The desolate horn blew throughout the rolling valley.
Hearing the sound of the horn, countless warriors wearing Byzantine-style armor poured out of their hiding places. They occupied high places and looked down at the enemy troops arrayed on the plain in the distance.
This is the southern foothills of the middle section of Mount Kerroglu. More than sixty miles away is Metropol, the most important city of the Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor.
The city later became the capital of Türkiye and was renamed Ankara.
Badas Scoleru quickly drank a bowl of thick porridge with some fish but not much salt. He waved his hand and walked out with hundreds of guards in the stone castle.
Seeing Badas Skoleru come out, the soldiers cheered like waves.
When the single-headed eagle flag, symbolizing the Byzantine co-ruling emperor, and the purple lion flag, symbolizing the commander of the army, appeared, the cheers became even louder.
The sound waves even shook the branches and leaves of the trees in the mountains.
However, when Badas Skoleru finished waving in a ceremonial manner, the smile on his face disappeared in an instant.
He really didn't expect that these Easterners could judge the empire's situation so accurately and thoroughly.
They did not attack the magnificent Constantinople, which seemed to be the heart of the empire, but attacked the territory of these warriors - the Asia Minor Plateau from three sides.
Tap, tap!
The crisp sound of horse hooves sounded, and then suddenly increased in volume. It sounded like at least hundreds of horses were driving over, and along with the sound of horse hooves, there was even louder cheering.
Badas Scoleru looked around in surprise. Directly in the distance, a large square flag with three long three-color ribbons was coming.
"The white cross with the red, yellow and blue ribbons at the end is Bardas Phocas of the Phocas family. They are finally here!"
Some people cheered, ever since Emperor Basil I refused to recognize Bardas Skoleru as co-emperor.
He began to vigorously promote and fund Bardas Phokas, the patriarch of the Phokas family who was also a warrior in Asia Minor and had produced Nikephorus II and John I, to check and balance Bardas Skeleru. .
But unexpectedly, at this most dangerous moment for the empire, Bardas Phocas, who had been refusing to deal with Bardas Skeleru, finally rushed over.
"The members of the Komnenos family are also here. They did not succumb to the devil in the east. They also came to participate in this decisive battle that must be won."
Someone spotted another very conspicuous flame flag and cheered loudly.
"Your Majesty, the Phocas family is here. I hope we are not late."
Bardas Sklerlu looked at Bardas Phocas in surprise.
"What did you call me, Your Majesty?"
Bardas Phocas, with his blond hair, looked quite handsome and sunny. He nodded seriously.
"Yes, you are our Majesty, His Majesty Sklerlu I.
Basil and the fat-minded nobles in Constantinople cannot save our hometown, let alone the empire in crisis. Only you can! "
"Yes, Your Majesty, both the Komnenos family and the Ducasse family will save this country under your command. This is the wish of all of us." John Komnenos from Komnenos also said loudly.
"Didn't your Komnenos family succumb to the devil from the east?" someone asked.
John Komnenos laughed a few times, "How is that possible? That's just a lie used to delay time.
The Komnenos family will always stand by His Majesty's side and safeguard the honor of all the honorable ministers of Asia Minor. "
"Your Majesty, I have also brought a messenger from the Great Cannibal. General Zhaohair Suigili, the famous general of the Fatimid Kingdom, has set sail from Alexandria with a fleet of two to three hundred warships.
The cannibal navy will join forces with the Imperial Navy to block the Black Sea Fleet of the Devil in the East! "
"Great!" Badas Sklerlu stood up excitedly and delivered a passionate speech on the spot:
“It’s great to see so many families here!
This once again proves that our honorable ministers in Asia Minor are the backbone of the empire, and only we are the defenders of Orthodoxy.
The civil servants of Constantinople only knew how to squeeze every bit of wealth from the people and did nothing.
Phocas, let us defeat these devils from the east together!
We must not only defeat them, but we must capture Damascus and capture Baghdad.
When we return to Constantinople with these illustrious military exploits, those civil servants who deceived young Basil will be severely punished.
And 伱, the Phokas family will take over Damascus and become the vice-king of the empire and the ruler of Damascus. "
Badas Phocas was very excited. He quickly put one hand on his chest and saluted Badas Sklerlu.
"As you command, my lord, the Phocas family will always follow you."
. . . .
Fifteen miles north of Metropol, Zhang Nengkun, the crown prince of Dunhuang County, heard the cheers and immediately looked up the mountain with his telescope in hand.
"Uncle Ten, come and see, those Western Qin people seem to be holding some kind of ceremony!"
The King of Shu, Zhang Xiantai, who was slowly eating a roasted leg of lamb, said without even raising his head, "They are holding a coronation ceremony."
"Ah?" Zhang Nengkun looked at Zhang Xiantai strangely.
"How does Uncle Ten know so clearly? Badas Skleru is still thinking about his status as co-emperor."
“Because I arranged for Badas Phocas to go there, and he went there just to set up Badas Sklerlu.
Stand it high, and then let him fall down hard. It's better to break his neck directly and die! "
Zhang Nengkun was even more puzzled and surprised, "How did Uncle Ten get people like Bardas Phocas to obey orders?
This is not easy. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to surrender the Komnenos family last time, but failed in the end. "
"It's very simple!" Zhang Xiantai put down the leg of lamb, which was cleaner than a dog's chew, and said with a smile:
"I married Bardas Phocas's mother Anna and became his stepfather."
Hearing this, Zhang Nengkun looked at Zhang Xiantai in horror. He said calmly: "Uncle Ten, Bardas Phocas is already twenty-eight years old, so his mother..."
"Forty-four years old!" Zhang Xianta blinked.
"But she is still a very plump and mature beauty who knows how to take care of others. No one enjoys sex more than she does.
Your Highness, you should actually try a woman as mature as a peach, and don't always treat teenage girls as treasures.
In this way, I will arrange a few for you later. "
"No! No! No!" Zhang Nengkun said three words "no" in great horror.
To a teenager, a woman in her forties is already an old woman, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince cannot accept it at all.
"Hahahaha!" Zhang Xiantai laughed again, but she stopped making jokes about Zhang Nengkun and said seriously:
"Prince, the rules of the Far West and Tai West are different from those of the Middle Earth. They lack some of the light of ethical civilization, but have more of an innate magnanimity.
In Middle-earth, if I want to marry the widowed mother of Bardas Phocas, he will definitely try his best to kill me, because this is the greatest insult to a person.
But this is not the case in Taisi. My marrying his mother represents a kind of contractual cooperation, and it is also a recognition of the reputation of the Phocas family.
What could be more proof of this than a monarch from the far East who was also happy to marry into the Phocas family.
Under this father-son relationship, after I capture Constantinople, I will, as promised, capture Naples and even Rome for Bardas Phokas, and help him ascend the throne of the King of Italy. "
The word Italy appeared very early and currently refers specifically to the Apennine Peninsula including Milan and Genoa. It is a geographical concept, not a national concept.
But I think it will soon become a national concept.
"Well, Uncle Ten reminded me of the Huns and Turks in the past. They seemed to have such operations." The young Crown Prince was greatly shocked.
Of course, it's not that Zhang Xiantai's operations were beyond his cognition, but that Zhang Xiantai's identity and such strong taste were a bit beyond his expectation.
"Haha, my eldest nephew.
When you meet your sixth uncle, the King of Liao Kingdom, you will know what a king who truly has the legacy of the Huns and Turks is like. Mrs. Zhang Xian laughed.
Zhang Nengkun also grinned. An uncle who was willing to give up the Lu Fan Kingdom (Lelang) and go thousands of miles away, and was still called the terrible Khan and the little loving father by the locals. If they say that he is more like the Turks or the Huns, that is definitely true. of.
"Uncle Ten, do we need to take advantage of Badas Phocas as an internal agent to capture the Królu Mountain Fortress Group as soon as possible?"
"No, Your Highness, we still need to wait." Zhang Xiantai shook his head.
"Do you still have to wait?" Zhang Nengkun asked doubtfully, and then quickly realized, "Do you have to wait for the second uncle and sixth uncle to send the good news?"
"Yes, when the main fleets of the Great Eaters and the Western Qin (Byzantine) are completely destroyed, they will come down to fight decisively without waiting for us to attack."
. . . .
In the southern part of the Black Sea, a fierce naval battle is beginning.
The Western Expeditionary Army, which brought together the wily and prestigious An Wang Zhang Xianyu, the brave and capable royal twins Zhang Xianjiong, King of Liao, and Zhang Xiantai, King of Shu, would certainly not attack Constantinople directly.
Not only because Constantinople had high walls and thick walls, but also because the defense was very comprehensive, but also because the young Basil I had many choices in Constantinople.
For example, he could choose to recognize Bardas Skeleru as co-emperor when Constantinople was besieged.
Then Bardas Skeleru, who is entrenched in Asia Minor and has nearly 100,000 troops in his hands, will definitely send troops to relieve the siege.
Even other forces, such as the Hungarians, Italy and even the kingdoms and principalities of the original Charlemagne Empire, can be hired with money and titles.
Finally, he could also ask the patriarchs of the Eastern Church to make religious compromises in exchange for the support of Western sects, including the former territories of Charlemagne's empire, and organize a crusade for the Eastern Expedition.
At this time, Orthodoxy and Christianity have not yet completely broken off, and these are all possible.
The solid Constantinople gave Basil I the space and time to operate.
But if the Zhou army attacked the Asia Minor plateau first, there would be no need to worry about this at all.
The Western (European) part of the Byzantine Empire did not have sufficient martial virtues, and Basil I, who had just come to power, did not have as keen battlefield intuition as Badas Skoleru.
It is estimated that after the Zhou army almost annihilated the Asia Minor Army, the civil servants in Constantinople were still debating loudly in the palace.
To capture Constantinople, or to cut off the connection between Western Europe and Far Western Asia Minor, the navy was the most important means.
The Byzantine Empire has always been most proud of their navy equipped with Greek fire. As long as their navy is destroyed, all this can be said to be over.
So it started two years ago, before the coalition forces of the Xia Kingdoms launched the last Battle of Damascus.
With the direct allocation of 4.4 million yuan from the Central Court to the Imperial Secretariat, the Xia Kingdom, headed by the Regent Daxi King Zhang Xianyu, recruited craftsmen and laborers on a large scale and began to build warships along the Caspian Sea.
And it is not an old-style building ship, but a new-style sail gunboat that uses an open-air deck and a gun deck and uses horizontal bombardment tactics as its core.
Although this kind of gunboat is limited by the constraints of the shipbuilding industry, metal smelting industry, and even the textile industry, it cannot use a large number of soft sails like the sailing warships of the seventeenth century in history. Each ship often has thirty to eighty guns.
But it can also be installed with fifteen artillery pieces, which are approximately equal to four to six pounds. In addition, there are crossbows such as the Fuyuan Crossbow on the open deck. They can be driven in two modes: oars and sails. The combat effectiveness is definitely much more powerful than ordinary warships.
In March of the third year of Xianyong's reign, AD 988.
It took six and a half months to recruit 160,000 Tianzhu civilians and 30,000 Khazarian Jews, and almost used up all the two-year grain and savings of the entire Ningyuan Governor-General (Fergana Basin).
The engineers of the Great Zhou Tiangong Institute, led by Yan Su, the great scientist and the secretary of the Zhongshu Liangshe, the Bachelor of Zhaowu, the Minister of the Ministry of War, the Secretary of the Military Aircraft Department of the Zhuxia Republican Assembly, spent six and a half months trying all kinds of methods.
Forty-seven large warships built in the Caspian Sea and their artillery were transported to the Black Sea by boating for 1,100 miles on dry land.
In June of the third year of Xianyong's reign, AD 988.
The Zhou navy and the Byzantine navy, which had been fighting each other with small boats for more than a month, were finally about to engage in a decisive battle.
Because after a lot of preliminary work and familiarity in the last two months, the navy of the Great Zhou Dynasty basically understood the hydrological conditions of the Black Sea and had the conditions for a decisive battle.
The fighting started in the early hours of the morning.
The Byzantine Empire Navy dispatched 170 warships, and the Green Cloth Dashi dispatched 81 warships, totaling 252 warships of various types, with a total of more than 57,000 soldiers and sailors.
At the beginning of the battle, the ruthless fleet commander Zhang Xianjiong, the king of the Liao Kingdom, only ordered the Zhou navy to go into battle with 130 old-fashioned warships.
The battle reached noon. Although the officers and soldiers of the Zhou navy fought bravely, they still could not resist the Byzantine navy with Greek fire. Eighty-seven warships were lost and more than 4,000 officers and soldiers were killed.
Although the Byzantine navy and the green-clad navy won great victories, their own losses were also considerable.
However, the Byzantine naval commander insisted on pursuing the remaining Zhou fleet, regardless of the persuasion of Zhaohaier Suigili, the famous navy general in green clothes.
At this time, a northwest wind suddenly blew, and the new-style fleet of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which had been waiting in agony, finally waited for the opportunity. They opened their full sails and roared from the northwest, which the Byzantine navy had never expected.
Although there were only forty-four warships (three were damaged and could not go into battle), the Dazhou gunboats, which were equipped with epoch-making artillery and practiced even more epoch-making tactics, rushed into the Byzantine Navy and started killing.
Many Byzantine warships were hit by artillery before they could spit out Greek fire. Then the hot projectiles ignited the warehouses storing Greek fire, causing violent explosions and large-scale fires.
After about two hours of fighting, the Byzantine navy was almost completely wiped out. Only a few warships were able to escape to the Green Fleet, which did not engage in the battle, in an attempt to escape hastily through the Bosporus.
As a result, during the decisive naval battle, Zhang Nengqi, the crown prince of the Liao dynasty, and Luktu, the famous general of the Shu dynasty, led a 30,000-strong coalition composed of Rus, Bulgarians, Western Turkic tribes, Kimak people, Kipchaks, and a small number of elite Han troops.
After running for more than 30 miles in two hours, they captured the mouth of the Bosporus. They then sank the ship and sealed the mouth of the strait with trebuchets and ballistae.
The frightened Byzantine Emperor Basil I quickly dispatched six legions of the Praetorian Guard of Constantinople to relieve the siege, but they were all repulsed.
The navy was blocked at the mouth of the gorge, and the Zhou navy also pursued them in the distance.
After three hours of desperate resistance, before sunset, the legendary general Zhaohaier Suigili committed suicide in despair and died for his country. Most of the battleships sank, and only a few escaped.
In fact, they did not lose in tactics and strategy, and their command did not make many mistakes.
They lost to Zhang Zhou, who had a national power that far exceeded that of the Byzantine Empire. At the same time, he also had a terrifying king who could drive everyone in the empire, and the last true god and prophet in the world - the Great Emperor of Zhou.
I, Zhang Shengren, used all my manpower and material resources. In order to realize the journey of more than a thousand miles on dry land, there were as many as 70,000 exhausted Tianzhu people and Khazar barbarians who believed in Judaism.
Dazhou defeated them with this decisive method that was unprecedented and rarely seen by newcomers.
In July, when news of the decisive naval battle came, Badas Skolelu, who was still holding on to the Keroglu Mountains, immediately became unable to sit still.
Now it is equivalent to having their escape route cut off, and the territory of Asia Minor is being continuously encroached on, and they can no longer hold on.
At this time, he had already held an enthronement ceremony in the mountains a few months ago. With the support of everyone from Asia Minor, he declared to himself that he had become a co-ruling emperor.
At the same time, he also used the name of the Qing Emperor, claiming that the Emperor Vasily I of Constantinople was deceived by the palace servants and civil servants around him.
Under such circumstances, Bardas Skeleru could not save his face at all and took the initiative to retreat to Constantinople while the Dardanelles Strait was not yet blocked.
He hinted at Bardas Phocas and John Comneno several times, but these people pretended to be deaf and dumb.
Therefore, Badas Skoleru, who was framed, simply decided to take the initiative. He would use 80,000 troops to relieve the siege of Metropol.
Do you think Badas Scolleru doesn't know that Zhang Xiantai is besieging the city to support him?
He knew too well and was convinced that others knew too, so he offered to come to the rescue.
Because he did not want to relieve the siege at all, but wanted to use it to relieve the siege and use the matter of leaving the mountainous area with strong fortresses to frighten the officers below and make them offer to retreat to Constantinople.
In this way, Bardas Sklerlu could continue to control the army in name, and he would not bear much responsibility for the loss of Asia Minor. In Constantinople, he could still rely on the army to preserve his wealth and life.
As a result, he did not expect that Bardas Phocas and John Komnenos, who had high hopes, immediately raised their hands in approval, as if they were not afraid at all to go down the mountain for a decisive battle.
At the same time, a large number of grassroots officers and soldiers also agreed to attack.
Because their families and land were in Asia Minor, they would be safe if they retreated to Constantinople, but their families would undoubtedly become slaves of the devil in the east, so they were not in favor of retreating.
In desperation, Bardas Sklerlu was roasted on the fire by everyone. With the premonition and resentment of almost being buried, he led the main force of the Byzantine army, more than 80,000 Asia Minor legions, and took the initiative to go down the mountain to attack.
On July 22, the two sides launched a decisive battle twenty miles northwest of Metropol City (Ankara).
The Byzantine army took the initiative and attacked from three sides. Zhang Xiantai led a coalition of 50,000 troops from various countries to cover up the more than 20,000 elite troops coming from the middle of the country, preventing the Byzantine army from seeing the flag.
On July 24, the Byzantine army attacked the left wing of the Zhou army, successfully repulsed the 15,000 vassal troops of Cao, Xu, and Qi stationed here, and controlled the river on the left wing.
On July 28, the elite Byzantine army of 4,000 infantry and cavalry, formed by Nikephoros I personally, once again defeated the 6,000-strong Zhongshan Guards on the left wing, which was mainly composed of Armenians and Armenians.
This was a crushing victory. The Zhongshan vassal army lost more than 2,000 people. The good warriors even almost captured the silver sun hanging golden tassels given to Queen Guo Tinger of Zhongshan by the Emperor of Zhou Dynasty.
These two victories completely boosted the morale of the Byzantine army and fully proved that the Byzantine Asia Minor Army, which was continuously improved by two generations of military strategists and emperors, Nikephorus II and John I, was very powerful.
At least today, eleven years after the death of John I, the armies of Asia Minor still maintain considerable combat effectiveness.
But immediately afterwards, Badas Skoleru's main force of 40,000 men attacked the right flank of the Zhou army, and the battle went very poorly.
Zhang Xiantai used a trick. He arranged the Wei, Jin, Zheng, Zhao and other vassal armies with relatively low combat effectiveness in the central army to cover the elite soldiers coming from the imperial court.
His own elite troops from Shu and the more powerful An Fan and Song vassals, totaling 25,000 elite troops, were guarding the right.
This was a head-to-head battle. The two sides fought back and forth for three commanding heights on the right. The battle lasted from July 28th to August 6th. For ten days, the Byzantine army was still unable to defeat the Zhou army.
At this time, Zhang Xiantai pretended to make a mistake and let the Byzantine scouts discover the great banners of Shu and An in the Chinese army camp.
Badas Sklerlu suddenly realized that the main force of the Zhou army was on the right!
Therefore, in the next few days, except for one fierce attack by the Byzantine army, the rest were thunderous and rainy.
Badas Sklerlu secretly concentrated the main force on the central army.
This is an open plain, which is very suitable for large regiments and cavalry to fight. The garrisons on the left and right wings protect the central army like two big turtles. If the central army is attacked at any time, the two wings can outflank and come to the rescue.
But at this time, Badas Scoleru felt that he had defeated the left wing of the Zhou army, and the right wing was also beaten to the point where he almost dared not take the initiative to attack. The center of the Zhou army was disguised by the second-line troops, which was a god-given opportunity.
August 15th, early morning.
Badas Scoleru had long ago found out that this was an important festival for the Zhou army, and detected from a distance that there were gatherings and sounds coming from most camps of the Zhou army, so he decided to launch a general attack in the early morning.
. . . .
There were not many lights in the Zhou army's camp, but judging from the little bits of moonlight cast by the skewed moon, it seemed that the army had already been fully equipped.
The Crown Prince and Prince of Dunhuang County, Zhang Nengkun, was wearing golden armor, holding an extremely ornately decorated walking stick, and a long horizontal sword on his waist, which attracted everyone's attention.
This set of equipment is the most mysterious part of Zhang Zhou's miraculous rise.
This was Saint Zhang's original set of modern armor and weapons, and it has now been said to be the divine weapon given by Heaven to Saint Zhang to turn the tide and revitalize China.
"Needless to say, everyone knows what this battle represents. There can only be one emperor in this world, and that is His Majesty the Great Emperor in the middle of China!
Nowadays, in all directions, all those who arrogantly claimed to be emperor have surrendered. Only the Western Qin Empire is still claiming to be emperor. This is intolerable!
Let me, together with you, capture Vasily alive, put a rope around his neck, take him to Luoyang, the capital of the gods, and offer him to the Supreme Holy Emperor! "
At the beginning of Chenshi (seven o'clock in the morning)
The Byzantine army of 43,000 men suddenly launched an attack, but the situation they hoped to quickly break the Zhou army's camp did not happen at all.
Instead, they were strongly blocked by three thousand Jianghuai crossbowmen and two thousand strong archers from Japan and Korea.
These crossbowmen, who are dubbed the White Army, are very elite, and all of them are powerful warriors.
The Byzantine army suffered heavy casualties under their heavy firepower. The leading three legions of 20,000 men lost more than 5,000 men in one hour and were almost scrapped on the spot.
Only now did Badas Sklerlu realize that something was wrong, but it was already too late. The sound of horse hooves thundered in the distance, and the prairie light cavalry of the Zhou army on both wings were already rushing over.
The three thousand elite cavalry of the Chinese army, drawn by Lao Sixiang of Xianshandu, also began to counterattack.
Fight until the end (3 p.m.)
The various legions of the Byzantine army, which suffered heavy casualties and were hungry and thirsty, collapsed one after another. Bardas Skeleru could only lead more than 10,000 rear troops to retreat under the cover of his confidants.
The most elite combat troops of the former army showed their final glory in the retreat. They carried out a desperate blockade at the key pass entering the Keroglu Mountains.
The three thousand good warriors were almost completely wiped out, but relying on the dangerous pass, they blocked the Zhou army's pursuing troops for five days, maintaining the last vitality of the Byzantine army.
On August 20th, the Zhou army's attack on the Byzantine army's Keroglu mountain fortress group was frustrated. Large-scale rebellions broke out across Asia Minor, and the food routes were threatened.
Seeing that the time was not yet ripe, Zhang Xiantai launched the Turtle Breathing Technique again after having been tortured for more than 20 years.
After the Zhou army gave up the storming of the mountainous area and returned to conquer Metropol, they immediately began to send troops to various places to quell the rebellion, and strictly blocked the entry and exit of materials from Krroglu Mountain.
Badas Scoleru stayed on until September 15th. He summoned another 10,000 to 20,000 new soldiers. Adding the more than 30,000 people who escaped, there were almost 50,000 people, but supplies were very scarce.
This time, Bardas Scolleru could no longer care about his face, and he personally led the army to retreat to the Dardanelles Strait.
But at this time, the Liao vassal prince Zhang Nengqi and Luktu had already blocked the entire Dardanelles Strait, and the Zhou navy also controlled the Sea of Marmara.
Badas Scolleru came to attack with 40,000 to 50,000 remaining defeated generals and new recruits. Although the Zhou army guarding the castles around the Dardanelles only had more than 6,000 people due to supply difficulties, they still did not let Badas .Scolleru took a step forward.
It was delayed until the end of October, and the weather suddenly turned cold. Badas Skoleru had no choice but to retreat to the Keroglu Mountains with tens of thousands of remnant troops with extremely low morale.
Most of them got separated and fled on the road.
Before they could return to their home base, a fire broke out in the army.
The capitulation faction headed by Bardas Phocas murdered the Dukas family and other Asia Minor heroes who were leading the battle.
After cutting off Badas Sklerlu's left and right, they besieged Badas Sklerlu in a small village called Sai.
On October 23rd, the north wind was blowing, and Badas Skoleru had a high fever. The army, which lacked firewood, could not even cook a bowl of wheat porridge.
In desperation, the chaplain strangled the Byzantine Empire Asia Minor representative with a straw rope and surrendered to Bardas Phocas and others outside.
At this point, the backbone of the Byzantine Empire, the Asia Minor Army, was completely destroyed.
. . . .
April of the fourth year of Xianyong's reign in the Great Zhou Dynasty, 989 AD.
The Zhou army, with Crown Prince Zhang Nengkun as its commander, gathered the armies of the Twelve Kingdoms of Xia and the main force of the imperial court of 30,000 people, totaling 160,000 people, to besiege Constantinople from two directions: Bulgaria and Asia Minor.
In June, the Zhou navy once again defeated the green-clad Dashi and the navies coming from Italy and Gaul with new warships.
Immediately afterwards, the army defeated the 40,000 European and American Crusaders invited by Basil I at the cost of giving up certain religious beliefs of the Eastern Church five miles south of Constantinople. They captured and killed more than 20,000 people, making the European and American countries no longer Don't dare to look east.
In July, Liao King Zhang Xianjiong personally led 40,000 cavalry and defeated Vasily I's last hope.
Thirty thousand Hungarian cavalry were led by Grand Duke Isztvan I of Hungary. The Magyars, known as the Shield of God, suffered heavy casualties and were overwhelmed.
At this point, Constantinople was completely in dire straits.
In May of the fifth year of Xianyong's reign, AD 990.
The artillery that Zhang Nengkun brought from China all the way finally played its due role. Under the continuous bombardment of these artillery weighing more than 5,000 kilograms, the outer fortresses of Constantinople continued to fall.
On May 15th, the Zhou army's artillery combined with tunnel blasting successfully destroyed the strongest west wall of Constantinople, and the army swarmed in.
On May 17, the street fighting ended, and more than 400 Byzantine Emperor Basil I, his concubines, children, and other court ladies became the spoils of war.
The Patriarch of the suburbs of Constantinople and others announced their acceptance of the narrative of the Five Sages of the Apocalypse, recognizing that the Supreme Sage Zhang was the last sage of the Apocalypse in the world, and that the status of Jesus was reduced from the Son of God to that of a human sage.
The Zhou army launched a sacking of Constantinople. The city's treasures, artworks, and cultural books were packed away and more than 60,000 people became slaves and were taken to the East.
May twenty-fifth.
The Crown Prince and Prince of Dunhuang County, Zhang Nengkun, is wearing Zhang Wushangtian's golden armor and holding Zhang Wushangtian's walking stick.
In place of his grandfather, he conferred the title of King of Shu, Zhang Xiantai, as the Dharma King of Taixi Yingwu Mingrui, and made Constantinople the capital.
Ruled over the territories of the former Byzantine Empire as well as Croatia, Romania, Moldova and Crimea, plus the Aleppo region of Syria.
The king of the Liao Kingdom, Zhang Xianjiong, was canonized as the Dharma King of the Far West, Gangmingxiong, who conquered Anjiang. He established his capital in Kiev and ruled the entire Far West region, which was later known as San Mao and half of Poland.
This is the last thing Zhang Zhao can do, use both religion and military power to help them suppress the local area. As for what will happen in the future, it is the descendants' own business.
On August 16, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the crown prince and the king of Dunhuang returned with their troops from the twelve kings of Xia who had rushed to Constantinople for a gathering.
The last Byzantine emperor Basil I and thousands of others were all taken away as prisoners.
The Great King of Shu, Zhang Xiantai, the Dharma King of Yingwu Mingrui Town in the West, bowed to the east and wished his father Zhang Shengren a long life, and then changed the name of Constantinople.
On the grounds that Zhang's Xia kings gathered here, Constantinople was changed to
Zhang Junbao!
(End of chapter)
