Daming Greedy Wolf Star

Chapter 365 World Famous Paintings
When it comes to war, if you want to say the simplest method with the least loss, there may be many ways.

There are many of them in the 36 Stratagems.

Zhu Zhanhe is now using the simplest method with the least loss, and the method he uses has a name: public opinion war.

The castle is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the Byzantium under the rule of John VIII, or the Eastern Roman Empire, was too weak. It was so weak that Zhu Zhanhe could not accept that he would suffer losses.

However, facing the geographical location of King's Castle, even if there is a huge disparity in strength, it is impossible to win it without any losses.

When Zhu Zhanhe landed on the Japanese beach, he lost a lot of people, not to mention Junbao.

Therefore, Zhu Zhanhe took another approach, found a weakness in the enemy himself, and took action.

This weakness is the Holy See.

In the Eastern Roman Empire, especially the Fortress, almost all religious people believed in the Orthodox Church, but the Holy See and the Pope were representatives of the Catholic Church.

Today, it is almost impossible for the Catholic Church to send troops to help the Orthodox Church, and it is easy for people to think otherwise.

Unfortunately, Zhu Zhanhe knew the twists and turns involved because of the Duke of Naples's death.

And this news was obtained by Jeanne II from the Pope in bed.

I have to say that sometimes the beauty trap is still very useful. Even if the so-called beauty is just a shabby shoe, some people will fall into this trap.

Zhu Zhanhe had already guessed how much of a sensation this news would cause when it appeared in the Castle of the Holy See.

Seeing the people of the Kingdom of Naples who were put on the ship by the Ming army and came to the castle, John VIII was in trouble.

This was a conspiracy, and John VIII knew it very well.

When the two armies are fighting, these Naples people will be good hostages if they are in the hands of the Ming army. Although it may not be effective in the end, it is always better to have hostages than not.

Therefore, it is definitely not normal for the Ming army to send these people here, and there must be other deep meanings behind it.

But can he let it go?
Let’s not talk about whether these people calling for help below the castle will affect morale. With the current position and role of John VIII, he cannot ignore it.

The total length of the Bosporus is only sixty miles, and the castle is located in the lower part of the strait, only about seven or eight miles away from the exit of the strait.

From this distance, the Royal Sicilian Army and the Crusaders trapped on the Sea of ​​Marmara can easily see it.

Although John VIII knew that there were no troops from the Kingdom of Naples, there must be people from the Kingdom of Naples.

There are more than 300 ships. This is already a huge amount of wealth. No one, not even Jeanne II, can hand it over so casually.

The Neapolitans asked for help, but they ignored it. What would they think if the reinforcements they worked so hard to get saw this?
This is an extremely dangerous situation. If you want to win now, you can only win by uniting the army in the castle with the Crusaders and the Royal Army of Sicily and fight to the death.

If you don't do this, in the end, whether it is the King's Castle, the Crusaders, or the Sicilian Army, they will be divided and defeated.

After thinking about it, John VIII finally decided to accept these people, but obviously not to bring these people to the castle.

Brother, there is a war, can you open the city gate at will?Are you kidding me?
Not to mention that John VIII already suspected that something was wrong with these people. Even if he didn't suspect it, he would not open the city gate to let these people in at this time.

Under the arrangement of John VIII, the north gate of the castle was quickly opened, but was quickly closed again after a group of people came out.

This group of people circled around the castle, came to the front, and took away the Neapolitans who were "crying and begging" under the castle.

However, John VIII never expected that despite his carefulness, things would go wrong.

Regarding John VIII's actions, Zhu Zhanhe did not take action or even pay much attention. He directly asked the Black Sea fleet to monitor the castle while he paid attention to the direction of the Crusaders.

The Eastern Roman Empire under John VIII was the last glorious era of the Byzantine Empire. During this period in history, they resisted the advance of the Ottoman Empire, but that was all.

Therefore, it wasn't that the Eastern Roman Empire was powerful, nor was it that John VIII was awesome, it was only because of the excellent location and topography of King Castle that it was able to survive until now.

Now, in the face of such a war, the shortcomings of the castle have been exposed.

The Ming army was indeed unable to break through the castle for a while, but the people in the castle did not dare to come out.

Without the turtle shell of Junbao, they are just a group of ants.

However, in any case, John VIII was very happy that he did not have to face the frontal pressure of the Ming army. Although he could not spare any effort to support his friendly forces, being able to do so was already their limit.

If he could free his hands to help his allies at this time, John VIII would not have to surrender his status and lick the Pope with a smiling face.

However, before John VIII could breathe a sigh of relief, a high-pitched sound suddenly came from the castle, causing the smile on John VIII's face to freeze instantly before it could bloom.

When he heard the high-pitched cry, John VIII knew that everything was over.

Translated, the message in the voice was this: We would rather see the turban of a sultan than the triple crown of a pope.

Sultan actually has several meanings. In later generations, Sultan was mostly considered to be a governor-like position in the Islam religion. However, in this era, the word Sultan often represents power, governance and ruling power.

In layman's terms, it is a ruler.

As mentioned before, the Imperial Palace, including the entire Byzantine Empire, believed in the Orthodox Church, and the Pope and the Holy See were representatives of the Catholic Church. The Crusaders who sent troops at this time were naturally representatives of the Holy See.

Previously, John VIII hid the news from everyone inside the castle by saying that they would jointly fight against foreign enemies and conduct the Crusades, so the people in the castle would accept the support of the Crusades.

But now, those Neapolitans who were picked up by him told the people who came to pick them up that they had used the merger of the Orthodox Church into the Catholic Church as a bargaining chip to obtain assistance from the Crusaders from the Pope.

Then, these people were very angry, and the news spread from the Neapolitans to the soldiers of the castle, to the defenders at the top of the city, and finally reached the ears of the officers and people in the city.

Under the brainwashing of the so-called faith, these people would rather die than accept the help of the Holy See, which represents the Catholic Church. This is the so-called would rather see the turban of the Sultan than the triple crown of the Pope.

On the other side of the castle.

With a snap, Zhu Zhanhe put away the monocular telescope in his hand, turned to Jian and shouted with a smile.

"The time has come! Beat the drum and pass on the army!"

The penetrating drum beat sounded, accompanied by the low horn sound. The Ming fleet, which had been docked in the Bosporus since its appearance, finally made a move and began to slowly move towards the castle. Drive in.

At the same time, the Ming army on the coast of Nicaea also began to set up a swarm of rockets, aiming directly at the castle.

But at this moment, the castle gate... opened.

Fanatic believers who have been brainwashed by their beliefs are really difficult to understand. They will do anything when their beliefs are insulted, even if they know that they will die.

When they learned that their rulers had betrayed their faith and the Orthodox Church in exchange for the Holy See's Crusade aid, these Orthodox fanatics finally became irrational.

"His Royal Highness."

There was a burst of broken Chinese, and Zhu Zhanhe turned around and saw that Duke Rene was walking towards here with a few people.

Zhu Zhanhe raised his eyebrows. Although his Chinese was broken, he could still understand it.

But he thought too well. Duke Rene only learned this sentence. After saying this sentence, it turned into Middle English that Zhu Zhanhe could not understand.

"His Royal Highness, he said that he brought a gift from Queen Jeanne II during this trip and wanted to give it to you here."

The translator dutifully conveyed the words to Zhu Zhanhe.

Zhu Zhanhe's brows wrinkled slightly.

Sending gifts at this time, saying that celebration is too early, saying that it is mocking...

They probably wouldn't dare either.

Under Zhu Zhanhe's somewhat doubtful gaze, the box brought by Duke Rene was opened, revealing a piece of paper rolled into a tube.

Judging from the faint traces of paint that could be seen on it, Zhu Zhanhe felt that it was a painting.

After waving, Zhu Ling and Zhu Ping quickly walked up, took out the painting and spread it out.

After seeing the content in the painting, Zhu Zhanhe smiled, and he smiled very happily.

I have to say, this Jeanne II... is really thoughtful.

Because the painting has a name: Blaine and some of his loot.

This painting was supposed to be created by a French painter in the [-]th century. Zhu Zhanhe didn't know why it appeared here, who created it, and whether the inspiration came from himself who led the Ming army in the Western Expedition.

But in a sense, this painting, which parents in later generations would not dare to let their children see, is a good reflection of the present and even a prediction of the future of Europe.

In the painting, a general named Bryan stood at the door and laughed wildly. There was a groveling man inside the door opening the door for Bryan. There were pottery, cloth, gold and silver and other objects on the ground, which were obviously trophies.

In addition to these, five naked women were kneeling or half lying on the ground, with expressions of despair and panic on their faces.

In the lower left corner of the painting, the head of an obviously white man is lying on the ground, which is proof of military merit.

Sending this painting at this time means wishing that Zhu Zhanhe can sweep across Europe like Blaine in this painting, make great military exploits, and win countless trophies.

"Very good." Zhu Zhanhe nodded with a smile.

"Pass down the order, if the castle can be successfully captured, everything in the city except the population will not be included in the spoils, first come, first served!"

"Yes!"

After listening to Zhu Zhanhe's order, Jian Xiao looked confused, but Zhu Ling didn't hesitate at all.

Previously, Zhu Zhanhe had never issued such an order except in the Japanese country.

When Duke Rene on the side saw Zhu Zhanhe talking with a smile, he eagerly tugged on the corner of the translator's clothes, obviously wanting to know what Zhu Zhanhe said.

There was a mocking smile on the corner of the translator's mouth, but he still translated what Zhu Zhanhe said to him as he wished.

Seeing Duke Rene's face change from a smile to a sudden freeze, and then to a bitter smile, the translator also felt a bit of joy in his heart.

(End of this chapter)