Fierce shelling sounded from outside the city of Instanbul, and shells whizzed past in the sky.
At this moment, the entire capital city of the Ottoman Empire was besieged.
At sea, nearly a hundred warships of the Ming Empire were firing at the Ottoman Empire capital from three sides. On the only land connection, 200,000 Ming troops successfully joined forces. Thousands of heavy artillery were also pouring down on the Ottoman Empire capital city.
of anger.
This was an unprecedented artillery attack. Thousands of artillery pieces were involved in the attack, and the pouring shells formed a rain of shells and fell into the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Hundreds of thousands of artillery shells fell into this historic city, the deafening sound resounded through the sky, and billowing smoke enveloped the entire city.
The formerly prosperous, lively and noisy city of Instanbul is now in ruins. Countless ancient buildings have been turned into ruins by artillery fire, including churches and ceremonies inherited from the ancient Roman Empire, temples, palaces, etc. that were painstakingly built by successive kings of the Ottoman Empire.
Almost everything has been reduced to ruins, and it is difficult to find an intact building. There are ruins and broken walls everywhere, in great disarray, with helpless cries, frightened screams, and figures constantly searching among the ruins.
Everyone in this city deeply remembers today and this moment.
It is estimated that this is the most horrific bombardment in human history!
The artillery fire attack lasted for several hours, and then gradually stopped. It seemed that the Ming people themselves were tired, and the anger in their hearts had also dissipated, so they stopped.
However, for the people in the city of Instanbul, when they climbed out of the ruins tremblingly, looked at the devastated city, and kept calling the names of their relatives, but could not hear the answer for a long time, the whole city was filled with confusion.
Immersed in grief and crying.
In the palace of the Ottoman Empire, King Selim I and many princes, ministers, royal family members and nobles walked out of the underground fortifications.
The once prosperous palace was completely reduced to ruins.
The royal palace here was inherited from the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Byzantine architectural style was integrated with the efforts of skilled craftsmen of the Ottoman Empire throughout the ages, forming the unique architectural style and art of the city of Instanbul.
But now, everything is in ruins.
No longer can we see a trace of the luxury of the palace in the past. A strong wind blew up, kicking up the billowing dust, leaving Selim I and others in a state of disgrace and utter embarrassment.
"Daming people!"
Selim I clenched his fist tightly.
The people of Ming Dynasty are really cruel.
The strength of the Ottoman Empire was severely damaged by the killing of several large armies. It was obviously preparing to negotiate peace with itself, but it insisted on bombarding its capital city, turning everything here into ruins.
Look at the palace in front of you, and then overlook the city outside the palace. There are ruins and broken walls everywhere. Many magnificent buildings built with a lot of hard work and wealth have been destroyed. The Ming people simply intend to leave this city behind.
The meaning and intention of a sound building.
There was endless anger burning in his heart, and he wished he could lead an army of one million people all the way east, directly to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and completely destroy the capital city of the Ming Dynasty.
However, anger is just anger after all.
When you are inferior to others, anger is meaningless and will only make you lose your mind and make more mistakes.
"Great Sultan, thank you that we dispatched 200,000 troops in advance. Otherwise, if we had stayed in the city, we don't know how many casualties there would have been."
Ali Pasha's old eyes were filled with tears.
He was very old. When he was young, he personally followed Muhammad II to conquer all directions and conquered this ancient city as the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
That was more than half a century ago.
At that time, the Ottoman Empire's army fought bloody battles here for several months, building giant Urban cannons to bombard the solid city walls. In the end, the opponent was short of manpower and would lose if they defended for a long time, so they conquered this great city.
The ancient city laid the foundation of the Ottoman Empire.
After more than half a century, he has experienced several sultans, and each sultan has continued to build this huge and magnificent city.
The Ottoman Empire has always been proud of this city.
However, now, it has been attacked twice by the Ming Dynasty people.
More than ten years ago, the Ming Dynasty's navy bombarded Istanbul, but the damage to the city was not serious. At that time, the power of artillery fire was limited, and the Ming Dynasty only bombarded it to force the Ottoman Empire to sign an alliance under the city.
.
But this time, the Ming Dynasty made it clear that they wanted to destroy Instanbul. Thousands of cannons poured hundreds of thousands of shells on the city, razing everything to the ground and causing extremely heavy casualties.
But thankfully, Selim I followed his own advice and dispatched all the 200,000 troops guarding the city to avoid this disaster, otherwise the Ottoman Empire would have lost its last vitality.
This capital that inherited the Eastern Roman Empire will most likely be recovered by the Europeans and Greeks, and the Byzantine Empire will most likely resurrect.
But look at the extremely prosperous city at sunset. It is the largest and most prosperous city in Europe.
Paris, Venice, Vienna, Le Soto, Florence, Genoa, etc., these European cities are much smaller than Instanbul, and they cannot even be compared with each other.
But now, this prosperous city has turned into ruins. The city that has been inherited for thousands of years has been completely destroyed in one fell swoop.
The proud jewel of the Ottoman Empire was destroyed.
This feeling and mood made him, a veteran of the Ottoman Empire, want to cry without tears.
At this moment, I don’t know whether I should be thankful that I have preserved the last vitality of the Ottoman Empire, or whether I should have a good cry for this great and ancient city.
Just like countless cries in the city, too much has been lost, too much.
Although the Ming Dynasty had no intention of attacking, they did not seem to have any interest in occupying the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
They simply came here to pour out their anger in order to demonstrate the majesty and hegemony of the Ming Empire.
Simply came to destroy, simply came to give the Ottoman Empire a profound lesson and impression, a shame that the Ottoman Empire will never forget.
At the same time, it also completely buried the ambitions of the Ottoman Empire in ruins.
From now on, the Ottoman Empire will lose its ambition and strength to dominate the world.
Whether he can survive this hurdle is still unknown.
Even though the Ming Dynasty retreated and negotiated peace.
However, the Persians, Egyptians, Europeans, Greeks, Spanish, Tatars, etc. will not miss the great opportunity to carve up the Ottoman Empire.
Can we defeat the heroes from all directions with just the remaining 200,000 troops?
This is still a question mark, an unknown quantity.
The powerful tribal leaders and nobles inside are also ambitious. Just like the Ottoman Empire was established by the Ottoman Empire, he quickly rose from a tribal leader to become the master of this land and established a huge empire.
.
There will be many, many problems in the future, and no one knows whether the Ottoman Empire can survive them.
Everyone has this question in their mind, but at the moment, how to reach an armistice agreement with the Ming people is the most important thing.
This reminded Ali Pasha of more than ten years ago. At that time, under the city of Erzinjan, the Ming Dynasty forcefully handed over an armistice agreement, the cession of a large amount of land, huge war compensation, and unequal compensation.
Trade treaties, etc.
This was a shame in the history of the Ottoman Empire, but it had to be signed in the end.
Now, we don’t know what kind of harsh treaty the Ming people will propose.
"If you can, please go again. You can go outside the city to reach an armistice agreement with the Ming people. No matter what conditions they propose, we will agree to them. As long as they cease the war as soon as possible."
Selim I slowly loosened his clenched fists.
He is a talented and strategic monarch, knowing that the anger at this moment still has no meaning. He is also an extremely calm and cruel monarch.
After the anger, he became extremely calm and thought clearly about the situation at hand. He knew that the most important thing at the moment was to reach an armistice agreement with the Ming people. The most important thing was for the Ming people to withdraw their troops.
If the Ming people don't retreat, enemies from all directions will keep coming, and the tribal leaders inside will be ready to make moves, and they won't be able to devote themselves to solving these problems and things.
"Yes~"
Ali Pasha quickly replied respectfully, and then he took a dozen ministers with him and walked out of the city to talk to the Ming Dynasty again.
outside the city.
"Tsk, tsk, this artillery attack is so powerful!"
"Thousands of artillery pieces and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells directly razed this Instanbul to the ground."
Huo Ying and Liao Yuan stood on a hillside, watching the spectacular bombardment with telescopes, and smiled with satisfaction when they saw the ruins of the city of Instanbul.
The two of them can be regarded as people who have seen the world, and they have seen many kinds of artillery attacks.
But this was their first time seeing a big scene like today.
The power of thousands of artillery pieces is simply too powerful.
"This should be the most powerful artillery attack in history."
Liao Yuan nodded and said: "I don't know if the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was killed in the bombing. If he was killed, it would be a bit troublesome. They will have to wait for them to elect a new Sultan before they can negotiate with us."
"Don't worry, you won't be killed that easily. Maybe you'll come to us for peace talks soon."
Huo Ying seemed very confident. How could the emperor of a huge empire be killed so easily? He probably hid underground in advance.
"Report~"
"The Ottoman envoy came to ask for an audience."
The two chatted and chatted, and soon someone came to report.
"Haha, isn't this coming?"
"The speed is really fast. As soon as our artillery fire stopped, they came to us for peace talks. It seems that what Liu Gong said is very reasonable. The truth is only within the range of the cannon."
"The most effective way to talk to them is with artillery fire."
"Haha, isn't it? Mr. Liu is the most obsessed with artillery attacks."
"Let's go, let's go. Let's negotiate early and give the Ottoman Empire some time to deal with enemies on all sides. Don't kill the Ottoman Empire, otherwise who will get our war reparations?"
"Well, these hundreds of thousands of artillery shells are all money, and they must be reimbursed by the Ottoman Empire."
The two of them chatted and quickly returned to the military camp.
Here, Ali Pasha, Moses and other Ottoman ministers were already waiting.
"Old Prime Minister, we meet again."
Huo Ying and Liao Yuan walked in with smiles on their faces, and when they saw Ali Pasha, they also smiled and said hello.
"Yes, we meet again."
"People in the Ming Dynasty don't tell secrets. We are here for peace talks. I wonder how your country can stop the war?"
Ali Pasha looked at the two of them and saw that there was no nonsense anymore. They had already reached this point and nonsense was meaningless.
"Peace talks~"
"Now we can have peace talks. I think you, the Ottoman Empire, should also remember today's lesson. You should also know how powerful our Ming Empire is. I think you will not do some unwise behavior in the future."
Huo Ying glanced at them and said.
"We in the Ottoman Empire will always remember this day and respect the Ming Empire even more!"
Ali Pasha took a deep breath to calm down the anger in his heart and said.
"That's good. This is our armistice agreement. If there are no problems, let your Sultan sign and seal it personally and implement it."
Huo Ying nodded with satisfaction, and then took over an armistice agreement from the staff beside him. The armistice agreement had several main clauses written in Chinese, Turkic, and Arabic.
Article 1: The Ottoman Empire took the initiative to provoke the Ming Empire and brought the blame and humiliation upon itself. Therefore, all war faults and losses must be borne by the Ottoman Empire.
This is to characterize the war this time. It was not the Ming people who invaded your Ottoman Empire, but you yourself who caused trouble and provoked the Ming Empire. The relevant subsidiary treaties clearly stated what happened this time. The Ottoman Empire violated the contract.
First, Ming merchants were prohibited from doing business freely, deliberately delayed, delayed the payment of war reparations, etc.
Obviously, these all need to be written into history, to understand the reasons for things, and to set a tone for them.
Next is Article 2. The Ottoman Empire ceded the city of Erzinjan and all the areas east of it to the Ming Empire. The Ming Empire had the right to garrison troops in the Instanbul Strait. The Ottoman Empire ceded a 10 square kilometer coastal area of the Greek Peninsula in the Aegean Sea.
The land and surrounding islands were given to the Ming Empire.
This one is about ceding land and garrisoning troops. The city of Erzinjan and the land to the east were ceded to the Ming Empire. This meant that in the future, the capital of the Ottoman Empire would not be fortified in the eyes of the Ming people, because all the gates were ceded to the Ming people.
Coming from the city of Erzinjan is a flat plain with no natural dangers to defend.
Garrisoning troops in the Istanbul Strait is even more deadly. This is equivalent to inserting a thorn in the heart of the Ottoman Empire. If the Ottoman Empire continues to be like before, thinking about provoking the Ming Dynasty, not abiding by the contract, etc., the Ming Dynasty will be killed in a matter of minutes.
You can attack Instanbul to give you a taste of artillery fire again.
As for the land on the Greek peninsula, it was a colony of the Ming Dynasty in the Mediterranean. It was obviously to expand their presence here, so that they could do more things by acquiring more land.
Ali Pasha didn't pay too much attention to this. The land ceded was not too much, it was acceptable, and it was within his expectations.
What he cares more about is war reparations.
There is no doubt that the people of Ming Dynasty will not let themselves down.
The third article mentions war reparations. The Ottoman Empire needs to compensate the Ming Empire for a total of 200 million taels of silver in war reparations, which can be paid in installments.
The war indemnity of 200 million taels of silver is twice the amount of the last war indemnity. The last war indemnity has not been paid off yet, so here comes another 200 million taels, and it has to be paid in installments. How many years will it take?
Seeing this, Ali Pasha couldn't help but feel dizzy. The Ming Dynasty people are really greedy. 200 million taels of silver are not enough to compensate all the Ottoman Empire's silver.
Continuing to look at Article 4, merchants of the Ming Empire and its vassal states, vassal states, and colonies have the right to trade freely and freely in the Ottoman Empire. All goods of the Ming Empire have no taxing rights in the Ottoman Empire.
Each of the four main contents made Ali Pasha gnash his teeth with hatred.
"We shouldn't have cared about the Hezhong area of the Ming Dynasty back then, but we ended up provoking the Ming Dynasty. Humiliation came again and again. We even lost all our watermelons for a little sesame seed."
Ali Pasha was extremely regretful. He didn't know who persuaded him to send troops to the Hezhong area and provoked the Ming Dynasty. This led to what happened today.
"General Huo, it is impossible for us to cede the city of Erzinjan to your country. This is the core of our eastern front. Once we lose it, we will have no defense."
"And stationing troops in the Instanbul Strait is something we cannot accept."
"The amount of war reparations is also too large, far beyond the affordability of our Ottoman Empire. We simply cannot afford such high war reparations."
After thinking about it, Ali Pasha also started to bargain with Huo Ying.
Compensation for ceding territory is definitely indispensable, but the core area cannot be ceded, not the city of Erzinjan, nor the garrison, nor the compensation of 200 million taels of silver. These conditions are too harsh.
"Whether you agree or not is your business. There is no need to negotiate with us. The treaty was made by our emperor, the Ming Empire, and no one has the right to modify it. If you agree, we will cease the war. If you don't agree, we will continue to fight."
Huo Ying looked at the other party and said calmly.
Just kidding, our Ming Empire’s foreign war conditions have always been non-negotiable. Do you think we are giving you that little land?
Or are you asking for those war reparations?
The main purpose is to let you remember today's lesson and prevent you from provoking the majesty of our Ming people.
"Okay, I need to go back and ask our great Sultan for instructions."
When Ali Pasha heard this, he realized that it was still the same as before, with no room for negotiation. He could only sigh in his heart and decided to go back and discuss with Selim I.
A few days later.
At the residence of Liu Jin in the capital of the Ming Empire.
"Haha, the thirty-year mortgage has not been paid off, and now I want to raise the fifty-year mortgage, which adds up to more than sixty years."
Liu Jin laughed when he looked at the latest telegram sent back from the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire signed the contract.
PS: I was delayed by something at noon, so the update is late. Today is just one big chapter with 5,000 words. I am too lazy to split it into 2 chapters~