In the Middle Ages, people drew cards to be promoted to nobility.

The war outside was raging, as if time had gone back to the war between gods in ancient times.

In the Galata Palace across the Golden Horn, the nominal leader of the Crusaders was still left in the courtyard playing chess alone, showing his unshakable courage.

"Your Majesty, I just saw that the Latins are driving dragons and giants and are about to capture Constantinople. Why are you still sitting here?"

Orlos hesitated several times, but couldn't help asking.

As Angelos's retainer and guard, he had accompanied Alexios through the most difficult years of exile. His loyalty was unquestionable, but now that they were about to return to Constantinople, he became more and more uneasy.

Compared to the Greeks, the Crusader nobles were more vulgar and more real.

They had only thirty-odd retainers under their command, and they were not respected by the Crusaders at all. They were not even allowed to participate in military meetings.

He doubted the credibility of the Latins and whether they would hand over Constantinople to them.

Alexius chuckled and said, "Relax and let those barbaric Latins and the rebels who followed the false emperor fight to their heart's content. Barbarians are good at war, so they are supposed to do this kind of work."

"My father once raised a group of Latin knights. They were unruly, fierce, rude, and greedy, just like wolves. But as long as you have meat in your hands, they will kneel down and become your hunting dogs."

He sighed lightly and said with a half-smile: "Oros, our family's foundation is not as good as those of Komnenos and Ducas. If we want to take Constantinople firmly, we must take extraordinary measures."

The Angelos family originated from the Komnenos family, a descendant of Princess Theodora, the daughter of Emperor Alexios I. They were considered a small vassal of the Doucas and Komnenos families, neither a powerful family at the core of the empire nor a local noble family.

Before he obtained the throne of emperor, he always called himself "Ducas" to bring honor to himself by relying on the bloodline of "Irina Dukaina", the mother of Princess Theodora.

Imperial coups are often divided into three types. The first is a palace coup, which is small in scale, fast in speed, and occurs at the core of imperial power.

The second is a coup d'état within the walls of the imperial capital, which often incites the entire population of Constantinople to participate.

The third type is armed invasions from local provinces, which usually last the longest and cause the greatest damage.

Isaac II, Alexios' father, instigated the citizens and nobles of Constantinople to overthrow Andronicus I of the Komnenos family through a coup d'état within the walls.

So Alexius was well aware of the power of the nobles and citizens of Constantinople. If they united, the emperor would be ousted.

"Oros, if we choose to rely on foreign mercenaries to seize Constantinople, it will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction among the people of Constantinople. They may choose to be tolerant for the time being, but the Latins will leave sooner or later - they will go to the East to continue to participate in the holy war, and only we will stay."

Although he acted somewhat foolishly in front of Bela III and the Venetians, he actually seriously considered whether he was capable of taking over Constantinople.

The urban middle class he mentioned naturally did not refer to the lower-class mobs, but craftsmen, shop owners, and even urban nobles with certain assets. They and the nobles together constituted the ruling class of this magnificent city.

They were enraged, and a new round of coup d'état was imminent.

"So, during the Latin invasion of Constantinople, we must show up as little as possible, and even allow the Latins to plunder the citizens of the imperial capital after they capture the city. Finally, we will ascend the throne as the savior and quell the Latins' atrocities."

Orlos was shocked: "But Your Majesty, many people will die!"

“These losses were necessary.”

Alexius didn't care how much it would cost to ascend the throne. After all, it was the most sacred position in the Christian world. Wasn't it reasonable to pay some price?

He even hoped that the Latins' butcher knives could be sharper so that they could kill the potential resistance forces in Constantinople, especially the powerful families like Komnenos and Ducas.

Alexios said solemnly: "I am still young, Orlos. After I ascend the throne, I will have plenty of time to recover these losses. I will repair the city, distribute bread to the civilians, hold a grand triumphal ceremony, chariot races, train a new army, and send troops to recover Asia Minor, the Eastern Province, and even the territory of Aegyptus.

I will have plenty of ways to restore my reputation, but only if I have the opportunity, and not be driven out of office by the nobles and the so-called "citizens" of Constantinople immediately after the Latins leave."

The empire has existed for more than 1,200 years. If we trace back from the establishment of the empire by Octavian to the establishment of the Papal City by Romulus, this time has even reached 2,000 years - almost throughout human history.

He never thought that the empire would fall one day.

Therefore, for Alexius, the biggest threat will always be within the empire, and external bullies are only temporary concerns.

boom--

A loud roar overturned the chessboard in front of Alexius.

He cursed in an unseemly Greek slang, stood up and said, "Let's go and see the rebels' struggle before their demise, and see the grand ceremony held by the Queen of Cities to welcome my coronation."

The battle in the Golden Horn has reached a white-hot stage.

Two giants, both of whom were high-level spellcasters, were constantly bombarding the magic circle on the city wall. Eve swallowed a mouthful of the extremely bad-tasting mental power recovery potion, clenched her teeth, and tilted her head back to let it slide into her throat.

She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, blood would spurt out.

Eve felt that the scene in front of her was becoming increasingly blurred. Ice cones were hitting the protective magic circle like raindrops. The abundant magic power brought by the huge body of the sea dragon was simply incomparable to that of human spellcasters.

Even this crude and simple spell was still consuming her energy.

As for the lava giant on the side, its combat power is about the same as that of the sea dragon Ketor, but it is obviously much stronger than Dandolo who controls the sea dragon.

He swung his fist and smashed it down, the ground shook, the topography of the harbor changed, lava gushed out, and hit the city wall with the wind from his fist.

"Anna, I may not be able to hold on any longer."

Her consciousness became increasingly blurred. In a trance, she seemed to have returned to the night when she first met Anna. She also seemed to have returned to the large library that made her feel at ease and exuded the charming fragrance of books and ink. Warm scenes appeared before her eyes, as if someone was humming a lullaby in her ear.

The corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Immediately, he fell to his knees weakly on the ground.

The huge protective magic circle became increasingly fragile after losing its master.

"Ms. Eve!"

The general on the city wall cried out in shock, his heart filled with despair.

His hometown was in the Kibiraot Military District, which was occupied by Arsalan of the Rom Kingdom. He had finally seen a wise monarch working hard to govern the country, and there was a momentum to restore the authority of the empire, reorganize the imperial military system, and retake his hometown. Is it going to end like this?

"Father in Heaven, Saint Sophia in Wisdom, please tell me what else I can do to save my shaky country?"

It seemed as if the general's prayer was heard.

The sea dragon that was originally attacking the magic circle suddenly began to tremble.

Dandolo, who was controlling the sea dragon, felt as if he was being stared at by some extremely terrifying monster. The feeling of being stared at by the overlord of the sky who was looking down at the wild rabbits in the wilderness made him feel limp and unable to move.

"Move, move quickly!"

"What's going on?"

Dandolo was filled with horror and tried to withdraw his consciousness, but he couldn't do it at all.

The lava giant at the side was like boiling water, spewing blazing flames from his mouth. Istvan felt that a very scary opponent had appeared above the clouds.

The originally fierce battle fell into a strange stagnation for a moment.

The giant and the sea dragon all looked up at the sky, causing the soldiers on both sides to subconsciously look over there as well.

In the thick clouds, a huge shadow is slowly emerging.

roar--

Three long dragon roars sounded, and the huge wings tore through the clouds. With an arrogant attitude, it swooped down towards the lava giant standing on the shore.

On top of the dragon's middle head, a man wearing a golden crown raised the purple flag that was blown by the wind, on which was a huge golden double-headed eagle.