Sofia took the "guarantee letter" handed to her by Chang Ning. She was so excited that the flesh on her face was trembling, and her big copper bell-like eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
The so-called letter of guarantee is actually a papal edict, signed by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Spanish Prime Minister Juan Jose. The content of the edict was that Pope Innocent XI and the Holy Roman Emperor agreed that if the Rakshasa Kingdom could backstab the Ottoman-Turkish Empire and help the city of Vienna rescue the siege, it would have the right to liberate and occupy Constantinople and the Other lands occupied by the Ottoman-Turkish Empire originally belonged to the Roman Eastern Empire!
In addition, although Louis XIV, the American Emperor and King of France, did not sign this papal edict, he did allow the Pope to draft and sign this document, known as the "Edict of Versailles" in history, at his Palace of Versailles. In fact, it is equivalent to endorsing the decree.
They have the right to liberate and occupy Constantinople and other lands formerly owned by the Eastern Roman Empire that were occupied by the Ottoman-Turkish Empire. This means that the four big guys in the Catholic camp all recognize that the legal system of the Rakshasa Kingdom comes from the Eastern Roman Empire!
Don't underestimate the "recognition" from Western European masters. This matter is very important to the Rakshasa people who have always looked up to Western Europe, especially the Romanov dynasty!
Now, the Rakshasa Romanov dynasty, which was originally a rustic and was regarded as country bumpkin kings by royal families in other parts of Europe, suddenly became high-end and classy. That was the Roman Empire!
The Romanov dynasty will be a Roman dynasty in the future!
This is equivalent to carrying the flag of the Romanov dynasty, from the barbarian prince of East Slavia to the "Eagle Flag of Constantine of Eastern Rome" in one step! Whoever dares to look down on the people of the Romanov dynasty in the future will have to shamelessly brag about their ancestors: Our ancestors were the first citizens of Rome, the chief of the Senate, and the eagles of Eastern Rome!
Of course, according to the provisions of the "Versailles Edict", if the Rakshasa Kingdom wants to become the Eastern Roman Eagle Flag recognized by Western European masters, there must be a prerequisite, which is to stab the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the back. Helped the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither holy nor Roman, and was facing the end of a fleeting period of misfortune, to relieve the siege of Vienna.
This is the Ottoman-Turkish Empire in 1684! Although its interior has been corrupted, the originally powerful Chenieri Legion of Sudan's personal soldiers has also lost most of its combat effectiveness due to the bitter slave scout system being gradually replaced by the hereditary military system. It has transformed from a super-class invincible heavenly soldier. Second-rate in Europe. But Europe’s second-tier players are also very powerful!
Without Fuquan's property and the support of Louis XIV, the current military strength of Rakshasa might not even be comparable to the third-rate in Europe. It would be a bit cowardly to backstab the Ottoman-Turkish Empire.
But in order to regain Constantinople and become the eagle flag of old Rome, the regent princess Sofia of the Rakshasa Kingdom is still ready to give it a go!
"Done!" Princess Sofia's eyes widened, and she slapped a furry "bear paw" on the table, which frightened Chang Ning - that was the only intimidation power of Grand Master Ao Bai Ao back then. !
Seeing Princess Sofia's decision, Fuquan immediately nodded heavily and agreed: "What the princess said is absolutely true. Our new army has been trained now. Counting my 3,000 soldiers, we now have a total of 7 brigades with a total of 35,000 new troops." military!"
"In addition, I also gave Guanyin Bao a large amount of capital and asked him to set up a trading company and build 150 galleys to specialize in grain trade on the Dnieper River and the Black Sea. Moreover, Guanyin Bao also passed through Crimea Through the relationship with Selim Glei, the Khan of the Khanate, he took over the big business of providing wheat for the Turkish army. This summer, 120 ships have been sent, and according to the plan, another 150 ships will be sent next spring."
After hearing Fuquan say this, Chang Ning already knew what he wanted to do: "Second brother, you have to learn from Lu Zi and know how to cross the river, ah, not across the sea to attack the king's castle!"
"Fuquan, how does he know?" Sophia looked at her husband in surprise, and then spoke in Russian, "Did you tell him our secret?"
This is a big secret!
In the name of counterattacking the Qing Dynasty, 35,000 troops were trained. In the name of selling wheat to the Ottoman Empire, he built 150 galleys that could sail on the Black Sea. He actually took a big order from the Ottoman Empire and transported 120 ships of high-quality wheat to Constantinople...
All this was done so seamlessly that even Louis XIV didn't tell him!
In this world, there are only three people who know this secret, one is Princess Sophia, one is Prince Fuquansky, and the other is Guanyin Bao.
But how could Chang Ning know such a secret?
"Sofia, you misunderstood, I didn't say..." Fuquan looked innocent, quickly waved his hand and replied in Russian, "I just met Chang Ning too!"
When Chang Ning heard these two people speaking Russian, he knew that he was really guessing... Chang Ning was also familiar with the Three Kingdoms! Moreover, he himself has led troops for many years. Although he always fails, his experience value is still quite high.
"Sister-in-law," Chang Ning smiled and explained for his second brother, "How could my second brother's plans be hidden from me?
I am the best general in the Qing Dynasty now! "
Those who were better than him either committed treason or died in battle... Therefore, Chang Ning's words were not considered bragging.
Sophia actually knows how powerful the Qing army is!
Although no fierce war broke out between the Rakshasa Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty, petty quarrels were inevitable!
During the years when the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty coexisted peacefully, the Qing army under General Ningguta used sky cannons and parallel trench siege methods to uproot the city of Yaksa.
The Qing army on the Khalkha Mongolian side also drove the Cossacks to the north of Lake Baikal!
On the Kazakh grasslands, Galdan, who was supported by the Qing army's artillery, also attacked the city one after another and bulldozed all the castles built by the Rakshasa people in Dayuzi and Zhongyuzi.
Since the Qing army was so powerful, the most powerful general in the Qing army must be good at fighting, right?
Now, Rakshasa Kingdom needs such generals!
Thinking of this, Sophia asked: "Prince Chang Ning, how many people participated in the largest battle you ever commanded in the East? Who was the opponent?"
"The biggest battle?" Chang Ning sighed, "That was the Battle of Linqing Prefecture... A total of 2.78 million people participated in this battle!"
"Twenty-seven or eighty thousand?" Sophia took a breath.
"At that time, I only had 70,000 to 80,000 people on hand," Chang Ning continued. "My opponent was the Ming Dynasty General Li Zhongshan. He had 200,000 on hand... These 200,000 were only the total strength of the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expeditionary Army under his command. half of."
"Two hundred thousand is only half of it? Doesn't the total force reach 400,000?" Sophia asked, "Do these 400,000 include those responsible for logistics and transportation?"
"Not included, there are eight hundred thousand of them!"
"Eight hundred thousand? My God...it's so scary!"
"So I was defeated by him..." Chang Ning sighed with regret, "It's a pity that the Qing Dynasty also perished!"
"It is not shameful to be defeated by 800,000 enemies..." Sophia thought for a moment, "Brother Chang Ning, after all, you have commanded an army of 100,000 people and fought against the most powerful commander in the East.
This experience alone will surpass all the generals in the Rakshasa Kingdom! "
Sofia thought for a while and asked: "So in your opinion, how confident are we that our assault on Constantinople will be successful?"
To be honest, Sophia was not very sure about the raid on Constantinople.
When Fuquan and Guanyinbao proposed this plan to him, she was still full of confidence.
But as the date for executing this risky plan gets closer, Sophia feels increasingly uncertain.
This is a gamble that will cost the country!
If the bet loses... then the Rakshasa Kingdom will have the Ottoman Empire as its mortal enemy!
And the "Rakshasa Braid Army", which has been built with a huge amount of money, will also be completely wiped out! Because there is no way out for things like cross-sea sneak attacks. You can only succeed, not fail. Failure means the entire army is annihilated!
At that time, the Sultan's anger may plunge the Rakshasa Kingdom into an unprecedented crisis.
This is not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing is that Rakshasa people don’t like losers...
Now Sophia and Fozansky firmly control the real power of the Rakshasa Kingdom with the help of these 35,000 "braided army", and the czars, big and small, are just puppets in Sophia's hands.
The nobles of the Rakshasa Kingdom either took refuge under Princess Sophia or hid aside, daring to be angry and afraid to speak out.
But if they lose... then retribution is coming!
"Sister-in-law," Chang Ning said with a serious face, as if he really knew how to fight: "The success of the assault on Constantinople may be great... and it is inevitable!"
He pointed at the "Edict of Versailles", "Two emperors, a pope and a Spanish prime minister in Western Europe all wanted Rakshasa to stab the Ottoman Empire.
And they also offered the price that the Rakshasa people wanted. Emperor Louis also gave enough support to the Rakshasa Kingdom...Sister-in-law, do you think the Rakshasa Kingdom can receive such huge benefits and not do anything? "
Sophia shook her head...
The Pope, Emperor Leopold, and the Rakshasa Kingdom can be ignored, but Emperor Louis of France really cannot afford to offend him!
"Since it can't be..." Chang Ning said, "then Rakshasa must stab the Ottoman Empire. Since this sword must be stabbed, it must be stabbed hard into the heart of the Ottoman Empire... So the sneak attack on Constantinople is The most correct! If you don’t succeed, you will succeed!”
When Chang Ning said this, his face, which looked a bit fierce with a big beard, was already filled with murderous intent!
He is now a master of backstabbing, and Kangxi was stabbed to death by him!
Seeing the murderous look on his face, Princess Sophia completely believed in this man's military talent!
With this murderous look on his face, he must be at the level of Durenni and Dakondai!
This time, the matter of stabbing Sultan in the back was left to him, so there should be no mistake.
Thinking of this, she turned around and said to Fuquan in Russian: "Dear, it seems we have found a general who can command the assault on Constantinople!"
"You mean Chang Ning?"
"right!"
Fu Quan glanced at his brother, he was indeed murderous! It seems that there have been a lot of murders in the east in recent years. And this time he did not come with a simple chariot, but brought hundreds of subordinates including Bahai, most of whom were officers who had fought hard with Ming Dynasty and Wu Zhou for many years. In terms of war experience, they were not Much worse than the instructors sent by Louis.
And Chang Ning is his biological brother after all. He is a biological brother in war, so father and son are fighting in battle!
This brother must be reliable!
Fuquan nodded: "My dear, I also think that the rich experience he has accumulated in the Eastern battlefield is enough for him to lead my 35,000-strong army to capture Constantinople for us!"
"Brother Chang Ning," Sophia looked at Chang Ning eagerly, "Are you willing to become the field marshal of the Rakshasa Kingdom and command the assault on Constantinople?"
Chang Ning hurriedly clasped his fists: "Chang Ning would rather serve my brother and sister-in-law!"
February 20, 1685 AD, Black Sea, near the Bosporus.
A huge "grain fleet" consisting of 150 galleys is slowly approaching the entrance of the narrow strait.
On a large galley at the head, Aixinjueluo Zhu Changning was wearing a white silk robe and a white melon-skin hat. He stood on the bow of the boat with his hands behind his back, looking at the distance beyond him. Coming closer to the entrance of the strait.
A few months ago, he took over the army built by Fu Quan as an "Eastern military expert" and the marshal prince of the Qing Dynasty.
Later, he spent some time to improve and upgrade this army, which was already quite good by European standards.
The establishment of pikemen was completely abolished, and all muskets were equipped with sleeved bayonets and longer-range hollow bullets. This kind of bullets has already appeared in Europe, but it has not been very popular, even for flintlock muskets. It was not popularized into the Ottoman army, so of course there were no such bullets.
Chang Ning also ordered a batch of rifled guns to be assigned to the soldiers with the best marksmanship. The old craftsmen made a batch of "cork bullets" and distributed them to those soldiers, and set up an elite "rifled gun battalion" to be responsible for Take the lead in the assault on Constantinople!
In addition, Chang Ning also ordered people to make a batch of shovels and send them to the "Rakshasa Braid Army", and asked the accompanying Qing veterans to teach these Rakshasa to dig trenches and build parapets.
Finally, Chang Ning also brought wooden handle grenades to the "Rakshasa Braid Army".
After several months of reorganization, the strength of this new Rakshasa army, which was already quite good, has steadily improved to a higher level. It almost reaches the first-class European standards!
But for a first-rate or second-rate person, just looking at the equipment and training is not enough, you also have to see the real results on the battlefield!
The entrance to the Bosporus was of course fortified, with a fortress on the left and right, and cannons mounted on the fortress, blocking the strait, which was only 3 miles wide. All commercial ships entering the strait need to stop at the entrance of the strait, then undergo inspection and pay taxes.
Of course, the defense of the fortress is not very tight. After all, the Black Sea is still the inland sea of the Ottoman-Turkish Empire. Everyone along the Black Sea has the surname "O". The Rakshasa Kingdom has only expanded to Izyum, and it is still far away from the Black Sea!
Although there are Rakshasa docks and shipyards on the Dnieper River, the galleys built by the Rakshasa people are all thin-skinned, slow-moving grain ships, and it is impossible to use them for naval battles.
If the Rakshasa people want to use such thin-skinned merchant ships to storm the Bosporus, they will simply die!
Moreover, even if you are lucky enough to rush to Constantinople, what will happen?
With the little military power of the Rakshasa Kingdom, is it possible that the impregnable castle can still be conquered?
That is impossible!
Even if most of the soldiers in the castle city led by Sultan Muhammad IV have gone to Vienna, the more than 10,000 people left behind are enough to defend the city until additional reinforcements from the Sultan arrive.
However, the size of the fleet of 150 galleys led by Chang Ning still seemed a bit large.
If supplies were not tight on the front lines in Vienna during this period, the Sultan and the Grand Vizier would send people back to Constantinople every now and then to urge food supplies.
The Ottoman officials responsible for guarding the crossing of the strait might still be suspicious.
But now... the battle on the front line is unfavorable, Vienna cannot be captured for a long time, and the army has difficulties in supplying.
Everyone in the Ottoman Turkish Empire already knew that this time the Battle of Vienna might end in vain.
At this time, everyone must be careful and must not make mistakes that are detrimental to the front line. Otherwise, it would be easy to be used as a scapegoat and take the blame for Vienna's defeat.
So when the officials guarding the crossing of the strait saw more than 100 ships of grain shipped by the three "Mongolian merchants" Chang Ning, Bahai, and Guanyinbao, they were still not allowed to quickly let them go?
That is the rations purchased by His Majesty the Sultan for the army that besieged Vienna... The Sultan's 200,000-strong army is still waiting to eat!
This is going to be delayed. The Sultan happened to be out of food and retreated. It seems that the officials at the crossing of the strait were used as scapegoats...
Therefore, this huge grain transport fleet only received the most perfunctory inspection before sailing into the narrow Bosporus.
The terrain on both sides of the strait is very tight, with many steep rock walls, all of which are good places to build forts and deploy forts.
But now the Rakshasa has not yet risen, and the senior officials of the Ottoman Empire do not believe that the Rakshasa will invade the Bosporus from the north, so these steep rock walls have not been used. There are only a few ancient castles on the way to Constantinople.
There is also only a 60-mile sea route from the northern entrance of the Bosporus Strait to the Golden Horn of Constantinople. Although Chang Ning's galley is not very fast, it can be completed in a few hours.
When they arrived at the Golden Horn, Constantinople, the former capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, was shrouded in the golden sunlight of dusk, looking magnificent, sacred and solemn.
Chang Ning took a look at this city that has fascinated countless Europeans, and then took out a monocular telescope and began to use it to observe his "prey", which was Constantinople under the golden dusk. .
There are many galley warships parked in the Golden Horn, but there are no sailors on the warships. A very strong fortress, standing on the north shore of the Golden Horn. The fortress looks majestic and solid, but there are few guards standing guard, and the defense is obviously very lax.
As for the docks in the Golden Horn, not a single patrolling Turkish soldier could be seen, only businessmen and coolies coming and going.
Near the side of the Golden Horn, the several gates on the tall and sturdy wall of Constantinople are all open...
Chang Ning put down the telescope, with a long-lost smile of victory on his face. He turned around and said to Bahai and Guanyinbao beside him: "Okay, the raid was successful! Tell the brothers below to prepare their eagle flags..." (End of Chapter)
