Eagle Byzantium

All the Germans, escorted by Conrad and 2,500 soldiers, finally crossed the sea a few days later and camped in the Chiwet area, which was the location of the last Eastern Expedition and showed traces of fierce battles. Still Existing - In the deep chasm where Gawain and the Konya Turks fought, the pilgrims dug up hundreds of skeletons of Turkic soldiers in one go. Most of the corpses had completely rotted away, leaving only piles of draped clothing. The skeleton covered in rags is creepy.

At this moment, this group of pilgrims vaguely felt that the road ahead was not at all as smooth and rich as the Vatican monks said. The densely packed graves and bones in front of them were proof of this.

"Everyone, I have received a letter from Godfrey. He suggested that we should not go to the Paphlagonian plateau, but go from Cilicia to Antioch, and then take a ship to the Holy Land, because that is where Gawain and Baldwin The area with Bohemond is very safe and convenient." In a hidden situation, Conrad reached a consensus with several confidants in a low voice.

At the same time, as soon as Conrad left, Duke Guillaume of Aquitaine arrived.

The emperor once again received the elegant duke in the River Hall. The two sides had in-depth and friendly talks on poetry and music. Although no agreement was reached, it was a solid step forward in bilateral relations.

"Please allow me to reject your Majesty's arbitration. Provence and Toulouse are like two sides of a gold coin. If you remove either side, it will not be able to maintain its value and will be worthless." When the emperor expressed his idea of ​​mediating the relationship between him and Robert, Guillaume refused.

The shrewd Emperor avoided this topic and hoped that Guillaume would accept Raymond's control and command when attacking the Paphlagonia region. "My armed forces will protect you. You don't have to worry about anyone at all." Once you are successful, Raymond will be blessed by the city of Laodicea, and maybe he will be tired of the distant Toulouse."

This is a solution, Guillaume pondered in his heart, because he had received a secret letter from Gawain before, "Dear prince, Raymond has completely lost all power in the Levant. What was done in Xiaoya and the emperor's court was completely political speculation and military adventure, so no matter what happened, the Gonghou Palace You must not trust Raymond or Emperor Komnenos, and do your best to preserve your strength during the march in Asia Minor. I am waiting for your visit and transit in Tarsus at any time. "This secret letter is from the public in order to cover up. A letter sent from the direction of Bari, disguised as a letter from the Duke's wife back home, to evade interrogation by the Emperor's postal agents.

So after Guillaume made some inner calculations, he also pretended to agree to the emperor's request and recognized Raymond as the legitimate presidential commander.

Privately, the emperor used a second trick, lavishly bribing Oude, Count of Naville, and Alban, Count of Bourges. They were considered Duke Guillaume's right-hand men. The emperor gave Oude several beautiful maikos, and gave Alban ten pieces of Alan. He also promised to grant these two rich fiefdoms in Paphlagonia and the Sivas Plateau if they succeeded in conquering the Danish Mond Turks. So these two men were ecstatic and regarded the emperor as their own. Be your own master.

Also a few days later, Guillaume's army crossed the sea and landed at Nicomedia.

At this time, the entire group of pilgrims from Germany, Gaul, and Lombardy numbered almost 200,000. Their camps covered the sky and the sun, and the scene returned to the past again:

The emperor's officials and merchants constantly used ships to bring all kinds of pleasure supplies to the camp, including fine wine, food, money and even prostitutes (both men and women);

And the spies and emissaries of Brachna Palace are like mosquitoes spreading the plague, filling every corner of the undefended camp, spying on inside information, buying people, etc.;

At the same time, 200,000 pilgrims were indulged in the abyss of depravity, eating and drinking excessively, engaging in fornication wantonly, marching without order, and without any awe or vigilance.

Soon, Raymond also came here from Pamphylia with great pride. His pomp was terrifying - five hundred Tecobo cavalry wearing scarlet armor guarded him, and four hundred cavalrymen wearing colorful cloaks guarded him. The Provence warriors guarded the queue holding the holy spear high - "I, I am serving the emperor." Your Majesty, your Majesty, your Majesty has ordered us to lead everyone to drive the pagans out of the plateau." Raymond said to Guillaume, Conrad, Bither and other leaders, "Wait. , when the Holy Spirit Festival (June 19th) comes, we will march!”

"Dear Sir, you should be patient. After all, there are still two weeks until Pentecost, and our warriors actually only have about 15,000 people. Therefore, we have to wait for the Thessaly side. The arrival of the Earl of Watts and the Earl of Normandy will also bring Prince John's army has a total of five thousand people, including eight hundred elite cavalry, which can greatly enhance our strength." Standing on the grass in front of Raymond's guard of honor, Duke Guillaume stood with his own bright flag. Next, he said to Raymond half teasingly.

"You, did you not come with them when passing through Thessaly before? You are so arrogant, so lazy!" Raymond was angry at the idleness of these two people.

However, what Raymond didn't know was that at this moment on the Thessaly Plain, Count Stephen of Blois and Count Robert of Normandy were each holding battle flags and spears. Behind them were four hundred armored soldiers. The cavalry were divided into two columns, with their horses neighing and their morale high.

And on the flat plain behind the two cavalry teams, teams of spearmen, archers and light cavalry were in good order. They were all elite new troops supervised by Prince John. Under the command of General Taitius, they would go to the plateau on the opposite bank to help the pilgrims attack Danishmond.

This new army was created by Prince John himself. After he was entrusted by the emperor to be the Grand Duke of Moria Thessaly, he served as the highest commander of two military regions. He learned from the painful lesson of being defeated by Gawain when he was the Grand Duke of Pamphylia (the Battle of Alaman Castle was indeed his black spot to some extent), and began to implement new policies in the new place of responsibility and train new troops.

First, the prince lobbied for an investment from the imperial treasury, and then, with the help of his adoptive mother, Malena, he borrowed a large amount of money from many noble elders in the imperial capital (as the queen of the previous dynasty, Malena still had considerable connections in the Senate and the imperial court), and rectified the local official team and established a lean and honest atmosphere. Then, with Corinth as the central capital, he engaged in two-sea trade, selling silk, carmine, raisins, pottery, etc., and fought a trade war with Bari, Venice, Ragusa, etc., relying on the port of Modon for the Adriatic Sea and Eubia or Thessaloniki for the Holy Sea, earning a lot of money and attracting more wealthy people in the empire to participate. Then, the prince followed Gawain's example and invested a lot of money in the vast plains of Thessaly, revived water conservancy and village communities, recruited a large number of farmers, signed farming and profit-sharing contracts with them, and enriched his own material reserves. In less than a year, the whole atmosphere was completely changed - then, Prince John began to form a new army. (To be continued ~^~)