Eagle Byzantium

The skink is a tailless lizard that lives here, with a beautiful ruby ​​color on both sides of its abdomen.

Gawain saw a veteran of the Red Hand Brigade named Mato from Sicily showing other comrades how to eat this lizard - he and the other soldiers formed a circle about three and a half feet in diameter, and then Together they stretched out their hands to dig into the sand, and soon white and gray smoke began to fly. Two or three skinks who had been hiding to escape the scorching sun crawled out in fear, but the daggers drawn by Mato in his hand fell like lightning one by one, Lisso killed them.

Then the soldiers turned over the belly of the dead skink, cut it open with sabers and daggers, took out the internal organs, washed them with water, stuffed the dried saffron or wild turmeric they carried with them, and put them on gum branches to roast. After a while, the emperor saw the skink's burnt legs trembling out from between Mato's white beard, and then being bitten and sucked into his mouth.

Not far away, there were soldiers baking wild pea cakes. Many of them were setting up tents. They had taken off their armor because of the scorching heat and only used cloth strips to cover their crotches. Some were cutting down the few trees, while others were Build siege equipment and cannon forts.

"Mato, your fate is bad. You and Decius came out together. He is now the commander of the brigade, and you are still a centurion." The emperor was obviously roasted under the gauze curtain. Gawain felt that his neck was full of moisture and sweat, and the sounds coming from the corners of his mouth were extremely hot and could not travel very far in the air.

"But that guy is still stationed in the distant Sava River, and I am lucky. I have eaten skinks in India, and my prosperity will be guaranteed when I return." The cunning veteran Mato patted his exposed belly and said to the emperor. arrive.

Gawain burst out laughing and said that both the Ghaznavid pagans and the Brahmin believers from the local states will come to kill us soon, but as long as you win, the local mosques, gardens, Diwan halls and Brahmin temples will be destroyed. The wealth and treasures inside are all yours. "I won't take any of it." The emperor on horseback said solemnly, stroking his chest.

"Your Majesty, I am worried about the Moesians. It is not that I am afraid that they will rebel against the enemy, but that they have not yet had the experience to cooperate with us in fighting."

"General Mikhail and I personally command the Royal Tomb Guards and supervise their operations on the central front. Don't worry, the soldiers of Mosia are very good soldiers." Gawain was very confident, and then he encouraged his subordinates who had gathered around him. , "You eat watermelon here, you eat wild peas, you eat buffalo We will eat milk and water fish, even skinks in the sand. I will never forget this strong friendship. Now we let the Mosia Grand Brigade besiege Hillstein Castle, while the other two field brigades set up their formations. On the left and right wings, I and all the cavalry, artillery and imperial troops are temporarily deployed in the center. "

"Your Majesty, I heard that they are coming from two directions." A soldier from the Guards Brigade, holding a large infantry spear and wearing a shirtless body, asked with sweat all over his body.

Gawain licked his lips on horseback, and then made a calming gesture, "In this land from Multan to the mouth of Sindh, there are almost no valleys that can hide the whereabouts of the army. I send troops in four directions every day. Send out scout cavalry to capture the enemy's whereabouts. You must know that Israel is stupid to do this. If he wants to fight me, he should not divide his troops into two groups - then before that, our army should first capture the enemy. Let’s talk about Hillstein City!”

Soon, the ceiling of the city wall of Hillstan was covered with wool mats and kapok balls, and the holes in the stacks were also filled with straw mats and lined with wooden forks. Ghaznavid guards in the city stood Between the towers, based on the experience of past battles, They also asked the city's craftsmen to build simple cranes beside each tower and city gate. There were fine copper gears between the cranes, and huge iron pincers or iron balls were tied to the ends to destroy them. Gawain's battering ram or siege tower.

But to their disappointment, the Mosia Brigade that besieged the castle had abandoned the traditional medieval siege tactics. The soldiers also dug blockade trenches, built earth forts, and lined up earth baskets and dog-foot logs. Soon A circular fortress was built to surround the northwest of the city, and four assembled medium-sized siege guns were installed on it, as well as several "pedal-type multi-rod trebuchets" learned from previous enemies.

Not long after, the soldiers of Mosia Brigade poured wax, light kerosene, asphalt, Khitan snow and other explosive substances into the canned torches, calculated the length of the fuses, cut them and inserted them into the torches. , and put it into the magazine bag of the pedal trebuchet without stopping.

With the intervals between artillery bombardments, many more explosions were bounced up like raindrops. Along with the buzzing of the trebuchet column, the squeaking of the swing arm rapidly up and down, and the friction of the gears. The clanking sound appeared in curves and fell on the ceiling of Hiastan City. The wool and kapok covering there burned blazingly, and guards kept falling down with their bodies covered in fire and screaming.

Even closer, behind the large wooden pillars inserted at the edge of the trench, the gunmen and archers of Gawain's Mosiah Brigade were also shooting fiercely at the city wall. Commanding their flag officers was like commanding a rhythmic grand ceremony. Like music, when the hot lead shot out of the gun is like In the light, when the flying arrows from the bow string shot out like a torrent, one of these flag officers stood at intervals, with their arms holding the flags stretched out, and their bodies leaning straight forward, as if they wanted to follow the lead shot and flying arrows. Arrows were shot towards the city of Hiastan.

A lucky cannonball passed through the protruding wall horizontally and smashed into the ceiling of a storage room. The pebbles or round polished stone balls hidden inside for stone crossbows were flying around like water splashed by the bow of a ship. Before the dozen or so Ghaznavid guards standing around could scream, their bodies were torn into pieces by the cannonballs and broken stones, and blood was smeared on the city wall.

The rest of the soldiers of the Mosiah Brigade besieging the city were frantically making simple and effective siege weapons behind the ramparts, twisting ropes, cutting thick bamboo (which is very common in India), collecting grass stems and soil and filling them into baskets, and enthusiastically preparing to attack the city of Hillstan.

At this time, the 25,000 "Ghaznavid Crusaders" recruited by Israel had come from Multan to the nearby Indus River. A golden peacock was embroidered on the green crescent flag unique to the Khanate.

On the other side of the river, Gawain's light cavalry, who were acting as scouts in teams, were either Cumans, Oghuz or Vardar Turks. Regardless of the hot weather, they wore tall sable hats, double-breasted Mosiya robes, and carried impressive scimitars on their belts. They galloped back and forth, raising a lot of dust, constantly shouting provocative slogans, "inviting" the Ghaznavid army to cross the river for a fight.