1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 96 Cutting the Throat
In the autumn of 1451, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II gathered his troops and swept across the Anatolian Plateau, defeating the invading Karaman Bey Ibrahim II and executing the local tribal leaders who had surrendered to Karaman.

Ibrahim II fled back to his country in a hurry, defended the fortified city in the mountains, and asked Muhammad II for peace.

In the letter of peace, Ibrahim II attributed the reasons for the hostility between the two countries to the instigation of the Greek emperor, claiming that he was only bewitched and framed, and was willing to withdraw all occupied territories and reconcile with the Ottoman Empire.

Mehmed II launched an exploratory attack on Karaman's city of Konya, but failed, so he retreated and negotiated peace with Ibrahim II.

Such scenes have been played out countless times in past wars between the two sides.

The Ottomans could easily defeat Karaman's increasingly outdated army on the battlefield, but they were never able to completely wipe them out.

On November 1451, 11, Constantine XI and his ministers did not receive the tribute from Orhan that was supposed to be paid that day.

Under Isaac's persuasion, Constantine gave up the idea of ​​sending envoys to the Sultan's court to hold him accountable, but still hoped that Mehmed II would keep his promise like his father.

On November 1451, 11, Constantine and his ministers did not receive tribute from the Ottoman Empire, but instead received a letter of accountability.

In front of the two emperors and ministers, the arrogant envoy criticized Constantinople's "overstepping" behavior in recent years and reminded Constantine that he should fulfill his obligations as a servant.

In the Sultan's indictment, most of the charges were directed against Isaac.

Supported Christian pirates, provided military supplies to Karaman, sent troops to aid Skanderbeg, persecuted Muslims, and provoked religious disputes in Anatolia...

"Don't forget, without the Sultan's permission, you would not be able to hold this position."

The messenger sneered and threw a gold coin with the portrait of Muhammad II onto the hall. The gold coin rolled to the ground, making a tinkling sound.

"This is the reward the Sultan gives you!"

Constantine was so angry that his face turned blue and his nails dug into the flesh, leaving a line of blood.

The important officials looked at each other, some with red faces, some with worried expressions.

Isaac walked down from the throne, bent down to pick up the gold coin in full view of everyone, and smiled at the messenger.

"Tell the Sultan thank you for his kindness."

"Tell him that next time he doesn't need to go to the trouble of sending the gold over. We will come and get it ourselves."

Isaac gently blew away the non-existent dust on the gold coin and stared at the portrait of Mehmed II with shining eyes.

"You... hum!"

The messenger opened his mouth and looked hatefully at the emperor in front of him who was as young as the Sultan. Facing his cold smile, for some reason, he could not utter a word.

The messenger's figure disappeared on the steps, but the shadow he left in the hearts of the emperor and his ministers lingered for a long time.

A few days earlier, Karaman Bey Ibrahim II had sent Isaac an earnest letter, explaining the difficulties they were facing and promising that the agreement would remain valid.

A typical two-faced character, Isaac had expected this.

"Father, ministers, please speed up the operations to gather the people and collect the grain. I'm afraid we don't have much time."

……

Port of Polis, Kingdom of Cyprus.

This is the largest gathering place for Genoese in the whole of Cyprus and the seat of the Cyprus Genoese Expatriate Council, with prosperous business.

After the end of the Cyprus War, Speaker Martir, who served as a member of the regency, obtained the position of Mayor of Polis from Queen Jelena, which truly established the Genoese's ownership of the area.

There are also 400 kingdom soldiers led by Advisor Ymir stationed in the city of Boris, responsible for protecting the territorial security of the northwest of the kingdom.

At present, the political factions in Cyprus as a whole are mainly divided into two factions, namely the "royalists" who advocate returning to the Eastern Roman Empire and the "royalists" who advocate retaining the status of an independent kingdom. Both factions occupy two seats in the Regency Council.

The city of Polis is the base camp of the royalists.

After the war between Karaman and the Ottoman Empire broke out, Isaac, trying to take advantage of the situation, sent the Purple Guards and Prince Orhan's troops to Cyprus, using the city of Polis as a base.

At this time in the city of Polis, Purple Guard Corps Commander Ibrahim and Prince Orhan were listening to reports from their subordinates.

In the past few months, the Purple Guards have carried out operations on the southern coast of Anatolia by relying on their unique advantages and have achieved fruitful results.

They bypassed the difficult-to-attack fortresses and large cities and specifically targeted small towns and villages along the coast to stir up religious conflicts.

They often disguised themselves as Turkic cavalrymen, smashed the bronze bells in Orthodox churches, smeared feces on the icons on the walls, and broke the crosses in half.

However, the soldiers of the Purple Guards were surprised to find that compared with the Balkans, the Greek Orthodox here seemed to be more obedient and had begun to become numb to this situation. They were very excited and lay in front of the burning church door crying, but no one was willing to take up swords and resist the rule of the Turks.

Later, it was Prince Orhan who came up with a clever idea.

They began to pose as Orthodox rebels and attacked Muslim mosques.

Rotting dead pigs were thrown in front of the mosques, the Quran was burned in large numbers, and the heads of the ulema were soaked in slop.

The devout Muslims in the affected areas were furious, and thinking of the recent events in the Orthodox Church, they naturally turned their anger towards the scheming Greeks.

In this way, the religious conflicts that had been dormant for a long time on the southern coast of Anatolia were ignited, and Muslims began to launch premeditated attacks on Greek Orthodox Christians.

Initially, the attacks were concentrated in a small coastal area, causing relatively limited unrest.

Then, under the instigation of some people with ulterior motives, the long-accumulated hatred of the Muslim class began to erupt, and the persecution of Orthodox Christians began to spread from rural areas to cities, from the coast to the inland, and it became more and more intense, like a prairie fire.

As early as the persecution began, some wise Ottoman lords and Orthodox clergy had discovered the identity of the mastermind and made it public.

However, the Muslims, who were overwhelmed by religious sentiment, ignored their explanation and only wanted blood for blood.

What? You said it was done by the Greek emperor? Are you Greek? Are you an Orthodox Christian?
Many times, people only want to believe themselves, regardless of the facts.

The massacre by Muslims began to cause panic among the Orthodox Christians. A few brave ones took up their swords, but most of the cowardly ones could only run around, avoiding the flames of war, and watch their homes being burned to the ground.

At this time, the Roman ships playing the role of angels arrived in time and extended a helping hand to the refugees in southern Anatolia. In their grateful eyes, they sent them to the Cyrenaica region to build a new home.

During the months from summer to winter, an average of dozens of people a day boarded various ships arranged in advance by Isaac and were sent to the port of Bilinchi to enrich the population of the Green Mountain area.

"Just last week, the new governor sent by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II held talks with the local ulema and asked them to restrain the behavior of Muslims and stop persecuting Orthodox Christians."

"Now, after a few months of madness, the situation on the south coast has calmed down and is no longer worthy of our continued attention."

After the adjutant finished his report, he raised his head and looked at the two generals.

As early as when the war was about to end, General Ibrahim had already ended the operations on the southern coast, and the soldiers who had been wandering in the countryside boarded ships and returned to the city of Polis.

Ibrahim and Orhan looked at each other and exchanged opinions.

"Let's end this mission here. I'm sure Your Majesty will be satisfied."

Ibrahim waved his hand, signaling his adjutant to leave.

"Your Majesty is truly a..." Looking at the numbers on the report, Prince Orhan exclaimed, but didn't know how to describe it.

"A cunning monarch, eh?"

Ibrahim smiled.

"A cunning monarch and a formidable enemy."

Orhan sighed.

"I hope I will never face an opponent like this."

Ibrahim nodded, feeling a little admiration in his heart.

This plan is not sophisticated and is very rough. Anyone with a discerning eye can figure out the whole story with a little investigation.

However, once the fire of religious sentiment is ignited, it is very difficult to extinguish it.

The Muslim people were very happy because they had finally achieved their revenge and defended the honor of Allah.

The Sunni ulema were very happy because they had greatly weakened the influence of the Orthodox Church in this struggle and attracted a large number of fanatics.

Isaac was also very happy because he gained a group of grateful Greek Orthodox Christians to supplement the scarce population.

The Ottoman central government was not very happy, but they were used to it - such things had happened countless times since the birth of this empire.

The most unhappy people were the Greek Orthodox Christians who were forced to flee. They lost almost everything in the turmoil.

For Isaac, the biggest gain this time was not the more than 2,000 ducats that were looted, nor the Orthodox refugees, but a plan that could continuously undermine the Ottoman local rule.

The Ottoman rule over Anatolia and the Balkans had lasted for many years. The people with a rebellious spirit had long been eliminated, and the remaining ones were almost all spineless and unwilling to resist the oppression of the Turks.

If you don't want to resist, then I will help you resist. If you accept it, I will force you to do something stupid.

This is a clear conspiracy and it cannot be eradicated.

Through repeated instigation, the contradictions between the two sides become more and more serious, the religious confrontation becomes more and more serious, and will eventually erupt with powerful force.

This plan was very effective when dealing with a large empire like the Ottoman Empire, with a complex ethnic and religious population.

In later generations, the Austrian Empire, Tsarist Russia, Great Britain, France and other countries all liked to use this plan when dealing with the Ottoman Empire, and the effect was quite good.

The Greek War of Independence, the Armenian Genocide, the Kurdish uprising, the Arab Revolt... it's more or less the same.

This time, Isaac tried to use religious conflicts to replace the ethnic conflicts commonly used in Western countries in later generations, and found that the effect was quite good.

Of course, when facing a rising empire, contradictions will be temporarily suppressed and can only be resolved slowly.

……

"Your Majesty, the Canakkale Strait is blocked by the Christian army. I'm afraid you can't pass through here!"

In the port of Çanakkale on the Aegean Sea coast in western Anatolia, Mehmed II, who had ended the war, was preparing to return to the Balkans with his army.

The local governor looked at the ugly face of Mehmed II and felt uneasy.

At this time, in the Dardanelles, several warships with double-headed eagle flags were patrolling back and forth, blocking this important waterway connecting the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Aegean Sea.

Mehmed II looked from afar and saw that the Christian warships were large and small, and judging from the style of the ships, there seemed to be quite a few pirate ships.

This group of Christians always make things difficult for themselves!
"Let's go! To the Bosphorus!"

Mehmed II looked at the ostentatious eagle flag with a gloomy expression. He mounted his horse and headed north to the Bosphorus.

Three days later, in the Anatolian fortress on the east bank of the Bosphorus, Mehmed II summoned several of his important ministers.

This time, almost all the high ministers attended the meeting to listen to their Sultan's instructions.

“Three days ago, I led my troops to the Canakkale Strait, but was told that it was impassable.”

"As a sultan, ruler of two continents and two seas, this is a great humiliation!"

Mehmed II looked around with sharp eyes and anger.

"Our two territories are separated by several seas and two straits. As long as the Christians want, they can block our army and prevent it from providing timely support."

"The Strait is our weak point. As long as we fail to control the right of passage through the Strait, we cannot guarantee effective control over the two continents."

“Below us lies the famous Anatolian fortress.”

"My great grandfather, the great Sultan Bayezid, built this fortress fifty-five years ago in order to attack the city across the strait."

"He equipped the fort with artillery, crossbows, and slings, so that the Christian fleets dared not cross the strait at will."

"And now, I will continue my great-grandfather's work and build another larger, stronger, and more powerful fortress on the other side to completely block the Christian ships!"

“This time, we will completely control this narrow strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Marmara, intercept passing ships, and block the trade route between the Christian forces on the Black Sea and Constantinople.”

Mehmed II drew a line on the map with his finger, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

"This is just the beginning. After this, I will continue to block the Canakkale Strait, build fortresses in Gallipoli and Gallipoli, aim the guns at every passing ship, and turn the Sea of ​​Marmara into our inner lake!"

"Your Majesty, what shall we do?"

Zagan Pasha, who was sitting down, was the first to speak and ask.

During their long interactions, he had become familiar with his monarch's personality.

Either don't do it, or do it completely, as fast as lightning, with swift and vigorous action.

Mehmed II nodded appreciatively to Zagan and began to make arrangements.

"Khalil, you are responsible for regulating the supplies and gathering all the supplies from across the country here."

"Zagan, you will lead the navy to the Canakkale Strait to deploy defenses and prevent possible harassment from the Christians..."

"Kara, you rush to Rumelia, recruit troops, and intimidate the defenders of Constantinople..."

In just a few words, Muhammad came up with a plan with clear division of labor, which was obviously already prepared in his mind.

"I'll give you six months to complete the fortress."

"I will turn Constantinople into an isolated island and cut the Greek emperor's throat!"

(End of this chapter)