Eagle Byzantium

The emperor's hand slammed heavily on the table with the candlesticks. The entire side hall was surrounded by his guards. He, Diogenes, and Nicodeemia were the only three people present.

"What Caesar, what Ducas! When I was in Thrace, I made an alliance with the Ducas family. Now both my mother and I feel regretful. This family can only produce a group of incompetent fools and silverfish. They just rely on their possessions. Huge military real estate, They are just trying to be like a dragon and a phoenix, they will only harm the empire." The emperor was very angry, "Even Prince John, it is just because he is my son. I have always resented that he has the blood of the Ducas family, even... .....”

"Your Majesty, what the guard is reporting is the military secrets on the front line. Don't mention the matters in the palace too much in front of him." The little bird Nicodeemia lowered his aging eyelids and interrupted the reminder at the right time. explain.

"Yes, yes!" Alexios also had an epiphany. He came over and put his hand on the kneeling Diogenes' shoulder affectionately. "You did this right, Bosch. Mond's escape is not your responsibility at all. I will investigate the matter sooner or later. But now, we can't eliminate the culprit, because Because there are Pechenegs in the north, Normans and Zatar traitors in the west, and Turks in the east, they are all serious dangers to the empire. If we do it rashly, it will only plunge the imperial capital and the empire into turmoil. You go back to Asia now, serve as the vanguard of General George’s army, and do your best for me to regain Asia.”

After saying that, the wardrobe manager Nick Demia held up a heavy money bag at the right time, "It contains pure gold. Your Majesty specially allocated it from the mint to bestow upon meritorious ministers like you."

Diogenes excitedly took the purse, held it in his chest, and then he swore in turn to St. Michael the Archangel, St. Demitri the Patron Saint, and St. Theodore the Patron Saint. , I must do my best to die for His Majesty the Emperor.

The trivial whispers in the palace were slowly submerged in the dark night and became unheard.

In the early morning, Gawain's figure was standing in front of the gate of the shield guard barracks in the emperor's inner palace, holding a luggage roll, looking particularly lonely. The camp had been closed when he came back from seeing Peter off yesterday, so he hugged the blanket and stood there. They spent the whole night on the streets outside the palace.

"Welcome to the great Shield Guard!" Finally, the commander of the guard, Yagfi, who is also Eudocia's brother, enthusiastically held Gawain's arm and stepped into the walled camp. "You are good. Wearing a purple belt given by the emperor, authentic Roman purple, a color that cannot be produced anywhere else in the world. "

Then, many warriors from the guard gathered around, laughing, smelling of wine, and pointing at Gawain. After hearing Yagfi's introduction, a short, stocky guy with dark yellow hair on his face, smashed He raised his huge round shield and said, "Stephen Gawain, why does the name sound like a little Celtic man?"

Then all the warriors burst into laughter, "We are the Shield Guards of the Inner Palace here. There are nine hundred people, but they are often insufficient due to casualties. There are three sub-units in total. Outside the imperial city are the Outer Palace Guards. , is also the emperor's 'Central Army Camp', with seven divisions, about 4,000 people. The bastard just now is a guy from Iceland, named Farov, and he is the leader of one of my divisions. "

"Hey, little guy, are you still wearing Turkic armor? That thing is as fragile as tree bark. My battle ax can split three guys at the same time." Over there, Farov held out the long sword in his hand. The ax danced vigorously, and other warriors also took the opportunity to make a fuss.

"Don't pay attention to this bastard. Everyone here is suffering from boredom when they are not fighting. When they meet a new recruit, they are like dogs that smell bad smells. I'm talking about you Farov, you are full of An Icelandic country bumpkin with a curly beard." As he spoke, Yagfi pointed at Farov, and everyone laughed even louder.

"A man without a beard is like a girl without a fat butt, and a girl without a fat butt is like a village without a church." Farov widened his eyes, spread his beard, and said this sentence from Iceland "A wise saying." All the big men laughed so hard that they couldn't stand up straight. Some people pointed at Gawain and mocked, " Look at this guy with a Celtic name. Like the Normans, they were all infected by the inland wind. They wore long tunics, light chainmail, and embroidered shirts with roses and daffodils. The blouse, the ass as tight as a princess, and the short Roman-Greek hair, not even a beard.”

The following words became more and more outrageous, and most of them could not be understood by Gawain, because they were in Varyag, Danish, and Saxon, but there were some who spoke Greek, and he understood this part completely.

"Bang!" Gawain pulled out his sword and thrust it into the ground of the school ground. This was a signal. Immediately, many veterans yelled with satisfaction. It seemed that today's recruit welcome meeting was going to be fun.

Over there, Farov, who had been prepared for a long time, laughed, holding the battle ax in both hands, and walked up to Gawain, "Boy, you are not allowed to bleed in the palace, then we will adopt a more elegant way to prove it. Your ability is worthy of carrying the shield of our Varangian Guards and the purple tassel given by the Emperor!"

As he spoke, Farof walked to the wall, in front of a row of wooden dummies. Then he roared, and the battle axe in his hand chopped down like lightning. The wooden dummies, which were almost the same size as real people, split in half with a cracking sound. Then he quickly came to another dummies, lifted up the sickle at the end of the battle axe, and cut the dummies into flying pieces from below.

"How is it? This battle axe cannot be controlled by one hand. I brought it from my hometown." Farof was very proud, and then he roared, raised his hands, and then threw the huge battle axe in a rotation. Like a dragon emerging from water, it flew a long distance and cut into the head of the farthest dummies.

Then, Farof drew out an equally huge and sharp Viking sword, "Look, boy, this sword is much lighter than a battle axe, I can use it freely with one hand." Amidst the cheers, Farof shouted "behead", and then the head of the dummy flew out with a flash of sword light, and the "limbs" - the limbs of the dummy were chopped off one by one. Finally, Farof extended his sword and inserted it into the torso of the dummy, picked it up, and swung it in front of Gawain with great satisfaction.

"You cut the dummy very well, but on the battlefield, no enemy will be as motionless as this wooden man, and no enemy will be like this wooden man, with no armor and helmet covering his whole body." Then, Gawain took a deep breath and pulled out his narrow phosphorescent sword.

"It's really a woman, look at his thin sword, probably used for embroidery." A wave of laughter sounded behind him.