Eagle Byzantium

In a deep valley somewhere in Isauria, behind the bushes of a fortress called Ferna, a Turkish scout cavalryman with a dark cloak covering his mouth and nose, after listening intently to the whistling arrows shot at him, turned over and rode towards the extremely hidden castle.

This is actually the last stronghold of Giliki Arslan on the plateau. When Alexius's army to conquer Seleucia marched in the surrounding canyons a few days ago, the Sultan swallowed his anger and led his troops to move without moving, not even daring to graze or herd. Facing the Roman emperor, he was like a mouse avoiding a cat, hiding in a dark cave.

And now, his scouts reported: many pilgrims from the west, without vigilance and weapons, came to the famous hot water lake by the Ferna River, and the emperor's troops had withdrawn to the direction of Constantinople for some reason, and the two were completely out of step with each other, separated by the mountains of Phrygia.

"I have no cities to lose. This Sultan thinks of Zahas, who is now wandering on the sea, and I am doing the same in the mountains." Between the walls of the Ferna stone fortress, Giliki Arslan is no longer the ruler who likes to recite sad poems in the palace of Nicaea. The blood gene of his ancestors, like wild wolves, has returned: he has a rough beard, his cheekbones are raised due to fatigue and bumps, his eyes are full of gamblers, and he and his wife Shahnami are wearing the same fur cloak full of fishy smell, with flint, bowstring and dried mutton hanging around their waists. The only thing that remains unchanged is his deep hatred for pilgrims. He used to be well in the Roman country, with many rich and dangerous cities and countless star-like mosques and temples, but now they are all occupied: Nicaea, Ankara, Seleucia, Tarsus, everything is lost. In order to replenish the armed forces, he had to shake hands with Danishmond Emir Merik. He even bowed to the other side and left the prime minister Ibn Mamun there as a hostage in exchange for 800 Danishmond mercenaries. Together with his own people, he pieced together 4,000 to 5,000 troops and fled all the way to these barren mountains.

This Ferna Castle in the mountains was originally owned by a leader named Niketas. He was neither a general of the empire nor a Jinat noble, but a chieftain who called himself the "Isaurians". This group of people was originally regarded as barbarians by the Eastern Roman royal family. Hundreds of years ago, the empire wanted to get rid of the influence of the Goths. They began to recruit a large number of martial and barbaric soldiers from the mountains to reduce the proportion of Goths in the army. Later, a chieftain took the opportunity to ascend the throne of Rome, the famous "Barbarian Emperor" Zeno. After Zeno's death, the empire was eager to choose a legitimate Roman as emperor. Even Zeno's widow Ariadne publicly shouted to the elders and the people, "Please, elect a real Roman!"

In this way, the one who succeeded Zeno to the throne was his chief attendant Anastasius. The dissatisfied palace Isaurian guards (they wanted to elect Zeno's brother, Longinus, who also had Isaurian ancestry) rebelled in Thrace and Asia Minor at the same time, but were decisively suppressed: As a result, most of the Isaurian soldiers were later settled in Thrace, and over time, they gradually dispersed. However, there are still many indigenous remnants who continue to occupy the mountains, engage in village self-government, and live a semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural life. But to the outside world, they still insist on calling themselves "Isaurians" or "Galatians".

Spanning the entire Middle Ages, even with developed and mature governments. It is also difficult to extend power to the deep and steep mountains. As long as these indigenous mountain people do not cause trouble and can provide soldiers, the imperial government and the Turkish Sultan do not care whether they eat bread or meat today. Therefore, Chief Nikitas gathered two or three thousand armed mountain people and took advantage of the opportunity when the imperial forces retreated from the Anatolian Plateau to occupy the Ferna Castle and live freely.

Now Giliki came, and the two of them had similar tastes and joined forces with each other: Giliki guaranteed that the property robbed from pilgrims or the imperial government would be shared equally; while Nikitas promised that this castle would be your base of activity, and he also obtained the title of "Ataberg" granted by Giliki.

In this way, the Sultan became a road bully, and the original mountain bandit became a tutor. There is no more clever irony in the world than this.

When he learned that the Danish prince and his army were walking in the reeds at the foot of the mountain, Giliki decided to take action again. After saying goodbye to his wife, he asked Niketas to take a thousand elite bandits to go around the front of the road to block the pilgrims' way; Hajib led 2,000 walking Roman soldiers to sneak among the reeds and valleys on the side of the road to attack and kill Sven; the other 800 Danishmund cavalry, after receiving the signal from the Sultan, attacked and cut off the Danish army's retreat, separating them from the civilian pilgrims of Reinstein, and first annihilated Sven and then eliminated Reinstein.

"Everyone take a break, we'll be on our way again soon." Prince Sven waved his hand when he saw his fiancée was a little tired among the reeds everywhere. The Danish soldiers around were sitting or lying down casually, without any sentry posts, and resting in a scattered manner. Some of them even used a sickle to cut some reeds and started a fire to dry their wet jackets. The rising smoke was soon seen by Hajib, who was a thousand feet away. In fact, Hajib's wife had advised him before: Your life should have been lost in Nicaea, but it was pardoned by Gawain, and you should give up killing Christians from now on.

But his loyalty to the Sultan still made Hajib unable to put down his butcher knife. He just released all the Frank and German slaves in his yard and asked them to go to Seleucia. Now he was the commander of the Sultan, leading the wolf-like Romani soldiers, holding the powerful bows and arrows in his hands, crouching, wading through the mud and streams, one after another, and drilling into the endless reeds. The rustling long grass kept being pushed aside from both sides, rubbing against the soldiers' headscarves and armor, making such a subtle sound - the murderous aura steamed sweat, dripping into the soil that penetrated under the boots. Hajib kept adjusting his breathing, peeking at the every move of the resting Danes in the chaotic swaying reeds. They were still unaware, and there were vulgar and lax laughter everywhere.

A sharp arrow made of animal bones suddenly shot out from the bowstring, carrying the wind, piercing through the reed leaves, and the fragments of the leaves were scattered. The feather tail of the arrow turned rapidly, drawing a white arc of death, passing through the heads of the people who were still surprised and stunned, and poofed through the light jacket, drilling a hole in it, and then the jacket fell into the fire, and the sound of fireworks fluttered. "Damn it!" The other companions rushed to stand up and stepped on the spreading fire, thinking that the guy holding the jacket had missed, but the personal soldier's head was shaking, and the arrow feathers on his forehead were clearly visible. He soon sat cross-legged and threw his upper body into the fire. With a bang, sparks burst out. (To be continued ~^~)