Eagle Byzantium

On the high ground between the two lakes, Branas's ambush suddenly appeared. Four hundred shooting soldiers lined up on the hill and fired in turns, intercepting the reinforcements sent by Vladimir to Ohrid. The Serbian army, which was attacked from the side, was stuck on the road in chaos. The light of their spears and swords was swallowed up by the pungent smoke from the hills. The leading Zupan nobles were all knocked off their horses, either dead or injured. The cavalry ran around along both sides of the road, and the horses cried miserably.

On both sides of the hill, two detachments on one side and one detachment on the other side, all of them were elite spearmen of the Guardian Brigade, holding extremely long infantry spears and rushing out, fiercely tearing and slashing the Serbian infantry on the road, cutting them into several sections like fine fish slices in Lake Skadar, and the rain of lead bullets from the musketeers was like a seasoning sprinkled on them. Within half an hour, this reinforcement was defeated and became a dish - only forty cavalrymen saved their lives and fled back to Prizren in embarrassment.

Branas, who was standing at the command post, raced against time. He carried the plumb mechanical clock given by Her Majesty Barcelissa, accurately measured the time, and then "repeated the old trick", asking 200 soldiers to put on the captured Serbian soldiers' armor, ride on horses, and rush towards the gate of Ohrid Castle.

The city of Ohrid is now shrouded in smoke from artillery fire. Giaquinta and a group of court favorites are running around, only asking where the reinforcements from Durazzo and Prizren are. At this time, the pretended Branas soldiers formed a line of cavalry and appeared at the north gate of the city. The Betia tribe guide in the team communicated with the guards on the gate tower in fluent dialect, claiming to be from Grand Duke Vladimir and requesting to open the city gate.

The gate tower guards asked for verification, but on the hill behind this group of cavalry, many soldiers of the Guard Brigade came "rushing and chasing" with spears. Giaquinta cursed the garrison officers for not knowing the state, and anxiously asked to let this group of reinforcements in.

The helpless guards opened the north gate.

As a result, the group of cavalry in front of the city gate drew out their shining single-edged sabers or cavalry axes.

"Close the inner gate, close the inner gate..." The officer who opened the gate turned around and shouted when he saw that the situation was not right. Branas' cavalry rushed in on horseback, with the arc of axe blade flashing continuously, and chopped down all the people to the ground. Then 200 cavalry quickly rushed in and killed everyone they saw.

And the group of infantrymen of the Guard Brigade who came to "hunt" also rushed in.

Soon, Ohrid, a solid fortress next to the lake that had been operated by the original Bulgarian Empire for many years, and also the capital of the Great Earth King Bodin, fell again under a surprise attack.

Giaquinta escaped in disguise, but her ship encountered headwinds on Lake Ohrid after leaving the water gate, and she drifted into the lake. She was pushed to the shore by the tide in a half-dead state and was captured by Branas's men.

"I am the legitimate wife of the Great King of the Land, Bulgarian Tsar Berdin. I need your officers and soldiers to guarantee my dignity and safety." Giaquinta, who was shivering with cold wrapped in a blanket, took the initiative to identify herself before the soldiers identified her, and then raised her white wrist, which was wrapped with an expensive gold chain and a six-pointed star pendant.

The army then captured the inner and outer cities separated by two walls, as well as all the barracks, stables, ground warehouses and underground cellars. What surprised and delighted them was that this royal capital actually stored so much food, coins, oil and fine wine, and now all of them became their spoils of war! According to convention, the soldiers looted the portion they were entitled to and stuffed it into the originally light luggage, and then the rest was all collected and recorded by the brigade's quartermaster.

Then Branas sent out light cavalry scouts, crossed Kastoria, and went to the camp in the Vardar River Valley in the south to report the news. The main detachments of the Nika Brigade, the Guardian Brigade and the Opsikin Brigade that remained here rushed forward and attacked Prizren Castle, which Vladimir was defending.

Vladimir was so angry that he collapsed: he sent a thousand reinforcements to rescue the "Norman Glass Cabinet", but was ambushed and defeated, and Ohrid was also lost. Now his position was threatened from both sides. I don't know what Durazzo's Eastern Expedition Army was doing on the Agnandiya Avenue, which was easy to gallop. Is it a picnic?

Three days later, Vladimir's Prizren could no longer be defended, so he had to gather all the soldiers and retreat eastward to the relatively safe Magoron Castle.

So because of Branas' gambling surprise attack, he captured the entire southwest of Serbia, successfully connected Ohrid, Prizren, Macedonia Pella, Kastoria and Thessaly regions, and cut off the passage between Fort Sofia and Durazzo!

Durazzo's Eastern Expedition had only more than 20,000 troops. After learning that Ohrid had fallen, they retreated to the seaside camp without doing anything. The commander-in-chief, Hungarian Almosh, no longer dared to talk about the "division of the cake" after the victory. In fact, they did not even complete a "marching mileage" (50 ancient miles) on the Egnandia Road. The originally unified country of the great king Bodin was torn into several unconnected fragments in an instant.

Afterwards, Branas left part of the army to defend Ohrid, and asked the two commanders, Acropolites and Lekapenus, to lead the rest of the main force to besiege and contain Magoron Castle. He led the selected 4,000 infantry and cavalry soldiers and continued to drive forward along the road, aiming at Boyana and Sophia Castle.

Branus also carried the captured Giaquinta on a sedan chair (this time Giaquinta was not as lucky as Shahnami, who was more interested in Persian beauties than golden-haired Norman women), along with hundreds of captured courtiers, slaves and maids, all in shackles and chains, making them groan in the hot weather, and escorted them on the road.

At this time, the Melo detachment also successfully walked out of the complex mountains and appeared in the wilderness south of Boyana Castle. It didn't take much effort to defeat the ambush sent by the city, cut off more than 400 heads, and then surrounded Boyana Castle.

The Serbian rebels also made a risky attack. A group of brave Zupans gathered more than a thousand men and attacked along the Strymon River, and even penetrated into the area between Philippi and Amphipolis. However, this was destined to be just a "scatterbrain" action. Soon, the Macedonian governor Birrel arrived with the newly formed border militia, and the enemy troops were defeated.

Four days later, the two teams of Branas and Melo met in victory under the Boyana Castle.

A correct version in 16-9 Book Bar!

Before that, Branas's team had hardly encountered any resistance along the way. The source of the Vardar River is also the core fortress of the Serbian region and the birthplace of Justinian the Great. The city of Skopje, "the inseparable territory of the Roman Empire since ancient times", also surrendered to the Roman residents in the center of the city, opening the door for Branas to continue to move eastward.