paranoianovel Chapter 685 After the War
Chapter 685 After the War
Chapter 685 After the War
At the foot of the southern section of the city wall, Orhan, who was organizing his military preparations, suddenly found the emperor in purple robes appearing at the door.
Orhan, who was already over 40 years old, walked out quickly to greet them and bowed his head humbly: "Your Majesty, I am ashamed to let you and Miss Viviana fight alone."
"You did the best you could, so don't beat yourself up about it."
Losa consoled.
Before, Constantine XI lacked trust in Orhan, but now it was different. The dragon-blooded relatives were destined not to betray him. If necessary, he was even willing to let Orhan serve as his co-emperor.
"How is Miss Viviana?"
"She's fine. She just overdrawn her strength and fell asleep. I sent her back to the palace."
Without much greeting, Losa asked directly:
"Mahamu II is dead, and his descendants are still young. They are destined to be unable to stand up and turn the tide at this critical moment. So, as the head of the Osmanoglu family in Constantinople, do you think it is possible for you to ascend the Osman throne?"
The bloodline of the Ottoman royal family was not cut off. Not only did Mahamut II have children, but Orhan also had them. However, according to original history, all his descendants, including himself, died when Constantinople was conquered.
"I'm afraid not, Your Majesty."
Orhan said with a bitter expression: "Although the family still has some connections with the Bektash Order, the Brotherhood, and the Imperial Center, the connection is not close. Under Murad II's purge, we have not been in contact for a long time."
"Then try to contact them. They were unwilling to contact you before, but that may not be the case now."
"I understand, Your Majesty."
Orhan was the son of Suleiman Celebi, the second son of Bayezid the Lightning (the eldest son had died at that time), who was killed by Mehmed I, the fourth son of Red Lightning, who rode the Great Red Dragon.
So in terms of seniority, he is Muhammad's uncle.
But this also means that he has been away from the center of power for many years. Suleiman was a hero during the Great Interregnum, and half a century has passed since then. The influence he left for Orhan was very limited, and Lothar did not expect that Orhan could win the support of the Ottomans by standing up.
Lothar emphasized, "Your father was once the king of Rumelia. The local officials who were loyal to your father were not completely eliminated, but marginalized. These people are the ones you should strive for the most right now."
The goal of the simulated battle had actually been successfully accomplished at this point.
He was just trying to lay the best possible foundation, a foundation that would allow Rome to survive and even revive after he "entrusted" it to the Simulacrum.
That night, another secret envoy came to the city wall and met the emperor in a basket.
The visitors were envoys from the Ottoman army, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.
The former was treated better under Ottoman rule, at least maintaining the status of a vassal state. As the latter was conquered by the Ottomans, a large number of Zoroastrians poured in, squeezing the living space of the Bulgarians, and the original autonomous status of the Bulgarian nobles was gradually abolished.
The ancestors of the Serbs and Bulgarians were once rich. The Serbs once called themselves emperors, and the Bulgarians also called themselves tsars, establishing hegemony over the Balkan Peninsula.
Both of these Slavs were latecomers to the Roman region (i.e. Rumelia and the Balkan Peninsula). According to the original historical trajectory, the Bulgarian rebellion in the medieval world would have been successful until they were destroyed by the Ottomans.
The remnants of the Bulgarians were no longer worth mentioning, and Lothar believed that after this battle, they were well suited to be brought under Roman rule.
In today's Serbia, relying on the gold output on the land, the King of Serbia supports a very powerful mercenary army, which even includes a knight corps composed entirely of Holy Roman nobles.
But this "powerful" force seemed inadequate in front of the Ottomans. The king of the Brankovic family of Serbia, whose territory had been greatly reduced and who had surrendered in exchange for a temporary survival, obviously realized that his "doomsday is approaching."
Historically, Serbia was annexed by the Ottoman Empire six years after the fall of Constantinople.
However, the Serbs had the support of the Hungarians and could wait for the right price, so in comparison, Losa valued the surrender of the Bulgarians more. As for the Greeks, there was no need to mention them, as they were the basic base of Rome.
The envoys from the three parties requested Lothar to send the Dragon Knights to lead the troops to defeat the Ottomans. They would cooperate internally and externally to attack the Ottomans when the battle started. In this way, they tried to gain the emperor's mercy and forgiveness, and not to settle accounts with them after defeating the Ottomans.
Of course, Losa refused it outright.
He asked them to hold off for the time being and wait for the right opportunity.
The Ottomans were about to fall into civil strife. This was inevitable. If the Ottomans were invaded by foreign enemies at this time, there was still a certain probability that they would unite as one. Once their hands were stained with the blood of the other, the civil strife would completely tear apart this emerging dynasty that should have been on an upward trend.
Perhaps, if Viviana rides her dragon into battle, there is a very small chance that she can force the Ottomans to submit to Orhan, and enable the Orthodox subjects in the Balkan Peninsula to gather again under the double-headed eagle flag of Rome.
He could be the hidden king behind Orhan, and relying on Orhan's loyalty, he could continuously gain benefits from Osman and take back the land.
But this process is too long, and there will be too much rotten flesh that should have been cleaned up and survived. If the aging Eastern Roman Empire cannot eliminate these rotten flesh, even if it can be maintained temporarily, it will only be a flash in the pan.
Recovering lost territory is not the first thing Rome should do now. The right thing to do is to use the momentum of the great victory to sort out internal affairs so that the "Purple Phoenix can truly be reborn from the ashes."
The Venetians in Constantinople had surrendered to the eagle flag. The abandonment of the Republic of Venice made them no longer loyal to Venice. The side-by-side fighting of the two sides during the war also made the hatred between the Greeks and Latins no longer as sharp as before.
After all, when the battle reached its most critical moment, the ones who came to help were not the Orthodox Russians, not their Orthodox brothers such as Wallachia, Moldavia, and Serbia, but precisely the Latin heretics who made them hate so much.
The first step will be to integrate the Genoese in Galata.
...
The next morning.
The enemy had begun to evacuate from the Ottoman camp, which was in chaos.
The overjoyed defenders finally relaxed completely and began to celebrate joyfully.
If the treasury was not tight, some people would even suggest holding a grand triumphal ceremony to highlight Rome's most glorious victory in nearly a hundred years.
In the bedroom.
The female knight lying on the bed had her eyelashes trembling slightly.
"you're awake."
The emperor's gentle and generous voice came from the window.
"Everyone is celebrating the victory. Without you, the celebration will be greatly diminished."
The knight, still feeling a little dizzy, looked at his changed clothes and said a little embarrassedly: "Are you all celebrating already? Captain, you don't have to worry about me. You are the biggest contributor to this battle."
"You are."
Lothar shook his head: "I am not being modest, but the truth is hard to explain. I can't tell everyone that the dragon knight they worship is their emperor, right?"
Viviana was silent for a moment, then said, "To claim an honor that is not yours, this fact is..."
Losa interrupted, "This is the honor you deserve. Without you, I couldn't kill Mahamu II."
"Let's go to the celebration. We probably won't have any more battles in the short term. It's not a bad thing to relax once in a while."
He paused as he spoke: "The Order of the Rose can't all be a bunch of ascetics, right?"
Letting Viviana show up is also to reassure people.
This is also an important support for his subsequent planning of the Galata city area.
In any case, Galata, a country within a country and a colony of Genoa, must be recovered.
He needed the Genoese to fight for him. Even if they were unwilling to fight, shipbuilding technology, commercial taxes, and population were all crucial. Although Rome won the battle, it lacked everything.
Money, food, weapons, soldiers, officials, nobles, everything is lacking, and yet they are all crucial. If you want to get the biggest piece of the pie from the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire, you must first have a good set of teeth.
(End of this chapter)