A month later, the Crusaders finally recaptured Constantinople.
The above sentence is an understatement because the restoration process was an understatement.
Since the Azure Sword Mercenaries opened up the road to Constantinople and expelled all the demigods along the way, it was extremely easy for the Crusaders to clean up.
In just over half a month, the Crusaders had deployed heavy troops outside the Theodosian Walls and began to fire artillery at the Seljuks in Constantinople.
Another week passed, and the city's artillery power gradually weakened. Sensing something was wrong, the Crusaders launched a tentative siege, and they actually captured the city wall directly.
As the scattered Seljuks in the inner city of Constantinople gradually laid down their weapons and surrendered, the Crusaders realized that Emperor Suleiman had initially fired artillery at the Crusaders, but was secretly transferring most of his troops through the Golden Horn towards Asia Minor.
Over time, the artillery firing outwards from the city also increased the proportion of smoke bombs, using large amounts of smoke to cover up the reduction in artillery firepower itself, so that the Seljuks successfully managed to steal their manpower to the East under the noses of the Crusaders.
This has both good and bad results:
The good thing is that Constantinople was preserved intact. In order to conceal his presence as much as possible, Suleiman did not have enough time and transportation capacity to transport the citizens of Constantinople, so they were not looted or killed as consumables in the brutal siege.
The downside is that the subsequent war to reconquer Asia Minor will be difficult to fight. First of all, the initial goal of the Crusaders was to reconquer Constantinople, and Asia Minor was not included in the holy war contract. In short, it costs more money.
Secondly, the population and resources of Asia Minor are there. If Constantinople is not recovered, it will face the threat from the east. It will take more than one or two days to recover it.
On the other hand, we can see the insidiousness and cunning of Emperor Suleiman. If he chose to defend Constantinople to the death, the Crusaders with superior military strength could cross the sea to recapture western Asia Minor and cut off Suleiman's retreat to the east.
In short, although she had recovered Constantinople and laid the foundation for the restoration of the Eastern Solomon Empire, Theodora was not really happy at this time.
To be more precise, a lot of things from her enthronement to the counterattack in Asia Minor diluted her joy and sense of accomplishment and made her even more worried.
For example, there was no trustworthy bureaucratic team on hand to complete the integration of Constantinople's remaining resources; for example, the military threat from the east was becoming more and more serious, and the departure of the Seljuks took away a large number of fleets, so that there was almost no navy available in the city.
For example, the diplomatic wrangling with the Crusaders took up a lot of her energy, especially the tragic precedent (referring to the first volume where the Crusaders leader deliberately delayed negotiations with her and secretly instigated the Crusaders to plunder Constantinople), which made her even more cautious.
For example, a man who had promised to become her co-emperor was now leisurely taking other girls out to play around in Constantinople, making Her Majesty Theodora almost want to bite him to death.