Eagle Byzantium

There is also a Church of the Holy Wisdom in Sofia, which is also the origin of its name, but when Emperor Gawain entered the city, he immediately announced that the key castle would be renamed back to its original name - Sardica, to highlight the revival of the Roman Empire.

In front of the altar inlaid with murals and gold and silver ornaments in the church, the emperor accepted the congratulations of many generals. Gawain also highly praised the three generals Melo, Branas and Birrell: "Vesart (Melo) was able to be cautious in the roundabout operation this time, Andronicus (Branas) was able to send a surprise attack team in Castoria, and Birrell was able to hold on to Adrianople, the center of the battle, no matter what the situation was. They are all generals worthy of respect. I once lamented the growth of the three Grand Chancellor of the Holy See, the Minister of Posts and the Governor of Dacis (namely Giovanni, Andeodate and Leite). Now the generals under my command are becoming more and more skilled in tactics."

Then the emperor said that Branas and Melo would be given the honor of "Conqueror of the Savoys", and Birrell would be given the honor of "Defender of Macedonia". The three generals would enjoy a grand triumphal ceremony after entering the imperial capital, and their names would be engraved on the merit column of the newly built "Arch of the Grand Palace".

General Bramson, who used gold coins as his flag, was envious. He was eager to take the initiative to request to be the vanguard, seize the opportunity of successive victories, and go to the battlefield of Durazzo to fight a decisive battle with the so-called Eastern Expedition Group in the West.

The emperor was a little hesitant about this subordinate plan. He paced back and forth around the marble floor of the altar several times, asking the generals, "I have been away from the imperial capital for nearly a year, and I have been fighting all the time. The triumphal ceremony of several generals is also being planned. Should I rest the troops in the winter of this year and wait for the next year to march to Durazzo?"

But the generals' medals and scepters flashed and waved. They stared at the map table in front of them and loudly requested His Majesty not to "give up halfway when hunting the enemy", and the sound waves shook the entire altar.

And Bramson pointed his finger at the position of "Zata" above, and then "Durazo", raised his eyes and asked the emperor, "It is necessary to seize these two coastal key areas by land before the winter comes, because the enemy's fleet is not suitable for sailing and supplying in this season."

The emperor then recognized the high morale of his subordinates. He joked that he would not be able to return to the palace to reunite with his wife and children this autumn, and he would have to accept their complaints.

Then the emperor quickly announced the overall deployment: the three newly formed Bulgarian Brigade, Midgard Brigade, and Alemanni Brigade were all stationed near the city of Trvorno, receiving a three-month tactical training in spears, firearms and artillery, and then unified under Giovanni's command in the spring of the following year, sweeping across the north of Mosia until the Donuvius River was the boundary;

Bramson was the commander-in-chief, commanding the Philomelon and Hierapolis brigades, along the river valley in the north of Sardica zone, and take the northern area from Niš to Zata in a roundabout way;

General Acropolites controlled the two brigades of Nika and Opskin, and went to Kastoria and Thessaly to advance towards Epirus;

Your Majesty the Emperor, I personally led the three-wing brigade and all the cavalry and artillery auxiliary teams, first along the Egnandia Avenue to the west, seize the isolated Magolon Castle and annihilate Vladimir's army, and then go to "see what the people who are enemies of Durazzo and me look like."

As for Berdin, Gawain's strategy is to let him run, and we are responsible for following him. Wherever he runs, it will create claims for us.

After the deployment was stable, everyone was in high spirits. In addition, the number of Serbian soldiers captured in the previous battles of Ohrid, Lesvono, and Boyana reached 8,000. Gawain asked to send them all to the city of Trvorno, select 800 people as captives for the triumphal ceremony, and the rest will be handed over to Giovanni and Andeodate.

But at this time, Andeodate's letter arrived, complaining that he had exhausted all his energy in compiling the Great Tax Book and had no spare time to help Your Majesty deal with these prisoners. Therefore, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications proposed to follow the previous dynasty's practice: split up these Serbs and place them in the Greater and Lesser Sis counties or Samosata and other military governorships, either as county miners or border soldiers of the military governorship; then more people can be drawn from the eastern counties and military governorships to make up for the losses of Your Majesty's previous brigades, and receive unified training in the training team in the city of Trvorno, so that they can serve on the battlefield next year.

Gawain felt that what the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications said made sense, so he issued a new Golden Book Edict in the Sardica military camp, which required that each field brigade in the future add a "new recruit detachment". This detachment did not go to the battlefield on weekdays, but received training in the garrison to replenish the casualties of the front-line brigade during the battle at any time.

This policy was first implemented in the three-wing brigade, but Gawain also specifically ordered that the Red Hand Brigade's new recruits be stationed in Gallipoli, while the Guardian Brigade was stationed in Vize. The Gimages Brigade did not need to return to Tripoli or Syria, and was stationed in Chalcidon across the strait.

In the future, a fixed rule will be formed, that is, the elite field brigade will guard the imperial capital but not enter the imperial capital, and the station will be the place for food, training and supplies. Among the twelve brigades that existed first, except for the three wings, Gawain planned to station the rest in Philipburg (Nika), Prusa (Philomelon), Smyrna (Opshikin), Tervono (Midgard), Mysenbria (Bulgaria), Pella Macedonia (Hierapolis), and Amphipolis (Alemanni).

In this way, except for the two brigades Bellerophon and Yevanduni, who continue to guard the eastern territory according to tradition, the other ten brigades are all gathered near both sides of the Strait of the Imperial Capital. This is Gawain's policy of "concentrating on the important and controlling the light". The best manifestation of this: Once a foreign invasion or civil strife breaks out, ten brigades can quickly assemble to attack the east (Anatolia, Syria) or the west (Balkans, Dalmatia), and can quickly suppress the situation. .

Of course, if you want this group of brigades to be able to maneuver in the first place, they must have wide and flat roads.

The first person to ask about this matter was Her Majesty Baselisa, who was once the director of the Agricultural Supervision Department. She spoke eloquently in front of the drawing table (Anna always likes to indulge in fantasy before confirming the facts), saying that she would build a 30,000-mile castle for the entire empire. Avenue, and then used a ruler to draw straight lines everywhere. As a result, some lines were drawn into Lake Shkadar, and some lines were drawn into the deep ravines of Cappadocia...

So after being ridiculed by her husband's letter, Anna was so ashamed that she no longer took charge of this matter, but settled down to preside over the selection of personnel for the empire.