Chapter 372： Preparations for the naval battle

"finally reached!"

Standing in the drizzle, Prince Menshkov held a naval observation mirror to watch the hazy city in front of him. Constantinople in the observation mirror seemed to be in front of him, as long as he stretched out his hand, he could touch it. .

We must conquer here and let the flag of Rome float over Constantinople once again.

Looking at Constantinople in the distance, Menshkov secretly determined in his heart that he must restore Rome and fulfill the dreams of the tsars of all dynasties.

No one has ever been so close to this fantastic city.

However, Menshkov seemed to have forgotten that the Roman Empire he had in mind was not just the Russian Empire.

Not to mention, the Ottoman Empire also claimed to be the Roman Empire.

Although Shinra, founded by the Austrian Empire next door, has disintegrated, it does not prevent Metternich himself from advocating in London that the Austrian Empire has inherited the universal values ​​of the Roman Empire.

The Third Rome of the Russian Empire is actually the one with the lowest legitimacy among all the Romans. Just by marrying the princess of the Byzantine Empire in distress, she can forcibly call herself Rome.

However, now is the era of imperialist powers in the 19th century, and all legal principles must give way to naked rifles and artillery.

The same is true of the name of the Roman Empire. It is the consensus of all patients of the late Roman Dream that the strong and strong are Rome.

Prince Menshkov, who had watched Constantinople for a long time through the observation mirror, turned the observation glass to the berthing port not far from Constantinople, put down the observation mirror again and pointed to the berthing port to accompany him. Lieutenant General Vladimir Kornilov, Chief of Staff of the Black Sea Fleet, said: "See if you see it, that is the target you want to destroy! You must understand it enough."

Lieutenant General Kornilov, like Prince Menshkov, took up the observation glass, and after careful observation revealed a rebellious face and said: "Your Excellency, please be blunt! With those warships in the port, there is no way to match the greatness. the Russian Empire's hands-on ability."

"Of course I understand the level of the Ottoman Empire's navy. I ask you to destroy the warships in the port and the buildings in the port as much as possible, and weaken the Ottoman Empire's navy as much as possible! Only in this way can we complete the landing mission at the least cost. !" Prince Menshkov said while holding his hands, and slowly entered the cabin of the warship.

Kornilov followed Prince Menshkov into the cabin.

Under the leadership of Menshkov, Kornilov came to his room in the cabin.

After entering the room, a striking map hangs near the porthole, and the country on the map is the Ottoman Empire.

Menshkov took down the map and put it on the table, and Kornilov approached the wooden square table.

"Look, the Ottoman Navy is here and here!" Menshkov pointed to Kornilov's serious tone, pointing to the location on the map of the port where warships were moored near Constantinople and the location of the port of Cipuno He said: "These two places are where the Ottoman Empire warships are parked, especially the port of Sipuno, where a large number of warships of the Ottoman Empire are parked. Once the war breaks out, the imperial fleet must destroy the port of Sipuno as soon as possible, This will destroy most of the Ottoman Empire's naval forces in preparation for our landing!"

"Understood!" Kornilov said meticulously to Menshkov: "The fleet has been equipped with the latest type of artillery shells, even for naval countries like Britain and France, we have the confidence to defeat them!"

The new type of artillery shell Kornilov refers to is the explosive bomb, which can give priority to increasing the destructive power of the fleet.

Before the battle between the naval fleets was nothing more than the artillery shooting each other, and then the people on the ship occasionally used to rob each other and shoot each other.

Warship-to-warship strikes are far less than the bombing of warships against port cities.

Now with explosive bombs, the backward warships of the Russian Empire have more destructive power to the backward warships of the Ottoman Empire, and they can also have more destructive power to port cities.

"Your navy must end the battle as soon as possible! You can't leave time for any British and French fleets to interfere!" Menshkov once again told Cornillo.

Although the current negotiations are still in progress, Menshkov needs to arrange many things in advance after the breakdown of the negotiations.

Menshkov is also well aware of the gap between the Russian Imperial fleet and the British and French fleets.

Menshkov also did not want to have a large-scale conflict with Britain and France unless it was a last resort.

The present Russian Empire has been carrying a conflicting diplomatic message.

He wanted to gain control over Constantinople and the Balkans, but he didn't want to offend Britain and France too much.

Under the influence of this ambivalence, Menshkov even had the way of thinking of a junior staff officer of the Showa era.

Menshkov believed that Britain and France would make concessions to the conditions put forward by the Russian Empire, and that the Ottoman Empire would also agree to his conditions.

As long as the Ottoman Empire agreed to his terms, it would not be a matter of Britain and France for so long.

This is the behavior of Russia and Turkey.

Even if the negotiations break down, as long as Russia can destroy the Ottoman fleet and land in Constantinople as soon as possible, Britain and France will definitely recognize the Russian Empire.

In the Menshkov script, the Russian Empire would only go from one victory to another, leading to a victorious march to Constantinople.

"My subordinates understand!" Kornilov responded with the same solemnity.

Just when Menshkov wanted to discuss with Kornilov the unexpected problems faced by the raid on the port of Sipuno, a warship appeared in the porthole of the steam battleship.

Seeing this, Menshkov hurriedly put away the map and went to the deck.

Kornilov also followed Menshkov to the deck.

"I am the Ottoman Navy Grand Marshal Mahmoud! Is there a special envoy of Menshkov on board!" The battleship on the left side of the Russian Empire steamship spoke fluent French.

"I am the Tsar's special envoy Menshkov!" Menshkov also responded in French.

"Then invite the special envoy of the Russian Empire to our ship! I will lead the special envoy to Constantinople!" Mahmoud shouted at Menshkov.

"No need!" Prince Menshkov glanced at the crew members beside him and said to Mahmoud on the Ottoman battleship: "I believe my crew members can deliver me safely to the port!"

After a brief moment of silence, the Ottoman battleship where Mahmoud was located continued to shout: "Since the messenger is unwilling to come to our fleet, let us personally **** the messenger into the port!"

"Old fox!" Menshkov scolded softly, he understood that Mahmood Pasha on the opposite side didn't want them to check the situation of the Ottoman port.

"Thank you very much!" Even Menshkov, who had understood Mahmoud's intentions, had to agree to Mahmoud's **** request.

The dark war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire has begun since Menshkov unreasonably demanded that the Russian fleet, which was about to be at war, enter the port.

Escorted by Ottoman warships, Menshkov entered the port near Constantinople.

Menshkov and his team carefully disembarked from the Russian Empire's steam fleet.

Although it is still raining lightly in Constantinople today, the port at anchor is still crowded with people. They are all to welcome the arrival of Prince Menshkov, including Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbians.

Some of these people are for their own Orthodox beliefs, and some are for their own national independence...

Although the Russian Empire was hated by the Ottoman Empire, it was welcomed by many peoples in the Balkans.

These people sincerely hope that the Ottoman Empire will collapse and then liberate.

However, welcome to welcome, their basic demands for independence have not changed.

If the Russian Empire wants to replace the Ottoman Empire's ecological niche with occupation, these people who welcome the Russian Empire will immediately become a vanguard against the Russian Empire.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Menshkov couldn't help showing a smile on his face. He waved his hand gently, and the Balkan nation cheered Menshkov even more.

Surrounded by Balkan ethnic groups, Menshkov entered the Russian embassy in the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman High Gate, who had already received the news of Menshkov's arrival in Constantinople, couldn't help but feel uneasy after seeing that Prince Menshkov was very popular.

The Ottoman cabinet convened again, with the participation of everyone including the religious leaders of the Papacy.

The meeting was divided into three factions on the question of whether to put slippers on the Russian Empire. One faction was the hard-line religious leader, former Prime Minister Rehed, and others, and the other was the opposite appeasement faction, represented by Muhammad Ali, Rifat Pasha, etc. The last one is the centrist, and the representatives are the Admiral Mahmoud Pasha, the Supreme Commander of Rumi Riva, Omar Pasha, Selask (general Commander) Reza Pasha.

The hardliners maintain that all demands on the Russian Empire cannot be granted. As long as the Ottoman Empire maintains a tough attitude, the two countries, Britain and France, will not sit idly by.

The appeasement advocates an appropriate compromise with Russia, procrastinating as long as they can. If the conditions of the Russian Empire are too much, then they can also tell Britain and France the conditions, and then think about other things.

The centrists don't like the hard-liners going to war, and they also agree with appeasement.

Just don't hold them accountable.

After nearly a day of discussions, the appeasement faction headed by Muhammad Ali suppressed the hardline faction headed by Rehed.

After the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Effendi, accepted the order of the Prime Minister and invited Menshkov to attend a welcome ceremony specially prepared for him two days later.

Menshkov did not meet Fuad, and the ambassador in the embassy accepted the invitation of the foreign minister instead of Menshkov.