With no other choice, Semer Pasha could only send the troops under his command to put out the fires. But water quickly became a new problem. With fighting raging along the coast, the fire brigade could not possibly fetch water from the sea, leaving them to buy it from reservoirs or water sellers.
That was right—at this time, Istanbul had no modern water supply system. It still relied on the aqueduct system left over from ancient Rome.
The aqueducts built in ancient Rome were certainly useful, but they could not cover the entire city. It was not that the Ottomans' technology was inferior to that of the ancient Romans; rather, extending the aqueducts across the whole city would harm certain people's business.
As for wells, in the City of Seven Hills, any household that could dig one was either wealthy or noble. On one hand, digging a well was exorbitantly expensive; on the other, tradition forbade commoners from digging wells without permission.
Moreover, because of the peculiar geography, many wells yielded only saltwater, utterly undrinkable, and ultimately had to be filled in.
"Pasha, the Russians have begun attacking the city! So many Russians!"
A messenger stumbled in. He was already utterly exhausted, and even the turban from his head had vanished somewhere.
Semer Pasha hurriedly rose and walked over to the messenger. "What exactly happened?"
The messenger drank two mouthfuls of water and caught his breath before speaking.
"Pasha, I just went to the Coastal Defense Command. The Russians have already come ashore—Sayi Pasha and the others can't hold them back anymore! The coast is crawling with Russians. They've already reached the Coastal Defense Command!"
Semer Pasha's heart skipped a beat. Strictly speaking, this should have been handled by the Coastal Defense Command and the New Army, but they could