In the Middle Ages, people drew cards to be promoted to nobility. - Chapter 688

c685 Post-war

Under the southern section of the city wall, Orhan was reorganizing his armaments when he suddenly found the emperor in purple robes appearing at the door.

Orhan, who was over forty years old, quickly walked out to greet him and bowed his head humbly: “Your Majesty, I am ashamed to let you and Miss Viviana fight alone.”

“You did the best you could, no need to beat yourself up about it.”

Lothar comforted.

Previously, Constantine XI lacked trust in Orhan, but now it is different. The dragon-blooded family members are destined to be unable to betray him. If necessary, he is even willing to let Orhan serve as his co-emperor.

“How is Miss Viviana?”

“She’s fine. She just fell asleep due to overexertion of strength. I sent her back to the bedroom.”

There was no small talk, Lothar asked simply:

“Mahamu II is dead, and his heirs are still young and destined to be unable to stand up and turn the tide at this critical moment. Therefore, as the head of the Constantinople branch of the Osmanoglu family, do you think you have the ability to Possibly ascending to the Ottoman throne?”

The bloodline of the Ottoman royal family has not been cut off. Not only did Mahamu II have heirs, but Orhan also had heirs. However, in original history, all his heirs, including himself, died when Constantinople was breached.

“I’m afraid not, Your Majesty.”

Orhan looked bitter: “Although the family still has some connections with the Bektash Order, the Brotherhood, and the Imperial Center, these connections are not close. Under Murad II’s cleanup, we have not had any contact for a long time. Contacted.”

“Then try to contact them. They were unwilling to contact you before, but they are no longer willing to contact you.”

“I understand, Your Majesty.”

Orhan was the son of Suleiman Celebi, the second son of Bayezid the Lightning (the eldest son was dead at the time), who was slain by Muhammad I, the fourth son of the Red Lightning, who rode the great red dragon.

So from a seniority perspective, he is considered Muhammad’s uncle.

But this also means that he has been away from the center of power for many years. Suleiman was the hero of the Great Interregnum. Half a century has passed now. The legacy he left for Orhan is already very limited, and Lothar has no hope of Orhan. Erhan could win the support of the Ottomans by standing up.

Lothar emphasized: “Your father once became king in Rumelia. The local ministers who were loyal to your father were not all eliminated, but were marginalized. These people are the ones you should fight for right now.”

The goal of the simulated battle has actually been successfully completed by this time.

He is just trying to lay down a foundation as much as possible, a foundation that can still allow Rome to survive and even revive after he is “trusted” to the simulation.

That night, another emissary came to the city wall and paid homage to him in a hanging basket.

The visitors were envoys from the Ottoman army, Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek.

The former was treated better under the Ottomans, and at least it maintained its status as a slave state. The latter was conquered by the Ottomans, and a large number of Zoroastrians poured in, squeezing the living space of the Bulgarians and the original autonomous status of the Bulgarian nobility. have also been phased out.

Both Serbs and Bulgarians had great ancestors. The Serbs once called themselves emperors, and the Bulgarians also called themselves czars, establishing hegemony in the Balkan Peninsula.

These two Slavs were both latecomers to the Roman region (i.e. Rumelia, the Balkans). According to the original historical trajectory, the Bulgarian rebellion in the medieval world would succeed until it was destroyed by the Ottomans.

The remnants of the Bulgarians were no longer worth mentioning, and Lothar believed that they had experienced this battle and were very suitable to be included under Roman rule.

In today’s Serbia, relying on the gold mine output on the land, the Serbian king supports a very powerful mercenary army, which even includes a knightly army composed entirely of HRE nobles.

But this “powerful” power seemed a bit insufficient in front of the Ottomans. The territory was greatly reduced, and the price was surrender. In exchange for the temporary survival of the Serbian Branković family, the king obviously also understood To one’s own “end is near.”

Historically, Serbia was annexed by the Ottomans six years after the fall of Constantinople.

However, the Serbs had the Hungarians on their backs and could be sold at a price, so in comparison, Lothar valued the surrender of the Bulgarians more, not to mention the Greeks, which were Rome’s basic base.

The envoys from the three parties asked Lothar to send dragon knights to lead the troops and defeat the Ottomans. They would cooperate internally and externally, and attack the Ottomans from both sides when the battle started. In this way, they tried to exchange for the emperor’s mercy and forgiveness, and after defeating the Ottomans , they will not be liquidated.

Lothar naturally refused outright.

He asked them to stand still for the time being and wait for the opportunity.

The Ottomans are about to fall into civil strife. This is doomed. If the Ottomans encounter a foreign invasion at this time, there is still a certain probability that they will become one. Once their hands are stained with the blood of the other party, the civil strife will be completely torn apart. Split this emerging dynasty that was supposed to be on the rise.

Perhaps, Viviana riding a dragon into battle can have a very small chance of forcing the Ottomans to surrender to Orhan, and can reunite the Orthodox subjects of the Balkans under the double-headed eagle flag of Rome.

He can be the hidden king behind Orhan, relying on Orhan’s loyalty to continue to gain benefits from Osman and regain the land.

But this process is too long, and too much carrion that should have been cleaned up will survive. If the aging empire of Eastern Rome cannot remove these carrion, even if it can be maintained temporarily, it will be just a flash in the pan. .

Recovering lost territory is not the first thing that Rome should do now. It is only right to rely on the remaining power of a great victory to sort out the internal affairs and make “the purple phoenix truly reborn from nirvana.”

The Venetians in Constantinople had surrendered under the eagle. The Venetian Republic’s abandonment of them made them no longer loyal to Venice. The two sides fought side by side during the war, which also made the hatred between the Greeks and Latins cease to exist. It’s 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, nor the Orthodox brothers from Wallachia, Moldavia, and Serbia, but the Latin heretics who made them hate them so much.

The first step will start with integrating the Genoese in Galata.

…

Early the next morning.

The Ottoman camp, which was in chaos, had begun to evacuate the enemy.

The jubilant defenders finally relaxed completely and began to celebrate happily.

If the treasury hadn’t been tight, some people had even proposed holding a grand triumphal ceremony to highlight Rome’s most glorious victory in the past century.

In the bedroom.

The female knight lying on the bed had her eyelashes trembling slightly.

“you’re awake.”

From the window, the emperor’s gentle and generous voice came.

“Everyone is celebrating victory. Without you, the celebration will be eclipsed.”

The knight, whose head was still a little groggy, looked at the clothes he had been exchanged for and said with some embarrassment: “Are you already celebrating? Captain, you don’t have to worry about me. You are the biggest contributor to this battle.”

“You are.”

Lothar shook his head: “I’m not being modest, but the fact is really hard to describe. I can’t tell everyone that among the dragon knights they worship, that dragon is their emperor, right?”

Viviana was silent for a moment and said: “The fact that you take honor that does not belong to you is…”

Lothar interrupted: “This is the honor you deserve. I can’t kill Mahamu II without you.”

“Let’s go to the celebration. We shouldn’t have to fight anymore in the short term. It’s not a bad thing to relax once in a while.”

He said with a slight pause: “The Knights of the Rose are not all a group of ascetic monks, right?”

Let Viviana show up to calm people’s hearts.

This will also be an important support for his future plans for Galata City.

In any case, Galata, a state within a state, a colony of Genoa, must be recovered.

He needed the Genoese to fight for him. Even if they were unwilling to fight, shipbuilding technology, business taxes, and population were all crucial. Although Rome won the battle, it lacked everything.

Money, food, ordnance, soldiers, officials, nobles, everything is lacking, and they are all crucial. If you want to get the biggest piece of cake from the ruins of the Ottomans, you must first have a good tooth.