Eagle Byzantium

However, at this time, Agnes, the little sunfish who was sitting next to Gawain, suddenly lifted up her silk shoes, stepped on Gawain hard under the table, and forcibly said the last part of his sentence: "If Ceces doesn't surrender, , I will use cannon to blow down the walls of Thessaloniki and swallow it.

The gray-haired girl rarely remained calm and quickly gave Gawain a look. Gawain immediately understood, and slowly changed the subject and said to the emissary, "But if General Ceces can hand over the city as soon as possible, and an army, of course I am willing to give him a match Glory. I agree to form a new brigade with General Ceces’ old troops as the core, and give him the rank of Imperial Caesar, but I cannot grant it immediately because this title now belongs to His Highness Macaulinus. Yes, we must discuss it with him.”

"Alternatively, the Supreme Basileus and Basilisa can make the decision to marry the general to the Ducas family." Agnes added on the side.

The emissary was obviously very happy with this arrangement, and then Gawain gave him a purple-ink and gold-book edict to show the sacredness and validity of this arrangement, and promised to "immediately send centurions and tax collectors to count the entire city of Thessaloniki and If the tax amount around Thessalonica is one million tasso, it will definitely give General Ceces an additional salary of two hundred thousand per year. If it is one and a half million, it will be Three hundred thousand, never break your promise (The Eastern Roman Empire was very wealthy. Even when Western historians recorded its tax situation in the 13th century, the annual tax on Corfu alone was estimated to be 1.2 million gold coins. Cyprus is more than 2 million. Of course, this is undoubtedly an exaggeration, because when Lionheart sold Cyprus, the price was only 100,000 Byzantine gold coins)"

After such grand arrangements, the emissary left with satisfaction.

Afterwards, Gawain and his staff re-examined the map table and realized that Agnes's reminder was reasonable.

The entire Thessalonica is a flat and low peninsula, with several long and narrow islands extending out from it forming the shape of a palm. If the islands were fingers, the city of Thessaloniki would be exactly at the position of the thumb and index finger, while Asso The monasteries of the Holy Mountain are located on the little finger.

This holy mountain is said to have been encountered by the Virgin Mary when she was drifting in a boat, and was later designated as the "Holy Peak" by the Virgin Mary. In the Middle Ages, monasteries supported by the Eastern Roman royal family sprung up on the island, with about twenty monasteries. There are so many monasteries, many of which are built on mountains and seas. They are multi-layered and majestic. Historically, many priests from Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Epirus and even Italy came to study here, and they became famous.

In addition, the Holy Mountain also received many gifts of land and money from secular nobles, which was common in the Middle Ages (the same was true for Gawain's Seleucia Hospital). Although it lived on a small island, it was still as wealthy as the country. The Holy Mountain itself also does business: it sets up markets on the islands to sell the excess candles, wood, and oil from attacks in various places in exchange for a large amount of wealth.

But this steep island of holy mountains also has a fatal weakness. Geographically, it is sandwiched between Thessalonica, the northern Aegean islands and Constantinople. Once the power of the east takes over Thessalonica, For most of Nica, its only access to outside help is the Aegean Sea, but the sea is not peaceful either: in history, there are often records of monasteries on the Holy Mountain being looted by pirates and declining.

Now Agnes advises Gawain to temporarily agree to General Ceces' request. After the army enters Thessaloniki, it will be equivalent to cutting off all relations between the Holy Mountain and the mainland. When the time comes to besiege it, she can't help but Masdars refused to surrender.

Sure enough, after the emissary reported back, Ceces was very happy after seeing the golden edict. He was originally related to the Comnenus family. Now if he can let his other son marry the daughter of the Ducas family, he will be in the empire from now on. Your position is completely secure!

Two days later, Thessaloniki opened its gates to the new emperor's army without any resistance.

This city has always been the largest city in the entire empire after Constantinople. The coastal city walls present extremely beautiful straight lines, and the buildings in the city are row upon row. Like the imperial capital, it has fountains, racecourses, grand squares, monuments and countless other buildings. Qing church. Its history is full of glory, but also full of humiliation and disaster. When the frenzy of Slavic invasion broke out five hundred years ago, it was the only "lighthouse" that persisted in the entire region; but later, the fanatical and ferocious Crescent Christians Two hundred years ago, since it was captured at sea, as many as 22,000 citizens, men and women, were kidnapped as slaves.

But soon after, until the reign of Comnenus, it revived and remained prosperous and wealthy.

In the model of Thessaloniki made by Gawain, it is more like an inverted map of the United States - the city wall is straight in the east, west and south near the sea, while a corner sticks out in the northeast and mountains. Just like Florida in the United States, this corner is where the Acropolis fortress is located.

The Red Hand Brigade lined up and entered directly from the gate of the defense city.

The Guardian Brigade and Gawain's Guards entered from the avenue east of the city.

Some of Zeses's soldiers were waiting in the acropolis and were then ordered to surrender to the defense.

Other soldiers were wearing robes and holding weapons standing in the square in front of the "Saint Dimitri's Cathedral" in the center of the city (he is the patron of the city).

When Gawain's majestic team arrived here, these soldiers were also shocked by the emperor's elite momentum. They instinctively sheathed their swords and lowered their spears to the ground, just like a defeated army.

Gawain rode on Agrus and passed through the square avenue with olive trees on both sides. "Announce to the whole city that the people do not need to be afraid. All bathrooms, shops and churches are open as usual."

Cerces stayed in the main hall of the cathedral with some trepidation, as a minister. When he saw the emperor in military uniform with a sword, standing at the entrance of the double-row long colonnade of the basilica surrounded by guards, he immediately knelt down according to etiquette, then prostrated himself respectfully to Gawain's feet, first kissed the emperor's boots, and then was embraced by the emperor and kissed his left chest.

At the moment he kissed Gawain's chest strap, he regretted it again - was he too credulous in the promise of this barbarian emperor?

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But the emperor held his shoulders tightly and enthusiastically, and repeatedly reiterated the difficulty of the original edict, "Of course you will enjoy a special salary of one-fifth of Thessalonica's income."

To prove that what he said was true, Gawain took the man's hand and came to the circular patio altar at the end of the hall.

Agnes followed the emperor, holding a miniature city model in her hand - Gawain was going to point to the model and personally point out to General Ceces where the "Pronia salary" was.