Eagle Byzantium

When Taticius walked into the River Hall, John was intensely discussing the current military deployment with a group of staff.

The small flags of different colors on the map table are intertwined, making it easy to see the general battle situation. For John Fang, his new army had been completely destroyed in the siege of Prusa. Now there are more than 3,000 Hungarian soldiers stationed at the key Gallipoli and Ellainus fortresses in the southern peninsula, commanded by Clembald, the general counselor of the Hungarian Royal Palace, guarded and blocked the Hellespont Strait; the land in northern Thrace was mostly the residence of various nobles or Plonian landowners. , now half of them have surrendered, and they are generally scattered around to resist the volunteers; within the imperial capital, there are mainly Mikhail's 2,500-person outer palace guard, a small number (7800 people) of the inner palace guard around John, and Watts. Datari garrison cavalry, as well as two thousand Hungarian soldiers (Piroska's dowry, including sixty knights) and thousands of Venetian colonists who could be armed.

After further calculation, there are about 6,000 soldiers of the chief noble Sebastocrat Isaac Komnenos, stationed in Epirus; 3,000 troops of the great noble Ceces, stationed in Sessa Loniki City - It can be said that John only has this little mobile military power left in his hands.

Of course, the foreign aid that John can rely on is, in addition to the Holy See, which has the advantage of religious and legal power, there is also the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, Hungary, and Venice. Their kings or consuls have promised John that they will send powerful armies after the coming spring. , the fleet came to the imperial capital to reinforce him.

Among them, the most active one is Little Roger, the Sicilian prince in Crete. He can’t wait to ask the "Razor Company" of Gonletto Salgimons in Gandia City: "Follow me, and you must break into Heli by boat." Spontaneous Strait, support Emperor John of Constantinople as soon as possible! This is an excellent opportunity that cannot be lost."

But Gonletto said that he was a mercenary in Venice, and he could not make the payment without the instruction of his employer. Little Roger decisively typed out the bill for 40,000 Byzantine gold coins and gave it to the other party, saying that he would send it to Palermo immediately. The palace's finance minister sent the actual money, "This winter even if No matter how cold the winter in Thrace is, we must attack decisively and compete with the enemy for several river systems north of Constantinople. If we let the other side easily occupy it, then the entire Constantinople will be plunged into panic and famine in the coming year. , Emperor John will not be able to defend it at all!"

Little Roger could see it very clearly: This Tarsus task force, under the guise of volunteers, now occupies various estuary fortresses in Thrace and the Euxine Sea, in order to use the fleet to brave the severe cold in winter. and cover, constantly bringing in supplies (or recruiting them from the local area), and then launching an offensive, with the goal of Adrianople - after seizing here, the connection between Constantinople and the west of the empire will be cut off.

At that time, there is really no way to save the day, so Little Roger's strategic plan is to fight the "Thracian Volunteers" with all his strength regardless of the season, and if Gawain reinforces, his crimes will be exposed in front of the Holy See and the world. ; If Gawain does not dare to reinforce, then this group of volunteers will be eliminated or driven into the sea, and then Sicilian forces can also take the opportunity to infiltrate.

Therefore, the focus of the entire world's affairs has quickly gathered in Thrace.

When Roger Jr. and Gonletto hurriedly weighed anchor and sailed north, John, who learned the news, was naturally excited at the map table and regarded the chess piece as his own life-saving straw.

"Tell Zezes to come with his troops." John waved his hand and pointed at the city on the west side of the map, Thessaloniki, and proposed this filing.

Just at this moment, Taticius walked in with a gloomy face, and John asked him what he thought.

Taticius's reaction was still as unbearable and annoying as before, "Now that Gawain has conquered the east, there is no hope for Constantinople to defend itself. It is better to shrink the defense line, board the ship from Gallipoli, and abandon it." If the imperial capital goes to the city of Mystra and blocks the Strait of Corinth, and then relies on sea reinforcements from Sicily and Venice, it can continue its long-term confrontation with Gawain."

John was so angry that he said, "My luck may not be over like this!"

But Taticius was stubborn, very stubborn.

"A group of about 4,000 elite mercenaries will come from Crete soon to help me quell the chaos in Thrace. You can take the opportunity to command Mikhail's outer palace guards and the 2,000 troops stationed in The Hungarian soldiers in the imperial capital joined forces with them to go to the Vileka River Basin to attack that shameful and despicable volunteer army!" John pointed at General Xiubi and said, which was considered a compromise. "No matter what, I will not do this. situation Without any resistance, he was scared out of the capital by an army dressed in hypocrisy and weakness. If Mikhail has any objections, you can kill him directly - I will no longer be soft-hearted. In addition, Mikhail's wife will be killed. He and the wife of the traitor Diogenes are all being detained in the palace as hostages! You go and lead the expedition, and I am arranging supplies in the imperial capital. Even if the future reaches the stage you mentioned, we will need to reserve supplies for the future counterattack. "

"It would have been best if Your Majesty had done this earlier, but if you do such a thing now, you will lose people's hearts." Titicius lowered his eyebrows, referring to the so-called detention of Eudoxia and Gu Siyun.

"Then put these two women under house arrest, just like I did to my grandmother." John lowered his voice and became impatient.

Five days later, Little Roger's fleet landed at Gallipoli in full swing. Along the way, Gawain's small fleet of light ships did not dare to come out to intercept. Then Little Roger and his "troops" (most of which were actually Venetian mercenary companies) were reviewed by Emperor John at the Giucentina Palace, and John directly gave Little Roger the "Penipace Bastos" ” the noble title that had been taken away from him by Breanus’ betrayal, and promised the new Imperial Glory a handsome salary.

then. The "Razor Company" brought by Little Roger will join Titicius' team and head north to fight the "Thrace Volunteers".

The imperial stablemaster's mansion next to the cattle market in the imperial capital was filled with Vadaritai or Pecheneg guardsmen in scarlet robes. Mikhail Eustace stood outside the courtyard. At the gate, the remaining snow on the trees around him was still there, "Years ago, you, Gawain, and Diogenes set out from here to go to the arena to represent His Majesty the Holy Apostle Emperor Alexios and compete with the knight representatives of Salian Caesar. This scene seems to be right there. In front of me."

Behind him, his wife Eudocia, wearing a beautiful burgundy tunic, sighed as she was lost in memories of the past.

Eudoxiya has lost a lot of weight over the years, and her energy is not as good as before, even though her appearance is still beautiful.

Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!

"Yes, the eldest princess was still young at that time!" Mikhail also remembered and replied with a smile.

"Now that Anna finally got the life she wanted, she should be congratulated." Eudocia crossed her fingers and looked up at the clear sky of Constantinople with some envy, "So you go ahead and ignore it. Me, I'll be fine here."