1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 162 Gallipoli
A group of cavalrymen were galloping on the avenue on the northwest coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara.

The road ahead was crowded with scattered deserters and refugees. Broken carriages and dead livestock blocked the road, and the crowd was pushing and shoving.

They discovered the cavalry group in the rear and saw the double-headed eagle flag held high by the cavalry. They were terrified and hurriedly took their wives and daughters to hide in the woods beside the road to make way for the army.

Perhaps they knew it was difficult to escape, perhaps they still retained a last bit of courage, or perhaps they had too much hatred for the Roman emperor who had brought disaster upon them, some deserters gritted their teeth, supported themselves on the ground with their spears, staggered to their feet, raised the spear handles with determined looks.

The Ottoman deserters, who were dying from the plague, were completely unable to stop the high-spirited Slaves cavalry and were directly gored through.

The defeated soldiers lost their last hope, threw down their weapons and fell to their knees.

"Get out of the way!"

"Put down your weapons and line up. I don't have time to take you prisoners!"

In the center of the army, Isaac shouted loudly in Turkic.

The Slaves cavalry did not stop, bypassed the blockage on the road, and continued to gallop south, leaving behind a cloud of dust and a mess on the ground.

Nearly two months had passed since the fall of Adrianople. During this period, Isaac's army swept across the plains of Eastern Thrace. The Ottoman army, which had lost its only major city, was unable to resist and was quickly divided and defeated.

Isaac and Constantine XI made a good division of labor, letting their father stay in Adrianople to stabilize the situation, provide relief to refugees, control the epidemic, deal with corpses, resettle the people, and negotiate with the remaining Turkish nobles.

Adrianople was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, where Mehmed II and most of the relatives of high-ranking officials stayed. They were inexplicably caught up in a plague, in which a quarter of the people died, and they were inexplicably imprisoned by Isaac.

Among the sons of Mehmed II, the second son Mustafa and the daughter who married Mahmud Pasha died of illness, but the young Prince Cem miraculously survived and became Isaac's captive.

Unfortunately, before the Battle of Belgrade began, Mehmed II's eldest son Bayezid, who was already ten years old, was sent to Manisa to serve as governor and luckily escaped.

It was a tradition of the Ottoman Empire to send older princes to various places for training, and Isaac had no other choice.

This Prince Jem was also famous in the original history, and Isaac planned to imprison him and use him in the future.

Every member of the Ottoman family is invaluable and a good political weapon.

As for Bayezid who was far away in Manisa, Isaac was temporarily out of reach and could not do anything about it.

This Ottoman prince, who has more than three-quarters Roman blood, has been meticulous and scheming since childhood. With such huge changes in the world line, Isaac cannot predict his next move.

A lot happened in the Mediterranean world during these two months.

The smallpox virus had a great impact on several densely populated cities. The plague in Paris, Venice and Cairo was out of control. The whole city was in panic. Residents who were still full of energy the week before began to have fever in the second week, started to get pox in the third week, and could die at any time in the fourth week.

Isaac's methods were too far-reaching to be hidden from anyone interested, and were soon discovered by the monarchs of several of the countries most affected.

King Charles VII of France, who was negotiating with the House of Anjou in the port of Marseille, was so angry that he cursed and wrote a stern letter of accountability to Isaac, demanding that he compensate for the losses caused by the plague in northern France and apologize to him personally.

The new governor of Venice, Pasquale from the Malipiero family, survived the plague. With a pockmarked face, he gave a speech in the Great Council, declared an irreconcilable war with the Eastern Roman Empire, and sent a warning letter to Isaac.

As for Cairo, the sudden outbreak of the plague caused the Ashrev army that was besieging the city to retreat like a tide, which indirectly helped Sultan Mansur. The Sultan, who was at a disadvantage in the civil war and had to rely on Isaac's mercenaries, chose to remain silent.

Isaac received the letter during the march, glanced at it, and then ordered Lake, the royal historian, to write two obscene letters in ancient Latin and send them to the leaders of Venice and France.

After receiving the reply, the two leaders ordered the knowledgeable priest to translate it with great effort, but they only got a letter full of obscenities, which made them so angry that their lips trembled and they could not speak.

Then, two letters were sent to the Vatican, asking the new Pope, Calixtus III from the Borgia family, to excommunicate Isaac and terminate all agreements signed between the Crusaders and him.

When Isaac spread the plague, he deliberately avoided several countries with which he had good relations. Genoa, Monferrato, Portugal, Aragon, Castile, and the Papal States were not directly attacked by smallpox.

Moreover, when the plague first started, Isaac summoned their envoys, told them the details of the cowpox vaccination method, provided them with cows infected with the cowpox virus, and showed them the scar on his shoulder to increase credibility.

Seeing that there was indeed no large-scale infection in Isaac's territory, the monarchs of friendly countries finally stopped questioning and began to carry out large-scale vaccination from top to bottom using the cows provided by Isaac.

The spread of the plague takes time. When the plague, which originated in Paris and Venice, spread to Iberia and central and southern Italy, it no longer caused any serious impact.

So, Pope Callixtus III received the envoys of his two biggest enemies with a cheerful face, listened to their indignant statements with joy, and then promised to conduct a thorough investigation.

He then announced that the plague was God's curse on the unfaithful, and that the two leaders should reflect carefully on whether they had done anything to insult God and the Church.

Thinking of this, Isaac couldn't help but snort.

In addition to the Ottoman Empire, his plague offensive was mainly aimed at the Kingdom of France and the Republic of Venice, so he was naturally prepared to be hated by them.

Venice was the century-old enemy of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the two sides were at loggerheads to the death, so there was nothing much to say.

The Kingdom of France was Isaac's biggest rival for a long time. In order to ensure his own interests in Italy, he had to cut off the tentacles of Charles VII and Louis XI reaching out to Italy. The contradiction between the two sides was simply irreconcilable.

Under Isaac's operation, the plague in Venice first broke out in the Venetian Arsenal. The sailors on the warships and the workers in the naval arsenal were the first to suffer, and it would take some time to recover.

As for France, the smallpox virus broke out in several of the richest cities in the north, including Paris, Reims and Orleans.

Perhaps in the near future, France will recover from the plague and find a way to take revenge on Isaac.

Constantine XI and his ministers were very worried about this, but Isaac was not panicked at all.

In terms of land force strength, the three Eastern Roman Empires could not catch up with the Kingdom of France, which had thousands of Imperial Knights, but in terms of navy, France was still far behind.

Charles VII's already small professional navy was mostly distributed in the English Channel, and the number of warships along the Mediterranean coast was pitifully small, so they could not pose any threat to Isaac.

If a war really breaks out, the naval fleet of Isaac's bandit family will set sail from various ports along the coast of North Africa and harass the ports and coastal towns in southern France like a hornet.

The money obtained from the robbery can be used to build ships, the ships built can be used to rob more people, the people obtained from the robbery can be sold for money, the money obtained from the sales can be used to build ships, and the ships built can be used to rob more people, forming a virtuous circle.

However, no matter how things develop next, Isaac must end the Balkan war as soon as possible and increase his own strength as much as possible.

The smallpox virus is not omnipotent. Compared with the Black Death caused by the Mongols using plague bacteria, the weaknesses of the smallpox virus are obvious. Not only does it have a lower mortality rate, it is also unable to cause continuous and repeated infections. After people form antibodies, the virus loses its power. It comes and goes quickly.

Furthermore, the smallpox virus can only take effect in densely populated large cities. With a well-developed administrative system, it is easier for the government to control the virus in rural areas, and it has accumulated rich experience in thousands of years of struggle.

The plague in France caused great chaos in northern France, but failed to cause any waves in the south where the manor system was predominant. The plague in Venice spread widely in the plains of the lower Po River, but was unable to break through the blockade of the Alps at all.

There are also some places that were originally severely affected by the smallpox plague. The occasional appearance of smallpox has made the local people generally have corresponding antibodies. In these places, the plague naturally died down.

The Vienna Basin and the Iberian Peninsula are among these areas.

Therefore, Isaac must hurry up and capture strategic locations and large cities before the Balkan plague subsides!
"Hurry up! Ignore the refugees and remnant soldiers on the road!"

Isaac turned around and shouted loudly to the cavalry behind him.

"We have to get to Gallipoli before the sun sets!"

……

As the sun sets, the blood-red sunlight shines on Mehmed II's shoulders and into his empty eye sockets.

"Your Majesty, the Sultan, a decision must be made."

Beside him, the sword-wielding vizier Mahmud Pasha came and stood quietly beside the Sultan.

In front of them was a heavily guarded camp, with soldiers patrolling everywhere and strictly prohibiting anyone from approaching. This was originally a village in northern Bulgaria. After the plague broke out, the Bulgarian region, which was mainly backward rural areas, was spared.

The Ottoman Empire's governor in Bulgaria was experienced. After receiving Zagan Pasha's warning letter, he quickly adopted targeted measures. He burned a no-man's land in the Bulgarian border area and strictly prohibited the movement of people between villages, thus temporarily keeping the plague out.

Upon learning the news of the fall of Edirne, Mehmed II was shocked and fainted immediately due to his already weak condition.

Mahmud Pasha took over command and led his army around the edge of the Carpathian Mountains to northern Bulgaria, avoiding the plague.

He did not conceal the news of the fall of Edirne, but chose to make it public, claiming that their relatives had either died of plague or were brutally killed by Emperor Isaac, and only one in ten was left, so he asked them to mourn.

Soon, Mahmoud got the result he had expected. The soldiers went from horror to sadness, and finally to hatred, all in one go.

It can be said that from the day Edirne fell, what maintained the centripetal force of the army was no longer blind obedience to the Sultan, but hatred towards the Greek emperor.

Of course, the Janissaries were not allowed to marry and had no relatives, but they still remained loyal to Mehmed II.

Although this loyalty had been greatly compromised after several previous major military failures.

"Your Majesty, the Sultan, your army is in poor condition and uneasy thoughts are spreading."

"The Lumeria Army has been blinded by hatred and is madly trying to fight Isaac to the death."

"The Anatolian Legion is eager to return home and does not want to continue fighting at all."

"The Janissaries are demanding pay and are making a commotion."

As he spoke, Mahmud Pasha pulled out a letter with the seal of the Bulgarian Governor on it.

"Governor Nail sent a message saying that the plague has spread to Skopje and has been suppressed in the mountains north of Skopje."

"Sophia is no longer safe now, and this will be Nail's last letter to you."

Mehmed II took the letter and just held it in his hand without saying a word.

After a long while, he finally opened his chapped lips.

"In just ten years, the country has fallen to this state."

"Isaac is so cruel. I don't know whether my children in Edirne are dead or alive..."

Mehmed II was like an old man, muttering to himself facing the sunset.

"His Majesty!"

Mahmoud suddenly spoke loudly.

"The country has fallen to this point, you should not just think about your own private interests!"

"Your daughter is my wife, my mother and brother are also in Edirne, please believe me, I am as sad as you are."

"But if you continue to be so depressed, the happiest people will be the Greeks who are hiding under the protection of the plague!"

The sound was deafening. Mehmed II's eyes gradually became clear and a blush appeared on his pale face.

"Well said, Mahmoud."

Mehmed II spoke, glancing over the letter.

"How many troops do we have left? Can we take advantage of Isaac's smaller army and catch him off guard?"

"Your Majesty, I advise you to give up this idea as soon as possible."

"Leaving aside the morale issue, our army will be directly infected with the plague and become weak if it crosses the Bulgarian border."

"Under such circumstances, Isaac only needs a small army to defeat us completely. By then, the national situation will be beyond redemption."

Mahmoud Pasha explained anxiously.

"Then do you have any good ideas?"

Mehmed II looked at the minister he relied on most.

"First, quickly find ships and transport the army to Anatolia to rest, restore morale, and stabilize the local situation before Isaac's navy goes north."

"The rest of our fleet is docked at Dobruja Harbor. Please pardon Baltoglu's crime and allow him to make amends for his crime."

"Second, after arriving in Anatolia, immediately use the cowpox vaccination method that Isaac found from somewhere to completely eliminate the plague and stabilize the morale of the army and the people."

"Third, we must not disband the troops recruited from various beys. We must hold them firmly in our hands to prevent the local beys from expanding their ambitions."

Mehmed II nodded.

"That makes some sense, anything else?"

"Fourth, quickly send someone to bring Prince Bayezid to your side to prevent him from being used by others."

Mahmoud watched the Sultan's expression carefully.

"I will."

Mehmed II's eyes deepened.

"In short, you must leave Rumelia, which is in turmoil due to the plague, as soon as possible and return to Anatolia to recover your strength, eliminate the unrest, and make plans for the future."

"The population there is sparse and separated by a strait, so the plague is not so easy to spread."

"As for the Bulgarian region, there are the most Ottomans here. It is the core area of ​​the empire. Of course, we can't leave it to Isaac so easily."

"I suggest you leave the Rumelian Legion bent on revenge here to deal with the Greek army."

"They hate Isaac so much that they will fight to the death."

"I understand."

……

On September 1457, 9, Mehmed II led the Anatolian Legion and the Janissary Guard, sailed around the northern coast of the Black Sea, landed in Anatolia, and headed straight for the city of Bursa.

The Rumelian Legion was handed over to the commander of Mahmud Pasha, who used the Bulgarian region as a base, gradually vaccinated against smallpox, and prepared to take revenge on his old enemy in the south.

On the same day, Isaac, co-emperor of the Roman Empire, led an army of 3,000 and marched for several days, finally arriving at the Gallipoli Peninsula on the west bank of the Dardanelles and approaching the Gallipoli fortress.

At the same time, the Mediterranean Fleet arrived at the Dardanelles, bringing supplies and artillery to the besieging troops, ready to break through the strait and head north to Marmara.

The Battle of Gallipoli breaks out.

(End of this chapter)