After the Black Sea Fleet departed, the elite Russian force that had invaded Istanbul was naturally doomed to annihilation.
Yet Russia and the Ottoman Empire gave entirely different accounts of the final outcome. Russia claimed that its troops fought to the very last moment, that those left behind had willingly covered their comrades' retreat, and that the final battle embodied Russian courage.
The Ottomans, meanwhile, claimed that the Russian troops had surrendered, while the Black Sea Fleet had abandoned its allies and fled in panic. Khrulyov and the other principal generals had supposedly converted to Islam and, after recognizing their mistakes, chosen to take their own lives in atonement.
The two sides also differed wildly over the results of the battle. Russia claimed to have wiped out at least a hundred thousand Ottoman soldiers and killed Murad V; the Ottomans claimed to have annihilated fifty to eighty thousand Russian troops, while Murad V had merely fallen ill.
The two sides likewise gave conflicting accounts over whether Topkapi Palace had ever fallen. The Ottomans claimed that Murad V and Valide Sultan Shevkyevza had never left the palace.
At this point, Valide Sultan Shevkyevza had also become the Ottoman Empire's true highest decision-maker.
As the book records, before Topkapi Palace fell, Valide Sultan Shevkyevza had already entered a secret passage. Once inside, she had completely sealed the entrance, which was why the Russians could not find it.
Strictly speaking, it was not that the Russians had failed to find it, but that they could not get in.
Having escaped death, Valide Sultan Shevkyevza naturally took command of the reinforcements that arrived afterward, and her position as ruler naturally became unshakable.
Outsiders naturally had no way of knowing the twists and turns behind it all. However, Valide Sultan Shevkyevza was no military strategist,