novelraw Chapter 723 29
Chapter 723 29
伴随着一声轰鸣.
A stone projectile struck the tower, seemingly causing a magic array in this ancient, thousand-year-old city wall to fail at several edge locations. Unlike before, the stone was not deflected outward; instead, it cut the tower in half with a forceful blow.
Falling stones, the crossbow carriage stored in the tower, and a small hand-pushed cannon crashed down with a roar.
Piercing screams arose, while in the distance, the enemy shouted in excitement.
The power of hundreds of cannons was immensely terrifying; all of Constantinople trembled as if it had returned to a time when earthquakes were frequent. Every soldier defending the city curled up under the protection of the stone walls, yet from time to time, stone projectiles flew into the city, demolishing residential houses.
But towers crumbling like the one just now were few; the vast majority of the city walls and towers remained steadfast under such fierce cannon fire, greatly boosting the morale of the defenders.
Constantinople had always been a city with a strong religious atmosphere.
Any random passerby could recite a few classic verses from the Bible, and debate a few passages with a Latin missionary.
Their greatest fear was being abandoned by God, rather than fighting against the heretics.
Those unhidden, tunnel-building laborers bagged tons of dirt, carried by the conscripts acting as cannon fodder, braving the rain of arrows and firearms, transporting it to the edge of the moat.
The upstream of the moat had already been blocked,
the ten-meter deep moat was filled in,
Greek Fire spraying
Losa specially remembered the formula for Greek Fire, it was just a world of differences, and the same formula might not necessarily yield the same effect, much like his previous attempts to research usable gunpowder.
"Your Majesty, the enemy fleet has launched an attack on Golden Horn Bay."
"Viviana, you lead a unit of Khazar Guards to the Sea Wall Defense Line!"
Losa hastily issued the order.
Though the result was the enemy's defeat, Losa was not happy.
Golden Horn Bay was an excellent harbor; the sea currents under the water were rapid, making it extremely difficult for enemies unfamiliar with the local hydrological features to breach the iron chain defense line and attack the weakly defended sea walls and port from the sea.
No wonder Anna went to great lengths to tame a Sea Dragon; as long as control of the sea was achieved, and the commandants of Constantinople were not overly negligent, even with a force ten times greater than the defenders, there was no possibility of capturing this city in the era of cold weapons.
But now, Constantinople's fleet could only rely on the iron chain defense line and home advantage to combat the enemy.
…
In the distance, the cannon fire roared, and the battlefield was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke.
Mahmud II, however, still leisurely reviewed documents; mobilizing such a massive force to attack Constantinople was still an extremely heavy burden for the current Ottoman Dynasty. His prestige did not match that of his father, Murad II, and under compulsion, although the entire dynasty was moved by his will alone, he knew well that once the siege encountered setbacks or a few defeats were faced, opposition voices at court would become loud again.
A black eunuch cautiously approached, sweat streaming down his face, whispering, "Your Majesty, Master Craftsman Urban reports that the cannon chamber has cracked and needs time for repairs."
Without lifting his head, Mahmud II asked, "How is my navy doing, has the fleet penetrated Golden Horn Bay?"
The black eunuch shook his head tremblingly, "Your Majesty, our navy suffered a minor defeat, three small oared sailboats were sunk."
Mahmud II said nothing, merely put down his pen, but those who knew him well understood that he was in a very bad mood now.
More sweat streamed down the black eunuch's face.
"Wipe it off."
Mahmud II casually tossed a handkerchief to the ground. The use of eunuchs in the court of the Fire Worship kings was an old tradition, because Fire Worship emphasized polygamy, many Fire Worship kings had wives numbering no less than several hundred.
The castration technology at the time was limited, and many eunuchs, even after being castrated, still retained the ability to reproduce, and could not be completely trusted.
Black eunuchs did not have this drawback. For one, even if the kings' wives were desirous, they rarely favored black eunuchs, and for another, even if palace scandals truly happened, the children born would look different from most and be identified immediately.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The black eunuch gratefully picked up the handkerchief from the ground, sweating profusely not solely due to fear of the young new king, but because the tent where Mahmud II resided was truly too hot.
The Three-headed Demon Dragon was a high-level Fire Dragon, and wherever it stayed, the climate changed according to its whims; hence Murad II had always kept the Three-headed Demon Dragon near the mountains close to Edirne.
But after Mahmud II ascended the throne, his inherent suspicion prevented him from ever wanting to separate from his greatest reliance. In Edirne, he specially built a vast underground palace for the Three-headed Demon Dragon.
This made the entire camp where the Three-headed Demon Dragon resided excessively hot; even with magic arrays applied to its perimeter, it could only ensure the heat did not spread to the whole army.
Mahmud II, however, was not affected by this heat; it was through the Dragon Taming Bloodline in the Osmanoglu Family that they rose from an obscure Beik Country to become the paramount leader of Anatolia and Rumelia.
The so-called Dragon Taming Bloodline, in essence, was a kind of Dragon Descendant, just that its bloodline was rather thin, providing very limited enhancement to one's power and longevity.
Perhaps after hundreds of years, with continuous regression to their ancestral traits and purification, becoming a True Dragon like Losa was not an impossible feat.
Some impoverished European minstrels, knowing a few secrets of the Extraordinary World, began their scattered wild fantasies, claiming that the ancestors of the Ottoman Royal Family acquired the Dragon Taming Bloodline only after a giant dragon-transformed client left the brothel in Asia Minor.
This fantasy was popular in some rural taverns, as if delighting miserly folk.
However, the disdain and ridicule of gutter literature did not change the fear in the hearts of Europeans.
Like dark clouds, the Ottoman Kingdom, looming in the east of the Christendom, had already become in the eyes of many monarchs a new generation of the Whip of God, not inferior to the Tatars.
"Deliver my orders, cease the cannon fire, let the Anatolian Corps and Brotherhood launch the attack."
Mahmud II said coldly.
Compared to the Rumelian Corps, the Anatolian Corps was evidently stronger in combat.
The Brotherhood was akin to a Christian Monastery organization; apart from having some casters, it contained a large number of Ghazi Warriors, although not adept at teamwork, but suited to thrive in the complex setting of siege warfare.