Vol 5 Chapter 39: Zagreb, is it a battle?

The winter days of Alijoe Castle are a bit boring, and the originally rudimentary streets are more dirty because the snow melted not long ago. Fortunately, because it is winter, it does not show much. The city with a disgusting smell of drowning everywhere looks dilapidated. There is nothing angry.
The news of the arrival of the Ottomans made the locals feel panic-stricken, and they can see people everywhere who are about to leave here, although they also know that even if they go to other places, they will soon be driven away by the Ottomans, but they can temporarily escape the pagan fluke. Psychology still urged them to try to find a refuge that could escape the war.
Soldiers can be seen passing by on the street, but most of these soldiers look numb. Neither they nor their lords obviously think they can resist the Ottomans.
There are also some mercenaries who do not know where they come from. Although they have different destinations but they are only fighting for money, they are not optimistic about this place in Zagreb.
Whether a city will spend a lot of money to hire mercenaries to defend itself, in addition to seeing how much wealth they have, it also depends on whether the city dares to compete with their enemies.
Zagreb does not seem to have such courage, as the nobles who can hear even on the street are planning to negotiate with the Ottomans.
After the death of the Duke of Sighnaci in Zagreb, the city did not have the second Duke. The reason is that the nobles discovered after the Duke of Sighnaci was killed, no one wanted See other people in this city's master.
Someone once proposed to recommend a side branch of the Duke of Sighnaci to inherit the title. Although this person was supported by the local rioting nobles because of his belief in orthodoxy, he was finally stalemate because he was strongly opposed by the nobles from other places. Down.
It was only then that people realized that although they chose to be silent about the death of the Duke of Sighnaci, the Croatian nobles who were as religious as the Duke could not tolerate the emergence of a Bosnian crown Orthodox who became likely to become a sergeant. The Duke of Loeb.
The rioting nobles also cannot accept the appearance of a duke after the overthrow of the Duke of Signac, nor can they allow Viscount Hilva to return to Zagreb.
They knew that if Hurva came back, what was waiting for them must be the cruelest revenge.
The result of the mutual stalemate is that the title of the Duke of Zagreb has been hanging in the air, and although the local nobles have not been able to recommend a Duke of Orthodoxy, they have controlled the city of Zagreb.
It was just this stalemate that was broken with the news of the Ottoman invasion, and the nobles in Zagreb knew the fact that they could not resist at all, which made them decide to send messengers to the Ottomans with little struggle.
Rumours of negotiation or, more precisely, surrender circulated in the streets of Zagreb, which made the locals even more scared.
In addition to the locals, some of the mercenaries who originally heard the news were also disappointed. They originally thought they could take a good business here. Many of these cities would try to arm themselves in order to protect themselves even if they finally chose to surrender. This gives the mercenaries a good opportunity to make money.
But they did not expect that the nobles of Zagreb chose to negotiate directly without even considering it.
So when the news came, many people began to find a way for themselves, because they had already heard about the heavy taxes of the Ottomans, many merchants began to sell goods at low prices, and farmers who could not leave began to think. Way to hide the valuable things in the family.
Every day someone leaves the city, but some people want to enter the city.
Several people walking on the street randomly stepped on the boots with the mud of the dirty water underneath their feet. Alexander frowned and looked down at the stain on the boots.
The few people kept whispering and cursing as they walked. Although they spoke quickly and had a rather quirky accent from the locals, the captain of the scout who followed Alexander still barely heard a few words.
"Master, they are scolding the great aristocrats," the scout explained to Alexander. "Although I didn't understand it, it generally means that."
Looking at the little Cacho, Alexander smiled, but he did not expect that the soldier from Agri actually had a good language talent, at least he mastered more local languages ​​in less time than others.
But this also made Alexander more hope that Nashan could come to Bosnia as soon as possible. Think about the Balkans who are waiting for training. He has never looked forward to seeing Lao Zhang as soon as possible.
"The local people seem to be dissatisfied with the nobles who are ready to surrender without wanting to resist," explained Cajo Jr. "These people seem to be little nobles near Zagreb. They are prepared to help keep the city, but now the city is everywhere There are rumors that the nobles are preparing to negotiate with the Ottomans and then surrender. These people are very angry because of this. "
"Of course they will be dissatisfied. They will not only be angry because of this, but they will also do very bad things because of this." Alexander sat in the corner of a tavern and looked around. It was very deserted not because of the remoteness but because people had not Come to this kind of place again.
Zagreb is actually a city full of joy. Alijoe Castle and the Right Bank Castle form the two centers of the city, which makes Zagreb have two different urban areas from the beginning.
Because of this, Zagreb has gradually formed the habit of competing with each other in the north and south. The locals like to use apple cider to compare which city is best in the north and south. They like to use the meat pie with choking flavors to compare their food. It is sweeter, and I like to use more other things to compare which is higher in the two urban areas.
All these make the people of Zagreb happy, and this also makes them more like their hometown.
"They will do very bad things," Alexander said affirmatively, seeing the suspicious look of his men, he smiled, "I will do it even if they don't do it."
Alexander revealed his strange words and puzzled his people, but he knew what he was talking about.
It is true that Zagreb in history was eventually ruled by the Ottomans, and it lasted for almost three centuries. It was not until the decline after the last Ottoman siege of Vienna that Zagreb and other cities in the Balkans Get rid of Ottoman rule with the country.
But Zagreb did not surrender.
In the history of Zagreb, even after many years of Ottoman soldiers approaching the city, the Zagreb people did not bend their knees and surrendered. After fierce fighting and even brutal street fighting, they were finally conquered after they ran out of food.
But now these nobles in Zagreb are about to surrender, which Alexander did not know.
"How could you surrender," Alexander looked at the city outside the door. "Trust me, at least this time, this city will not only surrender, but may become another swallow."
A long prayer sound echoed over the long, empty church, one after another, as if for a long time here, because of this prayer, it turned into a river that no longer flows, and completely stopped.
Alexander stood and listened quietly outside the church. This was the second time of prayer in the church that day. As for the first pass, it was over before the day was light.
Loud bells were heard from the church's towering bell tower, and the sound was so loud that people's ears were faintly painful.
The street in front of the monastery is not wide, and some places are even narrow. Because of the terrain, the houses near the monastery are much shorter than the monastery. The sloping street extends all the way to the forest behind the monastery.
Somehow, Alexander remembered Casimodo. He felt that if there was a bell ringer in such a church, it must be as ugly as Casimodo, otherwise how could one endure the deafening bells and such a monotonous day life.
The life of the monastery is dull and full of darkness. Alexander once stayed in the monastery for a while. He knew that if a person could not stand loneliness, he could not stay in such a place, otherwise he would eventually choose to leave like he did. Or it might be completely mad in the high prison-like walls.
At present, the church is very tall, with a sculpted solid external wall that looks like a castle. In the open door of the church, you can see the faint lights and the shaking figures inside.
Behind the church is a high-rise building that rises up and down towards the back. There is the Monastery of Alijoe in Zagreb.
Alexander looked at the monastery seriously. He knew the monastery, and he also knew that the outer wall of the monastery was strong and abnormal, because a fierce battle would take place under the monastery ’s wall in more than a decade. .
The Ottomans will eventually conquer this land, and Northern Bosnia will not be spared. Zagreb will be surrounded during the war of conquest, and the final resistance is to happen and end in this monastery.
Alexander walked slowly along the tall courtyard wall, stroking the solid bricks, believing the fierce battle when attacked here, and then smiling gently.
Looking at the puzzled eyes of the hunting guards not far away, Alexander smiled. He came to this monastery, of course, not by hanging a guard battle that had not yet occurred, but to see for himself whether the building of the monastery was like this. The legend is so unbreakable.
After all, it is said that the defenders who retreated to the monastery had kept it here for 4 days, and because of the terrain, the Ottomans could not use artillery at all. Until 4 days later, the Ottomans demolished the building opposite the monastery and vacated the place for the artillery. Then the walls of the monastery were blasted open before finally capturing this sturdy building.
The bell finally stopped, and Alexander also came to the front door of the church not far from the monastery. Looking at the group of priests wearing dark linen robes slowly from inside, his eyes kept searching until he saw A voice wearing the bishop's robe appeared.
The figure was striking among a group of people wearing dark linen robes. Even though he was accompanied by several senior monks wearing dark red-lined robes, Alexander immediately noticed the man.
Although I haven't seen it, it should be the dean of Alijoe Monastery.
Alexander waved his hand gently and saw the hunting guards approaching slowly. He walked slowly towards the monastery surrounded by him.
The monastery apparently did not know that someone was staring at him, and he was walking along the narrow street with a few senior monks, all with bare feet.
This is a custom of the local church in Zagreb. In fact, this custom is more from the pagan customs when there was no conversion to Christ in the early days. When the conversion to Christ was hundreds of years ago, this custom was adopted by the monks at that time. Retained and given a new idea.
On special days, the priests of the monastery had to walk barefoot across the icy ground into the forest, which heralded the experience of Christ walking barefoot through the wilderness and valleys, and finally toward Jerusalem.
The monks of the monastery have been walking on this road for hundreds of years, and every generation of them has memorized this ritual, so today they have not found any special anomalies.
The forest in Zagreb is very dense, or the city was built in the forest, so the monks entered the forest without walking long.
The ground was icy, but the monks still reverently stepped on the road that had been walked too many times until they saw a team of cavalry appear on the road not far in front.
In the past, even the nobles had to make way for the monks, but this time the cavalry stopped but stood on the road and looked at them quietly.
The monks looked at the cavalry in front unexpectedly ~ EbookFREE.me ~ The monk walking in front could not help but slow down, and finally stopped.
The monastery noticed something strange, and he raised his head and looked forward in surprise.
A long horse hissing sound came from the depths of the slightly depressed and dull forest, and Pagasus walked slowly out of the shadows of the dark woods to a bright place where the crown of the head was thin and through the sunlight.
Looking at the horsemen, the monastery and several deacons beside him vaguely felt uneasy.
"God bless you, if you want to grab anything, you are wrong, we have nothing but the sacred robe that God has given us." The dean slowly came out, he looked down at his Alexander With that, seeing the man just watching him silently, the dean stopped and suddenly asked, "You are not robbers, so what do you want to do?"
Alexander slowly urged the horse forward. He passed by the monks until the end of the team and returned to the same way. Finally he returned to the dean and bent down to whisper, "I want to talk to you, dean."
Hearing the other's words, the monastery opened his lips unexpectedly because he heard the other person not talking with him in local Bosnia but in Latin.