The Genoese not only had a strong fortress city in Kaffa on the Crimean Peninsula, but also had a complete port with at least a hundred large and small warships and merchant ships berthed in it.

If these ships are captured, Wang Baobao can put the Mongolian Navy in place in one step and become a rare naval force in the Black Sea and even the Mediterranean.

Therefore, conquering Kaffa City has become Wang Baobao's top priority.

However, after decades of operation by the Genoa people, Kaffacheng can be said to be extremely strong. They have a double-layered city wall, equipped with a large number of trebuchets, crossbows and cannons, and thousands of soldiers from Europe and Anatolia.

Elite soldiers hired by Leah.

Relying on the solid defense of Kaffa, these Genoese people had repelled several attacks by the Golden Horde.

Wang Baobao said that he wanted to quickly conquer Kaffa City, which in Paul Gale's opinion was definitely a very difficult task.

Wang Baobao, however, had great confidence in conquering Kaffa City.

Because the spies he sent have obtained a lot of information about Kaffa City.

The city of Kaffa is located on a flat land near the sea. There are no other defense formulas and natural barriers around it, only the city wall connecting the port is guarded.

In Wang Baobao's opinion, this is very simple. As long as the giant cannon newly cast by the Mongolian Kingdom is transported to the city of Kaffa, this Genoyan city can be completely broken.

That’s right!

The Mongol army now has giant artillery that can destroy city walls.

After Wang Baobao eliminated the Golden Horde, he gathered all the craftsmen in the city of John Salai to cast new artillery for him.

After spending a lot of money and countless materials, the Great Mongolia finally forged a qualified siege cannon.

These artillery pieces weighed thousands of kilograms and required dozens of horses to drag them along.

But the power of these artillery is also very satisfactory.

Wang Baobao personally tested the power of these artillery pieces not long ago. It only takes one shot to destroy the rammed earth city wall wrapped in masonry.

According to the information obtained by the Mongolian spies, although the city walls of Kaffa were made of stone, they were not very thick.

After Wang Baobao left Wuyun City, he immediately gave orders to the Meng Yuan army under his command.

He plans to launch an attack on Kaffa City after next spring and before the snow melts.

The Mongol siege artillery is too heavy. Once the ice and snow completely melt, the roads on the Eastern European plains will become soft, making these heavy artillery stuck in the mud and unable to move forward.

According to Wang Baobao's estimate, the Mongolian and Yuan troops will take one to two months to conquer Kaffa City.

Then, he can capture the Genoese ships in Kaffa, strengthen the Mongolian navy, and finally march to Constantinople!

………

Constantinople.

After a blizzard, the entire city was covered in silver.

This city, which was already gradually becoming lonely, looked even more depressed and lonely after the snow.

But beneath this silence, there is actually an undercurrent surging.

Hundreds of thousands of residents of Constantinople have now fallen into a series of panic.

Recently, a series of things happened in the Eastern Roman Empire that all the citizens of the empire did not want to see.

First of all, the Genoese blockaded the ports of the Eastern Roman Empire. Many supplies necessary for the residents of Constantinople were blocked and the supply was completely cut off.

In order to solve this situation, Emperor John V of the Eastern Roman Empire ignored the opposition of his subjects, the Orthodox Patriarch, and went to the city of Rome. He wanted to use his own method of changing religious beliefs to obtain the support of the Roman Pope. The emperor's naive idea

, which made many people sneer.

Subsequently, the Roman navy in the port of Constantinople left the port without any orders and disappeared.

Many people rumored that the Roman navy surrendered to the Genoese.

There are also rumors that the Roman navy went to join the Mongols.

Anyway, no matter what the outcome is, it means that the last naval power of the Roman Empire no longer belongs to itself.

In addition to these, just a few days ago, a piece of news that shocked everyone was exposed.

There are rumors that the Orthodox Patriarch Alexios has sent a secret envoy to contact the Mongols, hoping to invite John Timur to take over Constantinople to replace John V as the emperor of the Roman Empire.

This is even more shocking news.

Although the Roman citizens in Constantinople had many dissatisfactions with John V.

But if a legendary brutal and murderous Mongolian became the emperor of Rome, it would be impossible for almost everyone to accept it.

Even if this John Tamerlane had converted to Orthodox Christianity and claimed to be the protector of Orthodox Christianity in the Rus region, the proud Roman citizens would not be able to accept him as the Roman Emperor!

For a while, the Roman citizens of Constantinople gathered in protest, hoping that Patriarch Alexios would give a reasonable explanation.

However, Patriarch Alexton was noncommittal and did not make any response.

I haven't appeared in various gatherings recently.

This news soon spread to Europe.

After learning the news, John V, who was in Rome, suddenly fell into panic and fear.

Before he left Constantinople, he already knew that Patriarch Alexius would never give up, but he did not expect that Patriarch Alexius would come up with such a brilliant idea!

Let a barbaric Mongolian take over Constantinople and replace himself as Roman Emperor God?

God, what a ridiculous decision!

However, John V had no good solution to this problem.

Because after he came to Rome, although he met Pope Innocent VI, he did not get the results he wanted.

Although the Pope verbally promised to mediate the dispute between the Genoese and John V.

He also promised to send a new Crusade to support the Eastern Roman Empire and fight against the surrounding Ottoman and other hostile forces.

but.

All of this requires the Roman Empire to agree to its conditions first, that is, to complete the integration and unification of the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

This integration and unification is naturally led by the Catholic Church headed by the Pope, which is equivalent to letting the Roman Catholic Church annex the Orthodox Church.

From beginning to end, Pope Innocent VI adhered to the principle of "don't let go of the eagle when you don't see the rabbit".

No matter how much John V asked for assurance, he would not grant it.

Anyway, as long as the subjects of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Orthodox Church did not accept the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, the Pope would not send a single soldier, nor would he mediate the dispute between the Genoese and the Eastern Roman Empire.

John V himself could agree to such a strong request, but the citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire would definitely not agree.

Before receiving any substantive assistance, let them abandon their centuries-old Orthodox faith. Only a fool would do such a thing!

John V met with disgrace in Rome.

Now we have the sad news that the Orthodox Church and the Empire are about to abandon themselves and welcome a Mongolian to become the Roman Emperor.

He could no longer stay in the city of Rome.

but.

John V was unable to return to Constantinople at this time.

Because now it is not only the Genoese who are his enemies.

Even another powerful maritime power in the Mediterranean, the Republic of Venice, has issued a wanted order for John V!

That's right, it's a wanted warrant!

John V had previously borrowed many usury loans from the Venetians to support his military expenditures for the war to restore the glory of Rome.

However, these wars all failed due to the attacks of the Ottoman and other hostile forces, without achieving any results.

The poor Roman Empire was not financially wealthy to begin with and had no money left to repay the Venetians.

The Venetian Merchant's loans were always known for their black intentions. After several years of delays, the interest rates had multiplied several times.

John V simply lay down and began his career of defaulting on the Venetians.

In line with the principle of "why should I pay back the money I borrowed based on my ability?", he has driven away Venetians who came to collect debts several times.

After arriving in Rome this time, the Venetian merchants who were already extremely angry with him issued a wanted order in the name of the Assembly of the Republic of Venice to arrest John V, a dishonest and dishonest emperor.

On the sea outside Rome, there are already many Venetian ships patrolling back and forth. As long as they get information that Emperor John V is going to sea, they will immediately use their powerful fleet to intercept and capture Roman Emperor John V back to Venice for trial.

According to the Venetian people's thirst for money, if John V could not pay back the money, he would probably spend the rest of his life in a water prison in Venice.

In this internal and external dilemma, John V fell into deep despair.

He didn't understand that everything he did was obviously for the Roman Empire, but in the end he ended up betraying everyone.

For several nights, John V fell into deep regret and fear, unable to sleep at all.

Just when John V felt that his future was gloomy and he had fallen into a desperate situation.

Things suddenly took a turn for the better.

This morning, several Roman Pope's men came early in the morning. They brought the news that Pope Innocent VI invited John V to meet, and these officials of the Holy See changed their attitude towards John V.

Arrogant and rude attitude, his attitude towards him is full of kindness.
To be continued...