Some time prior to the capture of Caramen, Tirant sent a messenger to Constantinople to inform the emperor that, if the empire was still in need of aid, he would return with 250,000 men, and that the King of Sicily would probably join him with his army. The emperor received the news with great delight. After delivering the message to the imperial monarch, the messenger went to a convent to which the princess had retired, and gave her a letter from Tirant. She was speechless with emotion upon learning that he was still alive. When the messenger returned to Tirant with communications from the emperor and the princess, the great Captain learned that the Moors had conquered the whole empire, with the exception of the cities of Constantinople and Pera and a few castles, and that Diaphebus and many of his friends were prisoners. (Chaps. 388-393, 395-398) At Constantine, in Tunis, Tirant gathered an army of over 250,000 men, with which he hoped to drive the Moorish invaders from the soil of the Greek empire. He sent an agent to Genoa, Rome, and Venice to secure ships to transport this vast army. The vessels arrived at Constantine within a short time. But before these forces embarked, Tirant assembled the people in a vast plain and addressed them in a short speech. After his address, a Catalan monk, John Ferrer, who was a native of Lérida, and who spoke the Moorish tongue well, preached to the multitude. After his sermon the people in loud cries asked to be baptized, and in three days the monks and chaplains whom Tirant had sent for baptized 334,000 men, women, and children. (Chaps. 401-407) Throughout the period of the military conquest of Barbary, Tirant built churches and monasteries for the priests and monks who came thither in response to his call. Mohammedanism had been dealt a deathblow, and Christianity was firmly established in all Barbary. (Chap. 404) CHAPTER VI TIRANT RETURNS TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE GREEK EMPIRE IS COMPLETELY RESTORED