Chapter 671: Knights of St. John's Hospital

As Giovanni expected, the middle section of the city wall suffered the most intense attack.

Because it is located in the Lex River Valley, the city wall here is relatively low, and because of the fierce attacks of the Ottoman soldiers for several days, the trenches were filled and the first low wall was blown down, so it was much easier to climb the top of the city than in other places.

Fortunately, the middle section of the city wall was the first to discover the enemy, and the emperor immediately dispatched the Keshik Army to assist in the defense. Although the balance of the battle had tilted towards the enemy at this time, the defenders were not dispersed, but stubbornly formed a combat team, blocking the narrow passage and blocking the enemy.

Moreover, as time went on, the towers on the second and third walls also began to support the battle in front. The Ottomans also occupied several towers. They wanted to use this to provide remote support to their own people from a high position, but they were shot and killed by the Keshik Army deployed on the second wall shortly after they appeared.

These are the best armored archers in the human world at this time, the last remaining rays of the nomadic Qiexue Army, all of which are elites carefully selected by Lothar. The sound of arrows hitting the armor plates is endless, and most of the arrows can hit the target in the dark night rain.

At this time, the purple robe of the emperor's holy cross plate armor coat has been soaked with blood and rain, and the corpses under his feet have piled up into a small mountain.

The enemies who originally besieged him filled the entire city wall, and countless Janissaries rushed to the royal flag one after another, trying to break it, but when the Janissaries on the city wall were almost cleared, the emperor still stood tall.

Even though these Janissaries had taken banned drugs, they couldn't help but feel terrified when they saw this scene. For a moment, these warriors who were known for their fearlessness and fearlessness dared not get close to the figure again with their shields raised.

"Keep going!"

"Those who retreat will die!"

Ibrahim Pasha roared. He was once the confidant of Grand Vizier Kandali Khalil, who advocated peace with European countries. But now, after the new king took the throne, the Grand Vizier's faction has become a broken ship that could capsize at any time.

If he wants to jump off the ship in time, he must prove his loyalty to the new king.

He knows very well what kind of punishment he will receive if he brings back the news of failure.

And the Janissaries are indeed the best in the world at this time. In addition, they took banned drugs and quickly reorganized a new round of offensive.

Swoosh.

The crossbow-wielding militia of Venice shot at the enemy from a high position. The crossbows hit their helmets, making a clanging sound. From time to time, someone was shot in the vitals and fell to the ground and was stepped on by his companions.

But more Janissaries, even if they were pierced like hedgehogs, or even their arms were cut off and their eyes were blinded, they still shouted and fought fiercely, never retreating a step, just like the devil in hell.

If it weren't for the emperor's flag, which never wavered as he had promised, the first wall would have been captured by the Ottomans long ago.

"Protect your majesty!"

A team of Venetian mercenaries finally came to support Lothar. At this point in the battle, almost all of his guards were dead.

As soon as the Venetian mercenaries formed a formation, they felt the Ottoman offensive hitting the shield wall like a tide. The arms holding the shields trembled. They were shocked and felt a great awe for the Greek emperor who had survived such an offensive and had not even retreated a step.

How did he do it?

Could it be that he was really blessed by God?

Suddenly, in front of the shield formation, a group of Janissaries made way. A Janissary who was more than two meters tall and wearing a spiked helmet strode out with a huge war hammer as tall as a man.

He swung the hammer in his hand and smashed it hard on the shield wall with a shocking force.

The Venetian soldier holding the shield was smashed and flew away. The shield in his hand was broken into pieces, and the arm holding the shield was snapped in half, revealing the white bones. Blood spurted out of his mouth and nose, and he fell to the ground and died.

Amid the excited cheers of the Ottomans, the giant Janissary laughed and swung the hammer again

Although the Janissaries were also translated as the Royal Guards, in fact, under the command of Mahamu II, there was a real Royal Guards, which was his most trusted team, not inherited from his father Murad II.

For this trusted force, Mahamu II naturally invested in it. A considerable number of them had drunk various magic potions and possessed extraordinary strength.

This giant Janissary holding a two-handed hammer was obviously one of them.

"Your Majesty, why don't we retreat?"

The mercenaries complained bitterly. They called themselves mercenaries, but in fact they were all Crusaders who volunteered to join the war. Their combat effectiveness was naturally stronger than that of ordinary Greek militias, but how could they confront such a strong enemy head-on?

"No, I said I would not take a step back."

The emperor pushed away the Venetian mercenaries beside him, holding swords in both hands, and rushed out from the gap in the shield formation. Without any movement, the Janissaries, who had just shown their power and swung their hammers like a giant, suddenly stiffened.

The head wearing an iron helmet rolled down with a clanking sound, and the neck cavity without a head was sprayed with hot blood everywhere.

The laughter of the Ottomans, like a turkey with its throat strangled, stopped abruptly.

But the situation of the war will not change because of one person.

The number of enemies was almost equal to that of the defenders, but there was obviously an insurmountable gap between the elite of the enemy and us. Even though the defenders had the advantage of terrain, large sections of the city wall began to fall under the fierce attack of the Ottomans regardless of losses.

He and these Venetians had become lone sails in the sea.

"Your Majesty, if we don't retreat, we will be completely surrounded."

The Venetians looked at the emperor who was still steady with his sword in the fight, and could not guess what he was thinking under his golden iron face.

"You retreat."

The emperor sighed lightly, and under the mask and helmet, a pair of eyes lit up with golden light, and dragon blood flowed in his body.

At this point, if you want to ensure that the first city wall does not fall, the trump card can no longer be hidden.

He could feel that the Ottomans still had a strong man who had not taken action. The target of their vigilance was obviously Viviana, who had previously shined brilliantly. As long as Viviana did not take action, they would not take action.

He thought the enemy would send a powerful individual assassin to decapitate him, and then shoot him with a dragon-shooting crossbow, just in time to reveal the trump card to Mahamu II, so as to reassure him.

But Mahamu II's arrangement was obviously more cruel than he imagined.

The Janissaries, which were considered to be the best army in the whole of Europe, were completely put into the blood and flesh grinding machine without considering the cost. The real strong men watched these elites being consumed and just stood by and watched.

At this point, he couldn't use the dragon-shooting crossbow used to deal with a single enemy to deal with these Janissaries, right?

"Your Majesty, look!"

A Venetian soldier suddenly shouted.

The enemies on the distant city wall suddenly made a commotion, and a golden glow flashed. A group of knights bathed in the holy light and chanted hymns in their mouths came like a tiger into a wolf pack.

"Hallelujah!"

"In the name of the Father!"

The flag they carried was a familiar black-and-white cross.

The only difference was that they wore red battle robes with white crosses instead of black-and-white crosses, unlike the traditional Hospital Knights.

Each knight was surrounded by a holy glow. These knights who had been displaced from the Holy Land and retreated to Acre, Cyprus, and Rhodes successively represented the most powerful armed group in the Catholic world. At this critical moment, they joined the battlefield like a god.

They chanted blessings that had a buff effect on themselves. With the enchanted armor, ordinary attacks could not hurt them at all. The knights in the front held their shields and rushed like steamrollers, knocking over the scattered enemies and knocking them aside.

The knights and servants behind them followed and killed them. For a time, the fierce Janissaries were swept away by them like fallen leaves in the autumn wind.

"It's the Knights of St. John of Rhodes!"

The Venetians' desperate eyes were filled with infinite brilliance.

No matter how strong the Janissaries were, they were already exhausted in this tragic siege.

At this moment, when they were about to take down the city wall, unexpectedly, the enemy had such an elite force. As the effect of the banned drugs faded and the sequelae came, their morale could not help but waver.

Lothar could obviously see that the enemy was at the end of his strength, and he gave the order without hesitation: "Blow the horn of counterattack and tell these pagans that Constantinople is not a place they can come and go as they please."

As the horn sounded, the defenders who had gradually retreated to the second wall burst out with strength again in their exhausted bodies, and together with the soldiers who came to support from the north and south walls, they launched a counterattack against the enemy.

On the other side, no matter how angry Ibrahim Pasha was, their foothold on the city wall was still quickly squeezed and recovered.

When the rain stopped and the sky turned pale.

Most of the remaining enemy troops on the city walls had been cleared, leaving only a few scattered towers where the enemy was still resisting.

The leader of the reinforcements, a blond man with a helmet and blood all over his body, strode towards Lothar.

The two did not speak to each other, but just looked at each other.

Raymond looked at the bloody emperor. The other party had a strong momentum, and it seemed that there was a giant's spirit hidden in his body. People looked at him with awe. In connection with the emperor's record he heard when he arrived, he couldn't help but sigh that this Constantine XI was really different from the Greek emperor in his impression.

Perhaps under his leadership, this time they can really defeat the arrogant Ottomans.

Raymond spoke first: "Your Majesty, Raymond de Lamarche, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, has been ordered by His Majesty the Pope and the Grand Master to lead a detachment of more than 500 people to support."

Lothar sighed: "I didn't expect that Grand Master Bompard would send you."

He didn't expect that his letter would actually invite reinforcements that had never existed in history.

"The process was indeed not easy."

Raymond said with a double meaning.

In fact, when Grand Master Bompard asked him to lead a detachment to Constantinople, not only were there many opponents at the internal meeting of the Knights Hospitaller, but even he himself hesitated again and again.

After all, the Knights Hospitaller had been wandering all the way, and their strength had greatly weakened compared to their heyday. They had just experienced a great battle with the Mamluk fleet, and their family assets were not really rich.

Moreover, the Aegean Sea had become the domain of the Ottomans at this time. Even the merchant ships of Venice and Genoa had to stop and accept inspection. It was not easy to break into the Golden Horn from such a blockade.

Perhaps the reinforcements had not arrived yet and were sent to sea by the Ottomans along with the ships.

Or perhaps, when they arrived, the crescent flag had already been raised in Constantinople.

"But you finally came. This is God's will."

Thinking of the sudden sea breeze that helped them get rid of the enemy when they were chased by the Ottoman fleet, and on this stormy night, they miraculously connected with the Roman fleet and sailed safely into the Golden Horn, Raymond could not help but stand in awe.

He solemnly drew a cross on his chest: "It is God's will that we rush to the battlefield at the most critical moment of the battle; it is God's will that gives Constantinople an unparalleled and brave emperor."

The emperor smiled generously.

He looked at the soldiers guarding the city, who were covered in blood and exhausted in the morning light, climbed up the city wall with great strides, raised the flag with the double-headed eagle, and shouted heartily:

"Long live Rome!"

"Long live Rome, long live the emperor!"

Not only the Greeks raised their arms and shouted, but also the Venetians and Genoese, except for the members of the Knights who had just arrived in Constantinople, almost everyone was shouting.

In fact, whether it was the Venetians in the concession or the Genoese in Galata, which was only separated by a strait and located on the other side of the Golden Horn, many of them knew that they had become the abandoned children of their mother country.

Those who were capable either ran away or firmly believed that they could still save their lives and property even under the rule of the Ottomans.

Facts have proved that the Republic cannot protect them.

But Rome can.

Their emperor can.

"Long live!"