After Sikde chose to surrender to Theodossi, Theodossi transferred an army of tens of thousands from the Asia Minor Peninsula, completely replacing the original guards of Constantinople, making the entire Constantinople completely in his hands. However, when Li Ke and Irina's army blocked the entire strait, his tens of thousands of troops had completely lost their meaning.

Constantinople is a port city. Although Europe is behind it, its main channel with the outside world is still through the Black Sea Strait. Therefore, after the strait was blocked, the entire city almost lost its external communication. Even as long as Irina and Li Ke were willing, Constantinople would immediately fall into paralysis.

However, Irina did not completely block Constantinople, and some commercial or civilian ships could still enter the port, so that the order of the entire city could still be maintained. After all, although Theodosie occupied Constantinople, most of the nobles in the city still did not clearly express their support for him. Moreover, this was a royal civil strife, and Irina did not want to affect ordinary people.

However, while Irina was kind, she did not forget the purpose of this time. Therefore, with the advice of Li Ke, she immediately occupied the Golden Horn Bay area in the north of Constantinople with the assistance of the navy. Then she gave a public speech in this area, proclaiming the plot of Theodosie's killing her brother and seizing the throne, and calling on the citizens of Constantinople to rise up and resist Theodosie.

Irina's public speech was immediately responded by many nobles in the city. They secretly sent people to ask for their visit, expressed their loyalty to Irina, and condemned Theodosio's previous atrocities. Some even expressed without any concealment that they hoped Irina could inherit the throne of the empire and become the new Roman emperor.

Irina also welcomed these nobles who came to express her loyalty. She also vaguely told these nobles that the coup of Theodosie was only done by him, and the others were coerced by him, so she would definitely not pursue it in the future, which also dispelled the worries in many nobles.

When the first aristocrats who came to test brought Irina's attitude back to the city of Constantinople, most of the other aristocrats who were still watching were relieved. As a result, more aristocrats sent people to contact Irina, and even many of the Asian Minor officers who had just been transferred to the city by Theodosios began to shake.

Most of the officers in Asia Minor were also nobles from all over the world. Of course, these nobles were mainly nobles in Asia Minor. Although Theodossi had received support from these nobles in the past, these nobles wanted to form groups and regarded Theodossi as their spokesperson. Thus, they gained greater benefits. Except for a few of the hard-core supporters of Theodossi, most of the others had no intention of rebellion. This is why Theodossi was so careful before. Except for his hard-core confidant, no one knew about his rebellion.

Later, Theodossi's adventure was successful, not only occupied Constantinople. Constantinople died without understanding, but Siktor also became an ally of Theodossi, which made most of the Black Sea Strait in the hands of Theodossi. Although it had not yet fully obtained the actual rule of the empire, it was not far apart. This made the nobles of Asia Minor see hope, so they began to actively support Theodossi, thus allowing Theodossi to have troops available. Replace the original defenders of Constantinople.

But now the situation is reversed, and Theodosie's ally Siktor is finished. And Irina is safely back to Constantinople, with His Majesty the Emperor of Great Wu accompanying him, especially the fifteen artillery warships brought by the other party, which are not something their Roman navy can resist, and these artillery can be bombed into the city of Constantinople at any time.

Faced with this situation, the original nobles of Constantinople chose to contact Irina, and the officers from Asia Minor were not stupid. They knew that Irina's people were familiar with the defense in the city, and their military camp was under the gun mouth of the Great Wu warship, and there was no safety at all. The reason why the other party has not attacked until now is nothing more than that they did not want to use artillery fire to destroy the capital of the Roman Empire.

These Asian Minor officers were still worried. After all, they were different from the nobles in Constantinople. In the eyes of others, they were both in the same group as Theodosie. However, the magnanimity that Irina showed later made them feel a little different. Especially under the threat of life, some officers began to secretly contact Irina. The favorable situation in the entire Constantinople was slowly turning towards Irina.

Feeling this change around him, Theodosio was also helpless while being angry. He could not compare with Irina in terms of strength or reputation, especially Constance II, who died at his hands, which made him even more famous as a regicide. Many nobles who originally sympathized with him also gave up on him for this reason.

Now there are only three roads left in front of Theodossi. The first is to immediately mobilize the army he can still control and attack the Golden Horn Bay area controlled by Irina. However, even if he can occupy Golden Horn Bay again, it has no value. The opponent can attack again from the sea at any time. What's more, the other party has artillery, so the most likely situation is that he will be defeated by the opponent's artillery halfway through the way, and others may die under the artillery. The only benefit of this method is to make him die more heroic, at least like the veteran General Motan, it is a soldier's way of death.

The second way is to escape. The north of Constantinople is Europe. After escaping from the area controlled by the Eastern Roman Empire, it is the territory of the barbarians. The forces there are complex, and he can capture his own territory there and then become kings and emperors. However, Irina may not let him go, so he may face the expeditionary force of the Eastern Roman Empire at any time.

The last path is the easiest way, which is to surrender directly to Irina and explain that the reason he launched a coup was completely forced by Constance II. He did this just to protect himself, in exchange for sympathy from Irina and other nobles. In this way, he might have a glimmer of hope.

Theodosie did not want to die under artillery, so he would not go on the first path. As for escaping to the barbarians, there must be an absolutely loyal army. However, judging from the current situation, even if someone is willing to follow him in the end, the number of people is probably not large. It is impossible to defeat the surrounding barbarians with this little manpower and resist the expeditionary force's clearance.

In this way, Theodosci seemed to have only one way to surrender. Irina expanded her influence without rushingly, which had already caused him to gradually lose his advantage. If nothing unexpected happens, the entire Constantinople might change hands again within a month, and he might fall to a more tragic level by then.

After thinking through this, Theodosio made a decision quickly. He took advantage of his own hands to hold a considerable amount of strength and immediately expressed his hope that he could openly negotiate with Irina to resolve the previous coup and the Roman throne.

Irina and Li Ke had predicted the move of Theodossi in advance. After all, they had known Theodossi's character very well before. In addition, they pressed step by step during this period, causing the chips in the other party to lose them one by one. Surrender has become Theodossi's wisest choice.

In the winter of the 27th year of Zhenguan, Irina and Theodosie negotiated in a royal palace in Golden Horn Bay. In addition to the two of them, Li Ke and some important nobles in the city also participated in the negotiation.

This negotiation, which was called affecting the entire European history, did not last long. Theodosie did not have much bargaining chips for him to squander. In addition, there was another shrewd Li Ke next to him, which made the entire negotiation completely controlled by Irina, and finally reached a two-point agreement.

The first is that Theodossi admitted that he was guilty of launching a coup, but Irina and other nobles also said that due to the special situation at that time, Theodossi was forced to launch a coup, so he would not be sentenced severely in the end, and at least he could save his life.

The second article is about the death of Forres and General Metan. The two direct murderers are Cherno and Sikde, who will be sentenced to death. Although Theodosie was the main culprit, he received the understanding of Irina and the nobles by referring to the right to hand over military power and the control of Constantinople.

The negotiation ended with Theodossi's confession, but according to the agreement reached, Theodossi was not sentenced to death in the end, but was deprived of his status as a nobleman and exiled to Sicily in the Mediterranean, and could not return for life. This cruel exile in the Roman Empire was second only to the death penalty, and in a sense, this imprisonment to death was actually more tormenting than the death penalty.

After Theodosie was exiled, Irina successfully inherited the throne of Constance II, which was called Irina I in history.

However, there was endless debate about Irina, the Roman empress, in later generations. Some people thought that she was the last emperor of Rome. Since her, Rome has actually perished. But some people thought that she brought Rome a more wise monarch and injected a new bloodline into Rome. At the same time, the Roman Empire, which had entered its twilight years, once again rejuvenated a new youth, becoming a world power alongside the Great Qi, the Tang and the Tianzhu.
Chapter completed!