The Eagle of Eastern Europe

Overnight, Constantinople changed. Western Europeans hunted down Orthodox Christians, and the remaining people could only seek refuge in Hagia Sophia. But some people escaped and went to Selymbria, ready to tell Archduke Mircea what had happened.

But what happened in the castle quickly reached Kizikus through another channel. Just when Peter wanted to talk to Sophia about the next generation, the information arrived.

A note was handed over, with only one sentence on it: Emperor Manuel died and his eldest son succeeded him.

This directly made Peter have no other thoughts. Manuel was gone. His son was only five years old and must be the Serbian regent. She is a Western European, and my father may not be able to keep his position as consul now.

“Have the two castles in Canakkale been built?”

"It still needs a few final touches, but it works fine."

In order to completely control the Dardanelles Strait, Peter began to build two castles on both sides of the strait, which he called Fort Salem and Fort Anatolia respectively. Thousands of craftsmen worked tirelessly, and the basic construction was completed a year later. And equipped with some coastal defense guns and flamethrowers, the blockade capability is greatly enhanced.

"Let the Thessaloniki fleet be diverted to Constantinople, where they should look for assistance from Venice and Genoa."

Peter's guess was correct. At this time, Queen Mother Jelena was discussing with representatives of Venice and Genoa, proposing to use some of the palace jewels as collateral in exchange for money. The other party agreed, but the King's Castle was already so poor that it could not even pay the soldiers' salaries, so it could only sell the jewelry that had been collected for many years to meet emergency needs. What's more, the Archduke of Wallachia would not give up.

Within a few days, Mircea, who was advancing, received news from inside Constantinople.

"What did you say, the emperor is dead?"

"Yes, Grand Duke, the great Basilius has returned to heaven. Basilisa said that he died of a sudden illness, but in fact he was killed by those nobles."

"Grand Duke, those people are killing people everywhere now. Only you can save Constantinople and save the empire."

Listening to the other party's cry, Mircea fell into confusion for a while. He never expected that the emperor would disappear like this. His plan has been disrupted. He must either retreat his troops or go to Luo Pain with a sword to deal a powerful blow. But the walls of Constantinople gave him pause.

Seeing Mircea hesitate, he said again. “Grand Duke, as the guardian of the Orthodox Church, can you bear to see Constantinople fall into the hands of heretics again? Can you bear to see Hagia Sophia desecrated again? Or are you ready to surrender to the heretics in Rome? ”

"shut up!"

Mircea was angry and would never allow his faith to be misunderstood. Although he was a little impulsive, he understood that this was the closest he was to Basilius and he must seize the opportunity.

"Send the order, the vanguard troops attack Seimbria and must capture this place."

"Follow your orders"

Mircea made a quick decision and raised 20,000 troops to supplement the army. Ordered the Black Sea Fleet to enter the strait and attempt to besiege Constantinople.

Everything changed in three days, and businessmen in Galata were wide-eyed and ready to eat. They all couldn't wait to see if the city would fall again, and some even used the matter to bet, with amounts ranging from 100 to 2,000.

At the same time, Mircea also issued a declaration saying that Emperor Manuel did not die of illness, but was killed by the current Queen Mother and the nobles around her. He called on everyone to rise up against the Queen Mother. As the Grand Duke of Wallachia, he was awarded the position of consul by Manuel (although it was not officially awarded), so he naturally had to shoulder the heavy responsibility.

Such words are like a strong wind, causing waves in the originally calm water. For a time, the news was true or false, and no one knew which one to believe.

The Roman troops were no match for Wallachia's well-trained regular army. It took only one day to capture Seimbria and tightly suppress their opponents in Constantinople and nearby lands. The Queen Mother asked Venice and Genoa for help, but Genoa was insolvent and could not send troops. Venice did not know what else to give him.

Mircea also thought of this biggest factor of change, so he met with the Venetian envoys and proposed that their power in Constantinople would remain unchanged and further concessions would be given.

Such conditions made the other party tempted, but the messenger would not believe it easily. He proposed that Wallachia set aside a piece of land in Constanta and other cities as a Venetian colony. If he disagreed, he would ask the Venetian Parliament to send troops to assist Constantinople.

"Oh dear messenger, you have come to the wrong person regarding the land assigned to Constanta. This land is managed by my son Peter, the co-ruler of Wallachia. You should go to him."

"I'm sorry, but I will be asking Parliament for your request and please wait for news."

The messenger withdrew, and Mircea angrily cursed the Venetians for their greed. Once we agree to them, will Wallachia still have a good life?

He directly ordered Nikephoros to take most of the navy to the Sea of ​​Marmara to see if his navy could withstand the test. For the siege, Mircea moved his cannons and delivered them as quickly as possible, even if he spent more money and more people.

Wallachia's artillery has also undergone great changes, because the technology is not yet mature, and direct use of cast iron cannons is easy to explode. Therefore, most artillery uses a copper core and iron sheet, which can not only ensure power but also reduce costs. How many cannons did the Roman Empire have on the opposite side? The answer was: two. This was Venice's wedding gift to Manuel.

Then, as in 1204, the Wallachian army gradually surrounded Constantinople, and the Queen Mother summoned 6,000 men to guard the city. The vanguard first sent a letter asking them to surrender and investigate the cause of the emperor's death, but the other party refused.

In that case, let's do it. Wallachia began to blockade Constantinople and sent a message to Morea asking Theodore to send troops. The whole Balkans were in turmoil again, and all diplomatic activities on both sides failed.

The Venetian Parliament had not yet received the news. Taking advantage of this gap, Mircea led the army to advance quickly. Peter also asked Canakkale and the two fortresses on the other side to block the strait, preparing to use the advantages on land to hold back the Venetian navy.

Our country's naval confrontation will definitely fail, so we can only look for other countries. Genoa is still the second largest naval power in the Mediterranean at this time, not to mention Galata is also their colony, so finding them should be no problem.