Ch.197Eastern Roman Empire (2)

The excommunication beam… no, the effect of the Pope’s excommunication was tremendous.

This was because the Christian nations that had previously maintained lukewarm positions toward the Byzantine Empire suddenly turned hostile.

“Even though the Crusades are still ongoing.”

The Third Crusade was currently in progress.

Yet European countries were displaying hostility toward the Byzantine Empire.

To be precise, they were looking for opportunities to seize the Byzantine Empire’s good lands.

“I suppose they’ve accumulated quite a lot of bad karma.”

Andronikos had drawn too much aggression from neighboring countries.

As mentioned before, he deliberately led the massacre of Westerners to become emperor.

This resulted in the deaths of many Westerners—people from Italy, France, and Germany.

If such an incident had occurred in modern times, it would have been serious enough to warrant diplomatic conflict.

However, European countries had been unable to apply physical pressure due to Pope Gregory VIII’s mediation that they should unite under the banner of the Crusades.

Now the Pope had changed his position.

He excommunicated Andronikos and recognized Alexios II as the only legitimate Byzantine Emperor.

“It seems clear that the discovery of Alexios II and his conversion to Roman Catholicism had a major influence.”

I said this with a smile.

There appeared to be several reasons why the Pope changed his position.

First, the overall Crusade situation was developing favorably for the Catholics.

The Mongol forces, acting as the Eastern Crusaders, had devastated the Persian region.

Additionally, they had made the Sultanate of Rum their vassal state, leaving essentially only the Ayyubid and Abbasid dynasties among Islamic powers.

The Abbasid dynasty was merely an empty shell.

So if the European Crusaders and Mongol Crusaders joined forces to pressure the Ayyubids, it would essentially mean victory for the Crusaders.

Furthermore, it was a great benefit for Catholicism as a whole.

This was because Alexios II was alive and had converted to Catholicism.

If Alexios, who had converted to Catholicism, became the Byzantine Emperor, Roman Catholic influence could extend to the Byzantine Empire.

This would make the Pope the one and only religious leader in Europe with immense influence—there was absolutely no reason for him to reject this proposal.

This was even a great achievement that previous Popes had failed to accomplish.

So it was natural for him to be excited about it.

The fact that he designated me as Alexios II’s guardian was proof of this.

“He didn’t even verify whether Alexios II is real or not, and made me his guardian—meaning if something happens to him, I can swallow him up without any issues.”

Of course, this was somewhat my own interpretation.

But in European concepts of that era, if a ward suddenly died, the guardian could take over.

This was possible because Alexios II was young and had no children yet.

“And what little family he had left fled to Sicily… and the most legitimate heir of Manuel I was torn apart by the Lionheart.”

Richard, the King of England who participated in the Crusades, had conquered Cyprus.

And he killed its ruler and threw him into the sea.

The ruler he killed was the one with the next strongest claim to succession after Alexios.

With his death, all remaining blood relatives of Manuel besides Alexios were merely distant relatives.

And not close relatives either—they were distant relatives with less legitimacy than even Andronikos.

“Well, now that I have justification, it’s time to pressure the Byzantine Empire.”

I smiled as I looked toward Constantinople.

There were Venetian spies employed by me in that place.

* * *

“Have you heard the rumor?”

“What rumor?”

“The rumor that Emperor Alexios II is alive!”

“Is that true?”

“Indeed! I heard he’s preparing to punish Andronikos with an army led by Prester John who appeared from the East.”

“My goodness…”

“Even the head of Roman Catholicism has recognized the returned Emperor Alexios II as the true Emperor of Rome. And he appointed John as his guardian.”

In truth, the Byzantine people did not view the Pope favorably.

This was because they followed Eastern Orthodoxy.

So many saw the Pope as merely the Bishop of Rome.

Despite this background, the people of Constantinople were supporting the Pope’s decision.

This was because the excommunication defined Andronikos, who was tormenting them, as someone who was destroying Christian society.

Ordinary Byzantine emperors would have ignored this excommunication.

But for a tyrant with poor relations with the West, this excommunication was fatal.

For this reason, the man’s friend shed tears at his words.

The tyrant’s rule was so harsh that Alexios, who was coming to end this tyranny, felt like a savior.

“Finally… justice is coming to this land…!”

“Indeed! It’s time for the false emperor to disappear!”

Alexios was of the bloodline of Manuel I, who had led the Byzantine Empire to an era of glory.

The story of Alexios, thought to be dead, gathering an army under God’s protection to punish the tyrant, sounded like something out of a fairy tale.

At first, no one believed it, but when rumors spread that the Sultanate of Rum had surrendered to the Mongol army and become a vassal state, people began to believe one by one.

And at the core of these rumors were Alexios and Prester John.

Prester John was even a mythical figure who had led a great army from the East at the request of the Pope, the head of Roman Catholicism.

When rumors spread that such a figure was actually near the Byzantine Empire, and that he had conquered Persia in just two weeks as recent rumors suggested, the Byzantine people began to get excited.

“The real emperor who died has been resurrected to kill the false emperor!”

“The Eastern army is helping him!”

“People of Rome, rise up! Let’s drive out the tyrant!”

The people who had suffered under Andronikos’s tyranny but had lived in silence due to his oppressive massacres rose up.

This was because the tide had turned in favor of Alexios.

So they decided not to endure any longer.

They would suffer damage, but the belief that if they held out a little longer, Alexios and the divine army helping him—the Mongol army—would arrive in this land made them strong.

“Tyrant, step down! Step down!”

“Andronikos, prepare to receive heaven’s punishment!”

“Heaven’s army is coming to punish you!”

As the people rose up, soldiers were naturally deployed to stop them.

These soldiers were still loyal to Andronikos and took up arms to protect the Basileus.

“Stand back!”

“You ignorant fools! Put down your farm tools and return to your places!”

“There is a limit to His Majesty’s mercy!”

The soldiers drove away the people with these words.

But as the people greatly outnumbered them, the soldiers gradually found themselves on the defensive.

“This is bad…!”

“Move inside! We must protect His Majesty!”

The soldiers moved to the palace to protect the emperor.

The palace was like a fortress, so it could sufficiently block the people even if they swarmed in.

Thus, the Byzantine Empire fell into chaos.

The emperor tried to resolve this, but he was powerless to stop the angry people.

* * *

The cities of the Byzantine Empire located in the western Anatolian peninsula sent word that they would submit to us.

“Please accept us.”

“A tyrant cannot lead Rome. O descendant of Manuel I, please lead Rome.”

Cities in the western Anatolian peninsula such as Nicaea, Abydos, Samos, and Optimatoi surrendered like this.

They were all coastal cities, so they all had navies.

Thanks to this, our naval power could be further strengthened.

“Our navy is growing even without us doing anything.”

“Haha. That’s right, brother. Chilaun will be pleased.”

Munglig agreed with my words.

After three months of grueling training, Chilaun had become the admiral of the newly established Ulus navy.

As he essentially oversaw the entire navy, the naval forces of cities that surrendered to Alexios were naturally placed under his command.

“By the way, are you keeping a good eye on Alexios?”

“Of course, brother. I’m working him hard so he can’t think of anything else.”

“…”

The meaning of “working him hard” here meant only one thing.

Exercise.

Munglig was making the fake Alexios exercise like crazy.

As mentioned earlier, the fake Alexios was not like a young master from a wealthy family.

He was just a commoner who resembled Alexios, so he wasn’t well-spoken and had a cruel character.

So when we received custody of him from Kilij Arslan II, the Sultan of the Sultanate of Rum, the fake Alexios behaved rudely toward us.

He tried to treat Munglig like a servant.

He tried to use the Ulus forces as if they were his own.

So I entrusted him to Munglig, and this was the result.

“And while exercising, I’ve also instilled manners in him. So you won’t see the arrogant behavior he showed when we first met him.”

With those words, Munglig clapped his hands.

Then the fake Alexios appeared with the Kheshig.

As soon as he saw me, Alexios bowed and rubbed his hands together.

“Sorry! Sorry! Great One! I didn’t know then and committed rudeness!”

He was pleading with me using clumsy Mongolian that he had hastily learned during his intense training under Munglig.

“That looks good.”

At my words, Munglig smiled with satisfaction.

Then he turned his head and gestured to the Kheshig.

The Kheshig naturally put dumbbells in Alexios’s hands.

Alexios didn’t want to hold the dumbbells, but under the pressure from the Kheshig, he had no choice but to hold them.

“Come on! Don’t put down the dumbbells and keep moving!”

“I can see your hands! Move faster!”

“Please spare me! Please spare me! Please… please let me stop exercising!”

“Every time you say that, I add more repetitions!”

“Please! Argghhh!”

Alexios screamed.

I smiled with satisfaction at his screams.