food.

The Ottoman officials guarding the crossings of the strait may still be suspicious.

But now...... The battle on the front line was unfavorable, Vienna could not be captured for a long time, and the supply of the large army was difficult.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire already knew that this time the battle of Vienna would be in vain.

At this time, everyone must be careful not to make mistakes that are not good for the front. Otherwise, it is easy to be used as a scapegoat to bear the black cauldron of the defeat of Vienna.

Therefore, when the officials guarding the crossroads of the strait saw more than 100 ships of grain brought by the three "Mongolian merchants" of Changning, Bahai, and Guanyinbao, they had to hurry up and let them go?

That was the rations that His Majesty the Sultan had procured for the army besieging Vienna...... The Sultan's 200,000 troops are still waiting to eat!

This is going to be delayed, the Sultan just happened to come and retreat from the army, and the officials who watched the crossroads of the strait happened to be scapegoats......

Therefore, this huge convoy of grain ships underwent only the most perfunctory inspections and sailed mightily into the narrow Bosphorus.

The terrain on both sides of the strait is very critical, and there are many steep rock walls, all of which are good places to build fortresses and arrange forts.

But now the Rakshasa has not yet risen, and the upper echelons of the Ottoman Empire do not believe that the Rakshasa Congress will enter the Bosphorus from the north, so these steep rock walls are not being exploited. Only a handful of castles appeared on the way to Constantinople.

There is also the northern mouth of the Bosphorus Strait to the Golden Horn in Constantinople, which is only 60 miles by sea, and although the speed of Changning's galleys is not fast, it can be completed in a few hours.

And when they arrived at the Golden Horn, Constantinople, the former capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, was shrouded in the golden sunlight of dusk, looking resplendent and sacred.

Chang Ning took a look at the city that haunted countless Europeans, and then he took out a monocular and began to use it to observe his "prey", that is, Constantinople in the golden twilight.

There were a number of galleys parked in the Golden Horn, but there were no sailors on board. A fairly strong fortress on the northern shore of the Golden Horn. The fortress looked majestic and strong, but there were few guards standing guard in sight, and the defense was obviously very lax.

As for the docks in the Golden Horn, there is not a single Turkish soldier patrolling, only merchants and coolies coming and going.

On the side of the Golden Horn, the gates of the tall and sturdy walls of Constantinople were all open......

Chang Ning put down his binoculars, and a long-lost smile of victory appeared on his face. He turned back to Bahai and Guanyin Bao beside him and said, "Okay, the raid has been successful!" Tell the brothers down there to prepare their eagle banner ......" (end of chapter)