With the recommendation of most people, Leyena successfully became the real leader of this group of people. Once Constantine is overthrown, Leyena can legitimately become the emperor.

There were some who objected to this, but they were all removed from the old aristocratic group by Leiena quietly, and the rest also acquiesced to such a result.

After reaching such a consensus, most people have nothing to do with it. The next thing is how to remove Constantine from the throne.

In fact, the throne of Byzantium was not always occupied by one family. After the Fourth Crusade, Constantinople was briefly ruled by the Latin Empire, a country supported by the Crusaders. In Michael VIII

After overthrowing the Latin Emperor Baldwin II, he founded the current Palaiolan dynasty.

Therefore, the position of the Byzantine Emperor is no longer recognized by the Pope. Internationally, Byzantium and Rome are no longer equated. Although the Byzantines consider themselves the successors of the Roman Empire,

In fact, when it comes to legitimacy, the legitimacy of the Komnenos family in the Trebizond Empire of Anatolia is even stronger. In Constantinople, there are calls for a member of the Komnenos family to be the emperor.

, just relatively few, not very strong,

In history, even the despised barbarians could become emperors. From this, you can see the elements of the throne, which basically means whoever has the biggest fist listens.

In the previous Roman Empire, the successor was personally appointed by the previous emperor. In this way, the legitimacy of the emperor came from the previous emperor. In this way, legal rationality was passed down from generation to generation, and it could also be recognized by the people.

However, after several rebellions, the victorious rebels will definitely not be able to inherit the legacy of the previous emperor. So, where can they find legal rationality? Very simple, the church.

Christianity at this time already had great influence, but nominally, the church was still under the jurisdiction of the emperor and was an affiliated institution of the empire. The rebels wanted legal principles and the church wanted power. The two hit it off, so the emperor was crowned by the church.

The tradition emerged. In the east, the coronation ceremony was performed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, while in the west it was performed by the pope. Therefore, during this period, the power of the church had overridden the state.

So don’t think that the Patriarch of Constantinople will definitely succumb to the emperor’s will. The current emperor has no right to change the Patriarch. He can only wait for the Patriarch to make mistakes or die of old age before he can replace the new Patriarch.

In this respect, the ordinary people have more power than the emperor when it comes to selecting people, because the people can expel the patriarch or bishop, but the emperor cannot, forcibly replace them? Then wait for the rebellion!

This is why the emperors after Michael VIII, in order to obtain assistance from the West, although in name they forcibly passed the Great Union of Eastern and Western Churches, in fact the effect was really limited, and the people did not recognize it at all.

After clearing out some minor lords, there were only five people left in the room. These five people all held relatively large positions in the old aristocracy, so they were left by Leyena to discuss the next plan.

"How about putting Constantine under house arrest when he returns to Constantinople?"

The speaker was Sadio, the great lord of the Bulgarian province. He alone owned one-fifth of the land in Bulgaria, which was called inhumane.

"How do you know when he's coming back?"

Mina, the great lord of Thrace, raised objections,

"If he never comes back, then shall we keep waiting?"

At this time, Leyena looked at Darcy, who had been sullen and silent, and wanted to ask for his opinion.

"What do you think, Darcy?"

Darcy shook his head. He suffered the most from this incident. His base was in the Macedonian plains, and this time he was basically taken over by Constantine.

"Of course I want to overthrow Constantine as soon as possible. After all, every day I delay is another day of loss for me."

"Okay, let's first talk about the number of troops each can mobilize."

Asking for trouble, Leyena changed the subject. The army was still very important. Leyena knew in his heart that it would be difficult to achieve anything by relying on a pure coup.

Speaking of this, these people became very excited. Except for Darcy, the other two were very confident.

"It's not a problem for me to recruit tens of thousands of people."

"I can give you five thousand."

"Although my power has been greatly reduced, there is still no problem with two thousand people."

The three of them reported the maximum number of soldiers they could provide, which gave Leyena a lot of courage.

Actually, they are not completely bragging. If the cost is not considered, it is really not difficult to mobilize these troops.

But what I want to say here is that they mobilized militiamen, that is to say, they went to the battlefield with almost no training and relied on their bloody courage to suppress the enemy. A large part of them were farmers who had just put down their hoes.

The worker who just put down the mining shovel,

The real professional army, that is, the veterans who have followed Constantine through the city defense war and the "Resistance Alliance" war, have always been firmly controlled by Constantine. There are not many of them, there are probably

About three thousand troops have been stationed in the city of Constantinople, under the personal control of the Minister of War Sesipe, and no one can mobilize this army without orders from Constantine. Its mission is to protect the monarchs.

Fort Tantino.

Leyena and others also tried to contact Sesipe, but even an ordinary banquet was rejected by Sesipe, so they never found a chance.

Prime Minister Calvo, Finance Minister Chávez, and Navy Minister Hussepe have all tried their best. Except for Hussepe who attended the banquet unnoticed, the others were unwilling to even show their faces, let alone instigate rebellion.

"good,"

Leyena was very excited. Paul beside him coughed, reminding him to calm down, and then spoke,

“I wonder where we should place the uprising site?”

"How about staying in Constantinople?"

The Thracian lord Mina tentatively said that his territory was closer to Constantinople, and it would be more beneficial to him to capture Constantinople.

"no."

The Bulgarian lord Sadio directly opposed,

"Constantinople is not a flock without shepherd dogs guarding it. What's more, Calvo attaches great importance to the situation in Constantinople and usually does not allow weapons to enter the city. Is it possible that we still want to attack the city by force?

"

You can't do it by force. If you let these people come to do something that even Muhammad II did not do, you are looking down too high on them.

Although Constantinople is very tempting, after all, it is the hub and heart of the empire. If you occupy it, you can basically declare victory.

"In my opinion, it would be better to be in Hadrianburg."

Hadrian's Castle, which the Ottomans called Edirne, is located on the Maritsa River, close to the territories of Mina and Sadio, and close to Constantinople. It can directly connect Constantinople and Salou.

The contact between Nikka was cut off, making it impossible for Constantine to learn about the situation in time. Of course, this is what they thought.
Chapter completed!