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As early as the 10th century AD, the people of Baku began to dig wells to extract oil. The city's economy mainly depends on the oil and salt industry. The Emperor of Qin valued oil very much, even calling it black gold. He also spent huge sums of money from the internal treasury to have the Internal Supervision and Research and Development Department step up research on oil refining technology.
What is good at the top will be bad at the bottom!
Ever since he discovered that the Baku people could draw a large amount of oil by digging a well, Li Ding had no intention of abandoning this area.
Anyway, now the Greater Caucasus has been captured, and it is blocked by the Lesser Caucasus Mountains in the south, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. You can defend it by sending a small number of troops to take advantage of the danger.
Nearly 50,000 Qin troops began to rest, and Li Ding used this time to ask craftsmen to quickly build ships. It turned out that many ships were indeed captured in Baku Port. If they only carry people, it is almost enough, but if they have to carry horses together, then Not even close.
Just when Li Ding was preparing to build ships to break through the Ottoman Empire's defense line in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains from the Caspian Sea, a combined fleet of nearly 600 large and small warships successfully passed through the Dardanelles Strait from the Aegean Sea and entered Marma Lahai.
Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was originally Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), is located at the western end of the Bosporus leading to the Black Sea north of the Sea of Marmara.
The city of Istanbul is located on a peninsula, bounded by the Sea of Marmara to the south, the Bosporus to the east, and the Golden Horn to the north. The city wall is 20 meters high, extremely strong and difficult to attack.
The situation in the Golden Horn is calm. It was originally a harbor where Istanbul's navy was docked. It is connected to the Bosporus and is blocked by a huge iron cable. As long as the iron cable is connected, the Golden Horn can be isolated from the outside. It is difficult for foreign enemies to attack, and inside The battleship looks at the right time. But he can lower the iron rope and attack at any time.
But now the Ottoman Empire's navy has been defeated and suffered heavy losses, and the Golden Horn has almost become an airport.
Outside the Bosporus, there are warships like clouds and sail shadows covering the sky, especially the huge treasure ship of the Qin army and the eight scissor warships up to 60 meters long. They are all black and so cold that it makes people feel heart-stopping.
At this moment, Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Grand Vizier Copurullu Muhammad Pasha, who held the imperial seal, urgently summoned all ministers to the Kubalti (under the dome) of the palace to discuss countermeasures.
The high round dome is inlaid with colorful glass, and a large amount of light shines through, making the huge palace look bright. Koprulu Muhammad Pasha is sitting behind the table on the high platform. His beard and hair are all white, While looking seriously at the quarrel among the various viziers and ministers attending the meeting below, the humming sound echoed under the magnificent dome.
Since Muhammad II conquered this majestic city and moved the capital here. Istanbul has never been threatened by foreign enemies.
At this moment, the Sea of Marmara to the south of the city is filled with warships from the Christian world, which may launch an attack on Istanbul at any time.
Bapres, who had just been promoted to vizier, loudly shouted at the meeting: "Fifty thousand troops were buried under Mount Mugorgar. The entire Caucasus region has fallen, the navy has been defeated, and the infidel army has reached Istanbul. These are all decisions." caused by mistakes;
Things have come to this. Someone must take responsibility. If no one is responsible for such a major matter, how can the soldiers be allowed to fight the enemy desperately? must! Hold accountable! "
Bapreis's words were resounding. The hundreds of ministers under the dome heard an uproar and looked at the Grand Vizier sitting on the pedestal. Bapreis's words were unabashedly directed at Koprulu Muhammad Pasha. .
Because the Sultan was only eleven years old and was not yet able to rule personally, Koprulu Muhammad Pasha was now actually equivalent to the regent. How would he react in the face of Bapres's undisguised accusation
Koprulu Muhammad Pasha also did not expect that at this moment that was related to the life and death of the empire, Bapres would suddenly make trouble again. He looked at the ministers below without saying a word and seemed unusually calm.
His son Koprulu Faqir Ahmed, as one of the viziers, could not tolerate others pointing the finger directly at his father.
He pointed at Bapreis and shouted sternly: "Now that the heretics have arrived at the city, we should unite as one to fight off the foreign enemies. At this time, you still come to sow discord. It is simply with ulterior motives!"
What makes Faqir Ahmed angry is that they have made huge concessions and let Barpres and Abbas serve as viziers. Both parties have privately agreed to overcome the difficulties together first.
Now Barpres has gone back on his promise and blatantly provoked a dispute between the two factions. He is really a despicable and shameless villain.
Seeing that the two factions in the hall were fighting fiercely again, and the quarrel was fierce, Muhammad Pasha coughed twice and shouted: "Don't argue! I will bear the blame for the previous decision-making alone. When the fight comes, After defeating the enemies who invaded the empire, I will take the initiative to resign my position as Grand Vizier to the Sultan and apologize to the Sultan.
Now that the enemy has reached the city of Istanbul, there is no time for us to quarrel. Now we should work together as one to defeat the invading enemy as soon as possible. "
Muhammad Pasha's words immediately triggered another wave of exclamations, especially the officials of his faction. When they heard that he was planning to resign as Grand Vizier, they couldn't help but shout no.
Muhammad Pasha shouted again: "Silence! Silence! Stop making noises. Now let's talk about how we can defeat the enemy."
Navy Minister Bacher immediately said: "The city of Istanbul is well defended. It is absolutely impossible for the enemy to attack the capital with some navy. However, the empire's navy has been disabled. If we cannot seize the initiative at sea, we will never be able to truly control the city." Enemies are driven away, let alone defeated;
If they use warships to block the Bosporus for a long time, we may even lose contact with the territories to the east, and the consequences will be very serious. Therefore, we have to quickly rebuild a strong navy. "
The truth is good, but does a powerful navy mean a new one
Finance Minister Abdullah immediately said: "The empire's finances are very difficult, and it is really impossible to spend money on large-scale shipbuilding in the short term. What's more, to rebuild a strong navy, not only huge shipbuilding expenses, but also Where can we find funding for soldiers' equipment and training in such a short period of time
What's more, even if a powerful navy can be rebuilt in the short term, so what? Wasn’t the empire’s navy powerful before? But facing the bombing from the air by the Qin people, there was nothing they could do. Almost the entire army was wiped out. After rebuilding a navy, will it be able to deal with the Qin people's attacks from the air? "Wucuo Novel Network does not skip words.
Bapres snorted coldly: "According to what the Finance Minister said, can the empire just watch helplessly as the enemy's warships show off their power outside Istanbul?"
Finance Minister Abdullah immediately asked back: "Does Bapres Vizier have a good plan? Then tell me quickly and everyone will listen."
Bapreis snorted and said disdainfully: "The navy must be rebuilt as soon as possible. This is unquestionable. The capital of the empire cannot be under the fire of the infidels forever.
However, it is not difficult to see from the Battle of Haiqinhai that rebuilding the navy alone is not enough to resist the Qin people's attacks from the sky. I suggest that you send someone to negotiate with the people of Qin. You might as well promise some benefits to the people of Qin. As long as Qin's warships can be withdrawn, everything will be easy. "
Faqir Ahmed sneered: "The Qin people killed 50,000 heroic soldiers of the empire and occupied the entire Caucasus region. They are the life and death enemies of the empire. How could they?"
"Ahem!" Grand Vizier Muhammad Pasha interrupted his son's words with a cough at the right time, and then said slowly, "Bapreis's words are very reasonable. What the empire is facing now is not only the invasion from the Sea of Marmara. Threats. There are also the Qin army in the Caucasus and the Safavid army in the direction of Dagda;
I heard that Abbas II had sent a princess to marry the Emperor of Qin, and the two countries would probably form an alliance, if that were the case. The Qin army in the Caucasus and the Safavid army will attack from both sides, which will be very detrimental to the empire.
Therefore, now it is not only necessary to persuade the Qin Navy to withdraw from the Christian combined fleet. It is also necessary to break up the alliance between Qin and Safavid, at least to prevent these two powerful enemies from joining forces to deal with the empire. "
Bapres was very proud to see that Muhammad Pasha agreed with him.
In the huge dome palace. Everyone was talking about what price they had to pay to get the Qin people to retreat.
Muhammad Pasha continued: "It is imperative to negotiate with the people of Qin. Since this strategy was thought up by Bapres, then Bapres should be responsible for negotiating with the people of Qin."
Bapreis, who had been looking cheerful just now, suddenly turned extremely gloomy.
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(To be continued...)
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