Eagle Byzantium

In the early morning of the next day, a large Venetian merchant ship anchored at the port of San Simon, and then the consul and the guards changed to a small centipede-like long boat and sailed into the mouth of the Orontes River. Around noon, the plenipotentiary consul Molitor Rosso came to the tent in the palace area, where he used spears to prop up an embroidered pergola to block the glaring sunlight at the turn of spring and summer.

After the greetings, Gawain quickly reached an agreement with Molitor: to cede two-eighths of the block in Antioch, where the Venetians could set up trading houses, warehouses and baths, send commercial immigrants, and enjoy the same tax exemption rights as in Constantinople, and have independent consular jurisdiction; in return, Venice must use ships to transport grain of no less than 120,000 modi weight to his army from then on until the end of this year.

Then Taitius also stood on one side, and the documents of the three parties walked out separately. Among them, Andeodate on Gawain's side held out the utensils and stamped the seal of approval on the agreement document.

For Gawain, the emperor used the transport capacity of the Venetian fleet and a large amount of grain to buy the block of Antioch that his division won with bloody battles. The biggest winner of this transaction, at least on paper, is undoubtedly Constantinople.

At this moment, on the road over the pergola, a group of Norman cavalrymen whistled and walked past everyone in a frivolous manner. They were going to patrol under the Four Sisters Tower today. Molitor had sharp eyes - he could see that the two guys who led the cavalry were actually two guys with Turkish looks, one was Ostus Borduka, and the other was Doyakum Bohemond, the Turkish soldier who was captured and converted to Christianity.

Among them, the two Turks smiled and talked to Muzafiadin, Gawain's military servant, who was standing outside the pergola, in Turkish.

However, as a Venetian noble, Molitor was not surprised by this situation at all. In the Levant, it was a pipe dream to keep the purity of the team: many Greeks, Armenians, Saracens and even Turks had joined the pilgrims' armed forces.

At the same time, the deputy herald officer Lett, who was guarding the junction of the pergola and the road with Muzafiadin, saw that the Piacenza beauty Beatrice was riding a mule on the other side of the hill, happily following the Norman cavalry and heading towards the orchard. "Is she going to meet her lover as the Grand Duke said? What a beautiful and fertile garden! Which bastard's rocker plow is so lucky to be able to turn the soil and sow seeds in it!" Lett was envious, jealous, and excited.

"Those four towers are enough for you to attack." After signing the agreement, a banquet was held for a while. Gawain, Molitor and Titius leaned together, looking at the Acropolis on the ridge where Agy was still resisting, and the Venetian Consul sighed.

"It doesn't matter. With the reinforcements and supplies from the Emperor of Constantinople, I think we can first concentrate our forces to capture the Acropolis of Agy, and then defend Antioch, and form a corner with General Titius's camp, which is enough to defeat the pagans from Mosul." Gawain was full of confidence.

Suddenly, the screams of men and women came from the orchard, which were very shrill and miserable, and came here from afar. The soldiers of the Red Hand Brigade and the Guardian Brigade, who were originally resting by the pergola, stood up one by one with weapons in their hands, not knowing why.

Gawain suddenly felt something was wrong. He remembered the happy expression of Beatrice yesterday. Logically, she would not hold back her desire today and go to have a tryst with her lover! But he did not expect that these two guys would be so suicidal that they would do this in the orchard in the cavalry patrol area.

The orchard is less than half a mile away from the palace area. Today's defense belongs to the Normans. It is also designated as the most dangerous confrontation area. It was previously jointly designated by Adhmar and the new military chief Robert - any pilgrims are strictly prohibited from going there for any purpose to avoid being attacked and killed by the garrison.

Before the Venetian Consul and Taitius could react, Gawain directly slung his sword, slid down the hill where the pergola was located, and jumped to the side of the crowded road. In front of him, Wright was running towards him with a terrified face.

"What happened in front, is it that Beatrice?"

Wright was worried and nodded hurriedly, "Who is responsible for the defense of our camp in front?" Gawain continued to ask.

"It's General Termachi, Branas."

Gawain and Wright both got on their horses, and several members of the Brotherhood followed them. "All soldiers, keep quiet, sit down and rest!" Gawain pointed at all the soldiers who had gathered and shouted.

Under the flag, only two hundred feet away from the orchard, Branas looked puzzled behind the wooden fence. He was surrounded by infantry and cavalry who were on alert and ready for battle. The orchard on the other side of the trench was lush and green, and the green waves were rolling in the wind. Since the screams stopped, there has been no movement.

Seeing the Grand Duke coming, Branas hurriedly reported, "Today, the orchard is a patrol area for the Normans. I went there with the cavalry before. It is very close to the Four Sisters Tower of the Acropolis of Agia. There are several fences directly connected, which is very dangerous."

"Where are the Normans!" Gawain also asked nervously, looking at the strange and gloomy orchard across the wooden fence.

Branas shook his head and said that their patrol cavalry team was indeed here just now, but left soon.

"Just now, there was a noble lady, together with Adelbero, the priest of the Council of Cardinals, who said she wanted to go to the forest to play backgammon and dice." In the queue of soldiers, a flag bearer added to Gawain, and said this They had been like this for several days, but because the Council of Cardinals now had great power, they were too lazy to go or dare not ask in various camps. Everyone knew that the noble and handsome priest was a character who was not easy to mess with and did not think highly of others.

Gawain lowered his whip in annoyance, turned his head and saw Wright's face, and shook his head, which meant that it was probably hopeless.

Check out the 16-9 book bar to see the correct version!

The sound of horse hooves sounded, and the Norman cavalry that had just slipped away suddenly turned back in time and stopped outside the wooden fence of Gawain's camp. However, Bohemond and Tancred actually came, and they shouted loudly. When he asked what happened, the Turkic man Ostus shouted in the same loud voice in Greek, "I saw His Excellency Adelbero, the priest of the Council of Cardinals, entering with a beautiful and noble woman. The scream just now may have been caused by them!"

"Asshole, hurry up and call the priest to come here. Our Lord Adelbero may have been poisoned." Bohemond shouted deliberately loudly, as if he was afraid that others would not know - soon, other people in the palace area In the lord's camp, the people who came after hearing the news, including knight sergeants, soldiers and civilians, all came over and talked about the unexpected incident just now.

"Wright, come with me and bring a few brotherhood members in now to prevent Bohemond from making a fuss." Gawain looked at the malicious Bohemond with his blue eyes and said to the deputy heraldry officer. . (To be continued ~^~)