The answer came just after noon.
Not in words.
In fire.
A single Ottoman battery hidden within the city's western outskirts finally spoke, its gunners firing blind more from pride than calculation.
The shells sailed high, arcing poorly, and burst far short of the Montenegrin trench lines in a useless plume of dirt and smoke.
But the effect it had as a sign of retaliation, shook the Montenegrin lines.
The summoned soldiers who were holding back on Elias's orders instead turned as one with a look of contempt at the city.
Their master has graciously given them the chance to surrender getting the chance to live as citizens of his new empire, but instead they chose to spit in his face!?
This cannot be allowed to stand, it was in that moment that even without needing to speak a word the entire first army, no the entire Montenegrin armed forces connected through the system passed along this information and collectively decided the fate of every single Ottoman solider from this day forward had just earned themselves a death sentence.
The structures and cities of this empire would remain, but its armies, it Kings, its princes, and officials.
All would be lost to the pages of history.
Snuffed out to erase not just their lineage but also their insult to a supreme being, like their Master.
The only piece of this plan that reached Elias himself, was the report that the city had refused to surrender.
~
"So," he murmured. "They choose blood."
Outside Constantinople the assembled Montenegrin army had stopped their patrols and general loafing around action even without lowering their guards.
Now they were ready and waiting in the trenches, Cavlary forces mounted on horseback awaiting the orders to charge, while the artillery crews were busy preparing for a full salvo.
The true onset of the siege of the Ottoman Capital city.
With the thousands of men getting into position and angling their massive guns.
But any of those soldiers standing atop the city walls could tell they were just a few moments away from imminent death.
Hundreds of Light and Heavy artillery pieces had now trained their muzzles towards the ancient city.
and finally as one they sounded off.
Like a single crack of lightning, sending a rippling wave of thunderous sound racing through the air.
Only by the time that thunderclap was heard by the people of the city it was already to late.
Hundreds of shells had flown beyond the sound barrier, landing on their intended targets around the city.
They struck Ottoman artillery positions with mathematical cruelty.
Earthworks collapsed.
Gun crews vanished in fountains of dirt and shattered timber.
A second volley followed within minutes, then a third, systematically walking fire across known and suspected emplacements.
The firing began to stagger, moving from the slow clapping of the gods under there was a thunderous applause without break.
shell after shell raining down from above, as the people were forced to watch their beloved city be turned into a pile of rubble, while firestorms began to rage.
The merciful warning stage has passed.
It was clear to everyone now, that the true siege had begun.
Within the city, the illusion of control shattered.
It became every man for themself, order was dead along with the peace.
Fights broke out over supposed shelter.
All the while criminal gangs were running rampant raiding and looting wealth and food, planning to use the chaos to strike it rich before fleeing the city east away from the encroaching army.
~
In the palace, the Sultan listened to the guns with a rigid stillness.
The initial blasts from the unified firing shook the very foundations of his palace, but now the thunderous blasts, and endless number of flashes come all up and down the Montenegrin battle lines, showed just how foolish a decision they had made choosing to resist.
It was in this moment that the exalted Sultan with weak knees summoned his most trusted advisor.
The man arrived before to long.
Bowing as reverently as his old knee's would allow.
"Great Sultan, what can this humble servant do for you?"
Then, slowly, the Sultan finally spoke.
"Send envoys," he said. "To the Russians. To the British. To anyone who will listen."
The old man lifting his head slightly questioned "And the enemy?"
The Sultan's jaw tightened. "Not yet."
The true fight had only just begun, and he was not willing to surrender this city which had been in his family control for half a millenium to fall.
~
The first army was moving, as the initial volleys continued to rain down on the city that was virtually undefended at this point with everyone running for cover.
The riflemen and early machine gunners could safely vacate their trenches, moving at a quick pace running towards the city.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the Ottomans, who were still cowering.
A fleet of Montenegrin steel ships belching black smoke from their stacks was within firing range of the city from the approach of the Marmara.
With land and sea supremacy.
The Ottoman city was cut off.
Unable to fight back to the artillery bombardment raining death from afar, all while their undefended backs let the Montenegrin navy slip into the Bosphorus.
Sailing the strait taking fire at every ship they saw.
When no target presented itself they would target strateigic targets within the city itself, the Deck guns blurring together with the Army artillery.
The Sultan who had just hours before sent his most trusted advisor to send missives too all the world great powers requesting their aid, event the detestable Russians.
Only now to be brought to his knees at the sight of mechanical marvels produced to perfection compared to the other's laughable attempts.
He could only watch from within the safe confines fo Topkapi Palace as his only means of escape was cut off.
The watery strait which could serve as a natural no-man's land between the two halves of the city, allowing his forces to pullback to the eastern side before retalliated was taken from them.
Now the only way across would be to swim, though they still ran the risk of the Enemy Sailors firing upon them when they were undefended in the water, unable to carry heavy loads or even weapons for fear of drowning.