Chapter 115 The Sunset of the Roman Empire

Chapter 115 The Sunset of the Roman Empire

In Constantinople, both workers and bureaucrats were worried. They were afraid that the castle would be captured by these pagans, and they would all become slaves by then.

The same was true for Manuel. He didn't know where to ask for reinforcements. He wanted to send someone to the Ottoman Sultan to sue for peace, but he was refused.

"What should I do? What should I do?" Manuel paced back and forth in the palace. Because he had no financial resources, the Constantinople Palace had fallen into disrepair and cracks began to appear in some places, but they were blocked by the portraits.

His queen is pregnant, his brother is in Wallachia, and there is no reliable person around him, leaving him alone to worry.

"Your Majesty, only Wallachia can save the empire now." The attendant beside him said.

"I also know, but they have already signed a peace treaty with the Ottomans, unless the empire can give them something more tempting."

But what could the Roman Empire give to Wallachia? It had already been given to a despot, so could it be given to a co-emperor?

At this time, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He felt that Wallachia might become a country like Serbia. A few decades ago, their monarch Dushan crowned himself the emperor of Serbia and the Romans. At his peak, he ruled two-thirds of the Balkan Peninsula. This is really frightening.

Manuel was 44 years old at this time. He had not rested since he came to the throne in 1391, and was busy surrounding the empire every day. Over the past few years, his hair has turned completely white.

"Could it be that God doesn't care about the empire?" he said sadly.

The sun was setting at this time, and the setting sun lengthened the emperor's shadow, and Manuel sighed in the setting sun. This was not only sad for himself, but also sad for the empire.

The bells of Hagia Sophia rang, and this city of desire for the world, with a population of less than 80,000, sighed. However, Galata, which was separated by a strait from it, had no such mood at all. It had all the luxury and music, and there was no danger outside. It has nothing to do with them.

Near the Golden Horn, a stall was crowded with people, including intellectuals, artists, businessmen, and even some civilians. The reason is that you can buy a boat ticket to Constanta here.

Genoese merchants were also keenly aware of this, so they opened routes from Constantinople to Constanta and Varna because these places were safe. And those who have extra money will naturally choose to get a boat ticket. They don't want to bury their lives here.

How to evaluate the Genoese? To describe it in a few words: the Genoese are nothing more than selfish businessmen. "These selfish businessmen only want to be the last to be eaten." Of course they are not willing to take this risk. To put it more bluntly, as the Ottoman Empire grew stronger and the Roman Empire declined, many Genoese operating in the Near East were "fanatic pro-Turkish faction", so that "no one was more servile than the Genoese." "Total", how could they sacrifice their own commercial interests to work for Rome?

John V tried to meet with the Pope and looked to the Pope for help. The Pope still regards himself as the sole leader of Christianity. Unless the Orthodox churches and believers turn to Catholicism, they will only express sympathy or mercy for the plight of Constantinople. In desperation, John V took a large number of followers, including the Archbishop of Constantinople and others, and sailed to Italy. The first stop was Venice. John V actually compared himself to the successor of Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire. He was cheered in Venice and all over Italy. He never thought that this was just a courtesy, and the Italians along the way came to see the large number of people from the Byzantine Empire more out of curiosity, because whether it was the Byzantine Emperor or the The attire of the attendants, such as long robes, long sleeves, and their long beards, made ordinary Italians feel weird and ridiculous.

Although the Roman Empire was already very poor, the emperor and his large entourage stayed in Italy for so long that hunting and dancing never stopped. Not only that, the Roman Empire at that time also lagged far behind in industrial technology compared with the Italian city republics. Constantinople still uses traditional manual techniques, while in Italy, there have been huge improvements in iron-making technology, shipbuilding technology, sawing technology, and waterwheel technology. At that time, the Greek priests who had lived in Rome for many years were worried about this and wrote to Basilius, asking him to send young people here to learn skills as soon as possible. But the Roman emperor and his ministers and entourage stayed in Italy for a long time, but they did not care about this at all, and they did not want to understand the technological gap between Rome and Italy.

After returning from his journey to the west, John V's self-comfort was one thing, but the devout believers in the Orthodox Church had another feeling. Many Constantians who still remembered the atrocities committed by the Western European armies during the Fourth Crusade The citizens of Dimburg have even more unusual feelings. The nobles were talking a lot and the officers were indignant. They were dissatisfied with John V's surrender to the Holy See. They believed that the kings and princes of Western European countries had always had bad intentions towards the empire. They believed that the emperor's westward journey was tantamount to humiliating the entire empire. Some even believed that they would rather surrender. The Ottoman Empire also did not want to become a colony of Western Europe. Even the believers in Constantinople were unwilling to go to Sophia Cathedral to worship because the church adopted the Western church's mass ritual. Orthodox clergy no longer pray for John V. John V and the Westernization of palace life also aroused much discussion.

The crisis in Constantinople continued as before. Although the city walls here have been fortified, their defense relies on foreign mercenaries. A mercenary army composed of Turks also serves as a guard.

The harm of mercenaries is very great, take the Catalonian Legion as an example. Andronicus II promised them high salaries when he invited them to fight against the Ottomans, but he failed to pay them in full afterwards. These rebellious mercenaries dominated the territory. They even established an independent country in the Peloponnese Peninsula within the Byzantine Empire, ruling the area they occupied, levying excessive taxes and issuing orders.

This was not the only example of foreign mercenaries carving up dominance in the late Roman Empire. These foreign mercenaries, who were undisciplined and often colluded with the invading foreign enemies, robbed property in the city and robbed property and people in the countryside, thus further attacking Roman industrialists, merchants and yeoman farmers. Even if these mercenaries did not rob property or take people captive, the urban and rural residents of the Roman Empire had to bear a heavy burden for a long time in order to supply these troops.

At this point, there was no hope for the city. They could only watch the Ottomans besiege them and there was nothing they could do. Either hold on to this place or disappear into ashes.