novelraw Chapter 721 27: Siege Warfare
Chapter 721 27: Siege Warfare
The two parties began a long standoff.
Though young, Mahmud II appeared patient in capturing this city. Endless supplies flowed into this vast camp and transformed into enormous siege weapons clearly visible from atop the city walls.
Countless laborers and pack animals dragged large siege cannons, placing them in artillery positions.
But the defenders atop the walls could only watch helplessly as the enemy grew stronger each day.
"A truly troublesome opponent."
Losa murmured softly, his gaze seemingly piercing through several thousand meters of obstacles to see Mahmud II personally drafting plans within his tent.
Though Constantinople had faded, it did not mean her importance had diminished. Once the city fell, the Ottoman would not only remove the wedge in their heart, but Constantinople would also regain her rightful status under their control.
Besides practical benefits, taking Constantinople represented immense prestige.
The prophet of the Fire Worship had foretold that the monarch who conquered Constantinople would be the greatest in the Zoroastrian World. Such prestige was something that no Zoroastrian monarch could relinquish.
Yet Mahmud II was exceptionally patient.
He shifted his gaze back to the urgently repaired city walls. The sandbags, wood, bricks, and siege equipment piled on the inner side of the walls were neatly arranged in their places.
Tiered from low to high, three towering walls formed a staircase-like defense, along with a moat—four layers of protection altogether. If the enemy rushed to attack without adequate preparation, the losses would be extremely severe.
"Captain, shall we just watch the Ottoman prepare, doing nothing?"
Viviana asked uneasily.
Her battle that day earned her great renown, with people enthusiastically chanting her name, which weighed heavily on her.
The defensive preparations were almost complete, relying solely on the remaining resources of Rome. No matter how intense the preparations, there was a limit, whereas the power of the Ottoman kept growing.
"What else can we do?"
The Emperor asked with a bitter smile, "Long before I arrived, the Ottoman had begun dismantling churches and villages outside Constantinople to build castles blocking the Black Sea trade route. From that moment, the Romans could only watch the Ottoman prepare assaults, unable to act."
Losa had no intention of attacking the enemy outside. Though the Brotherhood and the ascetics who believed in mysticism were mixed in abilities, their significant number and clergy made them experts in small skirmishes.
Even if he and Viviana could hold back the enemy's casters.
They lacked the cavalry needed for surprise raids on enemy camps.
The transferred Tatar troops, akin in power to Empire armored cavalry, had full armor, even horse armor, but lacked suitable horses for riding.
Viviana remained silent, feeling increasingly small.
"Let's wait a bit longer."
Losa comforted, "Wait for a suitable opportunity for us to act. As long as we deal with the Three-headed Demon Dragon, victory in this war will be ours."
...
The Ottoman's grand preparations also plunged the Genoese in Galata into panic.
Galata was located across the Golden Horn Bay, with one end of the iron chain defense line over the bay controlled by the Genoese.
The historical "land conveyance" originated because the Ottomans couldn't break through the joint fleet's defense relying on the Golden Horn's iron chains, so they transported ships overland from Galata's northern regions into the Golden Horn to defeat the fleet and threaten Constantinople's seaward walls.
By this time, Genoa had gradually declined after multiple wars with Venice, with just over three thousand troops stationed in the Galata District. If the Ottoman turned hostile, they couldn't stop their advance.
Now, at the Galata District's council.
The mayor solemnly took out a letter and showed it to the crowd: "The Ottoman sent a messenger demanding us to dismantle the chains and allow their fleet into the Golden Horn Bay, or they would no longer guarantee Galata's safety."
As soon as the words fell, someone righteously said: "We cannot collaborate with heretics!"
But immediately, someone else reminded: "If we defy the Ottoman monarch and are destroyed by the Demon Dragon's demon fire, it won't just be the Greeks. Must we accompany the Greeks to their graves?"
"Indeed, the homeland of the Republic has already abandoned us. I say, better to simply submit to the Ottoman monarch and serve them. Even a heretic king needs merchants!"
The surrender faction grew restless, doubting Constantinople's ability to hold.
"How foolish to think the Ottomans won't turn on us after taking Constantinople?"
"Enough, you cowards! Even the despicable and weak Venetians understand the principle of shared fate in adversity, yet you're swayed by the son of a Greek slave girl (Mahmud II's mother was a Greek slave girl) to drop your arms and beg?"
Many Genoese were indignant.
Their actions were contradictory, unwilling to give up the trade privileges promised by the Ottomans, hesitant to confront them, but fundamentally maintaining a shred of Christian loyalty. The main reason was their considerable investments in Constantinople were already irretrievable.
Through the years, Constantinople's impoverishment was due to much of its wealth being taken by them.
If the Ottoman took Constantinople, regardless of promised benefits, the Genoese without negotiating power were no fools and knew that the Ottomans would surely turn on them in the future.
…
The initial attackers were naturally not the elite Janissaries among the heretics, but the Rumelian army.
Rumelia was essentially what the Ottoman referred to as the "Roman Region," i.e., the Balkan Peninsula. The Rumelian army mostly comprised Eastern Orthodox Christians, including Bulgarians, Greeks, and Serbians.
Serbia had once been prominent, even assassinating an Ottoman king, but had now dwindled into a servile state, intermarrying with the Ottoman royal family and shifting between Hungary and Ottoman.
It's said that in the Battle of Varna, the one who killed the Crusader leader Wadislaw III was
In the Battle of Kosovo, the defeat of Hunyadi's twenty thousand strong army was partly due to Serbian betrayal. Afterwards, Hunyadi was captured by the Serbian Duke, paying one hundred thousand Florin Gold Coins for his release.