Eagle Byzantium

The winter on the eastern plateau of Anatolia was extremely cold the following year. After killing all the Assassin believers, Gawain camped in the upper reaches of the Assonas River in the Sasun region, and met with the envoys of the Kiratpasha Kingdom. Peace talks.

Kirat Pasha Zagriddin Ibrahim, who was afraid of Gawain's elite army, agreed to cede Sasun to Gawain. After that, the Pasha simply moved the capital to the city of Fan on the east side of Lake Fan to avoid Gawain's sharp attack.

In the vast snowfield, Gawain, who had finished dividing the border, rode a black mare. He wore a thick sable fur cloak outside the armor and fastened it with a gold chain. He led his army back to the relatively warm and warm Samosa. In the tower fortress.

Here he signed many documents, sorted out the land and rights in the two districts of Melitene and Samosata, and ordered the Yevanduni brigade to be stationed in the Sasson and Armida areas, and to requisition Local craftsmen and stonemasons began to build forts around several key passes on the southern line of the Erzurum Mountains to block the two Turkic chiefs Merik and Saltuk who were trapped there.

At the same time, there was a brave Armenian noble named Gabriel in the Samosata area, who led hundreds of private soldiers to surrender. Gawain warmly received him and placed him in the fort as a garrison commander.

By now, the fate of each group of Armenian nobles who were originally scattered after the country's demise has become clear:

Except for the brother and sister Toros and Lolita who were left as banners for the "Fankarru family", the rest were basically slaughtered by Gawain;

The original regent Feir of the "Marash" group had been seriously injured and half of his men were defeated. The other half surrendered to Gawain under the leadership of Heracles and became the backbone of the new Yevanduni brigade. strength;

The "Lake Fans" in the south, such as Gabriel, also came to join the Kingdom of Tarsus, eager to revive their homeland;

There is also the "Ani" family in the north, represented by the great nobles Zacharias and Mahadzeri, who defected to King David of Georgia and secretly became the vanguard of the anti-Gawain movement.

Gawain, who was in the city of Samosata, knew that he was about to start a new round of decisive battle with the alliance of Theodoro David John. He said in a letter to his wife Anna: "To pacify Greater Armenia, And to clear the road to the imperial capital, we must first attack Theodoro, and if we want to To attack Theodoro, we must first defeat King David of Georgia. Next year, I will march north to fight with him. It is a critical moment of life and death... If we want to win this battle, we must not only strengthen our troops and strengthen our armaments. , flexible diplomatic means are even more indispensable.”

Gawain's diplomatic method was to try his best to win over the two small Kurdish countries sandwiched between Greater Armenia and Georgia, namely Haddadi and Shirfan.

Sure enough, thanks to the efforts of confidential officials, the exchange of diplomatic letters between the two sides became frequent after the winter came. In fact, both Haddadi and Shirfan felt the same aggressive and oppressive offensive of David of Georgia in the north. Both rulers He promised to join forces with Gawain and open military access if necessary, allowing the Tarsus Guards to use their own domestic roads and fortresses, and was willing to form a "coalition" with Gawain to deal with the builder David and the Old Man of the Mountain. Hassan.

In this way, Gawain also explored and built an alliance of "Tarsus Haddadi Shirvan".

If the Pope in Rome learned that Gawain had formed an alliance with a small pagan country in order to expand his territory, he would probably not know how he would react to it.

Almost a month passed like this, and Hassan, the old man from the mountains in the Eagle Castle, actually sent a secret envoy to sue Gawain for peace!

What Hassan meant was, "My subordinate only injured one of your sleeping officers' wrists, but you massacred hundreds of Assassin believers. This mountain's power in the entire southern part of Greater Armenia was completely wiped out. Let's vent what needs to be vented." It’s better for both sides not to invade each other from now on. If I don’t come to assassinate you, don’t go further eastward. How about I guarantee you a peaceful sleep for thirty years?”

"Extremely beautiful!" Gawain mocked the old man in the mountain's letter with contempt, and then asked the imperial soldiers to cut off the messenger's right hand and left ear on the spot, and asked him to go back and report to the old man in the mountain, "I don't need your great master to protect me. Sleep in peace for thirty years, because soon I will kill all the Assassin believers in the Eagle Castle. Remember, this is not a boring threat. I hope your grand master will sleep well until the moment when my military flag arrives. ”

The messenger screamed and had his limbs cut off. Then Gawain poured a large amount of hashish resin into him, making him dead or alive and threw him on the mule cart. He was trembling with fear and was sent back to the distant Eagle Castle. road.

After seeing off the messenger, Gawain left Samosata and headed for the city of Melitene.

In the bedroom of the palace in the city, Wen Ruomingna was lying quietly on the couch. Her right wrist had been amputated by surgery. There was a layer of snow on the window sill outside. Several flower-backed birds were parked there, using their small red beaks. Looking for food in the snow.

The door of the room creaked open, and the sleeping officer saw the great patron walking in through the curtains, followed by the female officers and the Holy Sister.

When she struggled to get up, she was stopped by Gawain, "Lie down peacefully, Wen Ruomingna. I was passing by on this trip and wanted to apologize to you."

"No, this is my job...I am still sleeping on the couch used by His Highness the Patron."

"You can use this bed with peace of mind. For such a loyal and brave subordinate, I won't begrudge even this little thing." Gawain comforted her and said, "Besides, you don't have to worry. From now on, the position of palace acquaintance will always be there." It's all yours."

After visiting the sleeping officer, Gawain, Cabeamia, and Philactus gathered together in the outer hall to discuss, "I will set off back to Tarsus tomorrow and prepare for the expedition after the snow in winter and spring melts." Trabzon and Georgian affairs. But first, I have to send a letter to Kutaisi, the capital of the Kingdom of Georgia.”

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Gawain's letter was delivered very quickly. It first traveled from Melitene's military road to Amasya, where naturally the Georgian Kingdom's spy intelligence network delivered it to its destination.

This spy network was King David's favorite work and was called "mstovaris".

The city of Kutaisi is located in the valley between the Caucasus Mountains and the Caucasus Mountains. The winter is bright and mild. Under the magnificent dome of the Great Jelari Monastery in the city, the builder David, who is elegantly dressed and has a brave and confident beard, stands Everyone Among the priests and officials, after listening to their mentor reading Gawain's accusatory letter, they laughed humbly, "The Grass-headed King of Tarsus actually accused me of being despicable? And said that he had grasped my accusations. Is he coming to attack me?"

The surrounding priests and officials burst into laughter.

Because just before, David had regained an important fortress occupied by the Turks, opening the door to eastern Georgia. In addition, another 14,000 Cuman barbarian cavalry from the north of the mountain came to join the young king. They had just been placed in the country and served as a powerful cavalry team. Therefore, King David would not put Gawain in his eyes. "The goal next year is to seize the entire eastern Georgia, and I want to reply to a letter - but not to King Caotou of Varyag, but to his wife Anna."