章 67: Lots to Learn
While Antonius is busy with his affairs messing around with the Ottoman navy, the situation of Constantinople is quite awkward when seen by the outsiders.
It is a war, but no soldier on both side has died yet.
It is a siege, but no siege is conducted yet.
It is a battle, but no swords have been crossed yet.
It is like a phoney war.
If there is peace prize in the medieval era, it ought to be presented to Mehmed and Constantine for keeping the claws on both sides from striking each other.
Obviously it is not because Mehmed has became a sudden lover for peace or decided to abort this operation and go home. Having this awkward quietness on the battlefield is because he now has something else on his plate.
His stepmother Mara Branković has sent him an urgent secret letter from Ras, Despotate of Serbia Durad Branković is conspiring with his Logothete, or secretary of state Stefan Ratković, a powerful noble man in the duchy of Raska. They are planning to take advantage the Sultan of the Ottomans is busy besieging the capital of Eastern Roman Empire to try to march the Serbian army into Ottoman territory of Vidin, Strymon and Dyrrachion which are also parts of the lost Serbian Empire that fell a century ago.
And it is not just the Serbians Mehmed is getting concerns from, as everyone knows the Ottoman Sultanate is a huge country stretching from Wallachia and the Adiatic Sea in the west to Lake Van located among the mountain ranges of Armenia in the east. The Ottoman Sultanate is literally surrounded with hostiles and rivals, the only friendly nation is the Crimean Sultanate in the north.
Thus, it is a total warfare situation for Mehmed, everyone has eyes on whom taking full caution on which pawn he is going to move next on the chest board. After knowing that Mehmed has embarked on a siege of Constantinople with almost all the forces in the Sultanate, Mehmed's enemies either has already sprung into action or starting to accumulate chemical potential energy.
Reports of hostility moving flew into the royal tent of Mehmed like snowflakes in a winter sky, this includes:
The Athleta Christi, or Christ's Champion, John Hunyadi, Regent of Hungary and Voivode of Transylvania has proposed a plan to his liege Ladislaus the King of Hungary and Croatia to penetrate through the Bulgarian mountain ranges into Thrace to help the Greek Christians in Constantinople.
It is said the Serene Doge and Venice Francesco Foscari has already agreed to help the East Roman Empire and ordered the Duke of Candia Benedetto Vitturi to offer all he have to help the Romans.
Although the Genoese colony of Galata has hang a white flag and declared neutrality, the Serene Doge of Genoa Pietro di Campofregoso has declared that the Republic of Genoa shall offer food and monetary support to Constantinople, but the republic is not able is offer military support because of the ongoing campaign in Cherson.
The Pope Nicholas V responded to Constantine XI's request for help positively, he saw this as a valuable chance to reunify the Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic Church together, which has being separated since the Great Schism of 1054. The Pope Nicholas V has sent three mountainous War Galleys with subsequent smaller ships carrying supplies and soldiers, according to the report, one week ago. What more troubling is that the Pope organised another Cardinal Council in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican Rome pushing for another crusade on the Ottomans.
The Pope has even sent Mehmed a letter addressing him as a "quell tyrant", saying that if he do not "lay down his arms and pay repentance to sons and daughters of God", the Papacy and other Christendom shall descend "Lightening of God's rage." With their army as a medium and "usurp him of all what he has". The only way that he shall be forgiven is to "be baptised, to be converted to Christianity, and to accept the faith of the Gospel"
Mehmed got so triggered by this letter that he torn this letter into four pieces, tossed it into the fire pot and watched it burn monotonously. Then he continued reading the other reports with a headache.
Turning to the Eastern frontier of the Ottoman, the two Ottoman tributaries Karaman and Candar has been a little bit fishy lately, officials sent by Mehmed to their courts to supervise them have reported that although they still looks loyal, but they have been excluding them outside of conferences meaning that they must be up to something suspicious.
The local lords, especially the Bagratuni landlords and nobles in Armenia and Coloneia has not being behaving themselves as a loyal subject recently, aided by the Empire of Trebizond and the Kingdom of Georgia, creating some social chaos in Armenian mountain ranges that has to be dealt with after this battle.
However, these are all just trivial threats when it comes to the biggest threat that Mehmed and his Sultanate is facing in the east, the Mamuluk dynasty that is controlling Upper and Lower Egypt, the holy lands of Jerusalem, and the plains of Syria.
They are the major competitors with the Ottomans for domains in Syria, and reports shows that Mamuluk scouts and diplomats have been spreading their tentacles into Asia minor, measuring landscapes, drawing maps of Ottoman defence positions, bribing and flattering Ottoman officials and lords in the region. Of course they do not come with a good intention.
Mehmed sighed, placed down the report, and looked at the table. There is a stack of reports, letters and administrative orders containing issues from all over the country.
Mehmed is still a young man, only twenty-one years old this year, and yet he is already feeling the burden of the Ottoman crown. He now even starts to envy his father Murad II, why does the affairs of state and policies get implemented so smoothly in his times, why does no nation around him dare to challenge his father, and why people love his father not him.
Mehmed still has a lot of things to learn as a Sultan.
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