paranoianovel Chapter 820: Civil War in the Word Army (Happy New Year's Eve)
Chapter 820: Civil War in the Word Army (Happy New Year's Eve)
Chapter 820 Crusaders Civil War (Happy New Year's Eve)
"Ms. Eve is here."
The shrill-voiced chief steward of the palace, a white-faced, beardless eunuch, announced loudly and led a witch into the hall.
The man had long, messy hair like weeds and exuded an unpleasant odor. It was unknown how many days he had been staying in the library without taking a shower.
Even though Basilisa had already heard Anna's evaluation of this lady, she still felt dizzy when she saw her.
The palace chief steward said with a sad face: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, Lady Eve is determined not to take a bath before coming to see you."
Ms. Eve obviously didn't like dealing with outsiders. She looked around awkwardly, her fingers tugging at the hem of her skirt, wishing she could leave this magnificent hall and return to the dark library immediately.
Basilisa felt like she was facing a homeless person. She suppressed her discomfort and flattered him against her conscience: "I have heard that Ms. Eve is wise and not particular about trivial matters. Today I see that it is true. Now that the Latin Crusaders have abandoned the covenant and colluded with the Venetians, and Anna is not around, please teach me how to repel the enemy, Ms. Eve."
"Ah, are the Latins coming? When can we escape? Ah, no, there are still so many books in the Imperial Library. If we run away, what will happen to those books?"
Ms. Eve asked in a panic.
Basilisa felt her vision go dark again. If Anna had not given her instructions, she would never have entrusted the important task of protecting the imperial capital to such a person who seemed unreliable.
"Ms. Eve, the empire is in a critical moment, but we are not without any trump cards. Anna has asked the Crusader King of Egypt, the Limassol Military District General I appointed to come to our aid, and the reinforcements from the governors of various places are on the way. As long as we hold on firmly, once the reinforcements arrive, we will be able to turn the tide."
Eve heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this. "Hello, Lothar. He is a reliable helper. Two legends died at his hands. There will be no problem with him around. But I am afraid I can't help you with anything."
"We need time, Ms. Eve! According to the style of the Frankish barbarians, after they conquer Constantinople, all the books in the Imperial Library will be burned. Do you really want to sit back and watch this tragedy happen?"
"How can it be!"
Eve seemed to have heard something unbelievable: "Aren't the Latins you mentioned attacking Constantinople to plunder the books in the Great Library?"
"The Franks are crude people. How could they understand the importance of those precious books?"
Eve's face flushed red. No matter how cowardly she was, she felt extremely angry when she heard that someone wanted to burn her precious books.
"I...I will take charge of the magic circle left by Anna and never let those Latins get close to the library!"
Lagaia, wearing a golden crown inlaid with more than 200 pearls, shook the other's hand enthusiastically and said, "Then I'll leave it to you."
...
In the eastern Mediterranean, more than a dozen transport ships were sailing slowly on the calm sea under the escort of two galleys.
Losa rubbed his dizzy head, walked out of the closed cabin, and took a deep breath of the fresh air outside. He had just completed his promotion.
The process was also quite thrilling. He participated in the Imjin Japanese Invasion, also known as the Wanli War to Aid Korea, and experienced all kinds of strange magic of the Fuso Kingdom.
However, just like before, the war that could have been won in the original history was not difficult for him at all. It was just that he exerted some more influence based on the national sentiment of his previous life.
In fact, he could just find a place to squat and pass the level perfectly.
"Is that... the Colossus of Rhodes?"
Lothar looked far away at the end of the sea level and could vaguely see a huge statue spanning two islands looming in the sea mist.
The Colossus of Rhodes in this world has not been destroyed and remains a wonder in the Mediterranean.
He frowned and said, "It seems that our journey is going smoothly. At this speed, we should be able to reach Constantinople in three days."
Jeanna nodded and said, "We encountered some ships transporting supplies for the Crusaders along the way, but they did not attack us. After all, we were also flying the flag of the Crusaders."
She paused and asked, "If we want to have a naval battle, why don't you call Captain Hogg back?"
Losa said helplessly, "I don't know where Captain Hogg has sailed to. He asked me to send some people to take over the Saracen trading port on the East African coast, but he didn't think about how much I would have left."
The East African coast that was plundered by Captain Hogg has recently seen a number of undead sailors arriving in small boats loaded with treasures.
This guy Hogg probably ran too far, beyond the range of the communication emblem given by Anna. According to the information he had previously sent back, he had circled the coastline of Madagascar and crossed the Indian Ocean.
Compared to the East African coast, if he could open a commercial port of his own in Indonesia, especially in the Strait of Malacca, he would obviously gain more benefits. However, in the short term, it is still out of reach for him.
"Anna's communication emblem is centered on herself. It's great to be able to connect from Sicily to the Horn of Africa."
Jeanna explained: "The communication array that Fulin studied has a transmission radius of only fifty kilometers."
This was a technique learned from the Texans in yesterday’s world of giant ships, but the Texans’ technological level was originally low, and it was impossible for them to communicate across the Pacific like the British.
That has already utilized the most advanced wireless telegraph technology and falls into the category of magical technology.
"We are almost entering the Aegean Sea, but we haven't encountered the Venetian fleet yet. Could it be that the merchants in Cyprus didn't report our intelligence to the Venetians?"
Jeanna was a little puzzled and said, "It's normal that there isn't any. The Venetians were not the main force in the siege of Constantinople. As the creditors, it would be abnormal for them to personally fight the entire battle, right?"
Losa shook his head and said, "But the Venetians are the ones behind all this."
The conflict between the Venetians and the Greeks has a long history, which can be roughly traced back to Alexios I of the Komnenos family, who led the First Crusade. In order to get the help of the Venetians, he granted them a series of tax exemption privileges.
Although this emperor had made many achievements and was a first-rate political warrior, he was obviously not familiar with economic affairs.
From then on, the cause and effect were planted.
Even if the successive emperors of the empire did not understand economics and commerce, they were deeply hurt by the increasingly emaciated purse strings, which was something no monarch could tolerate, so defaulting on debts became an inevitable choice.
However, the emperors who were keen on playing power games rather than following the right path had a too dark style of doing things.
If Losa had become emperor, although he would not have recognized the Venetian trade treaties, he would rather have formally declared war on them and abolished these terms through a war rather than allowing the Latin massacre to take place and incite hatred between the Greeks and Latins.
In the final analysis, it was because the empire was too weak, and the rulers of the empire regarded the Western Latins as barbarians and wanted to control them to fight for them. They were also always too clever and thought they could use political tricks to manipulate the Latins in their hands.
Little do they know that for the "barbarians", conspiracies and tricks will never win their respect.
If the Empire had won the war in Sicily with great success, it would have been useless for the Venetians to instigate the Crusade.
"Forget it. It doesn't matter whether Venice takes action or not. Once we enter the Aegean Sea, even if we abandon our ships and march by land, they won't be able to stop us."
Lothar paused and smiled, "My only worry now is that by the time we get to the gates of Constantinople, the flags on the city walls will have been replaced with the Crusaders' flags."
Historically, Constantinople performed quite poorly in the face of this crisis and was easily captured by the Crusaders twice.
The Theodosian Wall, which the Greeks were so proud of, was of no use at all, as the Crusaders, with the help of Venetian ships, broke through the city from the sea.
Jeanne asked curiously, "What would you do if Constantinople was really captured by the Crusaders?"
"If Lagaia is still alive, we will help her take the throne and then fight back."
Losa's tone was quite relaxed. The power comparison between the enemy and us was already a rich battle compared to the battle he had actually experienced, where only the isolated city of Constantinople was left.
"If the queen is dead, Anna will take the throne."
As he spoke, he looked up at the three-headed dragon flying with the fleet.
"Anyway, I have no intention of staying here to become the emperor of the Latin Empire."
I don’t know if the Vice Emperor of the Empire is considered an imperial-level title in the system.
To verify it, we have to wait until the enthronement ceremony.