LIGHTNOVELONLINE
Chapter 10: Augustus and the Sultana
Romie, Constantinope.
The white-haired Constantin XI listened to the report from his envoy before sighing, “Is there no way to salvage the situation?”
The Romain Empire used to span from the northern forests to the southern deserts. They had been a true powerhouse that no one dared to trifle with.
But by the time the crown fell into his hands, it was already an utter shitshow.
Many years of decline had dried up their national treasury, making them weaker than ever. Without sufficient resources to support their soldiers, their military naturally became weak too.
And it didn’t help that they were surrounded by powerful enemies.
Their territory used to be so vast that it would take half a year to travel from one end to the other, but all that was left of their empire now was its capital. It was no different from a head without its body.
Their population only numbered 100,000, and no more than 5000 of them were able to fight on the battlefield. Heck, they couldn’t even provide enough food for their people; they were highly reliant on overseas shipping.
They had only been able to hold their ground thus far thanks to the towering city walls left behind by their ancestors. The future of the empire looked as dull as the purple robe Augustus had worn.
The Ottomains had already encircled Constantinope. From time to time, their soldiers would even plunder their suburbs.
Constantin XI didn’t think that he was an incompetent ruler. He had never indulged himself since taking over the throne. Instead, he diligently governed over what was left of the Eastern Romain Empire.
Unfortunately, it was too late to stop the empire’s spiral into decline. No matter how he struggled, the situation never improved.
And it looked like the end was finally upon him.
After Sultana Momoana inherited the Ottomain’s crown, she first cruelly murdered all her siblings before stabilizing the surrounding countries. Then, she turned her eyes toward Constantinope.
With her soldiers and navy, she completely locked off the remnants of the Eastern Romain Empire.
It was said that she mobilized over 200,000 soldiers for this operation!
Constantin XI desperately reached out to the other states for help, but he was unable to convince them to deploy even a single soldier to support them. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any chance of Sultana Momoana backing off either.
And just moments ago, Sultana Momoana just issued her ultimatum.
Hand over the city or die!
You’re asking about whether your people will be pardoned after the surrender? That’s the sultana’s decision to make. Your Majesty, you need not worry about it.
“Hah!”
Knowing that there was no room for negotiation anymore, Constantin XI stood up and told his envoy, “Tell Momoana to stow away her hypocritical goodwill. What she wants all this while isn’t peace but total destruction. I will neither flee nor surrender! If she wants this city, she’ll have to step on my head and capture it herself!”
After his impassioned declaration, he turned to his naval and army commanders and ordered, “Raise the Golden Horn’s great chain barrier and prepare for the enemy’s attack. We, Romains, shall fight to the last man standing!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Both the naval and army commanders lowered their heads.
Just then, a mad old man barged into Constantin XI’s tattered palace.
“I see it! I see it!” he shouted.
“He’s here. The Eastern Priest King has brought a terrifying army of specters here. He has come to sow death and reap the souls of the dead, but he might save our empire from despair.”
“Patriarch?” The naval and army commanders were stunned.
“Men, escort the Patriarch down!” Constantin XI sighed before explaining to the officials, “The Patriarch lost his mind two months ago due to the immense pressure he felt. I have kept him in the church’s side chamber so as to not worry the others, but he somehow managed to escape.”
The naval and army commanders felt heaviness in their hearts. It further drove in the fact that the end was nigh for them.
…
While the Romains had made up their minds to fight to the last man, their enemy was plotting against them.
In a tent covered with silk strips, the Ottomain’s Sultana Momoana was describing her plan to siege Constantinope.
“Romain is on its last leg, but it won’t be that easy to siege Constantinope. Its north face is protected by the Golden Horn’s great chain barrier, so it’ll be hard for our war fleet to make a breakthrough there. We’ll seal off the surrounding area so that they can’t bring a single soldier or a grain in.
“Constantinope’s southern face is a steep cliff, and there’s no way for our soldiers to scale it. The only way we can make a breakthrough is here!”
Sultana Momoana took out her golden dagger with embedded jewels and stabbed it into the map.
“The western wall!”
“Your Majesty,” Sultana Momoana’s prime minister, a white-haired old man, spoke up. “I know it’s late to say this now, but I still think that we should first try all peaceful means to force that heretic emperor to surrender.
“Constantinope’s western wall has mocked countless enemies who tried to siege it for the past thousand years. Even though we have 200,000 soldiers on our side, it won’t be an easy feat for us to take down a city like that. Furthermore, they will have a steady stream of reinforcements coming in from the west if they manage to hold on for a few more months. By then, our efforts would have been in vain.”
“If we fail such a huge military operation, our military might and prestige will be greatly diminished. It might stir our enemies into action, and the ambitious factions inside our country might choose to turn against us too.
“Your Majesty, I implore you to reconsider this matter. If you’re agreeable with it, I’m willing to enter Constantinope and negotiate with the heretic emperor.”
The prime minister thought that this battle was an extravagant gamble. There was not much they stood to gain from this battle, so it was best to minimize casualties wherever possible.
“Atrocious!” Sultana Momoana roared. “When did you become as cowardly as a mouse? Constantinope is the heart of our Ottomain Empire! We absolutely have to conquer it! I have spent far too long preparing for this battle, so how can I give up on it now?
“If those measly heretics think that they can stop me, they can give it a try. I’ll trample all of them into dust. I’ll show them the miserable outcome of opposing me, the one blessed by God!
“Warriors!” Sultana Momoana roared. “Tell me. Is there anyone in the world who can stop the charge of our Ottomain warriors?!”
“No one! We, Ottomains, are the strongest in the world! May our God forever bless the Sultana!” The commanders in the tent cheered aloud.
“Hmph!” Sultana Momoana harrumphed before turning back to her prime minister.
The old man knew that he had spoken out of place, so he kneeled down and apologized before backing out of the tent.
Had the circumstances been different, Sultana Momoana might have listened to her prime minister’s advice. Unfortunately, she had gotten her hands too dirty climbing up to the throne.
She had broken the vow she had made before her father’s dead body. She gathered all of her siblings together, only to massacre all of them. She forced her father’s concubines to be buried together with her father. She even purged the imperial court, summoning one of the eastern tribal leaders to the imperial court, only to end his life with a swing of a halberd…
Thus, Sultana Momoana urgently needed a resounding victory to establish her prestige.
The warriors under her commands were like ferocious wolves; they wouldn’t bow down to a hypocrite who only knew how to scheme.
Constantinope had been declining in recent years, and it happened to be well within reach. Thus, the Romains became her victims.
They have been suffering for the past few centuries anyway. That’s just how life is.
Before Sultana Momoana could continue planning with her military commanders, a piece of bad news reached her ears.
“Your Majesty, I have an urgent report. We lost Sochia!”
—
Starve’s Additional History:
Sultana Momoana is modeled after Mehmed the Conqueror (aka Mehmed II). Mehmed II mobilized around 80,000 to 200,000 soldiers for this operation.
Augustus is another term for the Roman emperor, which is translated as ‘venerable’.
The Patriarch here refers to the pope.