In 330 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine I established a new capital in Byzantium and named it New Rome, which was more commonly known as Constantinople according to the European naming convention for cities.

Between the mid-4th century and the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and most prosperous city in Europe.

After the Industrial Revolution, other European cities gradually rose, and Constantinople gradually declined, but after nearly 1600 years of accumulation, Constantinople can be said to be the oldest and most profound city in Europe.

Constantinople has a large number of ornate buildings, ornate churches and extravagant mansions abound, these buildings are tall and sturdy, the most common material is marble, which can provide a good defense against the defenders, so the efficiency of the attacking forces is high, but the speed is not fast, and an hour after the battle begins, the Muscat pirate regiment only captures a block.

A neighborhood on the very edge of this sprawling city.

Even if it's just a neighborhood, the harvest is rich enough.

When Hank entered a house on the side of the street, a battle had just ended, and the neatly dressed old butler was lying in the doorway, with a large and shocking pool of blood beside him, and next to him was a corpse wrapped in a white cloth, which was a soldier of the Muscat Pirate Regiment.

The living room was in shambles, the furniture was messy, the chairs were still on the coffee table in the living room, the carpet was lit and most of it was burned, the glass on the table clock on the wall was shattered, an oil painting on the wall had several obvious bullet holes, and a large vase with a height of one person in the door was also broken, and Hank picked up a fragment with a square seal of azure on it.

Hank didn't know Chinese characters, but he knew that porcelain with Chinese characters was generally more valuable.

Several satisfied soldiers stumbled down the wooden stairs with a smile on their faces, their backpacks already bulging, and a corporal was a little disheveled, and Hank raised his hand to call someone over.

"No, no, no, I didn't touch anyone, my pants were hanging on the fence when I came in over the wall, I didn't mean to-" The corporal vehemently denied that the Muscat pirates did not prohibit looting, but they did strictly prohibit assault on women.

The plundering of property is a part of the war, and the expeditionary force does not fail to take the masses with a needle and thread, and the spoils captured during the battle are the largest source of income for the officers and soldiers.

Assault on women was a felony in the expeditionary force compared to plundering, and the rescue of women who had lost their footing was not advocated, and in this era there was a lack of effective protective measures, in the British expeditionary force in Belgium, 80 out of every 1,000 people had venereal diseases, the German army had a higher rate of illness, and the French army had a similar infection rate as the British.

Relatively speaking, the Southern African Expeditionary Force is much better in this regard, not because of how clean the officers and men of the expeditionary force are, but because of the repeated orders of the expeditionary force headquarters that if anyone in the expeditionary force is infected with venereal diseases, they will be sent back to southern Africa and thrown to fend for themselves on Shark Island, not far from Walvis Bay.

In 1904, the Herero people in German Southwest Africa rebelled, and the Germans killed 100,000 Herero to 200, and imprisoned all 200 of them on Shark Island, only to die of tuberculosis a year later.

Therefore, in the Southern African Expeditionary Force, no one really dares to make trouble, and it is no problem to make a small fortune when fighting, but if you can't control the next three roads, you will die.

"Mr. Captain, I just picked up a pocket watch, I picked it up on the street—" The sergeant had a better eye, and took a pocket watch from his coat pocket and gave it to Hank.

With a golden dial encrusted with diamonds, such a pocket watch is not something that can be picked up casually.

But during the war, such things were really everywhere.

Several soldiers didn't know what they were carrying in their backpacks, and when they walked around, there was a chaotic noise, which would definitely affect the battle.

"I have to warn you, if you die in battle, these things will become trophies for someone else—" Hank didn't stop this behavior, but there was still a reminder that there should be, think of the corpse wrapped in white cloth at the door, if you were careful, it could have been avoided.

"We'll go to the quartermaster later." The sergeant was reluctant to give up the backpack, and such a small backpack might not be able to earn it for a lifetime if he farmed in southern Africa.

"Why are you going to find the quartermaster, is the battle still going on?" Hank felt that his head was starting to hurt, these guys who wanted money and didn't want to die, if they strictly enforced military law, they would be shot.

Several soldiers looked at each other, they were obviously carried away by the glittering loot just now, and they had forgotten about military discipline at all.

The sergeant still had a clever head, pulled a curtain casually, poured all the contents of the backpack on the curtain, and then ripped off the military badge from his neck, and then tied the curtain again.

This is a good way, Hank just glanced at it casually, the things that the sergeant poured out were basically all kinds of gold objects, and there were more than a dozen rings of all kinds, and I don't know how many houses were robbed along the way, and the battle had just begun.

"Be careful, leave some for the other brothers, it's too ugly to eat goodbye." Hank reminded the soldiers that they could not eat alone, and the officers and soldiers of the follow-up troops also wanted to make a fortune.

In terms of spoils, the forward troops must have gained the richest, but the forward troops are also more dangerous, and by the time the follow-up troops enter the city, the remnants of the city have been swept away, and there is time to slowly loot.

That's right, it's "looting", the Germans did this in Belgium and France, the Anglo-French coalition did the same in Belgium, and the Southern African Expeditionary Force did the same in Constantinople, or the European countries were so keen to wage wars, every war was a transfer of wealth to the whole society, and the Ottomans accumulated in Constantinople for 1,600 years, enough to feed every officer and soldier of the 2nd Cavalry Division.

In the Balkans and Asia Minor, there were many more Ottoman cities waiting to be conquered by the Mediterranean expeditionary forces.

After a small turmoil, the battle continued, and in a tall and beautiful church, dozens of remnants of the Ottoman army were entrenched, and the attacking troops made two attempts, three soldiers were killed and five were wounded.

"Big Cowboy—" Hank called over the soldier with the Super Revolver, a nickname given to the Super Revolver by the Southern African military, a nickname that reflects the Southern African military's love for the Super Revolver.

The Super Revolver is an enlarged version of the grenade launcher, which works the same as a revolver, but fires a standard 40mm grenade instead of a bullet.

Two soldiers equipped with super revolvers, immediately ran over, and a priest in a robe next to him looked anxious: "Sir, there are civilians in the church, please try to protect them-"

The priest is not stupid, so he just "tries to be", not "must".

"The defenders are Ottomans, right?" Hank asked the priest.

"Yes!" The priest's expression was gloomy.

"Then the civilians are also Ottomans, right?"

"Yes!"

"You don't care about the lives of the Ottomans, let me be an American to protect them?" Hank blurted out.

"When did the United States enter the war?" The priest's expression was dumbfounded.

"Just now!" Hank is not angry, he has become a southern African citizen, and subconsciously has not become a real southern African.

Two soldiers took advantage of the cover of the stone staircase at the entrance of the church and continuously pulled the trigger into the interior of the church.

Violent explosions continued, screams and cries followed, and the two soldiers who had knocked the "big cowboy" into the church threw several more offensive grenades, and after a few explosions, the soldiers swarmed in, followed by a series of babes and ho-ho-ho.

"Almighty God the Father, you are the source of life, you have saved us through my Son Jesus, look down—" When the soldiers poured into the church, the priest knelt at the door and prayed, but it was useless, the attacking and defensive forces were fighting to the death in all corners of the city, and the church became a battlefield.

On the first day of the assault on Constantinople, the 2nd Cavalry Division captured a small half of the city, and by the time twilight fell, the battle line was largely stabilized.

In order to prevent the defenders from counterattacking overnight, the 2nd Cavalry Division lit bonfires in the streets, and the fine furniture and books that were easier to light were used as fuel, and the whole city was clearly divided, with a raging fire in the middle, and the cities on both sides were shrouded in darkness.

After dark, the 2nd Cavalry Division pushed to the rear to rest, and the troops on the front line of defense were replaced by the 11th Division, the old partner of the 2nd Cavalry Division, and the 11th Division drove armored vehicles into the streets to assist in the defense.

At three o'clock in the morning of the 16th, in the attic of a house on the side of the street, the lieutenant company commander Ruiz and the second lieutenant platoon commander Wilson of the 2nd Infantry Regiment in Los Angeles were resting.

"Do you want to sleep for a while, tomorrow we will be the main attacker, and we must be mentally refreshed-" Wilson was taking stock of his gains, although the 11th Division entered Constantinople relatively late, but the officers and men still had great gains, Wilson found a crystal cup from a half-collapsed house, and decided to use it to drink.

"You send the cup back, maybe it was used by some king—" Ruiz also had a catch, he found two beautifully made and historic flintlock pistols in an old house, which were the best decorations to decorate the room, although the flintlock pistols were heavier and more expensive to send back to southern Africa, Ruiz still sent the flintlock pistols back and decided to hang them in the study of his home in Los Angeles.

Before Wilson could speak, there was a sudden movement in the ruins across the street.

Ruiz then spotted an Ottoman woman in a robe appearing on the ruins opposite.

The woman's clothes were a little bloated, she staggered over the ruins, her feet were not wearing shoes, they had been scratched, and the footprints behind her were all blood red.

Before Ruiz could open his mouth to ask, a violent explosion was heard not far away.

Look at the bloated woman who staggered again, her face was full of hideousness.

(The author's words are the author's testimonials, there is no pirated version, and the brothers who can't see it are itching in their hearts-)