The defeat at the Battle of Chollu was too heavy a blow to the Eastern Roman Empire and Leo IV, the 50,000 troops were the elite forces of the Eastern Roman Empire, and only more than 10,000 people fled back to Constantinople with Leo IV, and the others were either killed or captured.

Leo IV, who fled back to Constantinople, was very decadent and depressed, and he didn't even care about the deployment of the city's defenses, so Empress Irina could only take up the burden of defending Constantinople, and she ordered the generals of the Praetorian Guard to reorganize the soldiers and horses that had fled back, and recruit soldiers and mercenaries in the city, and use the limited time to train hard, and strive to come in handy when the Bulgars arrived in Constantinople.

After dark that day, Leo IV came to Irina's bedchamber, and when Irina saw him coming, a smile appeared on her face, and she immediately came out to greet her, "Look at you, your spirit is much better, I'll pour you a cup of tea!" ”

Leo IV, though in better spirits, was still a little depressed, and he said, "No, some wine!" ”

Irina hesitated for a moment and agreed, "Okay, I'll get it!" ”

After Irina left, Leo IV got up and went to lie down by the bed, but he felt a hard object under the futon, and when he sat up and opened the quilt, he saw that it was a wooden icon, and his face suddenly became ugly.

You must know that the three successive emperors of the Isurian Dynasty are extremely opposed to the worship of icons, and there are countless icons that have been destroyed in various places, and the worship of idolatry has been declared heretical many times, which is also the national policy of the Isurian Dynasty all along, and Leo IV has unswervingly continued to implement this national policy since he succeeded to the throne, thus avoiding the increase of monks and nuns, avoiding increasing the burden on society, reducing the land and wealth occupied by the church, ordering some monks and nuns to return to the laity, and increasing the labor force and productivity of society. And it is a huge irony that his queen should secretly engage in idolatry behind his back.

Leo IV looked at the wooden statue of Jesus, his face was blue and white, and his chest was whirring like a blower.

With a "clang", the wine bottle fell to the ground and shattered, the wine spilled on the ground, and Irina stood not far away with a tray and her face was pale and a little overwhelmed.

Leo IV grabbed the wooden statue and turned his head to Irina angrily: "Your husband, the emperor of the empire, and even my father and grandfather have always insisted on opposing idolatry, and have repeatedly ordered the destruction of the icon, declaring idolatry heresy, but you, the dignified queen of the empire, are secretly doing it, do you want to slap me in the face or the face of the entire Isurian dynasty?"

"I ······" Irina didn't know what to say, she knew it would be futile to say anything now.

Irina, as a politically wise queen, knows that it is a political necessity for the dynasty to carry out the iconoclasm movement, and she agrees with it, but she personally does not like this in her heart, the iconoclasm movement is to break the faith in her heart, if a person has no faith, how helpless and fearful is it?

The iconoclasm movement occurred with a political background, when Leo III, that is, Constantine V's father and Leo IV's grandfather, was not the emperor, but only the commander of the Anatolian Military District, Constantinople was ruled by Theodosius III, Leo III colluded with the Arabs in order to overthrow the rule of Theodosius III, united with the Arabs to attack Constantinople, and became the master of Constantinople, after sitting on the throne of the emperor, Leo III did not fulfill his promise to the Arabs, The Arabs were furious and sent troops to attack Constantinople, but Leo III defeated the Arabs with a new weapon, Greek fire, which caused the Arabs to suffer heavy losses, and they were unable to fight again for a short time, so they had to retreat, but the Arabs occupied a large amount of land in the Eastern Roman Empire, including Canaan, Syria and other places, and the Christians in these areas had to retreat to the Eastern Roman Empire.

This led to a significant increase in the number of monks in the territory, and the many privileges enjoyed by the monks and the Church in the empire, and the Church's search for the wealth of the common people in the name of worshipping icons, etc., made the religious class a great burden on society at that time. In four years, Leo III twice declared an edict against the worship of icons, which was for the purpose of destroying the icons, and at the same time confiscating the land and land of the Church, forcing the monks to return to the laity, so as to reduce the burden on society, Pope St. Gregory II expressed strong protest against this, and in 727, Ravenna of Italy broke away from the imperial rule, but these could not stop the destruction of the icons, which dealt a great blow to the power of the Christian Church, and most importantly, Leo III confiscated the fields and land. Distributed to the army and the nobility, thus strengthening the reign of Leo III.

"From now on, you are not allowed to practice any idolatry in secret, you are not allowed to collect icons, and if I find them again, I will not be polite to you, hum!"

Enraged, Leo IV threw the wooden statue outside the main hall and shouted to the guards outside: "Come, take it and burn it, search the palace again, and if you find it, burn it!" ”

The guards outside the hall immediately agreed: "Yes, Your Majesty! ”

After this, Leo IV was no longer in the mood to rest at Irina's place, and he strode out of the hall.

The next morning, Leo IV announced that he would convene his ministers in the Great Hall, and he was in some bad spirits and was not doing well, but he was still a young man, and his body was still able to eat.

The ministers soon arrived, and when everyone had arrived, Leo IV finally came to the main hall and sat on the throne. The emperor's throne of the Eastern Roman Empire is not as domineering as the throne of the Tang Dynasty and the Western Qin, it looks a little shabby, it may be because of the different thinking patterns, this throne has neither His Majesty, nor the background screen, but also the palace maids and eunuchs behind and on both sides, the throne is not all made of gold, but carved out of stone, the emperor does not sit on it with a lofty and majestic atmosphere, and the courtiers do not look respectful and apprehensive when they meet the emperor, but they all seem a little careless. It was as if the audience was just a routine.

After the events of last night, Leo IV seemed to have come out of the crushing defeat at the Battle of Chollo, his mood was much better, and his whole person seemed to be reinvigorated.

"What are the Bolgars doing now?" Leo IV asked.

The Minister of Intelligence, Marquis of Portlag, stood up and saluted and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, my people have found that the Bolgars are plundering in the area of Silivri and Chatalga, and there are not many defenders in various places, so they can't stop their troops at all, and the cities and passes along the way are almost impossible to resist and they are captured, but they don't seem to have any signs of going south into southern Thrace and Greece for the time being, according to their current pace of advancement, at most half a month, they will be under the city of Constantinople!" ”

Leo IV's face was a little unpleasant, he preferred the Bolgars to come to the city immediately, he could use the strong city defenses of Constantinople to keep the Bolgars out, rather than they plundered the Thracian region, which was too destructive, and after this battle, even if the Bolgars were repulsed, the Thrace region would be a scorched earth.

Leo IV thought for a moment and asked, "Who is in charge of the defense of the city?" ”

Lucis, the general of the Praetorian Guard, stood up and bent down on his chest and said, "Your Majesty the Emperor, now I am in charge of the city defense!" ”

"How many city defense troops can we use now?"

Lucis's face turned bitter and said: "In addition to the wounded soldiers who escaped, the regular army is less than 10,000 people, and there are 10,000 people who have just been recruited and are currently training, in addition, we have recruited 3,000 mercenaries, but these people are asking for a higher price, and the Archon is only willing to give them two months' salary!" ”

Archon Triaeus stood up and saluted: "Your Majesty the Emperor, it's not that I don't want to come up with more military salaries, it's just that the treasury can't come up with more money, our defenders in Syria and Canaan need a lot of military funds and materials, otherwise it will be difficult to hold that area, this time Your Majesty brought a lot of supplies were captured by the Bolgars, these days we spent a lot of energy and money to raise half a year's reserves, really can't come up with the money!" If you don't believe it, you can ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he knows best! ”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had to stand up and say, "Yes, Your Majesty! None of us knows how long the Bolgars will besiege us in the future, so we have to leave some money behind to continue raising supplies."

With Constantinople's defensive capabilities and reserved materials, as long as it is not attacked by a country with strong siege capabilities such as the Western Qin State, it is no problem to defend it for a year and a half, mainly because there is enough material support, which Leo IV understands very well, Constantinople has not been besieged before, it has been besieged by the northern barbarians, and it has also been besieged by the Arab Empire, and it has persevered.

Leo IV thought for a moment, and then said: "We still have more than 10,000 remaining troops at the passes of the cities in the Thracian region, and I order that all the scattered defenders and supplies in the cities be withdrawn to Constantinople, leaving only the three main passes to delay the Bolgars' attack, and at the same time to move the civilians along the Bolgars' offensive routes to Constantinople and the peninsula of Asia Minor, and take all the troops that can be taken away, leaving not a grain of grain for the Bolgars!" Archon, this matter is entrusted to you, and it must be carried out immediately and without delay."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Leo IV pondered for a moment, and then said: "There is one more thing, and I would like to announce here, that I have decided to canonize my son Constantine as the co-emperor of the empire, and the time of the canonization ceremony is set for three days later!" ”

The ministers and generals looked at each other, could it be that the emperor didn't have any hope for this war, or was there some other reason? You must know that the little prince Constantine is only more than five years old, and it seems a little premature to be a co-emperor at such a young age, but Leo IV only has such a son, and it is reasonable to be canonized as a co-emperor now.