Chapter 57: Destination, Constantinople!
“Your esteemed Majesties.” In the Golden Throne Palace of Constantinople, the Venetian envoy, dressed in a wealthy merchant’s robe, spoke eloquently.
“There was a slight problem with the bank loan for the shipping fee: Given the uncertainty of your country’s war with the Seljuks, our bank’s review team believes that your country may not be able to repay the remaining three installments of the loan, so we need to review the income flow of the royal family.”
“Go ahead and review it.” Theodora threw her fan on the table and said wearily, “But let those Frankish knights disembark first. Do you intend to keep them drifting at sea for a few more days?”
“Your country’s loan procedures have not been completed, so strictly speaking, the shipping fee has not been fully paid.” The Venetian envoy said politely. “Payment of the down payment is required before sailing, and full payment is required before disembarkation. This is our rule.”
“Aren’t you believers of the Solomon faith?” Theodora became irritated, feeling that it was extremely difficult to communicate with these money-grubbing merchants.
“Of course, we are devout believers of the Solomon faith.” The Venetian envoy said with a smile. “But with all due respect, even if His Holiness himself were to board our ship, he would not be allowed to pay a penny less – our audit rules are accurate to six decimal places after the copper coin.”
Zoe sighed beside her. The Venetian ship full of Frankish knights had been drifting on the Sea of Marmara for three days, but the Venetians’ loan procedures had not been completed. The two sides had been entangled in all kinds of trivial details.
For example, the time, place, and transporter for the delivery of gold, the specific time for reconciliation and the penalty for breach of contract, even down to what seal must be on each gold coin, and what measures should be taken for review if there was a wrong seal.
However, after all, the Frankish knights had already arrived in the outer sea, so the two Empresses barely managed to suppress their impatience and negotiated with the Venetian envoy patiently.
Another day passed, and the two sides finally reached an agreement on more than 60% of the disputed points they had been arguing about yesterday. The rest were just minor details that could be conceded.
After bidding farewell to the two Empresses, the Venetian envoy left the Golden Throne Palace and went to the Venetian embassy in Constantinople, where he called the ships on the high seas.
Doge Enrico, in the secret room, listened to the envoy’s report and then walked out of the cabin with his head bowed.
On the deck outside, Count Montferrat and the Frankish knights were anxiously awaiting a reply from Constantinople.
“Constantinople refused to pay.” When Doge Enrico said these words, the Frankish knights burst into a chorus of disappointed exclamations.
They had been drifting at sea for three days. The Venetians promised to communicate with Constantinople as soon as possible, but the result of each communication was that the two Empresses refused to pay.
The knights’ remaining patience was gradually worn away by this repeated disappointment.
Doge Enrico and Count Montferrat looked at each other, both reading the message of action from each other’s eyes.
The latter immediately slammed his spear on the deck and shouted angrily:
“Enough! We are here to kill heretics and defend the glory of God walking on earth, not to waste our breath with the Siris people of Constantinople!”
“The heretics are in Anatolia, in Syria, in the Holy City of Jerusalem! Yet these short-sighted Siris people are still stingy with their few copper coins, even delaying the expedition of the Crusaders, making us noble knights who are willing to give our lives for God drift on the ocean like lowly Sicilian sailors!”
His words perfectly vented the pent-up anger of the knights, so they all shouted loudly.
“If they are unwilling to sacrifice for a noble cause, then let us sacrifice! If they are unwilling to fight the heretics to the death, then let us fight!”
“But before that, we must settle our debt to the Venetians. Constantinople promised to pay the remaining 10,000 silver marks, but now they have shamelessly reneged on their promise.”
“Since they are unwilling to pay, then let us take it ourselves, with our swords and spears!”
Many knights echoed loudly, but more Frankish knights fell into a kind of terror, and some began to shout in panic:
“Are you crazy, Marquis? The Eastern Solomons are also believers in God, how can we attack them without authorization? Besides, Constantinople has three layers of city walls, even high-level supernatural creatures can hardly break into it, let alone us with so few people!”
“Shut up!” Marquis Montferrat shouted angrily. “If they truly believe in God, how can they haggle over this worldly wealth and break their promises?”
“Last night, I called His Holiness and condemned Constantinople’s hypocrisy and duplicity. His Holiness, with his discerning eyes, has issued a decree allowing me to act accordingly. Once we capture Constantinople, it will be the best time for the Eastern and Western Churches to reunite!”
He took out a printed document from his arms. It was indeed an authorization document from Pope Innocent, allowing the Crusaders to “temporarily” use force to “maintain” the order and stability of Constantinople, and it even had the Church’s unique encrypted watermark.
So the knights were in an uneasy commotion again. Although they all believed in Western Catholicism rather than Eastern Orthodoxy, after all, they belonged to the same religion. Rashly raising their swords against fellow believers would lead them to hell for judgment.
Pope Innocent’s authorization document slightly eased the knights’ doubts, but it was not enough to make them determined.
A few hours later, the Frankish knights on the deck were divided into two distinct factions.
One faction had enough of the days of drifting and bumping on the sea and was determined to follow the Marquis and the Doge to attack Constantinople, first to pay off their debt to the Venetians, and then to use it as a base to fight their way east until they liberated Jerusalem.
The other faction resolutely refused to be led by the nose by the Marquis and the Venetians, saying that Constantinople had nearly ten million Catholic believers, and attacking this city would definitely go against God, thus bringing terrible divine retribution upon them.
The two sides argued endlessly, almost drawing their swords on the deck.
At this time, Doge Enrico calmly walked out and said that he respected the opinions of both factions of knights, but the ships belonged to Venice, and those who were willing to attack Constantinople could stay.
As for those who were unwilling to attack, whether they wanted to go to Anatolia or return to the West, the Venetians would give them small boats, and they could row away on their own!
As a result, hundreds of hot-blooded knights actually accepted this seemingly ridiculous offer from the Venetians, rowing away in small boats.
What these knights, who were unfamiliar with navigation, didn’t know was that the flat-bottomed boats they were riding were specifically designed for landing, with a shallow draft and a very thin bottom, and couldn’t last long on the sea.
A few days later, their bodies were washed ashore nearby.
The majority of the remaining Frankish knights could only willingly or unwillingly follow the Venetian fleet and sail towards the Golden Horn.
Constantinople’s defenses in this direction were extremely weak. As long as the Venetian ships could successfully enter the Golden Horn, they could launch a surprise attack on Constantinople’s vulnerable flank.
…
“Ha!” Eleanor’s right arm holding the spear bent slightly, and the spear shaft spun rapidly, thrusting forward.
Spiral Thrust!
Then the spear shaft suddenly sank downwards, stepped on by Asker.
“What are the characteristics of Spiral Thrust?” Asker asked seriously.
“It is…” Eleanor bit her lip. “During the thrust, the spear shaft rapidly shakes and rotates, thus deflecting weapons that are stuck to the spear. It is generally used to break through the enemy’s block.”
“Since it’s an armor-piercing technique, why use it as your opening move?” Asker frowned and asked.
“I wanted to try to catch you off guard.” Eleanor said, pursing her lips.
Nuo had cried to her all night yesterday, making her feel extremely dissatisfied with Asker, and her desire to defeat him also intensified.
“Naive.” Asker shook his head. “Try using Dragon Spear as your opening move next time.”
On the edge of the cliff in the distance, Miel, in a prone sniping position, held the newly acquired Slaughter-III rifle and was aiming at a distant target.
“Distance 4.6, crosswind…”
“What are you mumbling about?” Asker walked up to her and asked.
“Trying to adjust the trajectory.” Miel replied.
“This gun has an auto-aim module.” Asker grabbed her rifle and demonstratively opened the switch on the receiver. “Activate the infrared emitter here, it will emit infrared light with a wavelength of 14um, which is invisible to the naked eye but can be seen through the rifle scope.”
“There’s one more.” Miel, maintaining her aiming posture, said, “A red dot.”
“Move the red dot onto your target, and then your firearm and the target red dot will be connected by this infrared beam path.” Asker explained. “After the bullet leaves the barrel, it will automatically adjust its flight path along the infrared beam path.”
“In other words, you don’t have to consider gravity deviation or anything, you just need to aim the red dot at the target, and the bullet will automatically track the red dot and hit the target.”
With a “bang,” Miel had already pulled the trigger. A burl on a tree trunk in the distance exploded, leaving a huge hole.
“Yes.” Miel tried it according to his instructions and commented, “Auto-aim is very useful.”
“For long-range sniping beyond 2000 meters, it’s almost impossible to compensate for errors with manual adjustments. Auto-aim is your only option.” Asker continued, “Also, this gun can switch modes – open the cylinder lock, rotate the lower barrel up, and it becomes an assault rifle, with a range of about 50-400 meters.”
“The assault mode and sniper mode use different magazines. The latter’s bullets are much more expensive, so when practicing, mainly use the assault mode, try to fire in bursts, don’t spray. For sniping, just aim more.”
“Okay.” Miel replied.
This little girl still didn’t talk much. Asker shook his head and continued to inspect the training status of the others. He saw Nuo walking by hurriedly with her head down, holding a notebook.
“Nuo!” Asker called out to her.
Nuo looked up in a panic, then took two steps back timidly and whispered, “What?”
“What’s with that ghostly expression on your face?” Asker said, both amused and annoyed. But he also knew why and quickly changed the subject. “How is the potion digestion progress of the team members?”
“Eleanor, me, and Mia have all finished digesting our potions.” Nuo said softly. “Sidlipha and Miel haven’t taken any potions yet.”
“That means there are 5 people who need to find potion materials next.” Asker pondered for a moment. “I understand.”
“Did you call me over just to ask about this?” Nuo said timidly.
“No.” Asker naturally wouldn’t be stupid enough to say “Of course,” but just smiled. “I just came to see how you’re doing.”
“I’m fine.” Nuo stretched out her fingers and uncomfortably tucked the stray hair by her cheek, then took a deep breath. “So, anything else?”
“Nothing.” Asker shook his head, tears welling up in his heart.
Since they had their talk last time, the relationship between the two seemed to have fallen into a “Schrödinger’s cat” state, neither ambiguous nor purely platonic. It was so awkward to communicate with her now!
No, he couldn’t bring emotional issues into work. He tried to clear his mind of distracting thoughts and smiled goodbye to Nuo.
Nuo hugged her notebook and slowly walked down the mountain. Arriving at a small lake in the forest, she squatted down by the water and looked at her pretty face reflected in the water.
Her brown hair was fluffy and soft, her delicate features small and gentle, the kind of pure and sweet beauty.
Apart from the graceful figure unique to female college students, just with this beautiful face, she could receive more than thirty love letters and confessions in a semester when she was studying at the Solomon Theological Seminary.
If she really wanted to find a boyfriend, where couldn’t she find one?
Why did she have to stubbornly hang herself on this one tree?
Nuo stared blankly at the reflection in the lake, tears unknowingly flowing down again.
“Asking me to wait for ten years… really… too much…” She muttered to herself, biting her lip. “Asker, you bad guy…”
Tears dripped onto the lake, creating ripples.
She stared at the tear-stained pretty face, silent for a long time, then wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and smiled wryly:
“Why are you crying again, Nuo? When did you become such a crybaby…”
She spoke as if blaming herself, reaching out and disturbing the reflection on the lake.
Behind a tree not far away, Eleanor looked at her with heartache, speechless for a moment.
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