Chapter 207: The City Is Broken

Some Genoese and Venetian merchants saw that the Dardanelles Strait was no longer free to pass, and they thought that a fight was about to break out, so they honestly accepted the inspection. But some blind people sailed away directly, and the castle fired directly, but it just missed the target.

All merchants knew that Wallachia was not just joking, they were serious.

62 warships of the Black Sea Fleet were heading for Constantinople. It had been a long time since so many ships set out for Constantinople in the Black Sea, and even Genoa only had many merchant ships. The warships were all wandering in the Mediterranean.

The Venetian Parliament discussed the affairs of Constantinople, and they felt that they needed to consider the request for help from the Roman Empire.

After ten days and ten nights of marching, Mircea finally brought his troops to Constantinople. This city of world desire still stands here after more than a dozen sieges and two falls.

The walls of Constantinople were originally built during the reign of Constantine I, surrounding the new capital in all directions to defend against attacks from land and sea. As the city expanded, a new wall called the Theodosian Wall was built in the fifth century. Although some parts of the wall were less sophisticated, when properly deployed, the walls of Constantinople were impregnable under any siege, effectively protecting Constantinople and the empire from sieges by the Avars, Arabs, Russians, Bulgarians, etc.

Before the siege, Mircea sent a letter to the city for the last time, saying that if they surrendered, they would be spared, but the other side did not reply. Subsequently, on February 8, 1399, Mircea, the Grand Duke of Wallachia, ordered an attack on Constantinople.

On the Wallachian side, there were 30,000 troops, 10,000 auxiliary troops, 70 artillery pieces, and 62 warships; on the Roman Empire side, there were 6,500 defenders, two artillery pieces, eight muskets, and 24 warships. The Queen Mother ordered the iron chain of the Golden Horn to be raised to prevent the enemy warships from entering.

Since Constantinople was too big and the Wallachian army was too small, Mircea decided to concentrate his attack. He took the weakest Lycus Valley as the end point of the attack and ordered the artillery to concentrate on bombing here.

The once majestic Theodosius Wall withstood many attacks, but when more powerful artillery came, his defense had to be weakened.

The continuous firing of Wallachian artillery put a lot of pressure on the defenders. They fought back with two bronze cannons, but the power was far less than that of Wallachian artillery. Then the Cossacks could not hold back their thoughts and began to advance towards Constantinople. Their fighting power was very strong, and the defenders fought hard to beat them back.

For two days, Wallachia made no progress. Mircea understood the truth that speed is the essence of war, and he had to take Constantinople before Venice could recover.

He asked someone to bring the information about the Crusaders' attack on Constantinople in 1204. After learning the details, he decided to focus on attacking a section of the Bellachne wall in the northwest, which had been partially damaged by the previous artillery fire. This section of the wall was built in the 11th century and was much more fragile than other walls. The Crusaders entered the city from this section of the wall in 1204.

For the defenders, the Wallachian artillery was too terrible. Such huge power and range were what they had never seen. The rubble under the wall in the Lycas River Valley had filled the trench. If this continued, it was not impossible for the wall to collapse.

At night, the Orthodox people quietly came out of the church and prepared to instigate the guards of the St. Romanus Gate to welcome the Wallachian army into the city. But they were discovered by Constantine and crushed the conspiracy.

Mircea asked the engineers to gradually approach Constantinople using the tunnel digging tactic, and at the same time ordered the fleet to attack the wall on the side of the Sea of ​​Marmara, trying to use this method to disperse the defenders. Constantine continued to mobilize the residents in the city and let them take more responsibility for defense.

"It is worthy of being a holy city. It is still safe and sound after so many attacks."

"Grand Duke, we must occupy Constantinople as soon as possible, otherwise Venice will send a fleet soon."

Mircea was also anxious. It had been ten days and there was no movement from the other side. Would it really take several months of siege?

He looked at the map. This city built by Constantine was excellent in terms of geographical location and defense. What should be done?

"The city walls are strong, and the Golden Horn is blocked by iron chains. It's difficult!"

Hearing the iron chains of the Golden Horn, Mircea suddenly thought that Galata was not controlled by Constantinople. This important place was already a colony of Genoa. If they could be bribed, it should be able to alleviate some difficulties.

When Mircea was about to bleed heavily, the Orthodox Church in Constantinople began to counterattack. The leader was Patriarch Theodosius, who told the believers directly that the late emperor was killed by the current queen mother and other nobles, and the Grand Duke of Wallachia came to save them and avenge the emperor. Let them open the city gates and welcome the Wallachian army into the city.

The Patriarch's words resonated with many people. They picked up everything around them that could be used as weapons, controlled part of the city, and marched towards the Romanus Gate. The defenders had to send another 500 people to suppress it, which made the originally weak defense force even more tense.

After learning that a riot had occurred in the city, Mircea temporarily gave up the idea of ​​bribing Genoa. He assembled all the troops and prepared to launch a charge. There was a lunar eclipse that night, which made the defenders feel that it was a bad sign.

On the morning of February 23, Wallachia attacked again. The first wave of the attack was carried out by auxiliary troops who were not well trained and equipped. It was expected that they would fail. They were just used to weaken the defenders. The second wave of the attack was mainly carried out by the core troops, focusing on a section of the Bellachne wall in the northwest, which had been partially damaged by the previous artillery fire.

They once made a breakthrough, but were quickly repelled by the defenders. The third wave of the attack was carried out by Mircea's elite new troops. The defenders were able to hold out for a while at first, but then the Serbian general responsible for defending one section of the wall was seriously injured in the battle and left the wall, causing the defenders to panic.

There is a small gate between the three walls of the Theodosian Wall and the single-layer wall surrounding the Palace of Tekfar Sile and the Palace of Blanche, which is usually called the Arena Gate. It was blocked by Emperor Isaac in 1204 and was only recently reopened. During this attack, the Wallachian army rushed through the trenches and occupied the outer open space. More than 50 "new soldiers" suddenly found that the city gate was not fortified and rushed in from there, followed by others. After they reached the inner open space, they attacked the defenders from the side, allowing the Wallachian army outside the city to climb up the city wall. After they went up to the city, they tore down the "St. Mark" flag and raised the Wallachian flag.

Mircea outside the city took advantage of this favorable factor. Under his encouragement, the Guards successfully climbed the ramparts and hung the Wallachian flag over the tower. For a time, all the defenders who saw the flag believed that the city had fallen and Rome was doomed to defeat!

Constantine saw that he was powerless and made a final struggle with the Serbs who were unwilling to be prisoners. No one has seen their traces since then, which can be said to be "no one sees them alive, no one sees their bodies dead." Of course, in such a chaotic situation, his fate can be imagined: he must have been killed by some unknown person, and his body was buried under a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.