1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 91 The New Moon Will Brighten

Aegean coast, Gediz River Valley, Manisa city.

This city in western Anatolia is not very big, its population and business environment are average, and it has not developed much.

However, the military facilities and fortifications here are very complete. Towers and fortresses are lined up on the streets. Militiamen armed with short spears, swords and shields patrol the roads in villages and towns, and knights ride their horses and gallop across the fields near Manisa.

It is obvious that the master here has devoted almost all his energy to the construction of the army and does not care at all about the possible suspicion of the Ottoman central government.

Even so, no one felt surprised.

Because the governor here is named Mehmet Osmanoglu, the legal heir of Sultan Murad II.

Five years ago, the Janissary Guards launched a coup, ousted the weakly-rooted Mohammed and ushered in Murad II.

After that, Muhammad returned to his fiefdom of Manisa, re-examined the gains and losses of his first reign, read widely, absorbed knowledge crazily, and strengthened his military and cultural qualities.

blow--

An arrow flew through the air and landed steadily on a straw man in the distance, causing the onlookers to cheer.

The owner of the arrow put down the bow, clasped his hands across his chest, and clamped his legs around his uneasy mount.

The young man was handsome and sunny, with a self-conceited smile on his face.

"Mahmoud, it's your turn!"

Muhammad threw the bow to the rider beside him, who caught it steadily.

He closed his eyes slightly and shot an arrow with ease. The arrow was like a meteor, piercing the target directly and causing grass debris to fly all over the sky.

"Good shot! You are worthy of being a descendant of a famous family."

Mohammed exclaimed.

Weli Mahmoud remained indifferent, evidently not proud of his family.

Before converting to Islam, he had a once prominent surname - Angelos.

Mahmud's paternal lineage can be traced back to Isaac II, the founder of the Angelid dynasty of the Eastern Roman Empire, and his maternal lineage is directly inherited from Alexios the Great of the Komnenos family.

However, in the Ottoman Empire, the glory of his ancestors did not bring him any substantial benefits, and sometimes even got him into unnecessary trouble.

There were quite a few former Eastern Roman nobles in the Ottoman court, including Komnenos, Angelos, Cantacuzeros, and even Palaiologos, who were once members of the royal family but were now just slaves of the Sultan.

Mahmoud knew that his master cared more about ability than family.

blow--

Muhammad shot another arrow, and a bird in the sky cried out and fell to the ground.

Mohammed picked up the flying bird and threw it to Mahmoud.

"Here's a reward for you!"

Mahmoud thanked the emperor and collected the prince's prey in the jealous eyes of everyone, remaining calm.

In recent years, Muhammad has changed his previous indifferent and aloof personality and started to integrate into his own army. At the same time, he has actively improved his image in the minds of the ulema and nobles, and worked hard to make up for the bad consequences he caused when he first became Sultan.

Da da--

There was a rapid sound of horse hooves, and a knight with an anxious look in his eyes galloped towards the training ground.

He reined in his horse, whipped it, dismounted, knelt in front of Muhammad, and held out a letter in both hands.

"An urgent letter from Khalil Pasha!"

"What did my teacher write?"

Mohammed looked at the knight and raised an eyebrow.

"You'll know it at a glance."

Muhammad opened the letter and read ten lines at a glance.

Mahmoud watched his master's expression change from surprise to sadness, then to joy, and even a hint of ferocity flashed across his face.

After reading to the end, Muhammad regained his original calm.

"Got it, go downstairs and rest."

Muhammad turned his head and saw his trusted followers standing in a circle, looking at their master.

"Just yesterday, my father, the great Sultan Murad, passed away."

Muhammad did not intend to keep the news secret and announced it to the public directly.

The confidants were silent, some were sad, some were excited, and some were worried.

"Now, I will go to Edirne and take over the position of Sultan."

Muhammad raised his whip and whipped the horse hard on its back.

The horse neighed loudly in pain and ran forward.

"Those who love me, come with me!"

Mahmoud took the lead and followed his Sultan.

Behind them, more and more knights joined the formation, creating a whirlwind on the hard dry land of Anatolia and rushing towards the east.

……

In the south-central Anatolian Plateau, north of the Taurus Mountains, Konya City, Kayqubad Palace.

This was once the capital of the Rum Sultanate, recording the glory and decline of Rum and witnessing the rise and fall of various forces in Asia Minor.

After the Battle of Manzikert, the Seljuk forces invaded Anatolia on a large scale, causing the Eastern Roman Empire to shrink sharply and the peninsula to be rapidly Turkified.

Since the climate of the Anatolian Plateau was very suitable for the survival of nomadic peoples, it soon became the new home of the westward migrating Turks. The former Greek masters were unable to resist the invasion of the Turks and had to huddle in a few valleys along the coast to survive.

The emerging Sultanate of Rum soon absorbed the remaining Turkish powers, becoming the strongest power in Asia Minor, surviving the Crusades and later forcing the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond to surrender.

The good times did not last long. The Baba Ishak uprising that swept across Anatolia greatly destroyed the national strength of Rom, making it unable to face the Mongol westward expedition.

Genghis Khan's descendants burned and looted many large cities in Roma, supported a puppet sultan, and left him with a pile of ruins.

Later, Anatolia was in constant chaos, and the body of the Rum Sultanate gradually collapsed and turned into debris.

The Ottoman Bey State may be the most successful one among them, but the Karaman Bey State must be the most legendary one among them.

While the Ottomans far away in the northwest were still compromising and collecting taxes for the Mongols, the Karaman people, who had only a few cities and a few thousand soldiers, had begun to gamble on the fate of their country again and again, and confronted the puppet Sultan and the Mongols head-on.

Relying on their indomitable spirit and inherent geographical advantages, the Karamanians returned strongly from the brink of extinction several times, fought more bravely, and finally defeated the coalition forces of Roma and Mongolia, and marched into the city of Konya singing triumphant songs.

Later, the Rum Sultanate collapsed completely, and the Karaman Bey State occupied the Konya Valley, including the city of Konya, and began to claim itself as the last successor of the Rum Sultanate and the Seljuk Empire.

Konya is the second capital of the Karamanbey Kingdom. Successive Karamanbeys liked to come here in spring and winter, live in the Kayqubad Palace, which symbolizes the glory of the Rum Sultanate, and enjoy the pleasant climate here.

The then Karaman Bey Ibrahim II had been on the throne for more than 20 years and had achieved little, but he had not made any major mistakes either.

Now, he was sitting on the throne of Kaiqubad Palace, enjoying the massage from the maid beside him, his eyes half open and half closed, staring at the envoys who came from afar below the stage.

"Dear Sultan, my master has prepared valuable gifts from West Africa for you as a token of friendship."

Anderson, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Cyrenaica, bowed and handed the gift list to the eunuch beside him.

The eunuch handed the gift list to Ibrahim II. The Sultan glanced at it and put it aside.

“The gifts are generous.”

Ibrahim II nodded slightly.

"This is my Lord's respect for you, hoping to gain your friendship."

"Oh?"

Ibrahim II opened his eyes and pushed the maid away.

"You mean the newly crowned King of Armenia? The pagan monarch who's trying to overthrow my rule?"

"I have no grudge against him, but he sent warships to arbitrarily seize my people, divide up my troops, and claim my territory. Is this what you call friendship?"

"Bastard!"

Ibrahim II kicked the candlestick over.

In recent years, the Armenians south of the Taurus Mountains have been restless, no longer willing to pay heavy taxes, and refusing to perform military service. These people who were forced into a corner had nothing and began to board ships to Cyrenaica in large numbers and go to the Green Mountain region to build new homes.

Ibrahim II had no good solution for this situation. If he promised to reduce the tax burden, the Armenians would be happy, but the local nobles and gentry began to riot.

If they were coerced, these Armenian slaves would hide in the Taurus Mountains and fight guerrilla warfare, escaping by ship at the first opportunity.

The most infuriating thing was that many of the great nobles and landowners, in order to seize land, secretly reached agreements with the Greek captains to force the peasants into slavery and drive them away.

We want to intercept at sea, but we don't have the strength to do so.

According to conservative estimates, in recent years, an average of dozens of Armenians who could no longer bear the oppression left the southern coast by boat every day, transiting through Cyprus and heading for Cyrenaica.

Anderson was not intimidated by Ibrahim II's bravado and waited calmly as the eunuchs scrambled to put out the flames.

"The Armenians elected my Lord as their king, so my Lord cannot sit back and watch them become slaves."

"Bastard!"

"Are you declaring war on me?!"

Ibrahim II was very angry and started cursing.

Seeing that the negotiations were about to reach a deadlock, Anderson stopped haggling with Ibrahim II and directly proposed an agreement.

"My Lord apologizes for harming your interests and offers compensation."

"Okay, let him return all the people!"

Anderson shook his head.

"They are already my Lord's subjects, so my Lord will not send them back."

"But we can make a deal."

"From now on, you can exchange Armenian slaves and other Christian slaves with us for Muslim slaves from North Africa, and it will benefit both of us."

"As an apology, my Lord will give you one hundred and twenty Muslims for every one hundred Christians you give him."

"These Christians can come from your territory or from captives you take from the raid on Ramazan."

After Anderson made his suggestion, Ibrahim II fell into deep thought, and the ministers around him began to whisper to each other.

In fact, this condition was not unfamiliar to many of Karaman's ministers nearby.

Before this, under the emperor's instructions, Greek captains had begun to engage in this kind of population exchange with local landowners in order to make up for the loss of local labor and ease their resistance.

Later, the captains discovered that the Karaman landlords preferred black slaves from West Africa to North African Muslims.

After all, some devout landowners were unwilling to exploit their Muslim brothers, but the ignorant and cowardly West African natives were not among them.

These slaves will perform heavy and simple physical labor in mines, fields, salt lakes, and the seabed... They can do all the jobs that Christians and Muslims were unwilling to do, and there will be no church to support them.

In this way, both sides got what they wanted: the Karaman landlords achieved land concentration, Ibrahim II achieved national stability, and Isaac rescued the Armenian slaves, gaining their gratitude and the support of the Apostolic Church.

Everybody is happy, everybody is happy.

If the official consent of Ibrahim II could be obtained, the population exchange movement would grow further.

"Sudan, this may be a good solution in this special period."

Next to the main hall, several ministers made their suggestions.

"not enough."

"not enough?"

"For every one hundred Christians I give you, you must give us one hundred and fifty slaves."

Ibrahim II spoke slowly.

"No, it's too much."

"One hundred and twenty-five. This is the bottom line the emperor gave me."

"you……"

Ibrahim II was about to make a threat, but found that he had nothing to use to hold these greedy Greeks hostage.

You think it's too little? Then I'll just grab it.

In the end, Ibrahim II agreed to Anderson's deal, exchanging one hundred Christians for one hundred and twenty-five African slaves.

"Thank you for your understanding. In addition to this matter, my Lord believes that we can cooperate in other areas as well."

"Just say it directly. No need to keep me in suspense."

Ibrahim II interrupted Anderson.

"I heard that you fought the Ottomans six years ago, but it seems that the outcome was not so satisfactory?"

"Hmph, I—"

"I heard that you fought against the Mamluks two years ago and defeated them?"

"what do you want to say in the end?"

Anderson stepped forward solemnly and handed a letter of credence to Ibrahim II, which was painted with the coat of arms of Palaeologus and the emblem of a double-headed eagle.

……

"If I become Sultan, the first thing I will do is capture this city."

On the Sea of ​​Marmara, a fleet was sailing westward, flying the three-crescent flag with a green background.

Muhammad stood on the deck, looking far into the north at the majestic outline of Constantinople with a determined look in his eyes.

"This city is a treasure bestowed by God on the Ottoman family. It can only be controlled by us."

"Of course, I have always believed that the Ottoman dream will be realized in your hands."

Beside him, Zagan Pasha, who was in charge of forming this fleet, was also looking north.

"Zagan, I think you said the same thing seven years ago?"

Mohammed laughed a little.

When he first ascended the throne at the age of twelve, he, under the instigation of Zagan Pasha and several aides, formulated a plan to attack Constantinople and gradually implemented it.

This bold plan frightened Muhammad's teacher Khalil Pasha, who immediately called a halt to the plan, executed several aides, demoted Zagan Pasha, and forced Muhammad to abandon the plan, causing him to lose face.

From then on, Muhammad hated his teacher.

"Your Majesty, we are almost there."

The fleet docked and Mehmed walked off the deck, just like his ancestor Orhan, and set foot on European soil.

"Teacher, long time no see."

Muhammad met the welcoming team led by Khalil Pasha and smiled at him, revealing his sharp white teeth.

“Let’s go to Edirne first.”

Khalil Pasha hesitated to speak, and only uttered these few words when he opened his mouth.

Muhammad nodded, mounted the horse prepared for him, and galloped towards the capital.

On February 1451, 2, after receiving the message from Khalil, the 17-year-old Mehmed II rushed all the way to the capital Edirne with a small number of personal followers.

Then, Mehmed announced the death of his father, and with the help of Khalil Pasha, he took control of the Janissary Guards and initially stabilized the situation in the capital.

Princess Halima of Kandal came to see the new Sultan and ask for his forgiveness.

While comforting his recently widowed stepmother, Muhammad had her infant son, little Ahmed, drowned in a pool. Then he watched her weeping inconsolably, laughed, and asked his ministers if anyone was willing to marry her.

"From now on, I allow my descendants to kill their brothers when they ascend to the throne of sultan."

"This throne is too narrow to accommodate a second person."

Facing the silent questioning of his ministers, Muhammad said coldly.

At this point, the Ottoman law of parricide was written into the legal code of Mehmed II. This cruel and effective decree was initially proposed by Bayezid I "the Lightning", formally legislated by Mehmed II "the Conqueror", and carried forward by Selim I "the Cruel", witnessing the cruelty and glory of every sultan.

From then on, every transition between the old and new sultans in the Ottoman Empire was inevitably accompanied by the sin of killing blood relatives, until it was officially abolished by Ahmed I two hundred years later.

On February 1451, 2, with the support of his ministers, Mehmed was officially declared the Ottoman Sultan, ruling a vast territory extending from the Serbian mountains in the west to the Pontic Mountains in the east, from the Carpathian Mountains in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the south.

It was Mehmed II.

(End of this chapter)